10.11.05
Couple of cultural/regional observiations from this weekend: first, people in the Wash DC area are maniacs on the road, defensive driving applies to parking lots as well as it does on the beltway. secondly, assume that the old haole lady who backs into you with her large white sedan will take off instead of stopping to exchange insurance with you. you might as well get her license plate (Or as they say up here “tag” number) and file a police report.
One drawback of zipcar might be its insurance policy which doesn’t cover dings and bumper road rash. One of the things they advertise is free gas, free insurance, so I thought that I was covered, even after reading the fine print. After reporting the incident I got the impression from the rep that I should’ve filed a police report, even though the dent on the bumper was the size of a ping pong ball. Pretty much since I didn’t get the bitch’s information, I’m supposedly liable, even though it was clearly her fault. I also draw the line there, as calling this in would’ve been a waste of law enforcement resources, which goes against both the policy analyst and the law student in me.
Anyway, I had to fill out an incident form complete with a detailed narrative section, and a diagram chart. All for a ding literally smaller than my left nut. It really seems silly, to have an overly stringent ding policy for a car sharing program in a city like DC - as soon as you replace a bumper the door will get sideswiped by some socialite talking on a cell phone swerving in and out of traffic in Georgetown. I’ve never seen so many cars with structural damage (anything non-functional) in a metropolitan area before. I think its mainly due to the fact that people here drive like maniacs.
Came across an interesting article about liberal and neo-liberals as illustrated in a daily show interview of Charles Schumer by John Stewart . I thought it summed up the parallels in the Democratic party split. I definitely identify more with the Stewart perspective, identifying with the dems more by default than anything else, but constantly questioning their stance on the issues and direction (or lack of) that they want to take the country. I’m not too keen at all with the fact that a lot of establishment dems continue to dance around the issues, afraid to stand up to yet another lamebrain policy choice, or crony political nomination.
It is amazing that with all the scandals going on in the current administration that the dems still haven’t been able to give a clear alternative view. I think Stewart’s comment about the democrats taking 40 years to get corrupt vs the republicans doing it in 5 years was right on. The quesiton now is how much worse does it have to get before someone steps up and leads the party? Until someone does then the dance will go on.