Grinds My Gears

This is a grinds my gears post to get some things off of my chest to let me vent a bit about annoyances.

1) The bike lane on East Capitol is a lane for bikes, not the Capitol Police hangout lane, not the FedEx/UPS stopping area, not the I'm going to try to slip around traffic on the right lane, not the I'm only stopping at the store for a minute a lane and certainly not the I'm jogging the wrong way down the street with or without my goddamn baby stroller lane. It is a lane for people on bikes.

2) Going one floor on the elevator is never acceptable unless you are carrying something heavy this goes double when the stairs are right next door to the elevator.

3) When you are on the Metro and you decide to stand in the doorway the least you can do is know which side of the train the majority of the stops are on. An axiom to this is if you are the dumb ass who doesn't get out of the way when people are trying to squeeze through the limited space left because of your lack of consideration, you don't have the right to complain about how people are being rude and that they didn't say excuse me. To he fucker on the train who pulled this shit at the McPherson stop on Friday, you are lucky you I wasn't slightly more annoyed that day otherwise one of us would probably have ended up in jail and from the looks of it I could probably afford a much better legal defense.

That is all.

This Seems Like a Good Idea

For the record DC Dan, has never done and does not condone the use of cocaine.
In D.C., Price of Cocaine Soars as Supply Declines

There are a few quotes from the story that bother me:
"D.C. police investigators said that they had no statistical evidence to back the DEA's claim but that dealers appear to be fighting over a dwindling product. They said that could be contributing to a recent rise in other crimes, such as homicides and robberies. When supplies are scarce, some dealers turn to other crimes to make money, said D.C. police Inspector Brian Bray, head of the narcotics branch."

Okay so when coke dealers are dealing coke, the only people getting hurt are the people using cocaine, they damage themselves and move money through the economy without paying taxes. When the supply of cocaine is scarce, people who may or may not be involved in the cocaine may be killed or robbed. Now the way I see it I'd rather have people coked out, than than get mugged. I'm not sure that the government should be proud of the fact that a GOOD sign is that the coke market has been affected is an increase in violent crime. Perhaps legalization and taxation is a better approach, I know some tobacco farmers in Virginia and the Carolinas who probably need some new crops to replace tobacco. We learned this lesson rather quickly with the 18th Amendment why can't we learn it with other contraband.

Sigh.

Mistakes are Reminders!!!!

Dealing With Sins of the Forefathers
Md. Torn Over Statues of Justice in Dred Scott Case

So we've had some shitty leaders in past (and the current) but whitewashing (no pun intended) history is a bad mistake. We need to be reminded of our mistakes so as not to repeat them. This follows along my general principle of never hide the truth, no matter how much it pains us, no matter how much it challenges our way of thinking, no matter how much we wish it wasn't the reality.
This is way I get vexed to any form of hiding the truth or restrictions on speech. A great example of this is protecting racist speech, is it a disgusting stupid mark on humanity, but it shouldn't be suppressed for the very fact that the best response is by exposing everyone to how fucking ignorant is it.

Update:
In that same vane I saw this comic:
Kansas Classrooms

Critical Thinking Skills

MS NBC is reporting that Officials: 'Meth Candy' Targets Young Users

I read through the whole article and realized something was missing, there is no evidence that young people are being targeted at all. They don't mention finding it on young people or in schools all they go on is that it is candy, so it must be for kids.
Additionally I can't imagine a drug dealer would really want to deal with kids, because an eight year old just simply doesn't have the means to support a meth habit.
Is meth a horrible drug? Yes.
Should people be aware that is now being pushed in a candy form? Yes.
Is there any evidence mentioned that this is a conspiracy to target kids? No.