RIP Barbara Billingsley

She always carried herself with grace and wit and was pretty funny in Airplane!
RIP

Life is Bittersweet

Over the past few weeks, a lot has happened in my personal affairs. I lost the baby, my Grandpa Butch got sick and is (thankfully) recovering and my Cousin gave birth to a healthy baby boy! So life goes on and is bittersweet. Other things have also happened; I saw good friends who I haven't seen in a long while and it was wonderful! Some buddies of ours recently bought a home in Oakland so we visited them for the housewarming party. M&A; are valued friends and we had a great time! A couple of weeks ago, I also had the pleasure of visiting with and old buddy of mine from my NASA internship many years ago. He is a retired aero engineer and has two young daughters and a daughter in her twenties. His girls all have their heads on straight and I got to see the oldest one grow up over time. God has blessed her with good sense! Anyway, my little son is capricious and sometimes he doesn't want to be bothered with people. But he got along with my buddy and his two younger daughters! They played outside for a very long time and my buddies wife sent over a blueberry and cranberry cobbler in a wicker basket! Ahhh sometimes the simple gestures make life feel so great! Right now, an old frat buddy of my husbands is over. My little Eno greeted him with a hug and Lena, our dog licked him and wagged her tail so hard!

Life is bittersweet; what can I say? All of these experiences have taught me to better appreciate what is happening in the present. Speaking of that, I need to visit my Grandpa Butch and Grandma Earl because he's still taking it easy.

I'm excited for two additional reasons:
1.My sister and niece will come to visit in a few days while my husband is out traveling with his Dad and Middle Sister. My niece and son are only three weeks apart so he will have a live in playmate for a time!
2.On Tuesday afternoon, we will do Early Intervention assessments for my sons speech and they will also do autism and other assessments. I am happy because he's met most of his milestones except in speech. He follows instructions when he wants to because he's two and all, but he doesn't speak English that often. On occasion he'll speak in simple sentences like "Where Dada?" or "Where dog?" One day we went walking and I told him to come back and he said "I go back," and he ran back to me. However these times are rare so we will get to the bottom of it...
3.I've been making essential oils lately and have tried making them using alcohol and also butane. The physics behind butane extraction method is interesting and brought back memories of Statistical and Thermal physics...

Cadillac Kimberly Lays it Down

CAUTION: LOT'S of PROFANITY but if you can get past it, she has a lot to say. Respect the message irrespective of the messenger and its packaging, as truth is truth! And I'm a bit late; this lit up the Black blogosphere last week;)




This story is about a couple of weeks old by now, but the Atlanta megachurch pastored by Bishop Eddie Long (New Birth Missionary Baptist Church) is plagued with scandal right now as he has been accused of having sexual relations with young men in the church. When the depth of the allegations are reviewed, a very scary picture indeed has been painted. Furthermore, the Bishop is prominently involved in the antigay movement and has attracted those trying to change their lifestyles based upon 'spiritual principles' as members of his church. If the allegations against Bishop Long are true, then he is guilty of spiritual malpractice of the tallest order AND there is a special place for him in hell.

In my upbringing, a pastor occupies a very special role, and aside from being a vessel of God's will and grace, commits acts of compassion and kindness and inspires others to do the same. I saw my maternal grandfather Rev. Dr. J. Alfred Smith Sr, wheel and deal all my life to improve the community in which the church was located. He made deals with local businesses, other pastors across racial, traditional and socioeconomic lines, the city council and even neighborhood bad guys. He was respected because he used Gods' word to advocate for downtrodden, impoverished people and to build up the community. Almost forty years later, the church of my childhood has housing for senior citizens and people with disabilities and they have a very active AIDS ministry. Without going on too much of a personal tangent, the point is that there is a spiritual bond between pastor and parishioner. This bond MUST NEVER BE BROKEN!!! Pastors who break this bond have committed grave acts that they will pay for both on Earth and in the afterlife.

It's one thing if some random member of the church is a pederast, which is disgusting but makes sense because a church attracts all of us and we are all sinners. However, if the PASTOR of the church is a pederast, liar, womanizer and pedophile, that church is being led by a denizen of hell. I am serious. I truly feel for all of the members of Bishop Eddie Long's church because something ain't right over there...I don't know for certain what he has done with those men but my gut tells me that he is guilty as sin. Now I don't want to be guilty of slandering this man or of making him out to be guilty before he's had his trial but let's be honest; the gut is a powerful indicator for some of us and his public non rebuke of these allegations looked pretty bad. See this link. He never outright denies the allegations, which is fishy on its face...

OG's on the Dumbing Down of Hip Hop

CAUTION: Lots of profanity but if you can get past it, they have something to say. Method Man, Ghost Face and sounds like Raekwon talk about how lyricism has been lost in current hip hop trends; a real treat:




And here is a satirical rap, poking fun at the same topic regarding current pop rappers Gucci Mane, Soldier Boy and Waka Flocka:

How to Teach Math to a Blind Man? Part I

Hello everyone, this is a PDF document written by a teacher in Malta. This is a case study on how this teacher instructed a blind student in mathematics. I haven't gotten through the entire file, but will post on it when I'm done. Needless to say, this is a fascinating topic for me and I've alluded to it in past posts, given my own perceptual difficulties. See here

The Little King is Locked Up...Again

Hello everyone, I normally don't blog about rappers and celebrities, but every now and then I have to say something! TI, a very good rapper colloquially called 'The Little King of the South' got arrested with his wife a couple of days ago. Now, the story has made the main stream media and there are all types of speculations and aspersions being cast on his character. The bottom line is that cops pulled him over and smelled pot on him and now 'suspect' that there was meth in the car. I'm sure there's more to the story than that. However, I will use this as an opportunity to grandstand a bit more.

The War on Drugs is wholly and totally ineffective. Drugs are purchased by willing consumers and are provided by folks who wouldn't be in business if there weren't a need or desire for them. Why does the government discard the will of the people in matters of commerce? Why does the government feel its okay to tell its citizens what to consume, how much to consume and what to buy and how much to buy?

TI originally went to prison for purchasing illegal firearms. Now most red blooded Americans wonder why would he have to purchase them illegally? Well because the government only wants the Constitution to apply to some people and not others. If the government actually respected the Constitution, we wouldn't be hearing this bullshit drawn out story about a grown man who was using his money and resources to consume herbs or pharmaceuticals of his choice and to buy weapons of his choice. This authoritarianism in our government is unnerving.

How the hell can we call ourselves the land of the free if people are not free to make decisions without fear of prosecution? All the potheads in Texas are terrified because their state government busts them for smoking a weed; a fucking weed! And in Texas you can serve a very LONG prison sentence simply for having a marijuana cigarrette! This is ridiculous!

Screw the war on drugs and screw the government trying to tell us which guns to have and which guns not to have and who can own a gun and who shouldn't own a gun. This is plumb crazy!

God please bless TI and his family.

Rant over.

Damned Traffic Tickets...But There's an Upshot!

UPDATE: There is this awesome site called Mother Copper and there are tons of examples of Trials by Written Declaration to contest CVC 22350 and other infractions like CVC 22349. This is a must read! And donate to them if you can;)



Hello everyone, lately locales all around our state have been increasing traffic patrols to bust people on the road for real and imaginary infractions. This is because they use traffic tickets to generate revenue. I'm sure most of you guys already know this. Anyway the majority of people in California pay their traffic tickets and elect traffic school if they can, but ethically, I strongly believe this is wrong. If someone is driving recklessly and endangering others, then the cops ought to bust their tail and give them a ticket, along with taking other necessary actions. However, if someone is going 64 in a 55 mph road and that is the flow of traffic, then it isn't right for a cop to ticket a person. If you think about it, if a person drives responsibly, is alert and oriented, the driving conditions are clear then so what if they go slightly over the posted speed limit!

The majority of speeding tickets in California are given using California Vehicle Code 22350 which says:

"V C Section 22350 Basic Speed Law
Basic Speed Law

22350. No person shall drive a vehicle upon a highway at a speed greater than is reasonable or prudent having due regard for weather, visibility, the traffic on, and the surface and width of, the highway, and in no event at a speed which endangers the safety of persons or property.

Amended Ch. 252, Stats. 1963. Effective September 20, 1963."

Notice that the relevant elements of the vehicle code are weather, visibility, traffic on the road, road width and surface conditions and safety of persons and properties.

A few months ago, my husband was on a local highway next to our home. He came across a pickup truck that was moving erratically and decided that the safest course of action would be to get away from it. My husband momentarily exceeded the speed limit to get away from this reckless driver, as he was concerned for his safety and others on the road. He got a ticket for allegedly driving 64mph in a 50mph zone. Since our car needed work and was having problems accelerating, it is unlikely that he was going that fast, but he did exceed the posted limit by his own admission. He told the police officer that the truck was obstructing him so that's why he decided to accelerate away from it. The police officer acknowledged that he saw the truck but still gave my husband a ticket. He ticketed him for violating the basic speed law, CVC 22350 which I cited above.

I found out that in California, if you get a speeding ticket, you can contest it in court or with a trial by written declaration. If you contest the ticket with a trial by written declaration and are dissatisfied with the judges' ruling, then you can request a trial de novo (new trial) in person. This is the only area of law that allows a person to get a new trial if they are dissatisfied with a judges' ruling! So for strategic purposes, we decided to submit a trial by written declaration for my husband because if it failed, then we could always prepare for an in court trial by conducting formal discovery etc.

I also read that police officers get paid over time for coming to in person court trials, but that they do not get paid overtime for submitting a trial by written declaration statement. In other words you create little incentive for them to respond to your statement because they don't get paid extra for submitting one!

Anyway, I was incensed that the ticket cost $221.00, which screwed up our tight budget! And on general principle I view it as extortion by the state because if you cannot pay and don't know about the installment option, you can lose your license, credit rating, insurance and even your car! Without rambling about personal sovereignty, we were both pissed that we had to pony up that money because you have to post bail even if you do a trial by written declaration. To give ourselves more time for me to do research, we got a continuance for a month, which relieved some financial pressure. Then after the month, we submitted the bail along with our Request for a Trial by Written Declaration form. In California, they try to trick you because the 'Request for a Trial by Written Declaration is not a request at all; instead it is a form in which you actually plead your case, submit it to the judge and after reading your statement and the statement of the officer (provided he submits one) the judge makes their decision on your case.

I helped a buddy get out of a debt collection lawsuit last year and discovered a few things. The first is that lawyers have to process a lot of paperwork and often try to do as little work as possible. Thus, if you can give your case a lot of time and research, you are likely to do well with debt collection suits, traffic tickets, bankruptcy protection and foreclosure actions. Other areas of law may be a bit more tricky to navigate as a pro se litigant. Secondly, if you can look at winning pleadings of related cases in your local law library or online, you've eliminated half the burden. Judges tend to be idiosyncratic in how they apply the law, but one thing they seem to appreciate is tight legal writing. They don't like too much fluff or frills but want the legal writings to get straight to the point.

My husband was ticketed for violating the Basic Speed Law, although he drove in a way to preserve his personal safety. Therefore, in order to prevail, we needed to address EACH and EVERY element of the law and why it was inappropriate for the officer to cite my husband for it. Here is an example below:
Thus, in the trial by written declaration, we did not need to tell the judge that my husband w
'wasn't going that fast' or that 'our car needs work and couldn't go that fast' because your speed is not the issue when you are cited for CVC 22350; your sound driving judgment is at issue when you are cited for it! Therefore a proper response is this:

"I was driving on East on --- Road in the right lane on 2/2/10 and the weather was overcast but there was visibility up to about a mile in front of me. The traffic on the road was intermittent and light, the road surface was smooth and navigable without obstructions. At the intersection of --- Road and --- Blvd, I saw a truck driving on the right side of the road at alternately high and low speeds. Given the erratic behavior of the driver, I decided it would be safer for me and other drivers on the road if I got away from that truck. As I began to accelerate to get on the left side to pass the truck, it began to accelerate to match my speed, then slowed down, I accelerated until I passed the truck on the left and then signaled and moved over to the right side of the road. I was pulled over by Officer --- at the corner of ---Road and ---Ave. He said that I was going 64mph and cited me for violating CVC 22350. However, in the interest of justice the court should be moved to dismiss this ticket since it was inappropriately given to me.

The weather was overcast but the road was clearly visible, the road conditions were reasonable and the traffic was light. I drove defensively in such a way as to AVOID an accident, taking care not to further endanger people and property. I acted with good driving judgment and likely avoided an accident that day. For this reason, I move the court to dismiss this case.

I certify that everything I've written is true and correct, and if called to testify in a court of law, I would do so."


Notice how you don't deny going 64mph because that was not the issue. The issue was weather you drove appropriately and safely given the conditions of the road. And within the context of the law you DID. Hehehe We got the dismissal from my husband's case in the mail today.

They will refund our money within 60 days;)