offTheHill » Politics

An open letter to the Massachusetts RMV

pardsbane — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 22:35:38 +0000

Today (January 13, 2009) I went to the Wilmington RMV at 4:30 pm to register a new car. Upon arrival, I asked for registration, and without waiting I was called to Booth 12. “This is going well” I though, “no waiting!”.

As soon as I reached booth 12 however, the clerk behind the counter took and immediately aggressive tone with me. She told me I couldn’t register my car without a bill of sale, then asked, “Didn’t the insurance company tell you that?”. What sort of passive aggressiveÂ interrogationÂ is that? Obviously not, or I would have brought my bill of sale. She then asked, “How else will we know how much you paid for it?”

I then had the temerity to suggesting that I thought the sale price was written on the title. “Do you see a place for the price?” she asked.Â

At no point was I aggressive, rude, or even insistent, however, I was treated as if I had been wasting hours of the clerks time.Â Tail between my legs, I had no choice but to drive the 30 minutes back to work.Â

Only after arriving back at work did I realize:

1) The title DOES have a spot for sale price. In fact, its the first field on the back of the title.

2) I had the bill of sale for the new car in the glove box of my current car. Perhaps if I hadn’t been so abused, I would have remembered that, and I could have saved my self AND THE RMV some time and money.

So I’m left wondering:

What is it about the RMV that requires the clerks to abuse their customers?Â
Why don’t the RMV registration clerks, who work with titles all day long, not know the back of the Mass Title form has a place for price of sale?Â
Do I actually need a bill of sale?Â
What have the drivers of Massachusetts done that they must beÂ treated like complete idiots?Â
What was so important that the clerks in Wilmington couldn’t spend a few minutes at the end of a long day being a wee bit nicer?

Shame on me for not thinking faster on my feet or remembering to get the clerks name.

Shame on the RMV for being such an inhospitable hell hole; Its reputation is well deserved.

Thanks for your time and I look forward to your response.

McCain Campaign Lies about Obama Tax Votes

pardsbane — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 04:30:00 +0000

According to Factcheck.org, a non-partisan project of the University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg Public Policy Center, the McCain campaign is skewing the true, to say the least, about Obama voting to raise taxes.

The full details can be found here, but this is the most telling quote to me:

Annenberg says a close look at the record reveals that Obama has “voted consistently to restore higher tax rates on upper-income taxpayers but not on middle- or low-income workers.”

In other words, sure, Obama supports raising the taxes on corporations and those people making more than 1 million dollars a year, but everyone else gets a tax cut. I don’t know about you, but I’m not close to making a million a year (unlike McCain)!

Update from the We Are Doomed Department

pardsbane — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 15:27:19 +0000

Sweet: I loveÂ Fear Mongering!

Since I haven’t mentioned that the world (and us, by association) are doomed lately, I thought I’d share this little gem, sent to me by a co-worker:

Has Sarah Palin Been Picked as the Titular Head of the Coming Police State?

Basically, Sarah Palin is the forthcoming puppet president of a cabal bent on controlling American through fear. Sounds like severe haircut ladyÂ from Cory Doctorow‘s book Little BrotherÂ (which you can download for free under the Creative Commons licenses)

Sarah Palin’s Friends Won’t Admit to Voting For Her

pardsbane — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 03:58:02 +0000

A friend pointed me to an article in the Huffington PostÂ today that included a video clip with her closest friends discussing politics. 3 out of 4 of them refused to say who they were voting for. Also, they revealed Sarah Palin hates cats.Â Damning evidence if I ever heard it.Â Also included at the end of the clip is a bit where PalinÂ says the war in Iraq was “from God”. Thanks for the news flash, I thought it was from some guy we didn’t elect with a daddy complex.

Republican Hypocrisy Caught On Tape…

pardsbane — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 20:41:13 +0000

I’m sure Democrats have done similar, but the double standards and hypocrisy shown by Karl Rove, Bill O’Reilly and the rest of the conservative pundits in this clip is astounding. No one could have such a rapid change of heart if they honestly believed the words they were uttering…