no offense - lack of coffee

for a few years i worked in the finance district in boston, and the path from the train station to the office passed through a small park, marked by what appeared to be crystal chimneys - each rising from the street with a grate below it that breathed warm air in the winter, giving the monument a sort of translucent breath. niemoller was quoted in stone at the entrance to the memorial, where i could not miss it as i walked through.

end of OT!

 

Yea, because nobody has any mods on their car, and nobody ever speeds, and everyone does 3 second stops at stoplights, and passes on the left then moves over. Everyone waits for the pedestrian in the cross walk to get to the other side and touch the sidewalk again. Nobody's ever broken any laws before right?

We're on a car forum. 90% of the people ON here have illegal mods done to their car. Seriously folks, we break 10-15 laws a day just going about our lives. Most of them aren't enforced because they're outdated or just plan idiotic.

Think about a city like New York, how far you'd get in a car if you waited until the pedestrians got to the other side of the street before you went. It'd take 3 hours to go 5 blocks. Cops don't enforce those laws (The cops with a brain at least) because it's not practical.

Likewise, the ONLY purpose of this raid was to spend money slated for MUCH NEEDED road repairs (Have you ever driven in the Inland Empire? Didn't think so...) to get MORE money by issuing BS tickets for cold air intakes, exhausts, window tint, front license plate violations, and other crap.

I forgot about my front license plate ticket I got (Story above somewhere). I got a notice in the mail 2 days later saying that my license had been revoked, and I had a bench warrant out for my arrest (Because I don't have a license plate on the front of my car). And I had to IMMEDIATELY pay a $700 failure to appear fine or it would go up to $1200 and they'd send police to my house to arrest me.

Naturally I was scared shitless and called that day to pay for it with a credit card ($25 processing fee). How many of those a year do you think they get? If 1,000 people a year (California issues millions of tickets like that a year) pay up, they make 3/4 of a million dollars.

It's about money. Nothing else. BS like this keeps cops busy while people are out getting raped, robbed, and murdered. I had to wait nearly an HOUR at my house for the police to come when I called them and told them there was a mentally unstable person in the house with a weapon.

Our security guards (Lived in a security patrolled area) were at the door in 1:30 seconds, guns drawn. If it hadn't been for them who the hell knows what would have happened. When I got in a major accident a few years ago, we waited at the scene (when I should have been at the hospital) for TWO HOURS for an officer to show up and write a police report up (He was there for 3 minutes, spent about 1 with each of us, wrote it up, and left).

They were probably pulling people over for tinted windows.

 

Yep - like the saying goes, "Call for a police officer, an ambulance, and a pizza, and see which one shows up first..."

 

Vegas with oceanfront property!!I grew up in LA and don't miss it a bit.Back in my bug days I was pulled over for BS all the time.Then I had to deal with cop parents and all their BS.

 

I respectfully disagree. It starts with illegal search and seizure, justified in the public eye by not-so-accurate rationalization in the media such as "there were illegal drag races going on." Soon, it will be our protected second amendment right, justified by loads of fictitious statements and ludicrous claims that everyone who owns a gun is a terrorist and hunting is the only valid reason to have a gun.


California is on it's way. Hitler's regime acted in a similar fashion. You just never know until it's too late.

Hence, my disagreement.

 

Just remember, there are three different "Californias". Southern, Northern, and Central. I happen to be in the best "Central". Let the flaming begin

 

Easy money... seems to be the trend with police departments these days. I hope the people who gave this the OK get demoted or better yet fired as they have no concept of "protecting the people".

 

1. How many deaths are DIRECTLY caused by "street racing"? Statistically, drugs and alcohol kill the most people- so why not go bust the drug dealers and liquor stores selling to underage kids?

Perhaps that wouldn't yield revenue?

2. Can anyone else turn their telescreens off?

 

Not reality...actuality!!

 

 

There wasn't any street racing, the stupid media just thinks any time a bunch of people gather in one location that have cars that are modified that it's for street racing.

Read my previous comments about media hype leaving a bad taste in the general public's mouth about modified cars in general.

Who the hell goes to a parking lot at 9pm to street race, there's plenty of ricers driving around at any time to do that. You don't need to be stupid enough to have 200 people show up to a parking lot and race around the parking lot.

 

Re: the OT. Ben Franklin said it best. See below.
-skip-

 

Wow! Reminds me of an IQ test...that was failed miserably.

Some morons modify their cars and enjoy racing them on the street. Many law abiding citizens modify their cars and occasionally take them to the track. From these two statements we can conclude that anyone who modifies their car is...

A) a moron.

B) a law abiding citizen.

C) a rock star.

D) none of the above.

 

What a sad affair, just another reason to avoid the US.
Talk about a police state!
Reminds me of the stupid action of cops over here a couple of years ago,
At Rally Australia 2 x top WRC drivers were defected on a local road on their way from a stage to service, 1 of whom was told he could not continue.
This was an international event on the worlds stage & the outcome was affected by some moron cops who let their power go to their head.
As my grandfather once said; if your no good at anything else you can always become a cop.

 

It's not JUST the U.S. though unfortunately- look at Canada or England- they have control over YOUR healthcare, they control the guns (the gov't and the criminals atleast), and in England they can trace you via cameras when you go to buy a newspaper (there are some 14 cameras per British citizen!).

New world order, here we come!!

(We should watch what we say... we are all now on a government watch list due to the Patriot Act.)

 

There really aren't any guns in the UK, you're more likely to be stabbed than shot. Honestly we'd be a lot better off here if we adopted the same practices. Violent crimes don't exist in the same percentages that they do in the US (We have some of the highest crime rates in the world for violent offenses).

Yes, they control your health care, they also don't pay anything for it, people don't die because their healthcare coverage denies a treatment because they don't want to pay for it. I spend more money a month (As a healthy 21 year old non-smoking male) for my freakin health insurance than I do for my car insurance (And the coverage blows, they don't cover a thing until I spend about $1500 out of pocket ).

Yes, they have hundreds of cameras all over London, and they use them to identify car thieves, bank robbers, and other criminals. What's so bad about that? I'd love to know when someone broke into my car, or who stole my mom's purse, or what the license plate number was of that car that smashed into mine and took off was. Are you doing illegal crap walking down the street that it's a problem?

Sidenote: You think the US is any better? At least in the UK you KNOW they're spying on you, in the US they just listen in to your phone calls without telling you, make secret pacts with your ISP to read your E-Mails, intercept text messages, etc. All secret government spying programs. The NSA has capabilities that people here read about in science fiction magazines. Thinking we're any less watched than our comrades on the other side of the pond is just naive.

I can hop on windows live search and in 30 seconds look at satellite images that are so clear you can make out the type of car people drive. If I can pull these up:





What do you think the big boys can do?

 

Read a book over your shoulder. Easily.
-s-

 

unless sombody stands up and trys to stop this, they will keep getting away with it......

 

This discussion about the round-up at the car enthusiast get-together has gone a bit off-track (pun intended). Let's avoid the political chat and stay on-topic.

 

I have read the posts and the news story. I have a license plate on the front of my car because it's required in my state. It's the law. I have insurance. I have current registration. I have legal tinted windows. I have not had a ticket or been stopped for any reason for 20 years or so. I drive the speed limit. I stop at stop signs and of all things red turn arrows. I have no mods on my car. (I always put that money into my 401K for retirement.) Retired at age 53.

I find most of the posts here seem to agree that the police are just after the money and have no right to arrest you for violations of the law. You need a front plate on your car if it's the law where you live. You need insurance and registration no matter where you live.

Of the 150 or so cars at the 11:00PM "meet", the article says 20 were towed. Why do you think they were towed? Not because they were missing a front plate. There is more to this story. The police were there for a reason.

I support the police and their efforts to keep our roads safe. If your car was
licensed, insured, and legal in every way, then you would have no problem on the street or in a parking lot at 11:00PM.

Motor on legally and safely.

 

If the police searched the cars w/o search warrants, the owners' permission, or probable cause, the owner's civil rights were violated, whether they had illegal modification on the car or not. I'll freely admit to not having all of the details in this case, I wasn't there nor do I know anyone who was, all I can rely on in the words and accounts of others. My feeling is that an aero kit and / or an aftermarket exhaust tip or muffler should not equate to probable cause however. Even if it does, the mass ticketing of non-violent offenders should not be taking priority over other more important law enforcement activities, such as responding to domestic violence calls, shot fired, moving violations, etc.

Just because you have never had an issue with the police when you were not guilty doesn't mean that this doesn't happen hundreds of times a day to others.

 

Thats good . But you have NEVER sped, ever? Yea right. Your 53 and freaking boring. I'm sorry there is more to life than retirement accounts. My 70 yearold Father-in-law drives a BMW motorcycle all over the country, go out and have some fun . I'm 48 and my wife is 49, I have a 03 MCS and have fun with it, she has a 03 BMW Z4, and has fun with it .

 

I JUST GOT ONE OF THOSE LETTERS IN THE MAIL ON FRIDAY, SAYS MY LICENSE IS SUSPENDED AND I HAVE TO PAY $800 DOLLARS. I GOT A TICKET LAST YEAR!!! LASSSST YEAR IN FEBRUARY FOR FRONT PLATE AND TINTS. THE TICKET NEVER GOT FILED BECAUSE APPARENTLY HE WROTE THE WRONG VIOLATION CODE, OVER A YEAR LATER, I GET A NOTICE SAYING THE CODE HAS BEEN FIXED AND I GUESS SO HAS MY BAIL AMOUNT, BTW I DONT EVEN OWN THIS CAR ANYMORE LOL...STATE IS IN A BUDGET CRISIS AND THEYRE JUICING INNOCENT PEOPLE FOR MONEY...THE PART THAT DRIVES ME NUTS IS, THE OFFICER MADE THE ERROR FAILED TO CORRECT IT FOR A WHOLE YEAR, BUT THE BLAME GETS PUT ENTIRELY ON ME (IVE ALREADY GOT MY LAWYER GOING IN TO TAKE CARE OF IT TODAY SO NO WORRIES)...BUT CAN SOMEONE PLEASE POINT ME TO THE GUY IM SUPPOSED PICK MY BONE WITH?

 

caps lock is cruise control for cool.

 

sorry i was working in a spreadsheet and left it on and when i realized, i typed too much to go back lol