Ha!  I remember this episode.  Leslie Knope trying to sound incompetent is a hoot.

I’ve been told that one of the best things you can do if you’re pulled over for a traffic offense (and female) is to cry.  Even today.  I don’t drive in a way that’s likely to get me pulled over so I haven’t had a chance to do it, but cops do kinda freak me out, so I probably could.

Another example of “taking advantage” of being female, just like Ladies’ Night.

Does Ladies’ Labor Day end at 6:12pm (75.5 percent of the day), I wonder?  That’s about when the dishes get cleared away and lunches for school get made.

One of the three times I ever got pulled over for speeding, I actually *was* crying because I had to leave town to go look for a job and didn’t really want to leave yet.  The trooper saw me crying, he asked what was wrong, I explained, and he let me off with a warning.  Net result: I thought “Hey, that actually worked out okay” and I cheered up a bit.

Traffic cops are the reason I never put any political bumperstickers on my car, ever.

Happy Labor Day.

Now for some serious thought:

http://www.tnr.com/article/politics/77457/why-i-miss-big-labor

“Parks and Recreation” became a much funnier show once they realized that Leslie should be the one competent and caring person surrounded by incompetents.  When she actually was a stupid character, you didn’t care, because everyone on the show was stupid.  When it became a story about super-competent Leslie trying to herd all of these cats into doing their jobs, it became a much better show.

Definitely.  They wanted to make her the female Michael Scott at the beginning, and then came around to realizing that it’s more interesting to let a female character be wholly herself.  The Ms. Pacman model works better in primitive video games than on TV.

I could never do that.  Since I always drive carefully and all, I have just argued with the cop on the few occasions I’ve been pulled over.  Not rudely of course, because I *am* Older, after all, but, for instance when a cop tried to convince me that I had made an illegal turn, I said “No, sir, I did not.  The light was green and I was legally turning left onto a one-way street.”  He said, “Didn’t you see me behind you?” and I said “Of course I saw your vehicle behind me, about a block and a half back among the traffic.  But I don’t drive differently just because someone is watching.  Besides, with all that traffic, I don’t think you could see my car very well.”

This always works although it is time-consuming.  Does the other way work?  I always thought that was a joke.

My way worked for my teen-age son, not with the cop, but with the judge, when he went to court.  But even though he got off on the ticket, the judge felt compelled to lecture him on the wrongness of his ways, and how he must never again do what he had just proved, with his evidence and his *witnesses,* that he didn’t do.  Got to keep these young folks down, you know.

But it looks like I’ve been working too hard all these years, when I could have just —*cried?*

Leslie Knope is actually totally my hero at this point.  I’m also a public servant and Parks & Rec is pretty much my favoriteist ever show.  I’m just waiting for that guy to come in (because that guy comes in once a month at least) to rant about how “He pays my salary!  So I should do what he says!”  which always has me saying to myself, Yo, Dude?  By your logic, which is that some tiny portion of the taxes *you* pay goes to my salary, means that also, some tiny portion of the taxes *I* pay also goes to my salary, maybe I even pay more taxes than you!, and thus, I will do the things I feel are best for the community, and not you and your need to store heavy-load trucks illegally on a residential street, or you and your need to let your house rot to the point that the cockroaches are overtaking the neighborhood, or you and your need to have more tenants in your rental property than is safe, or…  Why is it always *that guy*.  It is literally always a guy.

What’s the context for this scene?  Did she actually shoot some guy in the head?

Not available outside the US. Fail.

#3 - I guess I probably shouldn’t get that “Blasphemy is a victimless crime” bumper sticker, then.

She didn’t shoot a guy in the head.  She’s covering up for someone who did—-someone male—-because that guy didn’t have a hunting license.  Don’t worry.  Shot dude wasn’t hurt that badly.

Laboring today, (as every day, lately) and as always contemplating the need for a freelancers’ union. Thanks for relieving the tedium of the day!

I overheard some Tea Party types who said Labor day should celebrate childbirth—women in labor.

Did they follow that up by suggesting that pain relief for laboring women was a sin against god?

Genesis is pretty clear on the matter, Amanda.  Tampons are also against God’s will!

Furthermore, shrimp, but that comes later.

I didn’t stick around…  Trying to reason with teabaggers is less successful than discussing quantum physics with my cat.

re: labor day should be about women giving birth: I always look at it as “because women don’t do any other work, amirite guyz!?”

Also, MaryL - that response song is made of awesome.

@17 James

I honestly thought that was what Labor Day was for until I was at least 10. 

I guess this completely disproves the theory that the Tea Party acts like a bunch of spoiled children.

Genesis is pretty clear on the matter, Amanda.  Tampons are also against God’s will!

What?

I tried to get into this series, but the first ep was tortuously slow, boring, and too reminiscent of The Office, except without the excitement of a paper company office. Does it get any better?

Hope you’re enjoying your day off, but I thought you’d be champing at the bit to dig into last night’s outstanding MAD MEN.

The one time I was completely at fault when I got pulled over, I was 20 and at the end of my tether.  Being a dude with tears in his eyes who must have looked like the picture of guilty misery seems to have worked.  The cop would have been dead to rights to nail me on a reckless driving charge, and he chose to kick down to an improper lane change.

I got off the road and took a nap after that, and resolved never to drive again while exhausted physically or emotionally.

@ curtp, I was trying not to bring it up since she hasn’t written about it yet, but that was the only episode I ever watched the 11 pm rerun of.  Wow.

My recent ticket was a farce.  I was driving on cruise control at 55 on CA-41 and a truck was closing to pass me, when a cop turned on his lights.  He pulled me over and said I was going 74.  In court, I showed that radar would return the larger cross-section of the truck.  The cop said “I must have been guilty since I pulled over when he turned on his lights.”

$400 of revenue enhancement for Kings County.

Happy “Conservative Unions Made Up This Holiday To Compete With May First” Day.

@28 James - Obviously. If you were innocent you would have gunned it and shook him off in a high-speed chase. Duh.

@snobographer

But..but…if he were innocent then he would have had nothing to worry about and actually should have encouraged the officer to search every inch of his car while providing at least three forms of proof as to his citizenship.

This shit is all too confusing for me.

@Athiest - I’m sure he had his long-form birth certificate pasted up in his windshield, like any sensible American.

@James at 17:

You know, I agree with them!  I think today we should all be thinking about women in labour.

But for me, that looks more like this:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TbBtIQ16Wwg&feature=related

#3 - I guess I probably shouldn’t get that “Blasphemy is a victimless crime” bumper sticker, then.

Well, it’s a double-edged sword. The cop that pulls you over could be an atheist. Or he could be an evangelical.

I know if (God forbid) I was a cop and pulled over someone with a DON’T TREAD ON ME! or NOBAMA! bumpersticker, I’d at least subconsciously be harder on him than someone who didn’t broadcast the fact they’re a teabagger.

You know, I agree with them!  I think today we should all be thinking about women in labour.

But for me, that looks more like this:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TbBtIQ16Wwg&feature=related

Or, we could honor these women:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04VNBM1PqR8

James on 17: I’d agree to this on the condition that Americans start celebrating May 1st, the real worker’s holiday. Politics is all about horse trading..

  The above was a joke and not meant to be taken seriously.

One thought about Labor Day:

Since the Soviet Union has been extinct for nearly 20 years now, and Stalinism isn’t a threat to anyone outside of the Korean Peninsula, can’t we celebrate it on May 1st like the rest of the world? Especially since May Day originated in the United States?

Pssh, Ben D. That’s Kenya Communist Usurper talk.

What do you have against free market competition?

On July 23, 1894, Canadian Prime Minister John Thompson and his government made Labour Day, to be held in September, an official holiday. In the United States, the New York parade became an annual event that year, and in 1894 was adopted by American president Grover Cleveland to compete with International Workers’ Day (May Day).

Thanks, Wikipedia, for that peculiarly American phrasing.

Another depressing article on the state of Labor from Joan Walsh:

http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/joan_walsh/politics/2010/09/06/when_blue_collar_dreams_became_identity_politics/index.html

It doesn’t surprise me Grover Cleveland would do something like that. We’re talking about someone who mad a name for himself by vetoing a bill to reduce the ridiculous fares charged on the NYC elevated trains at the time.

Why did he veto the bill? Because then railroad baron Jay Gould might make $15 million in profit instead of $20 million, so shut up, that’s why!

He was also a hero of Reagan’s. I rest my case.

Oh, I almost forgot:

He vetoed pension bills for Civil War veterans, since he couldn’t find the explicit words “veteran’s pensions” in the Constitution.

So, did you fight to save the Union and free the slaves from bondage? Too bad! Go eat dog food in your old age.

He was the 19th Century version of Ron Paul.

Ben D:  I was pulled over for merging in front of a cop without sufficient signal.  It wasn’t much signal, but there wasn’t much place to signal… Else I’d have confused the truck in front of him.  I think he did it ‘cause of my bumper, which was painted with “smile” and “peace”.

He didn’t show in court.  So I got out of the ticket.

Also, I always felt Labor day as being the opposite of May day.  Interesting that it’s true… But One seemed about getting together and helping each other work - while the other was about making sure that everyone had a day off before the summer changed over.

James, that doesn’t surprise me, Kings County is pretty much Tulare County without the Sierras or the charm

HA! That’s sounds just like Kings County! bass-f-ing-ackwards. I grew up there & I once got pulled over less that a quarter mile from one of those *perfect circle go 20mph or crash onramps* and was told I was clocked at 95. I asked the cop “Are you out of your goddamn mind?!? What is your badge #?” When he asked why I told him I would be calling my grandpa, the former sherriff, while he was running my license. When he gave me my license back, he told me he wasn’t going to give me a ticket -this time. It’s the only time in my life I’ve ever told someone “yeah, and you fuck right off” in response to “have a nice day” but damn if it wasn’t satisfying. Sometimes I think the cops there pull people over simply because they are bored of sitting there WAITING for something, ANYTHING to happen.

*note: this only works if your grandpa is, indeed, the former sherriff. bonus-it won’t ruin your makeup like crying does

Ben D at 41: OTOH, Grover Cleveland also opposed the imperialist shenanigans of Americans in the Kingdom of Hawaii. Thats why they had to wait till McKinley was in office to get annexed into the United States.

I cried every time I got pulled over by a cop, but it was just hysterical nervous crying.  I think they can tell the difference, cause I never got out of a ticket.  I even tried that “It’s just too much car for me!” dumb-girl move much like Leslie in the video when I got pulled over in the ‘68 Firebird I was putting through its paces.  Still got the ticket.

The only time I’ve gotten out of one was when driving an ex’s BMW.  The cop pulled me over, walked up, asked me if I knew how fast I was going (which, yeah, I did).  I said, “Have you ever driven one of these?”  He said yes.  I said, “Then you know how it is.  You have no idea what speed you’re doing.  If I could find the dang cruise control, I wouldn’t be in this situation.”

The cop went back to his car, wrote me a ticket for going five over the limit, and showed me where cruise control was.

Actually, there is a lot of childbirth activism on Labor Day. Several cities in Colorado hold “Birth” on Labor Day (BOLD) events, which feature a play about birth, fairs, and such.

It’s the only time in my life I’ve ever told someone “yeah, and you fuck right off” in response to “have a nice day” but damn if it wasn’t satisfying.

I got away with that, once.

Back in 1985, I was flying back from London to Newark when one of the engines had a problem and the plane had to return to Gatwick.  We had a choice of hotel or voucher, I chose a voucher because I was staying with friends—who had taken vacation the day I left.  So, I didn’t get much sleep and arrived home 24 hours late.

I rolled through a stop line in the Newark airport parking lot, and was pulled over by a port authority cop.  He asked for license and registration.  I handed over the license looked for the registration.  He went to write two tickets, one for failure to stop, and one for failure to present registration.  When he came back I had the registration in hand.  He refused to take it, saying I had to show it to a judge.  I refused to accept the ticket, so he wrote me up for resisting arrest, at which point, I said, “You’re a cock-sucking mother-fucker.”  At that point, we went to the Newark municipal court.

The cop told his story, and I told mine.  (Keep in mind, this is a judge who is usually adjudicating serious felonies, not traffic offenses.)  The judge said, under NJ law, you can present the registration at any time during the stop, and dismissed that ticket.  He then said that under New Jersey law, it is not illegal to resist an illegal arrest, and dismissed that.  Then he said, “Under the circumstances in question, the defendant’s description of the police officer in question was accurate.”  I was given $10 for court costs and all was dismissed.

“Under the circumstances in question, the defendant’s description of the police officer in question was accurate.”

Lawl.

“Tell the truth and shame the devil!!”

That’s what my mother used to say, Older

Lee:

Hey, Hawaii gives us four reliable Democratic electoral college votes and two Democratic Senators!

On a serious note, Hawaii was going to become a colony of somebody in the 19th Century. By that time the western powers + Japan were racing to claim worthless rocks in the Pacific as colonies, and Hawaii is much better than that!

Ben D: I don’t think so. Hawaii was pretty good at maintaining relative independence despite a declining population. It took quite a bit of work for the American expats to get the United States to annex Hawaii.