After weeks researching what kind of used car to buy, the choice was down to Toyota or Nissan, and I finally settled on a 2004 Toyota Echo. Unfortunately, I never thought of checking out the dealer’s service department. I should have listened to my daughter, she loves her Nissan and the service department treats her well.

I took the Echo in to Toyota service department for what I thought would be a minor headight adjustment. When the lights were on dim there was absolutely no visibility. If I went down an incline or over a bump I couldn’t even see 6 feet in front of the car, because there was this black line – a definite division between the light shining and it just being totally obscured and dark. I should have got a clue when it took the service guy 2 hours to set the lights higher, but I paid the bill and went on my way. The next time I used the car after dark I found lo-beam was working… not as good as I like, but acceptably enough. However the brights were set so high that they didn’t shine on the road, but way up into the trees and were so high that they even made a street light go out.

So I took the car back to the good ol’ boys in the service dept and told them low-beams were now better but asked them to adjust the high beam. The guy said that the design is such that the highs and lows are attached and so he would have it set back a bit. Also he advised new headlights so I took his word and had some installed, this of course didn’t make a bit of difference because the problem was not the lights but the obscuration which the good ol’ boys are now for some reason not believing.  At any rate, the lights were reset for the second time and once again when they are on dim they have become useless because of this black line obscuration and I can’t see the road more than a few feet in front of me… 6 feet when going down an incline or over a bump, no better than it was when I originally took it in and possibly even worse.

For the third time I made a trip back to the good ol’ boys in Toyota service with the car. Each time they see me they are becoming more surly. I tried again to describe the problem and to explain that it is a safety issue because the road is obscured by this black line and I can’t see the road to drive.  This time a good ol’boy condescended to take me out in the parking lot and give me an lesson on how modern headlights work, describing  cats eyes and mirrors etc. Then he took off with the car and drove it around the building so he could put the lights on some wall which I guess indicated to him that they are indeed shining to his satisfaction.  When I insisted they are not working properly and that I can’t see to drive with them he started yelling at me out in the parking lot that they are set to specifications and there is nothing wrong with them, and I just don’t understand how they are supposed to work.

I asked him if they would at least set the lights back so that at least I could use them on dim for the time being. He said that if they did this I would be blinding the oncoming cars and they would be flashing their lights at me. I said if they didn’t set the lights back I would have to drive on high-beam all the time so I could see the road. He refused to have them reset.  He said I could leave the car overnight and I told him I need it to get around because my husband is in the hospital; and I live 20 miles out of town. He never offered me a courtesy car or anything,  just walked away.  I don’t know who this miserable bastard was, but I have a feeling he was the service manager.

I had to drive all the way home and pick up our other vehicle so I would be able to drive home after dark. This is not over by a long shot and I do not give up. It took seven years but I beat the WCB, I give these lowly cretins a week.

… more to follow …

…the American president was in a jovial mood.

In a television feed of the event, Bush at one point can be seen putting his arm around Nigerian President Umaru Yar’Adua.

“You’re a good man, you’re a good man,” says the president.

Bush then wipes his finger below his nose and calls for the attention of Harper.

“Yo Harper. The president of Nigeria.”

more

U.S. jets could patrol Vancouver during Olympics: Norad

Ensign John McCain graduated 894th from a class of 899 in his Midshipmen class in Annapolis. 5th from the bottom. He wasn’t much of a jet pilot either, although his family connections were impeccible. During his relatively short stint on flight status, McCain lost five multimillion dollar U.S. Navy aircraft, four in accidents and the one in combat where he was shot down.

We all know McCain was captured and tortured by Vietcong. However horrible being tortured must have been, in McCain’s case it wasn’t the least bit character building.
After finally returning to the US from Viet Nam he was reunited with his wife, Carol only to find that she had been in a serious car crash and was physically changed. He immediately started womanizing, and soon after left his first wife for Cindy, a younger, blonde heiress.

Here is an in depth profile of John McCain.

Speculation is rife that Obama is just another corporate puppet, however there is a new twist to that theory. Today it was announced that Friend of Bilderberg, James Johnson was released from his duties on Obama’s running mate selection committee. The reason given was his shenanigans related to preferential mortgage treatment from Countrywide Financial, but I have a feeling that Obama is his own man and it may go deeper than that.

Hopefully the final selection of his running mate will bear this out by not being a Bilderberger preselect.

Despite significant public outcry, Bill 32 went into effect without any vote in the Legislature today. The enabling legislation sets the private courts system Trade Investment and Labour Mobility (TILMA) into motion, ceding the right to corporations to sue local governments and other entities for regulations deemed to impede profits.

“For the past year and a half the Minister for Economic Development Colin Hansen has repeatedly promised that TILMA would be debated and voted on,” says Carleen Pickard, regional organizer with the Council of Canadians. “It is incredible that there has been no discussion on an agreement that will lower standards across the two provinces and undermine local government autonomy. The government has gone to extreme measures to make sure the public knows nothing about it.”

The controversial agreement, signed secretly between the BC and Alberta premiers in 2006, came into effect on April 1, 2007. Some components of the agreement came into effect immediately while others will take effect in 2009, when the agreement will fully apply to municipalities, and other government entities. While the signatories believe TILMA will increase business and competition between the provinces, critics are outraged that the governments see fit to override local decision making and democracy for the benefit of corporations.

A recent legal opinion by lawyer and trade expert Steven Shrybman indicated that the ban on junk food in BC public schools through the Healthy Schools initiative could be challenged by an Alberta food and beverage distributor seeking a contract in BC. Under the Bill 32, the Alberta corporation could successfully argue that the ban was impeding their ability to do business in BC and sue for up to $5 million.

“TILMA and TILMA-like agreements are being discussed across the country. In British Columbia, the government has failed to convince the public that TILMA is a good agreement and taken unpopular steps to enforce it. People are outraged, other provinces should take note of this” says Pickard.

Obama has left Hillary in the dust and is going after that old self styled ”maverick” McCain. He made these statements about the Iraq invasion at the Great Falls, Montana rally.

“There are honest differences about how to move forward in Iraq, just like there were honest differences about whether or not we should go to war. John McCain was for the invasion of Iraq; I opposed it. John McCain wants to continue George Bush’s war in Iraq indefinitely; I want to end it. So there’s going to be a clear choice for the American people this November.

“But that’s not what John McCain’s been talking about the last few days. He’s been proposing a joint trip to Iraq that’s nothing more than a political stunt. He’s even been using it to raise a few dollars for his campaign. But it seems like Senator McCain’s a lot more interested in my travel plans than the facts, because yesterday – in his continued effort to put the best light on a failed policy – he stood up in Wisconsin and said, “We have drawn down to pre-surge levels” in Iraq.

“That’s not true, and anyone running for Commander-in-Chief should know better. As the saying goes, you’re entitled to your own view, but not your own facts. We’ve got around 150,000 troops in Iraq – 20,000 more than we had before the surge. We have plans to get down to around 140,000 later this summer – that’s still more troops than we had in Iraq before the surge. And today, Senator McCain refused to correct his mistake. Just like George Bush, when he was presented with the truth, he just dug in and refused to admit his mistake. His campaign said it amounts to “nitpicking.”

“Well I don’t think tens of thousands of American troops amounts to nitpicking. Tell that to the young men and women who are serving bravely and brilliantly under our flag. Tell that to the families who have seen their loved ones fight tour after tour after tour of duty in a war that should’ve never been authorized and never been waged.

“It’s time for a debate that’s based on the truth, and I can’t think of anything more important than how many Americans are in harm’s way. It’s time for a debate that’s based on how we’re going to end this war – not a debate that’s based on raising a few dollars for John McCain’s campaign.

“The American people have had enough spin. Just this week, we were reminded by President Bush’s own former spokesman of how it was deception – not straight talk – that misled the American people into war. It’s time to cut through the tough talk so that we can be straight with the American people about a war that’s cost us thousands of lives and hundreds of billions of dollars without making us safer. It’s time to end the political game-playing so that we can finally end this war. That’s what I’ll do in this campaign. And that’s what I’ll do when I’m President of the United States.”

Bravo Dennis!

Millions of Americans cared enough to vote a Democratic majority into congress with the expectation that they would end the illegal invasion of Iraq.  However,  nothing changed.  Nancy Pelosi’s first announcement on becoming speaker was that impeachment is off the table.  And congress is whipped into rolling over and giving Cheney/Bush whatever they want.

Dennis Kucinich is the only one speaking for the people.  

You couldn’t make this stuff up.  Just more proof of the old saying that military intelligence is an oxymoron. Be sure to read the entire story. They’re trying to pin the blame on the prisoner’s lawyers.

From the Guardian: – Guards at the Guantanamo Bay prison camp found two prisoners sporting unauthorized underwear, and the U.S. military is investigating to determine how they got the contraband.

Both prisoners were caught wearing Under Armour briefs and one also had on a Speedo bathing suit, items the military said were not issued by Guantanamo personnel or sent through the regular mail, according to a Defense Department letter obtained Friday by The Associated Press. …

I’m sure the poor sods being tortured over in America’s gulag would rather have a cutting torch or even a file rather than a pair of tacky underwear. 

Was this story reported by any of the American “news”, or are they still too busy bilging on about Britney’s latest meltdown or Paris finding God.