{"id":1460,"date":"2007-04-17T19:57:58","date_gmt":"2007-04-18T00:57:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/jesus-take-the-seatbelt\/"},"modified":"2007-04-17T20:00:36","modified_gmt":"2007-04-18T01:00:36","slug":"jesus-take-the-seatbelt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/jesus-take-the-seatbelt","title":{"rendered":"Jesus, take the seatbelt"},"content":{"rendered":"

Welcome to NJ, dear readers! It’s the state where three consecutive governors have suffered broken legs while in office! Given that our state’s biggest cultural export is the Sopranos,<\/a> this is starting to get a little suspicious. . .<\/p>\n

Our most recent gubernatorial leg-breaking occurred when Jon Corzine’s SUV wiped out while traveling 91 mph up the Parkway<\/a>. The guv was on his way to a Lady Knights\/Imus summit, and this was important enough for his driver to blow 26 mph over the speed limit and chase cars out of the left lane. Not a smart idea, given how terrible the drivers are in NJ. You’d think he at least would’ve worn a seatbelt. (Fortunately, I wasn’t on the road with them, because I probably would’ve stayed in the lane and pretended not to see the lights.)<\/p>\n

Anyway, the Agitator has a nice piece about the story, and the phenomenon of politicians using “official business” as an excuse to push people out of their way<\/a>:<\/p>\n

When you live in the D.C. area, this kind of thing happens all the time (not the accident, the VIPs taking over the road), and just from personal observation, I’d say it’s happening more frequently. There seems to be an increasing feeling among many politicians that their meetings, their business, and their appointments are somehow more important than everyone else’s. Therefore, they can fly down highways, ignore red lights, and purge everyone else to the side of the roadway. If they can get their own police escort or caravan, even better.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Welcome to NJ, dear readers! It’s the state where three consecutive governors have suffered broken legs while in office! Given that our state’s biggest cultural export is the Sopranos, this is starting to get a little suspicious. . . Our most recent gubernatorial leg-breaking occurred when Jon Corzine’s SUV wiped out while traveling 91 mph … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Jesus, take the seatbelt”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1460","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics-implicit"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4C7K-ny","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":445,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/dodging-bullets-like-keanu","url_meta":{"origin":1460,"position":0},"title":"Dodging Bullets Like Keanu","author":"Gil","date":"January 22, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"The official VM girlfriend & I are off in St. Louis, visiting family (mine) and friends (hers). While we've been pissed off about the weather here (15 degrees, insane winds), it's nothing compared to the stuff we narrowly missed at home. To quote Weather.com's severe weather announcement:...NORTHERN FAIRFIELD CT-NORTHERN NEW\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2187,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/this-pier-lights-our-carnival-life-forever","url_meta":{"origin":1460,"position":1},"title":"This pier lights our carnival life forever","author":"Gil","date":"August 2, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"As mentioned in my previous post, we spent last Tuesday at Sea Bright, NJ and environs. Part of \"environs\" was Asbury Park. We went here when I was a little kid, but I don't remember a darn thing from those trips. 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I opened the door, and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "suburbs"","block_context":{"text":"suburbs","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/suburbs"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1899,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/ice-flow","url_meta":{"origin":1460,"position":3},"title":"Ice: Flow","author":"Gil","date":"February 13, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Today could've been a disaster. My flight home from Belfast was scheduled for 11:15am, and the client had arranged for a car to pick me and another editor up at our hotel at 8am. 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I've never been one for, well, belonging, so I'm surprised by how much I enjoy going to greyhound meet and greets and events like this past weekend's\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Adventures in Rufus and\/or Otis"","block_context":{"text":"Adventures in Rufus and\/or Otis","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/adventures-in-rufus-and-or-otis"},"img":{"alt_text":"Amy, Rufus and Bizzys Barker, Sept. 21, 2008","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/farm4.static.flickr.com\/3139\/2880726370_afc8112010_d.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1802,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/a-gala-night-is-about-all-i-can-handle","url_meta":{"origin":1460,"position":5},"title":"A Gala Night is About All I Can Handle","author":"Gil","date":"November 29, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Last night's \"black tie optional\" event turned out to be pretty slanted toward tuxedos. 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