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I'm thinking of a song. Follow me below the dingledoodlesquiggliedividerthingie fold and tell me if you know which one...
You may remember I was down in NJ visiting a friend when Irene blew through and thanks to a dead sump pump, his basement flooded. His insurance capped at $10K, which as you'd guess isn't nearly enough to deal with removal of wet belongings and wallboard, restoration of the walls and floors, and refurnishing the place. They found a reasonable contractor to help with removal of damaged rugs and wallboard, and put it at the curb for removal... and in their garage, since there was a LOT of it.
He received a letter today from his Township, letting him know he's in violation of the trash code. He's allowed 4 bags of trash a day plus 1 "bulk item", meaning it'll take a couple of years to get rid of the trash unless a special "post-Irene" exception is allowed. Nope. He lives on a street that was not "seriously affected" so no special pickups. He was told he could "hire a private contractor to remove it." Being unemployed and seeking work at the moment, hiring someone to pick up the garbage seems unfair. Especially since if he'd lived on another street... say, one "near a creek"... they'd have picked it ALL up for free and without complaint.
The town suggested he could spread the garbage out amongst his neighbors to stay under the limit. He counter-suggested that the trash guys pretend he had, then pick it all up at his house.
The maximum consequences of being out of code for this seems to be a fine of $2000, 90 days jail and 90 days community service per DAY the trash is outside. Doesn't it seem like the cost of prosecuting him for violating the ordinance and the even higher cost of incarcerating him, is a LOT higher than simply picking up the trash and letting one private citizen who did not WANT the contents and walls of his basement on the curb in the first place get back to the work of reconstructing his home while searching for employment?
So... did you guess what song I'm thinking of?
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Brillig's ObDisclaimer: The decision to publish each nomination lies with the evening's Diarist. My evenings at the helm, I try reeeeallllyy hard to publish everything without regard to content. I really do, even when I disagree personally with any given nomination. "TopCommentness" lies in the eyes of the nominator and of you, the reader - I leave the decision to you. I do not publish self-nominations (ie your own comments) and if I ruled the world, we'd all build community, supporting and uplifting instead of tearing our fellow Kossacks down.
From ursoklevar & JanF:
I nominate KelleyRN2's comment(s) in today's Cranky Users diary. The best one is this, in reference to the Help Desk
From Land Of Enchantment:
Sometimes it's best to start with the punchline - in this case Julie Gulden's - and work your way back up the thread.
Laughter may not be the best medicine ('cuz there's also morphine) but it's still pretty good: psychodrew on the new badge system.
From Ginny in CO:
If tax cuts created jobs.... This is from brabc1 on Jed Lewison's post needs jobs. So let's pass the damn bill. Note the first reply from hkorens was to show off a new sig line: the above quote.
From sardonyx:
In AZ Independent's excellent diary explaining the San Diego blackout, davidwalters not only gives additional important information, but in replying to his own comment, gives us some interesting facts about sabotage.
Thanks to mik I bring you Top Mojo for yesterday, 9/8/2011, first comments and tip jars excluded:
1) Wow. by blueoasis — 281
2) Could you teach any of the Dem leadership how by lineatus — 210
3) As a retired engineer/public employee... by JeffW — 183
4) Thanks....having seen the purges before by SallyCat — 139
5) indeed it is! by Cedwyn — 135
6) My observation is that pie fight diaries by SallyCat — 134
7) Thank you! by Elizabeth Warren — 127
8) Thank you for doing this. The toxic by blue jersey mom — 120
9) You know the CFPB has to be effective by blue aardvark — 111
10) Scared to comment by Colorado is the Shiznit — 110
11) Yar. Old Testament style moderating by Geekesque — 96
12) REGULATED capitalism is the only by PsychoSavannah — 95
13) Especially since Scott Brown by Dallasdoc — 88
14) I bet this makes the top of the rec list by GlowNZ — 86
15) I hesitated about doing a meta diary... by Giles Goat Boy — 85
16) once upon a time, during a flame war with armando by wu ming — 83
17) You missed your chance to hit the guy in the by lakehillsliberal — 83
18) bob sed dat hee got bant by Bob Johnson — 78
19) i sense a candidate for the great purge by Anton Bursch — 75
20) Approx 2 hours ago I was offered a job by dogdad — 74
21) And you can kiss my ass (n/t) by Trix — 72
22) Loved your diary - except for using a "little by gustynpip — 69
23) But, but, but... He's PROUD of killing people. by polecat — 69
24) i have a photo from primary war days by jlms qkw — 67
25) Tip this comment by jpmassar — 66
26) I find an easier way to silence such folk... by Corporate Dog — 64
27) LOL! Trust me. While I occasionally pretend to by gustynpip — 63
28) Dumb and inhumane. by Fury — 61
29) Glad you're back. by TomP — 60
30) Wow...this place must have been real by Morgan Sandlin — 59
31) That is all kinds of stupid, not to mention by middleagedhousewife — 59
32) Sure was.... by Morgan Sandlin — 59