Three window clerks at the East Orange motor vehicle office have been nabbed for selling phony drivers licenses. Investigators say they got $800 a pop for the fake IDs, which sold on the street for as much as $3000.
Meanwhile, a study by Standard and Poor’s for the state’s Motor Vehicle Commission suggests, among other things, that inspection stations in Montclair and East Orange be closed and replaced with a new one in Bloomfield.
Just what we need in Bloomfield, another non-ratable that pulls in more traffic.
First the recruiter bashers in GR and now the anti-MVD in Bloomfield.
Doesn’t *anyone* believe in civic duty anymore?
Can we have civics back on the school curiculum again, please?
“The decline of Rome was the natural and inevitable effect of immoderate greatness. Prosperity ripened the principle of decay; the cause of the destruction multiplied with the extent of conquest; and, as soon as time or accident and removed the artificial supports, the stupendous fabric yielded to the pressure of its own weight. ”
– Edward Gibbon
p.s. I guess we need spelling refresher courses for aging conservatives back on the cURriculum as well.
Roc –
You know no historian has accepted Gibbon’s explanation of the cause of the collapse of the western Roman empire for more than 50 years. Not that I’m calling you an aging conservative. Interestingly, many now attribute the inability of the Romans to defend themselves to economic reasons. Kennedy’s argument in “The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers” may be more apropos: military overstretch leads to financial difficulties leads to forced pullback. Note that the eastern Roman empire (the Byzantine) was much richer, generally less ambitious and lasted another thousand years or so. It was also (as noted by Gibbon) known for its extraordinary decadence.
(The interesting part of Kennedy’s thesis is our situation with burgeoning national debt. It always seems funny to me that the Europeans complain about the Iraq war and yet they’re the ones funding a good deal of it.)
I’m not sure that bemoaning an inspections station next store counts as decadence (or overreach, for that matter).
But if having it is so great, why don’t you keep it in Montclair?
“But if having it is so great, why don’t you keep it in Montclair?”
Well, it is not up to me! Or my fellow Montclair Denizens. However, I am happy to keep it wherever the state feels it will serve the public need the best. If in Montclair, so be it.
But, by far the best thing is that when comparing MVD facilities to the Fall of Rome, I can always count on you Lex to go along for the ride!
Lex, are you suggesting that the Byzantine Empire is a good model? And here I thought you were a secularist!
I saw this on the news last night, and was not at all shocked to see one of the suspects in an orange jumpsuit. He waited on me last week at DMV in East Orange. I remember being sorely disappointed that despite what Jim McGreevy told us all in his commercials that it is still the same old treatment. This guy in particular was polite, but he looked like a bum, and I remember thinking, how could he have possibly gotten this job? He had on ripped jeans, a dirty shirt and workboots! And he actually did look like a criminal! He put me through the mill, going over my paperwork for the new digital license, because I had been married, divorced and re-married, but I had all the paperwork linking the name changes. I guess I should have just offered him a few bucks, and saved myself some time! The receptionist there told me to “sit over dere”, motioning to one side of the room, but not any particular seat. After a few minutes she said “Whatchoo doing dere?” When I replied I was sitting like she told me, she said I was in the wrong row of seats!! I’m telling you I get more respect at the drive-thru of McDonald’s. What is it with DMV? And would moving it to Bloomfield, Montclair or even Glen Ridge make any difference in the type of person that they employ?
Another thing I don’t like is that you now have to make an “appointment” to have your car inspected in Montclair! What the…? I mean, it’s not like getting your legs waxed or your teeth cleaned., it’s a state mandate! This appointment nonsense just adds insult to injury.
But, at least I am off the hook until 2008, having bought a new car.
Roc –
Well, since everyone else refuses to discuss Gibbon with me, I jump on the chance to discuss it with you.
I certainly wasn’t holding the Byzantines up as a role model, merely to show that immorality and decadence don’t topple empires. The single most important event that led to the toppling of the Byzantines (IMHO), was the overspending on the Hagia Sophia, and other public works that left them unable to afford an army that could fight the turks once the cannon was invented and Constantinople’s walls were easily breached.
Decadence was the theme of Livy, Cato and almost all of the other Roman “historians.” Gibbon, while amazingly accurate given his limited sources and lack of any significant archeological data, based his history on them. Would be like if a historian of 3304 based his history of the US on taped broadcasts of the Daily Show (or Rush Limbaugh for everyone but roc, cathar and Miss M.) Generally accurate about major facts but distorted regarding interpretation.
Livy’s dissapointment with Rome was the decline of the peasant landowner–people who had an incentive to fight for Rome other than money. When this class died away, replaced by landlords, a professional army was instituted. This led to the decadence he so despised (as it has in every economy.) But, although the professional army was not good for the moral or secular values of Rome itself, it was extremely effective at maintaining and extending the empire, as long as it got to keep the booty. When the booty was gone (no more rich lands to conquer) so was the ability to field a large army.
“Another thing I don’t like is that you now have to make an ‘appointment’ to have your car inspected in Montclair!”
Another thing that I LIKE about the inspection facility in Montclair is that you CAN make an appointment! On the Internet! Just choose a time from what’s still available, and book it. When you show up your name is on their list, and they take you in turn! It’s a beautiful thing.
Lex,
every time I get into one of these with you I swear to God in my head I hear this music:
https://tinyurl.com/6pbum
(listen closely, at the very end you can hear the *precise* moment I lose the argument and slink off to my red state cave)
You are definitely Spock. I think I am the guy with silver hat who walks with his eyes closed and rings the funny bells:
https://tinyurl.com/5dmh5
And Barista is the Lady with the funny hat who says:
https://tinyurl.com/4l5xx
Anyway, isn’t building the Hagia Sophia while not paying enough attention to strategic military concerns precisely decadence? I think it is.
Rather like worrying about the ecological impact of the using a mere 2000 of 16 million acres of ANWR to recover oil which would LESSEN the power of the Saudi’s over us.
Same kind of decadence if you ask me.
ROC: You made my day with the Star Trek music…thanks!
Well the Hagia Sophia was a church, so I’m loathe to call building it decadence.
Sorry if I was being overbearing, that’s why nobody will argue Gibbon with me (not to mention that barely anybody reads Gibbon anymore, props for that.)
But don’t feel all red state, Gibbon was a favorite of Jefferson, among other of the founding fathers (as I’m sure you know), who were better than both current camps.