Jeff's Stuff

The other day a local Chinese restaurant did something illegal. It's not the first time that it's been done. It happens over and over again in this country and most people don't even know that it's a crime.

Saturday morning I went to put the letter in my mailbox. When I did, I discovered two menus for take-out Chinese restaurants stuffed in my mailbox. Now we've all had take-out menus shoved under doors, left on doorsteps, etc. However, did you know that putting anything in a mailbox is a federal crime? It is illegal to go into somebody else's mailbox for any reason, unless of course you work for the post office and are in the process of delivering the mail.

Clearly, the proprietor of the restaurant in question was trying to save some money by passing out these leaflets rather than paying the postage to mail them properly. I can understand this. Postage is expensive. Mailing lists are expensive. Still, that does not change the fact that what they did was a crime.

What makes this all the more serious is the fact that persons engaging in identity theft often use junk mail like this as a way to obtain personal information on their victims. It usually works like this: a person drives up to your mailbox, opens it and puts in a menu for a local restaurant or other junk mail. The trouble is, sometimes they take things out as well. It might be a Social Security check, it might be a bank statement, it might be a credit card bill, or any number of other things containing personal information.

Once the thief has this information, they are well on their way to making your identity their own. You will then spend countless hours and significant money trying to regain your identity and good credit.

The moral to the story is, if you see someone put something in your mailbox, confront them. Get their license number. Take a photograph if you have the chance. But be sure to take whatever they put in your mailbox along with any information you collect and pass it along to the postmaster of your local post office or contact the postal inspector.

Oh, and the Chinese restaurant that started this discussion... I tried to call them on the phone and politely asked them not to put things in my mailbox. I try to explain that it was illegal to do so. The woman who answered the phone refused to let me talk to anyone else. When I explained what happened, she hung up on me.

We've all seen it. There seem to be an endless supply of people lacking common sense on the roads today. People driving their cars while on their cell phones. Hell, I've seen people sending text messages while driving. I've seen people using PDAs while driving. I've seen women putting on makeup while driving. I even saw a guy shaving (with an electric razor) while driving. I've even seen idiots reading while driving. I'm not talking about some moron who has to check his map to find out what exit to take. I'm talking about the guy who doesn't want to miss a single word of the latest John Grisham novel. I've seen it all.

Well, at least I thought I had. Apparently, I am extremely naïve. Never in a million years would I expect to see what I saw today. If I wasn't able to get a photograph (I at least wasn't driving while taking the photograph) I never would tell the story. After all, who would believe me?

But officer, I had to play. My radio is broken!

Continued...

With all the recent flooding in the Northeast, I want to ask a question. This is a question that has been bothering me for quite a while.

Anytime there is large-scale flooding, you see video of politicians racing to the scene (so they can be seen as having done something). They offer state and federal aid to the flood victims.

I don't have a problem with this. I am all for helping my neighbors in times of natural disasters. What I do have a problem with is governmental stupidity.

Here is the scene. A family who just lost their home to a flood is shown in tattered clothing, dirty, tired, and scared. They look into the camera and tell us how they are so devastated by the events that nature has brought upon them. Then they tell us how they only rebuilt last year.

And here lies my question. Why does the federal government pay people to rebuild their homes after devastating floods? I can understand if after such an event happens, the people are compensated, and move to higher ground. In the event that these people are "attached" to the land, it becomes their choice to rebuild. I do not however think that I as a taxpayer should be made to cover the costs of rebuilding a house that I paid to rebuild already. If they are that insistent to live in a clearly flood prone region, that is the risk they should be willing to bear, not the taxpayers.

I don't mean to be cold and callous. I don't mean to be insensitive. I just think that if you want to live in a place with an inherent risk, you shouldn't expect someone to compensate you when you finally experience a loss. The first time it happens, you are entitled. The second time it happens, don't look for a handout from me.

It reminds me a little of some footage I saw of people standing around their homes on the big Island of Hawaii. They were watching the lava from Kilauea slowly approaching their homes. You saw people crying as their house became engulfed in flames.

I simply watch the video in astonishment. Here were people crying their eyes out because their house burned down. Their house burnt down. Their house, that was built next to an active volcano, burnt down! Why were they surprised? What did they think would happen? They built a house on an active volcano! I'm fairly certain that my five-year-old son could have worked out what would happen. Why couldn't they?