Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed 750 bills in 2007 and vetoed 214. Several of those laws have to do with operating or owning motor vehicles with most becoming law on January 1, 2008.

SMOKING IN VEHICLE WITH MINOR PASSENGERS – SB 7 (Jenny Oropeza D-Redondo Beach) – Makes it an infraction punishable by a fine not exceeding one hundred dollars ($100) for a person to smoke a pipe, cigar, or cigarette in a motor vehicle any time a minor is present in the vehicle.

SPEED CONTESTS - SB 67 (Don Perata D-Oakland) – This legislation by the Senate President pro Tem curbs dangerous sideshow activity and reckless speed contests and reenacts the provisions of Senate Bill 1489. The emergency measure was chaptered and became effective October 14, 2007.

SPEED CONTESTS - AB 430 (John Benoit R-Bermuda Dunes) – Cleans-up code provisions relevant to previously approved legislation which increased the penalties for drivers engaging in reckless driving and motor vehicle speed contests. The new law includes reckless driving on a highway, reckless driving in an off-street parking facility, or exhibition of speed on a highway within the scope of various other existing statutes.

TRAFFIC VIOLATIONS ADJUDICATION – AB 645 (Mike Feuer D-West Hollywood) –Prohibits the courts from dismissing serious traffic violations through completion of a traffic violator school program or any other court-approved programs for safe driving. Serious traffic violations are those that would result in the assessment of two negligent operator points.

CONSUMER PROTECTION – SB 729 (Alex Padilla D-Van Nuys) – Creates the Consumer Motor Vehicle Recovery Corporation to manage the $5 million recovery fund to compensate consumers who have suffered monetary loss as a result of a vehicle dealership closure or insolvency. A $1 fee will be collected by the DMV on each vehicle sold by a dealer or lessor/retailer. This fee cannot be passed on to the consumer.

CELL PHONE USE - SB 1613 (S. Joseph Simitian D-Palo Alto) – Requires the use of headsets or speakerphones while talking and driving. Offenders can be fined $20 for their first infraction and $50 for each subsequent ticket. The bill allows exceptions for calls to law enforcement agencies for emergency purposes, or emergency services personnel while operating an authorized emergency vehicle. In addition to these exceptions, commercial truck drivers, tow truck drivers and operators of farming vehicles are also exempt. Governor Schwarzenegger actually signed the bill in 2006. EFFECTIVE 7/1/08.

WIRELESS TELEPHONE PROHIBITIONS – SB 33 (S. Joseph Simitian D-Palo Alto) – Prohibits a person under the age of 18 from driving a motor vehicle while using a wireless telephone, even if equipped with a hands-free device, or while using a mobile service device, as defined. EFFECTIVE 7/1/08.

Flying well-equipped for business and pleasure gets a bit more complicated on Jan. 1, as the U.S. Transportation Department bars travelers from packing loose lithium batteries in checked luggage.

 

The move is designed to help minimize the risk that such batteries could overheat and catch fire on board, the agency's Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration said in a statement on Friday.

 

The new rules say travelers can bring a laptop computer, digital camera, cellphone and other equipment on board or in checked luggage if their lithium batteries are installed in the items.

 

And flyers can bring spare batteries in carry-on luggage if they're stored in plastic bags or if they're in the original retail packaging. But travelers can bring only as many as two such spare batteries, and each must be packed separately.

 

Additional points about lithium content:

 

Passengers can fly with lithium-ion batteries containing no more than the equivalent of 8 grams of lithium content. All lithium-ion batteries in cellphones and almost all laptop-computer batteries meet this rule, the agency says.

 

As for spares, flyers can bring as many as two, but the batteries' total lithium content must be less than 25 grams.

 

And for lithium-metal batteries, whether installed in a device or carried as a spare, the maximum lithium content is 2 grams per battery. Almost all consumer-type lithium-metal batteries meet this rule, the agency says.

Next time you think "It's not my business" or "It's not my concern"or"It' won't happen to me", somebody sent me a poem yesterday, a poem that reflects on what happens when people think that way and turn a blind eye.

Back in the late 1930's a lot of things were happening in Europe, and people decided to turn their eyes the other way, bury their head in the sand, it was called the "spirit of Munich".  A state of mind that allowed the infamous Hitler to invade most of Europe, Western Asia, most of the Middle East and North Africa while murdering millions of opponents and implementing the "final solution"  the extermination of the Jewish population in the occupied countries.  He almost succeeded, by the end of the war, 2 out of 3 jews had been murdered before the war's end.

This amazing poem at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. reads:

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First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out -
because I was not a Socialist.
Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out -
because I was not a Trade Unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out -
because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me - and there was no one left to speak for me.

I have harbored these ideas for a long time, but it’s the first time I see them written down in such a powerful way.  Something to think about….. next time…..

http://www.ushmm.org/

Scammers and crooks decidedly are getting really creative. I have not been the reciprient of this phishing scam, but you might want to be aware of it.

This has been verified by the FBI (their link is included below).
Please pass this on to everyone in your email address book. It is spreading fast so be prepared should you get this call.

Most of us take summons for jury duty seriously, but enough people skip out on their civic duty, that a new and ominous kind of scam has surfaced.

The caller claims to be a jury coordinator. If you protest that you never received a summons for jury duty, the scammer asks you for your Social Security number and date of birth so he or she can verify the information and cancel the arrest warrant.

Give out any of this information and bingo; your identity just got stolen. The scam has been reported so far in 11 states, including Oklahoma, Illinois, and Colorado.

This (scam) is particularly insidious because they use intimidation over the phone to try to bully people into giving information by pretending they're with the court system.

The FBI and the federal court system have issued nationwide alerts on their web sites, warning consumers about the fraud. Check it out here:

http://www.snopes.com/crime/fraud/juryduty.asp

http://www.truthorfiction.com/rumors/j/jury_duty_scam.htm

http://www.fbi.gov/page2/june06/jury_scams060206.htm

 

During my year as a sales manager at Us Divers where I was in charge of the swimming products division, I spearheaded the association of our products with the triathlon market and in particular the Ironman Triathlon series.  For those not familiar with the Ironman, it’s probably one of the most grueling and most enduring extreme sport competition.

 

Imagine swimming 2.4 miles, racing a bicycle 112 miles and running a full marathon back to Back to back.  The best professionals finish in a little more than 7 hrs.  usually starting at 7am, the cutoff time is midnight.  I have seen amateurs running way past midnight to finish the race even though they would not be counted as Ironmen or women.

 

I must say it was a privilege to be associated with the ironman series and go on every rave to work with the organization, our retailers and most of all, the exceptional people competing, and I am not just talking about the professionals.

 

The amateurs, age groupers as they are called are just as exceptional as the professionals in this race, they do it to push their limits, some endure excruciating pain and exhaustion.  To reach the point where the mind takes over so that the body can keep on going.

 

Why?  Somebody once said “because it is there”.  They do it for the love of the sport of triathlon, some are fitness fanatics, triathlon fanatics, you could say single minded.  You have to training hours at the time, day in, day out, for months, sometimes years, in addition to your regular work. 

 

They are executives, professors, homemakers, blue collar workers, from their late teens to their eighties.  Some were handicapped, and believe me, they were achieving things we would not think of doing in our worst nightmares. 

 

They sometimes sacrifice everything to be able to compete and to be called Ironman or Ironwoman.

 

My favorite of all, unfortunately I cannot remember his name, but his story is engraved in my mind.  He was the oldest at the time, 84.  After Pearl Harbor the army refused to let him join because of his heart.  As he likes to tell, that doctor is long dead and he is still competing in the ironman.

 

I remember as if it was yesterday, it was the first Ironman California and it was late, just before cutoff time and we were waiting for him.  He was maybe not a hero, but somebody we all admired.  Every race he entered, the organizers, some of the volunteers, the sponsors, we would not leave until he crossed the line. 

 

That year, in 2000, in Camp Pendleton, we were waiting for him, as we would many times (he did not just race one Ironman a year) and as an homage, a squad of Marines waited for him and ran with him, escorted him to the finish line.

 

As I write this, I still get emotional.  I am not sure I can ever do it, but I am eternally thankful to have been associated with such an event and met such extraordinary people (too many to count)

 

Next time the Ironman is on TV,  watch it.  They usually feature the stories of some of these unknown athletes, show what some of them had to overcome and what they did to get to the starting line.

  Most of the competitors are people like you and me, who set out to achieve the extraordinary.  Most of their names will never be known or remembered, most of their names will stay in the shadows, but they will basque in the sun for they will have become Ironmen and Ironwomen and no one can ever take that away from them.