my smog check: a tale of corruption

have you read the recent LA Times expose of Las Vegas' corrupt judges? They're a hilarious bunch- but nothing beats the first few paragraphs of this story from yesterday's paper:

Family Court judge jailed, accused of hitting girlfriend

By MIKE KALIL
REVIEW-JOURNAL

A highly respected Clark County judge who presides over divorcing spouses' disputes was arrested late Tuesday on allegations he battered his girlfriend.

Family Court Judge Steve Jones, 48, was released from the Henderson Detention Center about noon Wednesday after spending about 12 hours jailed on a misdemeanor count of domestic battery.

He left the jail in the embrace of two women and the same clothes he was arrested in: sneakers, khaki shorts and a blue T-shirt emblazoned with "Who's Your Big Daddy?

In smaller news, I went to get a smog check today so I can register my car here in Nevada. It's important that I clarify that my car's exhaust system is completely normal, and well within the passing range. Nevada, however, recently passed a law that requires all smog checks to be performed through the car's computer system. And my car's computer system has some problems. These problems don't have anything to do with the running of my car OR MY EXHAUST SYSTEM, so I'm not inclined to spend more than 500 dollars to fix them. Which I would have to do if I wanted my car to pass the Nevada smog check. Even though they could just stick that tube thing into my tail pipe for 3 minutes to test it manually and it would pass. It's like having to be weighed-in for something but not being allowed to just use a scale.

Fortunately, this dude who comes in my bar all the time owns a garage, and for 50 dollars his mechanic hooked the computer system checker up to a Dodge pick-up truck that has a functional computer then replaced the Dodge's information with my own.

I love bureaucracy.