Rob Sherman Advocacy   
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"Fighting injustice, one victory at a time."

 

Liberal News and Commentary
Thursday, December 19, 2002

Clear Lens Tail Light Dispute
Draws Angry Reader Responses

      The Rob Sherman Advocacy project to ban clear lens tail lights has drawn substantial e-mail in recent weeks.  A number of web sites for customizers and mini-truckers have informed their readers of my efforts.  This has inspired many to send me e-mail to express their concerns.

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      Brian A. wrote to ask what I had against the type of tail light that he was planning on purchasing.  Here is a picture that he sent me of those tail lights:

      I wrote back to say:

Your tail lights are fabulous.  They look terrific.  Any law that is proposed with my help will be to outlaw clear lenses where you don't see any red.  Your lenses clearly display plenty of red, and look far better than what's on most cars today.
 
I'm not trying to ban your type of tail light.  Instead, I'm trying to ban lenses such as the kind on this '95 Honda Accord and this '94 Honda Civic Hatchback.  These tail lights are apparently sold by lightlens.com.  Not all lenses sold by lightlens.com are a problem.  It is only these types, because you can't see any red when you look at them.
 
On the other hand, I really like this model, of what appears to possibly be an '84 California Brunette, from lightlens.com.
 
Thanks for writing.  Please let your friends know how much I like your new look.

      That was the e-mail that I sent to Brian in reply to his comments.

      Brian thanked me for my reply and assured me that he hadn't intended to be rude.  Brian wasn't rude, but another e-mail named Brandyn was. 

      I've been getting a lot of e-mail like this one that was received from former Hotmail customer Brandyn D.  The following is a cut-and-paste of Brandyn's entire message, so the mis-spellings, incorrect punctuation, bad grammar, lack of capital letters and foul language all belong to Brandyn:

thanks for being one of the most stupid drivers in the world. why?
Because you cant tell the back of a truck or car from the front...yopu have such
a shitty knowledge about cars that on your web site you refer the "evil
taillights" to headlights.....what a genius....i hope to god you dont
get elected we gont need another stupid motherf (deleted by Rob Sherman) holding a public office
seat....i want you to reply........

      Oh, I responded, and quite promptly.  My response was to forward his e-mail message to the Abuse Department at Hotmail, where I noted the Terms of Use provisions of their service.  Most e-mail services and most internet service providers have similar provisions.

      Paragraph Eight of Hotmail's Terms of Use is entitled, "Use of Services."  It provides, in pertinent point and among other things, that:

You agree that when using a Communication Service, you will not:

      I asked the Abuse Department what they were going to do about the account holder who sent me a message containing language that was abusive, harassing, profane, obscene and indecent.  They replied the very same day with the following message:

I am sorry to hear that you have received the above mentioned harassing e-mail in your account. I apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused and look forward to providing you with appropriate assistance today.  

Following up with your issue, I would like to inform you that, I have closed the account "platinumteeth19@hotmail.com" that you reported in accordance with the Hotmail Terms of Use (TOU). It is a strict violation of the TOU for our members to send objectionable material of any kind or nature using our service.  

      I enjoy hearing from those of you who visit my web site, even those of you who vigorously disagree with my perspectives.  If you think that I am completely wrong about a particular issue or even wrong about everything that I say and do in life, I want to assure you that you are definitely not alone.  However, I warn you to keep it clean or you, too, will risk having your e-mail service provider cancel your account.  Cancellation will occur on the spot, without advance notice and without second chances.  So, be careful, because I don't get mad;  I get even.  This isn't school.  When you play with me, you're playing in the adult world.  I'm approaching my 50th birthday in a little more than three months, so I don't have to put up with your foul adolescent mouth. 

      Write to me, but keep it clean, and for some of you customizers and mini-truckers (not all of you, just some), could you also work on your spelling and punctuation a little bit?  You wouldn't want to come across as have the mental capacity of someone in junior high, would you?

         Rob Sherman          

P. O. Box 7410
Buffalo Grove, IL  60089-7410

A post office box is used because
the street address uses a curb mail box,
which is not secure.

Telephone:  (847) 870-0700

Fax:  (847) 870-1156

E-mail:  rob followed by the at symbol followed by robsherman dot com