California’s scofflaw First Lady has done it again – two traffic offenses in one muffin-eating sitting in fact.

TMZ has broken out pictures of Maria Shriver eating a muffin in her car, parked in an expired parking meter.

Although a parking officer attempted to issue a citation to the Kennedy scion for the traffic offense, a man who introduced himself as a member of the CHP Dignitary Protection Unit convinced the officer not to ticket the governor’s wife.

According to reports, Maria then drove off from the scene of the traffic violation (without even bothering to put a quarter in the meter) and this time, she drove without wearing her seatbelt!

Santa Monica authorities say that Maria would have only been exempt from parking laws if she were on official business and indicated it by placing a placard on the car’s dashboard.

But unfortunately, Maria who is once again the poster girl for California traffic laws violation was in Santa Monica for shoe shopping and muffins. Hence, TMZ has cheekily dubbed Maria’s latest traffic gaffes as “Muffin Gate”.

It is utterly ironic and hypocritical that California’s public figures are also the ones caught red-handedly violating their State’s traffic laws.

In fact, just this week, Maria’s husband, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger was also pictured to have parked his Porche convertible in the red zone.

According to the laws in California, in stopping, standing, or parking alongside a red curb is prohibited. Likewise, CA has a mandatory seatbelt law which requires that no person shall be allowed to operate a motor vehicle unless he and passengers 16 years of age or over are properly restrained by a safety belt.

Husband and wife both did not get cited for their traffic infractions.

Whatever happened to public officials leading their people by example and upholding the law they are sworn to protect?

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Alexandra Kerry is finally free of any DUI charges.This came after prosecutors declined to pursue charges against her for insufficient evidence.

The incident in question started when Alexandra was stopped by an officer for an expired registration.

Earlier, Kerry was arrested for suspicion of DUI but the breathalyzer showed that she only had .06 BAC. It is well under the .08 BAC limit in California.

Many would raise an uproar that she probably got off the hook for being the daughter of John Kerry.

However being the daughter of a senator and a former presidential aspirant was not really what cleared her.

It was her BAC.

It is routine in California for prosecutors to stop pursuing DUI charges against drivers who passed a breathalyzer test.

Since Alexandra registered a .06, under the law even if she did have a few drinks, she was technically not under the influence of alcohol.

The exception would probably be for drivers aged 21 and below where a BAC of .01 % can already result to an automatic 1 year suspension of driver’s license.

Anyway Alexandra is far from being a minor and the prosecutors found insufficient evidence that she was under the influence.

That should serve as a conclusion on this issue.

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While most female DUI arrests are commonly associated with Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan (the young party-hardy girl type), it is interesting to point out that a lot of women caught driving under the influence are older women, as in mothers and wives.

It seems that no one is too young or too old to be wise enough to not drink and drive.

In fact, in Northern Virginia, the 76-year-old wife of a United States Senator was recently charged with two misdemeanors of driving while under the influence and hit and run.

Republican Senator Richard Lugar of Indiana’s wife, Charlene Lugar was pulled over by an officer from the Fairfax County Police after seeing smoke coming out from under the hood of her car and the damage on the vehicle.

According to the police, the senator’s wife also hit a parked car and left the scene of the accident some two miles from where she was stopped.

The senator and his wife, in a statement said that were deeply sorry and embarrassed over the accident and that it was fortunate that no one got hurt.

A mother from New York was not a lucky as Senator Lugar’s wife. A few months ago, Diane Schuler killed herself, her daughter, her three and three other men in another car in a wrong-way crash.

She was described by family as a loving mother but at the time of the accident, the authorities have reported that she had a 0.19 blood-alcohol level and traces of marijuana in her system.

The DUI figures for female drivers are certainly alarming, not only are the numbers rising (in 2008, 21 percent of female drivers in fatal car accidents had BACs at or above 0.08 percent), the numbers cut across all ages.

While lady drivers aged 21-30 years old whose BACs ranged from 0.08 percent to 0.15 percent and above took the lion’s share for most fatal DUI crashes, the rest of the female age group also marked significant numbers.

It just goes to show, driving under the influence is a crime that can be committed by anyone, even by a 76-year old wife of a United States Senator.

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As the saying goes, “If you can’t do the time, don’t do the crime”.

East county residents (or at least, those with outstanding traffic warrants) got a rude awakening when the Sheriff’s Department assisted by officers from the El Cajon and La Mesa police and the California Highway Patrol conducted a sweeping arrest.

The sweep targeted 750 people with outstanding warrants for driving under the influence and misdemeanor violations such as driving under a suspended license and reckless driving. Majority of the warrants were for DUI.

The operation which started at a very early 6 o’clock in the morning, was dubbed as Highway 67 Arrive Alive Campaign. However, only 67 arrests were made from the original target.

Several of those arrested also had more than one warrant of arrest issued against them and according to the Sheriff’s Department, 105 warrants were taken off the books. The 67 people arrested were booked into county jail and will likely face enhanced penalties.

While drunk drivers are obviously road hazards, drivers who operate their vehicles recklessly and pay no heed to traffic rules are just as dangerous.

A lot of the times, while people seem to think DUI is harmless or that speeding isn’t dangerous at all, these drivers often learn their lessons too late because of a tragic car crash they have triggered because of their driving behavior.

For a lot of motorists and pedestrians, every minute these drivers are allowed to drive is a threat to their security and safety. Enforcing the law through warranted arrests is one way of pre-empting drunken car crashes or motor vehicle accidents caused by the reckless driving.

Some lessons are learned through tragedy and some are learned through the enforcement of laws as they should be.

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Before going out and buying toys for your kids, you should know that a California based advocacy group found that some toys in the market have a high level of lead in them.

You would think that we would be over this by now after a slew of product recalls were made over lead-tainted toys in 2007. It turned out that we are not done with this as even popular brands such as Mattel and Disney were included in the list of affected toys.

In fact, the Center for Environmental Health found high levels of lead on a Barbie Bike Flair Accessory Kit and a Disney Tinkerbell Water Lily Necklace.

They also found excessive lead in Dora the Explorer Activity Tote, 2 pairs of shoes, a belt for boys and children’s poncho.

The Office of the Attorney General has already sent letters to different retailers like Target and Wal-Mart that they had lead-tainted products on their shelves.

Mattel said that they licensed Bell Sports for the Barbie bike accessory but did not make or sell it.

Bell, on the other hand, said the kit was an older product that passed safety tests in 2007.

Disney also commented that the Tinkerbell necklace was tested by its licensee, Playmates Toys, before it was distributed.

Whatever the reason is, these brands should seriously consider recalling the said products and getting them out of the shelves immediately.

They do not want to be the recipient of product liability lawsuits for lead-related personal injury suits in the future.

Lead is a very dangerous chemical that can cause irreversible brain damage. These companies do not want to be responsible for the spread of this kind of disability, to children no less.

So it may be costly to do a product recall but it would go a long way in preventing any damage a lawsuit can do to the image do the company.

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