Carpundit

More on Those Turnpike Tolls

No toll relief is to be expected on the Massachusetts Turnpike.  Apparently the state's Inspector General (who was nowhere to be seen during the Big Dig), has determined that the Turmpike Authority cannot replace the western toll revenue with revenue from the service plazas.  Why?  Because

...money from the lease of the service plazas can  be used only for the operation and maintenance of the turnpike.

It's a self-perpetuating authority.  It exists to take care of itself.  It is because it is.  "Operation and maintenance of the turnpike" means turnpike authority salaries - patronage jobs.  Shut down the authority, and the plaza revenues should be plenty to cover the extra maintenance cost incurred by the Massachusetts Highway Department.

It's not the tolls I object to, it's the organized criminal enterprise they fund.

Don't Blame Me...Well, You Know the Rest

Governor-Elect Patrick, whose coronation is scheduled for next week, is spending more of our money already.  He's reversing spending cuts Governor Romney put through.  Meanwhile, no one's buying any houses here, even as the rest of the country picks up.  Who would want to move here?

It's going to be a long four years.

Hey, Nice Wires! Let's Build the House Right Under Them

At the Boston Herald, Jay Fitzgerald has the story of a man who spent his last dollar building a new house that he can't live in - because it's too close to power lines.  Jay took a nice tone with piece, setting forth the facts and the various fingers pointing, but I can't muster any sympathy at all.  How could anyone be that stupid?  If you took any science at all in grade school, or any physics in high school, you'd know that was an untenable plan.  Am I being too hard on the guy?

Thoughts On Learning of the Death of President Ford

I had three quick thoughts on learning from the television news of the death of Gerald Ford; in order:

1. Gerald Ford is still alive?
2. Well, not anymore.
3. I wonder when the federal holiday will be.

Cynical and selfish, yes.  But honest.

Off For the Weekend

Merry Christmas.

See you next week.

Perpetual Turnpike Tolls

Deval Patrick wants to keep the tolls on the Pike.

Of course he does.  My take on the Pike here.

Another Law We Need in Massachusetts

I believe this man is a candidate for state-mandated castration.  But I'd give him the option of life in prison without parole, because I'm not without compassion.  Note a key point I'd missed earlier about David A. Johnson, who tried to kidnap a 10-year-old boy this past weekend:

In court, the prosecutor said that Johnson was convicted in East Boston Municipal Court in 2002 for lewd and lascivious behavior and indecent exposure after he exposed himself to some children.

Now can we please do something about the vagrants hanging around the Back Bay?  Not all the problems they create are quite that serious, but they all create problems.  There are some good ideas here, in Las Vegas.

Department of the Obvious Department

The Boston Globe headlines the front page with "Big Risks Seen in Small Cars."  Is there anyone who didn't know that already?

The Bad Car Chase Scene I Watched Last Night

Last night, I felt like watching an action movie - something with some driving in it, preferably.  My choices were Le Mans and The Bourne Supremacy, both of which I'd recently picked up at Borders for short money.  (I also picked up Pride and Prejudice and The Wedding Singer -was that 1998 already?- but not much action in either one, I'm guessing.)  I went with Bourne, partly because the box says it has a "stunning high-speed chase sequence."  It doesn't.

Hitler's Race Car Again

Seems I'm not the only one put off by the publicity around this original super-Audi.  From Slate:

This Auto Union D-Type...was built by Ferdinand Porsche, then with Auto Union, the company now known as Audi. In the '30s, Porsche accepted Hitler's challenge to build a car that would showcase German technological advances.... It could do a cool 185 miles per hour, but it cannot, at least for me, outrun its unsavory genesis.

And, yes, I know I have a Porsche.