Carpundit

Random Friday Evening Blogging

Random thoughts:

1. Why is that I am now more interested in reading Cook's than Autoweek?  Please note, I still grab SCM, Roundel, and Panorama before Cook's.  In that sense, I am more like my father these days.  It used to frustrate me that he only likes what he likes, and never spends time on the other stuff.  Is this a natural consequence of aging, spending time on only the things you know you like?  I have no patience for another article about another Japanese coupe or American sedan.  I just don't care, and you can't make me.

2. It is ridiculously easy to speed in a 996 Carrera.  I can't imagine what a 997 Turbo is like.

3. My never-before-used, been-sitting-in-its-box-unopened-for-five-years, Valentine One seems to work fine.  I decided to break it out tonight on the way to the Cape, because my usual ticket-avoidance method -eyeballs- doesn't work as well at night.  Crossing into one of the small towns along the route, I learned the V1 works when it warned me of a cruiser well before I saw it.  I wasn't actually speeding at that point, but I might have been.  A permanent install is on my modifications list.

4. Tomorrow we lift off the hardtop from the Carrera for spring.  Let's see how creased that back window is.

5. AG AG is really hanging on.  He's moved from lying denial to lying forgetfulness.  The next step is confession.  Then resignation.  Could we move it along, please?  The guy is in so far over his head, it's amazing he can breathe.  Being GWB's friend has really paid off over the past six years.  I'm sick of the whole crowd, myself.

AG AG

Omigod, quit already.  How many more days will this guy be around?

Massachusetts's Transportation Money Pit - Can We Bust Some Unions?

According to the report released yesterday, Massachusetts is in a very bad spot financially and will need to add new tolls to keep the transportation infrastructure up to speed.  I can easily believe the amount of the deficit, but I'm very skeptical that throwing more money into it is the solution.

The Boston Herald summarized the report, "It also found that bloated costs, sketchy financial practices and a startling lack of resources are impeding efforts to maintain major highways, bridges and rail systems that are deteriorating badly."  Obviously, the Boston Globe summary is bit less colorful, but it isn't much different.

Options being thrown out are higher tolls, new tolls, increased gas taxes, and public-private partnerships, whatever they are (Lexus lanes?).  Totally wrong approach, if you ask me.

If the system is broken, more money will just go to waste.  Instead, we first need to fix the system.  This will mean firing lots of state and authority employees who are overpaid and underworked.  This will mean telling the unions, "No, you can't have another raise."  This will mean slashing retiree health benefits.  That's a start.

While we're thinking about it, how about easing regulation and lowering fees and taxes to draw more business into the state?  We've seen companies flee Massachusetts in droves.  We need to be attracting them if we're to create jobs.

Of course, with Deval Patrick in power, that approach won't be considered.  He's surrounded by like-minded tax raisers.  As proof that the fees and taxes approach is a one-way street, I see that the Globe notes the Tobin Bridge is making money.  I don't hear anyone talking about lowering those tolls.

We're in deep trouble.  Taking more money from our pockets to pay the lazy incompetents at the various departments and authorities is insane.  No one rational would set out on that course.

Watch it happen.

BPD Vehicle Tips

The Boston Police issued these common-sense tips for vehicle security.  If you're not that practical a person, you should pay close attention; common sense isn't always.

I Guess He's a Drag-Racing Fan

Commenter "dave buutles" doesn't think much of my racing acumen.  In a comment here, he wrote,

you should be a writer for a gardening column or something. You are brain dead when it comes to motorsports

I can't disagree.  But he should see how little I know about gardening.

Paid Police Details and Useless Overtime

Over two hundred thousand dollars a year as a State Police lieutenant?  That's crazy.  And a lot of it wasn't paid details - it was overtime, because it took place on a Mass. Turnpike Authority road.  But that kind of overtime is just as wasted as the paid detail money: paid to a guy sitting in a car reading a newspaper, in the middle of the night, behind traffic barriers, in a closed tunnel.

In a rational society, that money would be spent paying police officers to fight crime, so vigilantes don't have to volunteer.

Guardian Angels Versus the Union

Curtis Sliwa is obnoxious, and I doubt the Guardian Angels bring any more to crime fighting than the Hells Angels brought to concert security in California.  Curtis Sliwa is a publicity hound who stages crimes.  Police union president Thomas Nee, another publicity hound, wants them to stay home and is calling for more cops on the streets.  He says we should leave the policing to the police.  I tend to agree.  But we'll have to get a bunch of them off their details first.  Nee's not for that.

If you want your own beret, you can get one here.

SCM On the Barrett-Jackson Lawsuit

SCM has weighed in on the Barrett-Jackson lawsuit, via an analysis from John Draneas, who has the writing job I want.  Take a look.  Draneas seems to think, as I do, that Craig Jackson's strategy is not a sound one. 

This Is Going to Sound Stupid, But NASCAR Should Ban Burnouts

I think NASCAR should ban smoking-tire burnouts by the race winners.  They're cliche.  They're not interesting.  And they gratuitously pollute.  (Yes, I know the racing itself is gratuitous pollution, but there's no reasonable chance of banning that.)

Those clouds of tire smoke are foul.  They are probably toxic, and there's just no reason to let them happen.  Unless you tell me the fans love it, are too stupid to see it for what it is, and would never stand for ending it because it's just the sort of excitement that gets them out of their trailers and down to the track in the first place, in which case it's too late to save the planet so let's party while it burns out.

No, I don't really think a weekly burnout ban will make a difference to the planet, but I think the symbolism is important.  If NASCAR is trying to go upmarket, all the way to the dead-center of the middle-class, it could take this opportunity to evince a little environmental goodwill and a bit of awareness about the world outside the racetrack.  Fans accept change like sheep -just a bit of bleating and they all forget the whole thing.

I recognize there may be little correlation between NASCAR fans and Al Gore viewers, but little steps are better than none.

Pipe dream?

Another Racing Death

Racing is dangerous.  The faster you go, the harder you crash.  HANS devices, crush zones, and the SAFER barrier make things better, but there's no stopping physics.  Eric Medlen, a funny car driver was killed by his encounter with the guardwall during on-track testing in Flroida.  I've never understood the appeal of Funny Car racing, but people love it.  Eric Medlen sure seemed to be having fun.

(That NHRA photo is huge.  Don't click on it unless you're really interested.)