Moe Lane

If you’re like me and Ed Driscoll, you’re the sort who would think that if we were going to spend almost a trillion dollars that we don’t actually have on a ‘stimulus program’ then we’d at least spend it on infrastructure.  Well, more accurately, you’re sort who hopes that we’d spend it on infrastructure, because if you’re like me and Ed Driscoll you’d be well aware that once the Beltway Establishment gets a hold of an idea it mutates into a horrific, expensive mess.

The Beltway Establishment got a hold of the idea.

Paved roads, historical emblems of American achievement, are being torn up across rural America and replaced with gravel or other rough surfaces as counties struggle with tight budgets and dwindling state and federal revenue. State money for local roads was cut in many places amid budget shortfalls.

In Michigan, at least 38 of the 83 counties have converted some asphalt roads to gravel in recent years. Last year, South Dakota turned at least 100 miles of asphalt road surfaces to gravel. Counties in Alabama and Pennsylvania have begun downgrading asphalt roads to cheaper chip-and-seal road, also known as “poor man’s pavement.” Some counties in Ohio are simply letting roads erode to gravel.

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The short version?  Having the government do your restructuring for you isn’t necessarily the brightest thing in the world.  Particularly when there’s a variety of conflicting objectives.  At least, if what you’re trying to do is actually create a better version of your company; if your goal is to use government fiat to streamline the operations of your newly government-owned automobile manufacturer it apparently works out just fine.

Longer version after the fold.

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Interesting article here in the WaPo about privatizing Virginia liquor stores – although the Washington Bob McDonnell’s Thesis should accept that they lost the election, and stop being childish by using unflattering pictures of the Governor* – but the really interesting bit was possibly the comments section of the Fark entry where I saw it first.  Ever hear that old rule-of-thumb that the more you care about a particular topic, the more conservative you are about it?  Yeah, apparently Fark readers care a hell of a lot about distilled liquor.

No, I’m not judging.  I am, in fact, somewhat heartened.  Now if we can just get them caring about entitlement spending with the same intensity…

Moe Lane

*Who, yes, shouldn’t have had that one see the light of day.  Ever.

This article about burgeoning class resentment in the United States – gee, thanks, Democratic Party; my ancestors came to this country to get away from that garbage – is pretty good, actually.  But it does have one passage that makes my head hurt:

This terminology may be confusing: the “middle class” in the US means the skilled working, or lower middle, class. University-educated professionals are described as the “upper middle class” which, in this country, tends to mean a notch or two below titled aristocracy.

As it happens, my wife definitely (engineer) and I possibly (some grad school, library science) qualify as ‘upper middle class’ by this particular British usage.  If this is true, and our equivalent life and lifestyle over there is firmly in their second highest social class, then God save the United Kingdom.

Moe Lane

*Mind you, Francis Fulford’s Blog – the guy’s family apparently has been landed gentry for 600 years, and it shows** – is pretty good.

**At least, if you’re reasonably familiar with British cultural history.

Your warm-fuzzy, feel-good political story of the morning comes to us from Stu Rothenberg, who spins us a delightful tale of the travails of one Tommy Sowers of MO-08.  Sowers is apparently one of the darlings of national Democrats, particularly the political and entertainment celebrity factions of it; he’s raised a bunch of money from them*.  He’s also being thoroughly beaten by incumbent Republican Jo Ann Emerson – an April internal poll put her up by 50 points – which leads Stu to note:

With so many Democratic candidates running in close contests, you’d think party contributors might try to be strategic about their giving. Instead, many have opened their wallets to a personally appealing candidate who, by every indication, has no chance of winning. It’s difficult to believe those dollars wouldn’t be of better use in other races.

They would be, Stu.  The Democrats’ problem here is that they’re trying to recreate their successful 2006 & 2008 strategy of putting up ‘conservative’ candidates who will then turn around and vote however their liberal owners tell them to.  Unfortunately, after four years of insane deficit spending, utter contempt for the desires of the American people, complete betrayal of both fiscal and social conservative principles, and a relentless demonization of anybody who showed the least resistance to the Democratic agenda… yeah.  That’s not going to work this go-round.

But they’re certainly welcome to keep trying.  Which they probably will: some lessons aren’t really learned unless there’s some pain attached.

Moe Lane

*Just not as much as Emerson, though.

You know, I loaded that up fully expecting it to suck.

A Little Less Conversation, Elvis vs JXL

There’s a lesson there.

Possibly I shouldn’t encourage Peter Hamilton by picking a book like The Evolutionary Void as Book of the Week – it’s not exactly encouraging him to stop writing 700+ page hard SF books only once a year – but he’s demonstrated a slightly distressing ability to get away with it. Such is life.

Adieu, I Shall Wear Midnight. It was fun.

They don’t really… learn fast… over on the Other Side, do they?

Do you know me?

I’m a member of the California Nurses’ Association. Which is to say, a Brown supporter.

I’m a member of the National Nurses Organizing Committee, too.

And I like to hit people. But it’s OK: I only like to hit Meg Whitman supporters. You see, she’s a woman and a Republican, so she and they aren’t really human beings to me.

H/T: Instapundit. (more…)

And I’m in the middle of compiling lists for a party anyway.

So everybody stay cool.

Democrats, administration apologists hardest hit.

(H/T: Hot Air Headlines) If you are surprised at this… [deep breath] well.  You should not be.

When Congress required most Americans to obtain health insurance or pay a penalty, Democrats denied that they were creating a new tax. But in court, the Obama administration and its allies now defend the requirement as an exercise of the government’s “power to lay and collect taxes.”

[snip]

Administration officials say the tax argument is a linchpin of their legal case in defense of the health care overhaul and its individual mandate, now being challenged in court by more than 20 states and several private organizations.

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Glenn Reynolds doesn’t want to hear another word about his carbon footprint*:

Arriving in a small jet before the Obamas was the first dog, Bo, a Portuguese water dog given as a present by the late U.S. Sen Ted Kennedy, D-Mass.; and the president’s personal aide Reggie Love, who chatted with Baldacci.

I would like to recommend to White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel that he call in his entire staff, sit them down, make them watch Barbarians at the Gate, and invite them to start thinking about the potential political benefits of flying, say, coach.  Particularly in the middle of what may end up being a double-dip recession.

Moe Lane
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