Republicans rebel against an oily transportation bill
Instead of fixing roads, the House leadership proposes a bonanza for the oil industry. Many Republicans are balking
http://www.salon.com/2012/02/21/republicans_rebel_against_an_oily_transportation_bill/singleton/
I am far from a fan of Obama and would like to see a change of guard at the top, but the GOP candidates are all, as difficult as it is to believe sometimes, worse than what we have now (Romney is the closest to not being much worse, but you can be sure that he will want to out Obama Obama (who has been busy working to out Cheney Cheney) so things can’t possibly get better and while I like a lot of what Paul represents, I also vehemently detest a lot of what he stands for and don’t get me started on Gingrich or Santorum!). Having said that, it seems that the House GOP ‘leadership’ is even worse as it seems they are totally incapable of doing what it takes to run a country. The above mentioned jackassed stunt is just the most recent of several (remember, it wasn’t that long ago that they were shutting down our government and threatening to default on our debt!). I have an increasing suspicion that we will see the same sort of ‘revolution’ that brought the Tea Party into power in the House, except in reverse. The Democrats had 2 years where they controlled the House, Senate AND White House, yet the idiots couldn’t pass any laws either. They got collectively tossed on their asses, but were replaced with the new Tea Party morons instead. I haven’t seen much about it in the news, but I am starting to think that even if somehow Obama loses the election this fall (and if the economy stays the way it is or improves, I find it very hard to believe he could lose it) I doubt that will be enough to save the Tea Party idiots from being tossed back out on the street. If, as I expect, Obama gets reelected, I also expect a lot of Democrats will ride his coat tails into office at the expense of the Tea Partiers.
What a bunch of morons!
I don’t agree with the linked article in every respect, but that’s beside the point. The bill sucks for many reasons.
On the other hand, WE are to blame for much of our predicament. WE insist on tooling around in a personal-transportation vehicle that’s 10 times our own weight. WE are so insistent on this perk that we tend to even exclude our significant others. WE NEED at least two cars. Mass transit, bicycles, ankle express: those are for losers.
Stick a massive, punitive surcharge on parking fees within metropolitan areas. Rake off the cream and put it into mass transit.
Tax fuel until its cost is on a par with the average world price. Put the proceeds into the transportation budget.
Slap energy companies with serious excess-profit taxes and remove any governmental support mechanisms. Put the proceeds into the transportation budget.
The problem, of course, is that no effective solution will be implemented. The burden would fall on the 1% and the 99% alike.
I don’t agree the idea that the problem will fall on the 1%. Since, by my definition, they don’t have any actual need for most of the money they already have, they can easily absorb a 10x (indeed, 100x or even 1000x) increase in fuel costs. They already tool around in private helicopters and jets, something that easily already costs 100x more than taking a bus or train. Effective mass transit (and I would include interstates as part of the ‘mass transit’ infrastructure that isn’t part of the 1%’s world view) is virtually exclusively for the 99% so as long as our government is owned by the 1% don’t expect them to give a damn.