No Way or the Highway?

No way or the highway?......

So they were going to install HOT lanes soon on Virginia's I-95 south to Fredericksburg. “Soon” now means someday---maybe.

Even if finances were all OK and the lawsuits against the project (such as Arlington County’s claim that it would illegally increase air pollution) vanished, new highway projects in Virginia would never get done “soon,” it seems.

Although the attractions of the HOT (high occupancy toll) lanes are that they’re done by companies, not slow-poke state or local governments, they too can get bogged down. See above

More typically around here, such minor deals like the recent short widening of Garrisonville Road dragged on at a Va DOT crawl.

Things wouldn’t be so bad if the vehicle traffic weren’t so awful on Interstates near us. With continuing area growth, it figures to keep worsening. The extended crawls can happen anytime, not just during “rush hour.” What a misnomer.

We oldtimers, used to the mess, can sympathize with travelers and commuters caught up in the gridlock. Ours is one of the very worst. The closed rest stops--to save Va. money--add insult to injury.

Any remedies? Well, the candidates for governor suggest higher taxes (Deeds and his Washington Post cheerleader), or Interstate tolls and liquor store privatization (McDonnell). Higher taxes would just penalize us residents for the gridlocking people just passing through.

Toll booths at state borders make more sense. We don‘t have any now, although we must contend with numerous ones in states northward on Interstates. Let’s get even.

And our state ABC liquor stores are nearly as welcoming as those where we renew our driver’s licenses. Turn them all over to taxpaying companies.

Something surely needs to be done, like that, to employ private-sector job hunters. Obama’s stimulus helps the bureaucracies instead.

Meanwhile, face facts. Traffic congestion around here may never get better, so commuters have some grim choices.
Stick it out if you’re about to retire. Or make a deal with your boss to telecommute. But bureaucrat bosses hate the idea—control, you know. Get a job closer to home and take a whack in the wallet.

Do you think Stafford’s traffic congestion might ease? Just drive further south on I-95 and get off at Massaponnax. Then go south on U.S. 1. Most of the thousands of newcomers infesting those ant hills pass by here twice a day.

Of course, we should have long ago built a western bypass from Stafford’s new I-95 airport interchange down to Route 3 west of Fredericksburg. But local greenies banged their highchairs until VDOT quit that project. It had been a major reason for building the airport interchange--which is now a costly blunder. Good planning, guys. No execution.

Simple things here could have relieved Garrisonville Road congestion—like connecting the Wal-Mart parking lot with the shopping center immediately west where Popeye’s sits; and off Garrisonville Road, connecting Stafford Market Place to Doc Stone Commons. They may never get done. That goes for the proposed Falmouth interchange on U.S. 1 also.

As for that cash for clunkers deal, it made no sense since we must idle the fuel away--albeit via cleaner burning engines--in gridlock anyhow.

A swell groundswell

A swell groundswell...
　
“President Obama promised to get the people more involved in government and--though this probably wasn't what he had in mind--that has certainly happened.” Glenn Reynolds of Instapundit blog hits the nail on the head

He continues, “With Tea Party protests and town hall questions, Americans are exercising their First Amendment rights to a degree not seen in decades...what's bringing people out is spending, taxation, and overreaching government...”

His commentary followed the huge assemblage in Washington, D.C. on Sept. 12. As he noted, it didn’t just spring up. Instead, “The protests began with bloggers in Seattle, who organized a demonstration on Feb. 16, 2009,” as bailouts and stimulus packages got underway.

I got my first whiff that something big was happening, ratchere in Stafford, Va. As I later wrote to an old friend--even older than I--who had been to his first Tea Party and loved every minute, where a mere 500,000 had just flooded Washington:

“Yes I missed the big one on 9/12, but earlier, on July 4, I decided to mosey down to our Courthouse. A tiny notice in the local paper the previous day had told of an area Tea Party being organized. The first such event I ever attended, it came as a huge shock when I got there. I had supposed maybe a smattering of 100 participants would show up. Afterwards, two separate disinterested estimates placed the crowd at 500 or better.

“I recognized only two acquaintances in the crowd. The rest were my neighbors in the county, but of the nonpolitical sort...who don’t seem to show up at county supervisors meetings or political rallies. No, these folks came mainly as couples, and some with children. They were enthusiastic, friendly, and bearing signs that were mostly nonpolitical but definitely against big gov’t. I had never heard of the speakers, save one who was a state delegate.

“The organizer told me they had signed up over 480 participants shortly after noontime, for later contact, I presumed. I didn't know of him or his co-organizer, both recent military vets and local residents.

“I was greatly and favorably impressed. Something was happening.” And then came the overflowing town halls in August.

Against that kind of momentum, President Obama is holding a Sunday talk-show gabfest to keep hawking a health care reform package that appears to be falling apart as we speak. The problem is, what he has said repeatedly so far sounds exactly the same as we have heard him parrot many times in recent weeks. Maybe the game is over but he’s still in the on-deck circle swinging his bat.

As I see it, the health care bills’ problems are that they still virtually ignore what any MD will tell you is a royal and costly pain: Ambulance chasers Any hope of getting costs under control would thus seem to be futile. Obama hasn’t persuaded anyone yet to my knowledge that costs won’t balloon under the reform proposals.

Besides, why not fix the government’s existing health programs before tackling tougher tasks? The Council of Economic Advisors has estimated that as much as 30 percent of Medicare spending is unnecessary for improving health outcomes.

The trouble is, you cannot depend on the bureaucrats to be so innovative. After all, they have some of the best jobs around, particularly during this recession. According to the Cato Institute, federal civilian employees have an average compensation package (wages plus benefits) that doubles the average in the private sector. Furthermore, that disparity has increased over the last eight years. (By the way, of AARP’s new list of 50 top employers for folks over 50, nearly half are nonprofits and gov’t agencies.)

And now, just as a breath of fresh air arrives with the revelations of ACORN’s illegal monkeyshines, here comes the Administration’s appeasing of Russia and dumping on our Czech and Polish allies with its missile give-up ploy.

How about a Halloween T ea Party?

(Author's note: My newspaper now insists I focus strictly on local subjects, although my interests are much broader. So I am composing Blurbs not only for the paper but also for Internet readers.--Ben Blankenship)　

Silver Lining for Cash for Clunkers

We pay the farmer to use less of his land to grow crops. And now we’ve paid the consumer to junk an old auto and buy a new one--preferably from a company Washington owns. Ain’t we got fun?

Let’s face it: Things are clearly out of whack. The government deficit is soaring, so pray something good will happen and we’ll be all better. See, we’re already coming out of the recession. The stock market is recovering, unemployment is only 9 percent, but we may soon see higher energy taxes and our doctors being told how and whether to treat our ailments. Whew!

There’s a silver lining here at home, of course. Stafford county is doing well. No drought, that’s for sure this year. Also, unemployment here is way below most other places and house sales are looking up.

And two nice things locally happened in the cash for clunkers program--an otherwise poster child for government incompetence. (As a recent letter writer to the Wall Street Journal put it, “[We were encouraged] to swap our SUVs for miniature cars, explaining that the increase in highway death and crippling injury is a small price to pay for decreased carbon emissions.”)

I’m glad, though, that a neighbor could benefit by trading in a clunker under the program for a new, efficient Toyota. Even so, my happiness was tempered by the fact that the government-destroyed trade-in was a garage-kept low mileage 1991 Lincoln Continental in beautiful shape that some needy family would love to have possessed. So much for federal charity.

Another fine cash-for-clunkers deal involved commercial interests nearby. It demonstrated how upscale, attractive establishments can mutually benefit, even here on Garrisonville Road.

Seems that a traveling New Jersey family had pulled off I-95 for a rest and refueling stop at the closest WaWa, one of my favorite places. While there, they noticed the attractive Rosner Toyota showroom right next door. They took a closer look, especially at a new Prius out front. To make a long story short, they made a better deal on the spot--via the cash for clunkers program--than what they had been offered back home. Benefit: themselves and Stafford County residents and businesses. And who knows, the closing of area Interstate rest stops may have played a role also.

It remains to be seen whether or not the popular cash for clunkers program benefited car sales beyond its termination last week. Will dealer lots still be humming this fall? Or will the program’s success just rob subsequent deals?

And it’s not just that the program was popular. There are copy cats. The appliance makers are hustling to get another deal going: A $300 million cash-for-clunkers program to boost sales of energy-efficient home appliances.
Where it will all end--maybe a cash for hernia repair to boost federal health care’s chances?

By the way, my own 2004 Lincoln Town Car could have qualified for the cash for clunkers program. No thanks. My personal car-thrift program: I haven’t bought a new car since 1957, on purpose to save money. I was burned only once.

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