Politicians At Work (And Play)

[billroper]

It's certainly being interesting these last couple of days. Yesterday, we got to read about Governor Rod's plan to put speed cameras on the Interstate highways to catch folks doing more than 15 MPH over the limit. And it will pay for more state police! That's good, right? Who could argue with that?

Of course, if it works, then we'll need to reset the cameras, because we're not raising enough money. And if you think that won't happen, I'll remind you that when they initially enacted Illinois' seat belt law, we were assured that you would never, ever be stopped just for a seat belt violation.

(I think you're generally an idiot if you're driving without a seat belt, just for the record. And I think that cruising at 80 MPH on the Interstate is generally a bad idea. I also think our speed limits are set absurdly low.)

Then there's John Kass' story about how a local fellow with lots of clout managed to get ComEd to drop a generator off in his driveway during this week's power outage. It's good to be the king!

And today, John Edwards has finally fessed up (at least in part) about his little affair, making it safe for major media outlets to mention it.

Now, honestly, I wouldn't much care if Edwards had an "arrangement" with his wife. He'd neither be the first person nor the last person in the world to do so. And maybe he did. I wouldn't think of that as being disqualifying for high office.

But having such a relationship when you -- the candidate who is running for high office -- clearly believe that it's disqualifying for high office shows incredibly bad judgment.

And I find having such rotten judgment to be pretty clearly disqualifying.

And what ties these three stories together?

In my opinion, the assumption that Rod, Pool Boy (and Mayor Daley), and John make that we're all a bunch of idiots and they can get away with anything they damn well please.

The sadder thing is: they're usually right.

Comments

[kestrels-nest.livejournal.com]

The problem with those cameras is that the ticket is sent to the registered owner of the license plate - who may or may not have been the driver, or even in the car. So what's happened in other states is that they've installed the cameras, their use has been challenged, and the courts have said "Nope." Of course, no one talks about how much money they lose for those now-pointless cameras. *sigh*

[billroper]

I must admit that my confidence in the courts fixing things like this isn't always the strongest. I've seen an anecdote (somewhere -- I wish I had the link handy) where a driver challenged a red-light camera ticket noting that you couldn't even see in the photo whether the light was red or green when the car was photographed in the intersection.

The judge upheld the ticket. Apparently, our technology does not make misteaks. (sic)

[kestrels-nest.livejournal.com]

Trial courts, it's hit or miss - mostly miss. Appellate courts tend to get it right somewhat more often, though that may be damning with faint praise. :)

[samwinolj.livejournal.com]

Red light cameras are particularly nasty. Studies have shown that they actually cause an increase in accidents--people get rear-ended when they slam on the brakes as soon as the light goes yellow. Also, municipalities often shorten the yellow light timing in order to generate even more revenue, again, making the intersection less safe.

Daley loves the damned things.

[madfilkentist]

Washington, DC, has been particularly bad that way, ticketing people using cameras that were known to be out of correct timing.

[gundo.livejournal.com]

Pool-Boy just resigned, if that helps...

[billroper]

It's a start.

On the other hand, wait six months and see who's paying him...

[archiver-tim.livejournal.com]

I'll take your John Edwards and raise you one Mayor of the City of Detroit, who not only lied about his affair with his Cheif of Staff not only to the public, but on the stand in a trail were he was giving testimoney.

[qnofhrt.livejournal.com]

And I really don't care who politicians screw around with as long as it's not the country (or state etc).

[bosswriter.livejournal.com]

This is why I set the cruise 2-3 mph under the limit and let the world pass me by.