Stimulus Funds are Being Wasted

Say it ain't so! Make a pot of money available and people do what they can to get a piece of it??? Surely not! The Tennessee comptroller has determined that "Stimulus money meant to help the poor prepare their homes for winter has been wasted and misspent." A pork-barrel project plagued with waste and fraud....you would think that taxpayers would learn these things by now.

Cut 'em off

A city in southern California is turning off the street lights to save money. Other towns should follow suit. Automobiles have, for years, had these things on the front of them which are known as headlights. They work amazingly well at lighting the area directly in the path of the operational automobile. They cost basically nothing to operate. They are the sole source of light at night on most roads throughout the country. Yet, cities insist on burning street lights at all hours of the night when there are very few cars on the roads.

A generation of children has grown up without knowing what the night sky looks like. A good start in most places would be to turn street lights off no later than midnight. If there is a compelling safety reason to have them on for shift workers (which I doubt), you could leave them off from midnight until 6 a.m.

Pigs Get Fat and Hogs Get Slaughtered

I've heard that statement so many times that I could scream. But here is a case where it is bound to happen and we all might be better off for it. According to Cheetah, the manufacturer of a GPS-based red light camera detector, there are some locations in Florida where red light fines can run from $5,000 to $10,000, with some being as high as $30,000. I assume that is after all court costs, etc. are added in, but that is a chunk of change for anyone.

For $50, it might not be worth someone's time to take off from a day of work, hire a lawyer, etc. to fight these unconstitutional pariah's. But for $10,000, it is worth the time and the trouble to fight like mad by hiring lawyers, filing appeals, etc. Once these cases get out of the "Star Chamber" Mickey-Mouse courts, you just might find a court that actually applies the Constitution.

This level of fines reminds me of a case involving BMW from several years ago. Basically, the Supreme Court held that certain levels of punitive damages violate due process. As far as I can tell, the red light cameras and speed cameras violate due process anyway, but these mega-fines make it worth the trouble to get binding case law that outlaws them (since it is clear that most gutless legislatures are bought and paid for by the scamera companies and thus refuse to do anything).

Poll on Red Light Cameras

KnoxNews has a poll up on red light cameras. The question is "What should the city of Knoxville do with the revenues collected from redlight runners? There aren't a lot of votes yet, but so far, "Surveillance cameras are the work of the devil - this is ill-gotten money, give it back" has 60% of the votes.

Careful and Prudent

A new law in Florida allows rolling right turns on red if you are "careful and prudent." That would take a lot of wind out of the sails of the red light camera mafia if Tennessee were to adopt such a law. Of course, the best thing Tennessee could do is ban them.

Word on the street is that a new law will be proposed in Tennessee this year to specifically address the situation where a town (such as Bluff City) annexes a strip of highway and installs speed cameras on it. They will be required to spend the money on safety improvements in the annexed area rather than using it to fund their bloated government.

King Barry Masters the Art of Understatement

"No, I don't think there's a sense that I've been successful." From the lips of Mr. Obama himself.

Another lost shopper

It looks like businesses would figure out that people stop shopping in areas where speed cameras and red light cameras are located. Just the other day, I noticed one of these cameras basically in Food City's driveway in Jonesborough, TN. If I lived near there, I would not go into that shopping center at all.

One shopper in Lenoir City makes it known that he will no longer be shopping in Knoxville for the same reason. Good for him.

The Vindication of George W. Bush

Well, I predict this won't be the first time that President Bush is vindicated. The WikiLeaks contain plenty of information about the actual, confirmed presence of WMD's in Iraq. Of course, anyone who was paying attention already knew this.

President Bush was wrong on the bailouts and wrong on a lot of big government spending initiatives. But on Iraq and terrorism, I believe he will be largely vindicated and that vindication has already started. King Barry is already following many of his policies, policies which The Chosen One campaigned against in 2008. The WikiLeaks confirmation of wmd's in Iraq is just a taste of what is to come on this. Of course, the media will do all it can to bury this one.

UPDATE: A commenter at Instapundit refers to King Barry as Barack W. Bush and explains why.