Secrets of the City

“Tax revenue is largely stagnant as the move toward more fuel-efficient vehicles takes people longer distances on fewer gallons of gas.”

The recent Cash for Clunkers program likely moved us a little further down this path, which is a good thing.

We need to look at new ways of funding transportation.  Any suggestions?

I would now like to see a tax added to fast food take-out. And a texting-while-driving tax. And how ’bout a car wash tax?

Without our roads, none of the above would be possible.

You’d never know it from all the frickin’ road work that’s going on in SLP.

aliecat: just drive down Nicollet, south of Lake Street… what’s another 50 years of neglect?

Fuel efficient vehicles can’t be blamed for such a huge shortfall, and clearly the roads do not pay for themselves. So much for the “money sink” and “social engineering” of transit.

Nobody has the political courage to do so, but raising the gas tax again would be the obvious move, whether that means driving is “taxed to death,” the added funds make a difference, or more likely, some combination of the two happens.

champs, oh, I know that area sucks, so does 28th St between Bloomington Ave and Hiawatha. It’s like driving in Baghdad.

I drive that all the time, there’s nothing wrong with it.

There is if you’re in the right hand lane.

I vote for Hennepin between the top of Lowry Hill and Franklin as the worst stretch of road I have to travel. Perhaps if we made roads out of thick layers of concrete instead of thin ones of asphalt they’d last longer. Just a thought.

I think they’re on that one, Tom. They’re closing southbound Hennepin on the 28th last I saw.

But I agree, I’d never take anyone from out of town down that street. It’s an embarrassment.

You know what’s creepy? (Oh wait a sec, what’s it called when you call Hitler into play in a discussion? Because I’m doing that, sort of.) I’m impressed then creeped out by the near-perfect state of some parts of the Autobahn that were built under Hitler. Kinda makes me wish those roads had fallen apart.

Godwin’s Law.

But you aren’t doing it… it’s when you compare the opposition to Hitler or Nazis. The law is that as a conversation proceeds the likelihood that someone will invoke Nazis or Hitler approaches 1.

As I understand it, Godwin invented the law to call attention to that rhetorical trick, to discourage people from doing it. And, I must say, he’s been pretty successful. People don’t toos around the word “Nazi” like they used to.

The trouble is, people shout Godwin even when you’re actually talking about Nazis. You could be discussing the new Tarantino film and people will shake there head and say, hm, Godwin.

HITLER IS A CHARACTER IN THE MOVIE, PEOPLE.

In a perfect world, Godwin’s Law would be enforced with actual fines against those who break it.

Of course, in a perfect world, there would be no need for Godwin’s Law.

“In a perfect world, Godwin’s Law would be enforced with actual fines against those who break it.”

You have a one-track mind, Bob.

I knew I wasn’t really invoking Godwin’s Law, but I was somewhat speciously (or is it spuriousl?) pulling Hitler into the thread.

Is there an equivalent law for when you are a woman and people think you are too mean and strict and bossy so they call you Eva Braun? Because my friend Mark invokes that one me. Granted, he is usually correct.

In a perfect world, Godwin’s Law would be enforced with actual fines against those who break it.

Gee Bob! You’re worse than Hitler! (I can type that and be perfectly fine free — take that!)

Mean? Strict? Bossy? Pehaps you are CEO material, jane. Or you might be, if you were male and had those same traits.

You could call the male-female double standard “Roxanne’s Rule.”

Back when Roxanne Barr’s television series was on, almost every critic had some comment — some rather cruel — about her weight, yet virtually none mentioned the expansive size of her co-star, John Goodman.

I don’t understand how these crtics feel comfortable critizing a woman about her weight, not her performance in what ever it is she’s doing. That’s how eating disorders can be started! Ugh. It disgusts me.

If you think that’s all a thing of the past, shopgirl, just look at the tabloids in the grocery store checkout line.

It’s all about which (almost always female) “star” gained weight, has the best (or worse) beach body, etc.

Oh, I am very aware of how critical the media is these days, believe me. As a woman its hard not to notice these things.

We’ve always been critical about attractiveness and weight in this country. We’re just meaner about these days.

Would you rather be judged on those standards, or in the case of guys, how much money we make?

How much money I make.. at least that’s not as personal. You can do something about how much money you make, but you can’t as easily do something about the way you look.

Would you rather be judged on those standards, or in the case of guys, how much money we make?

I don’t know about you, Rat, but I think I don’t think I would do very well measured on that yardstick. Still, I make enough to keep the wolf from the door. So far.

@jane: IIRC one reason for the Autobahn’s condition is that there isn’t a lot of truck traffic allowed.

Weather also plays a great role with how quickly roads deteriorate, and Germany, generally, has a more temperate climate than does the northern US.

My parents used to complain a lot about the condition of Minnesota roads whenever they would visit while living overseas. I had to point out to them that temperatures in Minnesota vary about 120-degrees from coldest to hottest; daytime temperatures in Singapore vary about 15- to 20-degrees from coldest to hottest year ’round.

Just for the record, it is Roseanne Barr, not Roxanne.

My mistake. Sorry, Ms. Barr.

Roxanne doesn’t have to put on the red light. Those days are over…

I really hate it when people call me Roseanne…

Roseanne Roseannadanna?

Ah, Rat. It’s not that easy. Everyone has his or her preference on beauty, but the fact that there’s such a focus on being thin and “beautiful” makes for a lot of effed up women in this country.

I guess what I’m trying to say is that if we focused less on someone’s weight and beauty and more on our roads, we’d have more roads to bitch about.

I have no idea what that means. I was trying to get back on topic. Fail.

I for one welcome our worsening-road overlords.