Worst roads in the nation? Check.
The City has decided to put up red light cameras in a desperate grab for more taxpayer money. Mark my words, this will follow the same pattern as it has in every other city that has done this: (1) initially, the City will raise a bunch of money catching people running red lights; (2) people will figure out where the lights are and slam on the brakes as they approach those intersections to avoid a ticket, causing lots of injuries and property damage in rear-end accidents; (3) as the accidents pile up and people learn better, they will avoid red light tickets more and more, causing the City to "earn" less money off the backs of taxpayers; and (4) the City, desperate to keep this new source of taxpayer money flowing, will shorten the yellow light time at the ticketing intersections in order to catch more people, leading to more accidents, etc. Red light cameras are a bad idea anywhere, but they're particularly idiotic on historic St. Charles Avenue, where they've been sprouting up lately with an ugly gray box in the middle of the neutral ground, unsightly tall poles with ugly cameras attached, and attention-grabbing street signs announcing a red light intersection.
Pretty soon they'll be hosting Jefferson family reunions in prison. I am shocked -- SHOCKED -- to report that Dollar Bill isn't the only criminal in his family. A group of them, including assessor Betty Jefferson, set up bogus "non-profits" that were designed to take taxpayer money and profit the Jeffersons. I reported this before, and Forgotston has given this great coverage. There is no legitimate (or Constitutional) justification for the government to confiscate taxpayer money only to dole it out to pet non-profits of their choosing, whether they are legitimate or criminal. Just return this money to the taxpayers, who can distribute it as they see fit a lot better that our politicians can.
Clancy DuBos has an interesting review of the situation involving FBI Special Agent in Charge Jim Bernazzani.
This American Spectator article, reprinted on The Wall Street Journal's website, makes a strong case that Senator John McCain should pick Bobby Jindal for Vice President.
Dollar Bill Jefferson now wants the feds to ignore his family members' crimes. Obviously, he should not have made all these sham companies in their names to launder his dirty money. If my spouse/father/brother was a known criminal who asked me to sign off on a sham company in my name that did nothing but receive suspicious checks, I would say thanks but no thanks.
Ray Nagin has positioned himself as a shoe-in for the Nobel Prize in Economics with his latest scholarly work, "Recession: Bad for Everyone Else, Good for the Chocolate City."
