Reserving interstate lanes for the affluent
There has always been something disturbingly elitist about the idea of HOT lanes, also known as high-occupancy toll lanes, also known as Lexus lanes.
The notion that some Americans would be able to drive on uncrowded lanes reserved for those who could pay for the privilege while drivers in the next lane are condemned to bumper-to-bumper traffic — it just doesn’t sit right. It brings to mind that line from “Animal Farm,” about all animals being equal, but some are more equal than others.
The idea is particularly galling if taxpayers who are stuck in traffic are forced to pay for construction of the HOT lanes that they can’t afford to use. And let’s make that clear — the whole idea is to make HOT lanes so expensive that most people won’t be able to use them regularly.
That just doesn’t seem right.
Having said that, however, the concept of HOT lanes does have legitimate, practical applications. For example, new lanes that are built specifically as HOT lanes and financed through tolls collected on those lanes don’t raise the same fairness concerns. In that case, the infrastructure is being paid for by the people using it, and that’s fine.
Here in Georgia, the state Department of Transportation is proposing a second approach. It wants to take existing HOV lanes along a stretch of I-85 — one lane in each direction — and convert them to tolled HOT lanes. Car pools could still use the lanes for free, but single drivers wanting to avoid traffic would also be able to buy their way into the lanes. The toll would vary; in times of heavy traffic, the cost would rise to discourage use and thus keep traffic flowing freely.
Potentially, that’s a useful idea. According to Ginger Gooden, a research engineer at the Texas Transportation Institute, allowing motorists to buy their way into under-used HOV lanes can speed travel, raise revenue and even decrease congestion in remaining general-purpose lanes. She cites studies of such conversions in Seattle and Minneapolis that have documented an improvement in traffic flow even in untolled lanes.
However, the Georgia DOT has more controversial ideas as well. On the Downtown Connector and a stretch of I-20 inside the Perimeter, it proposes to convert both an existing HOV lane and an existing general-purpose lane into toll-only HOT lanes.
If that proposal is approved, it would take an already overburdened highway and shrink its availability even further to the general public. Those lanes — infrastructure already bought and paid for by taxpayers — would be reserved for the exclusive use of those able to pay for that luxury.
According to DOT projections, someone using the high-priced toll lanes during rush hour in 2030 would be able make the 21-mile trip from Pleasant Hill Road to downtown in just 30 minutes. Not bad.
But for the rest of you, it would take 90 minutes.
According to Gooden, no other state has taken the step of converting existing general-purpose lanes to HOT lanes; in fact, she knows of no other states seriously considering such a step.
In his visit to Atlanta last week, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood also expressed surprise the idea was being proposed. He predicted that once people understand the proposal, public outrage would build pretty quickly.
That’s certainly been the pattern here in Georgia. A few years ago, when the DOT proposed converting Ga. 316 to a toll road, the political backlash forced the department to withdraw the idea. To calm the outrage, it also adopted a policy outlawing the conversion of existing lanes to privately financed toll lanes. That policy remains in effect, at least so far.
Overall, the state DOT is studying construction of a whole network of “managed lanes;” if approved, it would represent the department’s most significant transportation investment in metro Atlanta of the next 20 years.
In a presentation to the state Transportation Board last week, DOT planning director Todd Long estimated the cost of the network at $16.2 billion. Private investors would contribute almost $9 billion in return for a cut of the toll revenue, leaving taxpayers to pay the remaining $7 billion.
Given that Georgia is expected to have only $20 billion to spend statewide over the next 20 years, that $7 billion would represent the lion’s share of state spending in metro Atlanta. Spending it on a project that would speed travel for only a relative few makes no sense to me.
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242 comments Add your comment
TnGelding
September 24th, 2009
7:34 pm
I Report/ Vast White Wing Conspirator (-: You Whine )-:
September 24th, 2009
7:22 pm
As opposed to an uncommon one? Like I said yesterday, it takes one to know one. It’s this type of comment that makes me wonder why Jay doesn’t ban you permanently.
I Report/ Vast White Wing Conspirator (-: You Whine )-:
September 24th, 2009
7:34 pm
Ever wonder why I can see these blowhardings for what they really are, but the democrats can’t?
Remember months ago when bookman gushed and burbled about the Cap and Tax bill passing the House and saving the world, what did I say then and where is it now?
Buried, right where I said it would be.
They don’t have to do nothing else, 95% of the kult is nothing but mouthbreathing cucumbers who have no idea what the Senate is. They have been properly sated and can now move on to important things, like American Idol.
Every once in awhile, a thought emerges from the fog and plunks down squarely into their empty heads, I thought he was gonna pay for mah gas, duh.
Ain’t that right, Mad?
Tank
September 24th, 2009
7:34 pm
The flood in North Georgia was Bush’s fault.
I Report/ Vast White Wing Conspirator (-: You Whine )-:
September 24th, 2009
7:36 pm
TN- No, Obozo is a dime a dozen moron.
mike
September 24th, 2009
7:36 pm
GEORGE AMERICAN –
Whatever. Keep on doing your hateful and ignorant stereotypes. You are too intelelctually deficient to say anything else.
BTW: I love how every angry liberal loves to say “you watch Fox” or :you watch Glen Beck”. I don’t watch any of that crap and I bash Beck here regularly. The angry liberal on tis board are so wrapped up int their stupid stereotypes that they are incapable of addressing anyone as an individual. If you disagree with an angry liberal they will immediately project their ignorant stereotypes on you. Must be part of being tolerant. LOL
DoggoneGA
September 24th, 2009
7:38 pm
“Whatever. Keep on doing your hateful and ignorant stereotypes. You are too intelelctually deficient to say anything else”
WARNING! WARNING! Pavlovian response ALERT!
Tank
September 24th, 2009
7:38 pm
I think it is AWESOME that the leaders of Iran, Libya and Venezuela are singing praises to Obama.
TnGelding
September 24th, 2009
7:38 pm
Apologies to Sluggo. I was in a particulary foul mood this morning.
mike
September 24th, 2009
7:39 pm
DoggoneGA –
Aw jeez, now you are stealing my lines.
Still waiting to see if you can put two sentences together. Apparently, you can’t.
I Report/ Vast White Wing Conspirator (-: You Whine )-:
September 24th, 2009
7:39 pm
mike- Do you think a name change to “Ray” will make everything better?
mike
September 24th, 2009
7:41 pm
Whiner –
“mike- Do you think a name change to “Ray” will make everything better?”
I am confused.
Taxpayer
September 24th, 2009
7:41 pm
Andy needs a hug. Perhaps mike should volunteer for that one. After all, there are some things that even I, the most kindest person I’ve had the pleasure of living with my entire life, would not touch with a ten foot pole that someone else is holding while I direct them from a distance. ewwww.
DoggoneGA
September 24th, 2009
7:42 pm
“Still waiting to see if you can put two sentences together”
Only when it’s worth the effort. If you haven’t seen longer responses from me you haven’t been looking hard enough.
mike
September 24th, 2009
7:44 pm
And the “hug” talk comes out. This is what happens when angry liberals have nothing to say but cant resist the urge to keep flapping their gums, no matter how inane the commentary.
Taxpayer
September 24th, 2009
7:44 pm
Whiner needs to come up from the rabbit hole. He’s been down there too many years.
I Report/ Vast White Wing Conspirator (-: You Whine )-:
September 24th, 2009
7:45 pm
Ray
September 24th, 2009
7:34 pm
GEORGE,
I’d expect no less from a typical lib who thinks he’s funny.
Report/Whine,
You do the cause no favors by being a jerk.
If that is not you, mike, than you should complain about somebody stealing your shtick.
You’ve been robbed!
Taxpayer
September 24th, 2009
7:46 pm
mike needs a hug but he is just too wedgied out to appreciate that fact. It’s OK, mike. You’ll be back to your loving self as soon as you get unwedgied.
TnGelding
September 24th, 2009
7:46 pm
Tank
September 24th, 2009
7:38 pm
Who better? OPEC members all:
“The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) is a permanent, intergovernmental Organization, created at the Baghdad Conference on September 10–14, 1960, by Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela. The five Founding Members were later joined by nine other Members: Qatar (1961); Indonesia (1962) – suspended its membership from January 2009; Socialist Peoples Libyan Arab Jamahiriya (1962); United Arab Emirates (1967); Algeria (1969); Nigeria (1971); Ecuador (1973) – suspended its membership from December 1992-October 2007; Angola (2007) and Gabon (1975–1994). OPEC had its headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, in the first five years of its existence. This was moved to Vienna, Austria, on September 1, 1965.”
http://www.opec.org/aboutus/history/history.htm
http://www.opec.org/home/Monthly%20Oil%20Market%20Reports/2009/pdf/MR092009.pdf
mike
September 24th, 2009
7:46 pm
DoggoneGA –
“Only when it’s worth the effort. If you haven’t seen longer responses from me you haven’t been looking hard enough.”
Nah, I see plenty of your comments.You basically respond with some meaningless drivel to every post I make. You are like my groupie.
You make short and silly comments because when you try to make a logical argument of more than two sentences, it gets destroyed so quickly that you have decided not to bother.Good choice. Stay down.
DoggoneGA
September 24th, 2009
7:47 pm
“but cant resist the urge to keep flapping their gums”
Pot, meet kettle
mike
September 24th, 2009
7:47 pm
Whiner –
It aint me,but I don’t thin it is a particularly unique idea that you act like a jerk
I Report/ Vast White Wing Conspirator (-: You Whine )-:
September 24th, 2009
7:48 pm
Taxxie- I look forward to receiving critiques from you, it greatly helps me to control my conduct, every new thought I have for the remainder of this beautiful evening will have been influenced and shaped by your wise and timely words, oh wait, no they don’t.
Never mind.
mike
September 24th, 2009
7:49 pm
DoggoneGA –
“Pot, meet kettle”
Reminds me of the Bing Crosby song. “Three Little Words”.
Thanks for thinking of me though, groupie. I am pleased to know what an important part of your day I am.
godless heathen
September 24th, 2009
7:49 pm
Double deck the freeways through Atlanta. Let anyone driving a Lexus, Mercedes, Caddie, BMW drive on the top lanes – poor suckers drive on the bottom. Give people a reason to better their lot in life.
Taxpayer
September 24th, 2009
7:50 pm
Whiner and mike! They do make such a lovely couple. This is better than reality teevee — it’s commercial free. mike, give whiner that hug. Do it for the children. You’ll feel so much better later, especially when the video gets posted on yourspace.
DoggoneGA
September 24th, 2009
7:50 pm
“You are like my groupie”
That’s right. You’re just the plaything of an idle moment.
mike
September 24th, 2009
7:51 pm
Taxpayer said:
Blah, blah, blah. Look at me. I am talking! Hugs! Wedgies!
Tank
September 24th, 2009
7:52 pm
From AP:
“Struggling with a contentious issue, world leaders have reached basic agreement on limiting the bonuses of bankers whose risky behavior contributed to the global financial meltdown, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said Thursday at a summit of the world’s largest economies.”
I am really digging this New World Order. Can’t wait for the new 5-Year Plan.
Taxpayer
September 24th, 2009
7:52 pm
I love you too, whiner. But not as much as mike loves you. Go to him.
mike
September 24th, 2009
7:53 pm
OK, looks like only barely sentient people like Doggone and Taxpayer are left, so there is no point in staying for the lame zinger-thon.
It was fun owning you guys today, particularly Doggone.
Taxpayer
September 24th, 2009
7:53 pm
hi mike. How many have you had today. It sounds like you’ve put away quite a few already. Are you ready for your hug. Come on now. I know you are. You need a hug.
Taxpayer
September 24th, 2009
7:55 pm
mike, don’t go. I so much enjoy your company. Don’t you enjoy mine. Please come back. Pretty please. I’ll give you an extra huuuuuggg.
Taxpayer
September 24th, 2009
7:57 pm
Well, I guess mike don’t want no hug.
TnGelding
September 24th, 2009
7:59 pm
The rest of the story:
“At a news conference, Geithner also expressed optimism that summit partners would endorse the broad outlines of a U.S. proposal to deal with huge imbalances in the global economy such as large trade surpluses in China and record budget deficits in the United States. He also said the U.S. supports China’s efforts to gain greater voting rights in the International Monetary Fund over the reservations of European nations, who would lose influence.”
http://customwire.ap.org/dynamic/stories/G/G20_SUMMIT?SITE=GACAT&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2009-09-24-19-33-56
DoggoneGA
September 24th, 2009
7:59 pm
Anyone want to start timing how long it takes Mike to come back?
I Report/ Vast White Wing Conspirator (-: You Whine )-:
September 24th, 2009
8:01 pm
I have it on credible sources that “president” Barak Obama has taken offense with two ply toilet paper. Can you say Sheryl Crow? Do the words “Dhimmi Carter” ring a bell?
And you think I am off base for calling him a two bit moron?
Taxpayer
September 24th, 2009
8:01 pm
This one is in memory of those that gave their lives in order to sweeten the billfolds of a few more greedy ones. And, Saxby. You are an evil man to have ever even tried to divert blame onto the guy that tried to prevent that catastrophe. I spit on you.
Taxpayer
September 24th, 2009
8:03 pm
Doggone,
mike probably had to go.
Public Option's Doing Swell
September 24th, 2009
8:05 pm
Explaining to Mike is like explaining to a vegetable.
$40 million of the $50 million from the city and state–they don’t have it.
Purdue is the state and he’s wasted a ton of money. He’s a Republican and yeah that makes him stupid and vice-versa.
Public option is competition for insurance companies that are gouging middle America. Has zero relevance to a Football Museum in Atlanta. It is opposed by Republican hookers who took millions from insurance companies for the privilege of bankrupting middle America and killing them.
Arguing with you Mike is like arguing with a kid who turns into a block of wood. It’s a waste of time.
Try school..
Taxpayer
September 24th, 2009
8:07 pm
TnGelding,
China is going to own the IMF in a few more years at the rate their going, or at least the US influence there because they’ll just threaten to quit loaning us money and then start dumping what they already have. We’d better start learning all those dialects of Chinese.
AmVet
September 24th, 2009
8:08 pm
Taxpayer, remember this is the same gutless turd neo-con who called Cleland a coward.
Hands down the most loathsome US Senator of them all…
Public Option's Doing Swell
September 24th, 2009
8:09 pm
Public Option Good 公共選擇好。
Taxpayer
September 24th, 2009
8:11 pm
AmVet
September 24th, 2009
8:08 pm
Taxpayer, remember this is the same gutless turd neo-con who called Cleland a coward.
Hands down the most loathsome US Senator of them all…
I agree, AmVet. I’ve seen a lot of congressmen pull some rotten stunts but he takes the cake.
Taxpayer
September 24th, 2009
8:13 pm
Public Option’s Doing Swell
September 24th, 2009
8:09 pm
You gotta learn how to say it. Then, there’s the bowing and the presentation of the business cards. Remember to hold your business card with both hands and to bow your head slightly while presenting it. You gotta learn the customs if you expect to survive.
Finn McCool
September 24th, 2009
8:14 pm
Public Option Headed For Vote Tomorrow
Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/09/24/public-option-headed-for_n_299232.html
WOOOOOOOT WOOOOOOT WOOOOOOOT
DoggoneGA
September 24th, 2009
8:17 pm
Now that the plaything seems to be gone for a while:
“If MARTA were to work its rail line up the I-85 corridor, we could get a LOT of cars off that road in rush hour.”
I agree with this up to a point, but to me the biggest mistake MARTA made was to not go around the Perimeter. For instance, if I wanted to take MARTA to Perimeter Mall I’d have to get the train at Doraville, ride it down to the Lenox station (I think that’s right) then wait for a train to Perimeter. In that time I can drive to Perimeter, probably quicker actually.
And putting stations close to me out I85 wouldn’t help any…I’d STILL have that “2 sides of a triangle” ride to endure.
In fact, a LOT of the places I would take MARTA – I can’t, because MARTA doesn’t go there. And I can’t even use the HOV lanes because the most often times that I am driving through Atlanta (aka usually around the Perimeter) I’m driving my van on the way to an event with my dogs…and the dogs don’t count as “passengers”
Tank
September 24th, 2009
8:17 pm
I constantly see blogs where Republican politicians get slammed for having taken kickbacks from Wall Street, insurance companies, big oil, and pharmaceutical companies. I also read blogs where it is only Repugs who stash money in overseas accounts.
I have to ask, where are the Democratic politicians getting their money? Are they not courted by the same lobbyists?
Also, do you really think it is only rich Repugs who’ve been stashing money overseas?
C’mon. You’re really not that naive, are you?
Public Option's Doing Swell
September 24th, 2009
8:21 pm
Public Option headed for vote tomorrow in one of five committees–the one with the most insurance hookers in it by far so it won’t pass there. But it passed the other four. It will pass on Senate Floor and in Conference Committee and if necessary we’ll slam it through via Reconciliation.
Glad people are keeping up. What you’ll hear tomorrow if you tune in is all the hookers chirping for their johns who don’t give a damn about health care because they have theres.
Why are Repubozotards yammering that Obama is taking his eye off Afghanistan to focus on health care when Bushotards eye wasn’t anywhere near Afghanistan for eight years? Bush didn’t dent Al Quaeda any more than he dented Hannible Lecter. I didn’t see Bush addressing “Afghanistan quickly.” I didn’t see him addressing it worth a flying F. Jim Demint=Sarah Palin=Dead on Arrival.
Repubozotards irrelevant.
Public Option's Doing Swell
September 24th, 2009
8:21 pm
Public Option headed for vote tomorrow in one of five committees–the one with the most insurance hookers in it by far so it won’t pass there. But it passed the other four. It will pass on Senate Floor and in Conference Committee and if necessary we’ll slam it through via Reconciliation.
Glad people are keeping up. What you’ll hear tomorrow if you tune in is all the hookers chirping for their johns who don’t give a damn about health care because they have theres.
Why are Repubozotards yammering that Obama is taking his eye off Afghanistan to focus on health care when Bushotards eye wasn’t anywhere near Afghanistan for eight years? Bush didn’t dent Al Quaeda any more than he dented Hannible Lecter. I didn’t see Bush addressing “Afghanistan quickly.” I didn’t see him addressing it worth a flying F. Jim Demint=Sarah Palin=Dead on Arrival.
Repubozotards irrelevant.
But also.
Taxpayer
September 24th, 2009
8:22 pm
Dogone,
You should call your representative. I saw where one congressman had proposed a bill to give dog owners a tax deduction so maybe you could get one of them to make a law that allows pets to count for using the HOV lane.
Public Option's Doing Swell
September 24th, 2009
8:28 pm
Question from the tank actually on an issue.
Naive? Ya think. As to health care reform, Tank millions over years and hundreds of thousands over the summer have been very specifically funnelled at two groups. Republicans opposing anything Obama tries and Blue Dogs.
They are insurance company hookers and I can document it. There has never been more money funnelled faster to specific people in the history of the US. Think rainy rain comin’ down on 16000 Atlantans so dumb they’re filing insurance claims but they have zippo insurance.
This is a specific list of money being funnelle to insurance and pharm hookers–Repubozos and Blue Dogs and Bob Menendez because he is from New Jersey where the pharms mostly are:
http://www.campaignmoney.org/threevotes
I’ve been getting these lists since I got outta school. Are you naive Tanky?
Public Options Doing Swill
September 24th, 2009
8:32 pm
Blah, blah, blah, arrghh.
ruff, rufff.
Bark, bark.
grrrrrr.
Public Options Doing Swill
September 24th, 2009
8:33 pm
hiccup
Public Option's Doing Swell
September 24th, 2009
8:35 pm
These commie pinko socialists just comin’ at us from all directions. He was the Repubozo Blue Dog’s best friend, and now the CBO is turnin’ into a traitor and making them look stoopid. I want my country back from the CBO Dr. Elmendorf. Cause:
http://www.politico.com/livepulse/0909/CBO_estimate_deals_blow_to_Blue_Dogs.html?showall
“The Congressional Budget Office dealt Blue Dogs a blow Thursday by notifying House Democrats that tethering a public option to Medicare reimbursement rates would save the government $110 billion more than a public option in which the government has to negotiate rates with doctors and other health care providers.
The initial projections showed the difference between the two was $65 billion. But this shows it would cost the government a lot more money to heed moderate demands.
House Democrats need to trim as much as $200 billion from a bill that most estimates peg at $1.1 trillion in order to meet President Obama’s $900 billion target.”
Gimme my country. You got it Tank? You hidin’ it?
Public Option's Doing Swell
September 24th, 2009
8:41 pm
Justice Ginsberg taken to the hospital hour and a half ago feeling dizzy.
RW-(the original)
September 24th, 2009
8:46 pm
Does Mad Harris ever stfu?
Andy,
Remember how Jay B used to whine at you all day about his “rule” that only allowed two off topic comments per item he posted? I think Chadly broke him.
Public Option's Doing Swell
September 24th, 2009
8:48 pm
For the poor people who can’t afford insurance, the Repubos have this little device for you–Fitbit:
http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/09/24/it-took-a-year-but-fitness-gadget-fitbit-finally-launches/
Public Option's Doing Swell
September 24th, 2009
8:52 pm
RW’s sense of order, obsession compulsion, and Dante’s 9 Circles, hierarchy, and propriety has been shattered because there is a “2 comment” limit 12 hours after the initial post has shown up and everybody abandons whatever thread they were on as if Anthax and Ebola were unSomleashed on the thread they were on.
Some people pay no attention to whatever Jay posts and just launch into rants that they want their country back from the pinko hiphop socialist in the White House–and btw it’s White?
I’ll take a swipe at almost every primary topic. Try the Fitbit to unleash all that tension RW.
http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/09/24/it-took-a-year-but-fitness-gadget-fitbit-finally-launches/
I Report/ Vast White Wing Conspirator (-: You Whine )-:
September 24th, 2009
9:06 pm
You know, Mad Harris, RW has a point.
You are the most obnoxious, rambling parody of a stooge that this blog has ever seen.
The comic fascination wore off on post #2, so many, many years ago.
Try soaking your head, it might help.
DoggoneGA
September 24th, 2009
9:10 pm
“You should call your representative”
I wasn’t really trying to advocate for the dogs to count as passengers…it was just my off-hand way of backing up what I said earlier: that what we need in Atlanta is express lanes, to move travelers whose goal is just to get through the city able to do it faster. And, of course, giving communters whose goal is the same thing…the same result.
godless heathen
September 24th, 2009
9:37 pm
“remember this is the same gutless turd neo-con who called Cleland a coward.”
Cited quotation, please.
dave
September 24th, 2009
9:47 pm
I’m a conservative, but I’m all for passenger and commuter rail. Bus rapid transit sounds like a good idea, until you start figuring in maintenance, and then realize that trains, while more expensive initially, don’t get stuck in traffic, don’t get flat tires or break down (and hold up traffic), and don’t pollute, seeing that most of them are electric powered (and those that aren’t are diesel-electric – far less polluting than buses). We can’t continue to keep paving every available inch of real estate, and we need to get out from under the thumb of those who hate and want to kill us.
Taxpayer
September 24th, 2009
9:48 pm
What’s not to love about this guy, at least for a Republican. This is their kinda guy. Now y’all give him a big hug… and a golf clap.
I Report/ Vast White Wing Conspirator (-: You Whine )-:
September 24th, 2009
9:50 pm
That would be quite a shot, Mad Harris, would you put the gun in your ass to achieve your aim?
I posted twice this morning, once at noon and this evening while you have been babbling all day, do you have us confused?
You sound desperate, wait, no, you are desperate but I don’t blame you, if I had a “president” that was as pedestrian and lackluster as yours is, I would continuously rant too.
Hell, I almost feel sorry for you, klepto.
Almost.
AmVet
September 24th, 2009
9:54 pm
Taxpayer, the more I learn about that Georgia wh0re the more I realize what scumbags the people of this state are for electing Suxtobeus.
Twice.
Shameful. Embarrassing. Crackers…
Taxpayer
September 24th, 2009
9:58 pm
And, this one sums up why the Georgia Republicans just love this man so much. He’s just one of the gang, a guy they just wanna go have a beer with and talk about the good old days. A real hero, this one.
Public Option's Doing Swell
September 24th, 2009
10:10 pm
Andy–
It doesn’t matter how many times you post which are usually all day and all night. The posts are worthless railing against something you can’t do a thing about. Your party is dead. Find a hobby or not. You also grew up with your 3 year old brain, and now its trapped in your adult body.
You have as much relevance as Sen. Kyle who made a fool of himself today and was cutoff for delay.
I never see you make a point on an issue because you have a basic ignorance of how government works or what’s going on. I just figured you’re on a lot of different meds and their interactions have a lot of CNS impact that makes you dizzy and ditzy all the time. Maybe Rush gave you his addiction recipe–I dunno.
AmVet
September 24th, 2009
10:13 pm
TP, what screamed out to me illustrating just how despicable the GOP has become is that only two Republicans called out that POS – Hagel and McCain. JUST TWO!
The ONLY two Republicans I can think of who have demonstrated valor and integrity.
Which is of course, anathema to these generally gutless neo-cons and chickenhawks.
And to these scummy Suxbee-loving Georgians those two highly decorated combat veterans are both not even worthy of being considered part of their pathetic party.
No wonder such a huge percentage of Americans are disgusted by this Hijacked and vile GOP…
Taxpayer
September 24th, 2009
10:35 pm
Y’all have a good night and dream happy dreams. Dream about hugging. Then, go out into the forest tomorrow and hug a tree for one day that very tree and its ability to provide life-sustaining oxygen could save you.
Public Option's Doing Swell
September 24th, 2009
10:37 pm
Repubs just get crazier. What if it’s a congenital disease?
Cornyn proposed amendment to require members of Congress to enroll in Medicaid. Amendment failed 6-16. (Snowe voted no.)
I don’t think they’d be very happy because Medicaid reimburses a doctor so poorly that most of us don’t touch it.
I don’t think that’s the kind of medical care La Creme de la hooker for insurance company Olympia de la Snowe is acustomed to.
JasonCrep
September 24th, 2009
10:42 pm
I always thought Jay was the most liberal &&^!!! out there and all of his columns proves it. If you can pay for it when you have the money, I see no problem with it. Its called freedom of choice.
JasonCrep
September 24th, 2009
10:48 pm
One thing the Republican have going for them, they did not start the KKK, Democrats did along with Jim Crow and legal segregation. Democraps also support genocide with family unplanning which support eugenics.
Tax Payer funded option, NEVER
September 24th, 2009
10:48 pm
I guess you have a problem with first class airline sections, suites in hotels, and luxury cars too. Wealth Envy is a killer!
Tax Payer funded option, NEVER
September 24th, 2009
10:59 pm
And let’s add…Dugout seats, front row concert seats, designer suits, Coach handbags, Rolex watches……and Hamburgers WITH Cheese.
kffl.com
September 24th, 2009
11:01 pm
ORLY?
Public Option's Doing Swell
September 24th, 2009
11:01 pm
@ Jason –the choice we made was to vote in a Senate and House that will pass the public option. Take a big bite of that choice. If we have to we’ll NG tube it down via Reconciliation. Look the terms up.
Public Option's Doing Swell
September 24th, 2009
11:03 pm
@ Chia
The change is that the insurance companies will soon have competition. That’s the part you should take a big bite of.
Public Option's Doing Swell
September 24th, 2009
11:04 pm
The public option won’t be taxpayer funded. Ignorance is pandemic among Repubozos here.
RW-(the original)
September 24th, 2009
11:04 pm
Semi-kudos to the AJC for the story of the tragic end to Barbara Jean Smith’s life who was only stopping to see if she could help a fellow motorist in the rain. God rest her soul. Why the semi-kudos? The AJC tells us that Marcelino Chavez-Lopez is facing several charges including driving without a license, but the reporters somehow become incurious about why he has no license.
Tax Payer funded option, NEVER
September 24th, 2009
11:05 pm
Public, you are that BIG of an idiot, aren’t you. Here’s a word for you to look up – DOUCHEBAG!
Public Option's Doing Swell
September 24th, 2009
11:11 pm
Oxedine Damage at 250 million
Franklin Damage at 1 billion
Do I hear trillion?
# with no flood insurance filing claims 16000
Rationale: 14000 per day cancelled in US from health insurance when get sick so it seemed logical and Atlanta Housewives said it was way kuell.
Resevoirs in Atlanta and Surrounding area value zip over zero over zip
Give it a week and AJC will be replete with da JawJaw fingerpointing on da flood
Mayoral Candidates keep you safe but not dry.
Public Option's Doing Swell
September 24th, 2009
11:18 pm
The story of Mrs. Smith is a very tragic one, and heartbreaking. The US hasn’t had a coherent immigration policy for 50 years, and I doubt if they’ll craft one in 50 more years. One of the things that conservatives who have never dealt with the process fail to understand is that the average wait for citizenship can be as long as 10-15 years due to the worst bureaucracy in the world INS. Further the immigration courts aren’t staffed by judges with any experience whatsoever if you look at the ell shaped curve of judges–they are DOJ plum jobs handed out by Bushie to Gonzales groupies–most of whom have not litigated a single immigration case as an attorney and when asylum was polled the differences in the ND Georgia and Southern District of Florida was 5% granted in Georgia and 95% granted Florida wit the same population of applicants. This has been well covered in the law journals.
Double-Talk, Take a WALK
September 24th, 2009
11:23 pm
So the government can’t do immigration right after 50 years, but they can do “Teddy Care”? Go figure, only a liberal would NOT see the joke there.
Public Option's Doing Swell
September 24th, 2009
11:23 pm
@ Chia
Were you hired to write the recent UN speech for Kadafi and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad?
Public Option's Doing Swell
September 24th, 2009
11:25 pm
Absolutely we can do health care. INS are the most ignorant bureaucrats imaginable. I’ve filled out several INS applications and gone to bat with them for immigrants and won. They’re bullies until they know you know their system and they are always afraid of a boss.
Only somone ignorant is comparing a choice of a plan to insurance companies.
I understand that all Repubozos here, although none of you earn all that much, want to defend insurance companies rights to screw you.
Public Option's Doing Swell
September 24th, 2009
11:26 pm
Tax Payer…no write purty some day cause Katy Abram brain.
Public Option's Doing Swell
September 24th, 2009
11:27 pm
When the teabaggers stopped at the rallies, they brought the stupid here–apparently all of ‘em.
ND
September 24th, 2009
11:32 pm
The real solution to traffic problems is to not live fifty f*cking miles away from the city in which you work.
The day boondocks counties like Hall and Forsyth stop growing is the day metro Atlanta’s traffic problem improves.
Tax Payer funded option, NEVER
September 24th, 2009
11:33 pm
Trust the government to do anything right? Check with the American Indians, any veteran who’s delt with the VA, Fanny Mae/Freddy Mac, Social Security, Medicare/Medicade, FEMA, and you think that a TAX PAYER funded (defecit neutral/balanced budget, right) health care will work, YOU are either off your meds or that person that can be fooled ALL the time.
Right
September 24th, 2009
11:33 pm
“it just doesn’t sit right” — Look, I struggled through undergrad, grad, professional school and residency. I incurred substantial student loans — which I paid off. I’ve worked for and earned everything I have. We pay substantial property taxes and send our children to private school. If I can afford it you better believe IT SITS RIGHT!! If you’re not willing to value education, work hard for a living, and contribute positively to society the playing field is not level nor should it be !!!!
Public Option's Doing Swell
September 24th, 2009
11:53 pm
You’re missing the point @ Taxwhatever.
We all know how dumb federal bureaucrats can be. What we as doctors want are competititon for the insurance companies and buddy if you don’t think they fear it and are fighting it with every dollar they have, you sure as hell haven’t seen Senate Finance Committee’s hookers the last couple days. Tivo C-Span for a while tomorrow. Or don’t.
You can yell here all you like but bahsing me’s not going to change what’s going to happen and I haven’t got time to teach you.
Public Option's Doing Swell
September 24th, 2009
11:54 pm
Chia that’s what you hear every time from anyone.
TnGelding
September 25th, 2009
3:22 am
“Metro Atlanta unemployment rate dips”
“The metro area unemployment rate slipped to 10.4 percent in August from 10.6 percent the month before, “primarily due to workforce shrinkage,” the Labor Department said Thursday.”
http://www.ajc.com/business/metro-atlanta-unemployment-rate-146283.html
TnGelding
September 25th, 2009
3:27 am
“McChrystal: Violence “Worse” Than Expected”
“Gen. Stanley McChrystal’s interview with CBS News National Security correspondent David Martin will be broadcast on the 42nd season premiere of 60 Minutes this Sunday, Sept. 27, at 7 p.m. ET/PT.”
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/09/24/60minutes/main5335445.shtml
I Report/ Vast White Wing Conspirator (-: You Whine )-:
September 25th, 2009
5:49 am
al-Gore, Cindy Sheehan or Barak Obozo?
“Consider the course that we’re on if we fail to confront the status quo: extremists sowing terror in pockets of the world; protracted conflicts that grind on and on; genocide; mass atrocities; more nations with nuclear weapons; melting ice caps and ravaged populations; persistent poverty and pandemic disease.”-Barak Obozo
I wasn’t sure which ditz it was.
I Report/ Vast White Wing Conspirator (-: You Whine )-:
September 25th, 2009
5:52 am
The US is too dependent on Japan and China buying up the country’s debt and could face severe economic problems if that stops, Tiger Management founder and chairman Julian Robertson told CNBC.
“It’s almost Armageddon if the Japanese and Chinese don’t buy our debt,” Robertson said in an interview. “I don’t know where we could get the money. I think we’ve let ourselves get in a terrible situation and I think we ought to try and get out of it.”
I know, let’s put some protectionist tariffs on Chinese tires and piss them off real good, for no reason.
Then the United States will die, yay!
AmVet
September 25th, 2009
6:14 am
Some are saying the problem is racism. Others call it lack of civility. Still others point to varying combinations of stupidity and craziness.
All of these things are certainly in play in the current right-wing hatefest, but let’s not lose sight of another factor that’s been overlooked: sheer viciousness.
There has always been a significant amount of galloping meanness on the right, the ancestral home of the angry white male, the we’re-rich-because-we’re-better-than-you Ayn Randians and the Mr. Potters of the world.
Traditionally, right-wingers love war and guns and punishment, capital or corporal. Now you can add torture. They hate extending rights or privileges to any deprived group. They’d so much rather crack down upon such. The poor, the minorities, the immigrants, underprivileged folks in general tend to annoy the right rather than stir their benevolent impulses, The right, in short, is a party of pricks.
Not every conservative is a heartless b@stard, but the majority of heartless b@stards are conservatives.
USinUK
September 25th, 2009
6:42 am
happy-happy-happy Friday!!! woowoo!!
I hope everyone stays safe as it looks like more rain is heading your way … take care of your bad selves!
USinUK
September 25th, 2009
6:56 am
NO! NO! NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/8274208.stm
(talk about the antithesis of traveling music …)
TnGelding
September 25th, 2009
7:07 am
I Report/ Vast White Wing Conspirator (-: You Whine )-:
September 25th, 2009
5:52 am
Actually, our citizens have bought nearly a trillion dollars of it this year, and could buy trillions more if given more incentive. And of course, the government itself holds nearly half of it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Estimated_ownership_of_treasury_securities_by_year.gif
But when SS IOUs have to be redeemed, it could get ugly.