They must have plates in their heads (updated)

In order to preserve low taxes on the rich, some of the thieves in Albany wants to soak kids. Two bills in the New York state Assembly have been introduced that would require license plates on all bicycles. The license plate would cost $25 initially and $5 a year after that and would be required for all bikes, including those owned by children.

Biking helps people get fit, relieves traffic congestion and does not contribute to air pollution or climate change. These things are not only beneficial in and of themselves but lower costs to society by making less road maintenance, less environmental remediation and fewer expensive medical problems.

It's a well-accepted goal of public policy to use taxes and fees to discourage bad behavior. But these brainless wonders apparently want to discourage GOOD behavior... all for a purported benefit to the state coffers of a whopping $375,000 a year.

Contact your Assembly member and tell them to shift their brain into first gear and bury this bill.


Update: I've received word that the bills' sponsor, Assemblyman Michael DenDekker, has withdrawn the pieces of legislation. He said that the bills were "in response to numerous complaints from my constituents regarding bicyclists who were not following local and state laws"... because the way to deal with people who don't follow laws is to pass more laws they won't follow. His press release stated that "the original intent of these bills was to enhance pedestrian and bicycle safety" while omitting the real intent of the bills: a money grab.



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Rep. Murphy will pay for the vote he hasn't cast yet on the bill that's nowhere close to being finalized

A look at today's letters to the editor in The Post-Star (unavailable online except to people willing to pay extra for their pdf version) gives a good hint about why it's so hard to be an elected official today. There were several letters excoriating local Congressman Scott Murphy for supporting the health insurance bill that recently passed Congress, all from the right. That's to be expected.

It was a poor bill, one that did a little good and a lot of bad. And much like the Wall St. bailout, the health insurance bill DID represent socialism, just not in the way that the Tea Party types mean. The bill was a giant giveaway to health insurance conglomerates, which is why I refer to it as the health insurance bill not the health care bill. It is also why that industry supported the bill. The health insurance bill represents corporatism, which is corporate socialism. Maybe the Tea Party types will realize that the fundamental problem crippling our democracy isn't progressives supporting gay marriage but a government run on behalf of corporations and a Supreme Court validating this perverse notion... though I'm not holding my breath.

Criticisms of Murphy's vote on the health insurance bill are legitimate, if a bit misguided. But what's really infuriating is that at least three of the letters criticized Murphy for votes HE HADN'T EVEN TAKEN YET. They criticized him for the climate bill. They criticized him for cap and trade. They criticized him for citizenship for illegal immigrants. I don't believe he's taken firm positions on these issues and he absolutely hasn't voted one way or the other on them.

Fury and paranoia at living under a corporate Democratic administration (who replaced the corporate Republican administration) has made some people so unhinged that they'll attack a politician for things he hasn't done or even talked about doing yet. It shows how debased, how completely insane our political culture has become.

Are there any adults in the house?

The New York state senate no longer has the monopoly on idiocy among public 'servants.'

I'm not sure which is more absurd:

An out-of-control baseball parent in Ballston Spa abusing his position as sheriff's deputy to try to get a teenager prosecuted* for kicking a baseball helmet after being punched in the stomach during the 'sportsmanship' post-game handshake...

or...

The fact that the Clifton Park town board has managed to turn a park playground into an ideological battle.

Wonderful role models for Our Children.



*-Fortunately the charges were dismissed and denounced by the district attorney.

Sweeps week in Albany!

My brother points out that C-SPAN could probably quadruple their ratings if they decided instead to broadcast proceedings at the New York Senate, as Planet Albany's account illustrates. The New York Times' also has a report on a farce that's simultaneously amusing and enraging.

And yet people remain mystified why I vote 'third party.'