The glories of privatization... cont'd

Chicago recently privatized their parking meters in an effort to raise operating cash for the city. The private companies immediately did away with free parking on Sundays and holidays, quadrupled rates, instituted 24 hour a day / 7 day a week meter feeding requirements, and installed thousands of brand new non - working meters citywide.

"thousands of newly installed (privatized) credit-card and coin-taking parking meters simply do not work." - NY Times

The situation has gotten so bad that the city had to stop issuing parking tickets, because so many of the the privately run meters were inoperable.

If you believe that government is inherently bad, and can't do anything well, then privatization may make some sense. We need to recognize that this is a belief, and not a matter of fact. Isn't it time we started to govern based on what actually works as opposed to articles of faith? Why do the media so often fail to confront this unsupported belief as a superstition when it is trotted out?

Having live through the horrors of the privatization of the energy markets in California, I am well aware that the Republican mantra of "private business can deliver public services better and cheaper" is often flat wrong. This is just one more of literally dozens of examples of the utter failure of the drive to privatization.





























Please note, this photo is not an actual Chicago parking meter...

Credit Card reform - Sen. Chris Dodd says Bang Bang, Shoot Shoot!

President Obama signed the much overdue credit card reform bill into law today, with a completely non-sensical "gotcha" earmark added by Republican Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla allowing people to conceal and carry loaded weapons into our National Parks. 

Is Sen Chris Dodd (D, Conn) making a playground stye finger gun in this photo?  "Bang! Bang! Shoot! Shoot!"

"New law will curtail fees and rate hikes starting in February. Industry opposition fell under populist push, culminating year's long drive by consumers." - CNN Money

Pelosi and Waterboarding...

I must be missing something.  According to the partisan hacks at Fox News, It's perfectly OK for Cheney / Bush / Woo to authorize waterboarding "to keep us safe", but it's not okay for the house minority leader to know about it?     HUH? 

Oh, it's the timeline of when she knew.... 

Isn't this the same kind of botched timeline garbage we've seen in every one of the dozens of Republican scandals in the Nixon / Reagan / Bush / Bush W administrations? 

Come on Fox - is it that hard to fill the hours now that the American electorate has left you behind?  

(Not that Nancy isn't something of a partisan hack herself, and I'm a lifelong democrat...) 

The Return of Grace - Obama turns controversy into jokes, lesson at commencement - CNN.com

Obama turns controversy into jokes, lesson at commencement - CNN.com:  

"TEMPE, Arizona (CNN) -- President Obama on Wednesday turned a flap over his commencement speech at Arizona State University into a joke -- then a lesson about never being satisfied with one's accomplishments." - CNN

Thank God for the return of grace and good humor to the Presidency.  Remember the brouhaha over ASU not offering an honorary degree to president Obama when he spoke at ASU's commencement?   The University said it was refusing the honorary degree to Obama, because "his accomplishments were still before him."    

WTF?   

Being President of the Harvard Law Review, sponsoring the most significant ethics reform bill in Illinois history,  raising a family, and being the first African American President at age 47 aren't significant accomplishments? 

Oh right!  ASU is the state university of the same state that refused to recognize the Dr. King Holiday until nearly Ten years after the rest of the country was celebrating it. 

Today President Obama delivered a wry, funny and graceful speech to the graduates, gently parrying the slight and turning it into a moving "teachable moment" about their "best accomplishments being before them." 

I was proud to see the grace and humor with which the President handled the speech.

Refreshing, as when was the last time the words graceful and the Presidency commingled?