Nobody can agree on much, which is pretty much Tracy's point. Soon there'll be nothing left but to put options on a wall, blindfold somebody and have them start throwing darts.
On the other hand, Obama may have expected, perhaps legitimately, that his *Team of Rivals* would "push him out of his comfort zone" behind closed doors. Crowley was within his rights to speak his mind publicly, but probably could not expect there would be no potentially job-threatening consequences. Regardless, Crowley's *push* contained much more force, having been spoken publicly.
Commentator Glenn Greenwald further reminds that Obama claimed, "I don't want to have people who just agree with me. I want people who are continually pushing me out of my comfort zone." ( http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/gle... )
Regarding Bradley Manning, strange treatment for Americans to be meting out to anyone, let alone an American who has been neither tried nor convicted by any court not resembling a star chamber. Our proud philosophical tradition of "innocent until proven guilty" has been taking a beating these latter years.
Should Manning manage to survive physically and mentally intact to *reach* trial it will be interesting to hear his side of the story.
It appears the logic here is that for each red light run there must be an accident, or, at least, the infraction/accident ratio must be some degree lower.
The idea of *prevention* seems absent from much of the rationale I see in this thread. There are missing statistics here: How many *aren't* running the lights because they know (1) it's illegal, (2) it's dangerous for themselves, other drivers & other pedestrians, but particularly (3) they know the intersection is being monitored by electronic police or human police? In the absence of this statistical information it is illogical to conclude people are not safer thanks to red-light police.
Perhaps we might therefore consider removing traffic signals & stop signs altogether. All traffic signs. Turn signals and brake lights on vehicles. Crosswalks. Yellow and white lines on the roadways. Turn lanes. Prohibitions against poker games in moving vehicles, games in which the driver is serving as dealer.
Liberty and chaos have an intimate connection. Liberty is wonderful; but doesn't government exist partly to keep Liberty from driving us into the abyss of chaos? Debating that balance is an ongoing sausage-making process. It isn't pretty, but I wonder if the solution is to throw in the towel and give chaos (and its partner, Liberty) free reign.
I suspect citizens of Wenatchee are going to be learning that particular lesson with a vengeance because of the Town Toyota Center situation. Most of us taxpayers have our favorite government "whipping boys" (which are *always* someone else's "sacred cow"; how long before a local government attribute that red-light adversaries care about is threatened? For instance, cannot the building and maintenance of Wenatchee city streets be thought of as a pork project to keep city road workers employed? A money-making scheme for Wenatchee employees? It would seem ironic if street building and maintenance is partially funded by proceeds from red-light camera effectiveness.
Though I agree with Mr;. Krauthammer's first three sentences, the Social Security Administration itself appears to disagree matter-of-factly with the remainder of his claims: See, for instance, the "Why do some people..." section of this Social Security Administration link: http://www.ssa.gov/oact/progdata/fund... . This web page in general is a welcome, sober contrast to the dire claims extant in American media these days regarding social security.
Strange that so many people seem to believe a responsibility to repay between two federal entities is not really binding and won't, in fact, be repaid.
If an intersection has most of its traffic passing through on the one street, and comparatively less on the other street -- compared to another intersection in which there's substantial traffic on *both* streets -- that would a powerful variable in explaining discrepancies such as you mention. If the the amount of "competing" traffic is less in one intersection than on the other intersection (all other variables being equal) then that intersection is likely to have fewer red-light violations even though it may have substantially more total traffic.
Regardless, it still doesn't seem to explain why most of us find stopping in time for a yellow-to-red light to be a particularly simple challenge while others evidently do not.
Broke or not, we’re in trouble
Nobody can agree on much, which is pretty much Tracy's point. Soon there'll be nothing left but to put options on a wall, blindfold somebody and have them start throwing darts.
March 15, 2011 at 7:58 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
State Department spokesman resigns over WikiLeaks remarks
On the other hand, Obama may have expected, perhaps legitimately, that his *Team of Rivals* would "push him out of his comfort zone" behind closed doors. Crowley was within his rights to speak his mind publicly, but probably could not expect there would be no potentially job-threatening consequences. Regardless, Crowley's *push* contained much more force, having been spoken publicly.
March 14, 2011 at 4:28 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
State Department spokesman resigns over WikiLeaks remarks
As commentator Matt Kane has said, " I suppose that forced resignation is better than solitary and forced nudity." ( http://www.huffingtonpost.com/matt-ka... )
Commentator Glenn Greenwald further reminds that Obama claimed, "I don't want to have people who just agree with me. I want people who are continually pushing me out of my comfort zone." ( http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/gle... )
Regarding Bradley Manning, strange treatment for Americans to be meting out to anyone, let alone an American who has been neither tried nor convicted by any court not resembling a star chamber. Our proud philosophical tradition of "innocent until proven guilty" has been taking a beating these latter years.
Should Manning manage to survive physically and mentally intact to *reach* trial it will be interesting to hear his side of the story.
March 14, 2011 at 4:02 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Red-light cameras go to court
It appears the logic here is that for each red light run there must be an accident, or, at least, the infraction/accident ratio must be some degree lower.
The idea of *prevention* seems absent from much of the rationale I see in this thread. There are missing statistics here: How many *aren't* running the lights because they know (1) it's illegal, (2) it's dangerous for themselves, other drivers & other pedestrians, but particularly (3) they know the intersection is being monitored by electronic police or human police? In the absence of this statistical information it is illogical to conclude people are not safer thanks to red-light police.
March 13, 2011 at 12:52 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Red-light cameras go to court
Perhaps we might therefore consider removing traffic signals & stop signs altogether. All traffic signs. Turn signals and brake lights on vehicles. Crosswalks. Yellow and white lines on the roadways. Turn lanes. Prohibitions against poker games in moving vehicles, games in which the driver is serving as dealer.
Liberty and chaos have an intimate connection. Liberty is wonderful; but doesn't government exist partly to keep Liberty from driving us into the abyss of chaos? Debating that balance is an ongoing sausage-making process. It isn't pretty, but I wonder if the solution is to throw in the towel and give chaos (and its partner, Liberty) free reign.
March 13, 2011 at 12:26 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Red-light cameras go to court
I suspect citizens of Wenatchee are going to be learning that particular lesson with a vengeance because of the Town Toyota Center situation. Most of us taxpayers have our favorite government "whipping boys" (which are *always* someone else's "sacred cow"; how long before a local government attribute that red-light adversaries care about is threatened? For instance, cannot the building and maintenance of Wenatchee city streets be thought of as a pork project to keep city road workers employed? A money-making scheme for Wenatchee employees? It would seem ironic if street building and maintenance is partially funded by proceeds from red-light camera effectiveness.
March 13, 2011 at 12:15 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Obama’s strategy starts with a Social Security hoax
Though I agree with Mr;. Krauthammer's first three sentences, the Social Security Administration itself appears to disagree matter-of-factly with the remainder of his claims: See, for instance, the "Why do some people..." section of this Social Security Administration link: http://www.ssa.gov/oact/progdata/fund... . This web page in general is a welcome, sober contrast to the dire claims extant in American media these days regarding social security.
Strange that so many people seem to believe a responsibility to repay between two federal entities is not really binding and won't, in fact, be repaid.
March 12, 2011 at 4:28 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Poachers and political damage
a
March 12, 2011 at 3:56 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Poachers and political damage
Has anyone a theory as to why wolves seem so much more politically divisive than other predators such as cougars?
March 12, 2011 at 3:55 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Red-light cameras go to court
If an intersection has most of its traffic passing through on the one street, and comparatively less on the other street -- compared to another intersection in which there's substantial traffic on *both* streets -- that would a powerful variable in explaining discrepancies such as you mention. If the the amount of "competing" traffic is less in one intersection than on the other intersection (all other variables being equal) then that intersection is likely to have fewer red-light violations even though it may have substantially more total traffic.
Regardless, it still doesn't seem to explain why most of us find stopping in time for a yellow-to-red light to be a particularly simple challenge while others evidently do not.
March 6, 2011 at 9:28 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )