I posted earlier about Senator McCain’s proposal to institute a moratorium on the gas tax this summer. Since that time Senator Clinton has jumped on that band-wagon and suggest a similar disastrous idea. The only candidate speaking any sense these days as it relates to oil and infrastructure is Obama, who agrees that it is insane. This morning I came across a wired blog that pointed to this spoof page. Keeping the truest form to the best of Nigerian money scams, this hardened democrat speaks truth about the McCain and Clinton ideas for a summer break on gas taxes. Enjoy!
Rob sent this to me…
Republican Presidential Candidate John McCain, today proposed a suspension of federal motor fuel user fees from Memorial Day to Labor Day. He offered no plan to replace the $10 billion that would be lost in fuel tax revenues to the Highway Trust Fund if his proposal were to be put in place. This would mean a loss of $200 million in federal funds for Tennessee.
At a time when our country is staring at a recession and our transportation infrastructure faces serious funding shortfalls at both the federal and state level, the last thing we need is a reduction in the amount of funding for the program. Instead of taking $10 billion out of the program, we ought to be putting $10 billion into the program. Doing so would create hundreds of thousands of jobs, reduce congestion, improve safety on our highways and provide a true stimulus for the economy
Continue reading ‘McCain Proposal would cost HTF $10 Billion; Tennesseans $200M’
From Breakpoint
A Tribute to Charlton Heston
April 10, 2008
In modern America, film and television are powerful shapers of culture. They provide shared experiences; they influence the way people think about the world around them.
They can even help establish powerful cultural traditions. Especially before the age of movie rentals and DVDs, there were a few things you could always count on happening every year: that is, families gathering around the TV to watch A Charlie Brown Christmas or It’s a Wonderful Life or The Wizard of Oz.
But for my money, the greatest TV tradition took place at Easter: sitting down to watch Charlton Heston play Moses in The Ten Commandments and the title role in Ben Hur. The excellent production values and storytelling of these films, and in particular the powerful, dignified acting of Heston, brought the Bible and its characters into homes everywhere, many of which might have had no other experience with or knowledge of Christianity.
So, I am sure that when many heard of Heston’s death, they felt a part of their own lives had passed along as well. He was, as many have written, a cultural icon.
And if you had to pick a cultural icon worthy of the status, you could not do much better than Charlton Heston. If you have been reading the tributes, you have seen why: Married to his wife, Lydia, for 64 years, a beloved father and grandfather, a staunch supporter of civil rights who marched with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and stood nearby as King delivered the immortal “I Have a Dream” speech.
Yet there are those who deride Heston for the causes that he devoted himself to later in his life, such as Second Amendment rights and protecting kids from an increasingly coarse culture. I think these people are missing something. It is not the man who goes easily along with the prevailing winds of the culture who most deserves our respect and admiration. It is the man who stands up for his beliefs, against the popular trends of the day—even when he has something to lose.
If Charlton Heston had not been such a man, he never would have supported civil rights when he did—that was a time when much of Hollywood, and much of America, just did not care. By the same token, if he had not been such a man, he would not have stood up years later in a Time-Warner shareholders’ meeting and read aloud the complete lyrics of rapper Ice-T’s “Cop Killer” CD that Time-Warner had just released.
Later, Heston recalled, “When I read the lyrics to the waiting press corps, one of them said ‘We can’t print that.’ ‘I know,’ I replied, ‘but Time-Warner’s selling it.’ Two months later, Time-Warner terminated Ice-T’s contract.” Heston said, “I’ll never be offered another film by Warner, or get a good review from Time magazine.” But much more important to Heston than any career opportunity, was doing what he knew was right.
That is what made him such a great and rare figure. He was not content just to be celebrated as a cultural icon for playing roles like Moses, Ben-Hur, Michelangelo, and others. He was willing to risk scorn and ridicule to be a countercultural icon as well. And he was as courageous in his life as the characters he portrayed on film. May his example inspire many others to take such a stand, to help shape, heal, and transform our culture.
The greatest opposition to what God is doing today comes from those who were on the cutting edge of what God was doing yesterday - R.T. Kendall
Costs up, but prices for road work dip
Hard times for contractors soften bids, towns learn
By Kevin McKenzie as seen in the Commercial Appeal
A woman at a table in Collierville’s Town Hall chambers mined each envelope and methodically called out bids for widening Houston Levee Road. A man representing one of the five bidding companies muttered a curse word as town purchaser Mandy Bajusz called out a competitor’s lower price. By the town’s estimate, widening about 1.4 miles of Houston Levee in north Collierville could have cost $5.5 million. But the bids opened last week slipped well below the estimate. Even including optional sidewalks and a traffic signal, the prices ranged from a high of nearly $5.3 million to a low of just under $4.3 million — more than 20 percent less than the town penciled in.
Despite rising costs for materials such as asphalt, cement and steel, governments can find bargains in today’s marketplace for street projects.
Continue reading ‘Costs up, but prices for road work dip’