No Runny Eggs

The repository of one hard-boiled egg from the south suburbs of Milwaukee, Wisconsin (and the occassional guest-blogger). The ramblings within may or may not offend, shock and awe you, but they are what I (or my guest-bloggers) think.

Archive for November, 2006

November 30, 2006

So the Baker/Hamilton Commission is going for Retreat and Defeat

by @ 14:07. Filed under Politics - National, War on Terror.

Allahpundit and Peter analyze it pretty damn well. Make no mistake; even though there is no firm timetable for the last chopper to leave the US Embassy in Baghdad under enemy fire, negotiating with the two thuggish countries that are turning Iraq into a hellhole along with a reduced presence both in numbers and in role for our troops over there will inevitably have the same effect on Iraq and Lebanon that negotiating with North Vietnam did for South Vietnam and Cambodia, namely a collapse of governments not necessarily anti-American in favor of virulently-anti-American ones. The effect in the rest of the world will also mirror the Vietnam experience; other countries will (rightly) see the US as an untrustworthy partner, unwilling to protect any interests that can’t be done via a short cruise-missile barrage.

One thing left untouched by just about everybody; Iraq will be turned into an unblockable superhighway between Iran and the frontier of Israel. Hope everybody likes strontium-90 and caesium-137 in their food, because one way or the other, that inevitable war will go nuclear.

Carnival of the Badger: The Pitching Coach is up

by @ 11:03. Filed under Carnival of the Badger.

Nick has filled in for the ailing Phel, and serves me up a fat fastball. Get up, get way out of here, and GONE!

Oh the weather outside is frightful

by @ 10:13. Filed under Miscellaneous.

Or at least it will be, if the weathermen are right. 6-10 inches by about this time tomorrow. Time to review the checklist:

– Boots; check
– Full-time AWD vehicle; check
– Snowblower; check
– Snow brush/icescraper; check
– Canned laughter for when the overspending/overtaxing/underperforming Oak Creek-Franklin School District shuts down; check

I am ready. Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.

New Berlin mayor robbing from the taxpayers to give to the city

by @ 7:09. Filed under Politics - Wisconsin, Taxes.

Matt Thomas has all the details, including an update from one of the 2 aldermen who voted to not rob the taxpayers blind. To sum it up, the city of New Berlin, after finding out how much the School Tax Levy Credit was going to be, used that money to justify increasing their budget despite direction from both the state Department of Revenue and the Legislative Fiscal Bureau to not consider that money as revenue for the city (or any other taxing authority). Thomas, who is Vice President of the New Berlin School Board, was not informed by the city that this credit had increased before the New Berlin Common Council meeting last night, where the budget was adopted, despite the city knowing since no later than November 22.

If any of you Photoshop geniuses can do Matt a favor, he’d like a pic of Chiovatero/Swiper/Robin Hood/Fonzie jumping a shark.

November 29, 2006

One less loser on the Pubbie side

by @ 11:02. Filed under Politics - National.

(Too many hat-tips to give out, so I’ll just choose one from random – Sean Hackbarth)

Former Senate Republican “Leader” Bill Frist has announced he won’t run for President. From his statement:

Twelve years ago, I pledged to the people of Tennessee that I would serve two terms in the Senate – to serve as a true citizen legislator – and then return home. I said I’d come to the Senate with 20 years experience in healing, spend 12 years serving in Washington, then go right back to Tennessee to live where I grew up. I’ve never deviated from that commitment. And I will do just that.

In the Bible, God tells us for everything there is a season, and for me, for now, this season of being an elected official has come to a close. I do not intend to run for president in 2008.

I’ll give Frist, who I’ve derided as Cave Jr, his due. He knows how to keep his word. Now, where is the next Reagan?

November 28, 2006

Least-surprising news of the day

by @ 13:15. Filed under Miscellaneous.

Guess it’s going to be Chinese food from the Sow, er, Hog 102.9. JSOnline’s DayWatch is reporting that Guns N’ Roses has cancelled their show, scheduled for the Bradley Center Wedneday at 8 pm. Allegedly, Axl Rose has strep throat and an ear infection, but that didn’t stop him from playing in Chicago Monday, or cancel plans to make the next stop in corn country.

November 27, 2006

Testing manual ping to Blogrolling

by @ 8:24. Filed under Miscellaneous.

Seems Blogrolling isn’t automatically getting the updates from here, so I’m trying a manual ping to Blogrolling. Please ignore.

Sales tax to increase even more

by @ 7:52. Filed under Politics - Wisconsin, Taxes.

Instead of working to comply with a federal law that makes collecting sales tax on internet access charges illegal, 2 different groups are looking at adding more items to the sales tax roll, both to allegedly relieve property tax pressure. Before I explode both plans, as well as the Journal Sentinel call for taxing absolutely, positively everything (with the exception of newspapers), haven’t we tried this before, with the state promising 2/3rds funding for schools? That wasn’t all that successful, as the spend-and-taxers on school boards realized that they just tapped into a bottomless pit.

First, Dem State Senator Jon Erpenbach wants to tax everything except the “necessities of life”, which he and the linked Journal Sentinel story defines as including food, drugs, health care services, shelter, and agricultural products (remember this list, I’ll come back to it later), so that the state can assume full funding for schools. That is a $3 billion/year sales tax increase. Erpenbach wins the Stupid Quote of the Day Award for uttering this gem, “Most everybody, at the end of the day, will have more money in their pocket.” The ONLY groups that will have more money at the end of the day are, in order, the school districts, builders of schools, WEAC, administrators, and teachers. The last vestige of restraint on spending, the risk of running everybody out of town because of skyrocketing property taxes, will be gone.

Erpenbach also wins the runner-up for the Stupid Quote of the Day Award for not saying the corollary to this quote, “For every exemption that was handed out, there was no cut in spending.” Logically, that corollary is, “For every new item taxed, spending will increase by at least the amount taken in by said new tax.”

Next, the Wisconsin Counties Association wants additional sales tax revenue to avoid having to slow down their massive spending appetites. They’re whining that local governments only got 14.8% of all state spending in the current budget, down from the 27% of all state spending they got in the 1989-91 budget. Cry me a river; I’ll lay dollars to donuts that 14.8% this budget represents more money than 27% in the 1989-91 budget. I’ll even throw in a quarter or two for a donut hole that it is greater even after adjusting for inflation. Even if it doesn’t, why in the hell should somebody up in, say, Tomah, pay for, say, retiring Milwaukee County DA E. Michael McCann’s enhanced pension (that’s right; unless I missed something, McCann never signed away one dime of the enhanced pension).

In any case, they want what they term a $700 million/year sales tax increase, with that money diverted to the counties, so they can continue to do stupid stuff like give lavish pensions. Unlike Erpenbach, they actually list their targets – computer, legal, personnel, architectural, engineering, and surveying services, advertising, management consulting, public relations, accounting, beauty salons, barbershops (that’s funny, I paid sales tax on my last haircut), and health clubs. You can safely add another $50 million to the individual counties that levy the 0.5% county sales tax, because I doubt they included that little kicker in there.

Those are the same taxes that Erpenbach wants to raise and divert to schools. Guess the counties will just have to “suffer” with the $250 million in additional sales taxes they’ll get from levying the 0.5% county sales tax (assuming, of course, the Craps’ Department of Revenue coughs up the dough; have they caught up on what they owe the counties yet?).

WCA executive director Mark O’Connell also wants in on the Stupid Quote of the Day competition; he spews out, “We continue to believe that we can tax-cut our way to prosperity when, in reality, the wealth-makers of tomorrow are more interested in a quality of life. If we wish to create a sustainable solution for Wisconsin’s future, we should be investing in our communities, making them attractive to smart young people.” Hey dummy, have you looked at where the jobs are being created lately? It’s not high-tax Wisconsin.

However, they’re both pikers compared to the Journal Sentinel’s Steven Walters and Bob Veierstahler. Walters stresses again and again that they’re “exemptions” and that eliminating them could bring in $3.9 billion per year. He sure seems to want to go one step further and raise the actual rate, pointing out that it was last raised 24 years ago, then whines that nobody in the Capitol wants to do so.

Veierstahler put together a “helpful” chart of exemptions, and what is shocking is what’s included:

– Food, right at the top of the list – Erpenbach and the WCA don’t even want to go that far.
– Fuel – Guess Veierstahler doesn’t think either the gas taxes or gas prices are high enough.
– Sales to state and local governments – Nothing like taxing oneself to inflate the numbers by $228 million.
– Live game birds and clay pigeons – I’ll lay even more dollars to donuts that Veirstahler doesn’t believe there is an individual right to bear arms enshrined in both the state and federal Constitutions.
– Admission to elementary and secondary school events – Well, at least that might cut down a bit on the violence at MPS basketball games.

November 25, 2006

Now THAT’S a shot

by @ 21:19. Filed under Miscellaneous.

JSOnline’s DayWatch has the details on shot of the deer hunting season. 13-year-old Ryan Roman, on his second hunt, got a two-for-one deal on his first kill. Excellent shot, Ryan.

I wonder if the DNR will be going after him for taking too many deer.

Meet the new route, same as the old route

by @ 15:02. Filed under Choo-choos, Politics - Wisconsin.

Well, not quite the same; the newest proposal for running choo-choos between Milwaukee and Kenosha has a few changes designed to screw Joe Taxpayer:

  • It will no longer be a Metra train. That means those that want to take this choo-choo to Chicago would have to change trains at either Kenosha or Waukegan. It also means that the local choo-choo enthusiasts will have to build a new rail yard and facilities, and do their own maintenance, rather than leech off of Metra.
  • Because of that, and because they’re throwing in a Bay View station (which would have to be built from scratch, just like the ones planned for Cudahy, South Milwaukee, Oak Creek, Caledonia and Somers), the build cost has increased from $152 million to $237 million. Even though they’re hoping for 90% funding from the feds, there’s only $80 million in the till from them for this project.
  • Even the one “positive” of not leeching off of Metra, the scheduling of more round trips (14 versus 7 during the week, 7 versus 3 on weekends and holidays) turns into a nightmare. Between doing their own maintenance and running more choo-choos, they’re looking at a conservative estimate of recurring costs at $14.7 million per year. They’re hoping for $3.8 million in fares from the 1.43 million rides provided, each charged something less than $10 for a trip between Kenosha and Milwaukee (there’s so many problems with this math, but more on that in a moment).

Houston, we have a problem. We have a main ridership overestimate, a master caution light on the construction costs, multiple warnings and buzzers. Let’s start at the top:

  • Construction costs – In 3 years, this estimate has gone up 55.9%. Even that number will prove to be not nearly high enough. Fire up Google Earth once and try to trace the route from the Kenosha train station to the Milwaukee one. Take note of two things: the single track for most of the distance and the lack of a direct path.

    First, the single track. That is an active freight line, serving the Oak Creek power plant. Can you say, “There will be delays driving down ridership.”? I knew you could. Notice that south of Kenosha, there are two tracks on the line. In the interest of fairness, however, I will note that the major structures to restore the line to a 2-track line (i.e. bridges) remain and (presumably) will not need to be rebuilt. Indeed, for 14 round trips per day to be reached, that second set of tracks will need to be laid down.

    Next, the lack of a direct path. The Union Pacific line curves west away from the Lake Parkway just north of St. Francis Ave (it, and a line that continues north, actually both curve together into the westbound line, but to get from one north-south line to the other, a train would need to back up). While it does appear that it connects to the Canadian Pacific line that Amtrak runs on under I-43/94, that is, IIRC, a grade-separated crossing with no connection. Since that almost-somewhat-not-quite-connected line that continues north from St. Francis does connect with the CP line and ultimately the Milwaukee station, it would be easy to build a couple hundred feet of new track to make that direct connection. Of course, that would require the train to cross two swing bridges in the Milwaukee harbor.

    Going back to the schedule, it’s going to be several trains. Logistics would demand that there be 4 trains on the tracks at any given time during the week, more if there is going to be a rush-hour burst.

  • Ridership – These numbers just don’t add up. At 14 round trips per weekday and 7 per weekend day and holiday, that’s about 8,650 one-way choo-choo trips. To get to the claimed annual ridership of 1.43 million, each train, each direction, each day would have to have over 165 people on it. That’s not happening.

    Even worse, they’re only projecting $3.8 million per year from fares. I know they’re planning on charging something less than $10 for a trip between Kenosha and Milwaukee, but if their inflated 1.43 million ridership can be believed, they’re getting about $2.65 out of each rider. Hell, that doesn’t even get you from Kenosha to Winthrop Harbor or downtown Chicago to Evanston ($3.05) much less between Kenosha and downtown Chicago ($6.40). Let’s assume they’ll go with an average fare of $5 (Milwaukee is closer and less attractive than Chicago, after all, and rolling with $10 would fly more like a depleted uranium balloon than the lead balloon that a $5 round-trip will prove).

    First, just for grins, let’s rerun the annual fare take at their inflated ridership at an average fare of $5. Even that only gives them $7.15 million in fare money. Now, let’s rerun the ridership numbers at the annual fare intake of $3.8 million. Oops, that drops the number of rides to 760,000. Divide that by 8,650 choo-choo trips and there’s about 88 people on each and every train in each and every direction each and every day. Guess what? That’s not happening either, especially since the Milwaukee-to-Sturtevant-to-Chicago Amtrak Hiawatha line carries a hair more than 500,000 rides per year, and that goes from Milwaukee to Chicago about as quickly as this commuter line would go from Milwaukee to Kenosha.

  • Recurring costs – Using the choo-choo lovers’ numbers, there would be an annual hole of $10.9 million to fill. Let’s get down to brass spikes and use the semi-realistic ridership numbers from above to start. Since essentially all of those rides are going to be round-trip, let’s knock the rides in half to 380,000 to reflect the actual number of people on the choo-choo in a year. That’s a taxpayer subsidy of $28.68 per round trip.

    As for paying for that $10.9 million, the dumbest idea is a TIF. First, that is designed to recoup the fixed costs of improvement with the increased taxes from the increased value of the property improved, not recurring costs. Second, I rather doubt there is more than $1 billion in improvements to be had from the introduction of a commuter rail line; hell, I doubt there is $1 in improvements that could be attributed to its introduction.

Grab ’em ankles.

November 23, 2006

Happy Thanksgiving

by @ 12:39. Filed under Miscellaneous.

Nothing follows as I’m enjoying the 2/3rds of the football tripleheader I’m going to be able to see.

November 21, 2006

Falk concedes

by @ 15:49. Filed under Politics - Wisconsin.

FINALLY! Note to future statewide candidates; 9,200 votes is simply too much to make up, even if you are the one ‘Rat who doesn’t win in the year of the ‘Rat.

I wonder if Doyle and company are now ordering Maalox by the truckload (I wouldn’t doubt for a second they’re ordering it with taxpayers’ money).

November 20, 2006

Mike Nichols injects a bit of reality into Florida North

by @ 16:42. Filed under Politics - Wisconsin.

I never thought I’d say that phrase, but he does inject a bit in his column in this morning’s paper titled “Falk has one more foe to face: Reality”. Selected newsworthy quotes:

“My position is if the numbers come within three or four thousand on the official canvass, I will ask for a recount,” Voight said Sunday. “I will be going to Madison tomorrow and making a decision to either concede or not concede.”

The choice would seem obvious. When the State Elections Board offices closed at the end of the day Friday, all but six Wisconsin counties had submitted canvassed totals, and it appeared he might narrow the gap slightly but still lose by some 6,000 votes.

Falk, for her part, has already lost. About 2.1 million Wisconsinites voted in her race against Republican J.B. Van Hollen and, according to uncanvassed totals, she lost by 9,071 votes. The only large county that hasn’t submitted canvassed numbers is Winnebago and, no matter how long she holds out, things are unlikely to move far in her direction there.

By the time the last six counties submit their canvassed totals, she’ll likely end up even shorter of victory than she already is.

We’re still waiting, Kathleen.

We’re waiting, Kathleen

by @ 16:25. Filed under Politics - Wisconsin.

JSOnline’s DayWatch is reporting that the other close statewide election, the narrow defeat of incumbent Republican Jack Voight, is officially over with the concession of Voight. The unofficial tally (courtesy AP via JSOnline) had Dawn Marie Sass winning 969,115 to 960,467 (0.42% of the vote cast, with about 116,600 votes scattered to the Green and Libertarian candidates). That is statistically identical to the margin of victory JB Van Hollen has in his victory over Kathleen Falk.

The official canvasses are due tomorrow at the State Elections Board.

November 18, 2006

Welcome to Florida part 5

by @ 16:08. Filed under Politics - Wisconsin.

(H/T – Josh Schroeder)

The Portage Daily Register says, add the 47th Assembly district to the list of recounts; Dem challenger Megan Yost, who lost 12,088 to 11,934 (0.64%, numbers again from AP/JSOnline, which though unofficial, appear to be the same as the official canvass), has won an order from the State Elections Board to recount at least the Columbia County portion of the district. As the State Elections Board does not yet have the official order up, we can only assume that the Dane County and Sauk County portions are also under that order.

Revisions/extensions (4:28 pm 11/20/2006) – The recall order is up at the SEB and it indeed includes Dane County and Sauk County.

November 17, 2006

The official Friday Silliness post…

by @ 19:11. Filed under Miscellaneous.

…is over at Hot Air. Allahpundit starts off with a rehash of the Jane Skinner Cock, er, Cock, er, Cop gaffe, then Slublog and RightWinged, among others, take it right off the tracks in the comments.

Dunno about the rest of you 4 readers, but I seriously need the humor break.

Welcome to Florida parts 3 and 4

by @ 17:14. Filed under Politics - Wisconsin.

Item #1 in this update – The Journal Sentinel finally catches up to me, and provides the reason why the ‘Rat requested her recount – “Assembly Speaker-elect Mike Huebsch (R-West Salem) said that clerks discovered an extra 100 votes for the Democrat after the election, prompting the candidate’s request for a recount.” Did I not say this was Florida without the good weather?

Item #2 – Waukesha County proves to be no help to the yet-to-concede loser Kathleen Falk – JB Van Hollen gained a net additional 109 votes in the official canvass of the county. As a reminder, the canvasses are due to the State Elections Board by Monday, November 21.

Race to stupidity in the House

by @ 8:44. Filed under Politics - National.

I missed blogging on the spectacular failure of Speaker-to-be Nancy Pelosi to promote her friend John Murtha to House Majority Leader. Quick comment on that; guess the ‘Rats don’t think the election was about either the war in Iraq or about Foleygate because we will have when the next Congress is seated House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer. I wonder how those who abandoned the Pubbies feel about a guy who stood up for one Gerry Studds, who, unlike Mark Foley, actually boinked his underaged target page.

Over on the Pubbie side of the House, Michelle Malkin reports that it’s porksters John Boehner and Mel Blunt. Why, oh why couldn’t they have taken a lesson from the Wisconsin Assembly Pubbies, who didn’t make a left-hand turn in shaking up their leadership?

November 16, 2006

The Cheddarsphere react to Tommy for Pres Part 1/2 continues

(This will be updated more-or-less frequently, and if I can remember to change the time, I will. If I miss you, let me know below and I’ll add you.)

There is a reason why I call it Part 1/2; his abortive run in 2000 was only a quarter of an effort, and I doubt that, despite saying he’ll file to form an exploratory committee, Wisconsin’s biggest tease will go through with it. What the rest of the right side of the Cheddarsphere is saying (Folkbum, Feldstein and company need not apply):

James Wigderson – He promises as President to spend like a drunken sailor on asphalt from sea to shining sea, and a dog track in every community in America. He then said to the farmers of Iowa, “LET’S STICK IT TO MINNESOTA!”

Silent E – Not conservative enough. Not conservative at all. Not pretty enough. No Chance…………..

Peter over on RDW (expecting something similar on his blog shortly) – They don’t call the GOP the Stupid Party for nothing.

Michelle Malkin (so she’s not a Cheddarhead; I grant special dispensation based on this week’s Vent) – Five letters for you–L.O.S.E.R. (damn, but that’s harsh, but what do you expect from someone who displays a bigger set of balls than Fox News)

Aaron (who didn’t hear the news) – I say it’s time for Tommy to run.

Jib – Clearly his ego knows no bounds.

Sean Hackbarth – And soon after he’ll realize he can’t win then drop out.

Jenna – Thompson’s biggest problem is his complete and utter lack of foreign policy experience or knowledge.

Patrick – Tommy, please"¦ please"¦ Just don’t do it..

Charlie Sykes on the 11/16/2006 Sykes-Wagner Podcast – …(I)f the term “dark horse” doesn’t apply here, I don’t know when you would use the term “dark horse”.

Jeff Wagner on the same podcast – …(T)he reality is, it seems to me, that his time has passed.

Marcus Aurelius on the Badger Blog Alliance – I don’t think Tommy would be any better with the veto pen and pork than W or when he was The Guv.

More rolls please

by @ 19:18. Filed under The Blog.

Can the roll get any bigger? Yes, it can:

Patrick McIlheran, the Journal Sentinel’s resident semi-conservative, makes an appearance.
Frank Lasee, who tried to give us Cheddarheads some serious tax relief with both TABOR and the TPA, also rolls in.

It’s a good thing WordPress has a randomizer function for the roll.

Welcome to Florida part 2

by @ 18:13. Filed under Politics - Wisconsin.

Silent E is wondering whether Wisconsin’s version of Al Gore has conceded. Kathleen Falk hasn’t conceded yet, and depending on when the last county reports its results to the State Elections Board, she’ll have until 11/27 to do so – a candidate has to wait for the final canvas to be reported to file for a recall (due no later than 11/21), then he or she has 3 days to do so (since the state takes a 4-day weekend Thanksgiving week, that extends the deadline from Friday to the following Monday).

That got me digging around the SEB website, and while there isn’t any news from the Falk campaign, there were three recalls ordered in Assembly races (unofficial vote totals courtesy AP/JSOnline:

By way of comparsion, Falk lost 1,062,657 to 1,053,856 (0.42%).

Out of the 3 ordered recounts and one likely recount, the only one with a realistic chance of changing the result is the one in the 43rd. Along those lines, I wonder if there are 10 people in far southern Dane County, western Rock County, and the city/town of Whitewater that are regretting not voting right about now.

Time for some fauxtography fun

by @ 8:46. Filed under Miscellaneous.

(H/T – Allahpundit)

Here is your chance to blow off some steam, check your eyes and the quality of your monitor, and try to figure out which of these 10 pictures are real and which ones have been digitally “enhanced”. AP got 9 of 10 right, I got 7, if you get less than 5, you a “punk-ass Adnan Hajj wannabe” (AP’s words), and if you drop below 3, you’re probably a Reuters employee.

One thing, don’t cheat by reading the comments there before taking the test (comments will be disabled on this post to prevent cheating).

Go to it, and good luck.

Carnival of the Badger; Christmas shopping edition

by @ 7:46. Filed under Carnival of the Badger.

Dean has it, so go read and plow through those that have submitted.

Next week, it is going to be at Wigderson Library and Pub.

One more bit of news; the Conservative Cat has taken down his carnival submission form, so you’re down to two ways to submit – e-mail to badgercarnival – at – gmail – dot – com or head to the Blog Carnival submission page.

November 15, 2006

Rudy and McShame and Tommy – oh my!

(H/T for the Tommy announcement – Fred)

Where, oh where has Ronald Reagan gone? The crop of “Republicans” that have announced a run for the Presidency so far, John McCain, Rudy Giuliani and Tommy Thompson do not exactly inspire me.

For you out-of-state readers who only know Thompson as an invisible HHS Secretary, he has exactly two conservative accomplishments to his name in his 15 years as governor; welfare reform and school choice (that’s right, both of those actually started in Wisconsin before the national party noticed). Other than that, he is a big-spending social moderate-to-liberal who views conservatives with such distain that he had the “Republican” Party of Wisconsin essentially abandon Mark Neumann in his run against Russ Feingold in 1998.

Of course that’s 2 more than I can think of for McCain, and one more than I can for Giuliani.

First two taxes to go up in Doyle’s second term – vehicles and drivers

by @ 17:50. Filed under Politics - Wisconsin, Taxes.

Here’s the increased “fee” schedule proposed by the Department of Transportation:

  • Cars – up from $55 to $80, a 44% increase
  • Light trucks weighing less than 4,501 pounds – up from $48.50 to $80, a 65% increase
  • Light trucks weighing between 4,501 and 6,000 pounds – up from $61.50 to $89, a 44.7% increase
  • Light trucks weighing between 6,001 and 8,000 pounds – up from $77.50 to $112, a 44.5% increase

Those tax hikes, which will dump $208 million into the coffers over the next 2 years, will allegedly go to “critical” road needs such as road maintenance and rebuilding the Vote Fraud/FIB Highway between Illinois and Milwaukee. More likely, it, like the $600+ million raided by Jim “Craps” Doyle (WEAC/Potawatomi-For Sale) in the last budget, will go to contributors of Doyle.

Further, they want to increase the fees for the 8-year driver’s licenses from $24 to $34, a 42% increase. Supposedly, that $22 million over the next 2 years will go toward federal requirements to make the licenses a more secure form of ID.

Look for the ‘Rat-infested State Senate to propose a return to the automatic increase in gasoline taxes next year as well. Yipee; we can be COMPLETELY hostile to drivers now.

“Thank” you, Mary Panzer and Dale Schultz, for not taking any action to protect the taxpayers.

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