Tuesday, June 06, 2006
Hooked On Speed
Why is this article categorized under "humor" ? Because Texans are infamous for wanting something and then bending hell itself to "prove" what they want is good for everybody. If one of the points if this article weren't so deadly (increased sppeds may lead to increased deaths), it would be funnier. I lived in Texas for about a decade (Nov 1991 to July 2001).
The New York Times
June 6, 2006
Texas Drivers Cruise at 80 Mph on I20
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 3:38 a.m. ET
PECOS, Texas (AP) -- It was driving as usual for Steve Masters as he hit 80 mph along Interstate 20, the new speed limit along some wide-open stretches in rural Texas.
''Most people were going over 80 anyway,'' the 52-year-old El Paso resident said as he filled the tank of his sport utility vehicle at a gas station outside of Pecos in far West Texas. ''Interstate roadways are built to handle a speed limit over 80 mph.''
Texas now lays claim to the highest speed limit in the country. Lawmakers approved the increase from 75 mph to 80 mph last year, after transportation officials found that 85 percent of drivers were already going between 76 and 79 mph.
Signs indicating the change began going up along 521 miles of interstates in 10 sparsely populated counties just days after state transportation officials formally approved the increase late last month.
The limit is 80 mph on an 89-mile stretch of I-20 between Monahans and the Interstate 10 interchange at the edge of the Jeff Davis Mountains. Same for the 432 miles between Kerrville and El Paso on I-10. The stretches are mostly flat and straight and get far less traffic than other parts of Texas.
Some drivers and groups have questioned the increase, suggesting the move was shortsighted and will lead to more accidents and deaths. Jason Nickerson, 29, an out of-state-motorist, is among them.
''It doesn't matter if it's wide open or not,'' said Nickerson, who was returning to his Mesa, Ariz., home after a couple of months on the road. ''Eighty, I think, is a little excessive. Cars are just as much a deadly weapon as a gun.''
Texas transportation officials point to data that shows fatalities dropped when the speed limit was raised to 75 mph on some roads in 1999, which mirrored similar trends when the national 55 mph limit was boosted. Thirteen states have limits of at least 75 mph on some roads.
''It doesn't mean we aren't going to be watching the accidents out there, watching traffic,'' said Carol Rawson, deputy director for traffic operations for the Texas Department of Transportation. ''If it's causing a problem, then we'll set the speed appropriately.''
Masters, who was headed to Wichita Falls for a Shriners' convention, said cars are safer at higher speeds now because of front, rear and side airbags.
''If you're moving with the flow of traffic, I see no safety concerns,'' he said. ''If you don't mind spending money on the gas, it's great.''
Of course, the new speed limit doesn't come without a cost. The Department of Energy estimates that every 5 mph over 60 mph costs drivers an extra 20 cents per gallon -- meaning pushing the pedal can get pricey in a period of high gas prices.
The higher limit applies to drivers of cars, light trucks and light trucks pulling trailers during daylight hours. Drivers of trucks, truck tractors, trailers, and semitrailers are limited to 70 mph. The limits drop to 65 mph after dark for all vehicles.
Some truckers can't come close to 70 mph. Earl Hawley, a West Virginia trucker, drives a company rig with an engine governor that won't allow him to surpass 68 mph. He'd go 80 mph if he could, the 49-year-old said while at a rest stop along I-20.
''It's more beneficial to me, timewise,'' said Hawley, who drives for a Murfreesboro, Tenn., company. ''I get paid by the mile. It'd be more miles per hour I could cover.''
But he can't, and predicts some hazards as a result.
''They're going to be going 85 to 90 mph,'' he said. ''I'm going to have to drive on the shoulder.''
##
The New York Times
June 6, 2006
Texas Drivers Cruise at 80 Mph on I20
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 3:38 a.m. ET
PECOS, Texas (AP) -- It was driving as usual for Steve Masters as he hit 80 mph along Interstate 20, the new speed limit along some wide-open stretches in rural Texas.
''Most people were going over 80 anyway,'' the 52-year-old El Paso resident said as he filled the tank of his sport utility vehicle at a gas station outside of Pecos in far West Texas. ''Interstate roadways are built to handle a speed limit over 80 mph.''
Texas now lays claim to the highest speed limit in the country. Lawmakers approved the increase from 75 mph to 80 mph last year, after transportation officials found that 85 percent of drivers were already going between 76 and 79 mph.
Signs indicating the change began going up along 521 miles of interstates in 10 sparsely populated counties just days after state transportation officials formally approved the increase late last month.
The limit is 80 mph on an 89-mile stretch of I-20 between Monahans and the Interstate 10 interchange at the edge of the Jeff Davis Mountains. Same for the 432 miles between Kerrville and El Paso on I-10. The stretches are mostly flat and straight and get far less traffic than other parts of Texas.
Some drivers and groups have questioned the increase, suggesting the move was shortsighted and will lead to more accidents and deaths. Jason Nickerson, 29, an out of-state-motorist, is among them.
''It doesn't matter if it's wide open or not,'' said Nickerson, who was returning to his Mesa, Ariz., home after a couple of months on the road. ''Eighty, I think, is a little excessive. Cars are just as much a deadly weapon as a gun.''
Texas transportation officials point to data that shows fatalities dropped when the speed limit was raised to 75 mph on some roads in 1999, which mirrored similar trends when the national 55 mph limit was boosted. Thirteen states have limits of at least 75 mph on some roads.
''It doesn't mean we aren't going to be watching the accidents out there, watching traffic,'' said Carol Rawson, deputy director for traffic operations for the Texas Department of Transportation. ''If it's causing a problem, then we'll set the speed appropriately.''
Masters, who was headed to Wichita Falls for a Shriners' convention, said cars are safer at higher speeds now because of front, rear and side airbags.
''If you're moving with the flow of traffic, I see no safety concerns,'' he said. ''If you don't mind spending money on the gas, it's great.''
Of course, the new speed limit doesn't come without a cost. The Department of Energy estimates that every 5 mph over 60 mph costs drivers an extra 20 cents per gallon -- meaning pushing the pedal can get pricey in a period of high gas prices.
The higher limit applies to drivers of cars, light trucks and light trucks pulling trailers during daylight hours. Drivers of trucks, truck tractors, trailers, and semitrailers are limited to 70 mph. The limits drop to 65 mph after dark for all vehicles.
Some truckers can't come close to 70 mph. Earl Hawley, a West Virginia trucker, drives a company rig with an engine governor that won't allow him to surpass 68 mph. He'd go 80 mph if he could, the 49-year-old said while at a rest stop along I-20.
''It's more beneficial to me, timewise,'' said Hawley, who drives for a Murfreesboro, Tenn., company. ''I get paid by the mile. It'd be more miles per hour I could cover.''
But he can't, and predicts some hazards as a result.
''They're going to be going 85 to 90 mph,'' he said. ''I'm going to have to drive on the shoulder.''
##
Monday, June 05, 2006
Moonbeam for Attny Gen.
PHOTO: He has been governor, mayor and frequent presidential candidate. Now Jerry Brown wants to be California's attorney general.Gotta Governoe Moonbeam. This can read funny, depending upon your knowledge of Jerry Brown. Enjoy.
The New York Times
June 5, 2006
This Time, Jerry Brown Wants to Be a Lawman
By JESSE McKINLEY
OAKLAND, Calif., June 2 — In his nearly four decades in American politics, Jerry Brown has been a lot of things to a lot of people: a two-term California governor, a three-time presidential candidate and, most recently, the mayor of Oakland, this Rodney Dangerfield-like city across the bay from San Francisco.
But now, Mr. Brown is trying to become something that no one who remembers the freewheeling days of "Governor Moonbeam" could possibly expect: a lawman.
And not just any lawman. Mr. Brown — faced with a mayoral term-limit — is running for attorney general of California, the nation's most populous state and one where hot-button wedge issues like immigration, medical marijuana and same-sex marriage are constantly simmering for law enforcement officials and politicians alike.
Could it be that Mr. Brown — a former Jesuit seminarian who once shared the limelight with Linda Ronstadt, then his girlfriend, tended to the poor with Mother Teresa, and fought The Man with his nonprofit political action committee We the People — is suddenly siding with (gulp) the establishment?
It certainly sounds that way.
"The attorney general owes a duty of loyalty to his client, and his client is the governor and people of California," Mr. Brown said Friday in his Oakland campaign office. "And as attorney general, I'll have no hesitation in carrying out that law, whether it is capital punishment, bars on same-sex marriage or collective bargaining or anything else."
That Mr. Brown, 68, is running to fill a law-and-order post that is beholden to the demands of other state officials — not to mention Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, a Republican — might surprise those who remember his maverick, on-my-own 1992 presidential bid. That was his most recent venture on the national political stage. (And his last, he says.) But as the mayor of Oakland since 1999, Mr. Brown has largely run, and delivered, on a promise to crack down on violent crime, which has plagued the city.
Mr. Brown says that his experiences living in downtown Oakland, in a loft above his campaign headquarters, have given him an up-close look at the problem.
"Seven people have been killed within five blocks of here," Mr. Brown said. "Downstairs, we had an armed robbery, first with a gun, then with a knife. I've seen bodies on my street out here. This is serious stuff. This is not about politics, or rhetoric. It's about survival."
Of course, politics is also all about survival, and in recent weeks Mr. Brown's record has taken a hit as Oakland's murder rate has suddenly and inexplicably surged, a development the mayor says he is "moving heaven and earth" to correct before he leaves office.
Still, the increase in crime, including the killing of two teenagers just before Memorial Day weekend, has given Mr. Brown's opponents some much needed ammunition. Recent polls find Mr. Brown holding a hefty lead over his Democratic rival, Rocky Delgadillo, in Tuesday's primary, but Mr. Delgadillo and the potential Republican nominee, Chuck Poochigian, have been hammering at Mr. Brown's reputation as both a child of privilege — his father, Edmund Sr., was also a two-term governor — and a man out of touch with the concerns of today's Californian.
"He has been running this campaign and basically saying, 'I'm better known, you should vote for me,' " said Mr. Delgadillo, the Los Angeles city attorney since 2001. "But name recognition is not going to protect California from gangs, from identity thieves or from child molesters."
Mr. Brown's record has also been gently criticized by some of the candidates to succeed him in Oakland, which has a racially diverse population of 400,000 and a chronic self-esteem problem. The mayoral race, which also has its primary on Tuesday, features another icon of California politics, the former congressman Ron Dellums, competing against two City Council members, Ignacio De La Fuente and Nancy J. Nadel.
Mr. Brown says his tough-on-crime rhetoric is not simply an election-year conversion, and he can produce tough-on-crime speeches from his days as governor (1975 to 1983) to prove it.
One issue political opponents have seized on is Mr. Brown's lifelong opposition to the death penalty, a position perhaps most famously illustrated in 1960 when he passionately lobbied his father, then governor, to spare the life of the convicted rapist Caryl Chessman. His father did stay the execution, but later allowed Mr. Chessman to die in the gas chamber.
While Mr. Brown admits that his personal exploits may have sometimes overshadowed his accomplishments, he takes exception to the widespread idea that he is anything like the oddball politician the columnist Mike Royko dubbed "Governor Moonbeam" in the late 1970's after Mr. Brown suggested that California launch its own satellite. (Mr. Royko apologized many years later and retracted the nickname.)
"I think it's a misnomer," Mr. Brown said. "Am I creative? Yes. Did I bring in wind machines so that California had 90 percent of the world's wind power? Yes. Did I go out with Linda Ronstadt? Yes. Did I take her to Africa? Yes. Did that create a little excitement? Yes. O.K., it's true. But now, well, I'm a married man."
Sure enough, last summer Mr. Brown married his longtime girlfriend, Anne Gust, a vice president of Gap Inc., putting to an end one of the nation's most celebrated political bachelorhoods. Now gray at the temples and smooth on top, Mr. Brown still has the fiery oratorical style and tendency for offhand comments that made him a political star — and occasionally a political liability.
He still likes a fight: on Friday, after addressing a group of police cadets, he hopped a flight to Los Angeles to sit for an interview for Fox News — "Why would you not be on Bill O'Reilly?" he said — seizing an opportunity to pound on the Oakland School Board for an effort to grant diplomas to nonqualified seniors.
Mr. Brown says he will not rule out another political run after this one — though he says he has no more presidential ambitions. But he still loves politics, and makes no apologies for his seeming electoral addiction.
"If you say I like politics, I like government, yeah: did Picasso like to paint?" he said, barking a bit as his left leg bounded up and down with nervous energy. "Did my father like to do this? Yes. Did he do it when I was born? Yes. Did he do it during my entire formative years? Yes. Does that have an impact? Probably."
He lists a few more accomplishments on his résumé, before summing up the reason Californians should vote for him one more time. "I think that my experiences will deepen my insight into the law," he said. "And I've had rather unique life experiences."###
