The state of Iowa allegedly has about $20 million in the tax kitty yielded by our casino and socialized lotteries.* The slush fund is searing the pockets of our light-rail enthusiasts, particularly Democrat State Senator Matt McCoy.
The (Iowa?) DOT tells us that for every dollar we invest in passenger rail, we’re going to get a $2.37 return from the federal government’s investment,” McCoy said.
The McCoy argument illustrates another reason we are broke. He reasons that Unicorn Rail is justified because we would be using Iowa tax money to extort cash from citizens elsewhere (albeit via a federal government perfectly willing to facilitate the wealth redistribution).
He doesn't seem to think it might be worthwhile to investigate whether anyone to speak of would ride the damned thing. Or who would pay to maintain it.
Matt, old buddy, what you're actually hustling here is a Cabrini Green on steel wheels.
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*Iowa, Home of the Sanctified, bought into legal socialized gambling a few decades ago because we were promised it would pay for our schools, bye-bye high property taxes to support teachers' unions. We sure are surprised it didn't work out quite like that.
Jun 6, 2011
Jun 5, 2011
Attention Photography Geeks: A bleg
I have a large collection of glass plates c. 1880-1910, almost certainly the work of a professional. About a hundred are 5 x 7, shot in my area. Another hundred or so are 4 x 5 and appear from some one's traditional grand tour of Europe. (In those days 4X5 *was* a candid format.)
I printed many of them before the death of film and chemicals moved me to dismantle my lab. I've decided they all need to be scanned and preserved.
So the bleg is for counsel on hardware, scanners, printers, and software to do the job with computers I have -- Mac desktop and laptop, old but at least running OS10.
Many of them are excellent quality and deserve some expense. On the other hand, I'm not willing to mortgage Camp J. (I might, however, be willing to offer a distressingly peripatetic lab/wiemaraner cross as security; she just found another dead carp down by the lake.)
Or would it be better to find professional to do the scanning? I can happily devote hours to polishing a lethal weapon for the bluing tanks, but my patience for digitalis doesn't extend nearly so far. Whaddya think?
I printed many of them before the death of film and chemicals moved me to dismantle my lab. I've decided they all need to be scanned and preserved.
So the bleg is for counsel on hardware, scanners, printers, and software to do the job with computers I have -- Mac desktop and laptop, old but at least running OS10.
Many of them are excellent quality and deserve some expense. On the other hand, I'm not willing to mortgage Camp J. (I might, however, be willing to offer a distressingly peripatetic lab/wiemaraner cross as security; she just found another dead carp down by the lake.)
Or would it be better to find professional to do the scanning? I can happily devote hours to polishing a lethal weapon for the bluing tanks, but my patience for digitalis doesn't extend nearly so far. Whaddya think?
Jun 4, 2011
Hank Rhon, former mayor of Tijuana, all-around billionaire, and scion of the party bosses who destroyed Mexico over decades of corrupt socialist rule, was tossed in the juzgado on gun charges. Federales say they found 88 guns and 9,288 rounds of ammunition.
Errrrm, that amounts to about 106 rounds per gun. What a piker.
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Afterthought: "corrupt socialist?" I repeated myelf.
.
Errrrm, that amounts to about 106 rounds per gun. What a piker.
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Afterthought: "corrupt socialist?" I repeated myelf.
.
Jun 3, 2011
Paradise intensified
Not to mention that I have this hour sold the old Dixon ZTR 4421 for the asking price.
Bless internet classified ads. Bless the few remaining back-yard mechanics who like to tinker with machinery which "needs a little repair." (That phrase is usually one of the Three Great Lies, but at least in this case I described every flaw I could think of in the old girl. She was, by the way, the last of three or four Dixons who contributed to the respectability of the Camp J Greensward.)
Now, off to beautify the weedy patch where she has idled away the seasons since before anyone ever heard of the Tea Party.
Bless internet classified ads. Bless the few remaining back-yard mechanics who like to tinker with machinery which "needs a little repair." (That phrase is usually one of the Three Great Lies, but at least in this case I described every flaw I could think of in the old girl. She was, by the way, the last of three or four Dixons who contributed to the respectability of the Camp J Greensward.)
Now, off to beautify the weedy patch where she has idled away the seasons since before anyone ever heard of the Tea Party.
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