Republicans to Obama: "Bring us the girl"

It's hypocritical that YOU accuse ME of hostage-taking
when YOU'RE the one demanding I surrender by dropping the gun.

The latest negotiating offer from Congressional Republicans:

WASHINGTON—As the federal government shutdown stretches into its seventh day, 20 members of the Republican’s Tea Party faction announced this morning they would be willing to support a clean budget resolution bill in exchange for the president’s firstborn daughter, Malia Obama...

“The girl. Bring us the girl,” said Congressman Steve King (R-IA) as he stood beside fellow Tea Party leaders during this morning’s press conference on the steps of the Capitol. “The bill may pass, but the firstborn shall be ours”...

According to Washington insiders, the deal would reportedly feature a continuing resolution to fund government operations through November 15 without any modifications to the Affordable Care Act passed in 2010, including implementation of the individual mandate and the much-maligned tax on medical devices, while Malia Obama would legally fall under the protectorship of the Tea Party caucus.

White House officials have declined to comment...

The rest of the story here.

San Francisco: "Among nation's worst streets for drivers"

Photo from the SF Examiner

From the Silicon Valley Business Journal:

San Francisco and San Jose ranked second and third, respectively, among the nation's worst roads for driving, according to a new report.

The report, titled "Bumpy Roads Ahead: America’s Roughest Rides and Strategies to Make our Roads Smoother," was released Thursday by TRIP, a transportation group based in Washington, D.C. The report examined urban pavement conditions, transportation funding and economic development...

According to TRIP, bad roads cost drivers $377 a year because they contribute to vehicle deterioration through maintenance, repair, fuel consumption and tire wear.

The report looked at 20 large cities (populations of at least 500,000) with the highest percentage of pavements in poor conditions and the highest vehicle operating cost...

San Francisco (60 percent) and San Jose (56 percent) ranked second and third, respectively, in poor road condition. In VOC, San Francisco ranked third at $782, while San Jose was sixth, costing $737 per vehicle...

 

Rob's comment: Hence, City Hall's long campaign to make it as difficult and expensive as possible to drive in San Francisco has been successful, though the city's anti-car movement must be disappointed that San Jose's streets are even worse than ours.

 

It's not as if the city doesn't already raise plenty of money to pave our streets---more than $170 million from parking and parking tickets and more than $80 million from Prop. K sales tax---but it squanders that money on the Central Subway project and to support a bloated MTA bureaucracy of more than 5,000 employees.

 

And the city still has to borrow money to pave our streets!

Thanks to Streetsblog for the link.