So, the commute this morning didn’t go exactly as planned. Five minutes earlier, we would have passed through before the accident that had I-66 Eastbound shut down at Washington Blvd. Five minutes later, we would have been far enough back to take the exit for Route 7 and head through Falls Church to get to the office on surface streets. Instead, we sat . . . for an hour . . . without moving. If you look at the second picture, you’ll notice that the car was in PARK when these were taken. When we finally got up to the accident, it did look pretty brutal . . . so hopefully everybody was okay.
The Gun-Control Fallacy
First and foremost, my thoughts and prayers go out to those affected by the shootings at Northern Illinois University in the midst of unspeakable tragedy. But, every time I hear of one of these incidents, I am reminded of how flawed the idea of ‘gun control’ is. The campus of Northern Illinois University, like Virginia Tech’s and many other campuses across the country, is a ‘gun-free zone’. This simply means that law abiding gun owners leave their weapons at home (weapons that might have been used to cut short these massacres with return-fire) while the criminals, who care little for laws, continue to carry and use their weapons. We see the same pattern in Washington, DC, where guns are essentially illegal so only the gang members and criminals carry while the law-abiding citizens go unarmed (and are 688 percent more likely to be murdered than citizens of neighboring Virginia [US Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2004]).
I am not a gun owner [yet ;-)], but this is another example of why gun ownership and—more importantly—gun possession by responsible, law-abiding citizens is not a problem. On the contrary, it is a potential solution and deterrent to gun violence. As the old saying goes, ‘an armed society is a polite society.’
Inches Away from an Insurance Claim
Just outside of Charlottesville, Virginia, heading north on Route 29 there is a notorious stretch of road. There are two lanes of traffic, lots of volume coming out of Charlottesville, a series of badly-timed traffic lights, and rolling hills that limit forward visibility. Often, as I pass through that area, a leisurely 30-45 miles-per-hour drive turns to a sudden stop and a few heart-wrenching seconds where you wonder if the drivers of the cars behind you have been as alert as you have been.
Today, as Melissa and I passed through the area on this dangerous stretch of road, it was a fairly standard string of events. We were driving at about 35 or 40 miles-per-hour in a long mass of cars, minding our own business, when one of the badly timed lights turned red somewhere up ahead and everybody in front of us came to a sudden, unexpected stop. I, of course, applied the brakes on my Mazda Tribute SUV [strongly] and came to a stop at an appropriate distance behind the car ahead of me. Immediately, I looked in the rear-view to make sure people behind us were stopping as well.
Dulles Rail Project All But Dead
A curious thing happened on the way to extending MetroRail to Dulles: The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority’s (WMATA, ‘Metro’) unmitigated incompetence at running the existing system got noticed, and the Federal Transit Administration started asking why they should help fund an addition to a disintegrating system. Now, as a direct result of Metro’s spectacular inability to manage itself, a twenty-year overdue addition to our regional transportation system probably won’t happen. This, combined with the state government’s continuing redirection of Northern Virginia transportation money to Southern Virginia Rest Stop Renovations, has lined us up for a future of ever-worsening gridlock.
[Federal Transit Administration chief James S.] Simpson emphasized his concerns about Metro, likening the Dulles expansion to putting a two-room addition onto a house that is falling down. “First, you have to fix the house,” he said later at a news conference. “Metro’s operational issues have become really serious over the last several months,” he said. “I spent several hours with senior staff at Metro talking about their unfunded needs. They’re holding up some of their subway stations with jacks. They’re holding other subway stations up with two-by-fours and plywood. I could go on.”
The Ugliest Cars of the 2008 Model Year
There are more big changes on this year’s list of the ugliest cars. Two models featured on last year’s list (Chevrolet Malibu Maxx, Scion xA) have been discontinued, two have undergone major appearance changes or redesigns (Scion xB, Subaru Tribeca), and another (Chrysler PT Cruiser Convertible) is available for 2008 but has already had its demise announced by Chrysler’s new management. The Subaru Tribeca (formerly the ‘B9 Tribeca’) underwent a radical improvement (after only one year on the market), eliminating many of its worst visual characteristics and resulting in a stellar climb—from last year’s ugliest car to not even appearing on this year’s list.
Scott Bradford is a writer and technologist who has been putting his opinions online since 1995. He believes in three inviolable human rights: life, liberty, and property. He is a Catholic Christian who worships the trinitarian God described in the Nicene Creed. Scott is a husband, nerd, pet lover, and AMC/Jeep enthusiast with a B.S. degree in public administration from George Mason University.