Hybrid Taxis - A Case Study In Government Failure

"Did you know that in the cab line at the airport (Boston) you can request a HYBRID taxi???"

That was Mrs. C-Nut provoking me late last night.

Nationwide, cabs are a disaster. They are over-regulated, too expensive, and too scarce all at once.

I used to live a mere 10 miles from Boston's Logan Airport and yet cabs to there cost a ridiculous $50. Since then, rates have gone up some more (ostensibly on account of gasoline).

And since then, Boston, like New York City, has been pushing to make cabs rolling idols for the eco-pagans; they've been trying to mandate hybrid taxis. In fact NYC, had their green ambitions temporarily thwarted by a judge. Read here.

Hybrids aren't built for the wear-and-tear of passengers, they are a cost burden on taxi companies - being far more expensive to buy and insure than Crown Victorias and the like, AND hybrids will endanger the safety of riders. These toys fold up like sardines in accidents.

I don't know about y'all, but I am already scared-to-death riding a cab on FDR Drive in Manhattan. I'm right sure I don't to ride that roller-coaster in a Prius lawnmower - at a steeper price to boot!

Cabs, like almost everything else on this planet, need less regulation - not more.

See also - Pluming Prius Putzes.

Should We Bailout Moral Superiority?

Right now, Chevy offers more models than Toyota or Honda with mileage of 30 mpg or better. This year, Consumer Reports rated Ford’s quality on par with Toyota and Honda. Last week, it was announced that Ford has more vehicles with five-star safety ratings than any other manufacturer. And while Moore paints a picture of the domestics as terminal losers, the vehicle with the biggest increase in sales last month was actually the Chevy Malibu (the vehicle with the biggest decrease in sales was the Toyota Prius.)

Prius sales are the biggest casualty in this market??? (link)

I love it! It just shows that eco-paganism is a trust-funded religion of the wealthy.

Oil gets cheap and in the course of an economic plunge, Daddy's funds run low....and they all hypocritically go back to the dirty combustion engine.

The difference between me and these Pluming Prius Putzs is that my coefficient of self-righteousness doesn't fluctuate no matter how much money I make or lose!

Their moral superiority may in fact be *too big to fail*. In which case Congress ought to act.

Gee, I wonder how that Pagan Pizza chain is doing?

Massachusetts And Healthcare - Another Profile in Fascism And Stupidity

As of 2007, Massachusetts residents are now compelled by law to have health insurance. If one chooses not to be insured, the state will fine them I believe around $300. Likewise, if a business employs 11 employees or more it must offer a health plan or suffer a fine as well.

Sure if you want to drive a car, you ought to have insurance in case you injure another party, but what could possibly be the motivation for forced health insurance?

If I get sick, how exactly does that affect anyone else? Contagious diseases are few and far between these days.

Devil's Advocate - Well, if one doesn't have health insurance, when they do get sick and show up at the hospital, then the government will have to foot the bill. So in that sense, the uninsured cost taxpayers money.

Well, obviously we need to get rid of mandated care then. DA you should go back and read my free hot dog analogy. Since it's short I will reprint it below:

If some restaurant decided to give away free hot dogs, there'd be a long line around the corner to get them. Then invariably, some politician will point and clamor, "Look how many people NEED hot dogs!"

I say you allow hospitals to turn away anyone who can't pay. Let gunshot victims from the hood bleed out on the sidewalk if they're uninsured. No doubt one of his buddies has some bling currency to pay for urgent care.

The idea that the government is capable of administering a universal, for-the-wretched-and-poor, healthcare system remains a fancy. It's their very mandates, tax-breaks, and existing subsidies that have pushed healthcare costs to such stratospheric levels . So now, after they have made it prohibitively expensive, they are going to wax indignant and compel everyone to buy it one way or another!?!?!?



Massachusetts employers (there are 12 left!) actually have to issue a new tax form to their workers - a 1099-HC. The Commonwealth has decided to use tax returns to enforce the healthcare mandate. My wife accidently threw it out with the junk mail and we had to scramble to find another copy. From reading some websites, she was by no means the only one to make this oversight.

While filing, I noticed a religious exemption to the healthcare mandate. Residents can check a box if their faith rejects modern medical treatment; I assume it's for the Scientologists(?).

Then right below, the tax form asks if you are claiming a religious exemption BUT have sought medical treatment in the past year. Don't try to lie! In other words, they are going to investigate any religious hypocrisy - which apparently the State of Massachusetts also feels is well within its charter.

Well, if that is the case, why pick on one religion?

I say, if some emptyhead buys a Prius but has oil heat and/or more than 3,000 square feet, and/or keeps their thermostat above 73 degrees....

...then the state ought to revoke the $2,000 hybrid vehicle income tax deduction.

After all, the government isn't supposed to be establishing or favoring any particular religion, correct? I say round up and flay all the hypocrites!



Make no mistake, this healthcare mandate is not the rotten fruit of economic illiteracy - as making MORE PEOPLE buy something that is too costly only aggravates unaffordability.

It's not about nanny-statism or a treatment crisis - as 90% of Mass residents already have some form of health coverage.

This mandate is but another Trojan horse, another salient by statists against the rights of private individuals. If you pay attention, the subterfuge is apparent in the words of program officials:

"We need to be fair and lenient in terms of enforcement both on employers and individuals in the first year in order to not incur some kind of a backlash," said Richard C. Lord, president of Associated Industries of Massachusetts and a member of the Connector board. "We need to.....give everybody a chance to adjust to the new realities."

They've already admitted the fine for uninsurance will rise every year. Was there ever a doubt? Next up will be more regulation ("standard setting") on the minimal care and insurance levels. In the meantime, jobs and people will continue to flee the state - an old reality that jurassic politicians have yet to adjust to.

My neighbors here in Massachusetts are old and Moronic; unfortunately I also get the government they deserve.

Pluming Prius Putzes

Read these holier-than-thou license plates.






























Virtue may be its own reward -- but as any self-respecting Prius Progressive can attest, the payoffs of hybrid ownership don't stop there. Beyond the gas pump savings, the tax breaks, the entree to carpool lanes, the freedom to park without feeding meters and the aura of cool kinship with Hollywood hybriders such as Leonardo DiCaprio and Cameron Diaz, comes something more visceral.

Say what? Prius drivers don't have to feed the parking meters? Are you freakin' kidding me?

Read more here.