Thread stew

[Shaun Mullen <smullen@philly.infi.net>]

Leaving plenty of room for q-list bellyaching and good-humored
tooth-gnashing, as well, note the following (apologies up front for
bandwidth). . . As monolithic as it may seem, there is not a news media
conspiracy over things like UI.  The media is too stoopid to be able to
do anything so coordinated.  That's why the media often feeds off of
perceptions, not realities.  Speed limits on some U.S. interstates have
been relaxed because even the buttheads in Congress and some folks in
the Transportation Department realized that the hwy fatality rate is not
entirely a function of speed limit.  Punitive insurance premiums (my
rates tripled after my second speeding offense), fines and silly law
rollbacks that put the lie to state mottos may not always have the
desired effect, and sure do ruffle our own highly sensitive feathers. 
But they have helped modify my behavior -- at least some of the time. 
("But occifer, this here Audi quattro feels the same at 120mph as it
does at 60.")  The crackdown on drunk driving, while certainly not
administered evenhandedly by that nasty old U.S. justice system, has
generally had a salutatory effect.  We can all drink to that. 
Provisional drivers licenses make absolute sense for beginners, even if
it does make cruising McDonald's at midnight difficult for
16-somethings.  Driving is not a right.  It is a privilege to be
earned.  As we Statesiders well know from our own experiences, not too
many Americans seem to have earned the privilege, and that accounts for
much of the motoring mayhem we encounter in our Audis.  If we don't like
a particular law, we should bitch about it.  But also work to change
it.  It sometimes happens.  End of screed.