Rob Eno got really bothered by the idea that the Governor would force us citizens off the road during the blizzard. In his eyes, this is a major restriction of our liberty. So he did what every freedom-loving American does when they see an Injustice: he took to Twitter. Now, normally, I don’t make a post about these sorts of things, and it’s not like I think Twitter is exactly the best medium for reasoned debate (on either the ideological right or the left). But I am cooped up in my house with nothing to do but blog. And really, it wouldn’t be noteworthy that Rob got bothered by Deval “Freedom Snatching” Patrick, except I saw this:
Yeah, that’s right. Rob actually compared Governor Patrick’s public safety ban on driving during a horrible blizzard to…segregation. …Because, freedom? Even in a dangerous storm situation?
Yeah! Huge slippery slope. What’s next? Requiring seat belts when you drive? I mean, honestly. And, hey, what is a public safety emergency anyway? Just because we had a huge snowstorm, is that an emergency? Who can tell? These are “How Many Angels Can You Stand on the Head of a Pin” questions. Do we really want to trust our public officials and safety experts to tell us when there is an emergency? That can only lead to one place: socialism.
Whatever.
Thank god Rob Eno is just some guy with a Twitter account and isn’t, like, an elected official or anything.
Oh.
harmonywho says
#bqhatevwr
cos says
Forecasts for yesterday’s storm said peak snow rates could be in the 2-3″ / hour range. That’s not quite as bad as the peak of 4″ / hour in the blizzard of ’78, but it’s not worth taking the risk, so let’s remind Mr. Eno of what happened then: Cars on route 128 – a limited access multilane divided highway, the clearest kind of road we’ve got – got *trapped* because the snow fell so fast they had to stop, and then they got buried so deep under drifts that a bunch of people actually died in cars buried under snow.
If snow is going to fall really fast and there are cars on the road, cars will get stuck on the road. Even if it’s not ’78-level bad, and the people get out, you still end up with a bunch of cars stuck on roads under snowdrifts, and then how quickly are we going to be able to get those roads cleared again so everyone else can use them after the snow stops?
If we hadn’t cleared the roads, and the rapid snowfall had clogged some major roads with stuck cars into the week, I’m pretty sure he’d be railing against incompetent government once that happened.
David says
where there was no travel ban in place, here’s what happened.
afertig says
Sometimes, if you don’t take government action to keep people safe, people aren’t then safe. Don’t want government to abuse that power, but you know, I don’t think Governor Patrick was trying to…reinstate slavery or something. I think he was trying to keep the roads clear.
No matter what the Governor does, they have to criticize. Have to. Can’t not. Because if they don’t, then they’re not doing their job. Or if they say “Yeah, he did all right in this one instance,” that doesn’t somehow allow them to say that they disagree with him on a host of other issues. Because it’s not just enough to say they disagree with him on the issues, they have to delegitimize him. He’s a tyrant, he’s a phony, he’s trampling on my rights. Whatever. They can’t just say, “You know, I’m glad that people are generally kept safe. I still don’t like the guy, and disagree with him about x, y, z.” No. Everything — Every. Single. Thing — no matter how uncontroversial — has to be about how awful the Big Government Democrat is. So then he compares this to segregation and then Kerry Healey has to go to Harvard and opine that for some reason the GOP doesn’t seem to attract minorities and Governor Jindal has to go around the country literally saying not to be stupid.
Bob Neer says
One wonders.
kbusch says
Republicans, you’re just stuck being the Stupid Party. You’ll just have to accept that.
My condolences.
Pablo says
Seems there were two options:
1. The Massachusetts option, where they force the state to close, get the cars off the roads, get them cleared and back in business in 24 hours.
2. The New York option, where they load the highway with cars, hundreds of which get stuck, which closes the road. Instead of simply running some plows down the road, hundreds of tow trucks must be called in before the road can be plowed. Result: Long Island Expressway won’t be open and clear for 48 hours.
Guess it’s a matter of style. Either the government issues regulations that provide for the common good, or you let the knuckleheads make the rules as they go.
John Tehan says
…is driving a right or a privilege? Since I had to take a test to be licensed, and the state can take my license away if I drive drunk or otherwise act irresponsibly with my car, I’d say it’s a privilege, no?
David says
nt
John Tehan says
…but that’s definitely a first!
methuenprogressive says
But everyone should get tax payer funded sex changes.
Whack-a-doodle.
thinkliberally says
he’d be an American Hero.
Out of curiosity, exactly how many drivers were thrown in the clink and face a year in jail as a result of the governor’s dastardly actions?
kbusch says
In the post-9/11 scare, any hesitation on the part of liberals to abridge basic rights was painted as siding with the enemy. Hannity & Coulter still talk like that.
pogo says
…over a redmassgroup.
tblade says
Sometimes I read EaBo Eno’s rants in the voice of Stephen Colbert. Comedy gold and I don’t have to stay up past my bedtime.
Hey Rob, you know what else is tyranny? The gub’mint curtailing my liberty to drive where ever I want by painting white lines on the highway so I stay in the correct “lanes”, segregating fast drivers from slower drivers. Or how about when there is limited resources and the gub’mint urges us to use the public railways? It’s too closely resembles when Germany put their citizens on trains in the 30s & 40s, doesn’t it, Rob?
demeter11 says
I really resent that the government restricts my driving with red lights telling when I can and cannot go.
Since I’m posting this behind the wheel — I will not let them take away my god-given freedom to text and drive — the next red light I see will not stop me.
Grea,t I see one and I’m speeding up to blow right through it.
Whee…… !@#$%^&*(%)*&^%$#@!
tblade says
Don’t get me started on speed limits – it says “limit” it right in the name! The government isn’t even trying to hide the fact that it is LIMITING my freedom to travel at any rate of speed I want! This government overreach is stifling innovation! How can I travel back in time if I am limited to driving my DeLorean to 65 mph!?!?!?
John Tehan says
…when talking of the “burdensome” regulations that businesses have to put up with – let’s deregulate traffic!! It forces them to agree that some regulations are just plain necessary.
shillelaghlaw says
Complaining about “Overlord Deval“. These guys are slipping off into anarcho-capitalism, Murray Rothbard land…..
sabutai says
Fighting socialism by driving into a snowbank so that publicly funded firefighters dig him out and publicly funded EMTS send him to a hospital on publicly plowed roads. The best way to take on communism is to bankrupt the public sector through pure, unstained, liberty-loving schmuckitude.
kokoty says
HAHAHA thank you ari
Mark L. Bail says
kbusch says
Likely if Robert Eno were governor, he would, in fact, ban driving during a major blizzard. It’s just that, because he has that wonderful attribute of not being a Democrat, his driving ban would be reasonable, unremarkable, and safe from the dangers of slippery slopes. Rudolf Giuliani might even endorse it as one of the lessons of 9/11.
mannygoldstein says
Let Darwin deal with this issue.
David says
Rob is of the view that he (and BMG’s editors, for that matter) were exempt from the travel ban as “citizen journalists” under the ban’s exemption for news media. I didn’t test it out … not sure whether Rob did.
Mark L. Bail says
for coming in late. “I thought you meant I should leave at 10:00 PM, not be home at 10:00 PM.
mannygoldstein says
He should drive at all times in all snowstorms.
methuenprogressive says
Because his wife is a lead sidewalk screamer restricting the rights of women.
Serial Tax Cheat Jim Lyons, the very model of a Modern Major GOPhole.
John Tehan says
…ask this simple question:
Christopher says
Fascists are known for making the trains run on time
Oh wait, never mind.