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Welcome to Soviet Russia…

No, no it’s just the People’s Republic of Madison officials gooses-stepping to environmentalist Nazis. A few weeks ago I remember Charlie Sykes talking about Minneapolis (I think) banning people from idling their car. He’s also covering the drive-thru ban at 10:45 as the post goes up.

Now, a member of the influential Madison Plan Commission wants to ban the restaurant drive-through — or at least restrict the ubiquitous symbol of America’s auto-centric lifestyle.
“Given the concern about all the carbon going into the atmosphere, I’m not sure we should be building more places for people to sit idling in their cars,” says Eric Sundquist, who was appointed to the citizen panel by Mayor Dave Cieslewicz this spring.

A former newspaper reporter in Atlanta now working as a researcher at the UW-Madison’s Center on Wisconsin Strategy, Sundquist notes that several cities in Canada have recently moved to ban the drive-through coffee shop or stand-alone fast food restaurant (www.ecospace.cc/culture/drive-thru-ban.htm).

I think it’s evident that Madison thinks that the best way to help business is to regulate them to death. It’s sickening to think that people care this much more about the environment than a successful economic environment. Do business owners in Madison really not mind bending over and grabbing their ankles for these wack-jobs on the city council? It’s really only a matter of time before Junior doesn’t get his happy meal after soccer practice because Mom can’t go through drive-thru and the lines inside are ridiculously long or for that matter, because McDonalds closed because of poor service from ridiculously long lines and no way to get patrons their food quickly while staying in their car. It’s probably only a matter of time before drive-thrus on banks are a thing of the past and then idling at stop lights and in traffic jams will be a punishable offence. And then the day will come when it’s illegal to warm up your car on a bitterly cold Wisconsin morning.

I don’t know how anyone would be able to tolerate officials in Madison. I certainly can’t tolerate the school. What Madison should do to reduce it’s carbon footprint is eliminate heating and air conditioning. Let’s start in the Mayor’s office and then eliminate it at the school too.

On a side note, I was recently at the Sears Grand store in Menomonee Falls. The girl behind the checkout counter told me I had to resue the plastic bag she was putting my purchase in. After getting a horrendous nosebleed I assume from her incompetence, I went home and burred that plastic bag and at least five more.

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