MADNESS

Posted at 9:33 a.m. ET

Seattle, naturally, supplies us with a classic example of environmentalism run amuck, creating a dangerous situation.  Seattle, it seems, is a bit delicate about snow removal.  People?  Who cares about people?  The Seattle Times explains:

...it turns out "plowed streets" in Seattle actually means "snow-packed," as in there's snow and ice left on major arterials by design.

Oh, I can't wait to drive.  Wait.  Let me check my collision insurance.

The city's approach means crews clear the roads enough for all-wheel and four-wheel-drive vehicles, or those with front-wheel drive cars as long as they are using chains...

The other cars are owned by despicable clowns who don't understand the way better people live and think.

The icy streets are the result of Seattle's refusal to use salt, an effective ice-buster used by the state Department of Transportation and cities accustomed to dealing with heavy winter snows.

Why do anything that works?  That's for the capitalists and their middle-class lackeys.

"If we were using salt, you'd see patches of bare road because salt is very effective," an official said. "We decided not to utilize salt because it's not a healthy addition to Puget Sound."

And people killed in road accidents aren't healthy additions to cemeteries.  Anyone think of that?

Seattle also equips its plows with rubber blades. That minimizes the damage to roads and manhole covers, but it doesn't scrape off the ice, Wiggins said.

Manhole covers over man.  What a concept.

The city's patrol cars are rear-wheel drive. And even with tire chains, officers are avoiding hills and responding on foot, according to a West Precinct officer.

So what?  Just don't get robbed or have a heart attack when there's snow on the ground.  This answer is so obvious.

Seattle's stand against using salt is not shared by the state Department of Transportation, which has battled the latest storms in Western Washington with de-icer, 5,800 tons of salt and 11,500 cubic yards of salt and sand mix, said spokesman Travis Phelps.

Techno-fascists!  They probably voted for BUSH.

Wiggins, of Seattle's transportation department, said the city's 27 trucks had plowed and sanded 100 percent of Seattle's main roads, and were going back for second and third passes.

"It's tough going. I won't argue with you on that," he said. But here in Seattle, "we're sensitive about everything we do that impacts the environment."

Why not send Wiggins, on foot of course, to notify families whose loved ones have been hurt, or worse, when cars went out of control on the ice?  Maybe he can explain environmentalism to them, or give them autographed copies of "Silent Spring."

Unbelievable.