The scandal that is the state of Healthcare in America is coming to the Department of Transportation! Evil privatization! The Feds are selling (well, leasing, really, but what else is a long lease, of, say 75 years?) our Interstate Highways, bit by bit, to private corporations. From MotherJones The Highwayman: DeFazio to Take on Privatization:

Even though [Senator Pete] DeFazio has now ascended to the key post on the Highways committee, it remains to be seen whether or not his efforts will slow the privatization trend, which has the enthusiastic backing of the Bush administration. To this end, the president recently nominated D.J. Gribbin to be general counsel to the Department of Transportation. Who is Gribbin you might wonder? A former general counsel to the Federal Highway Administration, he has most recently been working on behalf of Macquarie Holdings, Inc., a branch of the very same company that has been so avidly buying up the nation's highways

This is worse than just selling the "naming rights" for stadiums (stadia?) and arenas!

This is dismantling the National Highway System, the Interstate System—held in trust for our country, for private citizens and commercial traffic alike. Eisenhower must be rolling in his grave…

This is—literally!—"highway robbery". In a short time, our "freeways" will be tollways, adding so much more expense to a family trip that many will no longer be able to afford it. Will it come down to buying Grandpa a plane ticket to come to you, instead? And what about the educational family vacation? Tourism? The super-saturated motel industry?

This is holding a gun to the head of trucking companies. Since de-regulation of the industry during the Reagan administration, freight rates have not risen, despite the fact that fuel, equipment, wages, insurance, etc., rise every year. Profits are so narrow now that most small-to-medium companies and independents cannot compete with the Big Three: JBHunt, Schneider and Swift, and, in fact, are going out of business at an alarming rate.

So, who loses? Trucking, and you and I. And maybe BigOil…

Who wins: Macquarie Holdings, for one. And their close pals that own the paving companies, too. And their shareholders, who will gladly pocket the profits.

Who else? The airlines? Probably. The railroads? Definitely—they hate the federal subsidies that go to the highways. They don't want you to know about their abyssmal record of "timely delivery", and that they "lose" freight cars on "side-tracks" and "back-tracks" all the time because they have the technology to track vehicles but don't use it well.

So, let's keep an eye on DeFazio's Transporation Committee. After all, tolls hurt! (FYI: the tolls paid by trucks are from 200%-1500% higher than a car pays—and it all gets passed along to you when it is added to the price of goods.)

Say "goodbye" to: See the USA, in your Chevrolet…