By Miss Kubelik
Well! It turns out that Republican Governor Tom Corbett of Pennsylvania might be known for something even more repugnant than restricting voter rights and giving women unnecessary ultrasounds. Yesterday, he let the good citizens of the Commonwealth drive on unsafe roads.
We cats were — thankfully — traveling in the opposite direction of two huge chain-reaction pileups, first on Interstate 81 and then, after we bailed out from 81, on Interstate 78. And although we didn't see it, there was another one on the Pennsylvania Turnpike: dozens of cars slamming into each other, others skidding into ditches, tractor-trailer trucks jackknifed, and ambulances and other emergency vehicles caught up along with everybody else in the miles-long backups.
Why? We'll tell you: The roads weren't treated. The Pennsylvania highways we traveled were slick and slippery, with lethal strips of pounded-down snow caked along the center lines and more snow coating the shoulders in dangerous slabs. Scary!
The only thing we can think of is that Corbett — who, as a Republican, doesn't believe in government, taxes or public works — declined to pay state workers triple-overtime on Christmas night and Boxing Day morning to salt and sand the roads.
We'll be interested to see whether anyone in the media, or anyone caught up in yesterday's highway cauchemar, will ask why the Keystone State was allowed to become a disaster zone yesterday. But it was pretty clear to us: If Corbett had to sign an executive order to get the road crews out there, he refused to use the pen in Pennsylvania.
(IMAGE: This AP photo doesn't begin to capture the carnage. We cats averted our eyes.)
UPDATE: Just in case Corbett's people are (still) reading this, we cats would like to remind everybody that the Republicans hold majorities in both houses of the Pennsylvania state legislature.
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