Things to be read together:

Right-wing talk radio host Jessica McBride:

I thought something dramatic was happening: A fundamental shift of power from the government to the citizenry. Wrong. At the state level, the proposals to get more of your money are coming fast and furious.

Op-ed writer James Rowan

Milwaukee's right-wing radio jocks talked themselves out of their November election funk by bashing Gov. Jim Doyle over the state Transportation Department's proposed $25 increase in the Wisconsin passenger vehicle registration fee.

The talkers jumped on the proposal (Doyle later announced he favored a $10 bump) more to generate ratings among conservative listeners than to genuinely gripe about rising registration costs. That's because these conservative mouthpieces, having led the defeat of light rail here in the 1990s, know full well that their preferred transportation alternative - highway expansion - requires perpetual truckloads of fresh cash, and fees are an important piece of those budgets.

This is especially true in southeastern Wisconsin, where the Transportation Department is well on its way to committing $6.5 billion of our money for freeway expansion, though most of that funding is unbudgeted.

Brought to you--without taxpayer expense--by the Department of Curious Juxtapositions.