Zeev's Turnips Talk Politics (ZTTP)

[ergo sum]

Why Oh Why Are We Ruled by These Idiots? (Special California Edition)
Cory Doctorow finds this one:

Schwarzenegger creates, then fills Potemkin pothole: California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger dispatched a road crew to a residential street in San Jose to create a pothole, which he later turned up and filled, grinning for news-cameras and declaring his willingness to increase funding for transportation projects. The Potemkin pothole was later sealed by a roadcrew with a gigantic roller truck,

Porrovecchio and his business partner, Joe Greco, said that at about 7 a.m. they became fascinated watching '10 city workers standing around for a few hours putting on new vests,' all in preparation for the big moment with Schwarzenegger. But their street, he noted, didn't even have a hole to pave over until Thursday morning. 'They just dug it out,' Porrovecchio said, shrugging. 'There was a crack. But they dug out the whole road this morning.' 'It's a lot of money spent on a staged event,' said Matt Vujevich, 74, a retiree whose home faced the crew-made trench that straddled nearly the whole street. 'We still have the same problems. Everything's a press conference.'

http://delong.typepad.com/sdj/2005/05/why_oh_why_are__9.html