A recent post here at NWBloggers.Com mentioned the Law of Unintended Consequences.

Definition?

The Law of Unintended Consequences holds that almost all human actions have at least one unintended consequence. In other words, each cause has more than one effect, including unforeseen effects

The best example I have seen of this in a long time, is the Energy Policy Act of 2005, which mandates that beginning in 2007, DST will shift to begin earlier (March 11), and end later (November 4).

Of course, being politicians, Congress has left themselves an out:

The US Department of Energy is required to study the impact of the DST extension no later than nine months after the change takes effect. Congress has retained the right to revert to the DST schedule set in 1986 if it cannot be shown that there are significant energy savings from an extension of DST or if the extension may prove to be unpopular with the American public.

Northwest Cable news reports on the spoiled mayor of Seattle’s plans for a tunnel.

Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels says the city “will not support” any option other than a multi-billion dollar tunnel to replace the aging Alaskan Way viaduct, regardless of what the governor decides. The mayor’s alternative? Send all those viaduct drivers onto city streets.

…

A surface street option would mean diverting 103,000 trips per day through the waterfront and downtown, in a city already choked with traffic.

If Gregoire opts for anything other than the mayor’s tunnel, he could try to block the plan by not approving permits, withholding funds or through legal action.

…

A Department of Transportation study found that diverting viaduct traffic onto surface streets could increase congestion downtown from four hours a day to 13 hours a day