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If this bridge doesn't get fixed before the Republican convention, it is not going to be helpful to the Republicans to say the least. And it doesn't really matter whose fault it actually is, it just looks bad for the infrastructure of this country to be crumbling while we are spending many billions overseas. And if Republicans want to continue the blame game, they are only going to look even worse. |
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This "problem" started 30 years ago. The bridge was found to be problematic in 1990. PLUS - the Republican Governor has no say in what transportation measures get funded...FUNDING BILLS COME FROM THE LEGISLATURE. All he can do is sign or veto. Even if he had signed the bill this year, the money would not have been available until THE DAY THE BRIDGE COLLAPSED!
Only a true partisan hack would lay this at anyone's feet. It was the career bureaucrat that pooched this one.
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The point is that finger pointing does not help. Whoever is in power has to take responsibility. Trying to point blame elsewhere just makes you look worse. The trouble with the current Republican administration is that they have forgotten Truman's adage, that the buck stops here. It's much better to stand up and say that you made a mistake or that you did not do enough to solve a problem than to blame your predecessor or the Legislature or whomever, even though I'm sure there were also failures by many people involved for many years. |
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It has, needless to say, been a tough past couple of days here in the Cities. I love this state in large part because of the actions of the people on and near the bridge. People put their own safety aside in order to help their neighbor. To have that good will tossed aside so quickly by partisan hacks has really rankled me more-so than the bridge coming down did.
I have a friend who lives in NOLA. She went through all of this long distance arm-chair quarterbacking after Katrina. I spent a lot of time listening to her vent.....now I understand why she got so upset....
LL |
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Good points all by someone who lives there.
The finger pointing is absurd anymore. It is very frustrating. As I have said, for better or for worse accidents happen even ones as tragic as this one.
I still marvel about that school bus though. How it landed on its wheels and didn't roll is truly a miracle.
y'all hang in there. |
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Then explain why a state legislature (the ones that are REALLY responsible for funding state road work and this is still a state project) THAT WAS CONTROLLED BY DEMS FOR THE LAST 30 YEARS refused to fund repairs on said bridge? They had access to the inspection reports - they had veto proof majorities and yet FOR 20 YEARS they refused to fund repairs for this bridge.
Put away the talking points and pay attention. The Minnesota Legislature has been ruled by the Democrats and they Constitutionally have the power of the pursestrings. They could have over-riden the Governor and they chose not to!
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Whatever the results of the investigation, this bridge is not exactly going to be a helpful symbol for the Republicans when they hold their convention in St. Paul next year. The simple fact is that there is a Republican governor in Minnesota, and the Republicans have been in control of the federal government for nearly seven years. Bridges are a government responsibility. The bridge failed. End of story. |
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Ras - that bill was authorized in 2005. There were (at the time) other priorities. Plus knowing how quickly government works, how much of that money do you suppose has gotten to MN yet?
Beesh - not one PENNY of the federal money is going toward anything stadium related. Stadium money is coming from MN taxpayers exclusively!
Beener - this bridge has been on the engineers radar since the early 1990's. The MNDOT and University of MN bridge experts all said that this bridge was not an "immediate" problem and that it should be ok until 2020. That is why Governor Pawlenty is bringing in an outside contract to re-inspect ALL MN bridges. Obviously the MNDOT and UM "experts" weren't as expert as we all thought.
It is all about priorities and prior to Wednesday, the "experts" all agreed that the I35W bridge was NOT a priority.
Lastly, Becky and Jon.nine - thanks for the well wishes. WHat Minnesota needs now is prayer and helping hands. Not finger pointing and the blame game. We have loved ones to bury and a bridge to replace and lives to restore.
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Baghdad Bob of the Bush Administration
Hugh is notorious for providing cover fire for the GOP. A quick check shows Gov Pawlenty vetoed 2 road bills in the last few years.
http://citypages.com/databank/27/1316/article14133.asp
So according to CaliDad a Governor that was installed in office in 2002 is responsible for the failures of the previous two administrations???? Remember CaliDad - the 35W bridge was first deemed to be "structurally deficent" back in 1990 when Arne Carlson was Governor.
Nice try, but the facts simply do not support the slime.
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I keep hearing "experts" telling us that "Structurally deficient" and "non-redundant" don't necessarily mean the bridge was unsafe. Maybe we need new experts. |
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Somehow George W. Bush and the GOP is responsible for the Titanic sinking in 1912. Don't ask how, but it must be true. Also, the finger needs to be pointed at Bush and the GOP for the Hindenburg disaster, the Space Shuttle Challenger explosion and Operation Market Garden. |
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Couldn't have said it better myself. Check the center for govt waste website, and see how money was spent last year in MN. It's pretty astounding.
The people that say the only way to fix our infrastructure is to raise taxes have LOST THEIR MINDS.
Let me throw this out there. Why do we pay almost 18 cents a gallon of gas to the Feds and up to another 14 cents to state govt depending on where you live? Isn't THAT for infrastructure?
And to the person that mentioned that we can't legislate tragedy out of our lives....THANK YOU!
Accidents happen. Tragic accidents happen! I lived in CT when the Hyannis River Bridge collapsed and when the L'ambiance Plaza in Bridgeport collapsed. I don't recall the same kind of finger pointing. |
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Brian J writes: "you can forget about any tax cuts- indeed, we're going to need tax increases- to keep our infrastructure"
What about Ras' point? What did MN did with the $3.5 billion in federal transportation funding already sent. Where did that go? Might it have been spent more wisely.
Priorities are importnat aren't they? Most households prioritze spending. Most business prioritize spending. Why not government?
If at first households and business set the wrong priorities we cannot blame it on the boss or the customers and ask for more money. Why should government always do so. |
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I said "conservatives," dating back to Reagan. Please do read a bit more carefully.
My point is very simple: you can forget about any tax cuts- indeed, we're going to need tax increases- to keep our infrastructure functional. We had a chance to improve our infrastructure without raising taxes in the '00s, but by listening to GOoPers, we blew it. |
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Ras said: "Minnesota state and local governments can expect to receive about $3.5 billion in federal transportation funding through 2009, an increase of about 46 percent (or about $1.1 billion) over the previous six-year bill. "
Did they spend it on the parking lots for the stadiums?
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Brian J siad: You cannot build, improve, or maintain infrastructure without spending money. Thank to right-wing, tax-cutting dogma, we've skimped on that for a generation to save wealthy people a few bucks."
Pardon me, Clinton had 8 years of "peace dividends." Why did he not spend it on infrastructure"
Millions for MN sports stadiums but not one thin dime for bridges?
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I'm Canadian; got no need to spin a US story. There was money, there were inspections, there were crews working on the bridge. The story's local.
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BTW, to those wishing to politicize the tragedy:
http://www.dot.state.mn.us/newsrels/05/08/10highwaybill.html
U.S. President George Bush signed a $286.4 billion six-year transportation reauthorization bill Aug. 10, 2005 that covers federal fiscal years 2004-09.
Although the details of the reauthorization package are still being reviewed, Minnesota state and local governments can expect to receive about $3.5 billion in federal transportation funding through 2009, an increase of about 46 percent (or about $1.1 billion) over the previous six-year bill.
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this nation is as a result of lawyers!.....It would take a 12 year moratorium on lawyers being disqualified from public office inorder to begin fixing this nation! |
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Now is the time when I wish we were more like the animal/insect kingdom and had brains the size of walnuts and peas and the heads of pins. When homes get destroyed the beavers don't slap their tails at each other nor do the ants butt antennae...they just get to work repairing everything as quickly as possible, with everyone sharing the load. I hate, hate, hate, the blame game. It distracts everyone and helps no one. |
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Human knowledge is not and cannot be perfect. Consequently tragedies while always heart wrenching are inevitable.
It is the worst kind of lie to suggest otherwise. It is also an intellectual trap. So either the individual who suggests otherwise has lied to himself, or worse, is lying to others.
This does not mean that negligence or worse isn't at the heart of this bridge's collapse, but it does mean that until we have a comprehensive grasp of the event we can't know with the necessary surety to form judgment, but for some to suggest otherwise and therefore find justification in pointing fingers about which they can't know anything of merit is the worst and most foul vile kind of pandering. Shameless.
Finally, it is the worst kind of conceit that every time a horrific tragedy manifests some how we will legislate tragedy out of existence. Pure buffoonery or hubris--take your pick. |
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To the families living with this horrific reality our prays, our thoughts, our condolences go out to you. |
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Brian J,
Sigh, spending for infrastructure was never a contentious issue for either party. Same here in Canada, btw: if you spend the bucks on bridges and roads and electrical grids and such, no one generally bats an eye, be they conservative or liberal or anything else.
p.s. Bush's tax *rate* cuts raised govt revenue, allowing more for infrastructure, not less. Increased entitlement spending (plus pork and posing for both parties!) then ate that up, but that's a different story.
p.p.s. How did Bush manage to "skimp for a generation?" Are you a dog or something?
p.p.p.s. Wanna get back approx $800 billion per year? Reform the legal system. Yes, it costs about 10 times as much each year for the b.s. laws and crap as it does for even the Iraq War. So two years of legal reform (the real thing, no posing) covers the infrastructure costs.
This is why we should all be graduating more engineers than lawyers.
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You cannot build, improve, or maintain infrastructure without spending money. Thank to right-wing, tax-cutting dogma, we've skimped on that for a generation to save wealthy people a few bucks.
But you cannot do so forever.
The ASCE (civil engineers) reported that we'll need $1.6 trillion over five years to bring our infrastructure up to a good level. Had the shrub maintained Bill Clinton's tax and spending priorities, we'd have that money available, but he foolishly cut taxes, started wars to aggrandize himself, and now we're stuck.
This is another conservative chicken coming home to roost. |
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A rational - aot partisan - political prediction:
Given that US infrastructure is in need of an upgrade for bridges, elec power and whole lot more, and ...
Given that Dems are dying to spend big, esp on pork and that Repubs are at most a half-step behind, then ...
Expect the pres candidates in particular to promise to "revitalize America's Infrastructure" or some such thing. The public - knowing that the smiling bastards of both parties are bound and determined to spend money no matter what - will be happy that at least something might come out of it for a change.
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...of making this issue political. On last night's program, Hugh asserted that there would be more deaths as a result of this catastrophe than occurred as a result of Hurricane Katrina. Per Wikipidia, Katrina caused over 700 deaths in New Orleans alone. There is no point in Hugh making such an absurd comment, except to attempt to minimize the impact of Katrina, which conservatives have always tried to do. And once again, Hugh is trying to divert all blame from the Bush Administration, which has been notoriously neglectful of our infrastructure, which we cannot at this time afford to maintain because of tax cuts and the war in Iraq. Shame on you, conservatives! |
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