Rhodes Ties Bridge Collapse To Bush, Iraq, Tax Cuts

I have been waiting for this, don't you know anything that happens bad in this country is directly tied to President Bush

 

And the next claim on this board will be that this is how conservs treated Clinton. And you know what is fair is fair, what is good for the goose etc. Blah blah blah.

 

Didja know Minnesota has a $2 billion tax surplus ?


http://www.northstarwriters.com/dkk072.htm

 

Well, it seems impossible not to milk a tragedy for all it's worth . . .

 

While we're building the infrastructure of nations that we destroyed, the infrastructure of the United States is falling apart. What is being done to change it? Since this bridge thing, we've got Texans talking about increasing taxes to pay for retrofits and more concrete. Why do we need to do this when we have spent over $1 trillion in destroying and rebuilding a nation on the other side of the world? Why do we need to do this when for every $1 in gas taxes we send to the central gov't .80 comes back to us? Why do we need to do this when 25% of our gas taxes don't go towards transportation but to pay for public education and programs of which the Dept of Education mandates without funding. Bush is certainly not solely to blame for the Minneapolis bridge, that should be a local matter taken care of by local folks. However, we need to get the central gov't out of our business and out of our wallet so we can do the things that need to be done at home. While we have an infrastructure that is crumbling he's bringing in more humans to use/abuse this infrastructure and when local folks try to stem this tide the central gov'ts judiciary says that it is unconstitutional to do so. While he's certainly interested in nation building it's sad it's not our nation he is interested in building.

 

Here are the best pictures I have seen of the bridge.
http://drugoi.livejournal.com/2280005.html

 

Off topic but a response to a post in this thread.

The infrastructure was not destroyed by us. It was in complete destruction by Saddam before we got there.

 

One of the most challenging things about the web is not seeing whether or not folks are saying things with a straight face.

 

Yea, I know what you mean.:thumbs:

 

It's saddening if not sickening to play partisan on this issue...

...especially if they facts are not on your side:

The media waited less than 17 hours after the tragic bridge collapse before pointing fingers. At least one U.S. Senator, Patty Murray, seemed to blame Bush when she said yesterday that the Bush Administration has not supported Democrat efforts to increase spending on critical infrastructure. One of the problems here is that in so many instances a Democrat demand for infrastructure spending is merely a thinly disguised attempt to funnel money to construction unions as thanks for electoral and financial support. Nick Coleman at the Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune says that this collapse never would have happened if it wasn't for Governor Tim Pawlenty (a Republican) and his refusal to raise taxes.
He writes:

"For half a dozen years, the motto of state government and particularly that of Gov. Tim Pawlenty has been No New Taxes. It's been popular with a lot of voters and it has mostly prevailed. So much so that Pawlenty vetoed a 5-cent gas tax increase - the first in 20 years - last spring and millions were lost that might have gone to road repair. And yes, it would have fallen even if the gas tax had gone through, because we are years behind a dangerous curve when it comes to the replacement of infrastructure that everyone but wingnuts in coonskin caps agree is one of the basic duties of government."
​

What Mr. Coleman fails to point out is that there was no need for a tax increase. None. Because at the time when Governor Pawlenty vetoed this 5-cent gas tax increase, the state of Minnesota already had a $2.1 billion budget surplus. This surplus came from over-taxation.
Over-taxation in America? Imagine that!
And around the same time that the Governor vetoed the tax, the state legislature passed an amendment to spend all, rather than half, of the motor vehicle sales tax revenue on transportation. This added $60 million a year to road, bridge and transit spending. And that is expected to more than double in five years.
Coleman wants us to believe that more taxes would have saved these people, and it is all the Governor's fault for refusing to increase those taxes. The fact is that the problem wasn't low taxes, the problem was fiscal irresponsibility.
Let's take a look at Citizens for Government Waste's "The Pig Booklet" for the state of Minnesota for the year 2006. Take a look at all of the "pork" projects. I'll give you a taste of a few:

• The state bailout of the Minneapolis Teacher's Retirement Fund, which puts state taxpayers on the hook for $972 million in unfunded liabilities
• A new $776 million Twins Stadium to be paid for with a Hennepin County sales tax increase -- (approved by state legislators with no voter referendum)
• $97.5 million for the Northstar Commuter Rail line
• $34 million in subsidies to ethanol producers that have seen a 300 percent increase in profits in the last year
• $30 million for bear exhibits at the Minnesota and Como Zoos
• $12 million to renovate the Shubert Theater in downtown Minneapolis
• $1 million for a replica Vikings ship in Moorhead
• $500,000 for a skating rink in Roseville
• $310,000 for a Shakespeare festival in Winona
• $129,000 for state art grants for North Dakota museums and theaters

And the list goes on and on, folks. This was all tax money spent in Minnesota while that bridge remained un-repaired. Now we're told that the problem is that taxes weren't high enough.
from http://boortz.com/nuze/index.html Friday, August 3, 2007

 

Good argument by Mr. Boortz. That list of oink spending is pretty appalling and surely that money could've been used to keep a bridge from falling down.

(Why is Minnesota paying for art grants for North Dakota museums? How odd.)

 

Art grants have always been odd though.

Maybe I should go back to work before I say more.

 

While I am in sympathy with much of what you write, I believe it is worth noting that, regardless how much has been or will be spent in Iraq, not even a small fraction of that would have been budgeted for roads, bridges , and other infrastructure in the absence of the war.

 

I've already heard lawmakers in Minnesota using this tragedy to call for a tax increase.

 

Bill Press, Mike McDonnell, and the other heads at MessNBC, save Tucker, are all yelling about it. They don't mention the $2,000,000,000 tax surplus. They just want more. What was the gluttony thread about yesterday ?

Toss 'em all.

 

And why not ?

On my desk sits an envelope, stamped, just waiting to be mailed to a Buffalo newspaper.

On it I am blaming Bush for my constantly tearing, red, sore right eye, and the possibility that I might lose my job for the eye and it's all his fault!!!

Don't ask me why, I just know it's his fault, that's all.

 

Amen to that. Vote all of them out and start over. Find someone who can govern, and cares for the American people. That excludes present leadership and those running.