Blame Game Begins

[bigboy7787]

Blame Game Begins
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.

http://209.85.165.104/search?q=cache...lnk&cd=1&gl=us (http://209.85.165.104/search?q=cache:3fMX62MHhJsJ:www.taxpayersleague.or g/pdf/2006PigletBook.pdf+Minnesota+spending+transportati on+infrastructure+2006&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=us)

By: Boortz

[yeahwho]

Blame Game Begins
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.


What sort of ridiculous statement is that? Unions comprise less than 16% of the workforce/voters in Minnesota. The odds this bridge was inspected by an union employee is 0. URScorp (http://www.urscorp.com/index.php) is a non union contracting consultant.

I feel as if your opening statement is a thinly disguised attempt to degrade the Teamsters, ILWU, AFL/CIO and every Union working citizen in the United States. Not to mention millions of democrats.

[Schmeltz]

So we shouldn't blame the bridge collapse on the Republicans' poor tax policies, we should blame it on the Republicans' financial irresponsibility?

I like this game!

[D_Raay]

Really, what sort of twisted logic is that?

The repubs have to really reach with tenuous arguments hoping that someone with a bit of intellect won't come along and point out the idiocy of it.
Guess that is gameplan. Keep the infighting going and the phony debate raging.

[Documad]

Who are you, and did you join the board just to post copies of other people's opinions?

You, and Rush Limbaugh, and all of the other bloggers you cut and paste from, are the ones who are trying to deflect everyone's attention from the real issue: We have a terrible problem in this country that no one has been addressing. We have to figure out how we are going to repair our infrastructure and how we are going to pay for it. We need to engage in a reasonable debate and we have to make some very difficult decisions.

You are guilty of trying to score political points of off this tragedy. Did you hear Nick Coleman's remarks yourself, or just cut and paste from the blog? Did you realize that he was criticizing the Twins stadium deal because it benefits private millionaires? Did Pawlenty veto that stadium deal? What do you know about the Northstar commuter rail issue or the revitalization of downtown Minneapolis?

[bigboy7787]

Is the governor of Min. a Republican or a Democrat?

Why don't you just blame the president and be done with it?

If it rains too hard, go ahead and blame the Republicans for that too.

So we shouldn't blame the bridge collapse on the Republicans' poor tax policies, we should blame it on the Republicans' financial irresponsibility?

I like this game!

[Documad]

Is the governor of Min. a Republican or a Democrat?

Why don't you just blame the president and be done with it?

If it rains too hard, go ahead and blame the Republicans for that too.
Yeah, I figured you didn't know anything about Minnesota when you copied that bullshit from some other website. You get points for admitting it instead of looking Pawlenty up on wikipedia I guess. I can see that you're not even reading the news stories though. This wasn't caused by rain. This wasn't a natural disaster of any kind.

To answer your question: Minnesota hasn't had a democratic governor in 17 years. I'm not blaming the president or the republican governor. You are the one who is trying to make this a political-party issue. I'm too upset about this happening in my backyard to play games.

U.S. citizens have been living large and wasting money on all kinds of shit (including a pointless war and stadiums for multimillionaire team owners) instead of spending money on unsexy things that impact our daily safety. Whether it's a failure to build damns that can withstand a medium strength storm or failing to put more cops on the streets, we have to pay the piper at some point. All of these tough decisions involve weighing cost against risk. What are you willing to pay to be safe? We need to have a serious conversation. Nick Coleman was trying to start that conversation. I'll grant you that he's pissed off, but that's because this happened in his hometown. I can identify with the anger.

By the way, I'll give credit to the president if he actually ponies up the money to rebuild the interstate ASAP. He says he will, and that's exactly as it should be.

[yeahwho]

Good to see your alright and happily keyboarding away Documad. Terrible news for your hometown...the next year or two is going to be a tough without that bridge.....if you guys can get it that quick. Mucho prayers go out to all of you in the Twin Cities.

This whole thread is a waste of time. Deflection, smoke and mirrors. To say the democrats and unions are corrupt in the first statement pretty much sums up too much talk-radio and FOX news.

[Documad]

Thanks yeahwho. I was on autopilot and tried to take the bridge again this noon. :o It will help when they figure out what they're doing with some of the alternative routes. I keep trying to turn onto closed streets that are nowhere near 35W.


The thing is that I disagreed with the gas tax. I think that we should spend more tax dollars on government functions like roads, but I think that the legislature and the governor are elected to make those decisions. It's ridiculous if they can't do their damned job and apportion the money from regular revenue. We shouldn't have to designate extra money from a gas tax.

[D_Raay]

There aren’t Republican bridges and there aren’t Democratic bridges and there aren’t Republican sewers and Democratic levees. We’re a country that, as a whole, is paying this incredible, price for a brand of American conservatism that hates and demeans government. And that has defined any sort of spending on anything for the common good as something that’s soft-headed and suspect. And it’s a brand of conservatism that goes back to Reagan’s first inaugural where he defined government as the problem, and to Barry Goldwater before him and the Republican party defines as uncritical inheritors of that legacy. And while they may be benefiting from it politically, we’re all paying the price for it in terms of a country that’s just falling apart. It’s a national disgrace.

[kaiser soze]

The government is letting the U.S. infrastructure rot while they waste BILLIONS on war.

Who is to blame?

ALL OF THEM.

[Documad]

I shouldn't talk about this any more, but let me just say that it's not as simple as throwing more money at highways and sewers. We have a huge system that's been getting old. It's nearly impossible to figure out which one will fail next and when. We don't have the money to replace every bridge. Some of those bridges might fail tomorrow or they might fail in 40 more years. When do you replace them? Someone has to make difficult decisions about where and when to spend the money, and if you guess wrong there are huge stakes.

The Katrina problem re the lack of an adequate evacuation and clean up falls on George W. Bush. The Katrina problem re poor urban planning and faulty design and implementation and inspection by the army corps of engineers falls on a number of presidents as well as state and local officials or both parties.

Ultimately, the citizens of the US are to blame because we don't want to spend our tax dollars investing in long-term safety. The politicians have been following our agenda.

[KingOfPop]

I blame Bush for my career being so fucked up, forget any charges against me by other folks



I blame Bush!

[Randetica]

i blame echewta and his fat pancake ass