Headlines: Obama fights perception he is an elitist vs. McCain backs off gov't waste as cause of bridge collapse

Republican John McCain blames deadly Minnesota bridge collapse on pork-barrel spending.

... McCain, while campaigning in Pennsylvania, told reporters: "The bridge in Minneapolis didn't collapse because there wasn't enough money. The bridge in Minneapolis collapsed because so much money was spent on wasteful, unnecessary pork-barrel projects."
(StarTribune)

And here is the pork, from McCain's potential Vice Presidential Candidate, it is Republican Minnesota Governor Pawlenty Pork: The New Minnesota Twins Stadium

Part II of a series of diaries, more below.

A career politician without a college degree is not a good choice to oversee critical infrastructure planning. Or so say the Dems in the Minnesota legislature, who are telling Governor Tim Pawlenty to remove his Lt. Governor Carol Molnau from her appointed post as the state's transportation commissioner, or else they will fire her.

Molnau is your basic, run-of-the-mill "I hate government so put me in charge of it" Republican.  Her appointment to the transport post in 2002 was basically a publicity stunt by the newly-elected Pawlenty to demonstrate that he was way anti-tax, justified on the grounds that he was saving the taxpayers one executive salary.  

Sen. Norm Coleman (R-MN) crowed about non-partisanship in the Minneapolis Star Tribune today.  He explained how amazing things can get done when politicians work together.  He used the I35W bridge as his example.

What a crock.  And what a crock for two specific reasons.  

In a commentary in the Minneapolis-Star Tribune on Monday, Jan. 28th, state Senator Jim Carlson, an engineer by trade, lays out his reasons for suspecting that the National Transportation Safety Board may be the latest government agency to be politicized under the Bush Administration and how this affects its initial report of the I-35 bridge collapse.

I know. I know. The Bushies have used almost every other part of the federal government as their private tools to punish enemies, protect their pals and give their cronies lucrative contracts. For the Bush administration,  everything is politicized--the Defense Dept, the CIA, the EPA, FEMA and more.  So I suppose I shouldn't be too shocked that the National Transportation Safety Board may be their latest tool.

But still. If we can't trust the NTSB to be fair, how should people respond to the next bridge collapse......or plane crash....or train wreck? What else will be spun?

This report is bullcrap, folks.

Hi everyone. A quick request for tolerance / forgiveness, as this is in some ways a repost of a diary I posted quite late on Monday.

Since I last posted under State Rep Jeremy Kalin with updates on the 35W bridge, I've been pretty busy, getting married, working to uncover several financial and competency issues at the top of Minnesota Dept of Transportation (MnDOT), and working on some economic development projects in my district.

But that's not why I am writing today.

Since I represent district 17B in the State House, I ask that you consider donating $17 to help me keep my seat next year. I've spent many thousands of dollars from my campaign fund, beyond allotted public funds, already this year on constituent surveys, legislative reports, and other legislative duties.

I hope you help me keep helping my constituents, Minnesota, and our great country. Let me make the case on the flip...

It'e irresponsible and reprehensible. Good people who work every day. They take care of their children. They follow the laws of the land.

Then, one day, while minding their own business, they drive through bumper to bumper traffic; and while they are going over a bridge, the world falls out from under them.

We saw this happen. Fate doesn't respect the health needs of the insured or uninsured. Kismet doesn't care that the unemployed or people on their way home from work were on that bridge when it collapsed. Karma or "Reaping What You Sow" doesn't care about the circumstance of the people injured when that bridge in Minnesota collapsed.

Do you? Of course you do, but  

More importantly, does the next President of the United States care? Since the bridge collapse wasn't an act of terrorism you can bet Mike Chertoff and George Bush don't think about the after math of this collapsed bridge, but does the Minnesotan Legislature care?

From AP via Baltimore Sun, August 30 dateline:

About a year ago, Missouri highway officials outlined a plan to repair or replace 802 of its worst bridges, but the legislature adjourned in May without enabling a bidding process. Two weeks after the collapse of the Minneapolis bridge, Governor Matt Blunt announced that he would include the bridge legislation in a special session, and the legislature sent the passed bill to the governor on August 29. Swift action indeed.

The appalling lack of values of Republicans is more and more apparent as the days pass.  We can only hope that the resignation of Senator Larry Craig is soon followed by the resignation of Minnesota's Lt. Governor Carol Molnau who serves as Minnesota's transportation commissioner.

Who can they blame next for the sad state of our infrastructure? How about the undefensible: Pigeons!

If you are to believe the latest news about the MN bridge collapse here... and here.... Let's blame pigeons and their crap. All that pigeon poop is, according to the burocrats, "highly acidic" after it dries. When it mixes with H20 in the air or rain, it creates a chemical reaction leaving a residue equivalent to salt and its corrosive properties. Though the explanation kinda of makes sense it still doesn't excuse the years of neglect. (Please read whole diary before voting...)

I have learned that most of the bridge resurface projects like the ill-fated Interstate 35W bridge usually have money within the contract for traffic control, often termed "detour money." So far, none of the people I've tried to talk to will confirm that there was detour money in the I35W contract or how much it might have been, but if there were the normal or usual amount slated for traffic control in the contract then the question becomes how was that money used?

The ugly head of God rises in the ABC-sponsored debate of Democratic presidential candidates.

UPDATE at end.

Details are beginning to emerge about serious concerns about the safety of the I35W bridge prior to its collapse. Records observed by the Star Tribune

reveal that last year bridge officials talked openly about the possibility of the bridge collapsing -- and worried that it might have to be condemned.

This news is reported in an article titled Phone call puts brakes on bridge repair

The right wing "no new taxes" groups are trying it's damnedest to deflect it's role in reducing our infrastructure to rubble. The idea of a national gas tax has been termed "pork" by the Citizens (Rich White Guys) Against Government Waste.

http://vudyo.com/...

I appreciated a recent thoughtful article on the bridge maintenance goals and on the relationship between Minnesota's budget cuts and lowered goals.  A more in-depth understanding of our transportation infrastructure management problem is needed, however, to solve Minnesota's bridge problem.

At 2PM Central Time, five new bridge designs will be presented to the public. We will be able to comment on the designs. Here is the link:  

http://www.dot.state.mn.us/...  

Two issues have recently come to the fore front on the rebuild. The first is that a federal bridge paid for through emergency funds allows for no alternative transportation modes, no pedestrians, bicycles, or light rail access. The second is that the federal highway official that will be in charge of the 35W Bridge Rebuild is from the Big Dig in Boston and has had past disagreements with Sen. Kerry.  More after the fold.