An Anniversary Republicans Wish Not To Remember

In a little over a month from now, thousands of Republicans will gather in the beautiful city of Minneapolis-St. Paul. From the party faithful to the party elite to the wealthy backers, hob nobbing, networking and more mundane issues like party platform will be hammered out (still important though). They'll all have a great time and cheer themselves on, but one thing that would be surprising if mentioned would be the tragic anniversary that the city of Minneapolis is remembering today.

From The Politico:

It’s a year today since the Minneapolis bridge collapse that killed 13 people, but don’t expect Gov. Tim Pawlenty to showcase the reconstruction.

Indeed, with the Republican National Convention in St. Paul just a month away and Pawlenty reported to be high on John McCain’s running mate list, Republicans want to drive attention away from the infrastructure disaster that spotlighted the nation’s crumbling bridges and from the criticism the governor faced for what some critics said was a slow response.

The governor’s staff reports there are no plans to hold any events near the site of the bridge collapse, about 10 miles from the convention hall. And GOP convention planners have organized hundreds of buses to ease the congestion expected when some 45,000 conventioneers, guests and media commute to the hall.

Pawlenty claims the two aren't related, but to callously dismiss the connection is telling of a party that cares more about itself and less about the health of our nation. In fact, it goes straight to the core of why the Republican party needs to be walloped in this year's election. See, maintaining infrastructure takes money and a competent government that will fix and repair old bridges. Like one speaker or at least prominent attendee at the upcoming RNC once said, “My goal is to cut government in half in twenty-five years, to get it down to the size where we can drown it in the bathtub.”

Dead governments can't fix our infrastructure....and don't think that privatizing every road, bridge and tunnel will do the trick either.

Kristol Could Care Less About America

America runs on top of the strength of our infrastructure. Commerce would grind to a halt without properly maintained roads (as it did last week in Minneapolis). Extreme weather would kill thousands more every year if it wasn't for electricity (and steam here in NYC) that remained on to power homes. Levees protect large cities from floods and other natural disasters (except for in Louisiana). Are you starting to catch my drift here? Thats why ridiculous comments from neo-cons like William Kristol tend to piss me off. He thinks there is no problem.

From RawStory:

Fox News political contributor Bill Kristol, appearing on the August 5 broadcast of Fox News Sunday, made comments minimizing the significance of a bridge collapse in Minnesota last week. At least five people were killed and 100 injured when the bridge collapsed Wednesday.

"I don't think this symbolizes any great failure of our infrastructure," said Kristol. "Once every twenty five years some bridge falls down unexpectedly due to engineering problems and it is unfortunate obviously but the idea that the whole country is crumbling is not, I think, credible."

The callousness is disgusting. Of course for Billy, there are more important things to spend our nation's money (and its debt) on, like illegal wars and whatnot.

McCain Places Highway Collapse Blame On Himself

John McCain blamed Congress for not adequately funding our nation's infrastructure today because of their love of earmarks. But really, he blamed himself. See, our nation's infrastructure has been suffering for decades now. Calling for tax cuts takes away from funding the country's essentials; and the culture of corruption, especially while the Republicans controlled things for 12 years led to the further degradations of our "inner workings." It isn't just the pet projects Senator, its the ideology that wants to drown our government in a bathtub which causes tragedies like these.

From MSNBC:

ANKENY, Iowa - Republican John McCain said Saturday that Congress could share in the blame for the Minnesota bridge collapse because lawmakers diverted billions of dollars in transportation money from road work to pet projects.

"I think perhaps you can make the argument that part of the responsibility lies with the Congress of the United States," the Arizona senator said.

McCain said Congress spent roughly $20 billion on special-interest projects when it approved a new highway bill, signed into law by President Bush.

McCain then decided to descend even further, demonstrating Sen. Grassley's (R-IA) $50 million dollar indoor rainforest project in Iowa as horrendous pork. But McCain avoided questions such as if additional spending would have prevented the disaster in Minneapolis.

As the candidate that is spiraling out of control, he is trying his best to do an image makeover. He took a potshot at President as well, saying in his Presidency, you would know who the President was.

The reemergence of the "Maverick" is too little, too late. His supporters and staff are vanishing rapidly. McCain's maneuvering to the right has painted him as a hypocrite to many in the middle. Even when it comes to pork, the evidence shows he loves the trough just as much as the next politician. Now things are starting to catch up to the dear Senator and his candidacy for President is vanishing like the image of a mirage that can be found in the desert around Phoenix.

Minnesotans Are Mad

It has been three days since the disaster in Minneapolis. The impact of the I-35 bridge collapse was felt all over the country and the world, but not even close to how it hurts up in the Twin Cities. Much like New York City after September 11th, everyone feels pain for the victims. Yet when you lose a family member, a friend, a co-worker or anyone that you know personally due to the negligence of your government, sadness is going to be compounded by anger and a demand for accountability. Already, the anger levels are going up and according to Nick Coleman at the Star Tribune, its not a partisan issue.

From The Star-Tribune:

Both political parties have tried to govern on the cheap, and both have dithered and dallied and spent public wealth on stadiums while scrimping on the basics.

How ironic is it that tonight's scheduled groundbreaking for a new Twins ballpark has been postponed? Even the stadium barkers realize it is in poor taste to celebrate the spending of half a billion on ballparks when your bridges are falling down. Perhaps this is a sign of shame. If so, it is welcome. Shame is overdue.

At the federal level, the parsimony is worse, and so is the negligence. A trillion spent in Iraq, while schools crumble, there aren't enough cops on the street and bridges decay while our leaders cross their fingers and ignore the rising chances of disaster.

And now, one has fallen, to our great sorrow, and people died losing a gamble they didn't even know they had taken. They believed someone was guarding the bridge.

What a terrible tragedy that could have been avoided. Our government has been neglecting the essentials that keep our society going. It makes you think about the times of the Roman Empire, when Romans were given games instead. Well that empire fell, and the structure that fell and killed several people this week is tragically symbolic.

A Nation Falling Apart

What happened a few hours ago in Minneapolis was a tragic event. Several people dead and dozens injured after the I-35 bridge over the Mississippi River collapsed while undergoing repairs.

From The Huffington Post:

MINNEAPOLIS — An interstate bridge jammed with rush-hour traffic suddenly broke into huge sections and collapsed into the Mississippi River Wednesday, pitching dozens of cars 60 feet into the water and killing at least six people.

The eight-lane Interstate 35W bridge, a major Minneapolis artery, was in the midst of being repaired and had several lanes closed when it crumbled.

"There were two lanes of traffic, bumper to bumper, at the point of the collapse. Those cars did go into the river," Minneapolis Police Lt. Amelia Huffman. "At this point there is nothing to suggest that this was anything other than a structural collapse."

This is another sad moment for our nation's infrastructure. Only two weeks ago antiquated steam pipes exploded in East Midtown killing one woman with the tow truck driver laying in the hospital with third degree burns all over his body. Dozens were injured and business are losing millions with the repair work still going on.

Now another major city has to deal with a catastrophe that has left several families without their loved ones and economic havoc that will ensue from this. Meanwhile New Orleans is still pretty much in ruins outside of the French Quarter, Downtown and the Garden District.

Our government's ability to deal with catastrophe and preventing infrastructure from crumbling has been diminished considerably over the years. This is something that needs to be turned around. Instead of a $300 tax cut, why not put that money towards fixing our old pipes, highways and anything else that needs to be updated so we can continue to live in a first-world society.