A real tax dollar dilemma

So... the promulgators of the war in Iraq, almost all casting themselves as "protectors of the mighty purse," face a real tax dollar dilemma. Having supported destroying bridges in Iraq (at American taxpayer expense) only to rebuild them (at American taxpayer expense) now have finally realized that our own bridges are in desperate need of repair and replacement (at American taxpayer expense).

Meanwhile, they continue to advocate tax breaks for the ultra-rich.

It doesn't take a fifth grade education to figure out that something's not working here. Commentary by Minnesota resident Coleen Rowley:

Red Alert--Bridge Ahead!

by Coleen Rowley

I was stuck in bumper to bumper traffic on the I-35W Bridge across the Mississippi at exactly 6:05 p.m. As traffic crawled over the bridge (with the exits in that area all blocked due to construction), I nervously kept checking the clock as the minutes ticked past 6 p.m. which was the time the event started that I was to speak at. I didn't have any idea that I should have been nervous for an entirely different reason. I finally got across and, not knowing how lucky I was, got to my event a few minutes late.

Exactly 24 hours later, the unthinkable happened. That same bridge buckled and crumbled in four seconds. Dozens of cars plummeted sixty some feet and it is not yet known how many perished. Jim Klobuchar, father of Minnesota U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar, penned one of the more insightful commentaries on the bridge collapse.

Hundreds of thousands of Minnesotans, especially those who, like myself, regularly crossed this bridge, are asking why and how this could happen. We are told, however, that it will be months and maybe a year or more before the NTSB will be able to connect the dots and write their report. Of more pressing concern is the question of how many of the other 73,000 or so bridges in the country also rated "structurally deficient" or (even worse) "functionally obsolete" could this same thing happen to? Americans are simultaneously being told it is too expensive to closely scrutinize these thousands of bridges.

The rest is here.