SMRs and AMRs

Saturday, August 04, 2007

Without comment

Courtesy of insideminnesotapolitics.com.
Order the "No New Collapses" bumper sticker here.
(The designer is taking no royalties.)

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posted by Leigh Pomeroy at 8:48 AM

4 Comments:

Blogger Patrick Dempsey said...

NO LIGHT RAIL!!!!

NO STADIUMS!!!!

NO TEACHER RAISES!!!!

REPEAL THE TRANSPORTATION AMENDMENT!!!!

SCREW GLOBAL WARMING!!!!

BUILD ROADS!!!!

And while we're at it, can someone guarantee me that any raise in the gas tax will be 100% dedicated to ROADS AND BRIDGES????

I didn't think so.

Larry Pogemiller, Margaret Keliher and the social engineers in the Democrat Party will treat the victims of the tragedy as merely collateral damage in their quest for turning the Twin Cities in to Moscow. They say we need more funding for 'transportation' and not 'roads and bridges'. Most people don't realize the subtlety (but, because I am a brilliant political observer and understand the motivations of the left, I will point that out for your readers).

Pawlenty rightly vetoed the gas tax because it would have been used to fund light rail projects in the Twin Cities. I'm sure out-state Minnesotans would appreciate that.

If there is a special session, they should introduce a bill to repeal the transportation amendment, cancel all light rail and commuter rail projects and dedicate all funding to roads and bridges. Otherwise, the special session would be a waste of time.

9:09 AM  
Blogger Minnesota Central said...

Jennifer Byers of the MN Chamber of Commerce was recently in New Ulm presenting the issues for the next legislative session. In discussing Transportation, “No issue is more frustrating for the statewide business community. The last session once again produced zero new dollars for roads, bridges and transit. The continued gridlock presents an opportunity for someone to take the lead, and the Minnesota Chamber is committed to taking the next step by developing consensus for a moderate, balanced, and substantive package that can become law in 2008”

In an editorial in today’s Strib , the call is for leadership … and that’s what has been missing. The Federal Government had a chance after the August 14, 2003 electrical power crash that is now just a memory. Katrina pushed the infrastructure issue on the agenda, but that too has moved to a memory (except for those that have been affected.) The State’s elected officials have known of the problem, but keep pushing it out to the next term.
My solution envisions a Cornish Park at the Pawlenty Dam and is outlined on my commentary entitled Dams, Bridges and Schools … Don’t Blame Pawlenty … Blame the system.

12:18 PM  
Blogger Patrick Dempsey said...

The problem is not funding, but prioritization of resources. New Orleans has received hundreds of millions over the years which went to upscaling the coastal marinas and extravagent casino riverboats -hardly anything went to the levees.

The powergrid failure from a few years ago is a result of the myopia of environmentalism - no more high voltage lines. Even in Minnesota there is a moratorium on constructing NEW high voltage lines. But, the legislature went ahead and pass a renewable energy standard without addressing the fact that new infrastructure needs to be built. How are energy companies supposed to meet the standard if they're not allowed to build the infrastructure?

With regard to 'transportation' funds have been wasted building light rail and commuter rail and other 'transit'. Nevermind that the amount of money spent on 'transit' is about the most inefficient way to spend.

There is a leadership vacuum because every leftist politician has been pushing transit and environmentally friendly policy for so long that the money has been siphoned off from the transportation that needs it the most - roads and bridges.

I ask the question again, if we raise the gas tax, what guarantee is there that the money will go to roads and bridges? Answer - NONE! Raising the gas tax will go to fund light rail along University Avenue and commuter rail. Couple that with the new amendment to the constitution and no amount of funding will help.

We would have to double the budget from $33 billion to $66 billion in order for there to be 'enough' money for roads and bridges.

5:46 PM  
Blogger Minnesota Central said...

RECOMMENDED READING : Rubrick Biegon’s piece Build Bridges, Not Bombers in which he links the topics of war and peace, military occupation, and Washington’s disastrous foreign policies versus the domestic needs such as education, health care, and infrastructure maintenance.

He concludes “Ultimately, it is not only tens of thousands of U.S. bridges which are “structurally deficient,” it is also our democracy.”

I personally think that his premise is correct, however his suggestion that the protests of Bush’s visits by Peace in the Precincts and Women Against Military Madness (WAMM) were motivated by anything but the Iraq War is wrong. If the calamity had happened when we were not at war, those groups would not have been there to protest. The real protest should be against the elected officials that are too narrow sighted to realize that we must invest and maintain the infrastructure (which I include not only roads but also education and health care) for our future.

8:16 AM  

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