The latest tragic disaster now involves bridges.It is now time for the MSM to scare the country into believing that all our bridges are unsafe.They have already done a hatchet job on air safety, subways, and skyscrapers.Next on the list will probably be elevators. The latest bridge disaster has now put into question our entire highway infrastructure and the fact that Bush's war has cost at least 1 trillion dollars and therefore has denied our country of the necessary repair of our infrastructure.You can add to that all the waterways and levies.While I love to blame Bush for all of our problems, the highway funds are not a function of an either/or choice.In fact, as you may have noticed, road construction is alive and well in America.Just try to drive any distance in the summer and you will see construction everywhere. When I was a practicing CPA, I had construction clients who only did road work for the various departments of transportation.If you think there is cronyism and fraud in corporate America, metaphorically speaking, the construction industry invented it.The truth is that there is an abundance of money in the highway road funds that come from the gasoline taxes we all pay.The real problem is that the construction companies that do the work are either the low bidders or ones with political clout. I am surprised that more bridges have not fallen considering the way contractors are chosen by federal and state departments of transportation.However, much like the elevators in buildings, there are required annual inspections that usually protect us from these disasters.
Therefore, my conclusion is that the I35W Bridge collapsed because of human error or incompetence.On the whole, the bridges in America are reasonably safe and there is no need to have excessive concerns or fears about driving over them.And I also believe that this is true of air safety, subways, and the rest.The chances of your demise from one of these events including terrorism are about the same as winning the lottery.But, the MSM will try to sell you on anything that gives them a larger audience.If you believe the MSM, I have a bridge I would like to sell you; Brooklyn or "to nowhere."
novamradio.com
Sheldon Drobny was the co-founder of Nova M radio and Air America Radio. He has supported many philanthropic causes and is currently involved in purchasing radio stations for liberal talk radio with his new company, Nova M Radio, Inc. Mr. Drobny specializes in business and tax matters and is admitted to practice before the U.S. Tax Court as a non-attorney. Less than 200 non-attorneys have been admitted to practice before the U.S. Tax Court since its inception in 1942. Mr. Drobny received a Bachelor of Science Degree in accounting from Roosevelt University in Chicago and is a member of Beta Gamma Sigma, an honorary fraternity recognizing acadamic achievement in colleges of business administration.
I agree that this reticent Main Stream Media would do anything that gives them a larger audience.However, I must disagree with your assertion that the MSM will use this to scare the country into believing that our bridges are unsafe. They should! As a former Union Iron Worker I've worked on several bridges and seen first hand what exactly the underside of a structurally deficient bridge looks like. It's not pretty! And the I35W Bridge Mr. Drobny, was it not deemed "Structurally Deficient"? And who was responsible for determining the level of deficiency of the I35? Evidently they were wrong.
America's infrastructure is crumbling. We must motivate the citizens of this country to contact their Representatives and demand that each and every bridge every power grid, every levee across this county be deemed structurally sound! This isn't Iraq or some third world country. You can be certain though that the "NAFTA Superhighway" will be structurally sound?
by
Munich (0 articles, 66 quicklinks, 12 diaries, 831 comments)
on Saturday, August 4, 2007 at 12:46:36 AM
What you say may be true but my point was that the funds for the roads are available. However, who gets the contracts? Probably contractors like those in Iraq.
by
SDrobny (83 articles, 3 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 14 comments)
on Saturday, August 4, 2007 at 8:12:50 AM
has been falling apart for some time due to neglect and lackof investment. This is the result of absurd spending, foreign wars, and stupid and unfair taxation. That needs to change.
But it won't be elevators which are next on the agenda, but escalators: I heard a congressman was on an escalator when the motor burn out and it stopped with him between floors. The poor bugger was stuck there for hours.
by
Blue Pilgrim (0 articles, 3 quicklinks, 2 diaries, 997 comments)
on Saturday, August 4, 2007 at 2:21:06 AM
Government in bridge and highway construction is the problem - cronyism and fraud, as SA Drobny writes are rampant in the construction industry, but that is when the customer is government. A private company has a reputation it must protect or it will lose customers. Government has no need to worry about lost customers since residents of a geographical area are captured consumers with little (sometime no) ability to seek alternate sources of services by the very edicts of that government.
Collapsing bridges in the US are rare but creating fear that they are imminent almost everywhere creates the fervor for more government. (This is more than simply garnering a larger audience for mainstream media.) What is needed is the understanding that less government is the solution for better and more ways to move between points; it is also part (if not all) of the solution for every other problem that is part of human action.
**Kitty Antonik Wakfer
MoreLife for the rational - http://morelife.org Reality based tools for more life in quantity and quality Self-Sovereign Individual Project - http://selfsip.org Self-sovereignty, rational pursuit of optimal lifetime happiness, individual responsibility, social preferencing & social contracting
by
Kitty Antonik Wakfer (19 articles, 3 quicklinks, 7 diaries, 116 comments)
on Monday, August 6, 2007 at 1:25:51 PM
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