But I would like to ask a small favor of the bloggers who are all over this story: Is there even the slightest chance that the maintenance of this bridge and the hundreds of others in the Twin Cities had or have been postponed in any way because of the drain of federal funds for a certain $400 billion infrastructure improvement project (see photo) known as the Iraq war?
Please get back to me when you have an answer.
Thank you.
I really find Shaun's post the most exasperating over at TMV, mostly because they are relentlessly one-sided. If there has been an attempt to see the other side of an issue or to frame new issues outside of a rigid ideological framework, it never makes it into print. The thing is, were Shaun writing on the Daily Kos his posts would rarely raise an eyebrow from me...but he isn't writing for the DK. The truth is I expect more from the folks at TMV.
I responded to Shaun's post as follows:
If you want to look at the Federal Money budgeted by the Federal Highway Administration go here. (Page II-10 has the historical funding levels.)
Federal Aid has gone from 18.9 billion in 1997 to 36 billion in 2006. The budget request for 2008 was 40.3 billion. If you can find an “Iraq war” effect in that, good on ya.
Maybe not everything on earth is Bush’s fault.
Look, I realize that Shaun and I would never agree on much...and that is perfectly okay. However, I'm not sure The Moderate Voice is the right vehicle for petulant snarks.
4 comments:
Hah, I don't know if you've seen the latest from Shaun today. He's gleeful over the fact that things have shifted enough at TMV now so that he can portray Bush as evil incarnate.
Petulance is the new Moderation, I guess.
Shaun's new piece? Yikes.
Some folks just enjoy the glory of their own prejudices.
I guess I'll have to scratch Shaun off the list of people I could have a rational discussion with. Oh well, frees up more time for me.
Unfortunately, I can't discuss Mullen's post referenced here (or its follow-up today) over at SF, for the same reason we never talk about Glen Greenwald: we have policies forbidding what Germaine Greer bemoaned as "the most degrading epithet outside the dictionary," the use of which being a prerequisite to describe Mullen's post. But your reponse (10:39 am today) covered much the ground I would have. :)
Some folks are just bound and determined to put themselves beyond rational discourse. When you do that "scumbaggery" is never far behind.
Actually, it is the sign of being a really crappy citizen. Political sociopathicness is not a state anyone should wish to attain.
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