What a mind-blower. I mean, what the hell?
I see a pile of lawsuits ahead as high as the bridge used to be...

Anyone who looks at this footage carefully can see that the bridge was intentionally demolished as part of the ongoing Bush 9/11 conspiracy to divert our attention from the real issues.

- Looney Left

Yeah boy, funny stuff there Redman... a real knee slapper.

Bush and Cheny strike again. It'd the only way they can keep us in line.

The lusty libs

I definitely see the benefits of investing millions of dollars into survelliance cameras all across the nation now instead of wasting it on such mundane things as highway and bridge maintenance.

Remember the only way to catch terrorist bridges is to video tape them. If you are not for the security cameras you are for the terrorist bridges.

I knew that bridge.

Hoping all of my Mpls friends and their families are ok.

The millions spent on cameras at intersections in cities could be spent on road repair. Something like 40% of our bridges don't meet the standards. Lets start repairing some of this stuff before it all goes to hell. We don't need no stinkin film of everything like they do in the UK.

I second that Manypaths. Still waiting to hear back from my old college roommate.

Musta been Iran.

The Right

Al Quaeda sits contentedly in their Pakistan caves and laugh as America slowly crumbles and it doesn't require suicide bombers...just Republican legislators. Who knew that the Great Satan would be defeated by its own greed and selfishness.
Those who are surprised by this should review the reports about the levees in NO. It is happening all over America and it is going to cost billions to fix. Can America afford both guns and bridges???

Did you see the hole?

the terrorist bridges

Good name for a band.

"Bush and Cheny strike again."

YEAH!

You aint far off the mark however you should include yourself as well!

Steam pipes failing, bridges collapsing! All the results of simple neglect.

Yup, neglect the unseen infrastructure and then call it a tax cut ----- that is until everything starts to fall apart!
But not to worry my WingDing friends ----- only 536 DAYS, 12 Hrs, 30 Min, 28.5 Sec until you can blame someone other than Bush for it all and not sound like an idiot for doing it!

"Anyone who looks at this footage carefully can see that the bridge was intentionally demolished as part of the ongoing Bush 9/11 conspiracy to divert our attention from the real issues.

- Looney Left"


No....but I bet Bushco will try and blame it on Al-CIA-da

It's interesting to see the Right already deflecting the obvious: Too many years of RNC rule = more money in the pockets of millionaires and less for infrastructure.

Bush/RNC/NRA: "protecting the American Way of death."

I bet the truth of this bridge collaps will lay closer to something like poor maintainance because tax money has been diverted to Homeland security or some shit.

The bridge had been inspected by the Minnesota Department of Transportation in 2005 and 2006 and no immediate structural problems were noted, Gov. Tim Pawlenty said Wednesday.

"There were some minor things that needed attention," he said. "They notified us from an engineering standpoint the deck might need to be rehabilitated or replaced in 2020 or beyond."

A federal database, however, showed the 40-year-old bridge had been rated as "structurally deficient" in 2005 and possibly in need of replacement, the Star Tribune reported citing the U.S. Department of Transportation's National Bridge Inventory.

The White House also confirmed the 2005 inspection. White House press secretary Tony Snow said the span rated 50 on a scale of 120 for structural stability.
******************************
**

50 on a scale of 120 for stability, yet the governor vetoed a bill that would have fixed the bridge.

Nice.

A Republican govenor of course.

Who has been working for years on a name change for our state: Mnississippi.

WE are sorry but this video is being classified because if Al Quaeda ever realized they could just blow on our infrastructure and it will fall down we would be screwed.

Who has been working for years on a name change for our state: Mnississippi.

Funny Flag.

"A Republican govenor of course."

It's becoming clear that the feds aren't to blame (see other thread on bridge) and that the states fund repairs, but the libs here are wiping there brows saying, "Whew, at least the governor was a Republican. We can still righsously bitch!"

Hey here's an idea. How about we divert all the funds (gonna hit a Trillion in the near future) from the phony "War on Terror" to a new "War on America's Crumbling Infrastructure"?

The bridge had been inspected by the Minnesota Department of Transportation in 2005 and 2006 and no immediate structural problems were noted, Gov. Tim Pawlenty said Wednesday.

They need to start farming the inspection work out to German engineers. You know, people who actually know what the fuck they're doing!

Whew, at least the governor was a Republican
Posted by goatman
------

Unfortunatley for the libs this state has been run by the left forever and it is the left who have diverted funds for roads into the lightrail and other such money pits. Anyone from MN remember the "Vote Yes Campaign?"

What a joke

Wow, even the NRA got blamed in this thread.

"They need to start farming the inspection work out to German engineers."

Maybe even design work. I've never seen better engineering than what the Germans do.

Run by the left forever? You must be talking about the current republican govenor or the senate that was republican for years before that or maybe Jesse the Body?

It's interesting to watch the left try to blame this on Republicans while ignoring all the years that liberals squandered money on the "Great Society", "The War on Poverty", "The War on Drugs", "Comprehensive Employment Training", "The Department of Education", etc. Our national infrastructure has been neglected since Eisenhower left office.

The White House is wasting no time in laying the blame directly with the state of Minnesota:

August 2, 2007

White House: Old check found problems with Minneapolis bridge

The White House said Thursday that an inspection two years ago found structural deficiencies in the highway bridge that buckled during evening rush hour in Minneapolis.

White House press secretary Tony Snow said the Interstate 35W span rated 50 on a scale of 120 for structural stability.

"This doesn't mean there was a risk of failure, but if an inspection report identifies deficiencies, the state is responsible for taking corrective actions," he said. The bridge was 40 years old.

First lady Laura Bush will visit Minneapolis on Friday to console victims of the collapse, which killed at least four people and sent dozens of cars plummeting into the Mississippi River on Wednesday.

President Bush first learned of the disaster while having dinner Wednesday night with the first lady. Snow said Bush received preliminary details about the bridge collapse from Joe Hagin, deputy chief of staff. Hagin called Fran Townsend, Bush's homeland security adviser, who reported that there were no known links to terrorists.

Bush asked Federal Highway Administrator J. Richard Capka and Transportation Secretary Mary Peters to go to Minneapolis, where she will announce a $5 million grant to help pay for rerouting traffic patterns around the disaster.

Bush called Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty at 7:45 a.m. CDT Thursday to offer encouragement. "He said the governor was in the president's prayers and offered any support that we can provide," Snow said. Bush also called Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak to offer his condolences and prayers for the losses, and he acknowledged the economic cost of losing a main transportation artery.

Bush then called Peters as she flew to the scene. "He stressed the importance of projecting hope and optimism and offering any help," Snow said.

The administration has sent federal help from the Transportation Department, the National Transportation Safety Board, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the FBI, U.S. Coast Guard and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Environmental Protection Agency, Snow said.

There is no federal disaster declaration at this time. Snow was not sure whether there had been a request for one....

Who knew that the Great Satan would be defeated by its own greed and selfishness.

Posted by danni at 2007-08-02 11:26 AM

Interesting comment, Danni. I can't find it now but I read an article once describing the Isalamic view of "The Great Satan" and what you said fits right in with it. The Great Satan isn't the devil the way "we" understand the term. It's like a big bloated beached whale demanding attention while it rots from the inside out... Something like that.

My state is pretty Left, Oregon.

We have been working on replacing almost every bridge in the state for the last couple years.

How is this a partisan issue?

'War on Drugs' a Left issue. Reagan and Nixon were Dems?

Fuck, I guess you do learn something new every day.

Just not around here.

How is this a partisan issue?

Posted by Manypaths at 2007-08-02 12:48 PM | Reply

It will be a partisan issue in a nanosecond if it is found that Bush cut back on Minnesota's highway/transportation funds like he's cut back funding to all the states, cut back on the FDA inspectors, and everything else in order to give the money back to himself and his rich pals in tax cuts -- or to pay for his war.

"Recently, new concerns have arisen about federal highway funds. The 2006 Congress did not pass a budget for 2007, instead passing a "continuing resolution" through February 15, 2007, which keeps spending at 2006 levels. There is a strong possibility that the 2007 Congress will pass an additional continuing resolution that would keep spending at 2006 levels for the remainder of federal fiscal year 2007. This, combined with recent forecasts for the federal highway trust fund suggest that the fund will run out of money at the beginning of 2009. Because of these factors, the current forecast for federal funds may have to be reduced in the next official forecast of state revenues that will be released at the end of February 2007."

This is how Ronald Reagan lost the Cold War. So much money was diverted from infrastructure repair to the military that it's going to bankrupt you guys as a result - if giving trillions of dollars of military aid to the Middle-East doesn't do it first.

Manypaths, a few years ago I went on a geocache in the Gorge by Portland. I hiked along the water pipes that feed a hydro plant. After you got more than 500m away from the swimming holes and roads you start to see huge leaks in the pipe. Leaks large enough that I could see a major disaster in the making. I wonder how many other things are on the verge of falling apart?

Hey here's an idea. How about we divert all the funds (gonna hit a Trillion in the near future) from the phony "War on Terror" to a new "War on America's Crumbling Infrastructure"?

ill go along with that as long as we take money from the welfare programs as well....

Run by the left forever? You must be talking about the current republican govenor or the senate that was republican for years before that or maybe Jesse the Body?

Posted by CrazyCoulter
--------------

This state hands out so much welfare money that people come from three states away to get their hands on it. Left or right...you decide.

Why not divert some funds from our war on drugs?

As I figured, a little background reading and one discovers your both full of shit.

Time for a bit more "background reading" for you sir.......

Well so far more Americans have died from infrastructure failures than from terrorist attacks. Great job Junior!

Anyways, the bridge wasn't in Mississippi Knighthawk......

INSIDE JOB. Why do you think they had construction work going on? It was just a cover so the powers that be could rig the bridge with explosives (probably a MINI-NUKE.) The video shows the classic works of CONTROLLED DEMOLITION.

Electing George Bush President was an act of controlled demolition.

I played the footage backwards and you can clearly see that a cruise missile marked "U.S.A" had hit the bridge.
- Looney Left

"For 116 years (from 1876 to 1992), "

Though we are not talking about Mississippi, (the state) and this is OT, all southern states consistently elected democratic governers and democrats in general until recent history. The reason is that Lincoln was a Republican.

Just a bit of American History for ya'.

Knighthawk,

Talking about Minnesota

dipshit

Yup, neglect the unseen infrastructure and then call it a tax cut ----- that is until everything starts to fall apart!
But not to worry my WingDing friends ----- only 536 DAYS, 12 Hrs, 30 Min, 28.5 Sec until you can blame someone other than Bush for it all and not sound like an idiot for doing it!

Posted by Redneckville

The dems are going to put all their effort into fixing all the infrastructure and not do any earmarks or givaways. You are one big dreamer red.

I am not sure who is at fault here. But raising taxes is not the answer. Controling where the tax dollars go is. As far as I am concerned the Gov should protect it's citizens, provide a good infranstructure and maybe a few other things. We waist so much money on Social Security, Medicade, Medicare, and now the Perscription Drug plan. If you cut those programs you can cut our taxes, stimulate the economy (as the Tax cuts under Reagan and Bush have done) and have money left to fix the infrastructure. Creating jobs and producing even more tax revenue without raising taxes.