Re: NEW PREAMBLE TO THE CONSTITUTION
"ANYONE CAN USE IT"
No private citizen, not even Bill Gates, needs the channel deepened to 43 feet. There is only one tiny class of users who that benefits, and millions in public money is being spent to satisfy THEM, not the general public. There were economic benefit studies done early on that showed that the government was going to spend more money in dredging than the economic benefit would be to the region. It is simply a giveaway of public money to a small group of corporate users. Neither our survival nor our economic well-being depend on this project. It's not like the shipping channel is unusable the way it is, and I very specifically said that I was not against channel maintenance. So your canoe and hollow log comments are entirely disingenuous and you both know it. If your righteous indignation had any uniformity to it, then you would be not too happy about many millions of public dollars spent on a project with only a tiny handful of beneficiaries, no matter who they were.
If two or three trucking companies decided that they wanted to start hauling around trailers that were 3 feet taller than the existing bridge clearances, and the government stepped in at public expense, without a dime of contribution from the interested trucking companies, to rebuild all the bridges to the new height that this small group of users demanded, I would HOPE that real conservatives would raise a stink. But I guess that is probably hoping for too much, since there are few real conservatives left anymore.
"FEMA cash cards (our money) were used for strippers, girls gone wild videos, tatoos, liquor, illegal drugs, gucci bags, designer clothing, trips to vegas, etc"
And I'm sure a very large sum of public money has been squandered and spent on booze and porn and other unsavory purchases and personal perks by many of the contractors in the Iraq war as well. That happens every time and in every place where government money is flowing freely, and it is almost always a bipartisan event.
I've no doubt that massive sums of public money have been wasted and mis-spent in the aftermath of Katrina by government employees and contractors, and the general public. I just think that the obsession that conservatives have with this particular pork-hole is highly selective and very irrationally and righteously class based.
"think the fed would step in and save your, uhhhh, nose?"
Yeah, I think FEMA would give more or less the same semi-incompetent response to any community who suffered a similar disaster. I don't think that NO got some special treatment because they are all welfare cheats or something. When I lived in the back hills of Northern Cal years ago, there was a huge rain event that wiped out roads and bridges and damaged homes and FEMA had their people wandering around in the hills there giving out grants to those who applied for them, although not many people asked for help. I'm sure Gold Beach would get treated no differently, custom. Again, sounds like class envy to me...
"But you are right, it's Bush's fault."
Ummm.... where did I say that?
