35W Bridge Collapse in Minneapolis

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the Classical wrote:Mrs the c had just driven over the bridge just before it collapsed coming home from work.


Chris, when I heard about this, for some reason...yours was the first face to pop into my mind. For a little while, I felt certain this involved you somehow.

I am glad that you are okay. I am so sorry about all this. It's really horrible. It was the headline in the Chicago Tribune today. When I first saw it, I laughed...then I realized the severity of the collapse. I just can't believe this.
kerble wrote:Ernest Goes to Jail In Your Ass

35W Bridge Collapse in Minneapolis

47
I finish class in downtown St Paul at 5:45 on Wednesdays. Had I not just moved out of Dinkytown on Tuesday, I almost certainly would have been on 35W at the time the bridge went out.

Also, less than a week ago, I was stuck in traffic on that bridge and the driver of the car started joking about some documentary thing that talked about bridges collapsing when there's traffic backed up on them.

Crazy stuff.

MNDOT is recommending that people take hwy280 instead of 35W. 280 is a pretty small highway that's usually congested as-is. I can't imagine how terrible traffic is going to be.

35W Bridge Collapse in Minneapolis

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nihil39 wrote:What's wrong with bridges in the US? It seems that another bridge collapsed in Oroville, California on July, 30th. Here is the link to the cbs report on this accident.


There's a New York Times article that links to a list of bridge information. There are over 150,000 "structurally deficient" bridges in the U.S., and a bunch more that are "functionally obsolete". It's ridiculous.

More ridiculous, however, is Bush's speech this morning. What a fucking cock.



THE PRESIDENT: Good morning. I just finished a Cabinet meeting. One of the things we discussed was the terrible situation there in Minneapolis. We talked about the fact that the bridge collapsed, and that we in the federal government must respond and respond robustly to help the people there not only recover, but to make sure that lifeline of activity, that bridge, gets rebuilt as quickly as possible.

To that end, Secretary Peters is in Minneapolis, as well as Federal Highway Administrator Capka. I spoke to Governor Pawlenty and Mayor Rybak this morning. I told them that the Secretary would be there. I told them we would help with rescue efforts, but I also told them how much we are in prayer for those who suffered. And I thank my fellow citizens for holding up those who are suffering right now in prayer.

We also talked about -- in the Cabinet meeting talked about the status of important pieces of legislation before the Congress. We spent a fair amount of time talking about the fact that how disappointed we are that Congress hasn't sent any spending bills to my desk. By the end of this week, members are going to be leaving for their month-long August recess. And by the time they will return, there will be less than a month before the end of the fiscal year on September the 30th, and yet they haven't passed one of the 12 spending bills that they're required to pass. If Congress doesn't pass the spending bills by the end of the fiscal year, Cabinet Secretaries report that their departments may be unable to move forward with urgent priorities for our country.

This doesn't have to be this way. The Democrats won last year's election fair and square, and now they control the calendar for bringing up bills in Congress. They need to pass each of these spending bills individually, on time, and in a fiscally responsible way.

The budget I've sent to Congress fully funds America's priorities. It increases discretionary spending by 6.9 percent. My Cabinet Secretaries assure me that this is adequate to meet the needs of our nation.

Unfortunately, Democratic leaders in Congress want to spend far more. Their budget calls for nearly $22 billion more in discretionary spending next year alone. These leaders have tried to downplay that figure. Yesterday one called this increase -- and I quote -- "a very small difference" from what I proposed. Only in Washington can $22 billion be called a very small difference. And that difference will keep getting bigger. Over the next five years it will total nearly $205 billion in additional discretionary spending. That $205 billion averages out to about $112 million per day, $4.7 million per hour, $78,000 per minute.

Put another way, that's about $1,300 in higher spending every second of every minute of every hour of every day of every year for the next five years. That's a lot of money -- even for career politicians in Washington. In fact, at that pace, Democrats in Congress would have spent an extra $300,000 since I began these remarks.

There's only one way to pay for all this new federal spending without running up the deficit, and that is to raise your taxes. A massive tax hike is the last thing the American people need. The plan I put forward would keep your taxes low and balance the budget within five years, and that is the right path for our country.

I want to thank OMB Director Rob Portman for his hard work in developing this plan. This was Rob's last Cabinet meeting. Laura and I wish him and his family well. And I call on the Senate to confirm his successor, Jim Nussle, so we can work together to keep our government running, to keep our economy growing, and to keep our nation strong.

Thank you for your time.

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