More and More About Less and Less

Maybe my irrational fears about driving across bridges aren’t so irrational, after all.

Age and heavy use are by no means isolated conditions. According to a report card released in 2005 by the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), 160,570 bridges, or just over one-quarter of the nation’s 590,750-bridge inventory, were rated structurally deficient or functionally obsolete.

This from an op-ed in Popular Mechanics. (ed: An op-ed in Popular Mechanics? Who’d a thunk it?) The piece goes on to say, in part:

The fact is that Americans have been squandering the infrastructure legacy bequeathed to us by earlier generations. Like the spoiled offspring of well-off parents, we behave as though we have no idea what is required to sustain the quality of our daily lives. Our electricity comes to us via a decades-old system of power generators, transformers and transmission lines—a system that has utility executives holding their collective breath on every hot day in July and August. We once had a transportation system that was the envy of the world. Now we are better known for our congested highways, second-rate ports, third-rate passenger trains and a primitive air traffic control system. Many of the great public works projects of the 20th century—dams and canal locks, bridges and tunnels, aquifers and aqueducts, and even the Eisenhower interstate highway system—are at or beyond their designed life span.

The author indulges in just a little bit of hyperbole in the last paragraph; our ATC system isn’t “primitive,” and who cares about passenger trains, these days? Trains are a great idea and a wonderful thing in Europe, but NOT in the US of A. But the thrust of the op-ed is true enough, particularly the bits about the nation’s electrical grid. If you live in Cally-fhorn-eeya you know exactly from whence I speak, e.g., rolling black-outs and brown-outs. Our aging infrastructure is a bona fide problem. How many more crises must we endure before we act?

OTOH, we have Lefties moaning (coz it’s what they do best) about the lack of higher taxes to fund infrastructure:

It's tempting to attack the Republicans for this, and indeed, I will; the GOP in my state, led by Tim Pawlenty, has cheerfully put off funding roads and transit in order to avoid having to raise taxes. And obviously we've poured a ton of money into Iraq with little to show for it. But the truth is that the Democrats haven't been much better; they've been far too willing to meekly agree that taxes are always inherently evil, and to avoid fully-funding our nation's infrastructure because...well, I mean, who notices if a bridge is a little bit old?

Dang. I didn’t realize Pawlenty was sending Minnesotans’ hard-earned state tax money to Iraq instead of repairing old bridges! The author at Shakespeare’s Sister has every right to be p!ssed. Doesn’t he? OTOOH (that would be: on the other, other hand…), why don’t we abolish a few useless federal agencies (the Department of Education and the DEA come immediately to mind) and use their budgets to fund infrastructure projects? That would be a real win-win.

Good ‘un, Dubya! Editor and Publisher reports:

NEW YORK At a recent press conference at Camp David, President George Bush insulted BBC political editor Nick Robinson, the Daily Mirror reports.

Robinson, who has asked Bush pointed questions in the past such as whetherthe president was “in denial” over the Iraq war, posed a question to Bush about whether he could trust visiting British Prime Minister Gordon Brown not to “cut and run” from Iraq.

Bush replied with a dismissal: “Are you still hanging around?”

Later on, Bush poked fun at the bare-pate of Robinson, joking, “You’d better cover up your bald head, it’s getting hot out.”

The respected British reporter shot back, “I didn’t know you cared.”

Bush responded with a cool, “I don’t.” The Mirror reports that Bush then “snorted disdainfully” and “walked away to laughter.”

The Prez has done a lot of stuff to p!ss me off lately, but like the little girl with the curl in the middle of her forehead… “when he’s good, he’s very, very good.” You can finish the rest at your leisure.

Also from E&P:

NEW YORK At least 170 subscribers to the Wall Street Journal have canceled their orders since word emerged that Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. will soon take over the newspaper.

The paper does have 1.7 million print subscribers left.

::snerk:: 1.7 million subscribers, not bad. Better than, say, that fishwrap in the Big Apple.

There’s more “inside tee-ball” stuff on the News Corp – Dow Jones deal there, too. If you’re interested.