Building a Bridge to Nowhere: McCain was Against it While his Running Mate was For It

Now that it has come to light that Sarah Palin hired her own Lobbyist to work on the Bridge to Nowhere and other Pork Projects for Alaska, it might be a good time to refresh our memories on what the guy at the top of the ticket had to say about her pet project.

From Sept. 2007, CNN

Just last month, presidential candidate Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona, said pet projects could have played a role in a Minnesota bridge collapse that killed 13 people earlier this year.

"Maybe if we had done it right, maybe some of that money would have gone to inspect those bridges and other bridges around the country," McCain told a group of people in a town-hall style meeting in Ankeny, Iowa.

"Maybe the 200,000 people who cross that bridge every day would have been safer than spending $233 million of your tax dollars on a bridge in Alaska to an island with 50 people on it."

So John McCain thinks that Sarah and the Alaskan Republican party contributed to the bridge collapse in Minnesota! Really! Now that is news. I wonder if any of the media will bring it up this week? yeah.right.

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N.W. Washington State Storm Coverage

It's been a mess out here.

I couldn't get to work Monday due to flooding.

The more general Seattle area is doing alright. It's the outlying areas which are in deep trouble.

This is KING5 helicopter footage of the massive floods near my mother-in-law's home 25 miles from Chehalis. All of Centralia/Chehalis is pretty much under water. Interstate 5 is detoured at Exit 88. It's an over 400 mile detour down to Portland for the big trucks.

Here are more storm videos.

I live roughly 300+ feet above the valley floor. On purpose. Having lived through one mass flood down near Centralia/Chehalis in the early 90s, when we moved to the Seattle suburb where we live now, I made certain we were well above the flood plain.

This has proven wise several times over. We have a big back yard, backed up against a steep ravine which goes down to a year-round creek which in times of flooding, transforms into something you wouldn't want to get caught in. The hill is heavily wooded and while mud slides are in general a major problem during these storms, I've never been seriously worried about losing the back yard to a slide.

Trains were stopped due to slides. Hundred mile winds at the seashore.

This storm wasn't nearly as bad as last year's December Hanukkah storm which left about a million people without power, some of them for up to ten days. But that was snow and wind and rebuilding half of the power grid. (We were without power for two days.) This is the kind of flooding we get maybe every ten years, boats cruising down streets, big Sears stores drowned in water up to your eyeballs kind of fun.

It is still raining. Hasn't stopped except briefly.

I hear Portland is in bad shape, but we're all so busy taking care of ourselves, I frankly haven't had time to check. Anyone who knows, please chime in. Photos would be great as well.

Again, things are back to normal in greater Seattle, mostly. It's once you get outside of King County that everything is still rough. If you're local, please let us know how you're doing.

And hey... let's make this a weather thread in general. East Coast as I understand, and the middle of the country, all had some pretty rough weather.

How are you doing weather-wise right now? Feel free to link to photos.

Is everyone safe?

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Bangkok Market Train

That's an integrated economy. The closest I know of in the U.S. is New York City. And perhaps Chicago.

How is it that this is the way that it is? In Bangkok, London, Paris, Tokyo, NYC, the Bay Area, and so on? How does one achieve this level of integration?

h/t How The World Works/Salon.

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Two Bridges

Tenacitus, in comments, asked:

any comments about the two bridge collapses

yes,
1. There is a difference between the 2 parties.
2. Republicanism kills.

And Seitan Worshiper gives us a link to: A report card from the American Society of Civil Engineers on Americas' infrastructure, bridges get a 'C', and drinking water a 'D-'.

Picture from 1994 Atlantic Online article 'Troubled Bridges'

UPDATE More maps of bridges (MSNBC) via Pandagon

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