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Bridges Falling Down – Open Thread

By SusanUnPC on August 2, 2007 at 3:23 PM in Current Affairs

How many studies and articles have proven, irrefutably, that this country’s infrastructure is in dire need of repair or replacement? (A 2005 report card from the American Society of Civil Engineers gave our nation’s infrastructure an overall grade of D.) Think what we could do with the $10-12 billion expended monthly in Iraq. (In fact, for 1/12th the annual cost of the Iraq war, we could enact the ACSE’s recommended “$9.4 billion a year for 20 years to eliminate all bridge deficiencies.”) The ASCE points to the Bush administration’s deliberate starvation of federal programs: “Long-term underinvestment is compounded by the lack of a Federal transportation program.” And, a nationwide infrastructure program, in tandem with states, to repair or replace bridges, roads, and dams would also create a huge number of jobs that would pay a living wage and increase the skill sets of low-wage workers or the unemployed. Do you think the GOP governor of Minnesota will give up his tax cuts for the rich to avert more disasters and create jobs?

Also of note: Douglas Farah and Stephen Braun, the authors of Merchant of Death, which Larry just reviewed, are guests for the second hour today on the Diane Rehm show, with USA Today’s Susan Page subbing.
 
Via Andrew Sullivan’s blog at The Atlantic:

The Plight of Arab Bloggers

Not an encouraging news round-up:

A Kurdish journalist, for example, was given 18 months in prison last year because his online writing criticized leaders of the Kurdish region in Iraq. A Saudi spent 13 days in jail for online writing that warned about the power of religious extremists in Saudi Arabia. And a Libyan journalist who wrote critical articles about Libyan officials for London-based Libyan opposition Web sites was mysteriously gunned down in 2005, activists said.

[TEST POSTING - IGNORE]