Carlson: Alaska bridges dead? Think again

billr

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Fri Dec-09-05 10:08 PM
Original message

Carlson: Alaska bridges dead? Think again

By Margaret Carlson

Dec. 8 (Bloomberg) -- Isn't it better to tax and spend, as Democrats are always accused of doing, than to just spend and spend, as Republicans are recklessly doing now?

If you doubt that the latter is worse, consider these numbers from the conservative Cato Institute. Spending under this Republican president and this Republican Congress has increased at a faster rate than under any president of the last 40 years, at triple the rate under Bill Clinton, and even faster than Lyndon B. Johnson boosted discretionary spending when he was building the Great Society.

http://quote.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000039&refer=columnist_carlson&sid=azRVwgpjmx7o

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Warpy

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Fri Dec-09-05 10:17 PM
Response to Original message

1. I told you guys last month that those bridges to nowhere

would be funded as riders to completely unrelated legislation, sailing through the GOP Congress under the press's radar.

You can bet there's a developer out there, ready to turn "nowhere" into some sort of resort.

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unblock

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Fri Dec-09-05 10:48 PM
Response to Reply #1

2. i believe there's an airport on that there "nowhere" island....

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Blue_In_AK

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Fri Dec-09-05 11:14 PM
Response to Reply #2

4. You're right...

The airport for the town of Ketchikan is on Gravina Island. The other bridge was proposed to be an alternate route from Anchorage to the bedroom communities in the Matanuska-Susitna Valley, the fastest growing area of Alaska, which is presently only accessible by way of one highway out of Anchorage. Anchorage, the largest city in Alaska with over 250,000 people, has TWO roads out ... one going northeast and one going south. It really isn't so out of the question to think that we might need another way out of town, although I personally am not in favor of the bridges.

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Blue_In_AK

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Fri Dec-09-05 11:09 PM
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3. Oh, please, stop it with the Alaska bashing, already...

Edited on Fri Dec-09-05 11:18 PM by Blue_In_AK

The bridges are off the table. The last I heard, the state will still get the money, but it will be just general highway money, no longer dedicated, and the people here (or at least our legislature) will get to decide how to spend it. My guess is that neither one of these bridges will be built any time soon. Most Alaskans don't want them.

ed. And just because Frank Murkowski wants the bridges doesn't mean they're going to happen. He's the second least popular governor in the country, and there's no way he's going to be reelected next year.

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blitzen

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Sat Dec-10-05 03:43 AM
Response to Reply #3

5. why in the h%%# should alaska still get the money? send it down here...

to Louisiana. The Feds are billing us BILLIONS in matching FEMA funds, which means massive cuts for universities, health care, etc. Not to mention rebuilding costs.

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Blue_In_AK

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Sat Dec-10-05 03:38 PM
Response to Reply #5

6. You don't need to get angry about it...

Edited on Sat Dec-10-05 03:41 PM by Blue_In_AK

I happen to agree with you, but Alaska is certainly not the only state that gets pork. What about Massachusetts with their "big dig" or whatever they call it? Every state in the union gets money and lots of it ... I didn't see anybody else jumping up to sacrifice their pet projects and give their federal money to Louisiana. The whole system needs to be overhauled. This is in no way meant to slam Louisiana or the other Gulf states -- I think what the federal government has done to you all is pathetic and criminal, and if it were up to me, I'd give you all of Alaska's earmarked money, but apparently that's not how the system works.

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