Archive for August, 2007
Monday, August 20th, 2007
An editorial in the St. Cloud Times yesterday caught my attention! (Click here to read it. ) It spoke about how issues like abortion, gay marriage, and illegal immigration detract from real issues that are affecting society. The author uses several issues which she insinuates are more important than those aforementioned topics.
The author talks about the fact that there are 64,000 uninsured children in Minnesota that are not getting proper medical treatment including vision treatment which causes them to fall behind in school. This is no doubt a bad situation, but I can’t see how less than ideal medical care for children compares with murdering an unborn child. Call me crazy, but it seems like the mutilation, torture, and murder of a child is a little worse than a child suffering from undiagnosed learning disorders. Again, I’m not saying that this isn’t a problem, but I’m directly contesting the argument by the author about which is a greater priority.
The article then brings up the fact that 40% of those who are homeless in Minnesota, have children. It goes on to describe how this contributes to absences from school, and creates a situation where kids are more likely to repeat a grade. No doubt this is not good. There is no doubt that we have a crisis in America when it comes to some of the unfortunate family situations children encounter. I would argue that one of the most prominent issues affecting kids is the lack of the traditional family structure. This could be due to a lack of a father, lack of a mother. It is also unfortunate that there is an effort to push homosexuality on to our kids and on to adults. Has anyone ever thought about how children suffer because of this? Gay marriage is a direct assault on traditional family values and frankly it’s alarming. I’d say that this is a pretty big priority if we want to safeguard our children for the long haul.
The author then inexplicably turns the argument toward birth control and pregnancy prevention methods, using the liberal pro-choice buzz-word “unwanted pregnancies.” (Don’t even get me started about how liberals and their messed up views on population control, which you can read about here. ) Has this author ever considered the fact that the tendency by society to disregard its laws (such as is the case with illegal immigration) could in fact lead to a moral decline? Could this be represented by the number of people who are irresponsible sexually, and wish to remedy their problem through abortions or morning after pills?
The article plays on the sympathies of the unsuspecting by calling for an end to debate on distraction issues, and a call to deal with the real problems. Quite the contrary, I would argue that this article is intended to be a distraction. Because the thinking behind it is flawed. In order to deal with these problems we MUST address these burning moral issues.
Obeying the law of the land, preserving and respecting life, and keeping traditional family values alive in marriage - these are fundamental to our children’s future, to the well being of our society, and they get at the root of these social ills that are mentioned. We must prioritize our efforts, and the author does a nice job of suggesting otherwise. The article leaves bait out there that seems tempting to take, but in the end it is madness to ignore the principles and standards represented by these “distraction issues.” We must overcome the madness. We must muster our forces to fight tooth and nail for principles and personal responsibility. If not, these social ills will only continue with band-aid attempts to fix something that is fundamentally broken due to the moral climate in our nation.
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Monday, August 20th, 2007
So, I don’t very often blog about sports, but now that it’s officially football season you’ll have to bare with me. I’ve been focusing on the NFL because I’m in two different fantasy football leagues, and so I’ve been watching quite a few pre-season games. Guess what two words I’ve heard a billion times? Two words that I am sick to death of hearing. What do you think they are? I’ll tell you. They are: Michael Vick.
I’m so sick about hearing about this guy. It’s reminiscent of how the media latches on to a subject and won’t let it go. (Paris Hilton and Anna Nicole anyone?) Now we can’t even sit down, enjoy a beverage, and watch a ball game without being assaulted with the same sort of sensationalized media madness. Is it a big story? Yes it is. Did this guy do something bad? Absolutely. Does he deserve the attention in light of all this? No, I think we’re paying way too much attention to Michael Vick. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not positive attention, but it’s still attention.
The guy tortured and killed dogs. That’s pretty disgusting stuff. I don’t really want to hear about it though. I’d rather hear about what’s going on with the 1500-plus players who aren’t doing this kind of stuff. Oh and by the way, if we’re going to hold Michael Vick accountable for animal abuse and gambling, why don’t we hold guys who are accused of domestic violence, guys who do drugs, guys who have multiple DUI tickets, accountable too?
I just hope once he gets sentenced and heads to jail and the NFL levies a suspension on him and the Atlanta Falcons cut ties with him, maybe just maybe we won’t have to hear his name every other sentence during all football coverage. Speaking of NFL coverage, the Monday Night Football crew on ESPN featuring Mike Tirico, Tony Kornheiser, and Ron Jaworski is awful. Jaws is the only one that makes it bearable. The crew doesn’t focus on the game action, but instead gets carried away in talking about celebrity gossip, and other pop culture. In contrast Al Michaels and John Madden keep it pretty focused on the game and even though they’re not my favorite either, they’re a heck of a lot better than this Monday Night crew.
OK, back to the game now, I just had to take a moment to vent!
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Saturday, August 18th, 2007
The St. Cloud Times and St. Cloud State University ought to be ashamed of themselves. The Times is guilty of painting racial stereotyping in a positive light. The University is guilty of the offense in the first place.
I point this out because it’s so hypocritical. People complain all the time about racial profiling when it comes to police fighting crime, or enforcing illegal immigration. Somehow though, it’s just fine and dandy when a place of “higher learning” advocates racial profiling in recruiting students. If you’re going to complain about the process you’ve got to be fair about it. It’s not “good” when it’s used in this way, and “bad” when it’s used in this way. That’s utter nonsense!
This is why we run in circles whenever the issue of racism comes up. The accusations usually come from the far left (in this case represented by the St. Cloud Times and St. Cloud State University). In making the accusations they try to do their part to make up for the bad by doing exactly what they say is bad in the first place! You simply cannot do this and maintain any kind of credibility. You can’t call yourself a champion of equality and then treat people as unequals. It’s pathetic!
(This post is a little late in coming, but here is the article to read for yourself.)
The very idea, of promoting one race over another race is discriminatory. The very suggestion by this article that they should target different skin colors is bigotry. How appalling, but how typical from the diversity crowd. You can educate, you can teach, but you cannot force the outcome. How typical of the liberal mindset. You see it when it comes to education, you see it when it comes to economic status. It’s socialism at its finest my friends. Liberals think they’re better than you, they’re smarter than you, and they have figured out true morality while you have not. They honestly believe that they can control the masses. You can’t run your life, but they can for you!
Conservatives on the other hand believe in freedom of thought, freedom of actions, and freedom to speak. We advocate education, motivation, and encouragement, but we know that down deep the choice is yours and yours alone! We can hope and pray that the hearts and minds of people will change when it comes to the great ills facing our society. We can provide information that will help in that cause. We can demonstrate it by the way we live. When it comes right down to it though, it’s the individual’s personal responsibility.
This is nothing new for St. Cloud State University according to one student who spoke to me but wanted to remain anonymous.
“If you’re from a foreign country or if you’re a non-white you can practically go to St. Cloud State for free” says one SCSU alumni.
Shame on SCSU and shame on the Times for propagating this agenda.
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Saturday, August 18th, 2007
It’s not about left and right, it’s about right and wrong.
You’ve probably seen the bumper sticker or t-shirt and maybe you chuckled. Maybe it made you angry. Maybe it made you think. I did the latter recently. You see, liberal democrats constantly claim to be the party of the people. They constantly argue that they’re the ones fighting for the little guy. They say they’re the ones fighting for minorities. Those ideas couldn’t be further from the truth. The liberal democrat mindset exploits the weak by getting them hooked on government programs. They stir up racism by dividing people and promoting wedge issues. They promote discrimination as a rule of thumb because they believe that they are smarter than you and that they can run your life better than you can!
The liberal democrat mindset is in direct opposition of freedom to think, freedom to act, and freedom to speak. It really is about right versus wrong, instead of right versus left.
That truth is never more apparent than when you look at the issue of how liberals disrespect life. I’m not just talking about the abortion issue either. I’m not just talking about euthanasia (although both of these topics provide plenty of tragic evidence for the way liberals feel about life). But, I think the very way they look at a life shows how much disregard they have for it. They see people as numbers or objects.
I was in a conversation with a lefty the other day. We were talking about an issue I’ve ranted about quite a bit. The new law that went to effect in Minnesota that allows a 12-year -old to get birth control, and the morning after pill, without parental consent. I heard several arguments in favor of this ridiculous law. First came the argument that, “Well they’re going to do it anyways, so we might as well educate them and provide for them….” That is failed logic because if you use that argument, you might as well do away with all laws altogether and live in complete anarchy (people are going to speed anyways, so let’s just get rid of speeding laws). A failure to achieve perfect results is never a solid argument against absolutes and principles.
The gentlemen I was chatting with then went on to talk about the benefits of birth control being more widely available. It didn’t take 2 minutes before he had somehow twisted his argument into saying that we have a population control problem, and that we need to look to countries like China as examples for child birth policy.
Excuse me?! China??? One of the worst human rights violators on the planet? In China they allow you to have one, and only one, child. If you intentionally or accidentally have more you are levied with a huge fine from the government. This puts an incredible financial burden on families that are already struggling in this third world country. What is the result? It’s not pretty. There is a total disrespect for life in China. People are treated as numbers and objects, not people. Families that want a boy instead of a girl, which might help the family to be financially better off, go so far as to kill their little girls because they want a boy instead.
This mindset is totally depraved and completely disrespects human life. Unfortunately this is the mindset of many liberals. It is disgusting, it is disturbing, and next time you hear a “progressive” liberal tell you that they’re fighting for the people, tell them to stick it where the sun don’t shine.
Liberalism is a disease. I’m just trying to be part of the cure!
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Wednesday, August 15th, 2007
Transportation versus Transit. Although both words are synonymous, one usually thinks of transportation as referring to what you do in your car, and transit as using a bus, train, or plane. What do you think of when you hear the term recreational transportation? Bicycles, roller blades, and pogo sticks come to mind. (OK, maybe not pogo sticks.)
When you think of all of these different modes of moving your body from one place to another which do you think is the most common? If you said automobiles you’d be correct. Now based on that last conclusion, which of these forms of transport do you think is most essential to daily life? If you said automobiles, you’re right again!
Now bare with me here, I don’t want to lose you yet. I know some people are getting ready to huff and puff at me and say something like, “Well shouldn’t we be trying to use bicycles more so we can quit using those carbon dioxide producing, ozone depleting, disgusting man made metal machines!” Right, but let’s step back from that emotional argument (however valid or invalid it may be) and remember we’re talking about reality here, not some dream world.
Every day in America most people get in their car, and they go to work. They get in their car and go to the grocery store. They get in their car and pick up their kids from school. That’s just how it works. Based on this reality, wouldn’t you think that funding the roads, highways, and bridges that we drive on every day should be one of the most important priorities of government? Well apparently we have some pretty dumb folks in government.
We have politicians on both the state level and on the federal level who are more concerned with funding trains, buses, and bike trails than they are in taking care of an essential like the roads we drive our cars on! It sounds impossible, but it’s true.
Minnesotans can be proud of U.S. Representative Jim Oberstar, a Democrat representing the 8th district. He wrote the law that has sent federal money, intended for transportation, to recreation instead. He took money that could’ve been used to pay for fixing up bridges and put it towards gobs of bike trails throughout our state and country.
Oberstar wrote the legislation in 1991 that first allowed Highway Trust Funds to flow to states for bike trails. Until then, the 50 states combined for the past 20 years had spent only $40 million on bike trails.
The 1991 law required each state to have a bicycle coordinator, funded from the Highway Trust Fund, to have a state bicycling plan, and would be given the authority to use abandoned railway grade beds as bicycle, pedestrian and in-line skating trails.
In the next six years, $1.3 billion was invested in bicycling facilities nationwide, Oberstar, an avid biker, said.
Attributed to the Bemidji Pioneer, for the full article click here.
Not to mention, Mr. Oberstar was the first to call for a federal gas tax last week, and because of that insane request has been named “Porker of the Month” by Citizens Against Government Waste.
Does this upset you? It should. It doesn’t stop with Oberstar though. Minneapolis Mayor Rybak wants to slow down the process of rebuilding the 35W bridge because he wants to ensure it has light trail tracks going across it. Wait just a minute… I thought we didn’t have enough money to handle our bridges, let alone a new train! That’s why a gas tax has been proposed right? What the heck is wrong with our politicians? The spotlight is burning bright, and every day it is revealing a spending priority crisis going on in government!
MINNEAPOLIS - The mayor and a key state lawmaker on Monday cautioned that the Minnesota transportation officials’ swift timetable to replace the collapsed interstate bridge could overlook safety and the unique elements necessary to make it a memorial.
“I believe a large number of people want this bridge to symbolize the rebuilding of a community in some way,” Mayor R.T. Rybak told The Associated Press. “That does not seem to be a significant part of MNDOT’s goal at this point.”
***
Rybak and Murphy both disagree with Lt. Gov. Carol Molnau, who also serves as the DOT commissioner, over whether the new bridge should be equipped with tracks for a light rail train.
A single north-south light rail line currently runs from downtown to the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. The state is planning to expand the system by adding an east-west line to connect the downtowns of the Twin Cities, and some have suggested laying it across the new bridge would be cost-efficient.
For the full text of this article click here.
Look, I was in Minneapolis tonight and I saw for the first time the remains of the bridge collapse in person. It is a horrifying sight. It looks like a Hollywood disaster movie set. The twisted metal, the broken concrete, it was a very strange sight indeed. Coincidentally, the other thing I saw while in Minneapolis was a light rail train, three, maybe four cars in length. The train was completely empty. I think I saw one person on board. One person! That’s our tax dollars at work! The contrasting pictures of the fallen bridge, and that empty light rail train only hammered home the point that we have a real problem on our hands.
A gas tax won’t fix it, spending money on public transit won’t fix it, only a fundamental change in the way our government spends money on highways, roads, and bridges will. How hard is it to expect government to take care of the important things and then butt out? That message has to get through to our politicians. I encourage everyone to keep up the good fight, and light up their phone lines in St. Paul and in Washington. It’s the only way we’ll make a change folks.
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Tuesday, August 14th, 2007
A breath of fresh air from the St. Cloud Times opinion page. You heard me right! Read on…
St. Cloud Times “Our View: Keep party tones out of bridge talk.”
Although it happened sooner than expected (within the first few hours), connecting the Interstate 35W bridge collapse to the politics of public policy was inevitable.
Now, though, these discussions should continue in — and we stress this next part — measured, solution-oriented and party-neutral tones.
Since the bridge was deemed “structurally deficient” in 1990, Minnesota has had two Republican, one DFL and one Independence governor, not to mention a two-house Legislature under a varied mix of Republican and DFL control.
Our point is this: The folks Minnesota voters have put in those offices now will quickly slip from elected officials to political hacks if they even point a partisan finger in any direction.
Minnesotans, indeed the nation and especially the victims of the collapse, need their public officials to focus on doing public good now, and not rehashing two decades’ worth of political and legislative inaction on infrastructure issues like this.
The first step in achieving that is not to convene a special legislative session. That’s right. We said no special session in Minnesota.
Sure, the temptation is strong. The next presidential and state House elections are already making news. The last legislative session featured plenty of partisan bickering, punctuated with some stinging vetoes. And many other states’ elected leaders are using Minnesota’s tragedy to push their own changes.
From an incumbent perspective, what’s not to like about a special session in which legislators not only create a “solution,” but one that would probably end with them holding hands and singing bipartisan praises?
To this electoral allure, we say turn away from the light.
Why? Simple. Investigations into the collapse are not even close to pinpointing the cause or causes.
Without those crucial details, legislators have little clue as to what specifically needs fixing.
Sure, they could convene now and pass some measures designating more spending on bridge testing and repair.
But is that really going to speed up changes? Remember, the 2008 session convenes in six months.
A smarter strategy — and one less likely to risk wasting tax dollars — is to begin statewide discussions on infrastructure issues likely to be targeted come Feb. 12.
Gov. Tim Pawlenty already has put one of those on the table with his announcement that he will consider raising the gas tax. Other potential topics range from the role and resources of the state Department of Transportation to how emerging federal initiatives might affect Minnesota.
Legislators would impress, gosh, probably every Minnesotan if they began these talks now and developed a coordinated plan that pledges definitive actions within the first 30 days of the 2008 session.
Assuming, of course, they leave the partisan politics out of that plan.
Didn’t see this one coming, but I’m in agreement with a lot of what was said in this article. There shouldn’t be a special session, there should instead be a re-evaluating of priorities in spending and how to deal with this once the next session starts. Bravo Mr. Krebs.
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Monday, August 13th, 2007
There’s no doubt in my mind that bridges and roads could use some more care. There’s also no doubt in my mind that what happened on 35W was an accident. It has now been less than two weeks since the bridge collapsed and it seems like every conceivable angle and every possible question has been raised about the bridge. What caused it? How can we prevent it from happening next time? Should a bridge ever fall? Should we be able to trust other bridges? Should we raise taxes to pay for our roads? Is the government spending money wisely enough? These questions are expected, but when do we go too far in speculating? Is it possible to do so?
The St. Cloud Times Opinion page has an article (presumably from opinion editor Randy Krebs) that goes a little too far if you ask me. It asks the question “Why should we feel safe?” I’d say we should feel safe because this 35W bridge collapse is an anomaly! It’s not like bridges are falling every other day. It’s not like this has been a problem on a monthly or yearly basis, has it? Here’s the article:
St. Cloud Times “Our View: our nation has reason to doubt inspections.”
Why should we believe our bridges are safe?
With all due respect to the local, state and national officials who have spent countless hours the past 11 days inspecting bridges, that remains the big unanswered question in the wake of the Aug. 1 Minneapolis bridge collapse.
Please understand, we are not trying to impugn someone’s personal credibility or cause a national panic.
But we believe this fundamental question is being vastly overlooked by those with a vested interest in bridges — namely the governmental jurisdictions liable for their safety.
The inspection system used here didn’t ultimately uncover whatever caused this collapse. Knowing that, why should the public put a whole lot of faith in any “new” inspection results of bridges made after the collapse?
So you want to know what ultimately caused the bridge to collapse, after 11 days? Well, I’d like a million dollars but that’s not happening anytime soon! Why don’t we wait until we find out what did cause this collapse. We don’t even know if it was faulty design yet. It could’ve been construction crews that beat up a girder, it could’ve been too much static weight in one part of the bridge as has been suggested, it could’ve been global warming (just kidding), it could’ve been vibration from the train below, and maybe just maybe it could’ve just been a freak accident! OK, back to the article:
Whether those inspections occur in Central Minnesota or Central Michigan, if the same methods, tests and standards are being applied today as were applied before the collapse, the public has legitimate reason to doubt such findings.
It doesn’t help that after the scores of bridge inspections ordered nationwide since Aug. 1, there are few, if any, reports deeming a bridge unsafe and closing it immediately to traffic.
Well aren’t we a pessimist. Shouldn’t that actually be considered good news? Are you rooting for bridges to be on the verge of collapse?
Sadly, instead the public typically hears something like, “While the bridge still is rated structurally deficient, it remains safe for use.” Sorry, but that pile of cracked concrete, crushed cars and twisted steel 70 miles south on the Mississippi River speaks to how much stock the public should put in those words. Remember, that mass first was rated “structurally deficient” in 1990 but still in better shape — until Aug. 1 — than 41 other Minnesota bridges. To say nothing of the fact that Minnesota’s bridge inspection efforts are considered better than those in most other states.
I know it’s hard to accept in this day and age of advanced technology that mankind isn’t perfect, and that we may in fact be subject to accidental tragedies, but try to get a grip!
Yet there are some glimmers of hope.
The first came Aug. 3 when U.S. Transportation Secretary Mary Peters announced the Federal Highway Administration’s bridge inspection program would face intense review. U.S. Rep. Jim Oberstar last week brought renewed attention to that effort when he called for several changes, including raising inspection standards and improving training for inspectors. He also called on bridge-building experts to re-examine everything from the industry’s knowledge base to building practices.
Oberstar also called for a federal gas tax, now that’s real leadership. No, wait, that’s a fundamentally wrong response to a tragic situation. Frankly it comes across as shifting the blame! Instead of constructively looking at how we can prioritize spending on essentials like our bridges, it’s suddenly a problem of insufficient funds. Rubbish!
That’s the kind of thinking all levels of government — and especially bridge experts and engineers — need to embrace and act on in devising an improved inspection system. What this nation doesn’t need is more claims of confidence coming from an inspection system that for 47 years didn’t adequately reveal the true weaknesses of the I-35W bridge.
You’re telling me that a report from 47 years ago was flawed? Did it ever occur to you that the bridge changes over time? Did it ever occur to you that there may in fact be factors outside the realm of inspections that played a role in this collapse? We don’t know yet, and here we are making accusations, stirring up fears, and doing the worst kind of speculation.
It just gets to a point where you want to say, “Enough is enough!” The horse has been beaten to death.
Here are some conclusions I’ve drawn 11 days since the bridge collapse:
1. This was a terrible tragedy, but in the end just an accident, and I’m not entirely sure anything could’ve been done to prevent it because no one would’ve known it needed to be prevented in the first place.
2. We do need to do more to try and prevent these things, even if it’s not entirely possible to avoid all accidents in life, we should try our best to avoid them.
3. The microscope is out, and people are starting to realize that both the state and federal government are wasting our tax dollars on non-essentials.
4. In light of the poor spending habits by the government we’re learning about, people are STRONGLY OPPOSED to a tax increase of any kind including a gas tax increase.
5. It’s going to be a tough battle to fundamentally change the way government taxes and spends our money.
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