54. HIGHWAYS//TAXES, and CONDITIONS: We are still paying taxes added in the 1950’s to build the interstate
highway system. Well! That system is built, and where does the money go to now?
Now Congress passed a bill in 2006 for some $300 Billion, for Highways. Why? Do
you smell fraud from our Congress, when we have already paid, and paid, for
highways?
The Interstate highways are built, now we are still taxed by
Federal, and State taxes to continue support of our highways, by paying more
gas taxes, and weight fee’s on trucks, that money also gets sidelined to
other uses, like bicycle trails, mass transit, park restrooms, etc, now we are
told we need to contribute more taxes to take care of our sad condition
highways.
There are “thousands” of unsafe bridges on our highways that
need to be replaced. Poorly designed highways cause many accidents; lane
markings are almost invisible at night, so drivers in bad weather have no idea
where the center of the highway exists. We can make great improvements for the
motorist, safer streets, and highways. I have an idea how to de-ice our
highways in the wintertime.
Truckers: I plan to start a new system of highways for
trucks to have their own highways, apart from passenger cars. Too many fatal
accidents occur when trucks, and cars collide with today’s highway system.
With our soon to be available miniature cars to save gas, we do not need these vehicles sharing the same highway. In the 1970’s we had Renault R10’s that got 40 MPG, but the car only weighed 1800 pounds, that was not safe on our highways with trucks.
Of course our
government wants us to have more than one car, a single-seater to drive to
work, and another car for family use.
(No in reality,
the government wants you to walk everywhere, and no more cars for the little
simple citizens)
It takes an
intelligent person to realize you can’t have two different cars for different
uses, but Hey, our government can scream about you driving to work in a larger
car, when that’s what you need for your total needs.
Driving to work
alone? I’ll bet your Congress-person, and/or Senator drives to work alone, or has a Limo
pick them up and drive them to work.
Bridges collapse! My goodness,
Why? When you look at all the money we have given foreign nations, instead of
keeping America safe, it is time we take care of America first.
My program will take care of rebuilding
America’s highways, and make them safe, read my solutions. It is time to take
care of our nation first. What if this had happened on one of those days when
the temperature was 30 below zero in Minneapolis? The I 35 bridge on the south
side of Minneapolis collapsed in summer time.
Hundreds of thousands bridges near
failure? We can’t afford not to take care of this problem. Why wasn’t that
bridge built out of Stainless Steel? If we build our bridges out of Stainless
Steel, then we don’t have to continually paint and worry about failure from the
environmental conditions. For a few dollars more in construction, we have a
structure that will last many times longer, and safer.
Lets do it the
right way the first time.
There are
engineering solutions to these failures; even I know that. If I have to oversee
the design of every blueprint before construction I can do that. It’s called,
common sense.
Is the bridge you or your loved ones
cross tomorrow, the next one to fail? Do you want to take that chance? A school
bus with 58 children, seconds from having fallen in to the river, instead of
sitting there on a part of the bridge sitting on land. What would you do if
those were your children? I don’t want to even think about that.
Not mentioned, is the failure of the Silver bridge crossing the Ohio river (on highway “US 35”, notice the Minneapolis highway was Interstate “35W” (coincidence?)
in Dec. 1968, that Silver bridge failed one evening with bumper to bumper
traffic falling into the Ohio river, caused by the failure of “one” steel link
pin, an unusual design not used anymore. There are too many bridges out there
rusting away, ready for failure tomorrow?
It hasn’t happened often, yet, if it’s
the bridge your on, then what? These are going to happen more and more, as our
highways and bridges age, and are deteriorated by the weather. Why hasn’t this
been taken care of? What politician has failed your community? I am just
appalled at this failure. I want you to look at some of the bills passed for
money spent in 2007, check file (#55, “Pork”).
Check for
return to “Bridge”
How many of these bills
would you have voted to fund, with “your” money? Congress did, these with “your
money”.
Projects to keep
our nation SAFE should be the first priority.
How are we going to afford this? I’m going
to use prison labor, those criminals that think serving time is easy, no sweat,
will give some sweat, to aid America, to give something back to society that
they turn their back on. No longer are these people serving time, going to just
sit back and laugh at their time. If they get 10 years, they are going to serve
10 years. NO parole, no time off for good behavior, do “all the time” helping
society. I don’t care if we have to do every inch of that highway reconstruction
with a shovel, it will be done. The average cost of incarceration is about
$22,000/yr.
I want to see
our convicts earn their keep.
Most of our highways are at least 50 years
old, and falling apart, our infrastructure is falling apart. I will take care
of this if I’m elected. We walk around with so many high tech products in our
pocket (all made in some foreign country), and yet we are at risk on every
street and highway in America. Enough already. Our weather here in So.
California is so mild we forget what the weather does to your highways east of
here. It’s time that I take care of this, to secure your safety. Of course we
have Earthquakes, and our bridges “all fall down”.
I remember the old US 40 bridge that went in to Saint Louis,
MO years ago, a steel framed bridge, now replaced with an open concrete bridge
so much simpler and safer. How many accidents happen because of highway design?
There is so much to redo, let’s get with it America. Lets rebuild America, the
beautiful.
We have spent almost $1 Trillion on Iraq, for what? Terrorists
are here in America!
Read all of my presentation
about WAR and you’ll see
what I will do about that.
Muslims are thrilled about the Minneapolis bridge disaster,
they claim God is punishing America, because we are not Muslims. I’ll give the
Muslims some thrills; I’ll send them to meet god.
Then: Some state governments (Indiana) are selling our highways, to some foreign countries to collect tolls. Pork deluxe. You, the taxpayer are screwed again.
The private “Turner Turnpike” in Oklahoma (now part of the
interstate system, but still a toll road.) is an example, as is the Golden Gate
Bridge in San Francisco which the original fee for crossing the bridge in 1934
was 25 cents, now it’s $6. The Pennsylvania Turnpike was a privately financed
highway built over 70 years ago, now part of the Interstate system, still it is
a Toll Road system with extreme fees. The part of that Interstate as it goes
through Indiana has been sold to foreign nations, for them to
charge passage and maintain, but the Indiana State Police will still patrol, and
issue tickets.
California is now experimenting with giving builders contracts
to build Private Toll Highways, while the Highway funds are squandered on other
more needy political expenses. California is also toying with the idea
of making our already paid for highways Toll ways, to collect more taxes. Do we
have to have another recall election in California to show our politician we
won’t be screwed anymore?
We must stop the Toll road system in this country; we have
already paid for these highways with gas taxes, but are told, “The fee’s” will only
be charged until the highway has been paid for; funny they are NEVER paid off. You continue to pay,
and pay “to eternity”. I once drove across Connecticut; stopping every 10 or 15
miles to pay a toll, what a disaster. It took me about 3 hours to go 60 miles.
Of course in 2005 Congress passed a new Highway Bill of over $300
Billion, so they can build a bridge for about $250 Million to some small
island in Alaska with only 50 inhabitants, and other such ridiculous locations.
Then there is the NAFTA freeway they plan to build up through Texas that will be owned
exclusively by Mexico all the way from the Mexican border to Kansas City, MO.
later on to Canada to handle the imports from China.