A Political Sage Investigative Report: The Minneapolis Bridge

Blame the Bridge on Al Gore
Exploring the Structural Deficiencies in Liberal Policy



Well hell has apparently froze over because I am actually impressed with Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), and Senator Harry Reid (D-NV) in their abnormal response they had to this Minneapolis Bridge disaster. To much my surprise, these two Democrats have been able to show a certain level of restraint in regards to their responses to the Minneapolis Bridge Disaster. Somehow they both managed to trim down their usual knee jerk reaction, which usually consists of throwing a temper tantrum while screaming, “Bush did it!” Of course in an effort to conceal their terrible two’s; they usually disguise these tantrums and sell them in nicely wrapped media-friendly boxes and call them “Press Conferences.”

This post-catastrophe, leftist-reactionary-response-ritual depends on a hodgepodge of delusional fancies for it to function properly. The first ceremony involves allocating blame on President Bush and the Republicans publicly, for causing the disaster. The second ceremony requires putting on superhero costumes to make it appear like they tried to prevent the tragedy. The third ceremony involves making the public think that their superhero efforts to prevent the tragedy only failed because those two-timing Republican villains held them as hostages, ultimately obstructing their super powers, while those evil Republicans activated the secret American catastrophe trigger which enables them to wreak havoc on the American people. And the forth and final ceremony of this Leftist ritual demands all history to be immediately rewritten. (Note: Rewriting history is required in order for ceremonies 1-3 to be effective.)

The most demoralizing part of the Left-wing terrible two’s syndrome and their public temper tantrums is that it must be executed while the general public is still vulnerable; immediately after the catastrophe. Obviously, they chose this specific timeframe, post-catastrophe, because the American public would be much more likely to still be operating on emotion rather than logic. In fact, existence of human vulnerability is the only way their maniacal plot can actually work.

Thriving off of human vulnerability and using the American people’s emotional weaknesses against them is a down right dirty technique. But really, are you even shocked? The Democratic line of attack, in the hopes to win votes and gain control has always been desperately dirty. Let’s keep in mind, we are talking about the same party that created and funded the Ku Klux Klan back in 1855 in an effort to terrorize blacks and destroy those whom they called those defiant ‘black-loving’ Republicans. So really, these dirty game tactics are ingrained in their Democratic, ideological DNA.

This is why I found it so extra-unordinary for two mad caps like Amy and Harry to modify their normal dirty routine and only exhibit a hint of blaming this on President Bush, the Republicans and MN Governor, Tim Pawlenty. Hey, it is only fair that I give credit where credit is due; even if the credit I am giving away, is going to a group of whiny, fiscally irresponsible Democrats. So I felt it would be important to take the time right now and write a Political Sage letter of Gratitude to these fine, upstanding Congressmen.


Dear Senator Amy Klobuchar and Senator Harry Reid:

I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for not directly accusing The President, The Governor and the Republicans for this terrible bridge disaster that took place in Minneapolis, MN. I realize that this act of restraint was probably one of the hardest things you both have ever had to do. So, Major props from yours truly, guys!

I am honestly moved that you both chose to stick your feet in your mouth instead of reacting like you have been for the past 7 years after an American Catastrophe. I know that the temptation for you and your other colleagues to blame President Bush for the bridges’ sudden failure was probably overwhelming, since we all know that The President doesn’t like Minnesotans that drive over bridges during rush hour. But you held it in. I am so proud!
And Harry, you shouldn’t be discouraged with yourself for making erroneous statements like, "Since 9/11 we have taken our eye off the ball." Sure, we all knew what you were suggesting, but the important thing is that you didn’t completely give in to your normal impulses! Hooray!

Give yourself some slack, Amy and Harry; you are battling one of America’s most deadly mind disorders; Liberalism. This is one of the only diseases that tricks you into thinking you don’t have a disease. And the fact that Liberalism attacks an individuals’ sense to reason, and decreases one’s ability to partake in the normal intellectual activities, like common sense for example, it can make for a slow and difficult recovery. And Harry, realize you are probably suffering from a lack of sleep, since you have been reclaiming the child within by participating in a few slumber parties; you little party animal you!

Be proud of the fact that even two ill-minded people like you two were even able to take these baby steps!!

I am just dying to know how you two were able to control yourselves. Was it medication? Was it a spiritual awakening? Or was it just the simple fact that divers were still risking their lives to recover the people that were still missing which are more than likely not still with us, as their families stood by waiting to hear something so they can have some sense of closure?

Give yourselves a pat on the back! I always knew you had it in you!!
Yours Truly,
The Political Sage





While I may have been a little pleasantly surprised by the Congressional Democrats’ use of restraint with regards to this bridge disaster; I have been just as unpleasantly disgusted by a few Left-wing contemptuous media creatures and their lack of restraint. Just so you know, the Left-wing media can also participate and perform these immoral post-disaster rituals. This is evident when you look at one of Minnesota’s very own homegrown media creatures; Nick Coleman, who writes for the ‘Sketchy Lefty’ Star Tribune Minneapolis paper.

Coleman’s distasteful responses to this Bridge disaster thus far, have exceeded and surpassed all my previous expectations of the Insane Left-Wing media’s inability to report the news. Here are just a few illustrations of Coleman’s degenerative responses to the bridge which appeared in the Minneapolis paper on Aug 3rd:

“For half a dozen years, the motto of state government and particularly that of Gov. Tim Pawlenty has been ‘No New Taxes.’ It's been popular with a lot of voters and it has mostly prevailed. So much so that Pawlenty vetoed a 5-cent gas tax increase - the first in 20 years - last spring and millions were lost that might have gone to road repair.”

“A trillion spent in Iraq, while schools crumble, there aren't enough cops on the street and bridges decay while our leaders cross their fingers and ignore the rising chances of disaster."

Oh yeah, Nick? Is that why the bridge collapsed? Because a trillion dollars are going to our troops overseas, which helps to keep people like you, yes even YOU, from spontaneously combusting because some virgin-obsessed suicide bomber felt it was his Religious obligation to blow you up? Fine. YOU can go ahead and play make believe in your own, discredited little fairytale that you have the nerve to call journalism…while the rest of us sit here in reality and morn the actual HUMANE –side of this disaster.

However, Nick, when the time comes and Minnesotans and the rest of the American people for that matter, are emotionally ready to have a media/ public discussion or debate about the possible fiscal, political and partisan errors and mishaps that took place or didn’t take place regarding this bridges’ sudden collapse; you better believe I will be ready and able to report just as many, if not more probabilities of what actually happened pre-bridge collapse.

On the other hand Nick, as a special service, I will throw you a few of my factual-based, documented probabilities right here, right now. I have taken into consideration that your Liberal mind disease has obviously progressed much more rapidly then Amy and Harry’s has. And the mental and intellectual deterioration has you absolutely incapable of tact and a respectful sense of timing, even during a catastrophe like this. It really makes one wonder if you should be even allowed to be here in MN right now. Have some common sense respect, dude! And if you don’t ‘get’ that common sense thing, then maybe you should read more of my work just to balance out your insane approach to reporting the news.

In my search for the truth this time, I decided that I would focus on finding articles that appeared right after the Governor vetoed that gas tax increase, proposed of course, by the MN democratic congress. I just wanted to see if the reactions, discussions and commentary in those particular articles would include any mentions of the 35W Bridge. I found these articles and I also found an array of disappointment to this veto from Liberal interest groups and the Department of Transportation in these articles. However, It didn’t take me long to notice just what these peoples’ disappointments were. Ironically, the reasons for their whimpers had nothing to do with bridges. I was dumbfounded by the mere fact that there was not one reference to the 35W Bridge in any of the articles that I found.

Instead, what I discovered in these articles were whines and displays of some good old fashioned Liberal Environmental loonyism. The majority of these Liberal interest groups were made up of Environmentalists. The gripes in these articles were mainly made by some greenie gurus that were devastated that they lost the chance to use gas tax money on decreasing more carbon emissions! Mr. Coleman forgot to mention that one in his delusional report.

The other gripe these greenie goofballs had was that they lost the chance to make their Lego light rail train models come to life. Because we all know that if MN would have been able to offer the alternative of light rail, not only would we have seen yet even a higher decrease in carbon emissions, but maybe it would have even prevented commuters from even being on that bridge the moment it collapsed, because they would have all been taking the light rail. Yeah right.

What I concluded in my findings was that reducing carbon emissions and saving the damn planet were the bases of these leftist interest loons’ disappointment; plain and simple. And the sheer fact that the Loony Lefties in Minnesota cried about the Governor’s veto just because it meant less funding for transportation projects that could have reduced carbon emissions, just goes to show you how much the environmental wack jobs have succeeded in tainting public policy.

If the 35W bridge was rated as “structurally deficient” in 2005, which it was, and the top priorities of the MN Department of Transportation were still to decrease carbon emissions and hire Mr. Rogers to build some idealistic trolley system throughout the Twin Cities’, it just goes to show how unintelligent and irrational the Liberal agendas really are. Like I mentioned earlier, I failed to find any whines about not being able to rebuild that “structurally deficient” 35W bridge. I wonder why? Well maybe this statement made by the MN Department of Transportation themselves, earlier this year, will help to answer that question:
State bridges are still performing slightly below targets, though conditions have improved. Today, due to increased investments, Minnesota has fewer state highway bridges in “poor” condition than at any time in the last 10 years.

Congratulations on that big achievement! MN only has a few bridges that may collapse without warning?! Hooray! That just had to be music to every environmental wack jobs’ ears! Since fewer bridges may collapse in MN compared to any other state in this country, where many more bridges might collapse, environmental interests can rule MN transportation projects. Greenie advocates, get ready! This is officially your time to shine!!! The Environmentalist interest groups are officially free to run the MN Department of Transportation, as you will see in the next excerpt:

Three Mn/DOT initiatives received 2006 environmental awards from the Federal Highway Administration.

“Mn/DOT projects and initiatives have won more environmental excellence awards from the FHWA than any other state in the nation,” said Frank Pafko, Office of Environmental Services director.

And here’s a classic for all you greedy, delusional environmental wack jobs to swallow:

Large Norway pines and ground-hugging shrub roses now create an attractive gateway to Sandstone from Interstate 35.

While the crew at Sandstone worked in the north woods, another group of community members, firefighters and Mn/DOT staff worked to add visual interest to West Broadway Avenue in Minneapolis near the ramp that connects Hwy 55 to I-94.

Just for the record, Sandstone, MN is 89.1 miles north of Minneapolis. That means that Mn/DOT was only 89.1 miles away from where they should have been creating an attractive and STABLE stretch of roadway, called a bridge. Although, when the crew was adding “visual interest” near the ramp by West Broadway Ave. in Minneapolis they were only within a few miles of the 35W Bridge. Maybe they were on their way to the 35W Bridge so they could plant some rose bushes along both sides of the bridge. Hey; the bridge may still be rated as “structurally deficient” in the eyes of all those Bridge Inventory Specialists, but at least it wont be environmentally deficient!

However, I have to say, I find this whole adding “visual interest” near Broadway Ave. escapade rather peculiar, since just yards away from all their tree planting around Broadway Ave, the actual street itself has a few of their very own visual interests going down. For instance, picture hazy cream colored clouds of crack smoke, mixed with a stream of highly contaminated led-filled water, along with a dash of the highest rate of people diagnosed with Aids per capita in the Nation, throw in a little bit of “auditory interest”, while listening to the sweet sounds of guns shooting in the near distance. It is enough for me to wonder if the MN department of Transportation is now qualified to take on Environmental projects, right next to the streets, then maybe they can also take on projects in the inner city and help clean up the PEOPLE on the street? Hey, I think it’s a fair question.

Next, I would like to direct your attention to this next article that appeared, only three months ago. Take a gander at the MN Department of Transportation’s focal points. These excerpts are taken from the article published in May of 2007 and written by Dan Olson of Minnesota Public Radio:

Disappointment with the result has put the state transportation interests in a testy mood, starting with MnDOT's Bob McFarlin….

…McFarlin says the base budget keeps funding for some projects going for the next two years, including the big one -- the rebuilding of the Crosstown Commons in south Minneapolis, the intersection of state Highway 62 with Interstate 35W.

For those who don’t know anything about MN road names; the intersection of Hwy 62 with 35W is no where near where the bridge was located. It is also probably important to note that that intersection is not a bridge. Yet, I absolutely love Mcfarlin’s emphasis on this particular project, “...the big one...” Ok. So then, it is safe to assume that Bob McFarlin of Mn/DOT would have used those extra funds to do MORE road construction on a stretch of road that is just FINE! How do I know that this Crosstown Commons was just fine? I know because I traveled that particular stretch of roadway everyday for the last year. I have to admit the rush hour pile ups put me in a little bit of a “testy mood” as well; it is annoying and inconvenient. But this annoying stretch of roadway is definitely not ready to crumble, and definitely not a bridge that was officially labeled, “structurally deficient”.

Another excerpt from this MPR article addresses the ‘gas tax increase’ failure to pass in a Democratic majority run MN legislature:

Two-thirds of the lawmakers voted for the bill, which included a five-cent-a-gallon tax increase. That bill was vetoed last week by Gov. Tim Pawlenty. But as the legislative clock wound down, not enough of them voted to override the veto.

The article goes on to explain which transportation projects would be on the top of the priority list and would be the first to receive the extra money had a ‘gas tax’ increase passed:

Supporters of the planned Central Corridor light rail line between Minneapolis and St. Paul wanted $40 million in bonding, but lost out.

Metropolitan Council Chairman Peter Bell, head of the agency which owns and operates much of the Twin Cities’ public bus and rail system, calls the transportation budget a "lights flickering on" measure.

This next excerpt shows yet another tax increase proposal, and the MN official’s plan on who would be the first to see those funds:

"Some of the money we will receive for the motor vehicle sales tax constitutional amendment will likely be needed for transit operations," Bell said.

In this final excerpt, we see more disappointment in this failure to raise taxes from the MN Environmental greenie gurus:

The Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy's Jim Erkel says failure to agree on a transportation bill is a disappointment.

First off, let it be known for those of you who are not Minnesotans that this state, as of February 2007, reported having a $2 billion dollar budget SURPLUS! So tax increases in any form seemed a tad unnecessary to most of us.

Also, this same Environmental group put out a 62 page proposal in October of 2006, outlining the environmental urgency in transportation budget increases. And the truth be told, not only did they progressively advocate for tax increases so their loony light rail endeavors could manifest, but also fought for these ridiculous tax hikes on the poor and the working middle class so they could decrease the poison that spewed from all those evil cars during rush hour.

Well I hope all you greenie fruit loops are satisfied with your selves. Now look at the environmental mess we’ve got ourselves into! Just think about all those carbon emissions from the rush hour congestion that also collapsed into the Mississippi River when the Bridge fell! The MN Center for Environmental Incompetency (oops I mean advocacy) group have just got to be kicking their own, you know whats right now. If they would have just teamed up with the U.S. Department of Transportation's National Bridge Inventory which rated the 35W bridge as "structurally deficient," then maybe, just maybe, they would have spent more time and energy moving the endangered mussels and all the other indigenous benthic macroinvertebrate like bottom dwelling insect larvae, worms, snails and clams out of that section of Mississippi river flowing in the surrounding area of the 35W bridge.

I have concluded, based on this extensive research that The MN Department of Transportation cares less about the actual roads, highways and bridges and cares much more about all the areas surrounding roads, highways and bridges. I don’t even want to think about where the gas and motor vehicle taxes could have gone to, had it passed. The extra cash would have probably gone to funding that would help plant another damn tree along side 35W. I tell you one thing for certain; the environmental clean up crew in charge of surveying the aftermath of that 35W Bridge in the Mississippi River is probably a little perturbed at Jim Erkel and the gang right about now.

Just for the record, you can add me to list of those who claim to be disappointed. But please put mine in a separate column, differentiating what and whom I am disappointed in/with. Ah hell, scratch the disappointment claim and just post:

“The Political Sage blames Al Gore and his greenie guru cults for the 35W bridge collapse.”

And one more thing; hey, Mr. Nick the Prick Coleman! Are you still blaming the bridge disaster on the War in Iraq? Well if your idea of the ‘War in Iraq’ means planting rose bushes along the sides of Minnesota highways, and/or building light rails, then I would have to say, I fully agree with you.



To view and read all these articles in their entirety go check out:

http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2007/05/22/transpo_budget
http://www.mncenter.org/mcea_transportation_and_l
http://www.mncenter.org/mcea_transportation_and_l/files/GettingOnBoardOctober2006.pdf http://www.budget.state.mn.us/budget/capital/2006/final/302331.pdf
http://www.house.leg.state.mn.us/members/pressreleasels85.asp?district=37A&pressid=1940&party=1
http://www.newsline.dot.state.mn.us/archive/07/may/23.html#Z1

© Tracy Phernetton 2007