How close does Katherine Kersten come to falling off the ledge and into the abyss today? Just a few ellipses short of the truth but yes, she dives in with abandon.
It’s official. The Interstate 35W bridge fell…because of what Tim Pawlenty or Carol Molnau did….
Pawlenty’s skinflint tax policies and budgets had set the stage for the I-35W bridge tragedy….he had sacrificed bridge maintenance and safety — and thus the well-being of Minnesotans — in an attempt to adhere to his no new taxes pledge.
Sen. Jim Carlson, DFL-Eagan, vice chairman of the Senate Transportation Committee, put it this way after the NTSB issued its report. While Pawlenty “didn’t cause [the bridge] to go down,” he said, the evidence shows that “very few did something to keep it up.” The governor, Carlson added, “really ought to be lowering his head and saying, ‘I’m sorry.’”
Molnau [earned] particularly vicious condemnation. Critics painted her as an incompetent clown who blithely superintended a bridge inspection and maintenance program that was shoddy, irresponsible and done on the cheap….
Sen. Steve Murphy, DFL-Red Wing, chairman of the Senate Transportation Committee, told the Pioneer Press that the NTSB’s report was “not worth the paper it’s printed on.”
DFL legislators claimed the moral high ground for their own policy prescriptions. After the bridge fell, they pushed through…a massive increase in transportation funding. They justified it as a moral imperative.
At the national level, Eighth District Rep. Jim Oberstar took a similarly [remedial] tone when he called for a “temporary” 5-cent increase in the federal gas tax for a national bridge repair “trust fund.”
“If you’re not prepared to invest another five cents in bridge reconstruction and road reconstruction, then God help you,” proclaimed Oberstar, chairman of the U.S. House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.
Minnesota DFL chair Brian Melendez also used [specific and detailed] language to denounce Rep. Michele Bachmann and Rep. John Kline after they voted against the massive federal road spending bill that included money to rebuild the I-35W bridge. “This goes beyond ridiculous. It’s callous,” he [said].
[Absurd as it sounds] Bachmann and Kline favored the I-35W bridge appropriation, but opposed the transportation bill because it was stuffed with [much needed infrastructure] projects [that would remind Americans of how poorly the Republicans had maintained our infrastructure].
To their credit, Minnesotans didn’t buy this moral posturing. After the bridge collapse [and local media whitewashing], Pawlenty’s approval rating in opinion polls was the highest it had been since he took office. And [thanks to a Republican propaganda blitz] a majority of Minnesotans opposed a state gas-tax increase [when surveyed by a biased pollster].
Yep, she came that close to publishing the truth. But even ellipses can’t save the balance of her weekly voyage into hyperpartisan madness.
What precipitated this search for villains, before any of us had a clue why the bridge had fallen? Clearly, DFLers hoped to reap a political windfall from the tragedy. But something more fundamental was also at work.
Today, we can’t accept that some calamities are accidents, or “acts of God.” We operate within a culture of blame, which holds that if something goes wrong, someone must be responsible.
Our litigious culture encourages this view. It insists that when a bad thing happens, a guilty party must always pay.
Unfortunately, this culture of blame is misguided and destructive. It only whips up ill will, foments distrust and ensures that a disaster’s tragic effects will linger.
The NTSB findings confirm that those who rushed to identify devils in the I-35W bridge disaster acted shamefully. Before we move on, we should publicly acknowledge the great injustices done.
GOD DIDN’T KILL THOSE PEOPLE YOU INSUFFERABLE BITCH — TIM PAWLENTY AND CAROL MOLNAU DID.
Just because the NTSB Bushies put on their blinders and focused on the origins of the collapse instead of the immediate cause, shameless hacks like Kersten take advantage and quickly pile on before further studies bury the original report under a cascade of facts and bureaucratic decision-making.
Worst Kersten column ever and a nice bookend to Mona Charen’s latest drivel.
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News Flash: The Vatican forgives John Lennon.
Pretty big story if you ask me. John Lennon returns from the dead to ask forgiveness?
No? You mean the Vatican just arbitrarily forgave him and that’s that?
Wow, that’s right up there with the Mormons posthumously baptizing Jews and Freepers lit critting Obama’s mama’s dissertation.
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If Saxby Chambliss isn’t in a world of hurt, there’s something seriously wrong with Georgia:
Chambliss Skips Vote On Unemployment Benefits While Giving A Campaign Speech On Unemployment
Chambliss surrogates attack Martin as soft on crime despite all facts being to the contrary
Obama cuts ad for Martin, RNC pumps $2 million into runoff
For a change it was the Republicans who couldn’t properly fill out ballots
Meanwhile, one Ohio race that’s been off the national radar is looking like a big win for the D team following a judge’s order to count all the ballots.
Not much new in the Minnesota recount.
Digby: It’s What They Do
Jed L: More bogus Coleman ballot challenges
Chris Steller: Challenging
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What happened when Saudi Arabia and Las Vegas had a baby.
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I was poking around in Google Images trying to identify a figure in a Thai tapestry hanging behind my computer, and I discovered an entire new world of fortune telling. Did you know that your moles and birthmarks say a lot about you? In my case, my fhai, bpaan and khee maeng wan say lots.
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Parents for Ethical Marketing/Corporate Babysitter is ramping down a bit while the proprietor returns to the workaday world.
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Bob Jones University owns up to having been a bunch of racist assholes.
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Fuck. Have you noticed that it’s Christmas already?
Caught me by surprise. Ran up to Best Buy late yesterday afternoon to get some decent ear buds (new neighbor is far less tolerant of my late night music than her predecessors), and ran into a huge honking traffic jam outside of Rosedale Mall.
Not only was it a zoo getting to the Best Buy parking lot, but the sales people told me they weren’t expecting it. Even the bums getting paid to hold up GOING OUT OF BUSINESS signs seemed a bit surprised by all the traffic.
Normally not a Christmessy kind of guy, I’ve decided that in this last month of blogging I’m going to Pando tunes to any reader who asks for some in the comments. Just specify what kind of music you like, and I’ll do my best to expand your horizons within that format. Or, if you have specific artists you collect, let me know what you’re looking for.
The Pando notification will go to whichever email address you chose to use when leaving a comment. You’ve got until December 20th, my last day in this blogging incarnation (and the 9th anniversary of my first blog post).
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I am going to miss commenting here.
Fucking fucker fucks. Who? People like Joe “Gasaholic” Soucheray.
Whew, I feel better now.
Change my life, show me some good music.
Dude, I’ve got 400 GB of music loaded into iTunes. Be more specific or I’ll let Party Shuffle randomly pick out some painfully atonal modern classical with some Balkan orchestral stuff mixed in.
What kind of music do you like? Who are your fave artists?
re: Kersten … If you fundamentally do not accept the notion that power and responsibility must rest in the same place to avoid societal dysfunction, then the only place for responsibility to rest is with (1) your enemies, or more broadly “others” — the blame game; or (2) your God (beyond human understanding or the ultimate cop-out). That is at the heart of the problem with Kersten’s thought process, and at the heart of the failures of conservatism.
I seem to recall that MnDOT had wanted to replace the 35W bridge but didn’t have the dough, which is why they were doing repair work on it instead.
So yes, Miss Gulch, it still is Smitlin’ Tim’s and Carol the Beer Barrel Lifter’s fault.
I kinda tuned everything out. The last band I listened to was the Black Keys. I have a lot of 60’s English rock, Who, Kinks, Rolling Stones etc. I like more mellow stuff lately, acoustic guitar and related picking instruments. I used to play trombone. I played in the stage band with the guy who got killed by his family recently. His younger brother shot him with a crossbow and then they tried to burn his body. But I’ve digressed… into a cul-de-sac…where am I ?
Music. What is that big triangular stand up bass that the Russians play?
http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Balalaika
That is cool. I took a guitar lesson from Buzzy Linhart. I like the group Trio -Parton, Harris, Ronstadt.
I like the old Surf Punk LA scene from the Decline of Western Civilization album/movie.
Grew up listening to Musicals, Cabaret, Fiddler on the Roof, Oliver.
I distinctly remember Fifth Dimension, but I don’t wanna go there.
Count me in for some world music please, and a selection of anything else you’d care to share,. except for the atonal stuff, which doesn’t do anything for me. I miss those weekly offerings of yours – I never failed to hear something new.
I want music from if these people mated: Lucinda Williams, Jonathan Richman, Mavis Staples, Terry Reid, Marc Bolan, John Prine, Duane Alllman, The Bulgarian Women’s Choir, Joan Jett, Bob Dylan, Miles Davis, The Who, Motello, Natalie Merchant and The Gants.
DK, I pandoed you. Ramona, I’ll work on a folder for you tonight. Piehole? Do you have any Dan Bern?
Thank you
No Dan Bern. Maybe the magical incanation is working …
No Dan Bern. Maybe the magical incantation is working …