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  • From: "Lynda" <lurine AT com-pair.net>
  • To: <homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Homestead] Irony and Frustration
  • Date: Fri, 11 Sep 2009 14:23:22 -0800

We've had quite a few roads done around here. Some have some type of sign on them. They have saved jobs, sort of. They were b.s. jobs to begin with that should never have been funded!

Now, a think a couple of folks on the list have traveled CA Interstate 299 at some point or another from the coast to Redding. The road has soooooo many curves, hairpins, switchbacks that it would be funny if it weren't so redundant that every 5 to 10 miles they have a sign that says "Twisty Road next blah, blah miles." Except that the whole road is twisty.

So where are our tax dollars going? Why to take 3 curves out of 6 hours of driving! The part I like the best are the guys who drive the big over-sized trucks to deliver the over-sized equipment. They arrive in the morning and unload the equipment and then they spend the day sitting around! Gotta be nice to make a gazillion dollars to get hemorroids!

And, yes, it is a gazillion dollars cause once the feds put in money then Davis-Bacon is in force and D-B is NOT based on local wages! D-B is based on union dreams!

Just an aside to the whole stupid mindset of politicians, etc. and since we are talking about roads. In Redding they just spent $5.1 million (well, no one knows what they really spent but that is the original figure put forth) to put 51 palm trees down the middle of a road! You know, one of those "beautification" projects. Plus they added landscape boxes, fancy underground lighted crosswalks and had the local utility company bury their power lines.

So, the project was finished a couple of months ago. Now the local city council has said that the city has to lay off policemen and firemen because they don't have any money.

Lynda
"To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are
to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and
servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public." Theordore
Roosevelt, 1918.
----- Original Message ----- From: "EarthNSky" <erthnsky AT bellsouth.net>


Speaking of numbers, as unemployment continues to rise, yesterday, I saw
on TV news that the Obama administration, in the first nine months has
now "created or saved 1 million jobs" Wow.

Yesterday, I had occasion to travel an hour south of here to go to the
doctor. I go every three months, traveling down US 41 to Cartersville.
Just before I get to C'ville, I saw two, new, very large
signs-interstate sized and this is a simple divided highway, that state
something to the effect of 'Road improvements thanks to the American
Recovery and Re-Investment Act of 2009' Then, another mile down the
road, were two additional new speed limit signs with the orange
construction zone stripe on it. Then, two miles after I saw the first
sign, I finally saw some road construction-they had repaved a turn lane
that leads to an overpass to Hwy 411 going to Rome. I continued down
Hwy 41 for maybe another 7 or 8 miles and never saw any other
construction. I just kept wondering how much they spent on the signs vs
how much they spent repaving that lane for 500 feet. This is crazy. In
this state, prison workers make a lot of signs, so I wonder now if
prison workers fall in the 'jobs created or saved' count.

I heard a few weeks back that the process that determined which
states/communities received checks for projects was highly political. I
thought it was noteworthy that the Hartsfield Jackson airport, arguably
the busiest in the world(HJ and O'Hare swap honors every year or so) is
supposed to eventually get 14 million bucks, while Ouzinke, Alaska will
get 15 million... Now, my brother in law spent a few years on Ouzinke
when he was a Russian Orthodox monk. The monastery is there, and maybe
150 local tribesmen. WTF?

Sorry to be so pessimistic, but I am seriously frustrated with the way
things are presented in this country. What I hear on the news and what
I see with my own eyes aren't matching up.





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