Homestead mailing list

["Lynda" <lurine AT com-pair.net>]

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.