tagged w/ Bridge to Nowhere
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The bridge to nowhere may never have gotten built, but the road leading to the never built bridge got built.The bridge to nowhere may never have gotten built, but the road leading to the never... more
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"The Unabridged Guide to the Origin and Evolution of Sarah Palin's Fairy-Tale Bridge to Nowhere" is truly an epic tale of a grand delusion. The wildly over-the-top scale of the proposed Gravina Island Bridge construction plans would have linked an Alaskan hamlet of only 50 persons to a small town of 7,685. It was to have been almost as long as San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge and even taller than the Brooklyn Bridge.
Maybe some ingenious Alaskan political porker, no doubt Palin herself, would have christened the Gravina Island “Bridge to Nowhere” as “The Sarah Palin Causeway.” Or perhaps it should go down in political history as “The Palin Bridge of Insanity.”
Oh, yes. We can’t forget this little tidbit. That extra big double-dollop of icing on top of that porker-cake. Nope, surely can't forget that one!! Sarah Palin also threw her political clout behind a project to build a road on Gravina Island that led to the Bridge to Nowhere, even though the bridge ended up not being built.
A road to a bridge to nowhere that wasn’t even there itself, to a nonexistent bridge. And up to this very day, the state of Alaska is continuing construction on that $24 million gravel road on Gravina Island that leads up to an empty beach where the bridge would have gone.
A $24 million gravel road to the $223 million nonexistent Bridge to Nowhere. A road to a nowhere not even there. To some (of course “just very hypothetically”), this all adds up as the paradigm of a person who exhibits grandiose, delusional thinking.
This detailed article includes photographs, humorous videos and three very funny animations.
Have yourself a little look and be truly appalled!!"The Unabridged Guide to the Origin and Evolution of Sarah Palin's... more
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In this article, dated 2005, it is reported that the funds that went to Alaska that were originally earmarked to build the Ketchikan and Anchorage bridges was otherwise going to go to hurricane relief. Now, I'm doing the math here, and the biggest hurricane relief effort in that timeframe was Katrina. SO, this begs the question - if the Alaskans didn't get their funding, would the people of New Orleans still be living in mold-ridden trailers?
From the article:
"The bridges - a mile-long, 200-foot-high bridge connecting Ketchikan to a sparsely populated island and regional airport and a second one linking Anchorage to a port nearly two miles across an inlet - have been aggressively defended by Alaskan lawmakers, who said the projects would promote growth. They complained that their state had been maligned and were able to defeat a move in the Senate to direct the bridge money to hurricane relief."In this article, dated 2005, it is reported that the funds that went to Alaska that... more
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Obama, Biden And The Bridge To Nowhere
National Review Online: Sarah Palin Is Taking Hits Over The Bridge, But Obama And Biden Have Their Own Questions To Answer
Obama and Biden’s moaning about all of this would be far easier to stomach if they, too, opposed the Bridge to Nowhere. Not so.
Obama and Biden had an excellent opportunity to do the right thing. Just seven weeks after Hurricane Katrina, Senator Tom Coburn (R., Okla.) proposed to transfer $125 million from the notorious Bridge’s budget and instead devote it to rebuilding the Interstate 10 Twin Spans Bridge between New Orleans and St. Tammany’s Parish. The storm chopped up the bridge.
Obama, Biden And The Bridge To Nowhere
National Review Online: Sarah Palin Is Taking... more
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Sarah Palin's stump speeches have largely stuck to the same script (what the AP describes as "a greatest hits of her convention speech). However, one line that constantly shows up is that Palin said "thanks, but no thanks, to that 'bridge to nowhere.'" Palin's claim of opposing the 'bridge to nowhere' has been proven false, yet she refuses to drop the line. Watch Palin use this exact line in seven different stump speeches since the end of the...
(See link for story and video montage of speeches)Sarah Palin's stump speeches have largely stuck to the same script (what the AP... more
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A nice montage of Sarah Palin's real views on the Bridge to Nowhere and the 'Pork Barrel' spending that John McCain is against.A nice montage of Sarah Palin's real views on the Bridge to Nowhere and the... more
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Part of Palin's platform when she ran for Governor was the promise of building a $320 million bridge to an island that a small portion of the state would benefit from while New Orleans and other areas have yet to recieve repair funding.
The bridge has become an object of national ridicule and a symbol of the fiscal irresponsibility of many in Congress toward the money entrusted to them by the taxpayers.
Palin claims to have rejected the funding after the bill became unpopular, but in fact accepted the money, and tens of millions of dollars have allready been spent on the island building roads to connect with the yet-to-be-built bridge.
Why did the state receive federal funding? Why is the bridge so important when few people would ever use it, and a ferry system is already in place.
Why would national tax dollars be spent on "the infrastructure" of a little island in Alaska when the people of Alaska do not want it?
Part of Palin's platform when she ran for Governor was the promise of building a... more
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Dubbed the “Bridge to Nowhere,” the bridge in Alaska would connect the town of Ketchikan (population 8,900) with its airport on the Island of Gravina (population 50) at a cost to federal taxpayers of $320 million, so they could drive their cars to the airport instead of taking the Ferry.
The bridge has become an object of national ridicule and a symbol of the fiscal irresponsibility of many in Congress toward the money entrusted to them by the taxpayers. It has also become an embarrassment to the people of Alaska.
In the Ketchikan News, Dave Person wrote, “Thinking about the immense disaster in the Gulf States, it occurred to me that the most effective thing that the residents of Ketchikan could do to help would be to return the money earmarked for our Gravina Bridge.”
Back in Anchorage, Art Weiner wrote, “In a collective act of passion, the people of Alaska should request that the funds appropriated for our bridges be used for infrastructure reconstruction in the hurricane-affected area.”
David Raskin of Homer, Alaska, wrote, “Alaskans owe an apology to the people of New Orleans, to Alaska Native people and to the Nation for their selfish shortsightedness in sending these scoundrels to Washington and voting to keep them there.”Dubbed the “Bridge to Nowhere,” the bridge in Alaska would connect the... more
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Some people call it pork barreling, but Stephen Schneider heads to Alaska to prove once and for all that the 50 people who live on Gravina Island deserve a $398 million dollar bridge.
infoMania is a half-hour satirical news show that airs on Current TV. The show puts a comedic spin on the 24-hour chaos and information overload brought about by the constant bombardment of the media. Hosted by Conor Knighton and co-starring Brett Erlich, Sarah Haskins, Ben Hoffman, and Sergio Cilli, the show airs on Thursdays at 10 pm Eastern and Pacific Times and can be found online at current.com/infomania.
Some people call it pork barreling, but Stephen Schneider heads to Alaska to prove... more
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McCain's VP did not reject Congressional funds for infrastructure projects in Alaska.
Last week Republican Presidential Candidate John McCain introduced Alaska governor Sarah Palin as his running mate. And a lot was made of the fact that she rejected 233 million dollars in Congressional funds for a bridge from Ketchikan, Alaska to an airport on Gravina Island. John McCain reiterated the point on FOX News Sunday with Chris Wallace. But during the Alaskan Gubernatorial campaign in 2006 the Anchorage Daily News reported that she was in favor of the bridge: On October 20, 2006, the Associated Press reported that "Republican Sarah Palin's spokesman, Curtis Smith, said Palin supports the Ketchikan bridge project." Reuters reported that Ketchikan Mayor Bob Weinstein, a Democrat, and Mike Elerding, her Republican campaign coordinator in the area, said that she was insulted by the term “bridge to nowhere”. The 233 million dollars had been earmarked specifically for the bridge by congress in 2005. In August 2007 after political pressure over pork barrel projects brought national attention to the so-called “bridge to nowhere”, Congress removed the stipulation - that the money be used for the bridge to the airport, but gave the money to the state anyway, to use in whatever way they wanted. On September 21, 2007 A press release from the Governors office said that since project costs had ballooned to 398 million dollars the state would be considering alternatives to the bridge. Govern Palin said “we are about $329 million short of full funding for the bridge project, and it’s clear that Congress has little interest in spending any more money on a bridge between Ketchikan and Gravina Island,” The Reuters report added: The state, however, never gave back any of the money that was originally earmarked for the Gravina Island bridge, said Weinstein and Elerding. In fact, the Palin administration has spent "tens of millions of dollars" in federal funds to start building a road on Gravina Island that is supposed to link up to the yet-to-be-built bridge, Weinstein said. Republican Mike Elerding also told McClatchy Newspapers, “he would have a hard time voting for the McCain ticket because of Palin's subsequent neglect of Ketchikan and her flip-flop on the "Ralph Bartholomew Veterans Memorial Bridge."McCain's VP did not reject Congressional funds for infrastructure projects in... more
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