Saturday digest

- Now before everyone piles on the federal government for the accident in Minnesota because it's headed by a Republican, it's instructive to read what my buddy Neal Boortz has to say below in Friday's edition of Nealz Nuze. (Keep in mind the fact that this bridge was seen to be structurally unsound as far back as 1990 and it's a proven fact that cutting income taxes leads to more economic activity and therefore more overall revenue for the public purse):

THE BLAME GAME BEGINS

The media waited less than 17 hours after the tragic bridge collapse before pointing fingers. At least one U.S. Senator, Patty Murray, seemed to blame Bush when she said yesterday that the Bush Administration has not supported Democrat efforts to increase spending on critical infrastructure. One of the problems here is that in so many instances a Democrat demand for infrastructure spending is merely a thinly disguised attempt to funnel money to construction unions as thanks for electoral and financial support.

Nick Coleman at the Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune says that this collapse never would have happened if it wasn't for Governor Tim Pawlenty (a Republican) and his refusal to raise taxes.

He writes:

"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. And yes, it would have fallen even if the gas tax had gone through, because we are years behind a dangerous curve when it comes to the replacement of infrastructure that everyone but wingnuts in coonskin caps agree is one of the basic duties of government."

What Mr. Coleman fails to point out is that there was no need for a tax increase. None. Because at the time when Governor Pawlenty vetoed this 5-cent gas tax increase, the state of Minnesota already had a $2.1 billion budget surplus. This surplus came from over-taxation.

Over-taxation in America? Imagine that! And around the same time that the Governor vetoed the tax, the state legislature passed an amendment to spend all, rather than half, of the motor vehicle sales tax revenue on transportation. This added $60 million a year to road, bridge and transit spending. And that is expected to more than double in five years.

Coleman wants us to believe that more taxes would have saved these people, and it is all the Governor's fault for refusing to increase those taxes. The fact is that the problem wasn't low taxes, the problem was fiscal irresponsibility.

Let's take a look at Citizens for Government Waste's" The Pig Booklet" for the state of Minnesota for the year 2006. Take a look at all of the "pork" projects. I'll give you a taste of a few:

The state bailout of the Minneapolis Teacher's Retirement Fund, which puts state taxpayers on the hook for $972 million in unfunded liabilities

A new $776 million Twins Stadium to be paid for with a Hennepin County sales tax increase -- (approved by state legislators with no voter referendum)

$97.5 million for the Northstar Commuter Rail line

$34 million in subsidies to ethanol producers that have seen a 300 percent increase in profits in the last year
$30 million for bear exhibits at the Minnesota and Como Zoos
$12 million to renovate the Shubert Theater in downtown Minneapolis
$1 million for a replica Vikings ship in Moorhead
$500,000 for a skating rink in Roseville
$310,000 for a Shakespeare festival in Winona
$129,000 for state art grants for North Dakota museums and theaters

And the list goes on and on, folks. This was all tax money spent in Minnesota while that bridge remained un-repaired. Now we're told that the problem is that taxes weren't high enough.

As I've pointed out before, even in jurisdictions where the tax burden is astronomical, politicians won't deal with their core responsibilities, which should include the proper management of basic infrastructure, because they're too busy doing things like building baseball stadiums (see above) or focusing on how to turn nannies into civil servants for $7 a day (like in the province of Quebec) while completely avoidable tragedies take place around them, resulting in loss of life.

More here and here.

- Just in case you weren't sure what the Daily Kos website is all about, here's another article on the group who every Dem candidate except for Joe Biden is meeting with this weekend in Chicago.

- If you're a member of the Royal Family and you marry a Catholic, you forfeit any right you may have to the throne. You know how many human rights complaints alleging discrimination and riots in the streets there will be over this? None, thank you very much.

- The Bulgarian sex trade is undergoing a shift, allegedly because of global warming, as skiiers have nothing to do but rent hookers now that there's no snow on the mountains.

I'm still waiting for the severe thunderstorm that was supposed to hit us yesterday.

The most meaningless job in Ottawa? Tory backbencher, bar none.

- Kanye West, race-relations expert.

- Ah, to be a member of Leafs Nation, and all the class and romance that goes along with inclusion in that most exclusive of clubs.

- Newt Gingrich just doesn't care what anyone thinks of him. I admire that.

- You also gotta love Ozzie Guillen, manager of the Chicago White Sox. Here's a top ten list of his quotes. My personal favourite is number five:

''Those ceremonies -- 'Oh, let's bring back those guys from 2005,' we're all crippled and fucked up, pushing wheelchairs, kids crying because his dad was on the ballclub -- fuck that. I don't need that bull. A bunch of fat guys, another one is broke. 'Hey, where's your ring?' 'Oh, I don't know, I sold that son of a bitch two years ago.'''