This really frosts my balls

Originally Posted by classicman

Redux - I know what the truth is - I hear it FIRSTHAND from someone who allocates the money on a daily basis. It is an unfortunate reality.

I dont disagree that the stimulus funding is going to shovel ready projects rather than those most in need.

Just as in many states, the stimulus state stabilization funds have been lifesavers for state budgets....saving jobs in education, public safety, health care, etc.

But again, you are relying on anecdotal examples rather than state spending priorities BEFORE the stimulus funding. Infrastructure spending has lways been lower in state budgets than other "essential" needs.

[jinx]

Originally Posted by glatt

From my observations, it's true. Lots of nice bright new lane lines and zebra stripes all over the place.

I would have liked to see money spent on old bridges and other critical infrastructure, but I don't think that would have made it through the political process. The excuse for throwing money around was the stimulation, which meant it had to be fast.

We just recently got new oil, chips, and stripes down the road we travel most. Oh, and rumble strips down the whole center of the road.

Bridges are huge concern - but lack of clean drinking water due to infrastructure failure should really get people's attention. Cholera, typhoid, dysentary, giardia, cryptospoidium, fasciolopsiasis, botulism, e.coli, legionellosis, gastroenteritis, hep A, campylobacterosis etc etc... Welcome back to the 1800's.

[Elspode]

This is what really frosts my balls. Great thing is, you can do it with a paper knife!

[classicman]

Originally Posted by Redux

I dont disagree that the stimulus funding is going to shovel ready projects rather than those most in need.

You mean the ones that never existed in the first place? There never were any jobs just sitting around waiting for money. I thought we already rectified that issue. The only thing that is shovel ready is the bullshit of "shovel ready"

Originally Posted by Redux

Just as in many states, the stimulus state stabilization funds have been lifesavers for state budgets....saving jobs in education, public safety, health care, etc.

In most cases that has been only temporary! As those funds are exhausted the states budgetary concerns become even worse. They cannot keep up with what they had before and these expenditures have exacerbated the situation. Many of the jobs "saved" will be eliminated, just like the police situation we discussed in another thread.

[TheMercenary]

Originally Posted by Spexxvet

Bullshit x2 - no x 2.38! "Appropriate" regulation needs to be enforced. Enforcement costs money. Bush cut federal income. He spent a lot of what was left on an ill-advised war. Not accepting Bush's responsibility is a common occurence among the "it's not my fault" right-wing nuts of today.

Yea, well fuck that 3.94. Left-wing nuts of today have nothing better to fall back on. But guess what hose head? In about 3 years the coin will be flipped the other way. And if you fucks fail on Health Care, Cap and Trade, or the Economy you are royally fucked. Make it a great day.

So stop blaming one person for the fuck ups of a Demoncratically controlled Congress. You guys are going to eat this like a big shit sandwhich if you don't come up with a solution soon. And I will be just like you in a few years pointing fingers and telling you where you failed. The difference will be that I will not be putting the blame on one figure head idiot but a who group of Congressmen and women.

Originally Posted by TheMercenary

Yea, well fuck that 3.94. Left-wing nuts of today have nothing better to fall back on. But guess what hose head? In about 3 years the coin will be flipped the other way. And if you fucks fail on Health Care, Cap and Trade, or the Economy you are royally fucked. Make it a great day.

So stop blaming one person for the fuck ups of a Demoncratically controlled Congress. You guys are going to eat this like a big shit sandwhich if you don't come up with a solution soon. And I will be just like you in a few years pointing fingers and telling you where you failed. The difference will be that I will not be putting the blame on one figure head idiot but a who group of Congressmen and women.

Meltdown in current events!

[TheMercenary]

Well, actually no. I am just going to let the failure of the Demoncrats to pass something that actually is practical and works on them. I am patient.

[classicman]

FWIW - I spoke to my friend today and the "hope" is that by using the stimulus money to put all the rumble strips and paint on the roads there will be money left over to care for the roads and bridge that really need the work the most. He readily admits that is a looooong shot, but we still have hope. He has not seen much of it take place so far in the planning stages. There were many counties that used very little of the stimulus money and the state took it back and is in the process of reallocating it to those areas who may be able to still utilize them before the February deadline. Yeah! More freshly painted roads and rumble strips - Woo Hoo! Now thats infrastructure for ya.

[lumberjim]

I pile of snow about this high

:::wishes he could find that pic of monster sitting atop that snow pile.:::

[Spexxvet]

Without regulation, this could be us.

Two medical agencies tested 287 children younger than 14 years of age for lead poisoning and found 121 of them had excessive levels of lead in their blood,
...
Decades of breakneck industrialization has left many areas polluted with chemicals and heavy metals where factories dumped waste and effluent with impunity.

Back on topic...here is one of those trucking regulations that the last administration tried unsuccesfully to change twice in 03 and 05..and the courts threw it out twice.....and tried again in a "midnight" (the very end of his term), dump of hundreds of new regulations at the end of 08.

This petition seeks review of the hours-of-service regulation issued by FMCSA on November 13, 2008 and published in the Federal Register on November 19, 2008. Like the identical rule issued by FMCSA in August 2005 and nearly identical rule issued in April 2003, the 2008 rule significantly increases the permissible number of hours that drivers may drive, both per shift and on a weekly basis. Under the 2008 rule, truck drivers may drive 11 consecutive hours before taking a break -- one hour more than permitted before the 2003 rule went into effect. In addition, under the 2008 rule, drivers are permitted to drive 77 hours in seven days or 88 hours in eight days -- a more than 25 percent increase over the pre-2003 limits. The permissible number of on-duty hours during which truckers may drive has also mounted: a driver working 14-hour shifts can now work as many as 84 hours in seven days or 98 hours in eight days -- a 40 percent increase over the pre-2003 limits.

http://www.citizen.org/litigation/br...hSafety/autos/

What Merc does not understand in his fuck-filled rant (excuse me, his "patient" response) against the Democratic Congress in 2007-08, is that Congress does not write regulations...the Executive Branch does. Facts do matter.

In addition to the court case again, this one is also under review by the Obama administration, along with hundreds of other Bush regulations. It takes time to undo hundreds of bad regs, many of which loosened enforcement of existing regulatory programs.

The other means used to negate regulations over the last few years was simply not to "obligate" (spend) the funds. And again, Congress can only "authorize" and "appropriate" funds, it could not force the previous Executive Branch to spend those funds to enforce existing regulations.

Added:

More on Bush "midnight" regulations...by most measures, a new record!

In President Obama’s first hours in office, he suspended pending rules and regulations from the Bush administration so that they could be thoroughly reviewed before they take effect. These so-called “midnight regulations” have been a source of controversy through several presidencies, but critics charge that the Bush administration has taken them to new extremes....

* The Bureau of Land Management issued a rule that would allow a recent upsurge in uranium mining permits near the Grand Canyon to continue. “If these claims go ahead they will be substantial mines with noise and dust,” just miles from one of the crown jewels of our national park system, Wilkinson says. Radioactivity from one mine near the South Rim has already leaked into the aquifer and a stream feeding into Colorado. “It is not a joke having radioactivity going into the Colorado River and into Grand Canyon National Park,” Wilkinson says. Evidently, the Bush administration disagreed.

* Narrowing of the definition of “navigable waters,” which critics say is a blow to the Clean Water Act.

* My favorite: The EPA came up with a rule that will now allow confined animal feeding operations to decide for themselves whether they think they pollute enough to have to apply for discharge permits.

http://www.cejournal.net/?p=739 (a partisan perspective )

Unfortunately some like the trucking regs above were dumped just before the 60-day "midnight" deadline so they cant be suspended or overturned w/o going through a much more cumbersome process.

[TheMercenary]

Originally Posted by Redux

What Merc does not understand in his fuck-filled rant (excuse me, his "patient" response) against the Democratic Congress in 2007-08, is that Congress does not write regulations...the Executive Branch does.

Epic Fail.

If this does not fix the problem the Demoncrats and you will take all of the blame.

I am really ok with that. As I have said repeatedly the Bills proposed do not fix the problems with healthcare in the US and in the end we will be stuck with a huge ass bill that our great-great-grandchildren will be paying for and you still will not be doing what is needed to be done.

Originally Posted by TheMercenary

Epic Fail.

If this does not fix the problem the Demoncrats and you (ME?) will take all of the blame.

I am really ok with that. As I have said repeatedly the Bills proposed do not fix the problems with healthcare in the US and in the end we will be stuck with a huge ass bill that our great-great-grandchildren will be paying for and you still will not be doing what is needed to be done.

It should come as no surprise to anyone that the Democrats will be judged on the success or failure of the stimulus, health care reform and other major issues.

I have been clear that I want them to succeed and believe these policies were the best way forward for the country facing an economic and health care crisis. However, I don't think the White House, Congress, my friends or family will give me a share of the credit for any success or assign any blame to me for a failure.

IMO, the difference between us is that I have tried not to judge the success or failure of programs in progress, recognizing that they time to have an impact, positive or negative whereas you declared the stimulus program a failure after 3-4 months, declared health reform a failure before Congress has even consolidated the various proposals into a single bill and have determined that our great great grandchildren will be left with a “huge ass bill” when even the best economists cant predict the level of future economic growth with any degree certainty....overall, an "epic failure" when we are still in the first quarter of the game.

You have it made it clear in other discussions that you want to see Obama and the Democrats fail to the point of also raising such petty issues as European trips by the Speaker that are as old as the Congress itself, your comparison of the Speaker to Hitler, an innocuous song at one elementary school fresh off the inauguration of the president, and numerous other examples of partisan bullshit backed by editorials that share your agenda and often misrepresent the facts.

I understand why you choose to take that approach but I don't think it leads to reasonable discussions of the issues, nor, IMO, do the tirades like the one above - #35 or making it personal with your "fuck you/fuck off" and "you're an asshole" directed at me as you have on other occasions (not to mention an especially ignorant attack of my family heritage).

But putting that aside, the topic here was truck safety regulations and at the very least, I think my last post provided some context for how regulations are promulgated, how that process has nothing to do with Congress and can be abused by the Executive Branch and how it can (and is, to some degree) be remedied.

[Spexxvet]

Originally Posted by TheMercenary

... As I have said repeatedly the Bills proposed do not fix the problems with healthcare in the US and in the end we will be stuck with a huge ass bill that our great-great-grandchildren will be paying for and you still will not be doing what is needed to be done.

Just like the bush/repubican/conservative lead Iraq war debacle.

[Shawnee123]

Oh that? That lil ole war don't cost that much.