No crony left behind.

It's not just enough for American soldiers to give their blood and their lives in Iraq for Big Oil, but we need the taxpayers money too, to build bridges to nowhere that will benefit members of congress, their families and their friends.

You don't have to be a blind conservative not to see it, just an ignorant one to deny it.

...is there no shame left in america?

When will we be rid of this evil little imp? Did he threaten to resign or something if he didn't get his pork? Methinks the time is neigh.

Code: still - like "I can't believe he's still here!"

The Ketchikan bridge being labeled 'to nowhere' is really a misnomer. I fished for salmon out of Ketchikan one summer, and I can tell you it would have been a lot more convenient to drive to the airport rather than take a water taxi.

We drive to Logan Airport, after all..

@ CRG, Ralph:

If the bridge would be useful enough to the people of Alaska, couldn't they build it without the help of federal funds? Maybe a state sales tax or a similarly-sized cut in spending?

Joshua Lander,

There's nothing stopping them from building the bridges if they wanted to. Typically, though, major transportation initiatives combine local, state, and federal dollars to get the job done.

I have mixed feeling about these "bridges to nowhere". There's one that's proposed in South Carolina that, apart from being built over an economically sensitive area, really would serve as a bridge to economic development in one of the poorest regions of the state. The fact that it's populated mostly by African Americans probably lead to the label "bridge to nowhere".

Just saying.

reminds me of the Hastert [?] property in Illinois: Someone bought a farm in the middle of nowhere, and then "out of the blue" Federal Highway offramp planned adjacent to land. Homeless GOP Senator, "Will buy land for gas station." [/snark]

sc: Debt

I detest Ted Stevens and his heavy-handed tactics more than anyone. Lisa Murkowkski sure didn't take long to hitch her wagon to her Daddy's political partner, either. I would love to see either or both of them replaced. Ted has no intention of retiring, and apparently, at age 83, has no concept of mortality, and plans to run again. He's also the biggest asshole you'll ever meet.
All that aside, to call the Knik Arm crossing a "Bridge to nowhere" is a misnomer. The Matanuske-Susitna Borough is the fastest-growing area in Alaska. It is home to thousands of Anchorage workers, who now commute. It has grown out of its role as a suburb of Anchorage and is fast becoming a vital economic region. A bridge has long been theorized as a way to join these two strong cities by cutting the 45-miunute commute.
Unfortunately, the design being forwarded by the Bridge Authority is poorly-planned. It would reduce the commute by only a few minutes (if at all), add a toll for drivers, destroy an historic residential neighborhood and dump additional traffic into the dowtown area, where streets are already at capacity. The mayor of Anchorage and many residents want to see a better design plan before permitting begins.
But Ted only hears the sound of his own voice, and will stand for no opposition. He is a true megalomaniac.

The toll bridge would fit into the Grover Norquist model of no income taxes but user fees on everything.
I thought Norquist was the GOP's best friend and a close advisor to the White House. I guess the fiscal "responsibility" he preaches applies to non-Republicans. They had a 30 year reign planned. It collapsed under its own corrupt weight. He's grabbing whatever he can. Obviously not concerned with what this does to the corrupt reputation his party is going to be unable to avoid next year.

Alaska gets too much federal money as it is. No more Republican gravy-train for you, Senator Tubes.

Take a breath. Here's some background: http://www.knikbridgefacts.org/

Or folks in Anchorage could just do like the folks down south in B.C., tear down stand-alone housing, and put in high-rise condos. Combined with an actual usable mass transit system, they could fit 1000 times as many people into the same amount of land that way. Traditional American suburban development is unsustainable in a world where $10/gallon gasoline will soon be the norm.

Real issue or not, what are the odds John Solomon will ignore this land deal story involving Republicans?

Re,
http://www.knikbridgefacts.org/, thanks. Interesting the locals may be against this. Just a thought from a S. Californian who sees no new freeways going up here, except toll roads: Why don't the Alaskans tax themselves and put up a toll bridge, like NYC, San Diego, etc?

Another federal project that bears looking into is the 60-70 million dollar new Veterans Hospital just outside the gates of Elmendorf AFB (Anchorage). With the way the old VA hospital is run our tax dollars would be much more wisely spent on giving the veterans Blus Cross Blue Shield and letting them find quality health care.

Or, contract with a provider like Providence that is professionally run.

Alaska gets way too many federal dollars. Fully 1/3 of the population of this state has a job dependant on them in some way. Click on the website on my name. The career military up here is filled with whackos, long known as a "fishing and hunting club" around, the police force is corrupt as hell, and as you have seen from the news last week, the elected are bought and sold, and the Patriot Act US Attorney is worse then useless. This place has been a Republican welfare colony for way too long.

With any luck Hillary will become President and turn Ft Richardson into a free clinic. Cutting the military budget in Alaska by 50% would force them to concentrate on things like actually fighting the WOT and not just finding something to make themselves look useful with.

And yes, I am angry and anti-Bush, anti-Republican. Six years of having a chimp/human chimera running this once great country into the ground has made me this way.

Corruption make Hulk ANGRY.

I've actually been to Knik, which is the on the route of the Iditarod. There'a great bar in the town, where they serve mooseburgers the size of Texas.

There are also a dozen or so houses there. It's not very big.

The best homologue I can draw for this bridge project is to imagine Seattle without the I-90 and 520 bridges to the east side of Lake Washington. At one time, Bellevue and Redmond (Microsoft, Nintendo, etc.) were cow pastures and woods. Now they are cities in their own right. The proposed bridge will use a blend of federal, state, and private equity money. People who own small planes can land at their own runways (many Alaskans) or on the myriad of lakes in less time than it takes to drive around Knik Arm.
Is it a good idea overall? No more or less than any other big bridge project. Giant condo skyscrapers? You first, and see also Whittier, Alaska. Does Alaska deserve federal funding? Yes we do, we can be just as bad as other people when free money comes around (Boston's Big Dig, anybody?) and Alaska bears the burden of having the most land tied up in federal ownership. We are getting screwed by the feds in regards to oil and mineral wealth extraction and the oil is drying up.

Does Alaska send that much money in in federal to expect these kinds of projects for their state? I mean, Alaska has more wilderness than population, that alone doesn't give it much clout.

That little idiot senator Stevens makes the case for term limits soooooo well.

Biff Spaceman >"...imagine Seattle without the I-90 and 520 bridges to the east side of Lake Washington. At one time, Bellevue and Redmond (Microsoft, Nintendo, etc.) were cow pastures..."

Yes, I can remember when there was NO 520 bridge & there was NO I-90 (there was however a bridge and highway). I would love it if they both went away and there were water taxis to replace them. Not mentioning the decrease in fossil fuel use (pollution etc) that would result.

Oh, and Bellevue (the ooh too hip for normal people) & Redmond (bad software taken to a higher level) are still full of cow poop despite the fact there are few, if any cows there these days. Maybe a latte & Starbucks shortage would help.

What idiocy these people spew. Pay for it yourself and quit whining !

code = lock (as in these people have a lock on arrogance)

"I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use." - Galileo Galilei

Or folks in Anchorage could just do like the folks down south in B.C., tear down stand-alone housing, and put in high-rise condos.
I've actually been to Knik, which is the on the route of the Iditarod. There'a great bar in the town, where they serve mooseburgers the size of Texas.

There are also a dozen or so houses there. It's not very big.

You people make me laugh. High-rise condos on the meanest earthquake zone in North America? Hahahaha!!! Not very big? Why do you suppose that is? Hahahahaha!! Get a clue, eh?

If you think Ted has a sour puss, take a look at his son Ben, former president of the Alaska legislature. Maybe it's genetic...
And Ben is likely to soon be indicted on federal corruption charges. I'm reminded of the old platitude that says "the acorn falls not far from the oak"

How can a small city of 260,000 ever grow a "major suburb"? Anchorage is barely big enough to qualify as a major suburb itself.

Your point(s) about this "Bridge to Nowhere" are spot on, but please note: the Knik Arm is a body of water that borders Anchorage to the northeast. The proposed bridge would run from Anchorage, across the Knik Arm, to the Pt. McKenzie area which is virtually deserted of people or infrastructure and where, yes, several of the Alaska delegation's connected members own land. Most people of Anchorage don't really see the need for this bridge, especially when other, more pressing road infrastructure needs have been identified

u suck dick

Road to Nowhere
By Carol Cairnes

June 15, 2007 Friday PM

I live in Ketchikan Alaska where the "bridge to nowhere" project is currently under construction using federal transportation money. The contractor is Kiewit Pacific and the contract was awarded by former U.S. Senator and Alaska Governor Frank Murkowski after he lost his bid for reelection as governor in the primary of 2006. Richard Geary is on the Board of Directors of Kiewit Pacific. Geary and his wife Janet have donated more than $700,000.00 since 1993 to Republican candidates and the RNC and its committees; especially the Republican National State Elections Committee which received $155,000.00 from the them in 2000. Geary has also given individual donations to Ted Stevens and Don Young.

The 3.2 miles of gravel road that is contracted to Kiewit Pacific for $25.7 million is the only part of the project that could benefit Frank Murkowski directly, as his family owns 33 acres on Gravina Island. The road comes within half a mile of connecting their acreage to the Ketchikan Airport. It also connects with another road being built under questionable circumstances, again with federal money, that accesses a state timber sale on Gravina Island. Frank Murkowski sold this timber during his term as Governor of Alaska. The so-called "Bostwick Road" which accesses the state timber is being cut across previously roadless Tongass National Forest.

The "bridge to nowhere" was never going to be built. The money is continuing handouts to the timber industry and payback to political donors and is still flowing freely. Frank Murkowski has left the state and is reported to be on a 'round the world cruise. But Kiewit Pacific is in Ketchikan and on Gravina Island building a road that crosses 2 salmon streams, which will have to be bridged. Those 2 bridges will be built with money from the federal transportation budget provided by Congress to the State of Alaska unless Governor Palin cancels the contract.

In the process of contracting to Kiewit, the borough residents were compelled to donate their land to the State of Alaska for the project.

Carol Cairnes -- Ketchikan, AK

Received June 14, 2007 - Published June 15, 2007

Note: Comments published on Viewpoints are the opinions of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Sitnews.