Bridge-to-Nowhere Hack gets tax AWARD (Anchorage, Ketchikan: floor, farmers, vehicles)

[Metlakatla]

As I mentioned before, all states receive federal funding. If it's your belief that government should be structured differently, there are much more productive things you can do about that than to troll a message board.

It has been my understanding that this entire issue has been water under the bridge(s) for a matter of several months now; the bridges don't seem to be forthcoming and I don't think that most of us really care that much.


Don't they have summer in "Tha Holler?" It might be a better use of your time to get out on one of those beaches and enjoy the sun than continuing to harp on this. Really, most of your posts seems like bait more than anything else.

[babyorr9]

Originally Posted by Metlakatla

As I mentioned before, all states receive federal funding. If it's your belief that government should be structured differently, there are much more productive things you can do about that than to troll a message board.

It has been my understanding that this entire issue has been water under the bridge(s) for a matter of several months now; the bridges don't seem to be forthcoming and I don't think that most of us really care that much.


Don't they have summer in "Tha Holler?" It might be a better use of your time to get out on one of those beaches and enjoy the sun than continuing to harp on this. Really, most of your posts seems like bait more than anything else.

Well, I appreciate your speedy responses to my "troll bait." Yes, summer here is glorious. I don't really care; I just think Don Young is a hack. Warptman and Glitch seemed like it was someting personal. However, I'll continue to post updates on Young's situation. Thankfully, you're right; the bridges are basically a dead issue.

[Metlakatla]

Well, I appreciate your speedy responses to my "troll bait."

Check your math there, Carolina. You made this post over a week ago; I didn't bother responding to any of it until today.

Warptman and Glitch seemed like it was someting personal.

Nah, I just think they were objecting to someone who's barely even been here coming across as some sort of expert on the state. Statements on your part such as the one about putting in a ferry and the following quote show how misinformed you are:

Originally Posted by babyorr9
Aside from the accurate portrayal of both the above Boston and LA examples, did you really need a bridge that connects 7,500 people to 50? Simply because there is an airport there? Further, did this bridge need to cost 400 million dollars? Was such a monumental structure necessary; taller than the Brooklyn and nearly as long as the Golden Gate? You know why I protest, but state pride is getting in the way...

By the way, since you seem to have missed it, the response that AKphotographer posted cleared up that misconception quite well, so here it is again:

Your bias and/or misunderstanding of the facts is showing here as well. Yes, The Gravina bridge was intended to connect Ketchikan with the airport. However beacause Ketchikan's primary industry is tourism, Ketchikan International Airport currently accomodates approx 200,000 passengers per year and the ferry, which the bridge was to replace, carries about 500,000 passengers per year back and forth to the island. The size of the bridge was dictated by the need to accommodate the large Cruise Ships.

Be my guest to dislike Don Young all you like, but at least get your facts straight about the issues you're trying to discredit him over.

[babyorr9]

Originally Posted by Metlakatla

Check your math there, Carolina. You made this post over a week ago; I didn't bother responding to any of it until today.



Nah, I just think they were objecting to someone who's barely even been here coming across as some sort of expert on the state. Statements on your part such as the one about putting in a ferry and the following quote show how misinformed you are:



By the way, since you seem to have missed it, the response that AKphotographer posted cleared up that misconception quite well, so here it is again:





Be my guest to dislike Don Young all you like, but at least get your facts straight about the issues you're trying to discredit him over.

*sigh* Please go back and read the whole thread before you raise your hackles. Many have already called me out on my non-Alaskan status. I posted an outrageous award to a king of pork. With regards to the Gravina Island bridge, its immaterial to ME whether tourism is the lifeblood of the town or not. The volume of people that pass through Ketchikan is immaterial. If the economics of the situation supported the building of the bridge, I'm sure the good folks of Alaska would find a way to get it done. Evidently it doesn't. Simple as that. And I understand that the damn bridge would have to be tall enough to accomodate cruise ships. Which makes the idea even dumber. Thank God the things not going to get built. Yes, the ferry shuttles a lot of tourists. They'll be ok.

[babyorr9]

Don Young's Pitch to the Lobbyists - Washington Post Investigations

It's not exactly a revelation that lawmakers often look for ways to raise campaign money from lobbyists who might have reason to seek their support someday. But it is somewhat unusual for an explicit e-mailed pitch to the lobbyists to surface publicly.

McClatchy Newspapers says it has obtained such an e-mail showing that U.S. Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska) last year turned to the "AK Wolfpack," a group of more than 20 lobbyists, including former Young staffers and retired former congressmen, to help his re-election campaign.

Poor guy knows hes gonna have to fight this time. Oh, and environmental groups are gonna throw their bulk behind his ouster also.

[warptman]

Ding dong the witch is dead(helms)....

[babyorr9]

Originally Posted by warptman

Ding dong the witch is dead(helms)....

No joke man. He was a racist bigot with no equal, and stubborn as a mule. He made all North Carolinians look bad. Somehow, I always hoped that Jesse was just doing his racist schtick to get elected, as bad as that sounds (because there are STILL many racists in Carolina today), because I have a hard time believing that anyone can be that close minded.

[Metlakatla]

I read the entire thread. My...hackles are hardly raised. As for the non-Alaskan status you say has already has been pointed out, I was rather pointing out your ignorance of the issues you're trying to discuss. We do, after all, have a few posters here from out of state who really are well informed; you just don't happen to be one of them. No one with even rudimentary knowledge of the north would suggest a ferry on the Mat. river. Once again, that sort of thing is the prevailing objection here.

With regards to the Gravina Island bridge, its immaterial to ME whether tourism is the lifeblood of the town or not. The volume of people that pass through Ketchikan is immaterial.

Actually, it isn't immaterial at all. The great majority of the people who go through that airport are from the -48.

And thank Heaven; we can all rest easily now knowing that the environmentalists are coming to the rescue.

It isn't so easy getting a long time incumbent out of office, by the way. If that had been the case, the people of your state wouldn't have been able to inflict the king of all pork chops on the U.S. Congress for 30 years.


So may your Mr. Helms rest in peace. It would have been fitting had the racist agenda he tried to push on this country had died on Independence Day along with him.

[babyorr9]

Originally Posted by Metlakatla

I read the entire thread. My...hackles are hardly raised. As for the non-Alaskan status you say has already has been pointed out, I was rather pointing out your ignorance of the issues you're trying to discuss. We do, after all, have a few posters here from out of state who really are well informed; you just don't happen to be one of them. No one with even rudimentary knowledge of the north would suggest a ferry on the Mat. river. Once again, that sort of thing is the prevailing objection here.



Actually, it isn't immaterial at all. The great majority of the people who go through that airport are from the -48.

And thank Heaven; we can all rest easily now knowing that the environmentalists are coming to the rescue.

It isn't so easy getting a long time incumbent out of office, by the way. If that had been the case, the people of your state wouldn't have been able to inflict the king of all pork chops on the U.S. Congress for 30 years.


So may your Mr. Helms rest in peace. It would have been fitting had the racist agenda he tried to push on this country had died on Independence Day along with him.

Indeed. Helms was among the worst examples of the "good ol' boy". Whatever good he may have done, was overshadowed by his hatred. With regards to the bridge, I don't know why we got off on that in the first place; its not going to be built so it doesn't really matter. By the way, you never clarified whether you would be in favor of a higher Alaskan tax to pay for the bridge? (That's really my only beef; Dems tax and spend and the Repubs borrow and spend; the hacks in Congress are sending my kids and grandkids up the creek without a paddle, hence my anger)

We do, after all, have a few posters here from out of state who really are well informed; you just don't happen to be one of them. No one with even rudimentary knowledge of the north would suggest a ferry on the Mat. river. Once again, that sort of thing is the prevailing objection here.

Again, unless your projects can actually be defended economically, what does it really matter? It speaks volumes that both bridges have been shot down and won't be built in the near future, if ever. I think the real question here is less my knowledge of Alaska, and really more a jingoistic state pride exhibited here on this board. Notice, all attacks on me boiled down to "Attack the ferrener! He's not frum herrr so he can't possibly know whats going on." Which is mostly true. Which is why the original posts weren't bandying my "rudimentary" knowledge of the great white north. I only called out the organizations in question for giving Don Porklioni an award, when its obvious its only election year politics. God knows he needs some good news this year. Now, don't you having something to do in Oregon? Why are you defending Young anyway? He's the only thing in my sights.

[Metlakatla]

Now, don't you having something to do in Oregon?

Why yes, I do. I've got a perfectly mixed pitcher of blackberry daiquiris to attend to, now that I finally have a day to myself. Oregon is such a perfect place for wild berries, except that we've got a regrettable lack of salmonberries here.

By the way, you never clarified whether you would be in favor of a higher Alaskan tax to pay for the bridge?

I didn't "clarify" that because it was never an issue with me. And I don't recall stating in any way that I am or ever was in favor of the bridges.

Why are you defending Young anyway?

Don't see that I have been defending Young; just clearing up your misconceptions about things like rivers that freeze over.

Your lack of knowledge about Alaska is indeed a variable here. Makes no difference in my life whether the bridges are ever built, but the idea wasn't quite the clutsterf*ck that many in the -48 seem to think it was.

Back at ya, Warptman