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In case you missed it: Phil Donahue versus Bill O’Reilly from Crooks & Liars or [transcript] from Newshounds.

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Most people are aware of the incredibly stupid bridge that Don Young, the Chairman of the House Transportation Committee stuck in that slab of fatback called the Transportation Bill. The Gravina bridge is often quoted as costing $230 million, but the real cost will be around $315 million. This is a bridge between two islands with a total of less 9,000 people affected that will put a ferry service out of business.

Some are of the opinion that the real reason for the bridge is to promote residential development on the island with the airport, which currently has 50 residents who work at the airport.

Don is Alaska’s only Congressman so he is always hustling for projects to bring Federal dollars to Alaska, as exemplified by this press release: Delegation Announces Grants And Loans To Alaska Programs. As this table shows, he manages to get Alaska about $6.50 for every dollar Alaska sends to the Federal government in transportation taxes.

The thing is Alaskans don’t pay state taxes. State government is funded by the $31.5 billion permanent fund created from the North Slope oil field and pipeline. With the rising price of oil they are becoming more comfortable than ever. You would probably wonder why he thinks he needs all of this money from other states when the state of Alaska makes an annual payment to every person who has been a legal resident of Alaska for a year.

While the San Diego Union-Tribune reports that the Alaska dividend payout drops for fifth straight year, every “eligible man, woman and child will receive $845.76 just for living in Alaska”

If Alaskans really want that bridge they can afford to build it without adding to the Federal deficit.

I think that most people have seen that there is a major lack of transportation resources along the Gulf coast, and that lack makes hurricane evacuations rather problematical. It would be nice if there were at least one four-lane road North out of every county on the Florida Panhandle, and if the main East-West road, Interstate 10 wasn’t so readily damaged in a hurricane. But that can’t be important or the states along the Gulf coast would get more than 85¢ back for every dollar they pay in Federal transportation taxes.

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We absolutely can’t instill common sense in these people, so we have to confiscate their money for their own good and the good of society.

South of Pensacola there is a barrier island named Perdido Key. The island keeps getting sliced and diced by storms, and not just major hurricanes. Unlike other barrier islands where you lease land and there is an authority to limit what you can do, Perdido Key is owned by private individuals and the most the government can do is strictly enforce building codes and then send in the front loaders to scrape up the debris that started as houses from the public right-of-way.

As CBS reports nothing stops development. Every time someone’s house is deposited in a landfill, developers rush in to build another high-rise luxury building.

With penthouses selling for $1 million+, it is obvious that some people have too much money and need to be separated from it for their own good. Escambia County can’t make enough in taxes to pay the costs associated with having to provide services to the island. With more and more people living on it, evacuating it is a major problem.

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For the moment Steve, Stella and the cats are staying put in Houston. They are not in the mandatory evacuation area and the roads are clogged with the people that are.

Under the Houston plan, after you get on one of the evacuation routes you have to go where they direct you. This only makes sense if you are aware that Houston is the fourth most populous city in the US with over 2 million people and there are almost 5 million people living in and around the city. There aren’t that many major roads in the area, and they will have been converted to one way to effect the evacuation.

With more than 1.3 million people in the mandatory evacuation zone it is going to take a while to get out and there are not apt to be any motel rooms available within a couple of hundred miles of Houston.

Steve is staying at Stella’s place and doesn’t have access to his blog except for comments. He has been watching comments on his More Rita Blogging post.

His regular blog is hosted locally and is apt to be down when the power is lost, so he will have to use his YDD Annex on Blogspot if he can get on-line.

The people along the Texas coast need to be held in your thoughts and prayers. They also need your voices after the storm passes to be sure that they get the aid that wasn’t provided in Louisiana.

UPDATE:[09/22 – 0830 CDT] The main site is down, so Steve is at YDD Annex until further notice.

UPDATE:[09/22 – 1130 CDT] Steve’s host has come back on line with a back-up, but it is not the current page and Steve can’t access it. So stay with the YDD Annex.

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