As some of you will remember from my earlier Katrina rants, I don't tollerate fools lightly. As I spend my second day evicted from my office because of the efforts proceeding adjacent to the 35W bridge, my irritation at some members of our government slowly increases.

A quick search on Flickr shows a great number of rusted steel bridges in the US. This is obviously not a scientific method of determining a replacement schedule; we've done that already. The BBC reports "Experts have estimated the cost of repairing all the nation's bridges at between $55bn (£27.5bn) and $188bn". (more from the BBC) I'd say that's not too bad considering the loss of life, property and moralle that could result from not repairing the nation's bridges. Heck, it's less than we've spet in Iraq by far. I'll throw $627 in to the pot happily.

I know I can't directly blame Tim Pawlenty, the Minnesota Taxpayers League, and the other republicans who pledged not to increase taxes during their terms. It's likely that the decision to replace this bridge in 2020 wasn't decided by the fact that we have no new money coming into the state budget. (In the interests of full disclosure, our state budget also pays my salary.) But I can't help notice that the bridge collapsed on their watch and that they didn't spend the money to fix up a "structurally deficient" part of our state.

On the other hand, maybe we're supposed to get a great sense of community from working together and overcoming adversity. Maybe the government wants the occasional tragedy to show that, if we work together, we can prevail.

I'll take a neighborhood bake sale, thanks.

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