Snowballs wrote:

The Champlain bridge is to be closed and torn down immediately. A final foot note to this sad scenerio. News reports in the last month paint a dismal picture. The State Highway Fund has been getting pilfered for decades. 66% percent of it's funds are gone, spent on socialism, etc. One in ten State bridges are in " as bad a condition or worse as the Champlain bridge ". 21 in the Albany area alone.

So your solution to "socialism" is more socialism (in the form of using the people's money to repair highways)? Why should someone in NYC have to pay for those roads??! They don't even have cars!!!!!

Let the free market decide!! Like in Indiana, where they sold off the roads to private companies!

Never mind that the tolls have gone up, the quality of the road hasn't improved, and people prefer to travel on the adjacent publicly owned road. No more socialism!!!!!!! Also.

whoa! Matt, the State highway fund is money from gasoline tax and other taxes paid to support the highway system. DUH! it's not taking other people's money, it's money people pay specificly for roads. that money has been pilfered for other social causes. why are you so grouchy that i merely mentioned it? Hehehe...is your welfare check late? Is that why you bailed on the ski movie the other night? Quote..." Tix were way more expensive than i thought...I bailed. "....you couldn't afford it?

your argument is not very intelligent. the people in NYC shouldn't have to pay for roads cause they don't have cars? LMAO. they have cars! NYC people use roads every freegin day - Even the ones that don't have cars use roads. how do you think they get to work or get the very food and supplies that keeps them alive? ROADS!!! how do you think the emergency services get to their homes? ROADS!!! how do you think their kid's school buses get to school? ROADS!!!

that stuff just doesn't pop outta thin air like your crazy ideas. It's hauled in on the roads. without roads, even the people without cars would starve and freeze, therefore they should and do pay road taxes. Good thing you're not in charge! 8 million people in NYC and you think they don't have cars? hehehe. hate to shatter your charade Matt, but there's lots and lots of vehicles on the roads down there and they aren't all just passing thru on their way to gaze and wonder at your fabulously fallible self. here's more proof.....

I never said i had a solution to socialism and i never proposed more socialism, so you're wrong again Matt. keep your fallacies and false accusations to yourself.

i'm getting a lil tired of your on going rippin on me for no reason. my very first post questioned the flatness of Cedars and you pounced on me for that. Yet, you yourself have since, yes even recently, posted on the flatness of Cedars. Your hypocrisy is showing yet again Matt. your lack of integrity is typical of a person of your ilk. As usual, once again, it turns out I was right and you were wrong. Nay nay nay nay nana!!! I'm lmao at you Matt. hehehe.

I suppose you might come back with some BS and lies in a lame effort to save face, but reality will not bear you out.

mattchuck2 wrote:

Snowballs wrote: The Champlain bridge is to be closed and torn down immediately. A final foot note to this sad scenerio. News reports in the last month paint a dismal picture. The State Highway Fund has been getting pilfered for decades. 66% percent of it's funds are gone, spent on socialism, etc. One in ten State bridges are in " as bad a condition or worse as the Champlain bridge ". 21 in the Albany area alone. So your solution to "socialism" is more socialism (in the form of using the people's money to repair highways)? Why should someone in NYC have to pay for those roads??! They don't even have cars!!!!! Let the free market decide!! Like in Indiana, where they sold off the roads to private companies! Never mind that the tolls have gone up, the quality of the road hasn't improved, and people prefer to travel on the adjacent publicly owned road. No more socialism!!!!!!! Also.

preserved.

this is a good read, regardless of me agreeing or not.

lets allow some "soft" politics, but ban weather talk - that weather discussion is all same and keeps popping out in almost every thread

Right. i would say the defacto dividing line is talking about election candidates and hot button issues.....things that reflect opinions not established facts of our world.

Simply posting a fact like the highway fund was pilfered for other social causes hardly crosses the line. if so, then how could we ever discuss Gore, Face, Orda actions? they're a political body. or the proposed ski lift ticket tax? or the state threatening not to fund our mtns? Orda threatening to withhold approved ski bowl lift funds? or the ski bowl project itself or loss of the Empire Games, or LP police, or the convention center .... all this has political aspects. or the expansion of Gore with state grant money. on and on and on. We've been openly discussing this stuff for a long, long time and nobody said nothing!

Only now did Puddles try and censor me with the no politics clause. He failed.

He just likes to give me chit....right Puddles?

Snowballs wrote:

whoa! Matt, the State highway fund blah blah blah blah.

You're right that a lot of money has been pilfered from the state highway fund, but that doesn't mean "socialism" is behind it. The Transportation budget in this state is somewhere around 14 billion. The state highway fund never had that much money, and even if they did, apparently they don't want to spend the money on roads . . . (11.6 billion - 35% of money taken in - spent on roads since 1991). So other people are paying for roads through their income tax dollars (non drivers, people who take the subway to work, people upstate whose tax dollars go to the MTA). Just as people pay for the fire department, even though they may never need it.

I don't know what your definition of "Socialism" is, but I hate to say it, the Department of Transportation is Socialistic. The government (i.e. the people) control the means of production and the allocation of resources. Your problem is that you want "socialism" in one case (Transportation), but not in other cases. I don't know how to tell you this, but tough $hit. My tax dollars go to fund wars that I don't want, military that we don't need, and "faith based initiatives" that I don't care about.

Yeah, I know that people use roads. Big revelation, that. I want more highway funding too, so we're in agreement there (I guess), but I also don't care if my tax dollars go to help a single mother, a senior citizen, or an unemployed factory worker. I don't know what your opinion is on that, but I got from the tone of your first post that this is the kind of "socialism" that you reject. All I want is consistency in arguments. I hate it when people toss around the word "Socialism" like it's the worst thing in the world. All it really means it that there's a system of the commons (roads, bridges, fire departments, public schools, unemployment benefits, etc.) that we all, collectively, pay into. If you're against "socialism", you should be for all private fire departments, all private schools, and all private highways.

If you're more reasonable, and recognize that we have a mixed public/private system, than you won't be so casual with your use of "socialism" as some kind of insult.

Also, I don't have a personal vendetta against you, Snowballs, I just have a few pet peeves that you seem to bring out. One, I like to take a wait and see attitude towards new terrain. And two, I don't like the use of the word "Socialism" as an insult.

Really, I just think it's a general attitude of despair and dread that accompanies a lot of your posts. I just think you need to relax a little.

I guess this is why 'politics' are against forum rules.

It's a bridge, that none of us who post on the board are likely to use, who cares?

mattchuck2 wrote:

Also, I don't have a personal vendetta against you, Snowballs, I just have a few pet peeves that you seem to bring out. One, I like to take a wait and see attitude towards new terrain. And two, I don't like the use of the word "Socialism" as an insult. Really, I just think it's a general attitude of despair and dread that accompanies a lot of your posts. I just think you need to relax a little.

BS. i don't buy your BS attempts to cover your tracks. for instance, i never used the word as an insult. and i don't like your false accusations. you jump on me for no reason, then like a lil kid blame it on me and make up crap for defense. you need to grow up.

oh, you like a wait and see attitude towards new terrain? more BS. i simply ask if Cedars would be flat and you went off. that's rude. it's your character and you chose to repeat it. therefore, i don't care what you like or what your peeves are. if you can't disagree with what i post thru facts, figures and logic, then you and your positions are and shall continue to be lame.

by the way, the news reported the highway funds were spent on social programs. i pointed that out because most of our highway funds are no longer avaliable for badly needed road work. that's all.

i'm plenty relaxed dude. i'm also very realistic. you can put your head in the sand all you want. is that why you speak jibberish? Like ....... the D.O.T. is Socialistic? WOW!!! hehehe, still laughin Matt.

Listen, man, I'm done.

I'm not the one accusing people of being on welfare and having a "lack of integrity". I'm the one supporting my arguments with links, facts and figures. Your arguments are filled with some things you heard some place.

I also don't feel like going back and digging up all of your chicken little-type posts on Cedars and how horrible and awful it will make everything in the world.

It's not worth it, frankly. You can "continue to deal with me" (whatever that means), and I'll just keep on keepin' on. When we're in agreement, we can agree, and when we're not in agreement, we can disagree. It doesn't really matter, and it's not going to make the snow fall any faster.

mattchuck2 wrote:

on Cedars and how horrible and awful it will make everything in the world.

hehehe. LMAO..... I never said that either. just simply asked if it would be flat. it never takes you long to prove me right.

You can't resist dining on your Nikes. OR bearing false witness against me. this reveals boat loads on your character. your frequent deceit shows a lack of integrity revealed by your own words. if you don't like it when i point out your lack of integrity, then don't do it! DUH!

when you do it to me, i deal with you.

can you figure that out?

I think the real problem here is the timing.

You (and probably I) seem to get pretty riled up this time of year. Your crazy posts about the interconnect and Cedars were posted in early November too. I'll just chalk it up to preseason ski jones and continue to ignore your ridiculous insults.

Like I said . . . I'm done.

The bridge is gone, I wonder if there was a tsunami on a lake:

http://pointers.audiovideoweb.com/stcasx/va91win1520/DOT_12282009bridgeedit.wmv/play.asx

Denison wrote:

The bridge is gone, I wonder if there was a tsunami on a lake: http://pointers.audiovideoweb.com/stcasx/va91win1520/DOT_12282009bridgeedit.wmv/play.asx

LOL. i was wondering the very same thing. they were worried about people going out on the ice for a better implosion view. a small tsunami coulda sunk them all!