:(

Gee, ya think the hundreds of BILLION$ we've pissed away on Duhbya's folly could have taken care of:

* Social Security
* National Hi-speed rail system
* Healthcare
* Alternative sources of energy developed and implemented
* Infrastrucure resurrection
* Ending hunger and poverty (here in the US and around the globe)

???

Just asking.

They are doing such a great job with the infrastructure here in Massachusetts.
The 'Big Dig' is huge success!

Since we now get our emergency information from Chertoff's gut, I suggest we attach a permanent colonascope on wheels to his ass hole and have a graduate from Regency College monitor it.

Such a contraption could have prevented 9-11.

BUT I don't want to pay taxes!!!!!!!! WHAAAAAAAAAA!!!

So tomorrow for a few hours Cheney will be president. Bush is having his colon checked (I guess looking for his brain).
Will that be the day of the "attack"?

Would make sense, Cheney could take the heat off Bushie.

It's crazy to fix things before they break.

What's the big deal? Except for the deaths and injuries?

No corporations, whom as we all know are responsible for all job creation, were harmed by this explosion. Nor did it raise taxes on the rich, whom as we all know drive the economy.

I've long suspected that the icing on the War on Iraq Cake is that the bush administration can totally ignore domestic problems. Keep everyone focused on "something shiny" (albeit horrid and tragic) and they won't be demanding that something be done about problems at home.

Anybody else hoping they'll find something in bush's colon during his upcoming scheduled colonoscopy (other than his own head)?

LibertyLover @ 2:

It's seems to me that this is just like people who never clean their lint trap in their dryer and then are surprised when the dryer catches the house on fire. A little maintenance can go a long way...but someone has to be paying attention.

I think that the problem has gone beyond maintenance at this point. I don't know about NY but where I live in some of the old parts of the city, water, sewer, and storm drain piping was installed to last about 60 - 75 years about 80 - 90 years ago. Talking about and trying to get elected on a sewer pipe replacement ticket doesn't generate allot of enthusiasm.

Jerry @ 10:

Imagine that one incident multiplied by how many large cities in the U.S.! In my neck of the woods alone in one city it would cost in excess of five billion dollars to replace the crumbling water and sewer system. We're talking about a community with an operating budget of maybe a few hundred grand. The whole country is in that boat.

The American Society of Civil Engineers estimates that it will take $1.2 trillion to repair the decaying infrastructure.

Blue Buddha @ 17:

Jerry @ 10:

The American Society of Civil Engineers estimates that it will take $1.2 trillion to repair the decaying infrastructure.

No problem. Declare NY a sister city of Baghdad. The pallets of money will start arriving by Monday.

Colonoscopy? Chimp’s pipes are obviously getting better maintenance than New York’s. If they clean up in there too much, Shit-For-Brain’s IQ will go from his current 40 down to 0.

Click Beetle @ 22:
One of them was Ed Koch who ruled NYC for an unbroken 22 years

Sorry, folks, that was supposed to say 12

I not gud typing

[Deleted. Banned poster]

I would like to see the doctor's face when McLame and Lieberloser come into focus.

Bloomberg says he's not a Republican anymore and the next thing you know pipes are bursting in the city. Hmm...

pussy_galore @ 28:

Foo @ 24:

Blue Buddha @ 18:

Foo @ 14: You mean Democrat mayors like Guiliani and Bloomberg? Yeah, whatever.

No, guys like Koch or Dinkins.

...Oh, you must mean the Dinkins that lowered all the crime statistics before Giuliani took credit for doing so? SORRY, I LIVE HERE...

What do crime stats have to do with pipes? Don't think with your gut like a neocon pundit. Think rationally: how does an 90-year-old pipe bursting show that conservatives are directly responsible?

Isn't it just as possible that replacing the pipes was either ignored by everyone, Dem or Rep, or that it's just an sad accident?

Is there any evidence that, say, since Guiliani came into power, people have been pushing to have these pipes replaced and were denied so that he could cut taxes?

but there's plenty of moolaah to build 3 sports stadiums in Bronx, Queens and Brooklyn.
Thanks Mike, just how will we get there on the crumbling roads and rails? Shortsighted politicos in for their own or their cronies $$$ interests...screw the infrastrcuture...

Here in Pissburgh, PA, water main breaks happen every week. We haven't had a pipe-bursting problem like this, though I'm certain it's merely a matter of time.

I know a guy who works on sewer lines here, and he told me that all of them are at LEAST a hundred years old, and they are deteriorating rapidly.

Alas, our fair city MUST have a new arena for our hockey team, and had to build ones for our football and baseball teams last decade, so we can't spend any money repairing no stinkin' pipes.

Orwell's Illegitimate Son @ 37:

Here in Pissburgh, PA, water main breaks happen every week. We haven't had a pipe-bursting problem like this, though I'm certain it's merely a matter of time.

I know a guy who works on sewer lines here, and he told me that all of them are at LEAST a hundred years old, and they are deteriorating rapidly.

Alas, our fair city MUST have a new arena for our hockey team, and had to build ones for our football and baseball teams last decade, so we can't spend any money repairing no stinkin' pipes.

ahh, sounds like the 'glamour quotient'

football/baseball stadiums and the such are an excellent opportunity for politicians to rake in the corporate campaign cash, cut a ribbon with oversized scissors, and take a photo with them smiling and hoping that when people go to the new stadium they'll think fondly of the mayor when they are drunk and having a great time at the game.

sewer systems, water mains, etc. don't seem to have the same flare, less glamorous. and when you factor in the inconveniences it might create for people (despite the long-term benefits), and the cost/time overruns it seems much easier to build a shiny new stadium than dig up old pipes...

all to the detriment of the city

And yet, some civic leaders and other so-called experts would have us drink tap-water over bottled water.... Now I know there are issues with plastic bottles, both environmental (landfills) as well as health concerns (releases pcb's during extreme temperature variations) but with aging pipes noone will address directly, I'm left to ponder the same tired ass negative choices we are all too often offered regarding political picks.. I.E. the lessor of two evils... So do we all risk chemical contamination via plastic or chemical/hard metals contamination via pipes that are growing too old and possibly rusted or degraded in some way in some cases to be trustworthy... And it's not like I can even make a confident statement either way.. That's the problem!!!

Noone is looking into this waterpipe infrastructure at the national level that in some cases is more than a century old.. They might be okie dokie or not, who the fuck knows? Noones spending any real money to find out.. Private entities with a vested interest in peddling bottled water ain't gonna do it and if they did, it would be suspect because of who they are and their real agenda of getting people to buy bottled water...

Why do we find ourselves in this sorry state? Because our government is too busy spending money on other bullshit, like tax breaks for the rediculously weathy, and braindead wars of aggression to secure oil resources from regions way too unstable to even gaurentee that if we can even get at it consistently it would drop costs one penny because of the unstable nature of the region we're trying to snooker out of their resources...
This is all such bullshit!

One way to address it would be to go from plastic containers for consumable liquids back to glass...Juust like the 'old days'..
But I'm sure there are big issues there besides the mere fact that some industries would have to retool again to deal with this ... But mostly, there does not seem to be any political will to even give a damn let alone do something useful to correct it... I guess its all about whats sexy nowdays... Wars and political intrigue and criminal behavior in office is just a whole lot more sexy to pols and pundits alike than the nuts and bolts of governing like some kind of adult.... Ahhh fuck it.. Why do I even bitch about any of it anymore.... We have so much shit thats broke now and needing attention, we'll all be dead before anyone takes the time to really worry about the water we drink at this point....I hope I'm proven wrong on that...for all our sakes.. JD

I live in NY too.

There's plenty of blame to go around for BOTH parties in this city. The city has always been short cash and short on both state assistance (upstate NY is controlled by REPUBLICANS for decades who have been shortshrifting the "liberal" city for years...despite the fact that the city pays a HUGE volume of taxes to the state) and Federal assistance (Ford to NY...DROP DEAD).

To balance budgets, NY Mayors typically did things like eliminate bridge painting (result Williamsburg train track collapse in the ''80s), street cleaning, reduced wattage on street lights, etc.

The fact is where are where we are. Big city infrastructure collapse is a national problem. It is a result of "white flight", so called "GOP conservative fiscal policies", idiotic national tax cuts which enriched the rich (who can afford to live in the better parts of ANY city) and destroyed lower middle class neighborhoods.

NY is somewhat unique because it is literally the "first" city of this country. It was modernized early in the game. The problem is we're still operating on the same infrastructure. 75 year old subway tracks (yes, despite the modernization program, bottom line there are STILL sections that old. I don't need to tell you what neighborhoods they're in), 100 year old steam pipes, etc etc.

The bottom line is very simple. We as a people have a choice. What is important? The military industrial complex and corporations...or the US. WE decide where the resources go.

You want you're cities fixed. DEMAND IT. You want national healthcare. DEMAND IT. You want your children educated. DEMAND IT. AND don't be cowed by fear talk about how we as a nation can't defend ourselves. It is all BULLSHIT.

We really shouldn't blame the Republicans for the NYC steam pipe blast - that's the type of commentary they love to run with to call all of us nuts, and they'd be right.

For those who don't know, New York is mostly run by Democrats, or an occasional, but few, liberal-leaning Republicans. It's everybody's fault the infrastructure is hurting, and let's face it - no one would know where to start.

I remember looking at the guardrail to the ramp of GW Bridge years ago and remarked to my colleagues, "Who checks these bridges? I saw guys painting over rust." Anyway, everyone laughed at my paranoia and then 6 months later part of the ramp collapsed.

When you think all thse bridges and buildings are so old, you gotta figure - somethings gotta give, sooner or later. Hope my number's not up when it does, because nobody can figure out what to fix or when to fix it. Half the stuff's underground - I wouldn't blame Koch, Dinkins, Rudy, Mike or Bush for any of it. (We have a lot of other blame to go around for other stuff anyway, so let's keep our credibility instead of stretching it.)

And I can't even tell you the solution, but I'd love to know if anyone is supposed to check this stuff - I still have no idea. (Facades of buildings occasionally fall too, you know, and injure people.)

sh@dow @ 40:

32 Samson- Says:
Man oh man what a wild assertion that republicans caused a pipe rupture. Con Ed is in charge of those pipes and my understanding this is one of those one in a million occurrences. Again when your car breaks down it is not a conspiracy or neglect from the right or left. Cars break, trees fall, pipes break, nuclear reactors melt down and so on. If steam pipes start to rupture at an increasing rate in NY then we can make accusations.
I don't think any of the last three Mayors knows thing one about steam pipes and it is possible that Bloomberg didn't even know those pipes existed at all till the other day. When traffic signals malfunction and an accident happens the free market or political party have nothing to do with it.
Three Mile Island had a meltdown in 1979 so we can conclude that Jimmy Carter caused it using the prevailing logic. Mmm, since I voted for Carter I can even go as far as to blame myself for TMI

[Let's keep to the topic. I don't want to see this thread turn into a war over free market forces v responsibility of elected officials to do their jobs. And no backchat either-Sitemonitor]

shadow,

you are very confused.

you need to do better at making sure you are calling out the right person. in NO WAY did i say it was a GOP issue. no, in fact, i was very clear that it is NOT a partisan issue--instead it is politics 101: 'kick that shit down the road for the next guy' and this is a problem for dems, reps, greens, etc.

you have confused my posts about the myth of the free market with my posts about infrastructure

For a good "non-partisan" look at our decaying infrastructure, perhaps more like a strong dose of reality, check out the American Society of Civil Engineers website and search for the report card. A scary state of affairs.

www.asce.org/reportcard/2005/page.cfm?id=203

Apparently our collective denial will continue to cause unnecessary deaths of people who blindly rely on the workings of our crumbling infrastructure while trusting that our politicians are taking care of us and not just themselves. In a world of diminishing resources, it would be wise and economical to make the efforts to improve these things while we still can. If we can just get the right leaders to motivate this nation to give itself a face lift instead of flushing money down the toilet of destruction and chaos in the middle east.

the Reaganites won't spend a dime on infrastructure but think nothing of spending 2 trillion on a war

36 Dave

Dave's not home man.

Ira M. @ 45:

We really shouldn't blame the Republicans for the NYC steam pipe blast - that's the type of commentary they love to run with to call all of us nuts, and they'd be right.

For those who don't know, New York is mostly run by Democrats, or an occasional, but few, liberal-leaning Republicans. It's everybody's fault the infrastructure is hurting, and let's face it - no one would know where to start.

I remember looking at the guardrail to the ramp of GW Bridge years ago and remarked to my colleagues, "Who checks these bridges? I saw guys painting over rust." Anyway, everyone laughed at my paranoia and then 6 months later part of the ramp collapsed.

When you think all thse bridges and buildings are so old, you gotta figure - somethings gotta give, sooner or later. Hope my number's not up when it does, because nobody can figure out what to fix or when to fix it. Half the stuff's underground - I wouldn't blame Koch, Dinkins, Rudy, Mike or Bush for any of it. (We have a lot of other blame to go around for other stuff anyway, so let's keep our credibility instead of stretching it.)

And I can't even tell you the solution, but I'd love to know if anyone is supposed to check this stuff - I still have no idea. (Facades of buildings occasionally fall too, you know, and injure people.)

Reread my post and try again.

Same with Baltimore....Pipes and whatnot 80-100 years old...andEVERY WINTER, water mains break...so they just fix it at that one intersection and go on about...not thinking the ENTIRE CITY is just as bad.....whats the old saying..'out of sight, out of mind' how true

TIKI AL @ 7:

Since we now get our emergency information from Chertoff's gut, I suggest we attach a permanent colonascope on wheels to his ass hole and have a graduate from Regency College monitor it.

Such a contraption could have prevented 9-11.

All kinds of nasty things come to mind from this. Thanks. Considering that people see certain faces on all kinds of things and that Regency dopes only really have to read one book, I wonder what the Regency dope will be looking for.

Chertoff had a gut feeling we'd be attacked

But then he only farted.

bob @ 5:

They are doing such a great job with the infrastructure here in Massachusetts.
The 'Big Dig' is huge success!

Except of the ROOF/ceiling, that falls on passing cars and kills passengers ..
Reason: the expoxy used for bolts securing the tons-heavy roof/ceiling panels was NEVER qualified for the huge concrete loads. As if using crazy glue to hole your house together - once it dries-up, ALL-FALL-DOWN .. The specs were NEVER written with this BASIC engineering management tool to be enforced. There are also numerous water problems, etc,etc, ever bigger claims/litigation eats up time and money - unless you write in jest, where does your 'huge success' come from ? Drive-by once in a blue-moon ? That's the attitooode that destroys our falling apart national infrastructure !

TIKI AL @ 7:

Since we now get our emergency information from Chertoff's gut, I suggest we attach a permanent colonascope on wheels to his ass hole and have a graduate from Regency College monitor it.

Such a contraption could have prevented 9-11.

APPLAUSE !!! It can only succeed with graduates from Regency College monitoring it.

[You are so done here, honesty/sh@dow. Not very honest of you, was it? Sitemonitor]

[Abusive. Again. And yes you were very dishonest]

[Yes I do. And you and you fake mate were very abusive about it. Only a moron keeps turning up where he's clearly not wanted. Get some help from professionals for your problems-Sitemonitor]

CappuccettoRosso @ 63
It was in jest!
This post was written to attack Republicans, but of course there are no Republicans in Massachusetts, so I was wondering who gets the blame for the most corrupt infrastructure work in American history?

[Actually, not so bright bob, Mitt Romney is the Republican governor of MA-Sitemonitor]

With Capitalism (power to the Money) and lack of Socialism (Power to the People) you end up with a parasitic culture of waste and neglect.

Why would the rich give a shit if you live or die?

73 Neil

A coupla years ago energy companies were using Power To The People in their commercials.

Liberal AND Proud @ 34:

einstein @ 8:

speaking of e-coli, i hear the president is having brain surgery

What? They're installing one??

Let's hope it's not by ConEd, the crooks in charge of collecting sacks of money for failing all that does not work in NYC (like the steam pipe that blasted - the same piece has been 'repaired' over-and-over .. ConEd has traditonally been in a cosy relationship w/ NYC mayors of any color (red or blue, white or black).

From NY Post (which did access public records, the only media that did it seems):

CON EDISON'S ANCIENT PIPE SYSTEM IS JUST READY TO BLOW

By DAVID SEIFMAN, SAMUEL GOLDSMITH, LEONARDO BLAIR and BILL SANDERSON

July 20, 2007 -- Con Ed's century-old underground steam system - including the pipe that exploded on Wednesday - is accident- and crisis-prone, with more than 300 reported emergencies in the last year and a growing number of failures in
record-keeping and inspection, documents show.

Investigators for the Public Service Commission counted 10 rule violations last year and 11 violations in 2005 - compared with just one in 2004 and none in 2002.
Most of the violations involved failures to conduct inspections frequently enough. The investigators also found tags and labels missing from steam valves.

Over the last 12 months, the company responded to more than 300 emergencies in the 125-year-old system. Much of the 105 miles of steam mains that run under Manhattan's streets are decades old.

The explosion was merely the latest of Con Ed catastrophes, coming on the heels of last month's blackout across the Upper East Side and parts of The Bronx, and last year's nine-day blackout in Queens.
[[CR: they forgot here people and their dogs electrocuted/shocked just walking Manhattan streets, with current from non-insulated cables - compliments of unsupervised outsourced contractors, who had to save a buck the 'obvious' way]]

"It's not the first time it has happened, and it won't be the last," said Cynthia Barnes-Thompson, 48, a receptionist from Brooklyn. "They [Con Ed] are jeopardizing all our lives, and nobody seems to be doing anything when it happens."

Three of the emergencies recorded in the last year were at or near the site of Wednesday's blast. Exactly what happened on Aug. 16, Jan. 11 and April 5 couldn't be determined yesterday. Neither Con Ed nor the PSC could elaborate on the reports.

But some pipes near the blast site at Lexington Avenue and 41st Street needed repair. Street-opening permits filed with the city indicate Con Ed was trying to fix steam leaks near there right up to the day of the blast.

Con Ed had a city permit that would have allowed the utility to work at the intersection between June 21 and July 22.

The company had another permit to repair pipes in the area that would have let it dig into East 41st Street near Lexington Avenue from April 2 to April 29.

Glad to see this article. When this happened my first thought was not terra but "conservative free market bullshit has struck again".

Paul Armstrong, Ph.D. @ 80:

From what I understand, cold water was introduced into the steam pipe (didn't hear how or why except that it was done "accidentally") which caused the explosion, and which is independent of the age of the pipe. A brand new pipe could not have withstood that kind of accident.

zOMFG1!!1! So it *was* terreriss!!!