OK - Here in Pittsburgh, we just

[4MoreYearsOfHell]

got final approval on a $2 billion plan to finalize an expressway to finish the last 24 miles from the depressed Monagahela Valley to the city...It is supposed to be surpassed in spending only to the "Big Dig" in Boston...

To put things in perspective, we are well on our way to spending over $200 billion on asswipe's foreign adventure...

Can you imagine what could happen if we had spent our nation's fortune on things that actually promoted life, instead of destroying it?

But that's me...

[babydollhead]

1. also in Pittsburgh

sometimes on the Parkway East, as we go under the fishnet draped bridge, I think, "Its no fun being depressed in a depressed city." I'm not really depressed but it is pretty hard to work up a good bummer on a personal level while this city seems to be coming apart at the seams.

[SnoopDog]

2. I hear ya '4

Do you know what we could do with 200 Billion dollars?

How about a massive solar energy farm.

How about a real education system.

How about some health care.

How about real pollution controls (by the way, this would decrease health care costs).

Thats just a few examples...

We need to get that idiot out of office before we completely bankrupts us.

[vixengrl]

4. I don't recall who said it, but I read a great quote once

that you never hear about the military having to have a bake sale for a missle system. But a massive solar energy farm...something that would wean our nation off dependence on fossil fuel from unfriendly mid-east nations, that might actually reduce our involvement in that volatile area and play down the hatred our involvement there has led to?

Sheesh. And it would be clean energy, too, cutting down on asthma and emphesyma and long-term, high-dollar health care bills? Are we dreaming, yet?

[SnoopDog]

6. Vixen... I'm just a dog...

I hate to type this but I am not sure what you are saying...

Is your point good or bad?

[vixengrl]

8. It agrees with yours.

The way I see it, all this money could be better spent, productively, instead of destructively.

[SnoopDog]

11. Thankx...

It is funny that all these people in power are seeking, yes power, but wealth as well (duh). But, don't they realize they are drinking the same water as we, breathing the same air, and eating the same food we do. They are not only killing us but themselves as well.

I am reminded of an old movie I saw as a youngster... There were two or three people in a desert (or a planet - don't remember) and one guy had some gold bars and the other had a jug of water. Well, the gold bar guy was thirsty and wanted to buy some water. The water person said that gold is worthless if you cannot spend it especially in a desert - and I need the water for myself.

The moral of the story, I think, is that we are all in this together and sooner or later, the ones with the 'gold bars' will be asking us for the 'water'.

cheers!

[4MoreYearsOfHell]

10. Actually, vixen is making a good point

we could be spending that money (and the labor and intelligence of a lot of lost and maimed lives) towards reducing our dependence on oil as our major source of energy...

I guess that just won't happen with a couple of Texas oil cowturds in the WH...

Why haven't these f**kers done something to reduce oil consumption? Or had a major look at alternative energy resources?

$200,000,000,000...and counting...

[JVS]

3. You can't change the Mon-valley! The endangered Yinzers need a habitat

[Inland]

5. $2 Billion is what we burn a week in Iraq, at current pace

[FloridaPat]

7. I was born and raised in Pittsbutgh. Back in the days when you

put a wash out on the line, it turned black from the soot. The steel mills were everywhere and the Hill District was a big slum. Point Park was under weeds.

I got to visit a couple of years ago and was very impressed. Pittsburgh looked great. A lot of the slums were gone. Point Part is beautiful. Unfortunately the steel mills are gone, but the area was rebuilt.

As for imagining what could happen, I went to a social and economic conference this weekend. I got to see people doing things that promoted life. It was great. There is hope. It's just not in Washington.

[Nikepallas]

9. I don't live in Pittsburgh per say but I do live near it and travel around

and in it and I can just see all the headaches and delays that will surround the project.