this economic crisis would have been avoided had we all just voted mccain and hookerboots

I'm not happy about this either, however I think this illustrates why I tend to consider Bush to be the larger problem.

what we need is another hoover dam project!

When Democrats try to block legislation they don't agree with, they're obstructionist and anti-American.

When Republicans do it, they're applauded.

I'll never understand why that is.

Meanwhile, on the Senate floor, Republicans showed they were prepared to extend the health care debate as long as possible, with Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., demanding that a Senate clerk read aloud a 767-page Democratic amendment.

The GOP bid was foiled about three hours later, when Sen. Bernard Sanders, I-Vt., the amendment’s liberal sponsor, withdrew his long-shot bid to create a Canadian-style, single-payer system. But Republicans are expected to make a similar move when Reid introduces the revised Senate bill, likely to top 2,000 pages, later this week.

I disagree.

http://www.buffalonews.com/180/story/896944.html



I won't disagree that the Dems are shooting themselves in the foot with a lot of what's gone on with the bills. However, you can't deny that the Repubs are using as many stall and delay tactics as they can, and that bugs me the most.

When the Dems tried this, they were reviled as 'obstructionists', as preventing Congress from doing 'the people's work'. However, when the Repubs do the exact same thing, the same criticisms aren't levied their way.

To be clear, I don't like it when either side does stuff like this. I just wish politicians would do what they were elected to do, not what their campaign donors or party leaders WANT them to do. Pipe dream, I know.

Irony, you are far more correct then you think.

Estimated cost to construct a dual magnetic levatation rail system 12.6 trillion U.S. dollars.
Estimated construction time is 22.1 yrs to complete.
Estimated P&L 20 year operation mark 17.8 trillion U.S. dollars.
Estimated additional revenues (tarrifs 10%, .2% ladder annual use price index) 21 billion U.S. dollars anually.

These are merely the numbers on the passenger and cargo rail buildout. An additional 540 billion dollars to build out energy sources to power the system. This electrical generating system can levy its excess production to population centers and rural areas. Revenue's on this are very difficult to even generalize due to the lack of data on exactly how a rail system of this size would be utilized, but some engineering firms have put out numbers at or around an additional 123 billion U.S. dollars in electricity revenue.

Once again, these numbers are based on 4 east/west high speed rail, 1 track passenger, 1 track cargo (cargo track is larger due to the size of magnets needed to push the weight of the cargo).
San Diego to Jacksonville.
Los Angelos to Charlotte.
San Fransisco to Washington D.C.
Seattle to Boston.

6 runs south to north. No need to specify these. All 10 of these runs will be high speed rail between population centers. Locally, at the county/region level, a smaller mag lev system can and should be built for local transportation needs. These systems construction costs will vary accoring to the size of the system, like wise, the return on investment timeline will vary according to the usage of these local systems.
You wanted a hoover dam type project, here ya go. All can be done in 50 years with full employment and a return on investment with a surplus in a decent time frame.

I am not in favor of jamming the bill through. I'd like them to take their time and to it right, however that's just not possible. The Dems are getting loosy with some of the fiscal projections, and the Repubs are just flat out saying 'no' to any and every option being put forth.

It's in the Repubs best political interests to stall. By dragging this out, they give the astroturfed 'grassroots' opposition financed by the insurance lobby more time to swing public opinion against it. The more opposition, the more they can rail against Obama, saying how he's failing on a major campaign promise. It sets them up with a platform for the midterms in 2010, while keeping those insurance company donations flowing.

I truly feel that (in Congress) the Democrats are actually interested in health care reform, while Republicans are interested in nothing of the sort. That's what frustrates me most.