Want to read something scary? Click over to the Federal Highway Administration’s National Bridge Inventory site and do a little reading on the state of America’s bridges. The good news is that most of them are in pretty good shape. More than half. The bad news is that some of our bridges are in pretty bad shape. How many? Try 149,647 rated structurally deficient. And most of those are still in use. Drive for a half an hour and you’ll... Read more
America’s electrical power grid is a much more complicated thing than the systems we have for distributing drinking water or handling wastewater. The technology of our water system isn’t wholly different from what the Romans used. It’s basically, to quote the late Sen. Ted Stevens, “a series of tubes.” Those tubes were built with about a 30-year life span and we’ve been using them for more than 50 years, so they need replacing and upgrading. The task is a bit... Read more
I’ve been advocating — requesting, demanding — a massive public works effort to repair America’s aging infrastructure because 1) that infrastructure is in desperate need of repair, and 2) we have 14.6 million jobless Americans who could really use some productive work. But from what I understand, there’s another reason this is logical, effective, efficient, wise and necessary right now: Infrastructure is on sale. I’m not an economist, and I’d like to hear from economists as to whether the following... Read more
STEP ONE: Someone claims to be deeply offended that members of some minority are being treated just like members of the majority are. Equality under the law is portrayed as an attack on the majority, an insult and an affront to their way of life. Left-handed children need to assimilate. Our schools are bending over backwards to accommodate these children and America can't afford to do that. My family, like most real Americans, is right-handed. I don't see why our... Read more
"Sanction" is one of those words — like "cited" or "sanguine" — that can mean opposite things. This can be confusing. "The bus driver received a citation from the city" might mean she was ticketed — punished — for a traffic violation. Or it might mean she was rewarded and commended for excellence. In the 1980s, South Africa was under sanctions due to Apartheid. After that system was lifted, the sanctions were removed and trade with South Africa was once... Read more
The Liar Tony Perkins, head of the Family Research Council, appeared on CBS’ Face the Nation on Sunday morning. I refer to the Liar Tony Perkins as “the Liar Tony Perkins” because the Liar Tony Perkins lies. A lot. He lies professionally in order to convince the fearfully credulous to send him more money. And that, of course, is what the Liar Tony Perkins was doing Sunday morning on Face the Nation. He was lying. The delicious thing on this... Read more
Right now, in 2010, the United States has the same number of offshore wind farms as Mali. Mali is a much poorer country, but its primary obstacle to developing offshore wind power is not a problem of money or technology. Mali’s main problem when it comes to offshore wind is that it’s landlocked. America has no such excuse. It stretches, famously, from “sea to shining sea.” The United States has 12,383 miles of coastline. And yet, in 2010, 41 years... Read more
I realize that sewers and storm drains aren’t terribly exciting or interesting, but life without them would be much more interesting, just not in a good way. The situation of our sewer and storm-drain infrastructure is very much the same as that for our drinking water infrastructure, and the idea here is very much the same as we discussed earlier. The water is flowing in the opposite direction and it doesn’t smell as pleasant, but the potential for job-creation while... Read more
Most Americans live paycheck-to-paycheck. Some of those paychecks are larger than others, but the pattern is the same. Most of us also get paid every two weeks. Our bills, however, come monthly, and so our household budgets are structured according to these monthly expenses. But at least twice a year we get this wonderful treat: the three-paycheck month. It's like a mini-Jubilee, a respite from the strain of every dollar's being accounted for before it is received. You likely know... Read more
Even the most fecund soil needs to lie fallow on occasion (fecund being the most polite euphemism I can think of for Tim LaHaye's theological politics and Jerry Jenkins' storytelling), so, while it pains me to see the Bruce Dies and Double Wedding countdowns stalled in one place, I'm going to take a bit of a mini-vacation from Tribulation Force Mondays, returning to the topic with refreshed eyes and a refreshed tolerance for terrible, terrible prose. So we'll be picking... Read more
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