Earlier I talked about Steve "The Liar" Stuart's babble about the CRC.
So much idiocy, so little time.
I missed part two of his morality play lecture, which looks like this:
Support the CRC project, oppose the project, as an elected official at least have an opinion, based on facts that have been discussed for 7+ years, instead of using political winds or rhetoric that is disrespectful to the thousands of commenters, 39 member taskforce, neighborhood advisory groups, env justice groups, etc., that worked hard to create the Federally approved project). As Mr. Miagi said in The Karate Kid - "Walk left side, safe. Walk right side, safe. Walk middle, sooner or later get squish just like grape." We need Jaime to espouse her opinion of the project, as the FHWA approved, at the very least so voters know what she thinks as they vote on anything. Just hiding until she has a vote in hand (from less than her whole district, and on only one piece) is not acceptable for anybody in a leadership position, especially our representative in Congress.
I get why Jaime wants to wait for a vote, regardless what it's on. Tim and I know better than most how divisive this project is, and how difficult (and muddy) the process has been to get to a Record of Decision. I personally have asked for things like a poll on how much people would pay for a toll given the benefits they'd receive, was promised it, and I haven't gotten it. I've asked for phasing plans because I don't believe the money will be there all at once, and have been promised we'll see something next year (only after the Governor's panel asked for it), and many other times I've been really frustrated with the process in time and cost.
HOWEVER, the bottom line is that this project needs to happen. We have the only lift span on I-5, with inadequate lane widths, no add-drop lanes so traffic comes in from a dead stop, no shoulders, an interchange system around the bridge that doesn't work, and the busiest port interchanges in our region within the project area. My point? I will continue to push for the financing pieces to be better for our local citizens (part of the reason to push Jaime to advocate as she promised in the campaign for more Federal $), but I support the project as it has been approved by every local agency of note, FTA, and now the Federal Highway Administration. Shouldn't we be able to expect the same clarity from our Congresswoman?:"
Among the many problems the liar has is his selective use of the term "facts."
There is a huge difference between self-serving figures from paid-off sources, designed and relied upon to support pre-ordained outcomes and because reality frequently interferes with a set agenda. As anyone paying attention knows, saddling 65,000 commuters 13 or 14 or $1500 a year or more for unnecessary, unwanted and unaffordable tolls, particularly without asking those same commuters FIRST, means that "facts" do not enter into this equation.
The Liar Stuart's reliance on these figures is the same kind of reliance that led to the local debacle of the Hilton and the even larger debacle at the Wenatchee Town Toyota Center (TTC) a huge disaster visited on the town of Wenatchee and surrounding local communities who are now in default for $42,000,000 because, like the clowns running government here locally refuse to allow a vote, the clowns in Wenatchee made the same short-sighted, politically-expedient decision that has come back to bite them in the butt... in spades.... all on an obviously unsupported, unneeded and unwanted facility that the local economy could not afford.
So when you start with a lie, everything that follows is a lie.
That so many people were involved in planning for this execution is meaningless. Unless or until a vote is held countwide, all these people did was design the rope. Ignoring you, Stuart; ignoring them and ignoring this effort is absolutely proper, given that people like The Liar Stuart, The Liar Leavitt and the others who were ramming this down our throats.... are all ignoring the people. You know.... the people who have to pay for this monstrosity?
The reason they've decided to ignore us is simple and obvious. They know there is no way this rip off would survive at the polls if it were put to a countywide vote.
The Liar Stuart seems so concerned about disrespecting those stuffing this down our throats because not everyone... in fact, hardly anyone... agrees with this lynching.... that he forgets all about the fact that he and those like him are disrespecting US... FAR more. The Liar Stuart lied to get reelected, promising an election on this scam for last November. But even then, the area he would have allowed to vote would have been so small there is no way that would've reflected the true will of the people he would govern.
At the Federal level, unfortunately for us all, our congresswoman is a coward. Tim "The Liar" Leavitt knocked her political teeth out when she tried to get us to actually believe she cared about what we wanted by asking for a worthless "district wide" vote on all of this.
The Liar Leavitt smacked her like a rented stepchild. And she folded like a cheap suit. In fact, she's disappeared on the issue completely.
While not surprising, that in no way means that she should become their butt boy.
In all of his tripe, the biggest lie of the many lies from the liar Stuart is this one:
HOWEVER, the bottom line is that this project needs to happen.
There are a wide variety of cheaper, more efficient and more impactful alternatives that make this project completely unnecessary. At the end of the day, the whole point of this exercise is to bring loot rail in from Portland. Exclusive of the fact that no one wants loot rail in Vancouver, that requirement will make this the most expensive transportation project for its distance in history, costing us 10 billion unnecessary dollars when cheaper alternatives and additional bridges could and should be built in such a way that almost all of The Liar Stuart and The Liar Leavitt's concerns are addressed... and we get MUCH more capacity, freight mobility and reduced congestion.
Ridgefield Barbie will ultimately cave. In an era where are our congresswoman should have a spine of titanium, we're cursed with a model who has a spine of spaghetti. Otherwise, she already would've punished both The Liar Stuart and The Liar Leavitt.
Why these two are so eager to screw us is simply beyond my comprehension. But neither the facts nor the non-existent and proven lack of support of the people justify the financial enslavement of generations of commuters to come for a project we do not want, do not need, and cannot afford.
Cross posted at
Clark County Politics.
