>
http://www.nj.com/traffic/index.ssf/2015/03/why_is_road_bridge_and_transit_construction_so_exp.html#incart_river>
>$2 million/mile.
>That's 12 times the national average and 3 times the cost of a state of like density, Massachusetts.
>NJ DOT director Jamie Foxx is a political hack appointed by Christie.
>He doubts it's a problem.
>Nothing to do with party. The dems were just as bad.
>In another story in the same issue, we learned the Port Authority of NY/NJ has 240 jobs paying over $200K/year.
>I wonder if Coca Cola has that many?
>Do you think they're union jobs?
>The last mayor of Trenton is in jail.
>The last mayor of Hamilton has just left the federal prison in Lewisburg.
>The last mayor of Toms River is away for a long, long time.
>Senator Robert Menendez is being investigated for Federal Corruption.
>The chairman of the Port Authority (appointed by Christie) left in a hurry after his law firm got some cushy deals.
>Christie flies to Cowboy games in Jerry Jones' jet while Jones bids on Port Authority contracts and wins.
I don't think it's right to blame it on unions. They exist for a reason. Workers were exploited ruthlessly, Are they guilty of excesses and sometimes corruption? Sure. But I wouldn't want to see it go back to the time when ownership had absolute power.
FWIW my father was anti-union his whole life. If nothing else because a couple of Teamsters-like guys came to his hotel room in DC the night before he was scheduled to testify before Congress. They said you'll get on the next plane back to Maine if you know what's good for you. (He stayed and testified). But I'll tell you what. The two guys I talked to the longest to at his wake were truck drivers, including the one who sat across the table from him when the drivers were trying to unionize. He said Virgil and I didn't agree about that but he always treated us with respect and took the trouble to tell you why. If anything my dad had more problems with fellow management than with the unionizers. They brought him in to block any union talks and kill them dead, dead, dead. They didn't understand their man very well. He came from nothing and always sympathized with the working class, even if they didn't share views. The more senior of the two drivers was off in the morning to compete in the Maine Truck Roadeo, a precision truck driving competition he won several times. He even won the national competition once. He opened his sport jacket to show me a huge belt buckle he won at one of them. "I don't wear this very often," he said. There were a lot of tributes to him that weekend, including mine, but IMO that was the best of them.
To anyone who has living parents, call them and let them know. Call them today or by the end of the weekend at the latest. Because you never know. Where they're gone, they ain't coming back. Funny how often I have been thinking of Jerry Garcia lyrics lately, speaking of a guy who went too soon and ain't coming back. So blow your whistle freight train / Take it far on down the tracks/ I'm goin' today, I'm leavin' today / I'm goin' but I ain't coming back
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86bP46BR6qA>Wow? How come it's $2million/mile?
>Those lousy unions!
