St. Louis CofCC Blog

Spot the irony.

Chicago Tribune:

For Somalis, who have migrated here in the last decade, the bridge was a vital lifeline connecting an established community on one side of the river with a growing Somali neighborhood on the other. Sometimes locals jokingly referred to it as “the Somali Bridge” – a lifeline for the 40,000 to 50,000 Somalis estimated by community leaders to be living in the Twin Cities and their suburbs

(snip)

To the Somalis who live near the bridge, the picture remains unfathomable. After all, they said, bridges collapse in underdeveloped African nations not in metropolitan Minneapolis.

In other words, they are complaining that Minneapolis seems like the third world they left. I wonder why.

The collapse too adds to uneasy feelings among Somalis who say they have felt a federal backlash since Sept. 11, 2001 not only because of their Muslim faith but also because Somalia has been accused of harboring terrorists associated with Osama bin Laden. The bridge collapse has added jitters for Somalis who in recent years regrouped and rallied around one another.

If it’s so horrible, they can always go back home to Somalia. Sure, they’ll have crumbling bridges, but they’ll be liberated from the evil American foreign policy, and return to the Islamic paradise.

Jesse Jackson, in the Chicago Sun-Times:

What happened at both ends of the Mississippi and is happening in cities across the country are tragedies, but they aren’t random accidents. They are the direct price of the right wing in power. Scornful of government, intent on cutting taxes and slashing spending, they systematically have shorted public investment in our basic infrastructure — in bridges and roads, in rail lines and air systems, in parks and schools.

Keep in mind that Jackson is for amnesty and open borders.

Those are the stated priorities of modern-day conservatives — a far remove from those of President Dwight Eisenhower, who built the interstate highway system while putting a lid on military spending and balancing the budget. Ike knew that infrastructure was important; military adventurism was dangerous and fiscal balance was common sense.

Keep in mind that the interstate highway system was sold as an important element of national defense. The official name of the system is the Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways.

Jackson is right in that more than one bridge will crumble. But he will never recognize that the browning of America is and will continue to be the cause.