"Instead of building bridges, they spent more on invading countries," said Abbi Osman, a young Somali who came to Minnesota four years ago and was watching buddies play dominoes Tuesday in a Somali coffee shop. "They are investing in the wrong places."

I would have to agree with the young Somali muhmmadan.

Posted by: Ynkedoodl2 at August 8, 2007 3:49 PM

I find myself in agreement with those who feel that "the American government has misplaced its priorities by ignoring a decaying national infrastrucutre in favor of its costly foreign policy." The United States is becoming more and more like a third world country. We have an ever-increasing divide between rich and poor and a government that daily becomes more autocratic and less interested in the people it is supposed to serve. Aside from making sure that their citizens can not attack the United States, I do not really care abour Somalia, Pakistan, Darfur, etc. We do not need ANY Somali immigrants.

Posted by: MP at August 8, 2007 3:55 PM

This is an interesting read.

A Bridge to "Moderate" Islam Is In Fact a Road to Hell
http://www.amilimani.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=74&Itemid=2

Not exactly in context with this story but it does have the words Bridge and muslim in it.

Posted by: Abrog8 at August 8, 2007 4:13 PM

Dammit y'all. The final responsibility for roads and bridges lies with the states not the Feds. It is the responsibility of each of the 50 states to inspect and repair.

If there is any negligence, it lies in Minnesota!!!! If a new bridge is needed, the state pays part or most of the cost.

Ken Shepherd is an idiot hiding behind anti-Bush ideology.

The damn problem is that too much tax money is going into these social welfare programs.

Posted by: Pelayo at August 8, 2007 4:19 PM

The bridge collapses in Somali are usually due to explosives set by Muslims fighting in the area...and besides, just how many real bridges are in Somalia?.....

Posted by: exsgtbrown at August 8, 2007 4:21 PM

Oops, my apologies to Ken Shepherd. E.A. Torriero is the idiot.

Posted by: Pelayo at August 8, 2007 4:28 PM

Abrog8

A Bridge to "Moderate" Islam Is In Fact a Road to Hell

I read the article earlier this morning and I thought it was right on. I sent the article to Robert in the hopes of having him post it. I recommend it as good reading.

Mackie

Posted by: Mackie at August 8, 2007 4:37 PM

On Fox now: authorities are looking for someone in a kayak who was seen near or under the bridge just before it collapsed. If it was some innocent person who managed to escape, don't you think we would have seen them telling their story on TV? If it was some innocent person who did not manage to escape, G-d rest their soul. If it was a terrorist who caused the bridge to collapse.......

Posted by: mepeteart at August 8, 2007 4:42 PM

Ship the Somalis back to Mogadishu.
There is no reason the US has to put up with this.

Posted by: UK Infidel Lover at August 8, 2007 4:54 PM

exactly

if we did not take the poor and oppressed Somalis, now in the United States making demands

we could use that money to repair and maintain our infrastructure

and isn;t it nice, that the Somalis can relax the day in coffeeshops?

besides driving taxis at their leisure, besides swelling the welfare rolls,

what do they contribute?

Posted by: ploome at August 8, 2007 5:13 PM

Well when they find out a muslim taxi driver set off explosives under the bridge it will be a freedom fighters right to stand up to Bush and his against sharia.

Posted by: KAOSKTRL at August 8, 2007 6:05 PM

First it was global warming that caused the bridge collapse, now it's unwise investing.

These Somalis should thank God (not Allah) they are here. I'm sure the distress would never cause them to repatriate to their homeland.

Somalia, isn't that where our soldiers' bodies were dragged through the streets in Blackhawk Down?

The presidential candidate who agrees to STOP these fanatical cultists from immigrating will get my vote. They come here, and we continue to pay huge amounts of aid to their countries. Incredible.

Posted by: CapitalistGig at August 8, 2007 6:05 PM

I know this fairy tale is partially made up by an self-loathing America hating Bush bush bashing idiot... but there's some truth in his odious formulation, and presentation of immigrant "outrage" and "shock".

I have one thing to say: May every Somali immigrant -- every Mexican immigrant -- EVERY immigrant who comes to America who then becomes "outraged" at this or that, may he or she return to their sewer of origin and complain to their heart's content.

Stay away from this crumbling neglected Islamophobic hell hole -- don't come here and experience first hand the terrifying horror of living in the heartland of latter day fascism.

I'm sick to the gills listening to newcomers point their jabby fingers at us lecturing about tolerance, justice, and the proper way of doing things. This complete insult to our generosity and openness as a people, as well as the grave insult of enduring lectures from our cultural inferiors is simply too much.

Get the hell out. Crawl back to your respective sewers -- those glorious ditches of Somalia, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia -- in short -- ease yourselves back into those comfortable perches of filth, corruption, and heinousness from which you emerged like so much slime. We don't need this kind of human refuse littering the place up as they do...

Posted by: jsla at August 8, 2007 6:37 PM

Is there not a Somali Muslim woman and her daugther among the 8 missing persons since that bridge has gone down. How ironic.

Posted by: bigcatgirl13106 at August 8, 2007 7:25 PM

The ungrateful Somalis to whom we granted asylum snivel:

…bridges collapse in underdeveloped African nations not in metropolitan Minneapolis.

They kind of have a point.

-The West Virginia failure in the 60s was a result of a fatigue crack in a small critical member that couldn’t be inspected because of the design. Immediately after the failure, its two sister bridges were taken out of service.
-Tacoma Narrows was a design that did not take into account wind resonance. It flapped like a giant rubber band for a long time before it finally failed.
-A bridge in Florida failed in a massive windstorm.
-A bridge in Oklahoma failed after a barge ran into a support.
-The San Francisco bridge failed in an earthquake.
-Lots of bridges are damaged when rivers cause scour in their footings.

Bridges carrying light loads don’t just collapse on quiet evenings in modern America, at least until now. Things happen for reasons.

Nobody knows what happened in Minnesota, but it’s weird.

Posted by: pez at August 8, 2007 7:39 PM

Utter crap.

Posted by: Hugh at August 8, 2007 7:52 PM

And the fact that the NTSB Chairman pointed the finger at Progressive Contractors, Inc. for storing “tens of thousands of pounds” of construction materials on the deck is disturbing.

The weight of these materials, and probably lots more would have been factored into the design of the bridge improvements. The Chairman seemed to have chosen to use the words “tens of thousands of pounds” instead of “a truckload” for effect. He got one; Drudge picked right up on it. A legal truck is 80,000 pounds.

Maybe I’m reading too much into things. Sorry for the vent.

Posted by: pez at August 8, 2007 7:55 PM

"The bridge collapse has added jitters for Somalis who in recent years regrouped and rallied around one another."
---------------------------------

If they're so jittery in the US, they always have the option of going back to Somalia!

More to the point: while two Somalis were tragically killed in the bridge collapse, Torriero's commentary is an insult to the five Americans and one Mexican who also lost their lives.

Posted by: Provoslavni at August 8, 2007 8:03 PM

Why don't these Somali parasites come out and just say that they think Bush and "the Jooz" set off bombs along the bridge supports?

Posted by: 3812Michelle at August 8, 2007 8:30 PM

Bridges have collapsed in the past and they will collapse in the future.

The fact that third world immigrants on welfare have been surprised by the fact we are not perfect is a waste of paper and print.

Remember it is the Somali's that bites the hand that feeds them (Blackhawk Down) and it is Somali's that hide behind women and children while shooting. Bring a critic that has honor, then we will listen. Bring a writer, for that matter, that has honor. This writer could not even muster the word 'war' in his writing he had to use the words 'costly foreign policy'.

Our 'costly foreign policy' is allowing in foreign immigrants that live on welfare paid for on the backs of working American citizens and then whining about it.

Posted by: alaskan1000 at August 8, 2007 8:52 PM

This is "racist" or religionist. What about the the Polish Catholic cabbies how used the bridge, lost loved ones and are traumatized? What about the Japanese Buddhist or Shintoist cabbies how used the bridge, lost loved ones and are traumatized? What about the Chinese atheist cabbies how used the bridge, lost loved ones and are traumatized? They don't matter. They are not a "minority."

Somewhat OT, what does minority mean. If there are over a billion Muslims in the world, how can they be a minority? If there are almost as many Muslims or as many Muslims or more (according to CAIR now) Muslims in America than Jews, why are Muslims are a minority and not Jews? By all accounts, statistically, Muslims are better off than the majority of Americans, so like Jews, they have historically been successful in the US. So if they are not a numerical minority or a socio-economic minority, how are they a minority?

Hispanics would seem in many parts of the US a numerical majority, but a socio-economic minority, as their wages are lower than the average. I don't buy into such arguments for affirmative action or special privileges, but at least Hispanics have more to gripe about than Muslims. Polls show that Muslim Americans are wealthier than the national average.

Maybe Somali Muslims are not, but what is this article about? The plight of African immigrants to America who are poor and are dismayed by the collapse of a bridge or the plight of Muslims in America who as a whole are not poor but may also be dismayed by the collapse of a bridge. So were a lot of other people.

What a bunch of rot.

Posted by: Wimbledon Womble at August 8, 2007 9:52 PM

"Instead of building bridges, they spent more on invading countries,"

Ha! that exact same thing can be said for Muslims, only you can substitute "building bridges" for a whole slew of concerns that help raise their standard of living.

Posted by: JadeDragoness at August 8, 2007 9:53 PM

REAL MAN OF COURAGE , WISH HE WAS OUR PRESIDENT.

Dutch MP calls for ban on Quran | Print | E-mail
Global
By Agencies

Wilders said the Quran should be banned in the Netherlands in the column of a newspaper [AFP]
A Dutch member of parliament has called for the Quran to be banned in the Netherlands, describing it as a "fascist book" which calls on people to kill non-believers and rape women.

Geert Wilders, leader of the far-right Freedom Party, called for the ban in a letter published in De Volkskrant newspaper.

In his letter, Wilders compares the Muslim holy book to Mein Kampf, Adolf Hitler's autobiography, and said the Quran has "no place in our constitutional state".

"I have been saying this for years: there is no such thing as a moderate Islam," Wilders wrote.

Wilders' Freedom Party holds nine seats in the Netherlands' 150 seat parliament.

Call for ban

Wilders also said several chapters in the Quran "call on Muslims to oppress, persecute or kill Christians, Jews, dissidents and non-believers, to beat and rape women and to establish an Islamic state by force".

The publication of the letter comes after a weekend attack on Eshan Jami, a young Dutch politician, who established a group to support people who have renounced Islam.

Jami, who was not visibly injured in the attack, is now under police protection as is Wilders.

"Ban this wretched book like Mein Kampf is banned! Send a signal to Jami's attackers and other Islamic radicals that the Quran cannot be used in the Netherlands as an inspiration or an excuse for violence," Wilders said.

Wilders acknowledged that his plan would not receive majority support in the Dutch parliament.

"I am fed up with Islam in the Netherlands: no more Muslim immigrants allowed. I am fed up with the worship of Allah and Muhammad in the Netherlands: no more mosques," his letter concluded.

Posted by: desidude at August 8, 2007 11:05 PM

Are there chemical solutions to quickly accelerate steel bolts corrosion? If there was sabotage on this bridge, the inspectors may look at metal bolts holding together the steel structure first. I don't want to spread 'rumors and conspiracies,' but sabotage can be an effective way to destroy infrastructure with difficult to detect methods, making it look like an accident. The coincidence of Somaliland natives 'camping' below the bridge adds to spice of speculation. But until something is proven scientifically, it's only speculations. The next dilemma is what if they found that these bolts were corroded artificially? Do they tell us, the general public? Possibly not.

This Somali complaint of downed bridge is chutzpah. So they're inconvenienced. Too bad, move, preferrably back.

Posted by: Battle_of_Tours at August 8, 2007 11:33 PM

Deport the ingrates and use their welfare money to fix bridges.

A win-win.

Posted by: profitsbeard at August 8, 2007 11:48 PM

Ewwwwwwwww! This is without a doubt the most inane wussiest, whiniest specimen I've ever encuontered in the entire petri dish of American journalism. I just had a full body shudder of revulsion.

Posted by: poetcomic1 at August 9, 2007 12:12 AM

"Instead of building bridges, they spent more on invading countries," said Abbi Osman, a young Somali who came to Minnesota four years ago and was watching buddies play dominoes Tuesday in a Somali coffee shop. "They are investing in the wrong places."

Pathetic.

WHY doesn't this moslem who just came to the USA do something to "invest"??

WHY is is always 'they' - meaning US - who should do the 'investing'?

Oh, got me.. they're looking for jizzyah!

Being on Jihadwatch is beginning to pay off..

..a wise INVESTMENT of my time!

Posted by: Allahfanculo at August 9, 2007 12:33 AM

I never thought JW'd be discussing the bridge collapse here, but here it is ;-)

Posted by: Infidel Pride at August 9, 2007 2:56 AM

Maybe the Somalian Muslims help this bridge fall down. From one end...caused a domino effect and it was so odd how that bridge broke in sections. I guess a well educated enginner muslim who learn in our college here..thanks to taxpayers :\ would know about that!

Remember, Muslims will break us economically, I should say try to break us. What better way then destroying a big bridge...and important bridge for travel.

Too much has been going on in America to deny the posibility of Islam involvement in this downed bridge.

Are there chemical solutions to quickly accelerate steel bolts corrosion?

As a matter of fact...there is a reverse solution to weaken the strong hold...but who are the "invisible ones" that has been to college and learned in this field of engineering and chemicals. (Do Minnesota have good investigators that know their head from a hole in ground on this one?)

Posted by: Cher at August 9, 2007 3:07 AM

Look, if you anger American citizens, I mean REAL American citizens, no one in government gives a crap!

If on the other hand, you anger islamics, or ILLEGAL aliens, or resident terrorists, you now have a chance that SOMEONE in the US government will CAIR enough to build a decent bridge in this case.

SO then, let our resident terrorists and illegal aliens get our bridges built using OUR tax money, since they are the ONLY ONES the government listens to -- then DEPORT THEM ALL!

INCLUDING THEIR AGENTS IN OUR GOVERNMENT THAT WE ELECT TO OFFICE!

Posted by: witness at August 9, 2007 8:39 AM

What kind of intelligence can you expect from people who just learned about modern plumbing and hygiene?

Primitive cultures where food, water, medicine, civil rights and laws are scarcer than thugs with guns,or religious bigots who want to murder their fellow countrymen in the name of religion or mutilate, enslave or force children into marriage in the name of their religion.

Yet, our bridges are eroding because of our intervention in Saddam's Middle East farce. Perhaps, Mr. Torriero hasn't read that article about the bridge contractor who hired unlicensed illegals to weld bridges. That's right, welders whose welding skills may not be adequate to protect and maintain our bridges.

The next time Mr. Torriero want to sympathize with Somali mislams, he should fly to Minneapolis with a seeing eye dog, have a drink in the bar, buy a bottle of scotch and then hail a cab driven by a Somali religious bigot.

Perhaps, Mr. Torriero will also like to reflect upon the religious tolerance some Muslims in Oakland, CA extended to a recently slain fellow journalist, Chauncey Bailey.

More Muslim victimization, Mr. Torriero?

Posted by: BurkasforHitlery at August 9, 2007 8:49 AM

Why are they saying anything about the bridge collapse? C'mon guys, pay attention here. What do these people do when they are working behind the scenes to destroy our country and our laws? They scream victimization which riles up all the useful idiots who live here who then take the debate (and blame, and name-calling...Islamaphobia anyone?) over there which takes the spotlight off of whatever underhanded thing these people were doing at the time.

Any why Minneappolis? Why not the Golden Gate, or Chesapeake Bay or any of the bridges leading into Washington, D.C?

Does anybody really give a flying flip what Abbi Osman has to say? Since when do coffee drinkin', taxi drivin', foreign nationals get to decide our public policy?

Posted by: Isabellathecrusader at August 9, 2007 8:50 AM

This reporter must have attended the Avi Lewis School of Journalism.

Posted by: Josephine at August 9, 2007 9:17 AM

I can imagine the editorial meeting at the newspaper:

Editor (counting on his fingers): Okay, so we've covered the initial disaster and the recovery efforts; we've profiled the victims and as many survivors as would speak to us; we've got photos; come on, what else?

Reporter #1: I've covered the funerals. Look, my nose is still swollen from that overly-sensitive father punching me. When will I find out about compensation?

Editor: You think that's bad. (Goes into big, long story about the glory days of covering the hippy uprisings of '67. He's jolted back into reality by the arrival of another reporter.)

Editor: You're late.

Reporter #2: Sorry, boss. I had to finish that feature article about bridge disasters in history.

Editor: Good, good. At least someone here is thinking. (Glares around the table at the other reporters.)

Reporter #3: Well... We haven't covered the Somalian-immigrant-taxi-drivers angle. There's always a bunch of them hanging around the coffee shop around the corner, so no problem finding someone to interview.

Editor: (nodding) Islamaphobia sells... Get on it. See if you can work in some criticism of the war. You've got two hours till deadline.

Posted by: Josephine at August 9, 2007 9:44 AM

You gotta be kiddin' me! Say it ain't so! Oh the humanity.

What the hell is wrong with people? This is beyond anything I could have dreamt up. Prose is stranger than poetry, without a doubt and this proser is a poseur of the lowest order.

Posted by: A_Plague_on_Both_Houses at August 9, 2007 10:49 AM

The truth is Bush traveled to 1967 (the year this bridge was built) in a Delorean time car and made sure the bridge would be set to collapse at the exact time that it did just to make Muslims look bad. It's the same method and motivation that allowed him to bring down the Twin Towers.

Posted by: ISLAMSFORLOSERS at August 9, 2007 10:55 AM

" 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.

"This all adds up to be very painful," said Omar Jamal, a Somali who directs the Somali Justice Advocacy Center that fights for Somali rights. "

- - - - -

Oh, man, I feel your pain. America is such a nasty, awful place, especially for Muslims, and most especially for Somalis. We eat bacon at breakfast, and sometimes our bridges fall down. I think the only thing to do is grit your teeth and hie yourselves back to good old Somalia where things are ever so much better than here. Buh-bye!

Posted by: A_Nonny_Mouse at August 9, 2007 3:04 PM

The truth is Bush traveled to 1967 (the year this bridge was built) in a Delorean time car and made sure the bridge would be set to collapse at the exact time that it did just to make Muslims look bad. It's the same method and motivation that allowed him to bring down the Twin Towers.

Islamisforloosers, that's funny! I'm wiping the coffee off my monitor as I contemplate the
DeLorean powered by the salivary drippings of Bush's war profiteering buddies.

Posted by: Shakey_Premise at August 9, 2007 8:22 PM

OT; My uncle just got back from Moscow, where at the duty free shop in the airport he saw a decanter of vodka designed like a kalashnakov rifle. I had to laugh at the mental picture of him getting a taxi at DFW carrying that thing.

Round trip to Moscow~$1200.00
Price of booze in rifle shaped bottle~$500.00
Look on Islamic cabbies face~priceless.
(no, he did not buy it).

Posted by: Shakey_Premise at August 9, 2007 8:31 PM

This absolutely takes first prize for contrived bull-shit victimization of muslims! After these traumatized Somalis whined and lamented about their trials and tribulations in the Great Satan, they probably went home to oversee the genital mutilation of their young daughters, and later celebrated their disfigurement and agony. Let's all celebrate the joys and wonders of diversity! It enriches us all and made America what it is today!

These bastards should all return to lovely, peaceful, secure, and properous Somalia where collapsing bridges are non-existent because they've all been bombed out by maniacal muslim jihadists. These ingrates do not deserve to be in America, and Americans do not deserve to be burdened and endangered by them.

Posted by: Susanp at August 10, 2007 1:28 AM