Priorities

We've noticed that recently, on the "news", it's the same story in city after city.

Each city has had to cut services to the citizens, cutting jobs, closing pools, shortening library hours, cutting teachers in the school districts, no funding for infrastructure or police, fire, etc.

However, several of these cities (all?) want to raise taxes, or obligate the taxpayers to pay for new development. What is wrong with this picture? Did their parents not teach them any better?  You don't spend money you don't have on things you don't need.  Even if it's someone else's.

Then, last night on WFAA, we heard some in Dallas say they should give the earmark Trinity River bridge money back.  That's the best thing we've heard since Don Woodard said the same about the Trinity River Vision earmark money in Fort Worth, he said it might encourage every city across America to do the same.  That man may just be on to something.

What's downstream of the Fort Worth Trinity River Vision earmark?  Oh, the Dallas Trinity River bridge earmark...

What would not change is the $92 million in federal earmarks to pay for the remaining arches — and for anything else beyond the cost of a basic bridge over the Trinity.

Suhm said Dallas still deserves the earmarks.

But with the Washington debate about debt and cutting spending, Phillip Dennis — who is on the steering committee for the Dallas Tea Party — said earmarks for a designer bridge can't be justified.

In a written statement to News 8 on Tuesday, Hutchison wouldn’t say whether the earmark is still appropriate or should still be spent — only that the federal share “has been met.”

The Tea Party's Dennis accused Sessions of talking out of both sides of his mouth on the earmarks issue. “If he's against them now, then he should be against this $92 million," Dennis said. "Let's use it toward paying off our record $1.65 trillion deficit this year.”