Life On The Mississippi, Or A Goat Here, A Goat There, And Soon It's Just Like Home

The Somali's of Minneapolis (yes there is such a thing) are taking the whole I-35 bridge collapse a little too personal...

Still, the collapse was something Somalis never expected to witness in their new homeland. And it has some wondering if the American government has misplaced its priorities by ignoring a decaying national infrastructure in favor of its costly foreign policy.

"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."

Yes, and of course if you want to learn anything about properly maintained infrastructure the obvious person to turn to is a recent immigrant from Somalia.
What with their glittering interstate highway system, dams and all that other stuff.
In fact lets look up some information on that....here it is from GlobalSecurity.org

There are no railways in Somalia; internal transportation is by truck and bus. The national road system is comprised of over 22,000 km of highways though only 2,600 of it is paved.

Air transportation is provided by small air charter firms and craft used by drug smugglers. There are a total of 62 airfields in Somalia, of which 5 are paved and have a length ranging from 2,500 to 3,000 meters. The other 57 runways are unpaved with lengths ranging from 900 to 3,000 meters. The UN and other NGOs operate air service for their missions.

There are no major waterways and four major ports including deepwater facilities at Berbera, Mogadishu, and Chisimayu; lighterage port at Merca; minor port at Maydh. A port modernization program launched in latter half of 1980s with United States aid significantly improved cargo handling capabilities at Chisimayu, and increased number of berths and deepened harbor at Berbera.

Hmmmm. Obviously one of those "wrong places" where we were investing.

Oh, and look who they're turning to for comfort.

Ellison (Rep. Keith Ellison) has met with the family and those in the Somali community in recent days and finds them resolute in support of local, state and national government efforts on the scene.
"They are Minnesotans," he said of the Somalis

Well maybe in a very loose sense, because just four sentences before that we have...

"We are in a state of shock," she said, sitting in the entrance of her son's textile shop in a makeshift Somali mall designed to resemble a stall market in Mogadishu.

I was saying just the other day, "what the Upper Mississippi valley needs is some more Mogadishu style stall markets.