FISH OUT OF WATERTwenty-one penguins were rescued on a hot east Texas highway in late July … after a truck that was carrying the wildlife to a temporary home south of Houston overturned.Four penguins and a few exotic fish were killed in the accident, including three penguins that were hit by passing motorists. A Texas Department of Public Safety Trooper said the remaining penguins huddled together in a ditch.The truck, also carrying an octopus that was uninjured, was bound for Moody Gardens, a tourist destination in Galveston, an hour south of Houston, a resort spokeswoman said.When man interferes with the animal kingdom, trouble is always around the corner.FROM A USA TODAY ARTICLE IN LATE JULY:Fifty-three members of Congress are related – they are sons, daughters, siblings, spouses or grandchildren of governors, senators or U.S. representatives. The Colorado Salazar brothers – Sen. Ken and Rep. John were included on the list.The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.U.S. ROADS NO MOREAccording to an Associated Press article dated July 15, roads and bridges built by U.S. taxpayers are being sold – to foreign owned companies.Leslie Miller, a reporter for the AP, wrote, “On a single day in June, an Australian-Spanish partnership paid $3.8 billion to lease the Indiana Toll Road. An Australian company bought a 99-year lease on Virginia’s Pocahontas Parkway and Texas officials decided to let a Spanish-American partnership build and run a toll road from Austin to Seguin for 50 years.”The Bush administration’s plan to let a foreign company manage U.S. ports met a storm of protest in February. But plans to sell or lease highways to companies outside the United States have not met such resistance.”But some of the foreign sales have come back to bite … guess who? The taxpayer, of course.Last year, the city of Chicago sold a 99-year lease on the eight-mile Chicago Skyway for $1.83 billion to the same buyers that leased the Indiana Toll Road -Macquarie Infrastructure Group of Sydney, Australia, and Cintra Concesiones de Infraestructuras de Transporte of Madrid, Spain. Chicago paid off some debt and funded more road projects while the Skyway tolls rose 50 cents; the toll charge is expected to reach $5 by 2017.A toll road was built in Orange County, Calif., for $130 million – the California company that built the road was partially owned by a French company. Seven years after the toll road opened in 1995, there was gridlock. However, Orange County could not build more roads because of a provision in the toll road lease, so they had to buy back the toll road – for $207.5 million.National leaders are encouraging U.S. companies to invest in the highway system.We sell our toll roads, they raise our tolls. It will come down to this: toll roads for the upper class; back roads for the lower class. Middle class – the road less traveled.WHAT LAWYER GIVES IN TO THIS?“While finding a place to relieve himself” late at night, camper Jerry Mersereau, 23, “walked off the unguarded and unprotected cliff falling approximately 20 to 30 feet to the creek bed below” in the Mt. Hood National Forest in Oregon. No, that’s not a quote from a death report; it’s from Mersereau’s lawsuit against the U.S. Government. Mersereau claims the government “should have known the cliff posed a danger to campers” and posted a warning sign. By not doing so, it’s the government’s fault he suffered “mental anguish” from his ordeal. It was not reported how much he’s seeking in the suit. (Portland Oregonian)-www.thisistrue.com
