Bush & Co are trying to junk Amtrack

[Leilani]

They have cut off all funding for rail service in their budget.

They claim they will support train service in the NorthEast corridor: Boston to Washington. However, commuter rail in N.J. uses the Amtrak rails.

Imagine if there was no commuter service in the Northeast helped financially by the Feds?

Sen Byrd has an amendment to try & reverse this.

Clinton, Dorgan, & Corzine have made speeches in favor of the funding.

Imagine if after 9/11, there had been NO rail service out of New York?

We're losing our infrastructure, while we're building it for Iraqis.

[CottonBear]

1. Goddamn them.

They just waited for a second term to totally dismantle and destroy the USA as we know it. The sheeple never saw it coming. It's all the sheeples' fault. I really angry with everyone who voted for *.

[skylarmae]

2. I guess it is time to start letter writing on this issue now.

Georgie porgie has really given us lots to do just trying to manage the status quo. It just doesn't seem to end with this guy and his callousness. AND THIS BUSINESS OF THE DEBT.......

[Leilani]

3. And CAFTA is on the horizon!

[HeeBGBz]

4. Of course they are

Evil fuckers destroy everything good.

[HereSince1628]

5. You can get better rail service from Murmansk to St. Petersburg

Than you can from Milwaukee to Chicago.

Unless you love gas guzzling cars carrying one passenger that just doesn't seem right.

[Leilani]

8. Most places in the world

have better rail service.

This is also a hit on blue states, as they use rail more than red states.

[WatchWhatISay]

10. You are right - that is the heart of the matter

The old rightwing strategy of "Defund the Left" has shifted to "Defund the Blue (States)"

Yesterday I watched on C-Span as Republicans were able to get a bill passed that authorized making FEMA payments to Floridians and others tax-free, even though there were reports that much of that money was abused and used to upgrade property or remiburse damage that never really occurred. Of course that abuse never became an important story in the media, but it happened nonetheless. Now they want it to be tax free.

A femal Rep. from New York got up to complain that she had been trying for 3 years to get the same tax break for New Yorkers being reimbursed for damages from 9/11. So far she has been unsuccessful, and unable to interest the Republican house into acting on her bill.

None of the Democrats had the nerve to oppose it though. Even the New York Rep. was careful to stress that she was not opposing passage of this bill, she just wanted similar treatment fro New York victims. In order to oppose it, the Dems would have had to be brazen enough to mention that as it was set up, it would benefit red states much more than blue states.

[Leilani]

6. This subject just pisses me off!

I was a NY commuter for a long time.

We all pay for subsidies to airlines, we build highways in rural areas where few people use them.

But we can't subsidize rail travel in this country.

[cornermouse]

9. "we build highways in rural areas where few people use them"

And where do you think there are any highways with few people using them? "Rural" highways have a lot of traffic. Typically there is no public transit, so you have commuters. Then there are those just driving through on their way to somewhere else, truckers, vacationers looking for somewhere to get away from it all, to name only a few.

[Divernan]

7. Haven't you people heard of private jets!?!?!? Peons!!!

Plus, it would be so disgustingly European to have high speed, safe rail systems!

(Sarcasm off)

[Sequoia]

11. Trains don't need gasoline to run

Chimpy wants us all to drive and fly everywhere. Makes me wonder about all those derailments in LA and elsewhere.

[zann725]

18. That's it! It's a gasoline-thing!

They want us even more dependant..as they start drilling the Alaska wilderness and CA coastline to find our ever-growing need for oil...due to no trains.

This is soooo insane.

[Spinzonner]

12. Oh quit whining

We'll just go back to hopping freight trains, like the good olde days of the 1930's that the Republicans want to take us back to.

[JackD76]

13. who cares?

AMTRACK Sucks. Who here even rides AMTRACK?

[Us vs Them]

14. Obviously not you.

Have you ever been to a train station? Union Station in Chicago, and Grand Central Station in New York each have hundreds of trains a week. People who would rather not fly, or those who can't afford airfare depend on rail transport as a viable means of travel. Unlike planes, trains are not as susceptible to weather conditions, fare hikes, strikes, no-fly lists, or terrorist attack. You can't hijack a train and run it into a building. And most importantly, trains do not require a vast network of traffic control personnel - salaried with taxpayer dollars.

But, I mean, if you think it sucks, maybe we should all just start driving. Thanks for your input.

[foreigncorrespondent]

15. How long do you think you...

...will be able to find clean air out in the sticks if AMTRACK isn't running?

Without public transport more people have to turn to driving to and from where they want to be. What do you think all those emissions do to the quality of air?

So AMTRACK sucks does it? Well next time you are in the sticks and are breathing in nice clean air, think about what you have said here. Then consider yourself lucky that you are only breathing that clean air because people actually ride the train rather than drive everywhere.

On eidt: Even though I am in Australia I just thought I would add that my mother rides the train daily to get to the suburb where she works. From there she rides her bike.

Me, I have a job that is a fifteen minute drive by car away. I got this job recently, and don't start until the 29th of this month. Unfortunately no trains or buses go that way, so I will be forced to drive. But I am glad I am so close to work, so my car (a four cylinder) isn't producing too much emissions on the days I will be working.

[CottonBear]

16. I ride Amtrack.

It is a brilliant way to travel long (and short) distances. My family and I enjoy travelling to New Orleans by train.

[Withywindle]

19. I do, all the time.

My parents don't have any airports within a 2 and a half hour drive of them, but there is an Amtrak station just an hour or so away, so that's how I go visit them. It's just one overnight, and the scenery is incredible! Cheaper than flying too. I do this about three times a year. I also go to New York on it to visit my friends there sometimes, because it's a really relaxing way to travel. I shut my cell phone off and just read, listen to music, write, and sleep. :thumbsup:

My Senator Dick Durbin was talking on C-SPAN 2 tonight about all the college students and baseball fans who use it in IL. It's the perfect way to do, say, a three hour trip when you don't want to worry about parking when you get there.

[HEIL PRESIDENT GOD]

20. I do about one round trip a week

There have been times in my life when I've done three or four trips a week. It's my main way of going to see friends and family or do work in the Bay Area since I don't own a car.

It's getting to the point where Caltrak should secede from Amtrak, since we're actually operating our passenger trains at a profit over here. No one wants to be on the freeways these days, least of all me.

[Sugarbleus]

17. The cuts to local and national transportation services is

ABOMINABLE!! I've been wanting the country to build a huge cross country and local/regional rail service. Of course, that would piss off the auto industry and all that goes with it.

We don't need MORE highways and MORE cars, we need rail service of all types. Out here in the west there is massive room for rail services. I'm getting so I freeze up if I have to drive any appreciable distance anymore. How nice it would be to ride the rails, sit back, drink coffee, take a nap and arrive at my destination (whether near or far) REFRESHED.

The neocons don't want us OUT of our cars, not servicing our cars,not buying gas everyday...it would KILL their crony investor's portfolios.

[iconoclastNYC]

21. Am I wrong or would the NE routes be profitable by themselves?

From what I've read from pro-amtrack sources is that the reason Amtrak bleeds so much money is the congressional mandate that it be a national rail network. from what I've read the Northeastern routes are the only ones that are profitable and the all the other routes eat up that profit and then some, hence the need for subsidies.

[JPZenger]

22. UK's Disastrous Experience With Rail Privatization

Here is a good article about Britain's disastrous experience with the privatization of the British Rail system.

http://multinationalmonitor.org/mm2002/02jan-feb/jan-feb02corp1.html