Tight-Waist

As long as you refuse to acknowledge that it was the CONSUMER who killed rail, you will continue to uninformed statements like this.

FloggingSully

"I havent forgotten anything and National Security Interests do NOT apply in this case because there is no national security crisis."
-I'm going to say it one more time, National Security interests trump environmental laws, it doesn't matter if there is a crisis or not. And, our current energy situation could definatly be considered a crisis.

"Did you even read what we were arguing about??? I doesnt appear so. We were discussing who was more powerful politically, Oil or Ecology. I pointed out by the fact that since neither ANWR or offshore California had been drilled then the Eco lobby was more powerful."
-We were arguing about a bunch of stuff, oil or ecology was one of them. If you really think that the eco lobby has more influence over our government than the oil lobby you're pretty nieve.

"Never hear of filibusters???? It takes a 2/3 majority to run roughshod over the opposition even if you have the White House. Just as Bill Clinton."
-When the GOP controled both the law making and the law enforcing branches of gov't they still managed to pass a bunch of other bills, if there was real political will to drill either in ANWR or offshore we'd already be doing it.

"Sometimes an endorsement, such as from Greenpeace or the Sierra Club can do just as much to ensure a re-election as can gobs of money. THAT is why the Eco-Lobby is MORE powerful than the oil lobby. There are more voters who identify themselves wtih green issues than those that identify with petroleum issues. "
-If it could do just as much, wouldn't politicians be spending just as much time courting endorsements from the eco-lobby as they do fundraising? Either they all have really bad campaign managers or money is far more important than being eco-friendly.

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There's no such thing as a pretty good aligator wrestler.

FloggingSully

Rail lost popularity because cars became cheaper and more convenient because of the HUGE subsidies the auto industry got. If we spent as much money on rail infrastructure as we did on roads things would be very different.

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There's no such thing as a pretty good aligator wrestler.

Tight-Waist

What do you call Amtrack for pete's sake???

People used to use trains, and there is STILL pleanty of track around...everywhere! But people just DONT LIKE TRAINS. And throwing money at that problem will not change the fact that trains are slow. Roads on the other hand get used EVERYWHERE by everyone because people LIKE the freedom a car has that trains never will.

As I have said before, they make sense between Boston and DC. You might even be able to make a case between San Diego and Seattle, but that would be very iffy as well. But ANYTHING inbetween would be, and has been, nothing more than an incredible taxpayer BOONDOGGLE!