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From m'dad:
Greetings all,
As most of you know, I do most of my traveling throughout the country by rail. Unfortunately, it looks
like that mode of transportation may be unavailable shortly. The current Federal budget proposed by President Bush has $0 allocated for Amtrak. This will force the railroad into bankruptcy and terminate
intercity rail service in the US (probably forever).
Now some of you are probably saying "so what?". Why should the Federal Govt subsidize rail transportation? If it cannot pay for itself, good riddance! After all, we don't subsidize the airlines or private automobiles, right?
Wrong! Every Federal budget for the past 50 years (the current one included) has increased spending on the Nations highway system (so that we can drive our "privately funded" cars). This year's budget also includes around 15 BILLION dollars for the Air Transportation system (Air traffic control, airports,
bailouts, etc.) The real shame is that the greatest subsidies go to the WORST transportation system.
Automobiles are the major cause of death, air pollution and reliance on foreign energy.
If you know me well, you've probably heard all this before, and a lot more. The question your probably
asking by now is what can you do to shut me up :-)
Please, visit the following site: http://www.narprail.org/
There you can read all about Amtrak's problems and what you can do if you want to help. Mostly it
involves contacting your Congress-critter. If you want to do even more, you can also join this organization, which is fighting to keep Amtrak alive. A NARP membership will also get you a 10% discount on Amtrak travel.
Thanx for your time,
Rich
As most of you know, I do most of my traveling throughout the country by rail. Unfortunately, it looks
like that mode of transportation may be unavailable shortly. The current Federal budget proposed by President Bush has $0 allocated for Amtrak. This will force the railroad into bankruptcy and terminate
intercity rail service in the US (probably forever).
Now some of you are probably saying "so what?". Why should the Federal Govt subsidize rail transportation? If it cannot pay for itself, good riddance! After all, we don't subsidize the airlines or private automobiles, right?
Wrong! Every Federal budget for the past 50 years (the current one included) has increased spending on the Nations highway system (so that we can drive our "privately funded" cars). This year's budget also includes around 15 BILLION dollars for the Air Transportation system (Air traffic control, airports,
bailouts, etc.) The real shame is that the greatest subsidies go to the WORST transportation system.
Automobiles are the major cause of death, air pollution and reliance on foreign energy.
If you know me well, you've probably heard all this before, and a lot more. The question your probably
asking by now is what can you do to shut me up :-)
Please, visit the following site: http://www.narprail.org/
There you can read all about Amtrak's problems and what you can do if you want to help. Mostly it
involves contacting your Congress-critter. If you want to do even more, you can also join this organization, which is fighting to keep Amtrak alive. A NARP membership will also get you a 10% discount on Amtrak travel.
Thanx for your time,
Rich