In today's NYT editorials...
In a shocking genuflection to the gun lobby, the Senate has voted to deny Amtrak its indispensable $1.6 billion federal subsidy unless it allows passengers to transport handguns in their checked luggage. The budget support would be stripped in six months unless Amtrak scraps the gun ban that it wisely adopted five years ago after the terrorist railroad atrocities in Madrid.
[...]
The budget cudgel was approved despite pleas from Amtrak that it lacks the manpower, equipment and extra financing to effectively meet the deadline and that it faces a shutdown if federal funds are lost. Among other changes, baggage cars would have to be securely retrofitted and manpower increased. The warning cut no ice with the majority as the chief sponsor, Senator Roger Wicker, a Republican of Mississippi, intoned a lock-step mantra: “Americans should not have their Second Amendment rights restricted for any reason.”
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This stupidity leaves me sputtering. I despair over this country. Each day the insanity gets worse and worse, despite having a new president.
Even Vermont's Bernie Sanders voted for this idiocy. Political expediency since Vermont allows people to pack heat. I love that idea: if someone didn't like what I said from the pulpit, it could be all over.
Time to start reading real estate ads: France or Spain, here I come.
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- I am a life-long Episcopalian, who has been ordained since 1993. I was rector of a family-size congregation from 1994-2008 and have finished my first year as priest in partnership at a pastoral-size congregation in Vermont's second-largest city. I am involved in church governance at the diocesan, national and international Anglican levels. I also try to go to El Salvador a few times a year and am officially Canon Missioner of the Anglican Episcopal Church of El Salvador. In 2007, I finished the 1570 km Chemin de Saint Jacques/Camino de Santiago de Compostela. I greatly enjoy hiking in the Vermont Greens and NH Whites and reflect on those hikes. Lastly but most important, I am a cat-fanatic. (N.B. Whatever I post here does not reflect either the opinions of my congregation or of The Episcopal Church but merely those of an individual.)
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2 comments:
I also am stunned by this. I live in SD, where there is no Amtrak--so it was an easy nod to the powerful gun lobby in this state to cast the token vote. But in Vermont! I'm moving there soon, and was looking forward to riding Amtrak again as I used to when I lived in MO. With the poisonous political climate of today, I'll think twice before I board an Amtrak train.
Say--does anyone think this was done on purpose to put Amtrak out of business for good?
Thanks for sharing this. I commented on the issue at my blog -- too bad Blogspot still has no trackback functionality, or the entry would be linked here automatically.
Mind-boggling, and touching on what Laura said, it is indeed ridiculous that states with no involvement in a particular transport technology would have a say in regulating its usage. Yes, yes, senators are supposed to be above the fray of state politics, but really, that's idealistic nonsense.
We really need a regional approach on many policies, instead of a nationwide approach: form regional caucuses in the Senate for issues such as transport policy, and the entire Senate gets only to set overall financial, environmental, and safety goals. Hm, this deserves a full post on its own, once I have time to clarify some thoughts.
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