Usa Thread

[unit731]

 My grandfather told me what really killed the railways was taking the mail service away from them and giving it to the airlines. (He was a railroader.) The rail lines had made a lot of money from carrying the mail. Remember those hooks they use to hang the mail sacks on? I liked to watch the passing trains snatch them up. 

 

 

Certainly this is part of the picture.

 

Fedex has exclusive contract to carry all air mail now.

 

Many factors played into the demise of passenger rail.

GM owned a bus factory/brand at the time.

 

In my area the abandoned rail tracks were given to the government. They are now snowmobile trails. Tracks all dug up and gone.

[TheCorinthian]

The law of unintended consequences.

 

General Eisenhower viewed the German Autobahn during WWII.

He liked it.

As president we got the passage of the Interstate Highway Act.

This act was passed under the guise of national defense.

Nice idea.

But.

No provisions were made for the railroads.

All but a few of railroads died.

Passenger rail died completely.

All of the major cities and many towns and hamlets had railroad stations.

City after city, town after town . . . let these beautiful archtecual buildings crumble or be torn down.

Amtrak passenger has to be subsidized by the Federal government. And the yahoos who hate government want to do away with that.

 

 

 

 

Eisenhower had other evidence for the need than that. When he was a Lt or a Capt he participated in a cross country car and truck convoy in the early 20's. It took like 7 months to go from NYC to LA. So in the event of a major disruption of the like 10 rail lines going that way at the time, the need for a road system to move troops was paramount in his mind. There were two chapters about it in the biography on him that I read.

[Steve]

CS, people have different takes on Zimmerman, not always racist. My sister - as a mother - is furious about the shooting. She rants about an armed man stalking a young boy and killing him. She pays no more attention to the facts than Al Sharpton. As to Zimmerman's ethnicity, he is supposed to be 4/8ths white, 3/8ths Hispanic and 1/8th black. In the bad old days, he wouldn't even be considered as white.

 

As to OJ and the black community, it wasn't a uniform feeling either. I worked with an attractive and educated young black woman who despised OJ and the other black athletes and stars who only go after white women. She practically shouted when she talked about how black women suddenly weren't good enough for them once they got rich and successful.

 

 

Meanwhile, a job offer for anyone interested:

 

My link

 

Totally agree and I hope my post didn't suggest that if one buys his story they are. I stated in my post that there are some folks who regardless of the races of the two think that Zimmerman is innocent. Nothing wrong with that whatsoever.

I was just echoing some things I saw on various threads about it where there are a number of Zimmerman supporters who seem to base their support on him not so much on the facts but out of anger to the 'race card' being played in their opinion and the inclusion of Jackson and Sharpton.

There is a very strong sentiment and I've seen threads derail into other aspects of race in America. The matter has become racially polarized and its sad. The facts should speak for themselves.

 

Black American women have long resented successfully Black men who have non black wives. Those sentiments are very old and common. Although, as we become a more integrated society its not as much but still strong enough. Black women are dating outside their race in increasing numbers as well.

[Flashermac]

Obama Uses First-Person Pronoun 117 Times in 1 Speech

 

 

Speaking in Sandusky, Ohio on July 5, President Barack Obama used the first-person pronouns “I†and “me†a combined 117 times in a speech that lasted about 25 minutes and 32 seconds.

 

Obama used “I†98 times and “me†19 times, according to a transcript of the speech posted by the White House. A videotape of the speech posted on YouTube shows that Obama spoke for about 25-and-a-half minutes.

 

During this speech, Obama used “I†or “me†approximately once every 13.09 seconds.

 

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney also frequently used the first-person pronoun in his most recent speech that has been posted in its entirety on C-SPAN. Speaking in Salem, Va., on Jun 26, Romney used the first-person pronouns “I†and “me†a combined 55 times in a speech that lasted about 18 minutes and 13 seconds.

 

Romney used “I†47 times and “me†8 times. During the just over 18 minutes that Romney spoke at Salem, he used “I†or “me†approximately once every 19.87 seconds.

 

Near the end of his talk in Sandusky, Ohio, Obama told his audience he had made a commitment to think about them every morning when he arises.

 

“I want you to know that when I ran in 2008, I said I wasn't going to be a perfect man and I certainly wasn't going to be a perfect president, but I'd always tell you what I thought. I'd always tell you where I stood,†Obama said. “And, most of all, I would wake up every single day thinking about you…â€

 

My link

[cavanami]

The Late Ernest Borgnine on Politicians

 

“I’m 81 years old and I like to speak my mind. As a legacy, on the day I die, I’d like to have a newspaper publish all the things that I find wrong in the United States today. And my first would be to get rid of the politicians.â€

 

http://www.infowars.com/the-late-ernest-borgnine-on-politicians/

[Flashermac]

Shoot them all and start with a new bunch.

[Pom Michael]

We need to elect leaders, and then appoint lawmakers.

 

What the f%ck would a real "leader" want to deal with making laws?

 

But way too late for that - look at Thailand - most of the major politicians - oh well -don't look at them is better!

 

 

[Steve]

The seeds of change if not a revolution were there. The Occupy Wall Street was the middle class who are squeezed saying enough is enough. Whether one agrees or doesn't that they are targeting the wrong folks, in a way its a contination of what the Tea Party started out as.

The Tea Party were also middle class folks who initially focused on purely economic terms (scaling back goverment size and spending for example) before it got hijacked by the far right and got into social conservatism.

So, while they seem totally disparate the Tea Party and Occupy Wall Street is the middle class crying out. They don't see much hope.

The government can't continue to ignore the middle class. There are people making what seems to be decent money, 50k, 60k or even more a year who can't pay for their kids college tuition. Who see very little of that wage after everything is paid off. You have young single professionals who see marriage as a financial impossibility in the current climate. College grads are despondent.

There is a growing anti corporate America feeling out there. That they are f*cking us. That they are in control of the politicians.

The talking heads in big media and the parties have successfully done the divide and conquer with the disparate middle class groups. Occupy Wall Street, the Tea Party, the voters who support Ron Paul are solidly middle class or upper working class folks. They all are saying 'we're hurting here', no one has been able to unite them all...yet.

[Steve]

If ever there was a case for the death penalty it is here. I would have absolutely no problem, I’d even pay for the privilege to pull the lever on this f*cker. If it were my child or the child of any of yours, etc. I’d be in jail right now as an accomplice. No joke.

 

http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/07/10/12667351-guilty-plea-child-rapist-was-accused-of-giving-girls-special-juice-before-assaults?lite

[Steve]

This is crazy. First, that coach should be fired and face charges. Right off the bat, that much I say should happen. However...and I will sound insensitive. But the degree to which he went after her doesn't sound right. Maybe he has a history of this sort of behavior. Maybe he doesn't. My guess is if there was any kind of history he'd have been fired long ago. The athlete does not deserve any of it BUT I have to think something was said to the coach to get that kind of rage out of him. Something isn't right. It sounds like more than just an enraged coach. I could be wrong obviously and maybe my heartlessnes is coming out.

 

http://msn.foxsports.com/basketball/story/wisconsin-girls-basketball-coach-punches-player-in-face-after-loss-charged-with-battery-071012

A Wisconsin girls basketball coach has been charged with battery after witnesses said he punched one of his teenage players in the face and threw her to the ground after a loss, police said Tuesday.

Fred Freeman, 47, of Hartford, Wis., faces the misdemeanor charge after the Monday incident, which involved a 17-year-old player from his traveling youth basketball team, at the Indiana Fieldhouse Sports Complex near Indianapolis.

''The victim told officers her basketball coach was verbally abusing her after the team lost their game,'' Fishers police spokesman Officer Tom Weger said. ''She reported that during a verbal altercation he punched her in the face, threw her to the ground and got on top of her with his hands around her throat.''

The girl, a Milwaukee resident, suffered scrapes and scratches to her arms and legs.

When officers arrested Freeman afterward at a restaurant, he admitted to restraining the girl but claimed to have been the victim, Weger said. However, the parent of another player told officers she saw Freeman striking the victim.

A police report says Freeman's daughter also was present and pleaded with him to stop the attack, The Indianapolis Star reported.

Jean Washington, the parent of a player from another team, told officers Freeman ''grabbed the victim tightly around her torso'' and Washington heard the victim ''tell the suspect to get off of her,'' the police report said.

''The two fell to the ground, and the victim continued to resist the suspect. The suspect and victim made it back to their feet, and the suspect grabbed the victim again and slammed her back into the ground,'' the report said.

Freeman's daughter then spoke up.

''Ms. Washington observed the suspect's daughter yelling, 'No, Daddy.' The suspect then got up and threw the victim's badge into (a) tree,'' the report said.

Washington then escorted the victim back inside the building while Freeman left with other team members, it said.

Freeman was due to be released on his own recognizance from the Hamilton County Jail on Tuesday. It wasn't clear if he had an attorney. A residential phone listed in his name was disconnected.