Penny-Pinching Teapublicans Kill more Taxpayers. (Amtrak Edition)

[riqster]

https://bluntandcranky.wordpress.com/2015/05/14/penny-pinching-teapublicans-kill-more-taxpayers-amtrak-edition/

Source info at the link.

Their response? “Pinch MORE pennies”. As witness the recent deadly Amtrak derailment, caused by “republican” budget cuts. Said budget cuts have slowed down improvements that could have prevented the accident:

One key safety feature was missing from the stretch of tracks where an Amtrak passenger train going more than 100 mph derailed and killed seven people.

Investigators say that if positive train control had been installed on that stretch, the technology could have automatically slowed the train down and perhaps saved lives.

Another GOP budget-cutting spree resulted in engineers being forced to work more and sleep less.

Accident investigators have been unwilling to speculate on whether operator error or mechanical problems led to Tuesday’s deadly Amtrak derailment. But for months, members of the labor union representing locomotive engineers have complained that recent reductions in rest and downtime could lead to tragedy. “You need to be able to have some kind of chance to get off the equipment, turn your mind off for a while,” said Fritz Edler, a veteran engineer who wrote a scathing letter last December to Amtrak managers on behalf the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen.

The letter accused Amtrak of forcing “dangerous changes” in the scheduling of engineers that have had the effect of reducing rest time in between trips to Washington, D.C. and New York City.

“Forcing shorter breaks, day after day, between runs increases fatigue related risk and the potential for loss of focus,” the letter warned.

But do the Elephants care? Nope. Within a few hours of the deaths that they helped cause, they passed even bigger budget cuts. Yes. They really did. Boehner and Co. are so blase’ about killing people, they stole even MORE taxpayer money to give to their fat-cat buddies, before their victims’ bodies had yet been given a decent burial.

Gentle Reader, we all know that stuff costs money. Trains, tracks, engineers, safety equipment, all of these things COST MONEY. Congress steals money from Amtrak just to hand it to a load of their billionaire cronies, regardless of whether or not the people whose taxes they stole live or die. Those budget cuts aren’t just numbers on a spreadsheet: they are actions that have consequences. Consequences such as dead people.

“Republicans” Do. Not. Care. Not about anything but themeselves and the bastards who have bought them. Greedy, murderous motherf***ing Teapublicans.

Get on out, and vote them out. Before they kill you or yours with budget cuts, like they did those commuters on Amtrak.

[Gothmog]

1. The GOP budget cuts are deadly and are killing people

[riqster]

3. Yep. Lots of different people.

[daleanime]

2. K&R....

[riqster]

4. TY

[Populist_Prole]

5. Conservatives have always hated Amtrak

Last edited Fri May 15, 2015, 01:33 AM - Edit history (2)

They hate rail and public transit in general ( preferring to zip around driving rudely in their porcine SUV's and penis enlargement monster trucks on more and more roadways in their urban sprawl paradises ) but Amtrak is the fattest, juiciest target in that milieu.

They'll crow how a "guv'mint" agency let this happen, ignoring that there were train wrecks all throughout passenger rail travel when it was privately run, and still run privately freight ops now.

My guess their "answer" will be a more draconian crackdown of employees.

[riqster]

6. Yep. Privatize the profit, socialize the costs.