House Committee Hearing on Gunn's Firing

[jeaton]

QUOTE: Originally posted by TomDiehl

QUOTE: Originally posted by jeaton

Here is the link to Don Phillips article on the subject.

http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/11/16/business/transcol17.php

Jay

Wasn't Don Phillips the one that had a column in Trains called Potomac Pundit?

The "Potomac Pundit" title was dropped when Phillips left the Washington Post and took a job with the International Herald. He still writes a monthly column for Trains.

Pillips is considered one of the best transportation reporters in the general circulation press. He is quite knowledgable about railroads and does not making the kind of mistakes made by many who report on railroad news for the mass media.

Jay

[TomDiehl]

QUOTE: Originally posted by jeaton

Here is the link to Don Phillips article on the subject.

http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/11/16/business/transcol17.php

Jay

Wasn't Don Phillips the one that had a column in Trains called Potomac Pundit?

[Modelcar]

Jay.....Thanks for link to Don Phillips article....Interesting reading.

[oltmannd]

QUOTE: Originally posted by jeaton

Here is the link to Don Phillips article on the subject.

http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/11/16/business/transcol17.php

Jay

Thanks for the link!

An interesting quote from the column: "Perhaps Mineta has accomplished one thing: solid support for Amtrak everywhere but the White House."

As a Democrat in a Republican admin, maybe that was his double, cross your fingers and hope to die, Air Force Generals only, super top secret plan, all along!

[Big_Boy_4005]

QUOTE: Originally posted by oltmannd

"TV news" is an oxymoron, be it FOX, CNN, the networks or local news. One or two sentences written at the third grade level and a clip with a sound bite or two cannot be called "reporting".

Forget the media - get it straight right here - no "balance" necessary!
http://www.house.gov/transportation/rail/11-15-05/11-15-05memo.html

I'll second that part about the mainstream media Don. The thing about C-Span is, it's coming straight out of the horse. The question is which end? That is left open to viewer interpertation.

The hearing wrapped up just before 7 AM CST, what a dog and pony show. I don't think any questions were really answered, just more raised. I watched with the opinion that Mr Gunn had been "railroaded", and by the end, nothing had been said to change that.[|)][B)][;)]

[jeaton]

Here is the link to Don Phillips article on the subject.

http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/11/16/business/transcol17.php

Jay

[daveklepper]

Beatifully said and ample reason to confirm that Mineta does not provide

LEADERSHIP

[Anonymous]

What annoys the living daylights out of me, but is typical of this administration, is whether or not you agree that Gunn was doing a decent job or not, the Bush administration effectively had him fired with absolutely no plan as to what to do next..... sounds vaguely like the administration's Iraq plan. Even if you believe that Gunn was not doing his job, that is still no excuse for the administration to not have a plan in place other than wishful thinking.

Furthermore, as the point was made earlier, regardless of Gunn's philosophical beliefs on maintaining Amtrak as a single transportation system, he did make major financial reforms, increased passenger ridership and did a good deal to return the railroad to a state of good repair considering the funding that he had to work with. That is quite an accomplishment considering that the Bush administration had no intention of being satisfied with his job performance short of the totally unrealistic goal of making Amtrak self-sufficient or putting everything in "mothballs" and museums.

[daveklepper]

Give us your summary, please!

[jeaton]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Modelcar

....Now that is presenting the "facts".....{above post}
Did anyone watch the "hearing" on C-SPAN during the middle of last night....? If so can any comments come forward......

I watched the first two hours and (hopefully) got the balance on tape. More later. I will be taking a long nap first.

Jay[|)][|)]

[Modelcar]

....Now that is presenting the "facts".....{above post}
Did anyone watch the "hearing" on C-SPAN during the middle of last night....? If so can any comments come forward......

[edbenton]

Trouble is Gunn did his job to good.

[oltmannd]

"TV news" is an oxymoron, be it FOX, CNN, the networks or local news. One or two sentences written at the third grade level and a clip with a sound bite or two cannot be called "reporting".

Forget the media - get it straight right here - no "balance" necessary!
http://www.house.gov/transportation/rail/11-15-05/11-15-05memo.html

[Big_Boy_4005]

At about 3:30 AM I decided to flip on C-Span, and there it was in all it's glory on C-Span2, the hearing. As the time of this post it is still going on. Mr Mica (R-FL) is the only one who seems to be in support of the firing. A number of democrats have been trying to pin down responses from Laney and Rosen who are very slippery as both board members are lawyers.

Basicly, Mr Gunn, the only railroad person on the board until his firing, does not agree with a number of plans that the board is trying to advance. The biggest of which is selling off the NEC.

The administration is hell bent on breaking Amtrak up, and Gunn is not willing to do it.

[daveklepper]

Myu comment is on the posting that says I mislead everyone and I need not comment further. I think my points summarized the issue pretty well, however.

[Big_Boy_4005]

QUOTE: Originally posted by TomDiehl

QUOTE: Originally posted by futuremodal

QUOTE: Originally posted by TomDiehl

1. Since St Paul is a "heavily Democratic City," how did a Republican mayor get elected in the first place?

Probably the democrats were all out getting stoned last time and forgot to vote.[:D]

Seriously, you know nothing of political science. Remember Norm Coleman, the former mayor, former democrat turned Republican? Ever heard of coattails?

So you're basically saying you have no clue what you're talking about. Not surprised.

Tom, St Paul never elected a republican mayor in Norm Coleman. He switched parties, I believe mid term, then went on to the senate, as a hand picked Bush follower, leaving Randy Kelly in charge.

It will be interesting if the senator suddenly grows a spine, and jumps ship from supporting the president. I thought I heard he voted against ANWR drilling. Personally, I'm not a tree hugger, and would like to see the oil tapped, but I also not in favor of trashing the place to do it.

[jeaton]

By the way, Gunn testified today that he knew something was up when he saw representatives of an outside public relations firm setting up offices in Amtrak's PR Department Offices. Laney said they were brought in to handle publicity on Gunn's dismissal but he didn't remember the name of the firm.

Surely they are volunteers. I can't imagine that the Board would spend scarce Amtrak dollars on an outside PR firm just to tell people that the Board has fired Gunn.

[TomDiehl]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Lotus098

Tom,

Calling someone a liar is serious bussiness. You better get some proof of it quick, or are you just blowing smoke 45% of the time.

Just asking where these "numbers and statistics" are coming from

[Anonymous]

Tom,

Calling someone a liar is serious bussiness. You better get some proof of it quick, or are you just blowing smoke 45% of the time.

[jeaton]

While media reports are quite sketchy, it appears that the hearing ran almost four and a half hours and is said to have been quite contentious.

I would be interested in the reaction our forum neo-cons would have to the fact that the hearing was called by Steven LaTourette, REPUBLICAN Congressman from Ohio. No doubt, with a name like that he is actually a French mole that has inviltrated the Republican Party in an effort to destroy the President.

The media reports that I have read indicates that the only committee member showing any support for the Amtrak Board action is Rep. Micah from Florida, who, I am sure is the only "true" Republican in the bunch. It should be noted that he has said that Amtrak should get of all the long distance trains except the Auto Train.

However, thanks to futuremodal we all now know that we can't trust the media with its 80% liberal left commie democats in charge and it is very likely that actually everybody stood up a booed when Gunn presented his testomony. Well, at least the Republicans, because we know that the Democrats on the committee and that appeared are all a bunch of Bush haters.

[TomDiehl]

QUOTE: Originally posted by futuremodal

QUOTE: Originally posted by TomDiehl

I guess an independant media is a bad thing. We really need more scripted "news conferences" like Bush has been holding over the past 5 years.

The idea that the US media is "independent" is a joke, as per the last comment. When 80% of media members are admitted democrats, how can anyone make a statement of inference that the US media is "independent"? The only independent news source out there is FOX News, which has a myriad of conservative and liberal journalists making their opinions known. Yeah, they do have more conservatives than liberals, but that does not mirror the other networks, whose reporters are basically all liberals, with a token conservative thrown in now and then. Look at all the news shows on the other networks, you will typically have one conservative vs three or four liberals. Yeah, that's an independent media all right. (insert sarcastic smilie here)

Another of the statistics that are made up on the spot? And where did this "80% of the media members are admitted Democrats" come from? So if you can't prove something you make up some "impressive sounding" numbers. Seems like you have a narrow minded view of the media mix. "3 or 4 liberals to one conservative," LMAO Your claims are so far out in left field they're laughable.

[Anonymous]

Your favorite rock is back.
http://www.trains.com/community/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=49853

[Anonymous]

BUSH is a Felon
Let me guess, you have phony documents to prove it too.

[TomDiehl]

QUOTE: Originally posted by futuremodal

QUOTE: Originally posted by TomDiehl


The blame on Bush supporting them was REPORTED by the media. The original quotes come from the offices of the elected officials.

Who taught you to write? That statement is so non-sensical and unstructured. So you're saying that the "blame" was "reported"? As opposed to not being reported? What has that got to do with anything? Are you saying the democrats (the source of the "blame") are the source of the slander that is being reported in the media? When has the media ever NOT been the sounding board for democrat talking points?

Sounds like you need to invest a few bucks into a dictionary. Once again I'll try to say this S-L-O-W-L-Y. The statement came from the elected officials, that lost and were supported by Bush, to the media. If the media chose not to "report" it, (probably where the name Reporter comes from) you wouldn't hear it on the evening news. Sorry, can't dumb it down much more than that for you.

When have they NOT been a sounding board for the Democrats? How about the last five years when the White House Press Corps has been selected and have to have their questions approved by the White House or they can't ask them. A point made more important by how well Bush did in the debates with Kerry.

[TomDiehl]

QUOTE: Originally posted by futuremodal

QUOTE: Originally posted by TomDiehl

Or are you trying to say that more Democrats are capable of independant thinking than Republicans?

LOL!!

No, what I am saying is that most democrats these days are completely incapable of forming an independent political thought, which is why most of the Bush-bashers on this forum draw their views straight from the democrat playbook. Otherwise, there'd be enough of a segment of democrats who would admit that they have no evidence that Bush "manipulated data" to get us into war, and therefore, it is idiotic to suggest such a thing.

Well YOU were the one that lumped them together (Democrats and Independents) so the statement was yours. You specifically separated Independant from Republicans. Most of them in Congress were rubber stamps for the President until recently. Would hardly call that "independant thought."

Talk about a lame attempt to change the subject. How did the fact that Bush is accused of manipulating intellegence prior to the Iraqui war come into this? Further proof you have no clue what you're talking about.They started an INVESTIGATION into the allegations, but, as the supporters of the Patriot Act always say, "If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to worry about." Sort of like the investigation to see if Monica was under Clinton's desk.

Smile, it makes people wonder what you're up to. Chief of Sanitation; Clowntown

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