Once again, the pot and crack smokers over at the Las Vegas Sun editorial board, led by Brian "The Coward" Greenspun come up with an believable editorial that is so intellectually stupid, it amazes me that these fools actually graduated from junior high school.
This time, the Sun advocates spending over $1000 to $3000 an airline ticket out of the Ely airport. Why you say? Because Ely accepts other government subsidies like roads and electricity, so they should then accept airline subsidies.
From the morons at the Sun: Before Congress went on its summer break, House Republican leaders took a shot at Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and a few other Democrats by cutting money for rural airline service in their states.
Republicans complained that the subsidies are wasteful, and some even talked about letting the market determine whether the airlines could survive.
That could spell trouble for Ely, where the airport and citizens have benefited from the government’s Essential Air Service program. The program subsidizes commercial service to some rural communities based on need, providing transportation links to major airports. As J. Patrick Coolican recently reported in the Las Vegas Sun, the subsidy for Ely was $3,700 per passenger last year. With higher passenger counts this year, it is now $1,197 per passenger.
Ely has qualified because the city is about 240 miles away from the closest major airport, and it doesn’t have bus or train service. Mayor Jon Hickman said the airport is “our only link to the outside world.”
There’s a debate to be had about whether the federal government should be subsidizing air service in rural areas, but the issue has put Ely in a quandary politically....
Philosophically, Ely should be against the subsidies. Like the rest of rural Nevada, Ely is strongly conservative and embraced the Tea Party and its anti-government rhetoric. In White Pine County, where signs saying “Anybody BUTT Harry Reid” have dotted the landscape, Tea Party favorite Sharron Angle defeated Reid by more than 40 percentage points in last year’s election.
However, the airline service helps Ely and the region, and it certainly provides a benefit to the local economy. Ironically, Ely will need Reid’s help if it wants to keep the subsidies.
As Coolican noted, the government has helped rural America in more ways than airline service. For example, federal support helps maintain those long ribbons of road that connect Ely and other rural towns.
Renewable power plants and a major power transmission line that will bring jobs to rural Nevada are moving ahead thanks to federal loan guarantees. And local governments get money from the federal government for property it owns, much like a property tax. As well, other government programs and services help rural areas, like Great Basin National Park, which brings tourists and money to White Pine County.
If conservatives in rural Nevada want to be consistent, they can support getting rid of the airline subsidy, and then perhaps they should advocate cutting all the other money that goes into rural Nevada.
http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2011/aug/29/should-government-continue-give-subsidies-rural-ai/
First, the idiots at the Sun kind of forgot to mention that Crybaby Harry Reid killed a coal fired electric plant in Ely which cost over a thousand construction jobs and 200 permanent jobs, so Crybaby Harry has hurt the Ely economy more than other politician. Providing subsidies doesn't even come close to the destruction Crybaby Reid has caused Ely.
And electricity and roads are absolutely necessary to a city- airline travel is not. Of course, to the Sun, growing pot up in Mount Charleston would be considered essential for their pot smoking. (if they don't smoke pot,then they really, really are messed up)
If airline service was so vital to Ely and White Pine County, then why would they need a subsidy? The reality is that they average less than 1 rider a day, Ely to Las Vegas. Sometimes, there is no one on the flight and we taxpayers are paying for that.
And my guess is that if there was an election, most people up in Ely and the surrounding area, they would say to get rid of the subsidy. But right now, the Sun could only find 1 person who supports the subsidy- the mayor. Apparently, the pot smoking editorial board could not find a County Commissioner or city council person to support the subsidies.
But this is the same editorial board that hopes and prays that a hurricane would hit Florida and cause destruction and death so Florida would accept Federal aid.
Maybe the Sun is secretly praying that Ely will suffer a earthquake or massive fire that will kill, hurt and cause massive destruction just so Ely and the County will be forced to take federal aid, like these subsidies.
Oh, well, the editorial board will soon be back smoking their pot and crack and come up with another editorial that makes absolutely no sense whatsoever.
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