the hillbilly ragger

"These men were representing what their political rights were, their right to own property; that's what they were fighting for," he said.

To say the only people to benefit from commuter rail are developers is inaccurate. Even people who choose not to use the rail line will benefit from fewer cars on the road and fewer carbon emissions spewing into the air we breathe. Commuters and students who would choose rail over roads if given the option enjoy a commute that is 25 times safer and gives them the ability to safely use their cell phones to talk, text or laptops during their ride.

True, the automobile is highly flexible, but is also subject to the wide disparities in daily commute times based on traffic accidents, weather, holiday volume, increasing truck traffic and the stress that goes with it. Commuter rail service and its riders are immune to all of that.

Along with soaring fuel prices, I believe actual ridership numbers for commuter rail service will far exceed all projections.

As a Wall Street Journal editorial noted recently, when the surge began last year, 'al-Qaida dominated large swaths of central Iraq, Baghdad was a killing zone, Sunni and Shiites were heading toward civil war, and the Iraqi government was seen as a failure. ... Today, al-Qaida has been cleared from all but the northern reaches of Anbar and Divala Provinces, Iraqis feel safe enough to resume normal lives, Sunni sheiks are working with coalition forces, and the long process of Sunni-Shiite political reconciliation has begun ...'

What's not to like about that? Apparently plenty, if you are a Democratic presidential candidate, or part of the Democratic congressional leadership that is an appendage of MoveOn.org and other far-left groups.