Apparently The Roanoke Times Endorses TaxPayer Subsidies of $3,700 per AirLine Passenger

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Roanoke Times, 8-3-11, Pg 1; 5: No tax revenue as FAA shutdown continues
RT:  Take-2: 8-4-11, Pg 6: Stalemate over bill to fund FAA
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Two big RT articles explaining how some FAA construction projects are stopped by those awful and irresponsible Republicans (apparently just because they’re mean people?).
Not one word or example of the REAL ISSUES involved!
Not one word about the $3,700 per passenger taxpayer subsidies for selected persons at selected airports. Even NPR (the bastion of liberal dribble) relented and printed the dreaded real issues including the $3,700 number.
But not the editorial girls at the Roanoke Times! They apparently are so entrenched into the DNC and Obama’s reelection campaign organization that they just cannot bring themselves to print any real and valid issues the Republicans may have. We can only conclude that they approve and endorse this abuse of taxpayer money.  How sad!
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NPR: Unionizing, Flight Subsidies Central To FAA Standoff by Brian Naylor
A provision attached by Republicans would roll back part of the Essential Air Service program, which subsidizes commercial flights at smaller regional airports like Ely, Nev., where flights are subsidized to the tune of some $3,700 per passenger.
http://www.npr.org/2011/08/04/138968210/unionizing-flight-subsidies-central-to-faa-standoff
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The rollback included small marginal airports supported by some key Democrats, including Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada and West Virginia Sen. Jay Rockefeller, chairman of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee.
The John Murtha airport in Johnstown Pennsylvania is one of the most egregious examples of massive subsidies for a hand-full of passengers.
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For example, a round-trip in Montana from Miles City to Billings — a two-hour drive away — costs passengers just $88 with a 30-day advance purchase on Big Sky Airlines because the government kicks in $779.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-12-30-cheap-flights_N.htm
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John Mica's (R., Fla.) bill would cut off funding for small airports within 90 miles of larger airports, and for airports that receive subsidies exceeding $1,000 per passenger. Thirteen airports would be affected.
http://www.foxbusiness.com/industries/2011/07/20/wsj-update-fight-over-rural-airport-subsidies-could-shut-parts-faa/
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An interesting reflection on all this might be the “Bridge to Nowhere”!
That was a proposed bridge in Alaska (a shovel ready job) that would connect the town of Ketchikan (population 8,900) with its airport on the Island of Gravina. Connection to the island is by small ferry boats, not a convenient trip anytime and a very unpleasant trip in bad weather and high water (remember it’s in Alaska! Something about Deadliest Catch!
The Island is also the only available land to provide additional residential and commercial expansion of the town that is a main port for Alaska tours.
Over 800,000 tourists visit Ketchikan each year.  Based on the failed Obama Stimulus mess, looks like the "Bridge to Nowhere" would have been a good investment!
http://wikitravel.org/en/Ketchikan
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