Welcome to Nowhere

[Geee]

American Spectator:

California's Central Valley is huge -- 450 miles from North to South. North of the capital, it is called the Sacramento Valley; south of it, the San Joaquin. It is in the southern part that the California High Speed Rail Authority plans to build a 54-mile-long railroad between two small towns, Borden and Corcoran (collectively known as Nowhere).

Train zealots, such as Ray LaHood, U.S. Secretary of Transportation, want us all out of our cars and riding trains, buses, or walking. LaHood see this as the first segment of a glorious system that will link California's largest cities. Its cost: $4.3 billion.

In 2008, California voters unwisely passed a ballot initiative to fund $10 billion of the total of $42.6 billion for a statewide system that would be completed by 2020. The $10 billion would come from the sale of bonds. Californians have a distressing habit of thinking such proposals are "progressive" and thus good, without paying attention to the fact that the state is already over-burdened with bonded indebtedness which adds many millions of interest payments to its budget every year.

There is no assurance this project will not end up as a pig-in-a-poke. No rapid transit system in the United States has yet come in on budget. This one will rely heavily on federal funding. Roelef van Ark, executive director of the CHSRA, was quoted the other day as saying, "It's without any doubt that we need funding from the federal government." That may be a thin reed on which to lean. Despite LaHood's obsession with rail, it is unlikely the new Congress will give a sympathetic ear to the administration's requests for new money -- given the history of such projects (Amtrak, after 40 years, still runs in the red.)

[pinz]

I admit to being a Railroad Romantic, but this is ridiculous. Are there no grownups anywhere???

 

Is Ray Lahood a useful idiot or a willing fool?

[Geee]

He's from Illinois-nuff said

[Pepper]

pinz

 

It's not an either or - he's both.

 

 

I admit to being a Railroad Romantic, but this is ridiculous. Are there no grownups anywhere???

 

Is Ray Lahood a useful idiot or a willing fool?

[Pepper]

"We're not looking to put trains on this particular piece," board member Fran Florez said. "This is just the beginning."

 

State high-speed rail officials approve $4.3 billion stretch of track derided as "train to nowhere."

 

 

 

That sounds like they are talking about Obama.

 

"We're not looking to elect a genuine President with bona fides in this particular White House, " Reid, Pelosi , J. Wright, and J. Jackson said. "This is just the beginning."

[ciapilot]

California's Central Valley is huge -- 450 miles from North to South. North of the capital, it is called the Sacramento Valley; south of it, the San Joaquin. It is in the southern part that the California High Speed Rail Authority plans to build a 54-mile-long railroad between two small towns, Borden and Corcoran

California State Prison at Corcoran, in the middle of nowhere in the Central Valley:

 

[Pepper]

Ciapilot

 

 

 

 

 

Apropos

 

From City of Corcoran town site, Clowns in Cotton Parade.

[ciapilot]

High Speed Rail Goes Loco

 

 

California's high speed rail project could be shaping up as the awesomest catastrogeddon of 2011.

 

The California High Speed Rail Authority is committed to breaking ground on a leg of the train that will serve passengers between the unincorporated town of Borden and the half-incarcerated town of Corcoran.

 

Whether you call it the train from nowhere or the train to nowhere, nobody will be riding it even when it’s done. That’s not libertarian cant: The actual plan for the $4.15 billion leg is that upon completion it will sit idle until other sections of track are completed.

 

Nobody likes this plan.

[Pepper]

ciapilot

 

They have to commit to this insanity by December 31 because if they don't, they will lose GASP tax payers money.

[pinz]

pinz

 

It's not an either or - he's both.

 

 

I admit to being a Railroad Romantic, but this is ridiculous. Are there no grownups anywhere???

 

Is Ray Lahood a useful idiot or a willing fool?

Sigh. You're probably right... as usual.