[Willie Green]

Maglev in an atmosphere as thick as ours will not let us obtain escape velocity before burn-up......sad but true.

I'm not sure that I understand why not.
If we can accelerate through our thick atmosphere with rockets, seems to me that we oughta be able to do it with Maglev.
Of course, you might not want to start out at sea level in Florida. Maybe launch 'em off a mountaintop in Colorado or somewhere 10K ft above sea level -- that way you don't have to fool around with the thickest part.

[null and void]

Launch off of Mona Loa. Thin atmosphere, and closer to the equator for earth's rotation boost...