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It's the Bullet Train ... to Nowhere
Fox News. ^ | February 14, 2011 | William La Jeunesse

Posted on 02/14/2011 5:38:00 PM PST by george76

Hailed as a high-speed road to the future, a jobs program and a symbol of America's dedication to innovation, President Obama proposed Monday spending $8 billion on a bullet train -- a down payment on a nationwide network that will cost $58 billion over the next six years.

But in the one state where the federal high-speed rail project is underway, critics say money is being misspent, ridership studies are inflated, the route is politically corrupted and the system will never be self supporting.

"They don't know where they're going to build it, they don't have a mile of right of way under possession, it is not shovel ready, it is not even engineer ready,"...

The first leg of the project is slated for the middle of Central Valley -- not between major cities, or congested freeway corridors like San Francisco and San Jose or Orange County and Los Angeles. The Central Valley site is between Borden -- a point on the map where no one lives -- and Corcoran, a town where half the residents will never board a train because they're in prison.

(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Extended News; Government; News/Current Events; US: California
KEYWORDS: highspeedrail; obamachoochoo; prop1a
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1 posted on 02/14/2011 5:38:01 PM PST by george76
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To: george76

He's leavin'
(leavin')
leavin' on that bullet train to nowhere
(leavin' on that bullet train -- WHOO WHOO!)

2 posted on 02/14/2011 5:42:43 PM PST by freedumb2003 (The TOTUS-reader is a Judas Goat, leading the American sheeple to the slaugherhouse /Parmy)
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To: george76

You greedy, ungrateful little tax thieves need to shut the hell up and fork it over!!!!

/sarc


3 posted on 02/14/2011 5:47:23 PM PST by Tzimisce (Never forget that the American Revolution began when the British tried to disarm the colonists.)
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To: george76
a down payment on a nationwide network that will cost $58 billion over the next six years.

Wrong, cub reporter breath. The 58 billion is for California's train alone. And by the time it is done, if it ever is, it will cost 100 billion. Think "Big Dig."

4 posted on 02/14/2011 5:47:40 PM PST by hinckley buzzard
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To: hinckley buzzard

But from Corcoran??? Giving Charles Manson a ride??? The only thing in Corcoran is the prison!!! To Madera??? To offload on a bus to San Francisco??? What idiot decided to build this train???


5 posted on 02/14/2011 6:00:03 PM PST by Semperfiwife (Exactly where is the LOVE in those who wish to kill us infidels???)
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To: george76

Winning the Future by resurrecting 19th Century technology.


6 posted on 02/14/2011 6:18:40 PM PST by Paladin2 (Free Parking is what made America Great!)
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To: george76

What, you can’t appreciate how poetic it is to have a train passing a prison?


7 posted on 02/14/2011 6:26:18 PM PST by HiTech RedNeck (Hawk)
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To: Semperfiwife

I’ve felt that one place a rail system (cargo rail) would make sense would be from the L.A. ocean shipping ports and some point outside of the “smog valley.” Instead of a bevy of diesel-snorting trucks, there would be one or two trains (maybe even electric ones) that would load up right at portside, and the trucks would load up outside the smog zone.

But this is much different from a “bullet train” that few would board.


8 posted on 02/14/2011 6:31:25 PM PST by HiTech RedNeck (Hawk)
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To: HiTech RedNeck
What, you can’t appreciate how poetic it is to have a train passing a prison?

"I got drunk the day my momma got out of prison,
I went to pick her up in the pouring rain.
But before I could get to the station in my pickup truck,
She got run over by a danged ol' train."

9 posted on 02/14/2011 6:35:55 PM PST by meyer (We will not sit down and shut up.)
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To: freedumb2003

“Good morning California how are you?
Don’t you know me I’m your native son,
I’m the train they call The bullet train to nowhere,
I’ll be gone five boring miles when the day is done”


10 posted on 02/14/2011 6:41:00 PM PST by meyer (We will not sit down and shut up.)
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To: george76

Willie Green would love this route... with an empty train to nowhere!


11 posted on 02/14/2011 7:08:17 PM PST by goldstategop (In Memory Of A Dearly Beloved Friend Who Lives In My Heart Forever)
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To: hinckley buzzard

100 billion hell that will not buy the right of way.


12 posted on 02/14/2011 7:09:39 PM PST by org.whodat
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To: george76

It will never get built... even after millions poured down the drain studying its feasibility.


13 posted on 02/14/2011 7:10:01 PM PST by goldstategop (In Memory Of A Dearly Beloved Friend Who Lives In My Heart Forever)
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To: HiTech RedNeck

LOL, they have a train terminal at the port, trouble with ca, is it takes ten or eleven locomotives, to get a big train out of the basin, and just as many breaking to get one in.


14 posted on 02/14/2011 7:16:10 PM PST by org.whodat
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To: george76
This Japanese bullet train looks rather..uh...suggestive.


15 posted on 02/14/2011 7:18:48 PM PST by LibFreeOrDie (Obama promised a gold mine, but will give us the shaft.)
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To: HiTech RedNeck
I’ve felt that one place a rail system (cargo rail) would make sense would be from the L.A. ocean shipping ports and some point outside of the “smog valley.” Instead of a bevy of diesel-snorting trucks, there would be one or two trains (maybe even electric ones) that would load up right at portside, and the trucks would load up outside the smog zone.

They are already working on this. It's called the Alameda Corridor East

It's been disrupting traffic around here for a number of years as they do grade separations, etc.

16 posted on 02/14/2011 7:22:36 PM PST by Aunt Polgara
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To: LibFreeOrDie

The Japanese high speed rail is profitable... it goes through heavily populated areas. Its not a money pit.

The California train would go through an area no one lives in. It would make more sense to build it up the coast from Los Angeles but the NIMBY syndrome and politics killed the only financially viable route.


17 posted on 02/14/2011 7:24:47 PM PST by goldstategop (In Memory Of A Dearly Beloved Friend Who Lives In My Heart Forever)
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To: org.whodat

That’s one reason why I said electric — the incoming downhill train could actually generate electricity through dynamic braking, easing the energy cost of getting the uphill train out.


18 posted on 02/14/2011 7:28:05 PM PST by HiTech RedNeck (Hawk)
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To: george76

Keynesian economics claims that squandering billions will help employment and therefore the economy.

So, this will work out great as long as Keynes was right. Sadly, he wasn’t and any economist worth the title knows it.


19 posted on 02/14/2011 8:15:21 PM PST by Scottmkiv
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To: Scottmkiv

If rail really would give our economy a shot in the arm, you don’t need studies to justify it - just build the damn thing!

But the proponents know its a money loser. They hide the truth from the sheeple, who are sold it on a switch and bait scheme.

I invite you to Google it on the Internet - not ONE high speed rail line has been built or will be built anywhere AT COST in the US in the foreseeable future.


20 posted on 02/14/2011 9:50:40 PM PST by goldstategop (In Memory Of A Dearly Beloved Friend Who Lives In My Heart Forever)
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