Is California High Speed Rail Stuck At The Station

While it has become very obvious that my blogging has slowed to a crawl it doesn't mean that I haven't been out there keeping up to speed with all the goings on in the world.

One of my favorite targets has been the California High Speed Rail attempts to link Southern Cali with the Bay Area. You can get the details by reading my other posts on this subject. But a snapshot is this very expensive construction project started out with an estimate in the $10B range, nearly all taxpayer funded (no reputable private would touch this boondoogle with a ten foot pole AND HEAVY tax subsidies). Over the life of the project (hardly any actual construction) the estimates have increased 350% to $35B, still with little to no private money. And something else to consider, this money was to be used to build a small section of the entire project.

As mentioned, there has been some minor construction between two communities that have no need for, or the ability to afford the price of a ticket. Names escape me at the moment. Other than the lack of money for this project there have been other stumbling blocks. Right-A-Way acquisitions have proven troublesome. Some folks out there don't want to sell their lands for a railroad and lawyers are fighting eminent domain attempts.. Interestingly, while this project has been a gleam in some enviro- fascist eyes eco-nutjobs have also put up some road blocks. Apparently the is some sort of bird in the hills between the Bay Area and the San Joaquin Valley that would be in trouble if tracks and tunnels were built through this area.

Interesting side note on that last sentence. The media is practically stumbling over itself trying to shine a harsh light on the supposed rift between the conservative and old guard factions within the Republican party. But very little has ever been mentioned (this blog excepted) how different factions of the eco-nutjob movement are opposing each other on many supposed green earth projects. Solar projects in California and Arizona have been either shutdown or slowed to a crawl over habitat destruction concerns. Wind turbines are now killing birds and bats by the millions and some want them shut down.

As usual, I'm rambling.

Anyway, on the reason for this post. It seems that a California Superior Court Judge has ruled that the state of California cannot move forward with this project. It seems that California High Speed Rail Authority (CHSRA) has not met the requirements to sell that bonds that are needed to fund the project. Mind you, this project was actually approved by the California public back in 2008. But also note that back then, the estimate was $10B, not the current $35B. Hence the reason for the ruling. The voter approved measure has a provision that requires that for funding to begin there must be money to complete the section of the project voted on. I might not be really good at math, but I'm smart enough to know that $10B approved can't cover the $35B needed.

As most of my readers are aware, I have been opposed to this project form the word go. I have real issues throwing good taxpayer money after bad projects. Some have pointed out that America has dived into huge public works projects in the past. The inter-state highway system and dam building come to mind. That was a different day and age though. These projects help build the USA. Goods and people move on the freeways, giving a boost to manufacturing and tourism. Power generation and the huge growth in agriculture has been a boon to the USA.

But what does the HSR have to offer other than rapid movement between LA and the Bay Area that really only the elites will be able to afford on a regular basis. And shouldn't that be the final arbiter of the worthiness of a public works project? If taxpayer money is going to be used for these kinds of projects shouldn't it give benefit to the most number of people. Dams and freeways met this very simple (and demanding) litmus test. The California HSR doesn't.

Best Evah Post on Rosen's Stupidity

As mentioned in the previous post, blogging is going to be difficult, so some of my posts will be links to other sites with some comments of mine thrown in for good measure.

This one of those.

Unless you have been living under a rock there is no way that you could have missed Hilary Rosen’s moment of complete idiocy when she said Ann Romney has never worked a day in her life.

There are hundreds, if not thousands, of blog sites out there that have commented on this. I won’t try to impress you by saying that I have read them all (I haven’t), but I have read many from both sides of the aisle.

But until I ran across this on at Red State, none had really impressed me. They were all pretty much the same. On the right, there was outrage, and deservedly so. On the left, there was stupidity as they tried to defend Rosen, which is the indefensible.

Lori Ziganto absolutely blew me away with her commentary.

This is clearly a campaign strategy; try to use the tired old class warfare stuff. Oh, those, Richy Richies! Only silly little tea-having rich ladies stay at home with their kids. And their nannies! So out of touch! Only, that’s not true no matter how hard Rosen’s fellow travelers try to spin it so, and the average stay-at-home mom knows that. Many women choose to make sacrifices and live with less in order to stay at home with their children. Others do the math (I know! How can they understand economics thingies? That’s for boys!) and realize that the cost of childcare would outweigh whatever money they could bring into the household, So, fail again, Obama. Nice try.

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Nah. We’d still be women, warranting only a pat on purty little heads and told to hush so the big, smart men can save us, even from our own anatomies. This is why abortion is a sacrament to them. By devaluing the lives of children, they can assuage their guilt at devaluing women. Children are to be aborted at, and for, one’s own convenience or else a woman can’t function in any meaningful (as judge by the Left) way. Women are too stupid to raise children and do anything else at the same time. It’s lucky we all aren’t constantly tripping as we chew gum. Moms are dumb, incapable, non-functional and should be secluded from the rest of society, apparently. And how dare they ever presume to know anything at all besides how make pipe cleaner animals and such? (Source: Red State)

I loved it. Because it hit home for me.

Several years ago my wife graduated from college and began work in the environmental compliance arena for a government agency. She was on a fast track to success. But the Air Force had other ideas. They sent me (us) to Japan. But all was not lost. At a base not too far away, there was an opportunity for her to continue her career. But it came at a cost. The average commute time was at least 90 minutes each way, and was on a good day. So we made the decision to have her postpone her career and stay at home and raise our two boys who were then four and seven. We have never regretted the choice.

I do have one question for anyone who still supports Obama out there who might read my little blog. Is Rosen a reflection on how you really feel? Do you hold stay-at-home moms in distain as much as Rosen does? When you think of those stay-at-home moms that you hold in such little regard, do you ever think about your mom or perhaps grandmother? How did you feel when Rosen pretty much said those women who raised you were stupid?

As side note here for some of you who support Obama to contemplate. Until I was about 12 my mother was not in the workforce other than part time jobs around Christmas time. But you know what. My mother and father are enjoying their retirement by spending out inheritance on trips and new cars and nice things for their house. This was due to my mom. Even before she starting working she understood what needed to be done to get them to point where they are right now. Even before she went back to school to finish her postponed (to have four children) degree, she knew what needed to be done with investments and savings. She was a stay-at-home mom and she wasn’t an idiot.

Volts Falls Short Yet Again

The Chevy Volt continues to be an utter failure for Obama Motors (aka General Motors). Only 723 Volts were sold last month.

General Motors has repeatedly claimed a sales target for 2011 of 10,000 units for the plug-in hybrid Chevy Volt sedan. But, nine months into the year, they’ve only shipped 3,895 off the lot. In fact, in September sales numbers, released an hour ago, GM sold only 723 Volts. Will GM fail to meet its own sales predictions? (Source: Jalopnik)

To reach their predicted goal, GM will need to sell more than 2,000 units over the next three months. So far, no month in 2011 has even come close to this number.

Since you the taxpayer have such a large stake in GM due to the bailout of GM’s unions, this should concern you. How is Obama spending your money (it is your money). Tax dollars for tacking bees, and money to solar panel factories, and even more money to failed automakers should be something you need to consider.

Weatherization Program Fail Hits Illinois

Is this piece of news really very surprising to you? It seems that the stimulus program to weatherize homes continues to be an abject failure. Last spring I bloggedabout how the weatherization program in Delaware suffered from corruption and mismanagement.

Now Illinois has gotten into the act of not properly utilizing your federal tax dollars.

In total, the stimulus program allocated about $5 billion to the cause of home weatherization, outfitting homes with the latest green technology in order to reduce energy prices.

It’s now three years later, and it appears the weatherization program has gone down a road of waste, fraud and abuse.

Illinois’ share of the weatherization program was $242 million over three years, with a goal of weatherizing 27,000 homes for $9,000 each.

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Despite the generous weatherization stimulus, the Illinois legislature decided to create its own, state-run program. Thus, in 2009, the Urban Weatherization Initiative was created, with $425 million to spend over five years. (Source: The Daily Caller)

Chevy Volt and Solyndra Linked?

Good story about how the Chevy Volt could be the car version of Solyndra.

A couple of years back, as President Obama was getting settled into the oval office, he entertained some sales pitches for federal money (your tax dollars) from the stimulus program to fund “green agenda” projects. One of those companies that reaped the taxpayer windfall was Solyndra: to the tune of half a billion dollars ($500+ million).

The sales pitch from the company to Obama, and Obama’s to the American people, was this green project was the wave of the future for creating jobs. Green technology was the way out of the recession, we were told. Never mind that it was an utter failure in other countries, the greenies just had to have these projects funded, dang the torpedoes. To give credit where credit is due, the $500+ million dollars did create about a 1,100 jobs. But I also must point out these jobs cost us taxpayers about $500,000 per job.

Well, Solyndra has fallen flat on its face, entering bankruptcy processing, and laying off about 1,000 workers (the remaining 100 are there to close up shop, and then they too will be without a job). So, we spent a half a billion dollars to create 1,100 temporary positions at a cost of $500,000 per job with only an empty solar panel factory and an increase in unemployment to show for the taxpayers funded efforts. File this under Epic Fail.