California high-speed rail gets green light!

Hell and yes! My mother always said, if you decide to do something you might as well do it all the way. California's willful spiral into insolvency just got a huge boost. This from AP:

California lawmakers gave the green light to start building the nation's first dedicated high-speed rail line, a multibillion dollar project that will eventually link Los Angeles and San Francisco.

Keep in mind that the state government is projecting a $16 Billion deficit for 2012 alone! And the projected cost for this cho-cho is $100 billion! Never mind that there are already many other options for commuters going between LA and San Francisco with much more flexibility not to mention cost effective. It appears that Brown and his economically illiterate allies are hell bent on making California the Greece of the Union.

What was the reason the Dems gave for going forward with the project you might ask? Dan Richard, chairman of the California High-Speed Rail Authority, which is managing the project, explains:

 California would have lost billions of dollars in federal aid if the Senate fails to pass the bill before adjourning Friday for a month long recess.

Really - so regardless of the fact that this thing is untenable in any economic sense, California is so desperate that they will build the train to nowhere just for a few billion bucks. I guess once you are on the Federal Government's dole you never go back.

Now people all across the country are going to pay for this boondoggle as more and more federal dollars roll in because California has absolutely no way of finishing this pile of steaming crap with their own tax revenues. Hope the folks in Enid, Oklahoma like their new Cho-Cho that they will never see.

So let's see if we have all the bases covered:
Project that we have no way to pay for - check
Project that replicates more efficient alternatives - check
Project that will make the unions happy - check
Project that will eventually cost the rest of the country money - Check
Project that is built on one of the most dangerous fault lines in the entire world - check and double check

This, my friends, is what passes for state governance in California. Nothing to see here folks move along move along

Friedman: Man up O!

In yesterday's Times op-ed column, Thomas L. Friedman is advising the president to "Seize the High Ground" (emphasis mine):

I wonder how Barack Obama would do if he ran for president as himself. ... How he would do if he ran for re-election on all the things he's accomplished but rarely speaks about.

Barack Obama is a great orator, but he is the worst president I've ever seen when it comes to explaining his achievements, putting them in context, connecting with people on a gut level through repetition and thereby defining how the public views an issue.

Two things strike me right off the bat here. The fist is that Friedman is implying that because the American electorate is too stupid to realize just how wonderful the O really is, the President will have to use his great/legendary oratory skills and put his accomplishments into 'context' (read dumb the message down) so us unwashed rubes can understand it.

The second, and more disturbing, is that Friedman actually thinks Obama has a compelling message here.

He continues to spell out these great, nay, herculean accomplishments the O should be touting. Let's look at them in the order Friedman lays them out.

First up Obamacare:

Think about this: Is there anyone in America today who doesn't either have a pre-existing medical condition or know someone who does and can't get health insurance as a result? Yet two years after Obama's health care bill became law, how many Americans understand that once it is fully implemented no American with a pre-existing condition will ever again be denied coverage?

Golly, that sounds great. Further, any hardhearted fool who would be against something like this must be crazy. I mean who wouldn't want the government to provide first-class, timely expert care for its citizens?

In reality Friedman is being either journalistically dishonest or lazy - or maybe both. Never-mind the fact that the electorates approval rating for O-care is underwater. Look at the math! WHEN OBAMACARE IS FULLY ENACTED, I.E. MILLIONS OF NEW PATIENTS ON ENTERING THE MARKET, THERE WILL BE SHORTAGES - PERIOD.