CNN Gives a Typically Biased Report on the U.S. Train System

The CNN report tells of the romance of the rails and then how the rails suck the American taxpayer dry.  In other words, the standard GOP party line.  (CNN: Riding the Amtrak rails on the government's dime)

CNN is stoogey enough to shill for Joe Mica:

"Amtrak has had a long history of waste, fraud and abuse," says its biggest critic, Rep. John Mica, R-Florida. "We're running a Soviet-style train system and a third-world country operation."

Mica says that despite billions in federal subsidies, the rail system continues to bleed money, and high-speed rail service -- something many Americans are clamoring for, he says -- is not possible through Amtrak.

The first statement from him is pulp fiction hyperbole and it shames CNN even to print it.  The latter is the hoodwink.  Mica refers to 'billions in subsidies' and the author mentions $1.4 billion in subsidies for rail transportation.  The fact leaves out the expenditure of $145 billion (state and federal) on the highway / Interstate system in 2007 alone.

The immediate Mica response doesn't need him because we know he will say, 'but, oh, oh, oh, the highway system is used so much more.'

These GOP nitwits just love going around in circles.  The fact the highway system is used so much more could not possibly be due to the fact you spend a hundred fucking times as much to support it and improve it.

Whether the highway transportation system is adequately funded is an irrelevant red herring when the only question is why the rail system is not funded well enough.  There was occasion recently when we rode the train from Dallas to Fort Worth, a reasonably well-traveled route, and that train bucked and lurched along the rails like it was on an ocean cruise around the Cape of Good Hope.

Note:  we can do hyperbole too.  Joe Mica is just another land shark.

Any idea the system is adequately budgeted is laughable.  It only shows they do not ride trains and / or have never ridden one in Europe.

We can do all manner of studies on the efficacy of road versus rail and that's very nice, very nice but there won't be an even analysis without bringing up the rails to an adequate standard.  In the modern world, Europe seems to set the standard with some experimental trains doing extremely radical things while Japan and China have the most blazing hotrod trains.

The GOP doesn't want to do it for one reason, the distances are too great.  That one goes down in flames with a counter regarding China.  When the distances are not too great in China, there's no valid reason to use that argument here.

Likely the next reason is no-one wants to do it, there is no demand.  We submit this one is specious because it's another circular problem.  People won't want to use it unless it's of sufficient quality and right now it is not.

Here at the Rockhouse, we really want to see high-speed trains in America.  We remember every road trip we ever took and how the car always winds up a midden at the end of it with empty Pepsi cans and bags of potato chips all over the floor.  There will be a trash bag stuffed to overflowing, empty packs of cigarettes all over the place, and that sticky place where something spilled but you don't remember what it was.  The best thing to do with the vehicle after that is burn it.

There's an elegance to train travel which cars cannot possibly match.  After you have been sitting in a fixed position for four to eight hours, your body will hardly even move.  Your age doesn't matter and you know how it wrecks you.

The cheesy author of the CNN piece talked of the horror of taking a shower on a train and it was so bad he felt he needed another one after he finished.  Oh, that's so, so Hemingway there, Earnest.

In parallel situations, let's ask someone who has flown international across the ocean if he or she would like to take a shower before landing.  No matter the difficulty, the person will be your friend for life.  It's the same for someone who has just done a long-distance road trip.  Coming off the road, you usually either want a shower or go straight away to crash for some sleep.

Nothing else could compete with a train car for dining when they devote a whole train car for that purpose.  Aircraft don't have a kitchen much larger than the trunk of your car and a car has nothing unless it's a Coleman stove you can use in rest stops.

There are multiple reasons trains could be a high-value ticket but there's little chance that can happen without appropriate funding to get them up to the state needed for desirable transportation and to build the infrastructure to make them safe and fast.

We on the Socialist Left demand a reasonable Opposition but Rep. John Mica, R-Florida, only throws fish.  We are seeking those with vision to see a real future for America rather than endlessly clinging to the past and pushing forward with nothing.  That vision does not preclude Goldwater Republicans but it specifically obviates participation from the Tea Party Republicans and related clone parties.