Reason.tv: 3 Reasons Obama’s High-Speed Rail Will Go Nowhere Fast

Supertrain 2010 = Supertrain 1979!

President Barack Obama has pledged $8 billion in tax dollars to build a national network of high-speed rail—trains that can carry passengers at speeds in excess of 150 MPH.

But the Supertrain fantasy was a mistake back in the 1970s, when it gave rise to one of the most expensive—and rotten—TV shows in history. And it’s just as much of a wreck in the 21st century for at least three reasons:

1. The lowball costs. CNN estimates that delivering on the plan could cost well over $500 billion and take decades to build, all while failing to cover much of the country at all. Internationally, only two high-speed rail lines have recouped their capital costs and all depend on huge subsidies to stay in operation.

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Tags: Amtrak, Barack Obama, federal spending, high speed rail, Joe Biden
Posted Mar 4th 2010 at 3:25 pm in Obama, Politics, Technology, federal spending | 84190109 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/ngillespie/2010/03/04/reason-tv-3-reasons-obamas-high-speed-rail-will-go-nowhere-fast/Reason.tv%3A+3+Reasons+Obama%27s+High-Speed+Rail+Will+Go+Nowhere+Fast2010-03-04+23%3A25%3A09Nick+Gillespie

Vice President Biden’s Ever-Changing ‘Depression Expression’

Vice President Biden keeps recycling his unemployment speeches – except he keeps confusing the suburbs of his hometown of Scranton:

1.  On October 19, 2009, he used Minooka:

My pop — my grandpop used to say — there was a suburb of Scranton called Minooka. He said, “When the guy in Minooka’s out of work, it’s an economic slowdown. When your brother- in-law’s out of work, it’s a recession. When you’re out of work, it’s a depression.”  Well, it’s a depression — it’s a depression for millions of Americans, through no fault of their own.

2.  On October 30, 2009, he used Dickson City:

My grandpop used to have an expression. We’re from Scranton. He’d say — and I mean this literally. It wasn’t viewed as a joke. He said, “Joey, when the guy in Dickson City,” a small town above Scranton, “is out of work, it’s an economic slowdown. When you’re brother-in-law is out of work, it’s a recession. When you’re out of work, it’s a depression.” And it’s a depression for millions of American people.

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Tags: biden gaffes, depression, Dickson City, Harry Truman, job loss
Posted Feb 22nd 2010 at 12:51 pm in Economics, News | 78702111 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/capitolconfidential/2010/02/22/vice-president-bidens-ever-changing-depression-expression/Vice+President+Biden%E2%80%99s+Ever-Changing+%27Depression+Expression%272010-02-22+20%3A51%3A26Capitol++Confidential

Meet Captain Obvious: Joe Biden

Yesterday, Vice President Joe Biden visited CBS’ “Early Show” for a “wide-ranging interview” during which he said, “We understand why people are angry…We get it.”

Um, no you don’t. Because if you did, Mr. Vice President, we wouldn’t keep hearing stories about the executive branch seeking ways to act unilaterally on domestic issues it can’t seem to get passed in the lopsided, Democrat-controlled Congress.

And we wouldn’t keep reading about SEIU and other bankrollers of the Obama campaign demanding swifter action on agenda items that are in their interest.

Vice Captain Obvious also had this observation: “Washington right now is broken.”  Help me out,  Joe. Your party controls 59 seats in the Senate.  You have a huge majority in the House.  Yet Washington is “broken?” Under whom is it broken, Joe?

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Tags: deficit reduction, Democrat Congress, job creation, Joe Biden, SEIU
Posted Feb 18th 2010 at 7:01 am in Big Labor, Congress, News, Obama, Politics | 76874121 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/kolson/2010/02/18/meet-captain-obvious-joe-biden/Meet+Captain+Obvious%3A+Joe+Biden2010-02-18+15%3A01%3A35Kyle+Olson

You Don’t Need a Washington Task Force to Understand the Middle Class

It was kind of hard to stop laughing when I read that Joe Biden is leading a Task Force to study what’s on the mind of middle class Americans. Give me a break.

It would be funny if it were not so sad that those in Washington need a special commission to figure out what America thinks. How can we be represented in the first place if the people we hired to carry our hopes and fears are so clueless?

Here’s my suggestion Mr. Biden—take a trip to any town or city and sit down for an early breakfast in a coffee shop. Stop talking long enough to listen. Try a barber or beauty shop for the same lesson. Have a beer in a tavern. The key here, Mr. Biden—and all you folks from Washington, D.C. who have become so frightened that people are expressing their independent will at the polls—is to stop pontificating long enough to actually hear what we are saying.

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Tags: economic task force, guns and bibles, Joe Biden, Lobbyist, middle class
Posted Feb 1st 2010 at 11:13 am in Congress, Obama, Politics | 67858204 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/jwurzelbacher/2010/02/01/you-dont-need-a-washington-task-force-to-understand-the-middle-class/You+Don%E2%80%99t+Need+a+Washington+Task+Force+to+Understand+the+Middle+Class2010-02-01+19%3A13%3A47Joe+%26%2339%3BThe+Plumber%26%2339%3B+Wurzelbacher

Obama Admits Partisanship at GOP Retreat; Forgets About Change.gov

Building on Real Clear Politics observation by Tom Bevan:

There’s been a remarkable amount of coverage of President Obama’s appearance at the House Republican retreat today, but I haven’t seen anyone focus on the President’s rather stunning admission about the Democrats’ health care legislation:

President Obama stated at the GOP retreat in Baltimore:

“The last thing I will say, though — let me say this about health care and the health care debate, because I think it also bears on a whole lot of other issues. If you look at the package that we’ve presented — and there’s some stray cats and dogs that got in there that we were eliminating, we were in the process of eliminating. For example, we said from the start that it was going to be important for us to be consistent in saying to people if you can have your — if you want to keep the health insurance you got, you can keep it, that you’re not going to have anybody getting in between you and your doctor in your decision making. And I think that some of the provisions that got snuck in might have violated that pledge.”

Bevan continues his analysis of Obama’s statements:

If we take this statement at face value, President Obama is admitting the the health care bills passed by either the House or Senate (or both) contained provisions which were “snuck in” – presumably by Democratic members and perhaps on behalf of certain lobbyists – that would have in fact prevented people from keeping their current insurance and/or choosing the doctor they want.

Let’s re-read Obama’s statement:

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Tags: 2008 Presidential Campaign, Barack Obama, Change.gov, GOP retreat, Hope and Change
Posted Jan 30th 2010 at 11:25 am in Congress, News, Obama, Politics | 67314227 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/sahiller/2010/01/30/obama-admits-partisanship-at-gop-retreat-forgets-about-change-gov/Obama+Admits+Partisanship+at+GOP+Retreat%3B+Forgets+About+Change.gov2010-01-30+19%3A25%3A31SusanAnne+++Hiller

What Was Missing from the SOTU Address

Wednesday nights, I usually watch “Ghost Hunters” on the SyFy Channel. Yes, I am one of those geeks. But this week, I set the DVR so that I could watch President Obama give the annual State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress and the American people.

I might as well have watched a bunch of people using high-tech gadgetry to try to make contact with the other side, because I certainly didn’t learn anything new in this world.

Anyone who has paid even scant attention to Obama over the past year or two has heard it all before. We heard about the need to act “boldly” and “aggressively” in a crisis, the need to pass climate change legislation, the need to pass the health care boondoggle, the requisite bashing of banks and Wall Street, and, lest we forget, blaming Bush for everything except ABC’s cancellation of the show “Ugly Betty.”

In the private sector, constant passing of the buck gets you fired. In government, it earns you points with your base.

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Tags: Barack Obama, Congress, Diane Sawyer, Frank Luntz, Joe Biden
Posted Jan 28th 2010 at 1:03 pm in Congress, News, Obama | 66402121 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/pmeister/2010/01/28/what-was-missing-from-the-sotu-address/What+Was+Missing+from+the+SOTU+Address2010-01-28+21%3A03%3A11Pam+Meister

Coakley: The Political Gift That Keeps on Giving

Wait, what was that? Did Martha Coakley actually say that? Yes she did.  Here is the quote for those who have not heard or read it,

“You can have religious freedom but you probably shouldn’t work in the emergency room.”

She was saying that about devout Catholics on Boston’s WBSM to Kevin Pittman. But it is not where she said it, or to whom she said it. It is the words she chose to use.

Where to start? The sheer arrogance is mind boggling.  Is she so full of hubris that she thinks that everyone in Massachusetts from Uxbridge to Cambridge agrees with her? This is what she says off the top of her head in an interview? This sentiment is so close to the surface of her consciousness that it spills out under routine questioning? How does one pick from such a plethora of goodies that Martha has given us during this campaign.

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Tags: Afghanistan, anti-catholic, coakley attorney general, coakley gaffes, emergency room
Posted Jan 16th 2010 at 5:07 pm in Politics, State Politics | 60670165 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/skadi/2010/01/16/coakley-the-political-gift-that-keeps-on-giving/Coakley%3A+The+Political+Gift+That+Keeps+on+Giving2010-01-17+01%3A07%3A26Skadi

Obama’s Obvious Disdain

On Sunday morning, Instapundit drew attention to a startling photograph posted on the internet by the White House. In it stands President Obama in black tie, leaning against a wall, his arms folded, speaking not a word, and looking down on Vice-President Biden with hooded eyes.

When this shot is shown in high resolution, as one perceptive observer soon noted, “Obama looks like he has contempt for Biden” –which, he added, may be the case “given Joe ‘The Gaff Machine’ Biden’s performance this year.” I am, he concluded, once again reminded “of how this administration seems to have become oblivious to the images they project to the public.”

I wonder whether this last point is right.

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Tags: Angela Merkel, Barack Obama, Berlin Wall, Guardian, Hillary Clinton
Posted Jan 6th 2010 at 12:50 pm in Obama, Politics | 55386185 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/prahe/2010/01/06/obamas-obvious-disdain-for-all-of-us/Obama%27s+Obvious+Disdain2010-01-06+20%3A50%3A36Paul+A.++Rahe

Barack Obama and the Exhausted Presidency

In a recent puff piece, The New York Times reports that our President is tired. This is not the first such report. Back in May, when he treated England’s Gordon Brown so shabbily, the excuse given — according to The Daily Telegraph – was that wrestling with the economic crisis had left Barack Obama too exhausted to be able to focus on foreign affairs.

We should perhaps discount what was said in May. For, as I have attempted to document in detail here, here, here, here, here, and here, President Obama is a gentleman, and, as such, he is never unintentionally rude. He is, in fact, a master of the insulting gesture, which he seems to reserve for political opponents, such as Hillary Clinton, John McCain, and Sarah Palin, and for political leaders in countries, such as England, France, Germany, Israel, and Poland, which were closely associated with the United States prior to the Age of Obama.

This time, however, Barack Obama may be genuinely tired, and he may be depressed as well. He certainly has warrant. In public, he may claim that he deserves a B+ for his first year in office, but the polling data suggests that he has earned a failing mark, and he has to know better.

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Tags: Al Qaeda, Barack Obama, Beijing, Chinese relations, Christmas Attack
Posted Dec 31st 2009 at 5:41 am in Congress, Defense, Featured Story, Healthcare, Obama, Politics | 53670353 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/prahe/2009/12/31/barack-obama-and-the-exhausted-presidency/Barack+Obama+and+the+Exhausted+Presidency2009-12-31+13%3A41%3A42Paul+A.++Rahe

Obama’s 6 Worst Policy Decisions

From Guantanamo to Health Care, Obama is certainly seeking to Change America – or more accurately -to accelerate the pace of change from a private enterprise-freedom based civilization to a Big Government-run society.  According to Thomas Paine, “It is the duty of a patriot to protect his country from his government.”  I realize that is a slightly different definition than Joe Biden would use, but nevertheless, in that light, here is my listing of the worst of his policy decisions:

6. Bailing Out GM.  “His policy of public investments prevented necessary liquidations.  The businesses he hoped thus to save either went bankrupt in the end, after fearful agonies, or were burdened . . . by a crushing load of debt.  [He] undermined property rights . . .pushed federal credit into the banks and bullied them into inflating . . .” Historian Paul Johnson wrote that of Herbert Hoover.  You can almost substitute Obama’s name for Hoover’s  in every detail.   By the way, Government Motors sales are declining at 3 times the rate of the industry as a whole.  Hoover would be proud.

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Tags: auto bailout, Barack Obama, cap-and-trade, federal spending, Gitmo
Posted Dec 28th 2009 at 12:02 pm in Defense, Economics, Environment, Healthcare, News, Obama, Politics, federal spending | 52906393 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/tdelbeccaro/2009/12/28/obamas-6-worst-policy-decisions/Obama%E2%80%99s+6+Worst+Policy+Decisions2009-12-28+20%3A02%3A52Thomas+Del+Beccaro

Review: Sarah Palin’s ‘Going Rogue’

On the “Tonight Show” recently, William Shatner dramatically read from the former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin’s new book. The scene made national news not because of Shatner’s comedic timing but because after he read from her book, Ms. Palin herself walked onstage and read dramatically from one of Mr. Shatner’s books to audience applause. Instead of standing on the sidelines in silence, Palin had decided to go on the show and respond in a humorous way to the comedic skit. After having innumerable criticisms leveled at her since she was chosen as the GOP running mate last year, Ms. Palin recently responded to her critics in her new bestselling book “Going Rogue” but the book is about much more than that response.

Since Palin was selected as the vice presidential candidate by Senator John McCain, many people have told us about Sarah Palin. Many liberals and some conservatives have attacked who Palin is and her experience. Many members of the media have joined in and they have tried to tell viewers what Sarah Palin stands for. Instead of listening to and believing such people, I decided to read Palin’s book myself to find out who she really is and if the media hype about the book was true.

The media hype suggested that Palin’s book focused on her campaign to be vice president. Some analysts seemed to believe that Palin wrote the book to justify her “going rogue” last year and to attack people from the campaign she felt had not served the campaign well. However, after finishing the book recently, I realized that the book is not a vengeful account of what transpired but Palin’s own accounting of her public life, including her bid to become the first female vice president of the United States.

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Tags: 2008 Presidential Campaign, Geraldine Ferraro, Going Rogue, Governor of Alaska, Joe Biden
Posted Dec 24th 2009 at 9:48 am in Culture, Media Criticism, Politics | 46174288 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/jhanlon/2009/12/24/review-sarah-palins-going-rogue/Review%3A+Sarah+Palin%27s+%27Going+Rogue%272009-12-24+17%3A48%3A41John+P.+Hanlon

Let’s Be Frank, Mr. Vice President: The Stimulus Failed

Today, the State of Georgia welcomes Vice President Joe Biden for an update on the administration’s so-called stimulus bill. With national unemployment sitting today at 10%, and worse in Georgia, the White House’s credibility on stimulus success is dubious at best. Yet as proper manners would dictate, we owe the Vice President an opportunity to make his case.

President Obama tapped Mr. Biden to oversee the stimulus program because, as he put it, “nobody messes with Joe.”  While that may be so, as the Vice President has been traveling around the nation touting the various spending priorities of the stimulus bill, their alleged benefits have yet to materialize into jobs.  So if the Vice President is visiting to have us believe expanding broadband is how jobs are created or that we can “weatherize” our way back to prosperity, it may be Joe who is messing with Georgia.

It’s actually quite telling that the Vice President is visiting us to discuss the stimulus package on the same day that President Obama is setting off for Copenhagen to promote a job-killing National Energy Tax as a means to combat global warming. Because what was evident in the stimulus package, and has been reinforced through subsequent actions, is that this administration places a higher premium on its social goals than on putting people back to work.

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Tags: Al Gore, bailouts, economic growth, federal budget deficit, federal debt ceiling
Posted Dec 17th 2009 at 5:29 am in Congress, Economics, Featured Story, Obama | 4789852 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/tprice/2009/12/17/lets-be-frank-mr-vice-president-the-stimulus-hasnt-worked/Let%27s+Be+Frank%2C+Mr.+Vice+President%3A+The+Stimulus+Failed2009-12-17+13%3A29%3A11Rep.+Tom+Price+%28R-GA%29

Obama to Taxpayers: America Needs More Picnic Tables

Because it wasn’t painful enough to know that the “stimulus” money is heavily used to pay for the union-inflated salaries of thousands of bureaucrats in the states, or paying for jobs in phantom districts, or even better, going to recipients who happily spent it without creating any jobs, now we can see how much of the “stimulus” money is going to pay for picnic tables or to replace the motor of a government-owned boat.

For instance, I can see now that R. J. THOMAS MANUFACTURING COMPANY, INC received 4 different awards totaling roughly a $110,000 in exchange for picnic tables (because we know how stimulating these are)

Check out this website called Stimulus Watch. It allows you to search for contracts and grant awards by state and city, by awarding agency, or by recipient. And they will even have a keyword search soon. The really cool aspect of the site is that once you find an award that interests you, you can vote on whether you are satisfied with it or not, add to the wiki description of the project, and join in the conversation about the award in the comments section.

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Tags: earl devaney, jobs saved or created, Joe Biden, phantom districts, picnic tables
Posted Nov 19th 2009 at 1:29 pm in Economics, Obama, Politics | 3367880 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/vderugy/2009/11/19/obama-to-taxpayers-america-needs-more-picnic-tables/Obama+to+Taxpayers%3A+America+Needs+More+Picnic+Tables2009-11-19+20%3A29%3A01Veronique++de+Rugy

Obama Stimulus Numbers: The Return of Enron-Style Accounting

The Sarbanes-Oxley Law was rushed through Congress in the wake of an enormous corporate accounting scandal that shook Wall Street and investors across the country. CEO’s and officers at several large companies were found to have “cooked the books”; i.e. knowingly falsified earnings statements to maintain stock prices or propel them higher. The practice came to be known as, Enron-Style Accounting.

The new law had many provisions, but one of its more sweeping was the requirement that corporate officers and executives assume personal responsibility for the accuracy and completeness of financial reports. In some cases, corporate officers could face civil or even criminal penalties if the numbers they reported to the public turned out to be inaccurate.

If only the law applied to politicians.

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Tags: accounting scandals, Enron, federal spending, Franklin Center, GAO
Posted Nov 19th 2009 at 6:47 am in Economics, Featured Story, News, Obama, Politics | 3349082 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/mikeflynn/2009/11/19/obama-stimulus-numbers-the-return-of-enron-style-accounting/Obama+Stimulus+Numbers%3A+The+Return+of+Enron-Style+Accounting2009-11-19+13%3A47%3A45Mike+Flynn

Will Corzine Allies Steal the Election in New Jersey? ACORN, Dirty Tricks and Absentee Ballot Fraud

New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine is locked in the political fight of his life. With just hours left before voting, polls show a neck-and-neck race between Corzine and GOP candidate Chris Christie, with Independent candidate Chris Daggett pulling significant support. Obama and VP Biden are making last ditch pitches for the embattled governor. But evidence is building that Corzine’s campaign may see its only salvation is in rigging the election.

The first sign is a straight-up dirty trick. Daggett’s run for office is certainly convenient for Corzine, as he will help split any anti-Corzine vote. And, as a Corzine political appointee, one wonders if his candidacy wasn’t a set up to begin with. Now, in the final days of the campaign, it appears state democrats are paying for robo calls supporting Independent Chris Daggett. First reported here, the robo calls attack Christie (but not Corzine) and promote Daggett. At the end of the call, it is mentioned that the calls are paid for by a “project of the NJSDC.” No idea what that acronym stands for, but New Jersey State Democratic Committee, isn’t too big of a stretch. More interesting is the fact that the return number on the calls is the same number that was used to promote Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley’s election in closing days of the 2006 race.

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Tags: absentee ballots, absentee voter fraud, ACORN, Barack Obama, Bertha Lewis
Posted Nov 1st 2009 at 10:10 pm in ACORN, Big Labor, News, Politics, State Politics | 23882116 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/capitolconfidential/2009/11/01/will-corzine-allies-steal-the-election-in-new-jersey-acorn-dirty-tricks-and-absentee-ballot-fraud/Will+Corzine+Allies+Steal+the+Election+in+New+Jersey%3F+ACORN%2C+Dirty+Tricks+and+Absentee+Ballot+Fraud2009-11-02+05%3A10%3A21Capitol++Confidential