Are You Gonna Make It All 220?

The Federal Railroad Administration recently approved new rules allowing high-speed passenger rail to employ speeds of 220 miles an hour on dedicated track, with 125-mph for shared track with other trains.  This rule facilitates the development of high-speed rail in the United States and allows companies like Germany's Siemens and France's Alstom - the two largest high-speed train manufacturers in the world - to pursue their business interests here.

I can see the headline in the Washington Times now: NEW TRAIN SPEEDS SEND CONTROL OF USA TRANSPORT OVERSEAS!  

Aside from exposing Illinois' 110-mph "high speed" train program as a freakin' joke, the new standards will allow the upgrading of rail infrastructure and facilitate development of high-speed projects in California and the Northeast Corridor.  So, what could possibly stop President Obama's high-speed rail program now?  

How about House Republicans, who want to zero out $3 billion in high-speed rail grants and rescind grant money already allocated? (Are they cutting all transportation spending? No - they want to maintain spending on . . . highway projects.)  You have to understand the GOP's mindset.  They don't think enough people will use high-speed passenger rail to make it pay for itself (actually, passenger rail never pays for itself; that's why governments in other countries subsidize it), it's less efficient than cheaper, faster airliners (which are not only subsidized, but also lose their speed advantage to long lines and boarding processes at airports), and besides, high-speed rail is so . . . so . . . European!  (The only thing Republicans like about Europe is that the Caucasian race originated there.)  

Also, Republicans are only doing what the people who sent them to Washington want them to do.  Those people are the Koch brothers.  The Kochs oppose high-speed rail because it would make Americans less dependent on oil - which is where they make their money - and it would give the middle class - whom they're trying to keep down - more socioeconomic mobility.  Here are the scumbags who should be arrested for infiltrating our government. Consider these pictures the same way you would consider a wanted poster.  

This is Charles Koch.

And this is his little brother David.

There you have it - Chuck and Dave. Sister Vera, apparently, is still in hiding. :-p