Jindal On Track

Keith Olbermann reported on his MSNBC show yesterday that Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal, after having ridiculed President Obama for advocating funding for more high-speed passenger rail, recently signed his state up for . . . money for a high-speed passenger rail line. Olbermann chastised Jindal for hypocrisy, but I won't. I'm glad to welcome Jindal aboard. I'll happily cheer on any elected official who invests in high-speed passenger rail, as the United States sorely lacks in that arena - among other things - and we need more of it.

Well, Acela isn't exactly like the bullet trains American railfans experience abroad.

Also, I have to confess: I loved Trent Lott. Sure, the Mississippi Republican was backward on race issues and had plastic hair, but he was also one of Amtrak's biggest supporters in the Senate. I even wrote him letter once commending him for his support for the national passenger railroad.

If a politician supports bullet trains for Amtrak, that politician will have my backing. A pro-Amtrak politician would have to be pretty despicable not to have my support.

So don't try to sweet-talk me with railfan banter, Sarah Palin.

Here's The Story Of a Man Named Bobby

Bobby Jindal makes me nervous.

I found it disturbing that the Louisiana governor, a "Brady Bunch" fan as a boy, got his nickname from identifying with Bobby, the youngest Brady brother. Anyone who remembers the original "Brady Bunch" series, in addition to knowing how badly people dressed in the seventies, know that while Greg was the thoughtful, intellectual Brady brother and Peter was the clever, inventive one, Bobby was the devious bullcrap artist who got himself into more trouble than necessary. In one episode, he did just that, when he was a crossing guard, and ruined his good suit. Bobby said he learned three things from his experience - never to abuse your authority, always listen to the other side of the story, and the most important thing of all - never put a whole box of laundry detergent in a washing machine! :-O

I shudder at the idea of such a person - Jindal - with the nuclear missile codes. He even demonstrated his inability to understand the importance of government and science when he ridiculed spending on volcano monitoring - even as, as Keith Olbermann noted, Mount Redoubt near Anchorage, Alaska is in an ongoing state of eruption right now, spewing rock that could hit a car several miles away.

I hope it doesn't blow like Carol Brady's washing machine.

I wonder if Alaska's governor, noted book-banning wolf killer Sarah Palin, can see that from her house? :-D

Stimulating Talk

President Obama delivered a sweeping speech Tuesday night, with the kind of economic proposals that are certain to transform this nation - more passenger rail infrastructure, more investments in education and training, and more rich-soaking taxes. The best Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal could do in the Republican response was to say no to all that bit. He even tried to distance his party from the Katrina disaster (who was President then?) by citing an untrue story about the rescues from the flood waters concerning a local sheriff. (Oh, well, it made the point, didn't it? :-p) He went further by mocking a proposed "Disneyland-Vegas" magnetic levitation train that would receive government subsidies, even though no train connecting Anaheim to Las Vegas is planned, the Los Angeles-Las Vegas corridor is merely being studied for a possible high-speed rail program (and it would make sense, considering the continued growth of both metropolitan areas), and magnetic levitation is an advanced, high-tech rail system that was invented here but ignored by oil-interest-friendly Washington policymakers.

All of this pales, however, in comparison to Jindal's apparent refusal to take unemployment benefit money in the federal stimulus bill for his state (although he's happy to take the remaining 99 percent of funds earmarked for Louisiana). Sarah Palin (also taking a hypocritical stand against the stimulus) is hated for advocating the systematic airborne killing of wolves, but Jindal would gladly allow those same wolves to position themselves at people's doors.