First California High Speed Train approved

[Rin]

Originally Posted by Sesc

From LA to San Francisco in 2.5 hours. Link.

(Larger version)

So ... welcome to this century? Of course, you don't have the money yet, you'll start the tracks in the middle of nowhere, and it'll take 15 years to finish it. But still, congrats

And now be nice and buy German quality engineering.

That beauty can reach 250mph. You do want the fastest produced train in the world, do you?

By the way, if the lessons of Florida are any indication, enjoy your Republican smear-campaign to get it put up for referrendum and then voted back out. I forecast sneaky ballot language where yes means no and no means yes, as they did in Florida as well. The Florida ballots contained long paragraphs that essentially boiled down to "if you vote yes, it means you want to repeal the initiative that gives us a high speed train" (you know, the one that passed with an ungodly fuckton majority just a couple of years before). Most people, probably thinking, "Didn't I vote yes, I want the fucking train, a couple of years ago? Why is this back on the ballot? Of course, yes, I want the fucking train!" and then BOOM, the train initiative was repealed by the same ungodly fuckton majority.

[TRH]

Originally Posted by Rin

By the way, if the lessons of Florida are any indication, enjoy your Republican smear-campaign to get it put up for referrendum and then voted back out. I forecast sneaky ballot language where yes means no and no means yes, as they did in Florida as well. The Florida ballots contained long paragraphs that essentially boiled down to "if you vote yes, it means you want to repeal the initiative that gives us a high speed train" (you know, the one that passed with an ungodly fuckton majority just a couple of years before). Most people, probably thinking, "Didn't I vote yes, I want the fucking train, a couple of years ago? Why is this back on the ballot? Of course, yes, I want the fucking train!" and then BOOM, the train initiative was repealed by the same ungodly fuckton majority.

I seem to recall that Proposition 8 was sold to the voting public using the same trick. I'm feeling nervous about the future of this project all of a sudden...

In the interest of keeping things optimistic, statistics are showing that younger people are less and less likely to drive: http://news.yahoo.com/americas-gener...0--sector.html

If trends like this keep up, popular demand for improved transportation infrastructure will eventually lead to some sort of reforms. After all, deflection tactics like the ones Republicans favor tend to work best on the margins, rather than walking directly into the wind of public opinion.

[Rin]

Originally Posted by TRH

I seem to recall that Proposition 8 was sold to the voting public using the same trick. I'm feeling nervous about the future of this project all of a sudden...

In the interest of keeping things optimistic, statistics are showing that younger people are less and less likely to drive: http://news.yahoo.com/americas-gener...0--sector.html

If trends like this keep up, popular demand for improved transportation infrastructure will eventually lead to some sort of reforms. After all, deflection tactics like the ones Republicans favor tend to work best on the margins, rather than walking directly into the wind of public opinion.

You know, now that I think about it, I think much of the Republican bank-roll of the Florida anti-train campain came from the Rent-a-Car lobby in central Florida. We can't have people thinking they could, gasp, take a train or bus anywhere when their plane lands! They've got to go rent a car!

Perhaps y'all don't have that problem in California?

Somewhat related, I've got a lot of very conservative acquaintences in Florida (it's hard not to). It's amazing how anti-anything-progressive they are, until I regale them with stories from Japan about how these things actually work, and suddenly, they don't think it's so bad. They practically shit their pants when I told them about the train system here and how owning a car is a necessity for very few people here who live anywhere near a decent-sized urban area. Same thing with the health care. We can't have that OBAMAcare (yes, well, I got a CT-Scan for 50 dollars (50 dollars?!?!? I paid a 1200 copay for mine! WTF?!?!) and another 50 dollars bought me a really well done crown to replace that 800 dollar crown I got in Amerikkka that fell apart after 6 months (so, how hard is it to learn Japanese, again, Rin? I think I need to move).

[All-Powerful-Oz]

It's a shame Japan's a rigid cultural shithole.

[Luckylee]

Godzilla attacking every other week kind of deters me from moving to Japan.

[Xiph0]

The GOP in California is pretty cautious because every time they slip up they lose so much ground it takes them 10 years just to get half of it back. Prop 8 got pushed as hard as it did because of the Mormon backing more than the GOP.

If they see this as a plausible way to get egg on the Democrats face here, they may try, but it can easily be spun as wanting California to fail, and that would ruin them in a state that can't afford a party trying to drag it down.

[TRH]

Originally Posted by Xiph0

The GOP in California is pretty cautious because every time they slip up they lose so much ground it takes them 10 years just to get half of it back. Prop 8 got pushed as hard as it did because of the Mormon backing more than the GOP.

If they see this as a plausible way to get egg on the Democrats face here, they may try, but it can easily be spun as wanting California to fail, and that would ruin them in a state that can't afford a party trying to drag it down.

It's a worthwhile gamble so long as California does fail (more than it already does, that is), because that will be seen as a validation of the GOP's anti-government philosophy. That said, I don't pretend to be an expert on Californian politics, and the Democrats there must do something right to consistently carry the state in presidential elections. Maybe things aren't as bad as I fear they are, but the way this country's been going for the past decade or so leaves me with a decidedly pessimistic bent.

[Xiph0]

Originally Posted by TRH

It's a worthwhile gamble so long as California does fail (more than it already does, that is), because that will be seen as a validation of the GOP's anti-government philosophy.

That's true nationally, but it doesn't work out well here. Every paper in the state would call them on it including the conservative ones. Fucking over business interests and peoples jobs to try and undercut the other guys politically pisses unions and corporations in the state off pretty equally. Large amounts of money flows through this state, anyone trying to upset stability for whatever motive gets stamped out.