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   XPost: alt.california, sac.politics, alt.politics.democrats   
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   http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2015/01/07/california-bullet-train-most-   
   expensive-public-works-project-in-us-   
   history/?intcmp=ob_article_footer_text&intcmp=obnetwork   
      
   Despite cost overruns, lawsuits, public opposition and a projected   
   completion date 13 years behind schedule, California Gov. Jerry Brown   
   broke ground Tuesday on what is to become the most expensive public works   
   project in U.S. history: the California bullet train.   
      
   Over the next 1,000 days, California is estimated to spend roughly $4   
   million a day on the project.   
      
   The high-speed train, set to be finished in 2033, originally was supposed   
   to deliver passengers from San Francisco to Los Angeles in two hours and   
   40 minutes. That was the promise when voters narrowly approved $10 billion   
   in bonds for the project in 2008. Since then, however, the estimated trip   
   time has grown considerably, and the train has encountered persistent   
   problems -- as experts uncovered misrepresentations in the ballot   
   proposition, and opponents sued to stop the project on environmental and   
   fiscal grounds.   
      
   "We're talking about real money here," said Kris Vosburgh, executive   
   director of taxpayer watchdog group Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association.   
   "This is money that's not available for health care or education, for   
   public safety, or put back in taxpayers' pockets so they have something to   
   spend. This is money being drawn out of the system for a program that is   
   going to serve very few people."   
      
   Much about the project has changed since it was sold to the public.   
      
   Voters were told the project would cost just $33 billion. Once experts   
   crunched the numbers, however, the price tag soared to $98 billion. It was   
   supposed to whoosh riders from Southern California to the Bay Area in less   
   than three hours, but now it’s more than four hours due to changing track   
   configurations and route adjustments. The train was supposed to get people   
   off the freeway and reduce carbon emissions, but a panel of experts now   
   says any carbon savings will be nominal.   
      
   Further, ridership projections have been cut by two-thirds from a   
   projected 90 million to 30 million a year. Fewer riders means higher   
   prices. According to a panel of transportation experts hired by the Reason   
   Foundation, Citizens Against Government Waste and the Howard Jarvis   
   Taxpayers Association, tickets will exceed $80 -- not $50 -- and the   
   system will require annual subsidies of more than $300 million annually.   
      
   "The public has turned sour on this plan but the governor, to paraphrase   
   Admiral Farragut, has taken a position of 'damn the people, full speed   
   ahead'," Vosburgh said.   
      
   Undaunted by critics, Brown broke ground in Fresno on Tuesday on the first   
   29-mile segment of the train's system. Under Brown's direction, the   
   California High Speed Rail Authority has gone to court to seek an   
   exemption from an environmental quality law the state imposes on other   
   projects but not this one. Brown also convinced the state Legislature to   
   dedicate an annual revenue stream from the state's carbon tax, to help pay   
   for the bullet train.   
      
   "It's a long project, a bold project and one that will transform the   
   Central Valley," Brown said Monday as he began his fourth and final term   
   as governor.   
      
   Once construction begins, supporters say it will be harder to stop the   
   project. Several lawsuits linger, but a bigger question concerns the   
   money: Where will it come from? If every penny committed to the project is   
   added up, the project is still more than $30 billion short. Republicans in   
   Congress are vowing not to commit a dollar more than President Obama   
   approved in 2012.   
      
   "For years now, Governor Brown and the high-speed rail authority have   
   turned the idea of high-speed rail into a public albatross far beyond what   
   Californians envisioned or voted for," House Majority Leader Kevin   
   McCarthy, R-Calif., said in a statement released Tuesday. "Sadly, today's   
   groundbreaking is a political maneuver. Supporters of the railroad in   
   Sacramento can't admit their project is deeply flawed, and they won't give   
   up on it despite the cost. But these political tricks are exactly what the   
   American people are tired of and what the new Republican Congress is   
   committed to ending."   
      
   Supporters don't see waste. They argue the project will reduce freeway   
   gridlock, offer competition to air travel and provide an alternative to   
   trucking freight.   
      
   Environmentalists also have opposed the project, suing and claiming the   
   construction project would harm 11 endangered species and worsen air   
   quality in the already dirty Central Valley. They lost when a federal   
   judge ruled the project did not have to adhere to the state Environmental   
   Quality Act, unlike other projects. Additional legal challenges remain,   
   but supporters believe once the train leaves the station and ground is   
   broken, there's no going back.   
      
   "The legacy of the Brown family is that they have been big thinkers, but   
   also big builders," said Democratic state Assemblyman Henry Perea. "I   
   think this is an opportunity for the legislature to step up, support   
   Governor Brown. "   
      
   Service is scheduled to begin in 2018 from Bakersfield to Merced.   
      
   William La Jeunesse joined FOX News Channel (FNC) in March 1998 and   
   currently serves as a Los Angeles-based correspondent.   
      
      
      
   --   
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   Eric Holder, racist black murdering United States Attorney General, still   
   has his job.   
      
   Nancy Pelosi, Democrat criminal, accessory before and after the fact to   
   improper vetting of Barry Soetoro aka Barack Hussein Obama, a confirmed   
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   Obama ignored the brutal killing of an American diplomat in Benghazi, then   
   relieved American military officers who attempted to prevent said murder   
   in order to cover up his own ineptitude.   
      
   Obama continues his goal of disarming America while ObamaCare increases   
   insurance premiums 300% and leaves millions without health care.   
      
   Obama backed the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt prior to their removal for   
   failing to represent the people and constitutional violations.   
      
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