The Great High Speed Rail Scam

CNN (which is a shock to say it reported negatively about a liberal idea) has done some investigating and shows how high speed rail is a fraud.
Meanwhile, there are those in Nevada, mostly Democrats and RINO's who think it is a good idea to waste $5,000,000,000 on a choo-choo from Las Vegas to Victorville, CA.
From CNN(the story is about 4/5 at the end of the page):
COOPER: High speed rail is a key component of President Obama's domestic policy. Now four years ago, he announced to great fanfare that his administration was using $8 billion in stimulus funds as seed money to get high speed rail projects off the ground. An additional billion dollars would then be spent annually.
The president even mentioned high speed rail again in his "State of the Union" address just last month, saying that it should be part -- key part of repairing America's aging infrastructure. Keeping them honest, billions in federal tax dollars have been spent so far with very little to show for it. The 360 has been investigating some of these projects like the billion spent in California without one shovel being put into the ground....
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This has been an extraordinary four years for high speed rail.
GRIFFIN: What is extraordinary is just how much money federal taxpayers have dumped into high speed rail while the trains are still slow. Four years and $12 billion after that pledge to bring high speed rail across America, the slow trains are just moving a little faster. And one of the greater examples of that is what happened in Washington State.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, we received in our state $800 million.
GRIFFIN: Paula Hammond was the state's transportation secretary until recently retiring. Washington State got $800 million from the federal government. That's your tax money, mainly for improving the track between Seattle and Portland. And what did you get for it? Over a three-hour and 40-minute ride, the trip has been reduced by 10 minutes....
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: What we're talking about is a vision for high speed rail in America.
GRIFFIN: Twelve billion dollars later, that vision has churned out 134 scattered projects across the country that have mostly made slow trains a little faster. Keeping them honest, we wanted to know why.
After his speech to the High Speed Rail Association, we were given a brief interview with outgoing Secretary of Transportation, Ray Lahood.
(on camera): I'm wondering after four years and $12 billion spent, if you're disappointed at where high speed rail is. Where is the high speed rail?
RAY LAHOOD, TRANSPORTATION SECRETARY: The high speed rail in four years, we have invested $12 billion. That's just the federal money.
GRIFFIN: But so much of the money has been spent really making the old trains go a little bit faster, Seattle to Portland.
LAHOOD: It is pretty fast.
GRIFFIN: But Seattle to Portland, you've spent $800 million and the trip time is reduced by 10 minutes....
GRIFFIN: True, but is it wise and getting to your point, Anderson, this was sold as high speed rail. People thought they were getting high speed rail. The bullet trains. That's what they're selling. That's what they're showing to us.
But if you look at what was happening in Washington State, you know, right now after $800 million, it's still cheaper and many times faster to take the Greyhound Bus from Seattle to Portland. So what was that investment all about?
It wasn't about high speed rail. It was just about fixing up Amtrak, fixing up the low speed rail and really making freight trains move a little better, but not high speed rail. COOPER: As we mentioned in the introduction, this is the third piece you've done on this issue. After the last one we got thousands of e-mails, basically e-mail bomb. Who's behind that? They were very critical.
GRIFFIN: They are very critical. We reached out to them and talked, there's a network of people who really do believe deep down, they are rail enthusiasts, they believe in the idea of bringing the Japanese or the European style trains here to the U.S.
But as we have explained to them, even after we got e-mail bombed, look, you're not getting high speed rail, and they will admit it. They will admit that this administration is not investing in the actual bullet trains like the ones that they believe. They believe will bring us into the future of transportation. It's not what we're getting.  http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1303/25/acd.01.html
It is quicker to drive from Portland to Seattle averaging 55mph than taking the train at 47mph.  You also have more freedom to go wherever you want when you go by car.
In Nevada, we cannot allow one cent of taxpayer money on the boondoggle choo-choo train from Vegas to the metropolis of Victorville, CA.