You learn something every day. If you have trouble reading these emails or if they are distorted by crazy re-formatting, you can click on the read this via your browser button at the bottom of these pages. Today's reality check is a photograph. If it doesn't appear, try the browser button. If you have a moment, give me some feedback about whether you got it or not.
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As many of you already know, there will be a big-time rally in Burlingame on Sunday, November 7, at 11:00 am. Watch these pages for a formal announcement. Turn-out is critical. Bring your relatives as well as your friends. I'm bringing our kids and grandkids. Public statements such as this will be heard in Sacramento and in Washington. We're mad as hell and we're not going to take it anymore. You get the idea.
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http://blogs.wsj.com/metropolis/2010/10/22/as-christie-weighs-tunnel-us-revises-price-tag/
Picture this worksite going on for over six years in front (or back) of your house. Oar in your neighborhood. Diesel stink. Truck traffic. Dirt. Lots of dirt. All night construction. Endless freight rail traffic. Tons of dirt going in and out. Tons of concrete going in. Only on a much larger scale than this picture.
How come Governor Chris Christie of New Jersey has the cohones to terminate this train-tunnel project due to anticipated cost overruns that New Jersey cannot afford, while our Governator vetoes any acountability of our distastrous HSR project that we in California can't afford?
Why isn't Schwarzenegger terminating the high-speed ral project for the same reason that Christie is terminating the tunnel project? Is California politics even more corrupt than New Jersey's? Hard to believe.
California has not only a $19 billion budget deficit, but also a $100 billion debt. Like the federal debt, or like your mortgage, there are interest payments to be made when money is borrowed. Bond issues are borrowed money. California is approaching a default, junk bond condition. That's the same as foreclosure. Is the Governor so vain as to incur even greater debt for California, just as he leaves office, in order to build his vanity project, the HSR? Isn't that what Roman Emperors used to do?
How come we didn't re-call Arnie a long time ago?
Martin
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http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/10/27/christie-kills-train-tunnel-again/?hp
October 27, 2010, 11:25 AM
Christie Kills Train Tunnel, Again
By PATRICK MCGEEHAN
Chris Christie, the Republican governor of New Jersey, put a second and final stop on Wednesday morning to the most expensive public works project under way in the country, a proposed rail tunnel under the Hudson River that could have doubled commuter-train service to Manhattan.
Mr. Christie had canceled the project earlier this month, saying that New Jersey could not afford its rising share of the projected costs. Then, pressed by federal officials to reconsider, he agreed to wait two weeks while alternative financing plans could be drawn up.
But, in the end, Mr. Christie said the taxpayers of New Jersey would still be liable for cost overruns that could run into the billions of dollars.
The decision to stop construction of the project, known as Access to the Region’s Core, could cost the state $3 billion that was pledged by the federal Department of Transportation for new transit projects, and some or all of an additional $3 billion commitment from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. The state was responsible for the balance of the project’s total cost, which had been estimated at $8.7 billion.
But Mr. Christie challenged that figure, saying the project would surely cost much more. Last week, the federal transportation secretary, Ray LaHood, who had tried to talk Mr. Christie out of stopping the project, said that his staff estimated that it would cost at least $9.775 billion and possibly more than $12 billion.
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