Video of the Day: Train nearly takes out U.S. Senator

Just like a politician to put a great photo op above safety. 

Train nearly takes out U.S. Senator

Amusing: Sequester forcing Joe Biden to take Amtrak...

Joe always loved choo choos...

Via FOX News:

As the federal budget goes off the rails, Joe Biden's getting back on -- with Amtrak.
The looming sequester is forcing the veep to once again take the train -- as opposed to military aircraft -- to his weekend trips home to Delaware.

Biden said Wednesday he initiated the change, calling it the one thing about the sequester that's working to his "benefit."

Speaking at the National Association of Attorneys General, Biden said that while he took nearly 8,000 train trips as senator, the Secret Service made him travel by air because the Amtrak "gives too many opportunities for people to interact with me in a way they wouldn't like to see."  

Green Fail: It is cheaper to put three people in a Greek taxi than it is to send them on a train

President Obama and Joe Biden love trains. They want to spend five billion dollars on a high-speed rail link from from Victorville (CA) to Las Vegas. This is a waste of money for many reasons. One reason is you have to drive almost halfway  to Las Vegas to get on the train. Then, the price will be about the same as airfare. A good example of what government supported rail looks like is in Greece. In Greece, it is cheaper to send people than on a train if you put more than two people in the cab.

Via BBC:

But what of Manos' suggestion that it would still be cheaper to put all Greek rail passengers in private cabs instead?

There is a more accurate way of calculating the cost of rail travel than the one originally used by Manos. It gives a picture of the entire network rather than just the route between Athens and Thessaloniki.

Assuming this figure was the same in 2010, when the Greek rail system was making a loss of just over 1bn euros (£804m; $1.3bn) a year, it's costing the Greek railways 0.60 euros per passenger kilometre. Compare that to the UK, where in 2010 it cost 0.30 euros.

According to Greg Moisiadis, a cab driver in Thessaloniki, a cab from Thessaloniki to Athens would cost 700 euros - that's about 1.20 euros a kilometre, double the amount being paid to send people by train, if there is only one person in the taxi.

If four people were to share a taxi, the cost would be 0.30 euros per person per kilometre. Two taxi passengers would cost the same as the train.

Further investigation found that Greg's prices were similar to other cabs on other routes in Greece.

So Mr Manos is correct if there are more than two passengers in each taxi. 

But either way, the Greek railways are in a pretty awful mess, and while train journeys may cost less than cab journeys, they are more expensive than travel on other forms of public transport, including air.

Hilarity: Amtrak CEO Forced To Take Car After Train Breaks Down

To make matters worse, he was on the way to a ribbon cutting for the renaming of Amtrak’s Wilmington train station in honor of Vice President Joe Biden.

(The Daily Caller) — Today’s the big day for Amtrak’s Wilmington train station. It is being renamed in honor of Vice President and former Delaware Senator Joe Biden following major renovations made possible with stimulus funds.

One problem: the CEO of Amtrak got stuck on the train.

ABC News Deputy Political Director & Political Reporter Michael Falcone tweeted at approximately 10 a.m. that the Acela train he was riding had been “delayed” in Baltimore and that he was sitting next to Amtrak CEO Joe Boardman.

Falcone tweeted, “Acela to NY delayed for ‘unknown period’ Should I feel better that the Amtrak CEO is sitting next to me?”

It quickly became apparent that the CEO’s presence wouldn’t fix the train. A subsequent tweet from Falcone noted, “BAD sign: Amtrak CEO Joe Boardman just got OFF the train to take a car to Wilmington.”

VP Joe Biden: Other countries are going to own our kids unless we build high speed rail

Is he insane or just obsessed with choo-choos?

(Political Punch) — In support of President Obama’s bid to “win the future,” America’s most famous Amtrak rider, Vice President Joe Biden, issued a stern warning about U.S. competitiveness in the high-speed rail game: “If we don’t get a grip, folks, they’ll not only be teaching us, they’re gonna own our kids.”

The “they” Biden is talking about are all the other countries in the world who are developing or expanding high-speed rail systems, including China, Japan, Spain and France.

Iran is training the Taliban to kill NATO forces

Meanwhile, President Obama continues to beg the Iranians to talk to him.

The London Times reported:

TALIBAN commanders have revealed that hundreds of insurgents have been trained in Iran to kill Nato forces in Afghanistan.

The commanders said they had learnt to mount complex ambushes and lay improvised explosive devices (IEDs),which have been responsible for most of the deaths of British troops in Helmand province.

Biden Blunders Again

Blundering Joe Biden praises NYC tunnel project as a boon for commuting drivers. We hope they don't get hit by the trains that will actually be using it.
From Fox News:

Avid train rider and Vice President Joe Biden, on a conference call Monday with reporters, mistakenly claimed that the planned Hudson River tunnel between New Jersey and Midtown Manhattan would provide a much-anticipated route for automobiles.

Problem is, it's for trains.

The $8.7 billion tunnel is among the largest new projects to be funded in the Obama administration's $787 billion stimulus package.

"Look, this is designed, this totally new tunnel, is designed to provide for automobile traffic," Biden said, according to The Record of Bergen County. "It's something, as you know, up your way, that's been in the works and people have been clamoring for for a long time."

The Record, which asked Biden the tunnel-related question on the call, called the vice president out on the error. The north Jersey newspaper noted that the tunnel would accommodate more New Jersey Transit trains during peak hours -- cars are not part of the equation.

VP Biden spits shoe leather and takes train home

Vice President Joe Biden got a spanking in the media this week over his warning against travel on planes and trains. Looks like he is having his "crow" on a train ride from D.C. to Delaware. MyWay is reporting:

WASHINGTON (AP) - One day after saying he wouldn't travel in tight quarters because of the swine flu scare, Vice President Joe Biden rode a train Friday from Washington to Delaware.

Known for speaking freely, Biden told NBC's "Today" show on Thursday that he had urged family members to avoid airplanes and subways for fear of contracting the H1N1 flu virus.

"I wouldn't go anywhere in confined places now," Biden said.

The comments infuriated the travel industry and triggered several revisions from the Obama administration, whose official advice is less severe.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano commented, "If he could say that over again, he would say if they're feeling sick, they should stay off of public transit or confined spaces."

By Friday night, Biden seemed ready for his own do-over. A longtime rider of Amtrak, he took a train from Union Station to his Delaware home, his office said.

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Obama loves choo choos

President-elect Obama took a train to his inauguration this January. He seems to be infatuated with rail travel. Vice-President Joe Biden also loves trains. He boasted he has taken over 7000 train rides to Washington. Now that They are in office, the US Government is committing $1.5 billion to improve Amtrak train service over the next two years. This comes to about a $26 taxpayer subsidy for every ticket to be sold during that time period. I guess they both had toy train sets when they were kids.

Obama boosts Amtrak funding
Northeast to get half of $1.3 billion grant

WASHINGTON - New England travelers should benefit from faster, more frequent and safer train travel with an extra $1.3 billion pumped into the long-struggling Amtrak, half of it directed to the Northeast Corridor between Boston and Washington, the Obama administration announced yesterday.

Amtrak, never a favorite of the Bush administration or Republican Congresses, has struggled to retain critical federal subsidies in recent years. But the $787 billion stimulus package recently signed by President Obama will allow the system to renovate trains and stations, improve safety systems, and provide more passenger capacity, administration officials said. (excerpt) read more at boston.com