Infrastructure

‘No justification to build’ high-speed rail

April 18, 2012 By Katy Grimes The official recommendation is out from the Legislative Analyst’s Office – High-speed rail should not be built. Duh. That’s not a “duh” to the LAO; that’s a “duh” to all of the supporters and

Down with Gmail!

CalWatchdog Staff April 17, 2012

April 17, 2012 By John Seiler I’ve used Gmail for years; including its address book. Now it’s not working. Just when I needed the call-in number for Martha Montelongo’s great show. I get: We’re sorry, but your Gmail account is

Social engineers drive bullet train

Steven Greenhut April 16, 2012

April 16, 2012 By Steven Greenhut SACRAMENTO — Americans suffer under the delusion that transportation systems are just that — systems for transporting people from one destination to another. What most of us fail to recognize is that the politicians,

New High-Speed Rail biz plan crashes into reality

CalWatchdog Staff April 14, 2012

April 14, 2012 By Katy Grimes What a train wreck. Barreling down the tracks in one direction, on April 9 a congressional committee launched a probe California’s high-speed rail project over charges of conflicts of interest and questionable spending of federal dollars.

Rail system in LA already a low-speed fail (video)

CalWatchdog Staff April 13, 2012

April 13, 2012 By Brian Calle One might assume policy makers would first assess the value, usage and efficiency of existing public transportation before endeavoring on a new multi-billion dollar, taxpayer funded transportation boondoggle like high-speed rail. For instance, LA’s

Sen. Feinstein cheers Gov. Brown’s High-Speed Rail plan

CalWatchdog Staff April 12, 2012

April 12, 2012 By Brian Calle It does not come as a big surprise that Democratic Sen. Diane Feinstein supports Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown’s revised plan for the boondoggle High-Speed Rail project that would cost taxpayers billions of dollars. What

Feinstein bridge over troubled water war?

CalWatchdog Staff April 10, 2012

April 10, 2012 By Wayne Lusvardi Borrowing lyrics from the Simon and Garfunkel song, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., recently has risked building a bridge over California’s troubled water wars. But is her action one of courage or political pandering during

Greenhut dissects High-Speed Rail boondoggle

CalWatchdog Staff April 9, 2012

April 9, 2012 By John Seiler Writing on Bloomberg, our Contributing Editor Steven Greenhut dissects the latest shenanigans in the High-Speed Rail boondoggle. An excerpt: The California High-Speed Rail Authority has a serious public-relations hurdle: how to sell its proposed

Cadiz creates water out of thin air

CalWatchdog Staff April 9, 2012

April 9, 2012 By Wayne Lusvardi Call it “thin water.” A small private company called Cadiz Inc. in Los Angeles is in the process of creating water in California’s Mojave Desert — like a magician, literally out of thin air. By

Congress might unrenew crony capitalism

CalWatchdog Staff April 6, 2012

April 6, 2012 By Chriss Street Life is getting more difficult for crony capitalists. President Obama and a bipartisan group of senators was unable convince their pals in Congress to extend ludicrously large subsidies for supposed renewable energy projects under