Professional curmudgeon, new urbanist, and Chicken Little (but we love him anyway) James Kunstler takes on the recent NY Times magazine article on California's proposed high speed rail project. In typical Kunstler-style, he doesn't mince words, calling our current rail system "Kazakhstan without the basic competence." Hee. He then proceeds to eviscerate what would be the most expensive public works project in US history, while bemoaning the fact that it's already "too late." Kunstler argues: The additional sad truth, at this point, is that Californians (and US public in general) would benefit tremendously from normal rail service on a par with the standards of 1927, when speeds of 100 miles-per-hour were common and the trains ran absolutely on time (and frequently, too) without computers (imagine that !). The tracks are still there, waiting to be fixed. In our current condition of psychotic techno-grandiosity, this is all too hopelessly quaint, not cutting edge enough, pathetically un-"hot." The fact that it is not even considered by the editors of The New York Times, not to mention the governor of California, the President of the United States, and all the agency heads and departmental chiefs and think tank gurus and university engineering professors, is something that will have historians of the future rolling their eyes. But for the moment all it shows is that we are collectively too stupid to survive as an advanced society." He also has some choice words for Sarkozy's plan for massive construction projects in Paris. Spoiler! He's not a fan.
· Too Stupid To Survive [Clusterfuck Nation]
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