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... been there all morning, 11 comments. Probably 6 mine.

Would California have HSR today if it had been settled by France?

I've been accused of being a Marxist, yet while Harpo's my favourite, it's Groucho I'm always quoting. Odd, that.

by BruceMcF (agila61 at netscape dot net) on Thu Jul 31st, 2008 at 01:16:46 PM EST
Louisiana was settled by the French.  They have horse-drawn carriages.  Not sure those will work on the SF-to-LA route.

Conservatives want live babies so they can raise them to be dead soldiers. - George Carlin
by Drew J Jones (myfriends@thisispancakes.com) on Thu Jul 31st, 2008 at 02:13:57 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Yeah, St. Louis just got some lame commuter rail a few years ago.  And no thanks to the French.   Horse and buggies can be found in some of the smaller French settlements in the area.  

"Pretending that you already know the answer when you don't is not actually very helpful." ~Migeru.
by poemless on Thu Jul 31st, 2008 at 02:19:49 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Really, we could blame our transport problems the French, when you think about it.  The horse-and-buggy thing made us predisposed to cars down the road.

And then you consider how Anglo Disease is really the Germans' fault, as I mentioned a while back, and it dawns on you: Fucking Europeans.

Conservatives want live babies so they can raise them to be dead soldiers. - George Carlin

by Drew J Jones (myfriends@thisispancakes.com) on Thu Jul 31st, 2008 at 02:48:25 PM EST
[ Parent ]
If it weren't for the Europeans, there would be no U.S.A., let alone all the wrath that country hath wrought.  The Native Americans and their ponies weren't buring holes in the sky.

"Pretending that you already know the answer when you don't is not actually very helpful." ~Migeru.
by poemless on Thu Jul 31st, 2008 at 02:56:03 PM EST
[ Parent ]
And the Brits and the French are the ones responsible for all for all the crazy religionists -- the Brits with the Puritanism and the French with all that weird voodoo shit they've got down in Louisiana to go along with the damned buggies.

Conservatives want live babies so they can raise them to be dead soldiers. - George Carlin
by Drew J Jones (myfriends@thisispancakes.com) on Thu Jul 31st, 2008 at 03:03:59 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Well, I'll take the weird voodoo shit over the nut job Puritains any day.  In fact, I'd send the zombies after the Protestant extremists.  

"Pretending that you already know the answer when you don't is not actually very helpful." ~Migeru.
by poemless on Thu Jul 31st, 2008 at 04:14:32 PM EST
[ Parent ]
And then you consider how Anglo Disease is really the Germans' fault, as I mentioned a while back

You think we should build an Anglo disease memorial in Berlin? But, hey, that disease was our revenge for the voting for Bush in 2004. Just wait what we do with your America if you vote John 'fawning Germans' McCain into office.

Der Amerikaner ist die Orchidee unter den Menschen
Volker Pispers

by Martin (weiser.mensch(at)googlemail.com) on Thu Jul 31st, 2008 at 03:20:19 PM EST
[ Parent ]
That's not fair.  You sent us all your stupid people.  At least the Brits had the decency to ship them all to Australia, where they'd eventually kill themselves with water shortages.  But, no, you Continentals had to send them to Ohio.

Conservatives want live babies so they can raise them to be dead soldiers. - George Carlin
by Drew J Jones (myfriends@thisispancakes.com) on Thu Jul 31st, 2008 at 03:26:35 PM EST
[ Parent ]
... Americans and everyone knows how they handle things like this.

Oh, wait, that was what the letter to the editor linked to in the diary was about ... how Americans handle things like laying out HSR lines.


I've been accused of being a Marxist, yet while Harpo's my favourite, it's Groucho I'm always quoting. Odd, that.

by BruceMcF (agila61 at netscape dot net) on Thu Jul 31st, 2008 at 02:26:16 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Hang on: They can't take credit for the food and music down there and then blame us for screwing up the transport after hawking it to us.

Conservatives want live babies so they can raise them to be dead soldiers. - George Carlin
by Drew J Jones (myfriends@thisispancakes.com) on Thu Jul 31st, 2008 at 02:54:09 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Its not a freaking Frenchman who is saying that the California HSR is being taken off track by ignoring the lessons of successful HSR projects in places like France ... its a Californian.

But wrt Louisiana, yes, of course its quite possible to take credit for the cuisine and avoid blame for the transportation system ... since it was not the French in control for the past century and a half, its not up to them what parts of the legacy were retained and what parts where ditched ... and since working out the TGV's is something that wasn't around a century and a half ago, the problem is that the US is not presently borrowing the best stuff from overseas.
 

I've been accused of being a Marxist, yet while Harpo's my favourite, it's Groucho I'm always quoting. Odd, that.

by BruceMcF (agila61 at netscape dot net) on Thu Jul 31st, 2008 at 09:53:06 PM EST
[ Parent ]
And of course the iconic streetcars, such as "Desire."

As the Dutch said while fighting the Spanish: "It is not necessary to have hope in order to persevere."
by ARGeezer (ARGeezer a in a circle eurotrib daught com) on Thu Jul 31st, 2008 at 02:47:07 PM EST
[ Parent ]

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