Confronting a security threat on America's doorstep, President Obama is venturing into the heart of Mexico. His swift diplomatic mission is meant to show solidarity, and to prove the U.S. is serious about halting the flow of drugs and weapons.
Obama's high-speed rail: 'This is America'
by Ben Meyerson
President Barack Obama announced his plan for developing high-speed rail in America this morning, detailing how $13 billion in federal money could act as a "down payment" on bringing the nation's passenger trains up to par with fast, efficient rail travel in Europe and Japan.
"High-speed rail is long-overdue, and this plan lets American travelers know that they are not doomed to a future of long lines at the airports or jammed cars on the highways,'' Obama said. "There's no reason why we can't do this. This is America. There's no reason why the future of travel should lie somewhere else beyond our borders."
The plan includes Chicago as a proposed regional hub for high speed trains going to Detroit, St. Louis, Madison and Indianapolis, among other destinations.
Other networks would expand the nation's only existing high-speed rail corridor, which runs from Washington to Boston, northward and southward, and create new routes in California, Texas, the Pacific Northwest and Florida.
The president touted high-speed rail's stimulative value, as well. Indeed, $8 billion of the money is coming from the stimulus package that he signed into law one month in office. It was slipped into the package in the final hours.
"A major new high-speed rail line will generate many thousands of construction jobs over several years, as well as permanent jobs for rail employees and increased economic activity in the destinations these trains serve," Obama said.
The administration will announce its criteria for high-speed rail applicants this summer, with the goal of releasing money by the end of the summer.
University of Pennsylvania professor of transportation engineering Vukan Vuchic agreed with Obama that high speed rail is long overdue, and praised the administration's use of the money.
"We are, frankly, several decades behind if we compare ourselves with our peer countries," Vuchic said. "The country badly needs high speed rail in all these regions."
CIA Officials Won't Face Charges For Waterboarding
The Obama administration told CIA officials Thursday that they will not be prosecuted for waterboarding terrorism suspects during the Bush administration. The message came as the administration released four Bush-era memos from 2002 and 2005 authorizing the harsh interrogation techniques.
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