There is no problem whatsoever in linking the railroads to "this crap". There railroads WERE the powers that be (monies that be) from the inception of railroads to their (big $)shift into oil and fossil fuels during the 20's and 30's. The immigrant workers brought in for the railroads were paid very low wages and subjected to abhorrent working and living conditions. This strikingly similar to illegal aliens and H11b immigrants. Liberal vs. conservative ideology is an artificially constructed argument that keeps us busy arguing about nonsense while the cookie jar is being sucked dry. Both conservatives and liberals lose mony when a bank fails. The fact that we have not evolved in automotive propulsion and fuel technology in nearly 100 years should signal something artificial is at work. One of this country's highest priorities should be to give the same impetus of priority -as was the Interstate Highway and Defense System 55 years ago-to build a 225+mph interstate railway system that has auto-train capability. The auto industry should be mandated vis-a-vis the bailout monies, to build a hybrid auto with dimensional constraint to allow transverse carriage on a rail car. Hybrid autos with AC charging capability could also be charged en route by a well designed system. The California high speed rail project should become a federal project and be extended North to Seattle, and the Northeast Corridor should be enhanced and expanded South to say, Orlando, Florida. An East-West transcontinental section could then join the two coast segments to give us the starting nucleus of a true national high speed rail system. We the people have allowed ourselves to be painted into a corner by building a society that utterly depends upon, if not worships, an automotively dominated transportation scenario. The auto has become a virtual icon of freedom. In the 40's, no limits could be seen on the automobile, fuel supplies, places to build freeways, or profits to be made from autos. No one could imagine that populations densities could become so massive in urban areas, that no form of automotive transportation could function in the gridlock, even if the fuel were free. Interstate trucking needs to be marginalized, and changed into more of a local 9-5 distribution job, hauling from rail intermodal facilities to local destinations via intra-city distribution truck routes. Trucks have a very destructive infrastructural impact on both interstates and local streets, and their use needs to be minimalized. The proper order of the rungs in the transportation ladder has been altered by special interests to facilitate profit over efficiency and minimizing cost to the taxpayer. So let's stop arguing over petty politics and realize that this country needs jobs, infrastructure rebuilding, energy and fuel source redirection, and re-regulation of many industries to get over this economic hurdle. Re-investment in a progressive rail technolgy could be an essential core element of doing so.