What a hypocrite. After denouncing high-speed rail as "wasteful spending", Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal's administration is planning to request $300 million dollars from the federal government to develop a high-speed rail between Baton Rouge and New Orleans. According to Tom Atkinson, a transportation official:

"Long term we see it as a very valuable economic incubator for the entire corridor, " Atkinson said.

Atkinson envisions a system where riders pay $10 or $12 to ride a train each way between the two cities. Four to eight daily round trips are under discussion.

While I am a huge fan of high-speed rail, I don't think we should forget what Jindal said when he was giving his Kenneth, the intern, impression last February. In response to President Obama's address, Jindal said:

"While some of the projects in the bill make sense, their legislation is larded with wasteful spending. It includes $300 million to buy new cars for the government, $8 billion for high-speed rail projects, such as a “magnetic levitation” line from Las Vegas to Disneyland, and $140 million for something called “volcano monitoring.”

Given these statements, I don't think we can trust his commitment to this project. I say the money goes to the plans being developed for California and Chicago.