Don’t get me wrong, I love riding the train–in Europe, in Asia, back when I lived on the East Coast. But President Obama’s new high-speed rail plan (per The New York Times) is just plain awful. Why? Look at the northwest corner of the map below: Because it brings Portland that much closer to us. And worse, Eugene! Then there are the Canadians just waiting to pile onto our fancy new American high-speed rail system from up in Vancouver, BC, then ride at 200 mph down to Seattle, where they can clog our streets.