Train Wreck

California's much-vaunted high-speed rail project is, to put it bluntly, a train wreck. Intended to demonstrate the state's commitment to sustainable, cutting-edge transportation systems, and to show that the U.S. can build rail networks as sophisticated as those in Europe and Asia, it is instead a monument to the ways poor planning, mismanagement and political interference can screw up major public works. For anti-government conservatives, it is also a powerful argument for scrapping President Obama's national rail plans, rescinding federal funding and canceling the project before any more money is wasted on it. We couldn't disagree more.

So where's Clint Eastwood when you need him? Sure, he hijacked Mitt Romney's convention with his bizarre soliloquy, a man and his chair. But the moment was spontaneous, surprising and captivating in the can't-turn-away fashion of an impending train wreck. Most of Sunday night's interminable Oscars ceremony consisted of seriously unfunny jokes, painful repartee and a parade of otherwise talented actors forced to read from stilted scripts like benumbed captives in a hostage video.

The man in the uniform had a question for me. "How do you feel?" CHP Sgt. David Nelms asked. His interest in my health was probably prompted by the fact that I was at that moment toking a joint stuffed with a bud called Train Wreck. Pretty good, I said, already buzzed enough to wonder if this was really happening. In my youth, I spent more than a few evenings hoping the police weren't keeping close tabs on my activities. So it felt a bit strange last week to have a group of cops paw my marijuana stash and then ask me to get high.

It's Hollywood Week on "American Idol. " That usually means we're in for some drama and tension, especially during the dreaded group round - scenes of stressed-out contestants strolling around looking for kindred spirits, flashes of anger, exhaustion, frustration, desperation, tears. Last year, we got sickness and swooning, ambulances, a deep-voiced cowboy amusingly facing off with a smart-mouthed urbanite, our first twang of concern about eventual winner Phillip Phillips' kidney-stone troubles.

An Athens-bound express train derailed Monday, and three cars toppled over, injuring 38 people, two of them seriously, police said.

June 17, 1907: A westbound San Bernardino local passenger train hit an eastbound freight train near Downey Road and 26th Street in Hobart, which is now Vernon, injuring 23 passengers and crew, none of them seriously. The Times listed each injured passenger. Neither train was going more than 20 mph. "There was no excuse for that wreck," said a railroad official. "The track is straight for eight miles at Hobart and either engineer should have seen the other train." Both engines were badly damaged.

A former Conrail engineer who smoked marijuana shortly before causing an Amtrak wreck that killed 16 people and injured more than 170 others was sentenced today to five years in prison on a plea-bargained manslaughter charge. Ricky Gates, 34, also was fined $1,000 by Circuit Judge Joseph Murphy. Gates pleaded guilty last month to one count of manslaughter in a plea-bargain agreement with prosecutors that combined 16 charges of manslaughter by locomotive into one count.

It almost seems as if nothing is safe. Not even my beloved trains. Pictures of Thursday's Fullerton train crash--mangled steel and mammoth railroad cars belly up--were unnerving reminders that travel always means risk, even on the ground. "We came cross-country by train because we thought it was safer than flying," said Pat Horn of Gloucester, Va. "I don't think I'll feel that way anymore."

Even for Los Angeles, the accident scene drew an unusually large number of gawkers — and the accident hadn't even happened yet. The 6,000 or so ticket-buyers who gathered that September day in 1906 had come to see a staged head-on collision between two locomotives on a mile-long stretch of track laid down in Agricultural Park near downtown. The Times gave the meeting of Engine Nos. 13 and 23, late of the Salt Lake Railroad, the tongue-in-cheek buildup of a great boxing match or horse race.

Most of the 3,400 people who were evacuated from their homes after a train hauling hazardous chemicals derailed and exploded last weekend were allowed to return Thursday afternoon. Only a few dozen families were still kept from their houses while the cleanup continued, and officials hoped more would be able to return today. Many of the town's 11,000 residents have been living in hotels and friends' homes since Saturday, when 34 cars of the 113-car Union Pacific train derailed.

HOUSTON -- West Texas grand jurors on Wednesday are expected to consider the case of a train collision that killed four veterans riding on a parade float last fall. Midland County prosecutor Eric Kalenak will present the case Wednesday to a 12-member grand jury, according to the Associated Press. Kalenak would not tell the AP whether he would recommend an indictment in connection with the Nov. 15 crash, in which a flatbed truck the veterans were riding on in a parade was hit by a Union Pacific train.

Jodie Meeks hit half of his shots against the Philadelphia 76ers, including a highlight reverse dunk, for a total of seven points.  Meeks is a steady part of Coach Mike D'Antoni's rotation which went just eight deep on Tuesday in the Lakers' 103-99 loss to the Sixers. Coach Doug Collins had nothing but positive things to say about Meeks, whom he coached in Philadelphia. "He's one of the best teammates you can ever have," said Collins.  "He never puts himself above the team....

The fact that “No Love,” now in its world premiere at the Eclectic Company Theatre, went up 25 minutes late with absolutely no explanation as to why, was undeniably irritating. And a lengthy opening monologue delivered in almost total darkness by an actor who couldn't find her light (granted, in John Dickey's lighting design there was precious little of it to be found), proved almost insurmountably annoying. Yet those glitches faded into insignificance given the accumulated problems of Andrew Osborne's play - a sort of latter-day “La Ronde” in which various loosely connected characters hook up, act out and get kinky, frequently sans clothing.

To the extent that he ever really went away, Charlie Sheen is back. He knows that you know that he knows that you know all about the sensational circumstances of his departure from "Two and a Half Men," and the first words he speaks in "Anger Management," the FX sitcom premiering Thursday that will restore, confirm or destroy his reputation,  go straight to that point. "You can't fire me, I quit. You can't replace me with some other guy; it won't be the same. You may think I'm losing but I'm not - anyway, you get the idea.

AUGUSTA, Ga. -- Rory McIlroy's third round Saturday was not equal to last year's train wreck, when his bloody Sunday score was 80. But this year's version — a five-over-par 77 — was far worse than a fender-bender. The trouble started on No. 1, when McIlroy missed his approach wide right. He chipped over the green and then pitched well short, his ball backing up to 20 feet. From there, he two-putted. By the time you blinked, McIlroy was off the leaderboard. And he would not return, not after three-putting from 12 feet for a second double bogey on No. 7. McIlroy finally made his first birdie on No. 12. Playing partner Sergio Garcia also rolled in a birdie and then walked over to his European pal, extended his arms.

SACRAMENTO - The bullet train boondoggle is looking more like a bullet bull's-eye. But one big question lingers: Where are the bucks? And even if the state can find the bucks, should it spend them on building a high-speed rail line, a cool choo-choo? Especially when higher education in California is such a train wreck? Education - kindergarten through college - should be our No. 1 priority, for both moral and economic reasons. Producing an educated, skilled workforce for the increasingly competitive global economy is even more important than creating temporary track-laying jobs.

As I watched a television interview with two young survivors of the worst train wreck in Amtrak's history, inevitably it reminded me of the catastrophic train wreck I had been in on the Labor Day weekend of 1943. The wreck of the Congressional Limited, that served the same route between Washington and New York as the Amtrak train that crashed Jan. 4, killed at least 78 people and injured more than 100. For me it had been a very exciting trip.

After Congress pushed the nation to the verge of catastrophe last year by delaying a deal to raise the debt ceiling until the eleventh hour, our capacity to be surprised by that body's irresponsible gamesmanship was somewhat diminished. And yet, we still can't help but be awe-struck by the mess the House of Representatives is preparing to make of the federal transportation bill, a key legislative priority for both parties. On Tuesday, the House Republican leadership unveiled its version of the five-year bill.

Here's something you didn't request of Santa — the highest gasoline prices in history for the final two weeks of the year. If this sounds familiar, there's a reason. In 2010, California broke its 2007 record for an average price for a gallon of regular gasoline on Christmas Day by 3.2 cents, at $3.297. This year, it's a record by a mile. In California, prices were averaging $3.535 a gallon, up 26.6 cents from last year, according to the AAA Fuel Gauge Report. Nationally, prices were averaging $3.206 a gallon, up 22.3 cents from last year.