Post Scripts: Near the path of the train wreck

A Union Pacific freight train derailed last week not far from where we live. It created quite a lot of copy for the San Marcos Daily Record, and to the credit of its staff, its readers were treated to detailed coverage with some excellent photographs. Railroad officials have yet to announce the cause.

I only mention this wreck because just a few days before, Kathy and I crossed that track. As we bumped over the crossing timbers I glanced off to the right and was surprised to see some irregularities in the usual graceful wide and slight curve in the track. I said to Kathy: "I don’t know how they avoid derailments on track like that." As it turned out, they didn’t avoid a costly derailment.

Some readers will recall my interest in railroading. Some of the then younger readers will recall the model railroad I built in the southwest corner of our basement. I spent hundreds of hours of pleasure there, re-creating some of the scenes we had seen during our visits to Europe, etc.

I only mention this because I think trains are wonderful and 25 to 35 trains pass every 24 hours, within a half-mile or so of where we live. I was told one of these is a beautiful deluxe passenger train that runs coast to coast across the southern U.S., winding up in Los Angeles. San Marcos is not one of its scheduled stops.

Railroading aside, I was disappointed, but not surprised, to have read recently President Bush’s inaugural ball cost between $30 and $40 million – a cornucopia of excess for the privileged and connected. All this untimely splurging comes while Americans, not privileged nor properly connected, are involved in Bush’s disastrous war in Iraq. I just have to think how all those millions could have purchased needed armor that could have saved the lives of some soldiers.

During World War II, when Americans were fighting and dying around the clock, President Franklin Roosevelt insisted on moderation and austerity for his inaugural. He emphasized in his speech that it was important his inauguration be simple and speeches brief. In Washington these days, modesty, motives and responsibility, seldom surface.

Even press freedom is being challenged. Our free-spending government has now put reporters on its payroll, (for propaganda purposes?). Rep. Rick Keller (Florida) has introduced legislation to require journalists to report such fees to the Justice Department or face imprisonment. The Sunshine in Journalism Act requires journalists to disclose the amount of government money they have received within 30 days. Those who don’t, will face fines and up to 30 days in prison.

America is a wonderful country – if we can save it!