Democrat (of course) Senator Bill Nelson from Florida is slamming Governor Rick Scott for turning down a few billion dollars that we don't have for a rapid rail project between Tampa and Orlando that we don't need. Consider, if you will, Senator Nelson's reasoning. He says that turning down the money will cost thousands of jobs in Florida.

So ... there you have it, straight from the Democrat's mouth. You don't build the high-speed rail project because it is actually needed, or because it will actually be financially viable. You build it so that thousands of Floridians will be employed in the project.

Gator squeeze.

Using Nelson's logic - that you spend the money to create jobs - wouldn't it make more sense just to taken the billions and dole it out to unemployed Floridians? That way you could put ALL of the money into the hands of the poor, poor pitiful jobless Floridians without wasting any of it on such things as purchasing right-of-way, concrete cross-ties, steel rails, electric locomotives, passenger cars and other expensive stuff. By just handing the billions to unemployed Floridians you would not be creating future liabilities for Florida taxpayers.

And here's an even better idea!

If, as Bill Nelson suggests, it's all about jobs ... do this. Hold an essay contest. Ask people with business experience to write a business plan for an new venture that they could get underway for one million dollars. Have the business plans judged not by politicians or academics, but by experienced businessmen. Judgment criteria would include the potential for job creation. Then pick the top 2,400 business plan submissions and give that person $1,000,000 to get their business idea under way. What do you want to bet that the result would be more jobs - more permanent jobs - than you would get with this high-speed rail boondoggle. Oh ... and you wouldn't have a rail system out there running at a taxpayer-funded deficit years into the future.