So ... you're in the midst of an interminable war that's at least partly about fossil fuels. You've just suffered a natural disaster that knocked out a big part of your domestic oil industry -- and you're getting a lot of bad storms -- they might be getting worse because of global warming. Gas prices were high before the storm and are now over $3 a gallon.

What do you do?

Well, if you're the Bush administration, you immediately jack up the price of train travel:

WASHINGTON - Amtrak announced Friday it will raise fares nationally to counter higher energy costs....

Hardest hit will be the approximately 18,000 Northeast Corridor commuters who have monthly passes, whose fares will increase an average of 50 percent. The cost of monthly passes vary. A monthly pass to ride Amtrak between Trenton, N.J., and New York City currently costs $522. The trains run largely on electricity.

Yeah -- hit the region of the country where many people actually prefer to ride trains. That's brilliant.

Rep. Robert Andrews, D-NJ, rides Amtrak from Philadelphia to Washington several times a week when Congress is in session, but does not hold a monthly pass. He said that he has heard several complaints from commuters about the fares.

"You could not pick a worse time to raise train fares, with gas prices skyrocketing, making public transportation more attractive," Andrews said. "I sat next to a guy yesterday who said he and his friends were talking about carpooling rather than taking the train."...

Oh, good -- one more car on the road (and, undoubtedly, several when the carpooling arrangements start being inconvenient).

New Jersey's Democratic senators — Jon Corzine and Frank Lautenberg — were preparing to send Amtrak chairman David Laney a letter Friday expressing their outrage that Northeast Corridor commuters would be bearing the brunt of the fare hikes.

"As electrified rail service, service along the Corridor should be immune from recent elevated oil prices," they said in the letter. "This huge price increase and the way it will be abruptly implemented appear targeted at taking out the frustration caused by pitiful Bush administration policies on the wallets of Northeastern commuters."...

The Bush administration and some lawmakers have pushed to eliminate Amtrak subsidies.

Idiots. Trains are energy-efficient, especially in the Northeast, where there are a lot of riders. Trains would be even more energy-efficient in this country if we didn't keep looking for ways to dissuade people from taking them. The federal government could absorb rising Amtrak fuel costs -- it's a hell of a lot cheaper than the war.

We should regard spending on Amtrak as spending on national defense. I say put Amtrak in the damn Pentagon budget, just so people understand why it's important.