🚀 go-pugleaf

Once upon a time, a race of dinosaurs roamed the Earth...

http://pub36.bravenet.com/forum/3021914257/fetch/330301/

dinosaur food should cost more 
common sense, no?

> The real solution? Make cars safer by moving them over long distances via
> railcars handling them individually on an automated system.

The real solution is to INCREASE THE PRICE OF GAS. Stop subsidized
roads and gas. THEN ALTERNATIVE TRANSPORTATION WILL NATURALLY BECOME A
REALITY. And a bonus benefit will be greater security...

'We keep being told we are at war and yet no one is sacrificing for
the cause. Everywhere I turn I see Hummers and SUVs with American
flags waving from antennae like banana republic touring cars and
"United We Stand" and "We Support the Troops" on the bumpers.'

June 10 

Gas Guzzlers 
What will we be driving "Day After Tomorrow"? Why we need higher gas
prices.
by Alan Bisbort 

Hooray for higher gas prices. Yes, you heard me correctly. I'm glad
the price of gas is going up. I'm glad that The Day After Tomorrow is
the world's number-one box office hit. The weaknesses of its plot
notwithstanding, the film is the sort of bang-on-the-head most people
need to wake them from their daydream. Will people make the connection
between disastrous impacts of global warming and fossil fuel use? I've
given up trying to figure out what it takes to make people see the
truth, but anything that wakes them from their stupor long enough to
consider a new idea is a good thing. But about those gas prices. I'd
like to see them go even higher. Am I a masochist? No, a realist, a
pragmatist, or call me what you will. I was raised in a household
headed by a self-made American colonel who came of age in the Great
Depression and understood, to the very marrow in his bones, the adage,
"waste not want not."

Like father, like son. My father was a lifelong Republican of the old
and improved stripe, and there were many things on which we found
common ground, including fiscal responsibility, conserving and
protecting our natural resources, honoring promises, paying back debts
promptly (actually, not incurring debts if possible), doing an honest
day's work in exchange for an honest day's pay. My father lived to be
92. Throughout his long and active life, he was appalled by the waste
of Americans. The root of Americans' blissful ignorance, my father (an
engineer) was certain, was its cheap gas. Nowhere else in the world
was it so cheap, so taken for granted. He didn't make too many friends
sharing this thought with colleagues.

By what birthright do Americans think it is fitting and proper that we
squander the world's finite supply of fossil fuels? What delusion
about our superiority do we have that allows us to consume 75 percent
[I think it's 25%] of the world's natural resources while comprising 5
percent of the world's population? Looked at from a purely religious
perspective -- one that Americans insist they abide by -- we are all
equal in the eyes of God. But we act as if we really believe what
Orwell said in Animal Farm , "Some animals are more equal than
others."

Taking it further, I'd like the price of gas go even higher, with the
currently proposed 50-cent-per-gallon tax hike to be used to
underwrite the start-up costs of a viable long-term national energy
policy that will tap into alternative fuels and reusable energy
sources. Advocating for this hike, the University of Maryland's Robert
Park noted, "We need conservation. High gas prices are already pushing
SUV sales down, but it was OPEC that pushed the price up. If we plan
to declare war on every country led by a bad guy, we'll need tax
revenue. We could also think about making CAFE [corporate average fuel
economy] standards apply to all passenger cars, even if they're SUVs
and weigh as much as cement trucks. As the price of gas goes up, the
air gets cleaner, people return to the inner cities, traffic is
reduced, less time is wasted commuting."

The price of gas should also be gauged at the pump to reward those who
drive more fuel-efficient cars, so that someone who drives, say, a
Toyota Echo would pay 2.50 for the same gallon of gas that would cost
an SUV driver $4, and, conversely, the driver of a hybrid car $2.
Hummer drivers would, therefore, pay the highest price for the dubious
status these cars apparently provide. (Gas prices for transit trucks,
buses, mass transit, and other vehicles performing vital roles, would
not be affected by these price hikes). This isn't punishment. It's
called an incentive system. And it's about time.

During World War II, Americans pitched in by carpooling, planting
victory gardens and rationing gas. Signs were posted everywhere that
read, "Is This Trip Necessary?" and "When You Ride Alone You Ride With
Hitler." Few people got on their high horses about an individual's
inalienable right to be a glutton, and those who did were quickly
shouted down for the jackasses they were. In short, people got the
message, and cooperated. Seldom, in fact, has there been a more
unified American populace.

So what's the difference today? We keep being told we are at war and
yet no one is sacrificing for the cause. Everywhere I turn I see
Hummers and SUVs with American flags waving from antennae like banana
republic touring cars and "United We Stand" and "We Support the
Troops" on the bumpers.

Oh, but this war in Iraq is not about oil, is it? In case you missed
it, the Muzhir al-Dulaymi, spokesman for the League for the Defence of
Iraqi Peoples' Rights has said that the United States is
systematically liberating the Iraqi people from their oil.

"A daylight robbery is going on in Iraq. I have first hand information
from sources in al-Bakr port in southern Iraq, and in the Turkish port
of Jihan, confirming that three million oil barrels are being taken
out of Iraq on a daily basis," Dulaymi said, adding that the Bush
administration, and its oil company supporters, are benefiting from
the process.

http://thomasmc.com/0610ab.htm

http://webspawner.com/users/donquijote