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Politics : Impeach George W. Bush -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: American Spirit who wrote (34342)	6/16/2005 11:25:13 PM
From: Quincy	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 93284

Well, that's a good issue to discuss. Must warn you that I am a California resident and I'm no stranger to energy and environmental discussion. cbsnews.com The problem is we believe in our constitutional right to drive vehicles large enough to absolve ourselves of all responsibility for safe driving. You can't legislate brains. God knows, we've been trying for 200+ years. California residents should have been making household appliance choices based on energy ratings 10 years ago but it came down to a crisis to cause a change. Never mind the crisis happened in a state ranked one step from the bottom of the list of states ordered by total electricity consumption. But, we gotta have ice and water on the fridge door because we're too damn lazy to open it and that big hole in the insulated door costs us about 400-500kw/h a year. The real problem with energy crisis is no one wants to go without. The only way to cut energy consumption and pollution is to encourage people to buy brand-new cars and appliances which a lot of poor folks can't do. Some of them haven't paid off the last one. Let's fund solar panels on every home. Never mind that most roofs aren't large enough to hold enough panels to generate enough current to make it worthwhile. God knows I tried. Every time you increase government programs to encourage solar panel purchase, solar panel prices shoot up because there is a shortage. No different with hybrid cars. The suggestion I embrace whole heartedly is to maximize our federal fuel taxes like Europe does. What won't pay the deficit down and solve the environmental crisis faster than gasoline at $5 a gallon. But, since the only country producing hybrids in volume seems to be Japanese, that probably isn't a economy-friendly idea. I expect you to be oblivious to the safety record of the most popular domestic vehicle on the road, the Ford F150. Do you think its safer than a Volkswagon Beetle because of its size? iihs.org 45 mile crash test. Chances of survival with your life: 1 in 3. Compare that to the Volkswagon Beetle. iihs.org Exact same speed. Exact same fixed obstacle. The first trick is keeping a truck/SUV rubber-side down. Kindof protects the gas tank. I dare you to call your Congressman and tell him you want CAFE fuel efficiency standards raised. Better yet, why don't you start a movement that advocates traffic engineers from the east coast to the Left coast get off their asses and synchronize our traffic lights. In the end, advertisers and the media have been telling us we need to put Soccer moms in minivans and SUV's for more than a decade. Anyone saying differently is not going to be elected President.