Do something with auto standards--by 2022!!
Why no just say DO NOTHING? Really? Jesus.
Posted by paradox at June 14, 2007 05:22 PMAre those republi-cons teaching those Dems a lesson again?
How surprising.
Posted by Seven of Six at June 14, 2007 05:44 PMThis is a teaching moment. To what should be no one's surprise, the GOP continues to be shameless corporate whores. Yes we also see what some of us have suspected in that there is now a progressive majority for good policies. The public needs to be reminded of events like this over and over again.
Posted by herbal tee at June 14, 2007 06:17 PMYou must be kidding me--SUVs and "small" trucks to achieve 30 mpg by 2025....and what pray tell do the Monster trucks have to "achieve" in mpg by then?
SUVs should not even be permitted to be in existence by 2015, and trucks should be available only for business use.
But this is all just like the demented Hitler moving non-existent panzer divisions around the map board in April 1945. World oil production peaked in Dec 05. There are 35 years of known oil reserves at today's annual world oil consumption. The idea that an ordinary schmoe will be able to afford a gasoline powered passenger vehicle that gets a pathetic 30 mpg twenty years from now in 2025 is simply comic. People with commutes can hardly afford that NOW.
Leave aside the fact that if meaningful reductions in CO2 do not start OCCURRING within the next decade (ie by 2015-17) that the polar meltdown will become irreversible. Are the climate scientists being consulted AT ALL as to what level of gas reduction is necesssary to save the planet and by when these reductions must start?
Do any of these senators have any expert or scientist telling them the actual facts of oil and CO2 in 2007? Who are they?
I can see that this bill is living in a complete fantasy world, the irreversible energy catastrophe is upon us and yet we're playing with the margins, "demanding" 30% increases in fuel economy standards 20 years from now for unconscioable gas guzzlers so that the idiots of the auto industry "bend but don't break". Instead, we'll break the climate.
Having said that, of course Steve is right, we must get whatever we can right now from the Repub clowns. But these calculations are rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic, and once again the public isnt being told how dire the situation actually is. By passing something wholly inadequate, people think the problem has been solved, the fake "sacrifice" has been made.
These are the wages of literally ignoring a well known, but difficult, future problem for 30 years. It's very hard paddling against the current 50 yards from Niagara Falls.
Posted by euzoius at June 14, 2007 08:08 PM...or they can use the public support for energy independence and stopping global warming to get whatever strong bill they can get now, and then come back in 2009 to make it even better.
You mean....COMPROMISE? That filthy dirty word? NEEEEVER! We want it all right NOW!
And why are you always just thinking about elections Steve? Damn it! Why is it always about getting elected?
Too terse?
Posted by snark at June 14, 2007 08:18 PMHeh, since terse means short and to the point, I guess you were a little terse. And snarky, too.
Posted by iamcoyote at June 14, 2007 09:03 PMSnark, okay, okay, I give up. You weren't too terse. How about abrupt, brusque, curt, short, snippy? Oh wait a minute, was I being curt just then?
Posted by Judith at June 15, 2007 04:24 AM'Smug' is the word coyote likes to use.
Right coyote? ;)
Posted by snark at June 15, 2007 05:49 AMAbsolutely right, snark. It was smug of you to point out the obvious! You really need to work on that. Be more terse, maybe.
Posted by iamcoyote at June 15, 2007 05:53 AMAnd why are you always just thinking about elections Steve? Damn it! Why is it always about getting elected?
Wait till 08 and see why it's about elections.
Are those republi-cons teaching those Dems a lesson again?
Yes indeed. They are teaching Democrats that republi-cons are well funded from the energy lobbys.
Of course, if the republi-cons hadn't fillibustered, Reid would have taken care of it on his own: Reid also intervened on government matters at least five times in ways helpful to Abramoff's tribal clients, once opposing legislation on the Senate floor and four times sending letters pressing the Bush administration on tribal issues. Reid collected donations around the time of each action.
It's not so much that Harry is for sale, it's just that he can be bought.
Posted by phidipides at June 15, 2007 09:30 AMIt's interesting what information is left out of that article from February of 2006. But you're not interested in the whole truth it would seem.
Rather sad.
Posted by snark at June 15, 2007 10:04 AMBut you're not interested in the whole truth it would seem.
Whatever you do, don't take a look at who donates to Harry. Dem Teletubbyland is too pleasant to disrupt. Big hugs!
Posted by phidipides at June 15, 2007 10:10 AMLike I said, sad.
Posted by snark at June 15, 2007 10:17 AMI agree completely with upping the ante in exactly the way you recommend, except I would choose a bigger number; like 35 percent. I can imagine our society squeaking by on that portion of our current usage; I cannot see it doing so at 15%. There's a big difference between working one day a week and working two days a week.
Posted by steve at June 15, 2007 10:35 AMLike I said, sad.
Clapping for Tinkerbell.
Posted by phidipides at June 15, 2007 10:46 AMOh, p-dip, you should be embarrassed to be pushing that Abramoff story! Did you get bonked on the head or something? I mean, I can understand not trusting any politician, but carrying the water for Karl Rove is a bit over the top!
Posted by iamcoyote at June 15, 2007 10:49 AMOh, p-dip, you should be embarrassed to be pushing that Abramoff story!
Indeeed. I should be. Except I used Google for a search of Reid's contributors. I am not embarresed. Reid should be, but I guess whores are not embarrased by what they do.
Posted by at June 15, 2007 10:54 PMThis is just ridiculous. Look, a long view will tell you that burnable ground ooze is a 'happy' transient fluke that fed growth in the US after Spindletop but has run its course.
Now we are a dead nation walking and China is the new USA in terms of global impact. Thank you GOP and corporate shitsuckery. We can drown in our incompetence and it will be a canary fart in the sawmill of a planetary economy.
You all love the convenience of your stinkpots and would be fucked if you had to live a carless life like me. That is beside the point.
Lets look at all forms of carbon load energy sucking like your homes.
An immediate focus on maximal efficiency home retrofits with existing and emerging tech will have a significant impact as 40 percent of energy sucking is focused on homes which just sit there.
Everyone benefits from tweaking home energy consumption unless you are the sort of idiot who loves sending your hard earned wages to cocksucker corporate utilities.
This is an essential first step, get cracking. The car problem will sort itself out as oil hits 80 bucks a barrel and idiot Chucky Consumer discovers his Bloatmobile is a financial death trap.
Posted by Chris Rich at June 16, 2007 01:50 PM