Sand Dollar
Originally uploaded by paynehollow.
The headline today?
Bush speech to showcase domestic issues
Oh! Okay, his domestic issues... like...
umm...
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UPDATE:
WASHINGTON - In his first State of the Union address to a Democratic-controlled Congress,
President Bush will urge that gasoline consumption be slashed by 20 percent...
Sounds good, but wait! There's more:
Bush will say that the fuel-use goal of slashing consumption by 20 percent by 2017 can be achieved primarily through a sharp escalation in the amount of ethanol and other alternative fuels the federal government mandates must be produced. The rest of the reduction is to come from raising fuel economy standards for passenger cars, said Joel Kaplan, White House deputy chief of staff.
Why, he's not talking about slashing consumption. He's talking about changing the source of our consumption! Better than nothing, but what we really need is to talk about a change in our overconsumption of resources.
And here, I almost thought he was on the right track and actually had a domestic agenda item of note...
8 comments:
Does, "I'm not Hillary" count as a domestic issue worthy of highlighting?
The problem you have in the States is that your nation is pretty much built around having a car. In most parts, (including many cities!) you simply can't function without a car as there's no alternative means of transport worth a damn and everything is so spread out. And there’s more pain in fixing that single issue within any kind of sensible timescale than 99.9% of Americans would endure!
yup.
The environment, I'm guessing. Maybe he'll explain why he keeps pushing for hydrogen-powered cars when the infrastructure for electric cars exists right now. Somehow I doubt it.
Liam is exactly right. 20% was such a small goal, too! We ought to be able to reduce gasoline use by 50% in 10 years. And, yes, Dan, he said ZERO about conservation or public transportation, light rail, etc.
To me, the biggest surprise was that he admitted the existence of global warming and that it's a threat--but he sees only techno-fixes.
I was disappointed at Jim Webb's response, too. I thought he'd be far more "in your face."
We should just tell everyone they have six more years to drive your car, pay it off and trade it for a car that is electric powered. That would give the gas stations enough time to implement recharge points. That would be 100% by 2012.
If in six years you find you cant afford a car then tuff no driving for you. If you find yourself working in a industry that supported gas or gas burning cars then you had better learn a new trade or else you will be walking with the poor.
If you rely on mas transportation for things like groceries and non-edible goods not produced in your home town then move closer to a train station (since the electric semi-truck has yet to be invented). oh crap trains are going to have to go too! Better chum up with the local farmer, maybe you can help him pull the plow.
Are airplanes part of your domestic agenda?
Yeah, I agree with rusty. We can just let the ice caps melt. Then we'll have no use for cars and can use boats to get around. Problem solved.
The point is, Rusty, it won't be many years when being forced to get rid of our cars will be what we're faced with. Not forced by the gov't, but by increasing gas prices.
You see, demand for oil is increasing dramatically. The supply of affordable oil is levelling off and will soon begin to decrease (soon = 5 years? 50 years? somewhere between the two, likely).
And who can tell me what happens when supply is dwindling and demand increasing? Yes! The price increases.
And what will we do? We'll do what we (humanity) has always done - what many people do now: We live closer, do with less, walk more.
It's not like the end of the world, unless your world is tied to your way of life.
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