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Vermont Follows California's Lead

Posted by Aaron McLucas on Wednesday, September 12, 2007 7:44:59 PM
    The federal court in Vermont gave the state the power to regulate their own tailpipe emissions. 

    It's too bad that GM, Ford, Chrysler, Toyota, etc. couldn't just tell them "Well, we can't do that, so your citizens will have to find some other means of transportation. Maybe you should get started on that light-rail system or start your own car company for that matter." Bet that would change their tune in a hurry. 
    It's smart business for Vermont, California and the politicians that run those states. They are basically telling the auto makers how to run their business, forcing them to meet the needs of what amounts too nothing more than unclear science and agenda driven politics. If they can get a few states to provide different standards, then they force the industry to make one type of emission system that would comply with all the state regulations. Obviously it would simply be too expensive for the auto makers to make different types of emission compliant systems to meet each states laws. 
    But there is another problem, namely who is going to pay for the R & D to make this new system. Guessed yet? You and Me. And the good thing for California and Vermont and whoever else jumps on this bandwagon will benefit, because the cost will be spread among the entire country on every car, not just those sold in Vermont.
    It would be interesting though if they found a way to curb the emissions to meet their standards and involved a simple add-on system that only those states would be charged for. I could live with that because I don't really want to have to pay for their standards.
    Just wishful thinking on my part though. 
    We need to clean up our cars, but the car companies could be our partners in trying to clean up instead of our enemies. Who do you think is going to come up with the technology to build hydrogen fueled cars? Who are going to be the companies that build these vehicles? Sure, there will be some startups, but who will be the ones that drive the knowledge and the sales? GM, Ford, Chrysler, Toyota, etc.
    The environmentalists in government and citizens of the county need to be careful. We could do more damage than good when it comes to forcing business to comply with our thinking. It's good to implement emission standards, but let's keep them equal across the board. If a state has to have better standards, let them use their resources to improve on the vehicle. Make that state responsible for the cleaner emissions.
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A Tale Of Two States

Posted by Aaron McLucas on Sunday, September 09, 2007 3:06:07 PM
    Great column on the differences between how Louisiana and Mississippi are coping with the tragedy of hurricane katrina, from a fellow townhaller.

    Real Americans, proud citizens, take on adversity and meet it as a challenge.  They tackle problems and don't continually lament, "Why".  They do what must be done, regardless of the effort, regardless of the hardship, because they know they are the ones who control their own life.  They understand that their destiny is determined by themselves, not others.  Real Americans are the ones in the Gulf states who suffered from Katrina and Rita and did what was needed and put their hands to work to help themselves and each other.

   So true.

     And there is another difference. You can hardly get more red than Mississippi, and they are picking themselves up by the boot straps, while Louisiana is strapped with the likes of democrats Ray Nagan and Kathy Blanco. The citizens of Louisiana even voted Nagan back into office. Clear example of political mentality. The Republicans of Mississippi faced the challenges of Katrina knowing that the government was not going to be their ultimate savior. Some people of Louisiana are still waiting for the government to fix all their problems.

They will be waiting a long time.
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What You Should Drive

Posted by Aaron McLucas on Sunday, September 09, 2007 2:14:03 PM
    There are a lot of people out there telling us what we should drive. Their reasons range from global warming concerns to safety on the road. One thing that they all have in common is money. If they can't make any money at it, they won't do it. That goes for car manufacturers and the private sector.

    Here is one story highlighting what the market is doing, 

    Here is another highlighting the entrepreneurial spirt.

    "I feel so superior driving next to a Hummer and going, 'Dude, yo, look at this, this is what you should be doing,'" Brooks said.

    With her earth-friendly car finder service, Biobling, Brooks is one of many entrepreneurs turning gas guzzlers into green machines as the interest in alternative fuel steadily spreads nationwide. Auto shops and online-based businesses are popping up in places as diverse as Maui, Hawaii, Louisville, Ky., Easthampton, Mass., offering do-it-yourself conversion kits, recycled vegetable oil, fuel delivery, and other services.

    Economics is the driver of innovation and market strategy. If the public isn't going to buy it, then why should they sell it. Large car companies like Honda don't make Hybrids because it is good for the environment, otherwise they would have made them twenty years ago. Instead, they make them because there could be a profit in doing so. And when they don't, they get rid of it. And the government knows this, so they raise taxes on fuel and oil trying to steer the market.
    When the private sector finds a niche in the eco-world, small operating costs and relative demand make it possible for them to make a buck, like Mrs. Brooks is doing. 
    The point is, let the market do it. Taxes are high enough. Innovation is already hard at work and more taxes are not going to make it move any faster. There has to be a balance between changing our way and still being able to make some money. At this point, more taxes and more emission regulations will act more as a lead weight on the industry, adding more cost to the price of a vehicle, and making it harder for the average citizen to afford one. Just go to a car dealership these days and look at the price of a new car. It's almost sickening.
    And now the government is mandating more safety options as standard equipment. These options are good things, but it will further force the price of a car out of more peoples reach. So they will buy an older, inefficient, and less safe means of transportation. It's the law of economics. 
    Government pressure is needed, but it is starting to push things to far, especially when it comes to the world of transportation, and environmentalism. The two will always be at odds until the day we can transport the populations without the need of burning fossil fuels. Reasonable and timely efforts to changing things can be acheived by encourage the private sector of our economy rather than fining the citizens under the guise of scare tactics like global warming.


    

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Even Osama Is a Greenie

Posted by Aaron McLucas on Sunday, September 09, 2007 12:38:41 PM
    It would seem that even our biggest enemies are now concerned with global warming. Osama Bin Laden released a new video last week blaming the U.S. for global warming, a direct result of "big Corporations" who run our government. If we all converted to Islam, and got rid of our democratic style government, we would not be confronted with high taxes, climate change, and oppressive democratic freedom.

    You can read the transcript here. Read the whole thing if you can stand it. The references to global warming start at the bottom of page four.

    Actually, his letter resembles any given day the front page of the New York Times; a line-by-line breakdown of left-wing liberal issues blaming America for the state of the world.

    
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Even Osama Is a Greenie

Posted by Aaron McLucas on Sunday, September 09, 2007 12:38:39 PM
    It would seem that even our biggest enemies are now concerned with global warming. Osama Bin Laden released a new video last week blaming the U.S. for global warming, a direct result of "big Corporations" who run our government. If we all converted to Islam, and got rid of our democratic style government, we would not be confronted with high taxes, climate change, and oppressive democratic freedom.

    You can read the transcript here. Read the whole thing if you can stand it. The references to global warming start at the bottom of page four.

    Actually, his letter resembles any given day the front page of the New York Times; a line-by-line breakdown of left-wing liberal issues blaming America for the state of the world.

    
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Saving Gas, Presidential Style

Posted by Aaron McLucas on Wednesday, September 05, 2007 6:50:07 PM
    What a great idea! Lets make them practice what they preach. W. is on the band wagon now, and regardless which Democratic nominee for President you like, they are all beating the drum of global warming. 

    Imagine a long presidential motorcade going by all composed of Prius's, but you can't tell that because the American Flags flying on the front fenders totally obscure the car!
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D.C. Puts Appeal Before Supreme Court

Posted by Aaron McLucas on Wednesday, September 05, 2007 11:06:40 AM
    The District Of Columbia announced yesterday it is asking the Supreme Court to overturn a lower courts decision saying their gun-ban was unconstitutional.

Here is some smart commentary on how backwards the D.C. mayor and his policies are.
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Trapped In The Ice

Posted by Aaron McLucas on Tuesday, September 04, 2007 6:59:37 PM
Some poetic-justice for the global warming crowd via Instapundit. It's worth a laugh anyway.
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The Public Simply Doesn't Understand

Posted by Aaron McLucas on Saturday, September 01, 2007 2:59:17 PM
    Opinion writer Randy Scholfield from the Wichita Eagle wrote an article last week asking why so many people are skeptical about global warming. Yesterday he got an computer full of responses.
    Mr. Scholfield goes on to explain in his response article that most of the "deniers" all think they are climate scientists, and how ill-informed they all are. I did not realize that Randy Scholfield was a climate scientist.

     For decades, climate change scientists have amassed an impressive array of evidence across many disciplines -- tree rings, ice core samples, glacier melt, animal migration, coral reefs, isotopes, etc., etc. --to measure and predict warming trends. All of these markers point in the same troubling direction.

That is, if you believe the conclusions of science. Clearly, many Americans still aren't getting those conclusions -- or they simply don't want to hear them.

It's called denial.


    As I have said before, science starts as theory until it is proven. And most if not all "denier" scientists don't disagree with rising temperatures. It's the MAN-MADE part of global warming that has not been proven, and of which they do not agree. The funny thing is, if you were to read the scientific work of the "deniers", you would find a different, and valid scientific viewpoint on how those scientific disciplines can be interpreted. They offer other possible explanations for what the tree ring and the ice core samples could mean. 

    No wonder MSM newspapers are dying all across the country. When they write articles asking for your opinion and then respond to you with their elitist attitude, explaining why you are stupid, well, that's their plan. They think they are helping you. It's their way of showing you out of the darkness and into their light. Unfortunately, it  is costing them in readership; but I am okay with that. 
    People have become wise to the elite media's agenda, not just about global warming, but about many different things, especially in the political arena. So guess what is happening; the people are looking elsewhere for their news.
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Chatting With Kristin Gore

Posted by Aaron McLucas on Saturday, September 01, 2007 1:21:55 PM
    Women's Health Magazine had a conversation with Al Gore's fiction writing daughter Kristin Gore, highlighting her new book and a few personal items. One of which, I would agree, is quite strange.

    I do have a wrist phobia like she does. The wrists, the Achilles' tendons, and the neck are some of the weakest points of the human body, so a lot of people have phobias about those things. I can't deal with the undersides of wrists.

    That is strange.
What is not strange is she drives a Prius, but swears it's not because of her dad. Whatever...
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Boeing Looking At Biofuels

Posted by Aaron McLucas on Saturday, September 01, 2007 12:46:07 PM
    Aircraft maker Boeing is looking at ways to cut their fuel usage and clean up their CO2 emissions by investing in new biofuel technologies. It would not be an easy task.

    There's hope, though, in futuristic crops such as algae, Boeing executives say.

A Seattle-Washington, D.C., flight consumes 29 gallons of jet fuel per passenger, says Boeing. That would require a half-acre of soybeans.

"You would have to plant an area the size of Florida with soybeans to provide a 15 percent blend of jet fuel" for the whole U.S. aircraft fleet, said Dave Daggett, who heads energy and emissions research at Boeing Commercial Airplanes' product-development unit. "Clearly that's not going to be appropriate."

    Obviously, that is ridiculous...

    

The solution could lie in algae, experts say. These slimy aquatic creatures not only absorb great quantities of carbon dioxide during their lifetime, but they are also the source of energy-rich oil that can be turned into fuel. Lurking in the depths of ponds, they take a lot less space than conventional horizontal above-ground crops — and they can live in brackish water. A huge algae bio-reactor — a series of chambers or ponds outfitted to boost growth — could supply more fuel in less space than other plants.

"Instead of needing all of Florida [for U.S. transport needs], you could provide the whole world's fleet with biojet fuel if you had a bioreactor the size of Maryland," Daggett said.

    And this isn't?

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Confessing Your Green Sins

Posted by Aaron McLucas on Saturday, September 01, 2007 12:19:34 PM
    Roman Catholics in England will get a chance to confess their environmental sins this weekend in England.

    Dom Anthony Sutch, the Benedictine monk who resigned as head of Downside School to become a parish priest in Suffolk, will be at the county’s Waveney Greenpeace festival this weekend to hear eco-confessions in what is thought to be the first dedicated confessional booth of its kind.

    I wonder how many "Hail Mary's" an eco-sin requires?
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The August 2007 Al Gore Award

Posted by Aaron McLucas on Saturday, September 01, 2007 11:20:41 AM
    Brave Heart has the latest winner of the Al Gore Awards.

Those darn moose!
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Cool Reception For New Warming Book

Posted by Aaron McLucas on Saturday, September 01, 2007 11:01:47 AM
    Newsweek's review of Bjorn Lomborgs new book "Cool It", tells us how well informed Newsweek is on all the issues surrounding global warming and how Mr. Lomborg is wrong in his thinking. Typical from an organization that is consistently wrong, and makes no bones about which side of any issue it stands on...left side.
   
     It is interesting though how Lomborg has suddenly changed his mind:
 
    It is noteworthy, then, that in "Cool It" he declares it "beyond debate" that carbon dioxide emitted from the burning of coal and other fossil fuels is contributing to global warming. "Global warming is real and man-made," he writes. 

    I have my book on order.

Speaking of which, I am almost done with Fred Singer's book "Unstoppable Global Warming". Once I am done, I will give my thoughts on it.
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