Vehicles To Get Up To 100 MPG on Piffle

On Earth Day 2005 I read an editorial by Samuel W. Bodman, Secretary of Energy, touting Hydrogen powered vehicles as the way out of our current energy crisis. "When research proves successful, zero-emission hydrogen fuel cell vehicles could become as common as today's gasoline-powered automobiles. The fuel can be produced from out plentiful domestic energy resources, and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles emit only water vapor, which results in cleaner air."

Secretary Bodman cites President Bush's commitment of $1.2 billion dollars over 5 years towards a program to develop hydrogen fuel for cars and trucks as evidence that the US and the President are serious about Hydrogen. I say the cars of the future might as well run on piffle.

Hydrogen may be the wave of the future, but most scientists say don't hold your breath or your hydrogen stocks, hydrogen is not around the corner. $1.2 billion over 5 years is not exactly chump change, but lets get real for a minute. We have spent $300 billion in Iraq to transform that country, surely if hydrogen is the answer we should be spending much more to tackle our energy problems.

In the mean time perhaps we could enact stricter mileage requirements on the vehicles we produce. Computerized fuel systems and technology have allowed car manufacures to radically boost vehicle horse power over the last 5 years. Lets dial that back a little and optimize for fuel economy. More horse power maybe sexier, but do we really need it. It's time for us to act in our own best interest and demand more fuel efficient cars. Every barrel of gas that is used unnecessarily is $55 dollars driven out of the national economy enriching some other nation!

It's your choice will your car run on piffle power, or some other fuel source. Lets invest the dollars to make a more efficient tomorrow and while we are waiting lets dial down the testestorone and demand more efficient cars.

Liberal, Conservative, What's In A Label

I invited a friend to visit my weblog the other day. I related that my father thought I was a liberal, my brother thought that I was a conservative, and that I thought of myself as an enlightened moderate. I suppose that this was by way of warning her about the content that she might find on my weblog. Sort of a TV style rating for Blogs; warning the following content may be philosophically contrary to your views.

But then I got to thinking how can I be liberal, conservative, or moderate to different people. I know who I am at my core and what my beliefs are, and I am pretty much in agreement with myself most of the time. Is it their problem? Or is it mine?

But why have these labels “liberal”, “conservative” become such red flags? It’s as if the nation as a whole is keeping score deciding who is red or blue, who is righteous and who is wrong. It only seems to be more prevalent today because of the media blasting at us 25-7. Our founding fathers, as I have been reading in a recent book “Founding Brothers” were as irascible, cantankerous, and vitriolic, as any of today’s crop of knuckleheads and lunkheads (and they did it without the help of CNN or Fox). I say deity bless them (red herring humor for those of you weighing me on the left-right scale). But as for me I wont be subscribing to any one point of view. I will be pretty much sticking to my “core values and beliefs”:

• Abortion should be a woman’s right between her and her god not a politicians.
• Abortion should not be used as birth control.
• I believe in personal responsibility especially for elected officials and televangelists.
• No civilian needs a semiautomatic assault weapon.
• At the heart of every tax crusader is a tax cheat.
• Rap Music is vile soul destroying music and just not as good as anything else including country music and polka.
• Liberal do-gooders should get a full time job at a soup kitchen.
• Conservative televangelist should get a full time job at a soup kitchen
• I support our troops not the war.
• Vladimir Putin has no soul and single handedly bombed Chechnya to the ground while we whistled WMD.
• There are almost two billion people in China and India how many jobs do you think we can outsource before we become a third world nation?
• The three branches of government are pretty inefficient and often times get in the way of getting real work done but until politicians stop thinking that theirs is the only right way I say what’s a little delay in our march to forcing you to do it my way.