Oil, Autos and Congress

WASHINGTON - The Senate voted Thursday to require average fuel economy of 35 miles per gallon for new cars, pickup trucks and SUVs by 2020, raising efficiency standards that have not changed significantly for nearly two decades.
-------------
Republicans earlier blocked Democratic efforts to raise oil taxes by $29 billion and use the money to promote renewable fuels and other clean energy programs.
source

Wow, 35 mpg. Isn't that amazing? Will it hurt the auto industry and cost us jobs? Will the auto industry have to retool to meet this stringent demand?

The most fuel-efficient cars in Europe all have fuel efficiency over 64 miles to the gallon, which translates to 27 kilometers per liter.
-------------
...American automakers actually make more fuel-efficient versions of their top sellers for the European markets.
source

Apparently it won't be a huge burden on the auto industry since they are already beating that goal almost twice over. Americans are being scammed big time. As Marc Maron says, Wake up, sheeple.

Read More...

Summary only...

Why I'll Vote Kucinich

Good article over at Democratic Underground:

Dennis Kucinich recently did the unthinkable. He went beyond accusations of Bush’s war being a mistake, to expose the real motivations for the war. Of course, it should have been obvious from almost the beginning that Bush’s motivations for war in Iraq were not at all in accordance with professed American ideals. His claims of weapons of mass destruction and Saddam Hussein connections with al Qaeda never had any basis in actual evidence; almost immediately after our invasion of Iraq we moved to protect the oil supply while allowing everything else to go to hell; Bush provided no-bid contracts to his cronies, with little oversight, while billions of dollars went missing; and the Baker-Hamilton Iraq Study Group report provides numerous recommendations (or maybe ‘demands’ is a better word) on how the Iraqis should handle their oil.

But Kucinich actually says it out loud: The Iraq War was not a “mistake”; the primary motive of the Bush administration for invading Iraq was to provide a cheap source of oil for American oil companies; we are currently trying to force an agreement with Iraq to gain their consent for our “theft” of Iraqi oil; Kucinich calls Bush’s invasion of Iraq what it was – a war crime; and he points out the obvious: How can our current imperialistic stance towards Iraq possibly lead to stabilization of that country or the surrounding area – as we are currently claiming as our primary reason for staying there?

Read More...

Summary only...

Give It Up 4 George

The caption could read "My husband gave his life for oil profits and all I got was this lousy flag."

Read More...

Summary only...