35 mph is the standard

Congress passed a bill this week and President Bush has agreed to sign it, which starts to bring America into alignment with whats right instead of a-lining their pockets with lobbiests. The bill stats that the average mpg of American brand automobiles must be 35 mpg by 2020 along with several other increases in levels of sustainable, renewable energy sources used by the public.

I personally think it should be sooner than 2020 but overall, its a step in the right direction. I recently reviewed a report in a magazine for the mpg's of the most popular auto's sold and doing a comparison by foreign or domestic brand, foreign vehicles average significantly higher than American though not at the 35 mpg standard either. I believe the American standard in the report was 17 mpg with only two non-hybrid vehicles being over 20 mpg.

Detractors claim the boost in mpg will increase the cost of vehicles by about $7,000 and could be the end of the muscle car.

First, anyone who thinks car prices couldn't go up $7,000 naturally between now and 2020 is an idiot. Look at the increase in car prices in just the last ten years. Now project forward a dozen. Plus most people buy cars on what they can afford to pay each month and what gives them status not the overall cost of the item. For example, a Prius, the uber-enviro car can cost up over $50,000 and most hybrids are mid-$30,000.

Second, much like the oil crunch of the 1970's that brought us the Mustang 2, muscles cars will probably take a hit. But the key word in the legislation is 'average'. Dodge could easily push their new vehicles into the 35 mpg zone and then hybrid their current models out and still cover a few 9 mpg hemi's.

Plus, look at what you drive today. Could you possibly imagine driving the same car you did twelve years ago? Of course not. And your car today is probably more reliable with better emission control, its progress. You can't project your today vehicle on 2020 standards either. Heck in 2020 I'll be fifty and would love to have a 'space age' car that does it all for me.

Or a rocket pack. I always wanted to own a rocket pack. Think they'll have those by then?

Santa lite

A prominent London newspaper has announced that Santa will not be allowed in some malls because he is a fatty. Santa needs to go on a diet. Gadzooks.

Do you really think children look at Santa with the same critical eye as they do Aunt Jane? Santa has been round like a bowl full of jelly for hundreds of years. Meanwhile the same youth watched Aunt Jane gain 80 pounds over the course of five years.

Yes the human race has an extreme problem with eating to much and not exercising enough. That being said, Santa is an icon known for his size. And by the way, according to the official historical records, (that being Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer), Santa has to be force fed in the last few days to gain the 'Santa' weight, which would mean once Christmas is over he loses the weight, which is more than can be said for Aunt Jane.

This is another case of aging baby boomers putting their adult contraptions on children. Santa is a pure spirit, not some overeating diabetic relative.

Transpose this with Halloween where 50 is the new 12. The reason teenage girls can only find costumes prefixed with 'Hot', 'slutty' or 'naughty' is because Halloween is no longer a night for children its a night for adults to think they are still children.

Whats next neutering the Easter Bunny?

How do you have a treaty with yourself?

A senate committee today voted to send a resolution to the full senate to reduce greenhouse emissions with credit incentives for those that cut and credit penalties for those that don't. Those most affected by this decision are utility, manufacturing and transportation businesses. Which in the end means the consumer and user. Thats you and me.

A vote most along party lines to progress the bill was claimed to help the children. Senator Barbara Boxer claims, "We are facing a crisis that will hit our children and our grandchildren the hardest if we do not act now. Not to act would be wrong, cowardly, and irresponsible."

Oh its going to hit our children alright. Higher taxes and consumption costs. The bill seeks to force companies to reduce greenhouse gases or carbon dioxide emissions much like the much ballyhooed Kyoto Protocols which have done absolutely nothing for those that elected to follow it since the mid 90's.

This time its just us. The good ole' US of A. The thought amongst the mostly liberal backing of this plan is that by America taking steps to control global warming other industrial states like China and India will follow suite. This is highly unlikely since China is a communist state only concerned about its own internal interests and India while a democracy is more concerned about becoming the China-alternative to leadership in Asia.

If this bill is ratified, it would surely increase the taxes the average American family would be required to pay. A Washington Times Article on November 11th, estimated that the burden for these caps would be about five trillion dollars over 40 years with no evidence of appreciable change in global warming patterns.

Sure that is a bit of alarmist mentality. Scaring people into radical conclusions seems to be the norm these days.