"Wes" wrote in message
...
"John R. Carroll" wrote:


"Wes" wrote in message
...
"John R. Carroll" wrote:

If I had certainty that it would pay down debt, we could consider it.
It
is a regressive
tax as I mentioned to Ed.


Hardly. Given todays technology, you could abate the tax at the pump
completely with a card for anyone driving preferred vehicles.
Your card could also hold a profile that would "prebate" the tax. Use
more -
pay more. Car pooling works, even in small shops.

Not really. When you are in a pool and the driver or passenger has to
work extra hours it
falls apart. When is the last time you car pooled? Been about 30 years
for me.

It's been a while for me too Wes but when that happened the others played
chess in the break room.




Personally, I'd roll out a graduated tax on autogas tomorrow. You could
index it to some group of economic indicators so that until those
indicators
are strong enough the tax would be zero and exempt commercial vehicles
in
the long haul/LTL industries permanently.

The first part keeps us from digging a bigger hole. Pickens idea of
using
windmills to
generate electricity and move heavy truck to NG was one of the few
'green'
ideas I liked.

Big Rigs are one of the few efficient uses of petroleum for transport.
NG ain't going to happen.
Taxing those guys would be foolish and there isn't any need to do so.

NG isn't going to happen? Why?

It isn't any better than diesel.
The hot ticket for long haul big rigs is gas turbines. Ford or GM came out
with one years back but it was expensive up front and people were leary of
technology more so than today. The damned things burn about anything.


Rail is way more efficent unless you think JIT is the holy grail.

Capacity is a problem with rail. You also have to get goods to and from a
rail head.
Our highway system is an excellent choice for anything perishable like food.
There isn't a silver bullet.



Electric vehicles, networks and using cars that are charging as a load
sink that can be
dropped to keep traditional baseline running w/o firing up NG generation
would be a piece
of the puzzle.

Don't forget though that many voters feel the price of gas acutely. I'd
hate to have my
name on that one if I was a member of the house or senator up for
re-election.

Yeah, bull**** Republican values will finally have to align with reality.
There isn't anything conservative about today's Republican party.
It's time you realized that we elect people to office at the national
level
to make hard choices.

Oh so the Obama administration is going to trim the UAW? I'm starting to
laugh.

Sort of. The Treasury is going to provide the debtor in possesion financing
GM needs to file for bankruptcy.
That won't eliminate the UAW but the exsting contracts will be null and
void.
The same is true with GM's retiree benefit program. It'll just be gone as
far as GM is concerned.
Still laughing?

What is actually going to happen is that Cerberus is going to end up with
GMAC, GM and Chrysler are going to become one company and you and I are
either going to provide loan gaurantees or loans to make that happen through
the auspices of a shrink wrapped bankruptcy filing.
Remember you heard it here first.
LOL


And to throw you a bone, when Republicans try to play as Democrats they
are going to loose
every time.

What we are facing isn't going to involve a partisan solution.
Anyone from either party that plays things that way will end up out of
office in short order.
Should the Toyota Republicans not get with the program, their constituents
will toss them out on their ass so fast they won't know what happened.
That's my feeling anyway. Everyone is well and truly tired of this crappy
approach to governing.



Don't pull the plug on them when they do so or we will continue to have
what
we do and don't put them in office unless you are willing to trust them
with
that responsibility.. They aren't any better than their constituents which
is why George W. Bush is such an embarassment.

You'll know things are on the right track when you write your Congressman
to
say that their vote cost you something, but thanks, the good of the
country
was well served, let's not have this happen again.

I've written my Dems a few times. They are very good at phrasing bend
over in a reply.

Why would you take that sitting down?
Keep writing and here's a tip. Hand write your letters.
You would be surprised at the result.


Would you say that gas at 4 dollars really isn't a budget killer? You are
speaking from
the perspective of someone that doesn't think 30K is a good wage in these
times. (I think
30K would suck, I love my job, I love my job...)

I think your perspective is out of line with the main stream.

Well, I'm getting thirty one miles to the gallon on the freeway Wes so you
are probably right.
I think everyone ought to get at least that.


Obama hasn't done anything. He can't. He sticks to 'one President at at
a time'. If I
was him, I'd use that tactic. I *hope* GWB and Obama are talking though.

I'd be surprised if there weren't cooperation but only to a point.
Bush IS still our President and that has to be respected. Obama turning into
mister big britches wouldn't go over well at all and I think he's conducting
himself well enough.


I bet Obama stays in Afganistan. I'm a strong believer in self defense be
it at a
national or personal level. I think we get rolled on defending the world.

We'll stay for a while and grow our force there. I don't see how the result
can be especially good but I don't think Obama will continue to push a bad
hand beyond reason. We'll see.


Considering how Nato has supported us, I'm ready to call the troops back
from all of
Europe.

I'd do the opposite. We need to get them commited to the fight.
Someone will need to define just exactly what the fight is first but the
world is pretty turned off to Bush right now.
Hopefully, the incoming administration will be able to take advantage of
whatever good will the change in leaders generates.
From all appearances, that could be considerable.




The way to keep Saudi Arabian citizens from crashing commercial jets into
American real estate is to bankrupt their country.
The way to keep Afghanistan in line is to pulverize them remotely with
drones from time to time. They are savages.
The real problem in that area is something that you didn't mention -
Pakistan and their nukes.
We tried to get them to buy into PASS but they wouldn't. That means they
can
launch at will and undetected.

I don't know what PASS is. Likely target is India. India will deal with
it.


Well we do not have a coherent energy policy.

The carbon crowd wants the end of coal fired,

That isn't going to happen either. Look for yourself.
http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/electri.../gen_tabs.html


Thanks for the link.

NP




the anti nukes block new nuclear power
plants.

BS. The problem with Nukes is they take ten years to build and they are
only
a bridge.
They also have another distinctive drawback. The fuel is EXPENSIVE and
nobody wants it in their back yard.
Something nobody talks about, but they actually do exist, is environmental
sacrifice zones.
Look it up.

I've said before and I'll say it again. Put a nuke plant next door and
give me reasonably
priced power and I'm all for it. Beats having a chemical plant next door.

OK but I'll want to shut off your electricity for the ten years it will take
and ten years after that there will be a much better solution on the nuclear
front. Fission is what we can do today, fusion is the long term future. Be a
little patient and reap the reward. Your kids will regardless.

I've got to hop. One of my guys is having trouble with a turn key I did.
They moved everything from one shop (vendor) to another and the top dogs
woke me up at three thirty this morning to get me rolling. The Vietnamese
food in Witchata is first class if you don't mind the neighborhood.
LOL

JC