Thomas: Global Warming Not a Big Campaign Issue | Newsweek Politics: Campaign 2008

The Green Phantom

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The only way to get from here to there on slashing greenhouse emissions is by massively enforcing limits on consumption, which means heavy regulation, or much higher taxes. Or by developing breakthrough technologies, like a way to cheaply recapture carbon emissions or safer nuclear technology. (The technology has to be so cheap that China and India will buy it.) Higher oil prices will stimulate investment in alternative fuel sources, but every halfway believable estimate leaves us still heavily dependent on fossil fuels.

It would be nice to hope that the scientists will solve our problems, and I pray for them. But the politicians will have to get involved and put the thumb of government on the scale-and then lean hard. That means calling for sacrifice-serious wartime sacrifice.

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But no sacrifices by the Evan Thomas'of the world. [who you can bet did not suffer either when Muslims were killing each other in riot firestorms touched off by his fake ''Koran-flushing''tales at GTMO]. In much the same vein,nobody likes it when Eastern liberal media nabobs troll out ''sacrifice''stories expecting all and sundry except themselves to engage in said ''sacrifice''. Thomas speaks of ''serious wartime sacrifice'' Very well.
Beginning in 1942, American automobile makers shut down manufacture of private vehicles to sustain the larger war effort at the behest of the Roosevelt administration. FORD,for instance,made the SHERMAN tank,which underwent five design changes in only three short years.
Thus it remains not only possible,but eminantly practical,to focus upon automobile manufacturing nationalization rather than this nonsense over nationalizing oil companies as peddled by the Left. Here is why. Cars are not consumables,unlike oil. Neither do American-made vehicles suffer from the environmental constraints placed upon oil exploration. While we have built several American automotive plants in the last thirty years,not one single new refinery has been constructed,nor is FORD or GM going to opt for an ANWR vehicle factory any time soon. This leaves in place a recipe that even a ponytailed socialist can find favour with.
All vehicles that have no credible use as major commerce transportation,farming,construction,defense,or law enforcement needs,will be confined to the purchase of vehicles representing only three vehicle options,none of which will be SUVs,high-perfomarnce ''muscle''cars, or large-series trucks. FOCUS and AVEO-style compacts,sub-compacts,smaller wagons,and sedans will be the vehicles du jour to be driven by a American generation that believes ''sacrifice''is a baseball term. I find little sense to be made of Green-pitching NEWSWEEK webpage mastheads that carry,right across their enviro-articles,advertisements for GMs massive ESCALADE which ponies up about 12 MPG. Thus the question begs. Do we need sustainable oil prices? Or more glam types[who all live in ThomasLand], tooling around in ESCALADES? Make the choice. Merely beating up on ''Big Oil''[which makes less profits than Bill Gates MICROSOFT],will not get the job done.

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Posted By: jimbo3800 @ 05/04/2008 11:06:01 PM

Well said, and RIGHT ON!

Yes, it became 'Climate Change' this past winter when most of both North America and Europe had record snowfalls. Oops, that didn't fit the liberal, activist pre-defined 'template', so now the weenies are scrambling to change global warming to climate change....LOL, they are laughable.

People who fall for this nonsense are sheep.
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Posted By: jimbo3800 @ 05/04/2008 11:02:30 PM

Terrific post, and spot on.

I am more than a little tired of these 'slacktivists' who espouse causes that you know damn well they will not live up to themselves.
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Posted By: Lee Holmes @ 04/29/2008 3:22:34 PM

But no sacrifices by the Evan Thomas'of the world. [who you can bet did not suffer either when Muslims were killing each other in riot firestorms touched off by his fake ''Koran-flushing''tales at GTMO]. In much the same vein,nobody likes it when Eastern liberal media nabobs troll out ''sacrifice''stories expecting all and sundry except themselves to engage in said ''sacrifice''. Thomas speaks of ''serious wartime sacrifice'' Very well.
Beginning in 1942, American automobile makers shut down manufacture of private vehicles to sustain the larger war effort at the behest of the Roosevelt administration. FORD,for instance,made the SHERMAN tank,which underwent five design changes in only three short years.
Thus it remains not only possible,but eminantly practical,to focus upon automobile manufacturing nationalization rather than this nonsense over nationalizing oil companies as peddled by the Left. Here is why. Cars are not consumables,unlike oil. Neither do American-made vehicles suffer from the environmental constraints placed upon oil exploration. While we have built several American automotive plants in the last thirty years,not one single new refinery has been constructed,nor is FORD or GM going to opt for an ANWR vehicle factory any time soon. This leaves in place a recipe that even a ponytailed socialist can find favour with.
All vehicles that have no credible use as major commerce transportation,farming,construction,defense,or law enforcement needs,will be confined to the purchase of vehicles representing only three vehicle options,none of which will be SUVs,high-perfomarnce ''muscle''cars, or large-series trucks. FOCUS and AVEO-style compacts,sub-compacts,smaller wagons,and sedans will be the vehicles du jour to be driven by a American generation that believes ''sacrifice''is a baseball term. I find little sense to be made of Green-pitching NEWSWEEK webpage mastheads that carry,right across their enviro-articles,advertisements for GMs massive ESCALADE which ponies up about 12 MPG. Thus the question begs. Do we need sustainable oil prices? Or more glam types[who all live in ThomasLand], tooling around in ESCALADES? Make the choice. Merely beating up on ''Big Oil''[which makes less profits than Bill Gates MICROSOFT],will not get the job done.