Jim

Do both. We've had such an ignorant lack of research and development in to fuel efficiency and reasonable standards that we have a steep curve to climb. I don't think I said anything about CAFE standards regarding CO2 emissions - but it is a good way to help lower our dependency on burning dinosaurs until something reasonable comes up. The current administration has a one size fits all anwser. Drill more. That is not insightful and will not help our security, environmental stewardship, or our economy in the long run.

This gets better with every post. While you have a marketplace wet dream why not invoke the spaghetti monster iniative as well. You can always "what if" an individual case that has no application or evidence. Continue herr marketplace miester.

The people who pay the most for this will be your friends in the UAW. What? Are you kidding me? Like it could actually get worse? Have you checked the profits and percent slope of the decline of the American car makers lately? Hmmmm. Why are the foreign car companies selling so much better over the past 20 years? Quality and efficiency. The Big Three's gamble on throwing an oversized shiny body onto a pickup frame has been diasterous in the long run. I guess in the short run some of the execs made out pretty well though. I think that it could actually get worse, and that attempting to regulate CO2 emissions via CAFE standards would do this very thing, since most of the cars that they make that people actually want to buy fall into the very category that would be affected the most. Also - what makes you think that if you eliminate all but the most fuel efficient cars from the marketplace, that people won't neutralize quite a few of the gains thus realized by simply driving more, carpooling less, etc - since they'll be able to increase their driving in direct proportion to the extent to which their fuel economy increases? If your aim is to discourage fuel consumption, rather than the production of certain kinds of vehicles, then imposing the costs on fuel consumption, rather vehicle acquisition makes much more sense. Oh give me a break. You've reached the usual absurd creshendo. CAFE standards have shown clearly that they improve fuel effecienty. Look at our past records and the European standards. The obvious problem that marketplace gurus like yourself have is that choices will be limted. Too bad, so sad. There is more at stake than some SUV driver's vanity.

Good point there. Human nutrition and automotive fuel efficiency are pretty much the same thing. In fact, I drink far less gasoline today, compared to the past, and it's really improved the mileage my bicycle gets. No equivocation here at all. The point is that consumer demand determines what manufacturers produce, and what retailers sell. Holding manufacturers responsible for what people want to buy is about as rational as blaming Andean peasants for our drug problem. The crass assumption that all that is to consider is dollars and cents is what has not worked before. If your trying to solve a wide-ranging environmental problem the market place will drag and drag until the last dollar has been squeezed out of the rag, even if the short-term profit runs them into a dead end. Emission standards were going to break the automobile industry. Same with clean air and water standards, seat belts, the first round of CAFE standards, etc. The marketplace does not care about environmental effects - it cares about profit. Government must play a role in moving the markets. Let them have gas guzzlers, just put a hefty surcharge on it and demand reasonable CAFE standards, which haven't been significantly updated in 20 yrs.

The people who pay the most for this will be your friends in the UAW. What? Are you kidding me? Like it could actually get worse? Have you checked the profits and percent slope of the decline of the American car makers lately? Hmmmm. Why are the foreign car companies selling so much better over the past 20 years? Quality and efficiency. The Big Three's gamble on throwing an oversized shiny body onto a pickup frame has been diasterous in the long run. I guess in the short run some of the execs made out pretty well though.

The assumption that market forces will somehow, sooner or later, deal with improvement of gas milage is false. Look at the wonderful job the marketplace has done to date regarding any type of environmental issue where the true costs are spread over the wider social fabric. Emissions, water pollution, etc. It will take government intervention to move forward. Of course they will yelp. Gotta keep paying those bonuses to the executive level for doing nothing. Raise the CAFE standards by at least 20% over 5 yrs, surcharges for the gas guzzlers. You just have to pay the premium.

Seems like promoting democracy in the world has taken a downward dip during the Bush presidency. Despite the purple-finger-thing in Iraq, which made for great press, the county is essentially in a civil war and partitioned. Pakistan is headed just where the General wants it to go. He even adopted some of Bushies favorite catch phrases when referring to terrorist elements and the need for security. He even had to balls to refer to Lincoln's limited suspension of habeous corpus during the Civil War when justifying the need to boot out the head of the supreme court, shut down the media, and arrest protesters. I wonder if John Woo would have signed off on this.

Ha!! Same climb (Practice Climb)for me but in 1974 with a Goldline and swami belt. Later that day got up Finger Dike (5.6)got exhausted and could not finish on Triple Overhang - all of 5.7. Still have a 20 pg guide to the place.

I check all my insurance--it is my second largest expense behind mortgages. I was pissed when people who did not get earthquake insurance here in Seattle got money from the gov't when their chimneys fell off their homes during the last quake. That's fucked. You want someone else to pay to fix your house? Buy insurance. Don't charge the taxpayers--we are not responsible for your home's upkeep. Earthquake insurance is expensive and has huge deductibles. I don't think anyone got paid for chimmney damage - data? Rather than sinking money into a policy that will not pay to replance your house, and that you will likely never use - best bet is to just retro-fit your house. I consider that the best investment. Mixed emotions about the fire thing - normal homeowners insurance can cover that, for relatively low costs.

Did you happen to notice this was from 4 years ago?

Another example of lack of planning because they don't like the idea of government intrusion. Well except for when the hole they dug for themselves gets too deep. The "Develop now, as questions later" mentaility is catching up to a number of jurisdictions. Great article in the NYT magazine section on the drought in the SW. Which is really a misnomer. One hydrologist pointed out that it appears we are in a very long term cycle of arid climate, and that added to climate change - "Well it's a long term change. It's not a drought. It would be like saying the Sahara Desert is in a drought" Las Vegas is in a race with the declining level of Lake Powell. They are building a new, lower intake and hope to complete it before the receeding lake level drops below the current intakes - fast track construction estimated completion in 2009. Could be close. The reservoir has a 100 ft high bathtub ring in places. It would take 20 years of avg annual flow to fill it up - and that is an avg that was calculated on extremely wet year data. Never going to happen again - predictions are that it may just dry up. Amazing. Yet lots of green lawns in the desert still.

Planet Bike Hardcore ATD Fenders http://ecom1.planetbike.com/fenders.html Jetlight Starfire http://www.jetlites.com/ssbss.html w/ the 30W bulb it can burn retinas

You must not have ever made it past journeyman status. Otherwise you would have been given the tight routes by dispatchers. 50 miles a day seems a bit for an experienced messenger. After a few months and the dispatchers knew I could keep the routes and sequence well and put me on the A list for tight routes - more money. Where you being sent to the boonies for 2 yrs or what? KK- extra kudos to you. The bridge must have been very interesting - you must have gotten hosed. I was drenched on my relative short route.

Another brave man!!

I think I'll take the short ride home this evening. That way I will only be soaking wet for 40 minutes or so.

Bullshit! A couple dozen congressmen put this letter together. They represent the USA and federal authority. What they did is what I'd expect from Stalinist Russia or Goebbels. And YOU would AGREE if Republican congressman had done this. No - I would agree that they were getting worked up over a dust bunny just as the dems have. They have no individual authority outside their body. Clue in.

He will not answer the damn question, because the evidence is that we have done water boarding. So what is the alternate suggestion? We just ask nicely and say pretty please? When did we become such pussies? I agree that things like electrocuting someones balls or having dogs gnaw their feet off is not nice. But come on, putting a wet washcloth on someone's face can't really be the cause of all this commotion, can it? It's a little more severe than that - I hope your sarcasm is avoiding me. We've signed the treaties regarding torture and seem to be doing things with a wink and a nod. We're better than this. And - professionals know that information gained by torture is much less dependable than more tested, professional techniques.

I think it's all gotten a bit overwhelming. We can't avoid having the "big picture" in front of us all the time; and so the thought of doing little things doesn't seem to be enough. And with everyone all ready to jump your shit over any wasteful action, it gets to be pointless. Nevermind you recycle, if you don't drive a hybrid you're a hypocrite. Nevermind you donate to environmental causes, you use nice soft asswipe and you're a fake. It gets tiresome. I sympathize. My philosopy these days is "do something - anything" besides go to work, consume, play, die. People are much more seperated from community life these days. They're not invested. But if you work some volunteer time into the rythmn of you life - it works.

Congress did no such thing. A handful of Senators and Congressmen did, however. Dude, that's the kind of bullshit we don't need in this country. Your comment above is just as evasive and rationalizing as this pathetic comment below: http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/10/18/mukasey.hearing/index.html Nothing ambiguous about it. Just a fact. You either need to break open Webster's or the Civics book.

Congress did no such thing. A handful of Senators and Congressmen did, however. On the larger question. We've gotten the leaders we deserve. I consistently try to recruit folks for our neighborhood committees or at least to show up to the once a month meetings - too busy. Volunteer for some NGO, the school. Good luck. By and by I've come to the conclusion that folks don't care, or don't care enough to try and make a difference. "I'd like to change the world, but I don't know what to do - so I'll leave it up to you".

You might have an argument if Bush actually did anything productive to counteract his impression of being an idiot.

Wow. You are getting wrapped around the axel on the Nobel award aren't you. Seems to be a right winged trait these days. Given that there's nothing to be happy about with our current chief exeuctive's Midas touch of turning everything he comes in contact with to mush, it's expected you're depressed. And the comparison of Craig to Gore. Oh boy, you are getting desperate now.

Gore Derangement Syndrome By Paul Krugman The New York Times Monday 15 October 2007 On the day after Al Gore shared the Nobel Peace Prize, The Wall Street Journal's editors couldn't even bring themselves to mention Mr. Gore's name. Instead, they devoted their editorial to a long list of people they thought deserved the prize more. And at National Review Online, Iain Murray suggested that the prize should have been shared with "that well-known peace campaigner Osama bin Laden, who implicitly endorsed Gore's stance." You see, bin Laden once said something about climate change - therefore, anyone who talks about climate change is a friend of the terrorists. What is it about Mr. Gore that drives right-wingers insane? Partly it's a reaction to what happened in 2000, when the American people chose Mr. Gore but his opponent somehow ended up in the White House. Both the personality cult the right tried to build around President Bush and the often hysterical denigration of Mr. Gore were, I believe, largely motivated by the desire to expunge the stain of illegitimacy from the Bush administration. And now that Mr. Bush has proved himself utterly the wrong man for the job - to be, in fact, the best president Al Qaeda's recruiters could have hoped for - the symptoms of Gore derangement syndrome have grown even more extreme. The worst thing about Mr. Gore, from the conservative point of view, is that he keeps being right. In 1992, George H. W. Bush mocked him as the "ozone man," but three years later the scientists who discovered the threat to the ozone layer won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. In 2002 he warned that if we invaded Iraq, "the resulting chaos could easily pose a far greater danger to the United States than we presently face from Saddam." And so it has proved. But Gore hatred is more than personal. When National Review decided to name its anti-environmental blog Planet Gore, it was trying to discredit the message as well as the messenger. For the truth Mr. Gore has been telling about how human activities are changing the climate isn't just inconvenient. For conservatives, it's deeply threatening. Consider the policy implications of taking climate change seriously. "We have always known that heedless self-interest was bad morals," said F.D.R. "We know now that it is bad economics." These words apply perfectly to climate change. It's in the interest of most people (and especially their descendants) that somebody do something to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, but each individual would like that somebody to be somebody else. Leave it up to the free market, and in a few generations Florida will be underwater. The solution to such conflicts between self-interest and the common good is to provide individuals with an incentive to do the right thing. In this case, people have to be given a reason to cut back on greenhouse gas emissions, either by requiring that they pay a tax on emissions or by requiring that they buy emission permits, which has pretty much the same effects as an emissions tax. We know that such policies work: the U.S. "cap and trade" system of emission permits on sulfur dioxide has been highly successful at reducing acid rain. Climate change is, however, harder to deal with than acid rain, because the causes are global. The sulfuric acid in America's lakes mainly comes from coal burned in U.S. power plants, but the carbon dioxide in America's air comes from coal and oil burned around the planet - and a ton of coal burned in China has the same effect on the future climate as a ton of coal burned here. So dealing with climate change not only requires new taxes or their equivalent; it also requires international negotiations in which the United States will have to give as well as get. Everything I've just said should be uncontroversial - but imagine the reception a Republican candidate for president would receive if he acknowledged these truths at the next debate. Today, being a good Republican means believing that taxes should always be cut, never raised. It also means believing that we should bomb and bully foreigners, not negotiate with them. So if science says that we have a big problem that can't be solved with tax cuts or bombs - well, the science must be rejected, and the scientists must be slimed. For example, Investor's Business Daily recently declared that the prominence of James Hansen, the NASA researcher who first made climate change a national issue two decades ago, is actually due to the nefarious schemes of - who else? - George Soros. Which brings us to the biggest reason the right hates Mr. Gore: in his case the smear campaign has failed. He's taken everything they could throw at him, and emerged more respected, and more credible, than ever. And it drives them crazy.

This is an independent weather consultant's site. He gets hired for expedition work. It concentrates on the mountain forecast. You also can sign up for his email forecasts. http://www.wowweather.com/

Given the current track record I think that an entirely market-based approach would be sensible. Why bother reallocating resources that will aleviate (some) human suffering in the near term (keeping corporate profits at a maximum)when future glacial melting and concurrent weather changes are only a 99% certainty in the next 100 yrs or so. Likely there will be improvements such as availability of sea wall construction design, floating city design, and improvement of mass dislocation strategies. No reason to do anything now but let the market prevail.