I have to say I hadn't looked too closely at Ron Paul until someone linked me this:
http://www.house.gov/paul/tst/tst2007/tst031907.htmThe guy nailed it dead on, 9 months before any other politicians began to notice anything.
It caused me to start looking at his site, platform, and press. I have until Dec. 31st to change my voter registration from NPA to Rep. so I can vote in the primary.
Looks like I am going to change it.
As far as fuel efficiency,thats a prime example, the main stream media and the beltway bunch are all slapping themselves on the back today over passing a bill to raise CAFE (Corporate Average Fuel Economy) Standards or MPG to 35 MPG by 2020.
Sorry to go off on a rant but,
Yeah, they are a bright bunch, thats just 30 years too late, Just as W. abandoned keeping Banks, insurance, and investment firms separate which lead to the current housing mess. He also abandoned an agreement that kept U.S car makers pushing for higher MPG instead and launched a multi-decade research program to develop a car propelled by a hydrogen-powered fuel cell. Brilliant, meanwhile CAFE dropped and we got SUVs.
this is a good read
Gas prices too high? Try Europe.
Just like the 70's Gas Crisis, Detroit and U.S. Standards are out of touch, behind the 8 ball, and too little to late.
Jimmy Carter said it best in a speech he gave April 18, 1977.
Each American uses the energy equivalent of 60 barrels of oil per person each year. Ours is the most wasteful nation on earth. We waste more energy than we import. With about the same standard of living, we use twice as much energy per person as do other countries like Germany, Japan and Sweden.
and
"and the cornerstone of our policy, is to reduce the demand through conservation. Our emphasis on conservation is a clear difference between this plan and others which merely encouraged crash production efforts. Conservation is the quickest, cheapest, most practical source of energy. Conservation is the only way we can buy a barrel of oil for a few dollars. It costs about $13 to waste it."
Today they are all acting like they solved a crisis with an original idea and they are so brilliant... They are idiots, all they proved today is that they never learned the lesson and dropped the ball by not upping CAFE standards sooner.
Bio-Fuels and alternatives are nice and all. How about we start with using less of what we have now. It's a hell of allot cheaper than trying to play catch up with new technology they mostly ignored until now.
Of course, what do you expect from an industry and bunch of cronies that proclaims the
2008 Chevy Tahoe Hybrid V8 that gets 21 MPG as "Green Car of the year". If that "green" vehicle is still only shuttling around a soccer mom and her shopping bags, what good is it.
Meanwhile Honda is already selling a car that runs on water.
I think finally middle America is waking up, and getting a wiff of the party and corporate bull crap.
I think the politicians and press will soon find out we are not as stupid and focused only on "Dancing with The Stars" as they think we were. We have had enough, know what is right, and want our country back.
The Primaries early next year will begin to reflect that.