Posted on 09/12/2005 9:26:20 AM PDT by doug from upland
Edited on 09/12/2005 9:35:07 AM PDT by Admin Moderator. [history]
FReepers, sometimes the other side just makes it so easy for us. My original report regarding the Sierra Club Summit is linked above.
After giving a stirring speech on saving the planet, Arianna Huffington walked right past me outside. A friend was able to take this photo of her Chevrolet Suburban waiting for her across the street. She parked across the street rather than being dropped off next to the hyrbrid vehicles that were showcased in front of the Sierra Club Summit. She didn't dare get dropped off in front of her environmentalist pals at the Moscone Center building where she was speaking.
I watched Arianna and her driver get into the vehicle and take off together. No entourage. Just the driver in front and Arianna in the back. I quickly borrowed a camera and took some more pictures from a distance of her in the car, but I don't know if they will be able to show her as recognizable. Those pictures should be in my hands later today or tomorrow. Although I yelled for her to wave to me, she didn't play for the camera.
Way to go, Arianna. Your husband outed himself after the California Senate race. In broad daylight you now outed yourself as an incredible foolish hypocrite. And at the Sierra Club Summit no less. Just FReeping amazing.
(Thanks to blurblogger for sizing and creating the hosting link.)
Oh, I know. The Suburban was going somewhere anyway. Right, Arianna?
"you do tow in 3rd, not overdrive, right?"
Yes, I don't like the way the vehicle "seeks" between overdrive and 3rd.
Not to mention that you'd end up boiling your trans fluid out, and stressing the planetary (and possibly snapping something).
Oh, it's not hers, it's her ex-hubby's! Ok, that was mean...
"For the record. I am an environmentalist"
Hey, so am I.
I own a large parcel of land in So. Cal that has been granted permanent open space status, never to be developed.
Having retired 7 years ago at the age of 39, I now drive far fewer (about half) miles than a person who commutes to work.
My home is on 40 acres of forest that's dense enough to make any hard environmentalists mouth water (especially if they thought they could control it).
I wonder how much of the CO2 your hybrid pumps out ends up being scavenger out of the atmosphere by my forest?
Ultimately, the world is going to have to have more nuclear power and more use of hydrogen fuel cells. For now, hybrids can help fill the gap.
That looks like the ones in front of the Senate Office bldg (and the House bldgs.), with one difference. Her windows were down. The DC guys have their SUV's sit out front for hours, with the A/C on and drivers employed. They can't be expected to wait, nor be uncomfortable...
Don't you mean, "FAT-gun-grabbing-hypocritical-bitch"?
"Ultimately, the world is going to have to have more nuclear power"
You are so right. the Left's vilification of nuclear power has been a real setback for true environmentalism.
Biodiesel also offers hope as it's source is not fossil.
Biodiesel is going to be big in this country. Diesel will be making a comeback. The new vehicles are nothing like the old polluting noisy diesels.
On the other side of the street is where the cabs lined up. I'm not sure that it was illegal to park there. It it was not in a moving lane.
< /sarcasm >
I think the truth is somewhere in between.
http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/noframes/20462.shtml
You're right, exactly between. Looks like the dealers are starting to fudge the numbers a bit. I knew GM was in trouble but this goes to show how much.
Da guv'mint made 'em do it!
'what a bunch of rich left-wing hypocrites who like to lecture the rest of us, but live by their own rules.'
And GASP! nobody's voting for them, buying their books, listening to their radio programs, or going to the movie theaters anymore to see them!! How could that be??!! We are supposed to adore them, emulate them, form fan clubs....feh.
HUFFINGTON: Dump the SUV, Beyond Being an "Automotive Fashionista"
By Arianna Huffington, OverthrowTheGov.com. Posted November 14, 2001.
Arianna Huffington, former owner of a Lincoln Navigator, argues that conserving energy resources now trumps owning a comfy Sherman tank. Tools
On the way to my daughter's school this morning, I encountered the usual L.A. rush-hour road rally of elephantine sports utility vehicles, many flying American flags. Taking the cake was a massive SUV proudly sporting half a dozen -- one on each window and two on the bumper. My first thought was, how patriotic! My second was, how much more patriotic it would be to trade in the gas-guzzling leviathan for something that sips, rather than chugs, at the gas pump.
Which, thinking globally and acting locally, is precisely what I've decided to do with mine.
Though I don't consider myself an automotive fashionista, I must admit I followed the thundering herd of protective parents unable to resist the allure of what is basically a comfy Sherman tank. My SUV, a Lincoln Navigator, was, I was told, the safest way to transport my kids. And, as an added bonus, I could haul around a decent-sized Girl Scout troop.
But now we're at war, right? A New War. Everything has changed, hasn't it? Perhaps in rhetoric. In practice, what are we being called to do for the war effort other than shop 'til we drop, eat out and visit Disney World?
Given that our ability to play hardball with nations that harbor terrorists is going to be seriously compromised by our foreign oil habit, shouldn't we be doing everything we can to reduce that dependence -- starting, say, yesterday?
On Tuesday, the president ordered the government to boost its emergency stockpile of oil to "strengthen the long-term security of the United States."
But nothing is being done to heed Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham's warning that "reducing our nation's dependence on imported oil is crucial to our national energy security, now more than ever before."
On average, SUVs consume over 6 miles per gallon more than a family station wagon. No small difference when you consider that an improvement of just 3 mpg in autos nationwide would save 1 million barrels of oil per day.
On top of this, I have belatedly discovered that despite those TV ads showing them heroically scaling snow-capped mountains in a single bound, SUVs are actually risky to drive: four times more likely than cars to roll over in an accident and three times more likely to kill the occupants in a rollover.
Flag waving is great, but patriotic display is not a substitute for patriotic action. And the public is galvanized for action, just as it was during World War II. Back then, Americans answered their leaders' call for sacrifice in dozens of altruistic ways: They collected scrap metal to be refashioned as guns, planes, and tanks, planted 20 million vegetable "victory gardens," and made do with 3 gallons of gas a week. Just about what the average SUV devours on a few latte-hauling trips to Starbucks.
But when it comes to summoning the national resolve for shared sacrifice, W has been no FDR. There have been too many pep rallies and too few fireside chats. This president has the national ear, in a way few presidents ever have. The problem is, now that he's got our attention, he doesn't appear to have much to say.
His speech last week included a general call to serve our country by "mentoring a child, comforting the afflicted, housing those in need of shelter and a home." But his appeal lacked the kind of specificity that prods people out of their armchairs and into action. If the president had informed us, for instance, that 12 million children live in households where people have to skip meals to make ends meet or that there are a million homeless children in this country on any given day, then Americans would be far more likely to become what he dubbed "a Sept. 11 volunteer."
Of course, when it comes to acting on our patriotism, we don't have to wait for our leaders. If they won't lead, we can just step around them. And when it comes to the vital issue of energy policy, it appears that we'll have to.
As well as giving up our SUVs -- or, even better, switching to hybrid gas-and-electric cars that currently get up to 64 mpg -- we can all make simple adjustments to wean our country from the foreign oil teat, even if our leaders are too dazed by the energy and auto industry lobbies to guide us.
We can, for example, make sure our tires are fully inflated, reducing gas consumption by 2 percent, we can slow down to 65 miles per hour, reducing highway gas consumption by 15 percent, and we can stop idling our cars in drive-through window and school carpool lanes. And at home we can help conserve fuel by turning thermostats down, weather-stripping doors and windows, buying energy-efficient fluorescent lightbulbs, and unplugging cell phone chargers and hair dryers.
We can't go on consuming 25 percent of the world's oil while being only 5 percent of the global population. At least not if we want to get serious about putting the screws to any number of oil-rich and terrorist-friendly nations.
Laura Bush gave voice to a widely held sentiment when she said that Sept. 11 has made us "more determined and prepared, wiser and in many ways better." Not because of the number of flags attached to car windows or news anchors' lapels but because of the willingness the American people have shown to make whatever sacrifices are necessary to meet the challenge to our way of life.
Frankly, saying hasta la vista to my 13 mpg Navigator and hello to a 23 mpg Volvo V70 station wagon is hardly a sacrifice. But it's a start. Maybe I'll plant a victory garden in the backseat.
Arianna's "gas-guzzling, pollution-spewing, downright dangerous behemoth"
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