← Autodidact Archive · Original Dissent · xmetalhead
Thread ID: 9913 | Posts: 18 | Started: 2003-09-19
2003-09-19 21:01 | User Profile
Call me what you want folks, but SUV's are a plague on the streets of America.
ONE MAN'S ECOTERRORIST IS ANOTHER'S SMOKEY BEAR
The War on SUVs
[LEFT]NEW YORK--What kind of world would it be if someone set your car
ablaze because it guzzled too much fuel? A better one, argues the
Earth Liberation Front, a loosely-organized ecoterrorist organization
that spray-painted environmentalist graffiti such as "gross polluter"
and "fat, lazy Americans" on 30 sport utility vehicles at two car
dealerships and set fire to a third on Aug. 22. Several SUVs and 20
Hummer H2s were destroyed. On Sept.2, 22 more SUVs were trashed
at a Houston car dealership. (Police have arrested a man in
connection with the California incident.)
Ecoterrorism expert Bron Taylor of the University of Wisconsin at
Oshkosh, says that ELF believes "that ecosystems have an inherent
worth that cannot be judged in relation to human needs, that human
actions are bringing the earth toward mass extinctions, and that
political action is insufficient to bring about the wholesale changes
needed."
Taken at face value, most Americans agree with the "elves." A Los
Angeles Times survey found that, even among conservative
Republicans, two out of three people believe that the environment is
more important than property rights, corporate profits or even
creating jobs. Virtually everyone acknowledges that human-generated
pollution is affecting the environment: only eight percent of
Americans think that global warming is a myth. (The United States
produces more greenhouse gases, both per capita and overall, than
any other nation, making it largely responsible for climate change.)
The environmental crisis is, hands down, the most important matter
facing humanity today. Who cares about peace in the Middle East if
the region is under water, stricken by famine or choked by dust
storms? Weather systems are becoming increasingly violent and
unpredictable, species are going extinct and virgin-growth forests are
vanishing at an alarming rate. While smog has diminished somewhat
in places like Denver and Los Angeles, air pollution is getting worse
nationally. Ohio's EPA, for example, announced that 2002 was the
most toxic summer on record in 14 years.
The main reason: SUVs.
What should we do about this long-ignored crisis? Writing letters to
the editor and joining The Sierra Club are admirable, but working
within the system hasn't stopped the polluters.
Burning SUVs isn't the answer, argues the Sport Utility Vehicle Owners
Association of America: "All told, the vandalism will not make any
company think twice about producing more SUVs and other light
trucks, nor will it shake the tremendous consumer confidence in the
vehicles. Instead, the blaze destroyed the property of a small
business owner, and put the lives of innocent civil servants in harm's
way."
But SUVs are a national blight, burning 33 percent more gas,
generating 30 percent more carbon monoxide and 75 percent more
nitrogen oxide than regular cars. SUVs are so popular--they account
for more than half of new car sales--that average fuel efficiency
reversed a long-term trend by starting to drop beginning in 1987.
Since 1990, SUVs have wasted an extra 70 billion gallons of gasoline,
costing even more than the war on Iraq. They're the sole reason we
dropped out of the Kyoto Protocol to reduce greenhouse gases. SUVs
have got to go.
The SUV phenomenon is the creation of an unholy alliance of
Congress, Detroit automakers and consumers. The big four
automakers have convinced even the legislators they don't own
outright that eliminating SUVs would hurt the economy. SUV owners
think the 9,000-pound leviathans make them safer than passenger
cars (though studies have proven they're not), are better at handling
snow (untrue), drive off-road (very few SUVs ever leave the
pavement), offer extra room for big families (get a minivan instead,
dope) and let them see ahead of smaller cars (while blocking the
vehicles behind them). The Republican-controlled Congress has no
intention of closing the fuel emissions loophole that lets SUVs pass
as "light trucks." And the SUV craze is making Detroit more profitable
than ever.
That leaves consumers and dealers as the principal targets of radical
environmentalists like the ELF. The idea is to make SUVs as
unfashionable, and as scary to own, as fur became after the
PETA-inspired spray-paint attacks of the '80s. In an ideal world,
American consumers could be convinced to do the right thing through
an appeal to logic with public service messages like the "What Would
Jesus Drive?" TV campaign, but the kind of people who would buy a
car that increases the risk to other motorists in an accident can't be
reasoned with. They're selfish and stupid. It's unfortunate that drivers
must worry that their SUVs are being targeted by insulting stickers
and Molotov cocktails, but one thing's for sure: It couldn't be
happening to a more deserving group of people.
(Ted Rall is the author of the graphic travelogue "To Afghanistan and
Back," an award-winning recounting of his experiences covering the
U.S. invasion of Afghanistan. It is now available in a revised and
updated paperback edition containing new material. Ordering
information is available at amazon.com.)
COPYRIGHT 2003 TED RALL
RALL 9/16/03[/LEFT]
[url]http://www.uexpress.com/tedrall/[/url]
2003-09-20 02:26 | User Profile
Neocons love SUVs, for the reason that they are gass-guzzling road-hogs and a danger to everyone else (as well as all the SUV owners who tip over). Being destructive appeals to Neocons.
Don't get me wrong. I own a Suburban so I'm in no position to really judge anyone.
Anyway, the problem is that people who drive are subsidized. Gas taxes should pay for all road-related expenses (building, repair, patrolling, cleaning, etc.). If gas were more expensive, people would be wanting a little more fuel efficiency.
Another way the government contributes to gass guzzlers is by required gas efficiences for cars thus encouraging car companies to push "rucks (SUVs) to avoid running afoul of regulations. The government also offers more generous tax treatment for super-big vehicles (anything over 6000lbs).
2003-09-20 14:01 | User Profile
Hey Ya'll,
Way back when (in the stone age), before there was such a thing as an SUV, I used to own a 1978 International Harvester Scout II. It was ugly as hell. It was hunter orange. It was rusty. It had a 345 cu.in. engine in it with worn rings that belched blue smoke when you started it (the very same engine that powers those big yellow school busses you see every day). It guzzled gas. It had obnoxiously agressive tires on it. It had a curb weight of almost 7000 lbs. I loved it.
My neighbors, however, hated it. This was around 1989 or so, just about when everyone was starting to drive those little crappy Japanese cars. Mr. & Mrs. Soccerparents were just coming into their own and went out of their way to try and make me get rid of it, including nasty notes left in our mailbox. Too bad, the state said it was okay to liscence, so I kept it.
About two years later, there was a helluva snowstorm. Kentucky got 3 feet of snow in one night. Nothing was moving. At all. Interstate 75 was shut down for a week. Everyone was without power (you can see where this is going).
Those same hypocritical son's-o-bitches who rode me unmercifully about owning a big, ugly, snarly truck came begging for me to go get them gasoline for their generators and food because they did not have any. I cowboyed up and set off with chains on the tires to get them their fuel and food (think 'shopping list' times 6). Round trip was about 3 hours (the only thing open was a little Mom & Pop gas station/grocery store that I always ignored. I became a regular patron after that), I got them as much as I could, filled up the half a dozen 5-gallon gas tanks in the back and headed home.
It took them about 6 months to go back to bashing me about my truck. It ended up dying about a year after that, so it's a moot point, but I went and bought another one anyway. I find that most folks who rip on "SUV"'s only do so when they don't have one and don't need one. But when they need one, brother let me tell you they come to you with hat in hand and beg for help.
Screw em.
Ausonius
2003-09-20 16:07 | User Profile
The suvs will go the way of dinos for a simple reason-the cost of gas. Already they are an odd species in Canada where gas is about a doller more. Suvs have been a wretched excess and take up more space than they are worth. They fill up parking garages and ferries to the detriment of all. Perhaps their worst quality is their drivers who are too often women on an errand of little substance, with a phone to their ear, and not a thought in their heads nor an eye to the road.
2003-09-20 16:56 | User Profile
I agree that the worst thing about SUVs is their mostly idiot drivers.
By the way, the future SUVs will be hybrid, just like Toyota Prius (60/50 mileage for the model year 2004 and rated mid-size car unlike previous years!), and will have much better mileage. So, the future mileage may vary, and so they may not go extinct :D
2003-09-20 20:17 | User Profile
All I can say is that most SUV drivers are neocon yuppies who have no buisness on the road! One thing that pisses me off about SUVs is how their front lights shine into your rear view mirrors, and this is especially annoying since all SUV drivers just love to stop 3 inches ahead of your rear bumper. God I hate these damn things! :angry:
2003-09-20 21:48 | User Profile
[QUOTE=Ausonius]Way back when (in the stone age), before there was such a thing as an SUV, I used to own a 1978 International Harvester Scout II. [/QUOTE]
Your neighbors should have started a community project to build a garage to hide that thing in! (assuming it wasn't kept inside)
I own an SUV. I use it when the roads are bad, when I have a lot of stuff I need to move, or when I travel with the family. I don't use it to commute with or for "grocery getting" and such. I doubt I would buy an SUV again. Minivans are the best general purpose vehicles. They just need to make a more manly looking minivan.
2003-09-21 02:03 | User Profile
[QUOTE=Happy Hacker] I own an SUV. I use it when the roads are bad, when I have a lot of stuff I need to move, or when I travel with the family. I don't use it to commute with or for "grocery getting" and such. I doubt I would buy an SUV again. Minivans are the best general purpose vehicles. They just need to make a more manly looking minivan.[/QUOTE]
I really have nothing against those people who actually use an SUV for stuff it was meant to be used for. Com'on those commericals are so pathetic, who actually uses their SUV for those kinds of things? 98% of drivers don't. they drive it because they think they're somehow more important now and people will start respecting them, and girls will climb all over them. sigh
Same with these Hummers. Why the f*ck do you need a hummer? Are you going on some recon mission against your neighbor(whose secretly hiding Al-Qaida guerrillas in their basement)? Please!
2003-09-21 02:46 | User Profile
The Hummer is just a reskinned Suburban. And it's butt-ugly as well.
2003-09-21 02:49 | User Profile
Once oil reaches its drilling peak, and oil prices rise accordingly, Explorers and Cherokees will soon end up as lawn ornaments.
BTW MR:
That closeup of ole' Ras is spookin me out.
2003-09-21 02:52 | User Profile
[QUOTE=Campion Moore Boru] BTW MR:
That closeup of ole' Ras is spookin me out.[/QUOTE]
That's the zhid radar Kosciusko used to talk about :D
I had to zoom in to comply with the 100x100 pixels limit on the avatar size.
2003-09-21 03:21 | User Profile
[QUOTE]Your neighbors should have started a community project to build a garage to hide that thing in! (assuming it wasn't kept inside)[/QUOTE]
That old IH Scout II rocked! Nothing would stop it. So long as you kept the transfer case in Low 1, you were good to hook. The fact that it was ugly as dogsh*t was a plus. Nobody would DARE screw with you, since the truck was almost without worth. You could fix it with a hammer and a roll of 100 mph tape. The bodies rusted constantly, but so what? The frame and suspension would likely find a good home on a Deuce and a half and what you couldn't drive up, you could knock over and then drive over it.. It leaked. It smoked. It drank gas like it was free. It smelled funny. It had bloodstains from deer in the back. It was ORANGE for God's sake, but you know what? I could have cared less.
Ausonius
2003-09-21 03:51 | User Profile
[QUOTE=madrussian]That's the zhid radar Kosciusko used to talk about :D
I had to zoom in to comply with the 100x100 pixels limit on the avatar size.[/QUOTE]
It looks good MR! Although I think my avatar is better looking. :D
2003-09-21 05:13 | User Profile
[QUOTE=madrussian]That's the zhid radar Kosciusko used to talk about :D
I had to zoom in to comply with the 100x100 pixels limit on the avatar size.[/QUOTE]
:D
Looks like his about to go Cossack on some Zhid's a**
2003-09-22 01:28 | User Profile
[QUOTE=madrussian]I agree that the worst thing about SUVs is their mostly idiot drivers.
By the way, the future SUVs will be hybrid, just like Toyota Prius (60/50 mileage for the model year 2004 and rated mid-size car unlike previous years!), and will have much better mileage. So, the future mileage may vary, and so they may not go extinct :D[/QUOTE]
God help me if I own anything with a name as faggy as 'Prius'.
I'd rather buy an old PoWag and rebuild it with a gigantic engine, bomb-proof transfer case and tranny and really obnoxious tires. Paint it OD green and put 'NOSTEP' all over it. Let the 'Prius' drivers eat quiche.
Ausonius
2003-09-22 01:39 | User Profile
What about brie?
2003-09-22 02:36 | User Profile
Okay madrussian, that got me laughing..
Thanks, I needed that. Sometimes I take myself too seriously. I don't like brie, but I do like good red wine on occasion (Ami beer being a close relation to cat-piss.. I can't drink it anymore.). I usually go for a decent Merlot or Cab.. no fruity wines, but I DO have access to a stash of wine that my wife's grandfather put away back in the late 1950's after he got released and was sent home (he was AfrikaCorps.. came home and started a Gasthaus). He passed on 2 years ago, and nobody else drinks wine in her family but me. Lucky for me Oma said I could have as much as I wanted. Most of it is locally produced stuff.. Rieslings and the like, and it is gooood. Never went for expensive cheese, though I do enjoy a Cohiba now and again.
Ausonius
2003-09-22 02:44 | User Profile
[QUOTE=perun1201]I really have nothing against those people who actually use an SUV for stuff it was meant to be used for. Com'on those commericals are so pathetic, who actually uses their SUV for those kinds of things? 98% of drivers don't. they drive it because they think they're somehow more important now and people will start respecting them, and girls will climb all over them. sigh
Same with these Hummers. Why the f*ck do you need a hummer? Are you going on some recon mission against your neighbor(whose secretly hiding Al-Qaida guerrillas in their basement)? Please![/QUOTE]
If I had the money, I'd buy a Humvee. One of the originals, not the faggy overpriced H2's, complete with camo paint job, winch, kevelar armor and gunner's ring for a .50 cal. I love that truck. So what if I don't need it? If I can afford one, I'm buying one. Why should anyone give a rat's ass what I own? Same with guns. I own what I own and I don't bother anyone, though Suzi Soccermom would have a coronary and call in the FBI, BATFE, IRS and God-knows who else if she knew what was in my gun safe.. everything totally legal, I might add. I do not break the law when it comes to guns. Ever. Under any circumstances. But if it is legal to own, and I got the money, why should anyone care?
Ausonius