apple juice

sorry, I couldn’t resist:

Just one more link about the gas tax, and then I’ll stop. I promise. This comes from Robert Reich:

Hillary Clinton Doesn’t Listen to Economists

When asked this morning by ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos if she could name a single economist who backs her call for a gas tax holiday this summer, HRC said “I’m not going to put my lot in with economists.”

I know several of the economists who have been advising Senator Clinton, so I phoned them right after I heard this. I reached two of them. One hadn’t heard her remark and said he couldn’t believe she’d say it. The other had heard it and shrugged it off as “politics as usual.”

I think the important take-away is that this is “politics as usual”. Hillary is running an ad about how this will save you (well, not you, but the royal you) $9 billion dollars. “Barack Obama says this is pennies.” Sorry, Hillary, but split that out to all the people who buy fuel in this country, it’ll save you (the actual you, not the royal you) about $30.

I think bridges that function, upgrading transit, and smooth roads and highways are more important than $30 in my pocket.

you have to click through to this article, just for the picture if nothing else: Gas-Tax Holiday = Cheap Votes

a gas-tax holiday is the worst idea i have ever heard. it will save you $30. it will create more profits for oil companies (as they raise prices to fill the gap), it will set back important transportation projects across the country, and it will encourage people to drive more, not less, creating more pollution and pumping more CO2 into the atmosphere.

bad bad stupid stupid. we should do the exact opposite. raise the gas tax. raise it by a dollar and dedicate it to transit projects.

encourage people to drive less.

encourage people to drive smaller cars.

encourage people to take transit.

one more reason to not vote for the old politics of John McCain and Hillary Clinton. time for a change. don’t believe me?

It is great to see that we finally have some national unity on energy policy. Unfortunately, the unifying idea is so ridiculous, so unworthy of the people aspiring to lead our nation, it takes your breath away

thomas friedman – “dumb as we wanna be“

I filled up my vehicle with BioDiesel Fuel today. A blend probably, since it’s still liable to snow at any time around here.

I haven’t filled up since February 22. I drove 550, mostly city, miles. I pumped just under 14 gallons. (40 mpg) The cost per gallon was $3.94.

We need to raise the gas tax, again.

Raising the gas tax is the only reasonable way we will be able to pay for fixing all of these roads, build adequate bridges, pay for buses, and continue to make progress on rail transit.

Now, I know that we just raised it a nickel. Big whoop. Raise it a dollar and dedicate it to rail transit. The day I can ride a street car or train to my job will be a happy, happy day. The day that I can take a streetcar to the train station and ride a train to Duluth in 1 1/2 hours or ride a train to Chicago in 4 hours will be a happy day.

California has a $10 billion dollar proposition on the ballot this fall to build high-speed rail between its major cities. This is the scale of regional investment that the Upper Midwest will need to make in the not-to-distant future.

Big SUVs, the suburbs, and cheap energy are on the way out, and we need to plan accordingly.