Green cars you can't buy

First - It's been over 2 months since my last post. I know I said that I try to post more often, but life has a way of altering your plans whenever it wants. My son was born at the beginning of July and things are just now starting to settle down, if only slightly. Hopefully I'll have some more time to update this blog in the future.

And now, the latest from my synapses...

According to this article on MSN autos by a new columnist, it is against the law to sell you an extremely low-emissions vehicle in the 42 states that don't follow California's lead on clean air and curbing auto emissions (luckily, New York has). Ironically, the law that makes this illegal is contained in the Clean Air Act! Only in American politics could something like this happen and is further proof that most of our legislators are a bunch of corporate, pan-handling pansies.

In the past few years, the has been a huge up-swing of people acting more responsible in regards to the environment, a surge in websites promoting green technologies (such as EcoGeek.org), and even some corporations are taking environmental concerns very seriously. It's time that the politicians recognized this trend and got on board, not just with words, but with solid actions as well.

Convenient

When I first heard the news that a 'major' plot to blow up airplanes bound for the US from the UK, my first reaction was "how convenient." I know that this is in stark contrast to the rest of the country, whose responses were mostly along the lines "Thank god they caught them before they had a chance to go through with it."

It didn't take long for the GOP to raise the intensity of the protectionist drums that they have been beating ever since 9/11. No matter where you were or what you were watching, you'd hear about how the GOP has been protecting us and that the Democrats would just open the doors and let the terrorists do whatever they wanted.

My response to all of this was a bit removed from the mainstream. Like I said before, all I could think about was how convenient it was that we uncovered and stopped a major terrorist plot against the US.... 2 months before congressional elections. If you have heard anything about how the congressional races have been going, most of the GOP incumbents have been consitently behind their Democratic opponent in the polls for most of the race.

Here we are, a week after the terror 'scare', and USA Today has published an article with new polling numbers. Surprise! The GOP as a whole went up. My favorite part of the article is at the very end...

Tracey Schmitt of the Republican National Committee said the GOP "will continue to make the case that a post- 9/11 America can't afford to have leaders in office who believe defeatism is an acceptable strategy to protect our nation and win the war on terror."

So I guess being the school-yard bully is the best strategy.

There was also an article published in the Register asking "Are Liquid Explosives on a Plane Feasible?"

I'll let you read the article for yourselves and leave you with just one thought.

How convenient.

(Disclaimer: I am not registered with any political party. Although I do tend to swing in the Democratic way, I do not consider myself affiliated with any political party. If pressed I would say that I am a true independant, meaning that I don't care what a persons political stance is. If I feel that they can handle the responsibilities that will be handed to them properly and with dignity, then they get my vote.)