Last week, president Bush reiterated his view that removing restrictions on offshore drilling will provide relief to the country's energy needs and help to lower prices at the pumps. The only folks who seem to be pushing such an agenda are those who directly profit from it: Bush's own Energy Department declared that opening up coastal drilling would be a drop in the barrel, offering neither any significant increase in production nor lower prices. What it will do is increase oil corporations' profits, already at a record high. Gotta get while the gettin's good!
McCain's proposed path doesn't look much different. He' already running an ad blaming Obama and the Democrats for $4 per gallon gas and he, too, is looking to lift restrictions and drill some new holes.
Federal legislation that promotes clean, alternative energy and reduces global warming pollution will reduce our oil imports four times more than drilling in the Outer Continental Shelf, the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, and the Rocky Mountain states, combined.
The best refutation of Bush and McCain's claims may come from an unlikely source: billionaire Texas oilman T. Boone Pickens, whose funding and now-infamous Swift Boat campaign helped put Bush Jr. in office the first time around. Pickens has seen the writing on the wall and has turned his attention to building wind farms.
And what the 80-year-old T. Boone Pickens says, in a $58 million campaign, is that we can’t drill our way to lower gas prices. By implication, anybody who tells you otherwise — including the fellow Texan he helped put in the White House — is a fraud.
This is a political parable for the ages: the guy who was behind one of the knockout punches to John Kerry four years ago is now doing Democrats the biggest favor of the election by calling Republicans on their phony energy campaign.
“Totally misleading” is the way Pickens describes Republican attempts to convince the public that if we just opened up all these forbidden areas to oil drilling then gas prices would fall. He’s not against new drilling, but he is honest enough to say it wouldn’t do anything.
Ben Cohen, founder of Ben & Jerry's ice cream wanted to create a roving visual depiction of the US' out-of whack budget spending. He teamed up with New York graphic artist Stefan Sagmeister and artist/mechanic Tom Kennedy to create the Topsy-Turvy bus, affectionately known as “Topsy.”
“Our nation’s spending priorities allow crumbling schools, millions of children with no health coverage, dependence on Middle East oil and deficits as far as you can see,” said Ben Cohen, president of the Priorities Campaign.
The Pentagon's spending, which accounts for more than half of the nation's discretionary budget, is the group's primary target. Their goal is to snip 15% of the Pentagon's bloated budget and redistribute the funds to alternative energy, education, hunger, and health care. Of course, we at Carectomy would like to make sure that alternative transportation gets a little slice of that tasty pie as well.
Robert Novak, long time conservative commentator and general hater of non-motorized transport hit a pedestrian today...and then tried to run away.
A few years back Novak was cited for cursing at a jaywalker, but today, apparently not seeing the 66 year-old man crossing the street, he actually hit a pedestrian and then sped away. Commuter cyclist / laywer / super hero David Bono decided he wasn't going to just watch a hit-and-run happen, so he sped up to Novak's car and stopped in front of him.
Traffic backed up in downtown D.C., but Bono refused to leave until Novak had pulled over and was being questioned by police. Novak said that didn't notice that he'd hit anyone, and Bono simply "let him know."
But according to Bono, the 66 year-old pedestrian was "sprawled" accross the front of Novak's Corvette after the incedent and Novak repeatedly tried to escape after Bono had stopped him.
I mean...really, is it any wonder that we can't get rid of our cars while thousands of pedestrians an cyclists a year are killed because they aren't encased in steel?
Walk Score has surveyed 2,508 neighborhoods across the 40 biggest U.S. cities to come up with their list of the best places to live if you want to ditch your car. Nearby stores, restaurants, schools, and parks all boost a city's rank.
There are some definite surprises that made the list, especially So Cal's offerings. While L.A. and Long Beach may have small neighborhoods that make for nice walking and ample provisions, the site does not take into account factors such as the availability of mass transit, the nature of commutes, and the sprawl that may surround some of these walkable oases.
Walk Score's top-10 cities, with most walkable neighborhoods:
1 San Francisco Chinatown, Financial District, Downtown
2 New York Tribeca, Little Italy, Soho
3 Boston Back Bay-Beacon Hill, South End, Fenway-Kenmore
4 Chicago Loop, Near North Side, Lincoln Park
5 Philadelphia City Center East, City Center West, Riverfront
6 Seattle Pioneer Square, Downtown, First Hill
7 Washington D.C. Dupont Circle, Logan Circle, Downtown
8 Long Beach Downtown, Belmont Shore, Belmont Heights
9 Los Angeles Mid City West, Downtown, Hollywood
10 Portland Pearl District, Old Town-Chinatown, Downtown
Would-be carectomy patients can plug in their addresses or scope out any locale in the country on the Walk Score website. The country's sprawling suburbs have already begun to die and people are looking for denser, more sustainable venues. Walk Score is a great way to scout out the areas around potential new homes.
There's been a sizable passenger increase on Amtrak's Downeaster line, which connects commuters between Portland, Maine and Boston. Ridership went up by a whopping 28% in this past fiscal year. This translated to a daily increase of 948 passengers and a 33% increase in ticket revenues.
Amtrak officials cite high gas prices coupled with more frequent trains as the major factors in the surge. Executive Director Patricia Quinn of the Northern New England Passenger Rail Authority told the Associated Press that this was the largest gain experienced by any Amtrak line in the period ending June 30.
Although no one wants to pay higher prices for gasoline, we can root for the end result: Partial carectomies abound!
While most of America is groaning under the weight of their gas bill, Time magazine (and eco-minded folks) are rejoicing at the much-needed, long-overdue change $4 per gallon prices are catalyzing.
…it’s true that Americans are finding options where there seemed to be none. They’re ready to change — and waiting for their infrastructure to catch up. They are driving to commuter-rail lines only to find there are no parking spots left. They are running fewer errands and dumping their SUVs. Public-transit use is at a 50-year high. Gas purchases are down 2% to 3%. And all those changes bring secondary, hard-earned benefits. Here are Time.com’s 10 things, with my thoughts added.
Their list of “10 Good Things About $4 Gas” celebrates the positive effects of expensive fuel.So, quit yer bitchin’, ride your bike, take the commuter train, and climb aboard the bandwagon.
Here are 10 reasons to get psyched, according to Time, neatly summarized by EcoStreet:
1. Globalised jobs return home - Yes, it seems that the high fuel price will mean that local will once again be the most sensible option. Without cheap oil, the world is getting bigger again.
2. Sprawl stalls - It’s too expensive to schlep all the way from the country into the cities for work these days. People are moving back into the cities and taking the bus. Time to stop the plans for building all over our greenbelt land.
3. Four-day workweeks - These shortened work weeks are becoming popular in some part of the US, but I doubt whether the British boss would be able to stand it despite the benefits of energy saving and fewer employees off sick, they’re far too mean for all that.
4. Less pollution - Goes without saying.
5. More frugality - Truckers and the like are joining the ranks of the .
6. Fewer traffic deaths - Fewer cars on the road mean fewer accidents.
7. Cheaper insurance - Not sure whether this one would apply to UK insurers. Perhaps one of our readers could shed some light?
8. Less traffic - Yup!
9. More cops on the beat - A very American benefit that probably wouldn’t happen in the UK.
10. Less obesity - Walking is cheaper than driving, and with food prices on the up, less is more!
Cars are the most inconvenient convenience we have. We're required to have them, but increasingly, we dislike them. At Carectomy, we're trying to figure out how to extract cars from people.
The operation is a little bit painful, but life afterward is much more awesome. If you're interested in carectomies, sign up to our newsletter, or subscribe our RSS feed below.
