or Powell's or me• • •
"Mike and Jon, Jon and Mike—I've known them both for years, and, clearly, one of them is very funny. As for the other: truly one of the great hangers-on of our time."—Steve Bodow, head writer, The Daily Show
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"Who can really judge what's funny? If humor is a subjective medium, then can there be something that is really and truly hilarious? Me. This book."—Daniel Handler, author, Adverbs, and personal representative of Lemony Snicket
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"The good news: I thought Our Kampf was consistently hilarious. The bad news: I’m the guy who wrote Monkeybone."—Sam Hamm, screenwriter, Batman, Batman Returns, and Homecoming
September 16, 2007
Looking On The Bright Side
You can get all today's Iran speculation here and at Antiwar.com. Hilariously, David Ignatius offers earnest advice to the Bush administration on how to "defuse this growing state of tension." I'm sure they'll get right on that.
If we attack Iran, the price of oil will likely skyrocket. This could have two beneficial effects: (1) making the U.S. and the world far more serious about conservation and alternative energy; and (2) making the impeachment of Bush plausible when the American economy collapses. When discussing impeachment with people skeptical it could be done, I've always said: it could be done if gas costs $8 a gallon.
Posted at September 16, 2007 12:51 PM | TrackBackWE'd STILL have to FORCE Congress to IMPEACH no matter how much gas costs. They are OWNED by the oil interests. The higher the price of gas the HARDER it will be to make Congress IMPEACH. (more profits)
Posted by: Mike Meyer at September 16, 2007 01:22 PMPetrol is £1 a liter here in the UK, which is about $7.50 a US gallon, and it hasn't made a difference as far as I can tell. 4x4s abound, and people drive their kids down the street to school.
Maybe if it hit $20 a gallon. Maybe if it were made illegal. $8 a gallon? Forget it.
Posted by: Mike at September 16, 2007 01:56 PMSome are owned by the oil and arms interests, but others are owned by other interests (automobile manufacturers?) who don't like high oil prices. There's at least some hope. Though I have to agree with Mike: from Europe $8/gallon doesn't sound like a big deal. I think this is pretty much what I paid in Scandinavia a few months ago and I didn't notice any signs of imminent revolution there.
Posted by: abb1 at September 16, 2007 02:19 PMyou can't compare fuel costs directly. for instance, the common UK version of the range rover (diesel V8) gets 25mpg (combined); common US version (gas V8) gets ~16mpg.
additionally, with US sprawl, trip distances are greater. i don't have time right now to find how far a UK car goes in a year, compared to US's 12,000-ish miles, so i won't figure that in, but keep in mind that that further reduces the fuel use of a trip in europe, generally.
anyway at $8/gal, a 10-mile trip costs the US range rover $5, and the UK rover $3.20. to get the UK rover to an equivalently noticeable pocket cash dent — $5 for that trip — diesel would have to cost $12.50/gal, i think.
Posted by: hapa at September 16, 2007 03:23 PMsorry — also i think there are other differences in handling of costs, like european gummints raising money for transport-related services through gas taxes instead of through revenue taxes. i'm not comparing total price of travel, just price paid at the pump, like a good consumer advocate–style thinker's s'pos'ta.
Posted by: hapa at September 16, 2007 03:40 PMYes, the beneficial effects of killing brown people cannot be underestimated. There is no doubt in my mind that if we keep killing brown people all our problems will be solved. Americans will grow brains, manna will fall from heaven, Jesus Christ will return, George Bush will die from massive hemorrhoids. Americans will be able to continue to hog the world’s resources and all of it from killing brown people. Why didn’t we think of this sooner?
Posted by: rob payne at September 16, 2007 03:44 PMrob payne
Kill as many brown people as you like, I'm not coming back. Are you nuts? Didn't you see the Mel Gibson flick?
PS You did think of sooner, but locally. Weren't your Indians kinda brown?
