-
The Golden Years
March 21, 2013 | 39 comments
-
Diesel Dilemmas
March 8, 2013 | 26 comments
-
Electric Lemon Aid
February 19, 2013 | 113 comments
-
The New Dart, in Light of the Old
January 11, 2013 | 48 comments
-
You’re in the AutoZone
December 10, 2012 | 32 comments
Car Guy
Speed Limiters, Too?
From gun control to car control and more.
(Page 2 of 2)
And the same goes for anything — for everything — else. Whatever it may be, whether its enjoyment by you causes any actual harm or not — it will not matter the moment a critical mass of your fellow herd-animals decides, in their bovine manner, that they no longer like whatever it is. That you no longer need whatever it is.
And therefore, whatever it is must be banned.
That’s where we’re headed.
Hell, we’re already there.
About the Author
Eric Peters is an automotive columnist and author of Automotive Atrocities: The Cars You Love to Hate (Motor Books International) and a new book, Road Hogs.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (72) | Leave a comment
More Articles by Eric Peters
More Articles From Car Guy
http://spectator.org/archives/2012/12/28/speed-limiters-too
Follow us:
ADVERTISEMENT
Current Issue
- Her Unrequited Letter
- A President Loses His Power
- The Vast and the Tiny
SPONSORED LINKS
FLASHBACK TO: 1995
-
Pope Culture
A man of faith in a godless age is hitting Americans where it hurts.
-
Why the GOP Does Not, Like, Totally Suck
Mr. and Mrs. American Spectator Reader, let P.J. O’Rourke talk sense to your kids.
-
Dames at Sea
-
In the Absence of Guns
In Britain, defending your property can get you life.
-
The Metaphysical Martini
-
Counting the Costs of Clintonism
The debacle of this president’s administration is both a cause and a symptom of the decline of American values. Unless Congress impeaches him, that decline will go on unchecked. An eminent jurist surveys the damage and assesses the chances for the recovery of our culture.
-
Chuck McHagel
It won’t take long for conservatives to scratch this presidential wannabe off their 2008 scorecard.
-
The Legacy of Old John and Mother Fresh-Roasted
-
It’s the Best Time of the Year
The American Christmas, like the songs that celebrate it, makes room for everybody under the rainbow. Is that why so many people seem to be hostile to it?
-
The Bush Crack-Up
Was the President done in by the economy, or by the politics of the economy?
Clip of the Day
ADVERTISEMENT
Appleby| 12.28.12 @ 6:39AM
Actually we did have speed limiters and governors imposed by Jimmy Carter during the Arab Embargo on oil and oil products. I drove a Ryder Truck across from San Bernardino CA to Buffalo NY in the late 1970s and was limited to 50 mph which made my journey much longer than it otherwise would have been. Here in Kanukistan they are trying hard to ban cars altogether, only the really terrible and collapsing public transportation system (80% of its capital goes for wages and benefits) holding back the screaming downtowners who come to work, by the way, in taxis and limousines. They claim that bicycles (which their friends ride on the sidewalks, which is illegal) are The One True Way. At present we have four inches of snow and the city workers do not shovel, so the bikes have to ride on the street, which has cut down their enthusiasm. I can't wait until the screaming hordes start their War On Binkies, who now kill more people than drunk driving because their addicts cannot put them down while walking, driving, bike riding and breathing....
PolishKnight| 12.28.12 @ 10:13AM
I have a british socialist friend and he told me that the brits already have the idea to do something worse than speed regulators but rather putting the equivalent of "speed cameras" in cars. You don't get a warning if you exceed the speed limit and if you do it several times, you only find out you broke the law after they send you multiple bills in the mail. It's kind of like entrapment.
Imagine if the police set up stings to get people for shoplifting by putting magazines that cost money next to the free papers and setting up a camera and leaving it there for a year. Then after the year is out, visit the homes of all the shoppers and tell multiple "offenders" that they broke the law enough times to qualify for a felony. Off to the gulag they go!
That's the ideal fascist state where nearly everyone is a criminal by default and has to be prepared to be hauled in if they get uppity. Kind of like the airport where I see some people (usually Europeans) terrified to talk in line for fear they'll say something that offends an officer and dragged in.
Von Mises Jr| 12.28.12 @ 11:50AM
If you think about it as a continuum, your British friend is living half way between the Founders Constitution and the regimes of Stalin where when a woman's husband disappeared she would not ever speak of him again or Mao's factory cities where you live in a government apartment, work for a centrally controlled fascist run business and can't leave the neighborhood.
This is the danger of Agenda21 that creates these Mao-style communities where if you offend Dear Leader, you cannot escape the government goons whom are the only ones with guns.
Two examples are happening as we speak. Two weeks after Sandy Hook, DiFi and "Deputy Dog" David Gregory can't stop talking about our legal guns. In Jersey, the GOP Keynote Speaker Chris Christie is passing Agenda21 by Executive Order. We are about two steps behind your British friend.
Happy New Year my friend PolishKnight.
Rhoetus| 12.28.12 @ 12:18PM
Agenda21 is the United Nations that G. Edward Griffin warned us about in the 1960's.
Seapuss| 12.28.12 @ 12:52PM
PolishKnight, you are such a hypocrite!
You are a big libertarian when it comes to things you like (or don't mind), but you become a rabid fascist when it comes to things you don't like, such as smoking in private establishments (e.g., bars and restaurants).
You need to get some principles and then stick with them.
PolishKnight| 12.28.12 @ 2:21PM
I appreciate that critique, Seapuss.
I said that I don't object to smoking in private restaurants provided there is full disclosure. If they want to put dogmeat into the burgers, don't make me have to ask if dogmeat is in the burgers otherwise they won't tell me. Put signs up front, proudly proclaiming even, that it's a smoking restaurant and in the advertising.
The problem with the capitalists is that they engage in either sordid business practices or even collaborate with socialists (fascism) such as importing third worlders as slave labor and then gripe that people don't trust capitalism or that their third world slave laborers vote Democrat and socialist and raise taxes on the rich. Well so be it. Be transparent with your business practices. Support your electorate and they'll be around to support you.
Tom Kyba| 12.28.12 @ 1:06PM
I'm with you on the silly, tofu eating idea about the sanctity of bicycles.
Frank Drackman| 12.28.12 @ 7:22AM
Umm Mr. Peters, what exactly makes you the "Car Guy"???
Do you have a degree in "Cars"? Own a Car Company? Repair them?
I mean, I know a fair bit about the fair sex, but I don't peddle myself as "Frank Drackman, Chick Guy"
Cause all sorts of cars already have Rev limiters, which indirectly limits your speed, not really sure, maybe you can s'plain it, "Car Guy".
For example, Civilian Versions of the Ford Crown Victoria top out at about 111mph. (+/- how many golf clubs are in the trunk) while the Police model goes over 130mph, so which one do you think I bought my oldest daughter, who's currently in Marine Officer Training, and if she sleeps with her CO, I mean does well, will be taking an F-35 seat from some underperforming minority...
And if we had speed limiters on motorcycles, I wouldn't have been able to almost kill myself on my 1987 Kawasaki Ninja(Yes, like Tom Cruise rode on "Top Gun")..
You want a real "Governor"? Mandate that only English made Motorcycles/cars can be registered, Jeezus, that Triumph Bonneville(Yes, like Richard Gere rode in "An Officer and a Gentlemen) was worthless except for posing, which is why I'm lookin for another one...
Frank "I got nowhere else to go!!!"Drackman
Moe Blotz| 12.28.12 @ 8:10PM
Self styled "Car Guy" is one of a few automotive journalists leaning towards conservative and willing to admit it. I dropped my subscription to "Car and Driver" because of buffoons such as John Phillips, vulgar and crass in his writing, who do not realise their freedoms are in danger. Our little Peters guy is more like a "Carmudgeon".
Roscoe| 12.30.12 @ 11:41AM
About 5 or 6 years ago I too dropped my subscription to "Car & Driver", for about the same reason.
Jack London| 12.28.12 @ 7:30AM
"Most people would rise back on their heels and defend their cars. But why not someone else’s gun?"
I'll defend 'your gun' when it's registered, insured, taxed, safely secured, and owned only by someone who's trained and tested.
mike 3/505| 12.28.12 @ 8:18AM
We'll defend your "right to vote," when you've been trained and tested on civics, economics and military power projection, paid a poll tax and posted a bond to cover any damages your vote might cause me. Oh yeah....You'll have to show ID too.
John Navratil| 12.28.12 @ 10:47AM
mike 3/505,
Nice! If we thought like Jack London he would not be allowed to post his drivel.
c. j. acworth| 12.28.12 @ 8:30AM
So I await your post defending the rights of gun owners in Connecticut where all you ask for is pretty much in place. After all, nothing bad happens with guns in Connecticut, does it? Oh, wait....
c. j. acworth| 12.28.12 @ 8:33AM
And by the way, Jack, how's the newest dog story coming along, making good progress are you? I'm really anxious to read it.
Mr LeMans| 12.28.12 @ 5:28PM
Why doesn't Obama just ban murder?
What?
Oh........
Nevermind........
Frank Drackman| 12.28.12 @ 8:35AM
Registered? You mean like how you have to register as a Sex Offender? As if that works anyway.
Insured? Umm I think they might be covered under my household insurance, but when you're rich you self insure anyway.
Taxed? Guns are already taxed at several steps in the production/retail pathway, which is why most sales are between private(i.e. Free) individuals.
Safely Secured? You mean like Cars? Left by owners unattended in parking lots, most with only rudimentry locks and alarms nobody pays attention to anyway.
Trained & Tested? another hoop to jump through that most gun owners already have.
What are you gonna defend us with anyway?
Frank "THIS is London(Pointing to my Anus)"Drackman
Brother John| 12.28.12 @ 8:47AM
Trained? Like driver training? Like government-approved driver training?
That ain't workin' out too well. No one seems to know which lane to use, how to merge, or how to make a left.
Besides, more people die in cars than in front of guns. How about just learning to leave everyone else alone?
jothepro| 12.28.12 @ 8:50AM
Which constitution do you read from to come up with that kind of idiocy Jack? Or are you just trying to be cute?
Pecos Pete| 12.28.12 @ 9:15AM
Posted on PowerLine 12/27/2012:
"... but in the scheme of things, rifles of any sort are rarely used as murder weapons. In 2011, according to the FBI, there were 14,612 victims of homicide in the U.S., down 14.7% from 2007. Of those 14,612, only 323 were murdered with any type of rifle. More than five times as many were killed with knives. More were killed with blunt objects, and more than twice as many were killed with the assailant’s bare hands. "
Jack, I demand that you register your hands as hands murdered more people than guns.
You get more ridiculous as your anger toward guns overwhelms you.
C. S. P. Schofield| 12.28.12 @ 10:01AM
Is this the "Cars are licensed, why not gun?" argument? Because if it is, let me point out the following;
1) You do not need to register a car that remains on private property at all times.
2) You are not required by law to secure a car.
3) The test to obtain a drivers' license is so simple thatI passed it on my first try. This should worry you; I am NOT a good driver. I try very hard to be careful enough to compensate. There are people on the road who have had to re-test several times. Imagine how bad THEY are.
In short; you would not accept restrictions on guns and shooting that paralleled those on cars and driving, and you know it. And we know that you know it.
William L. Gensert| 12.28.12 @ 10:32AM
I carried a gun in New York City for more than a decade -- back when there were thousands of murders a year and the Bronx led the nation in killings. On at least four occasions, that gun saved my life, and in a couple of instances, the lives of people who were with me at the time.
For 13 years I had a New York City full carry permit.
Read more of my article: http://www.americanthinker.com.....z2GMRx99FS
Frank Drackman| 12.28.12 @ 2:03PM
OK, I actually read your piece, not to bad,
but your Ed Asner/Dennis Farina monolog was pointless, unless your gonna say it in Ebonics, S-Panol, Cre-ole,Tagalong, Serbo-Croaton, Korean, Vietnames, ummm lets see, whats that other language a few criminals speak.
"English " i think it's called.
I prefer the words of Juan Tuco Benedicto Pacifico Ramirez(AKA "The Rat")
"When You have to shoot, shoot, don't talk"
Frank
Moe Blotz| 12.28.12 @ 8:16PM
That is a good line to put in a spaghetti western, albeit for one who is ugly.
Tom Kyba| 12.28.12 @ 1:06PM
No you won't. You'll just find another way to demonize the idea. be honest please.
Stan Redmond| 12.28.12 @ 2:00PM
Ah the overused automobile requirements compared to guns. I thought it was reserved only for argueing the merits of obamacare.
spike59| 12.31.12 @ 5:58AM
Jackie, Jackie, Jackie...(sigh)
"I'll defend 'your gun' when it's registered, insured, taxed, safely secured, and owned only by someone who's trained and tested."
-----------------------------------------------------
I'm trying to find the place in the Constitution where a free citizen is compelled to pay EXTRA taxes (firearms purchases are covered by sales taxes already), register, insure, 'safely secure', and complete 'training and testing' in order to exercise a Constitutional right; have you registered, insured, safely secured, paid extra taxes on, and completed training and testing for the use of your computer with which you exercise your First Amendment rights???? No? Then, if you're going to go after my Second Amendment rights, complete all those steps or STFU
nathan| 12.28.12 @ 7:47AM
What I think he's getting at is this and I make this point a lot. For gun control the matra is, "if it saves one life." Fine. 40,000 people die on the highway each year. There were around 9,000 murders associated with guns. 10,000 of those highway deaths were drinking and driving. What if we limit the speed a car can go to say 20 MPH? That way even in a head on collision with no seat belts no one is likely to die. There using the principle of "if it saves one life" Eric and I have just saved 40,000 lives a year. You gun controllers, ready to sign on to this proposal?
No of course not. Most people consider it absolutely absurd. And it is. But if such controls on cars is considered nonsensical even though the numbers of lives saved is far in excess of those saved by any gun control measures, then why do we constantly have to put up with the "if it saves one life" nonsense with gun control especially since there is no compelling evidence that gun control saves lives, but in fact costs lives? So yes Eric, you're right.
Pecos Pete| 12.28.12 @ 9:18AM
nathan: You are correct with this comment. In the case of gun control you ain't a dreamer as you are about fossil fuel, you are using your intelligence and common sense.
Stan Redmond| 12.28.12 @ 2:01PM
Think of how many lives Obama could save if he outlawed death.
Appleby| 12.28.12 @ 9:17AM
Actually more people are killed by those Texting While Driving than by drunks, in some jurisdictions. I'm for regulating binkies so that they will not work inside any vehicle that is moving even an inch an hour. Who's with me?
Pecos Pete| 12.28.12 @ 9:21AM
Speed control of cars will happen (is happening?) as King O's CAFE standards convert us to vehicles the size of a Volkswagen bug but with less power.
Al Adab| 12.28.12 @ 1:51PM
Pete:
Just wait until the mandate requires every second car to be a Chevy Volt. That is their ideal world. What is wrong is a simple perspective which those on the east coast have. They live in states which are smaller than the counties in western states. The cannot comprehend the distances involved (55 mph anyone) in moving about in this part of the world. They base their determination of need and regulation on the situation in Conn or NJ not on Texas, Wyoming, Arizona and the like.
Pecos Pete| 12.28.12 @ 2:54PM
Al: Right on. I have to drive a minimum of 80 miles round trip to buy anything. Yesterday I drove 260 miles round trip just to buy two wheel barrow tires. And lo, the store was sold out.
I can buy stuff on-line but no company delivers to my rural home. So, have to ask that on-line purchases be delivered to an on-call location and then I have to drive a minimum of 100 miles round trip to pick it up. Okay, I can live with that as it is my choice to live in a very rural area.
Not to mention having to haul hay, fire wood, pull trailers, etc. It is NOT going to be pretty. They really do want me to move to a city a live in a box. Ain't going to happen!
C. S. P. Schofield| 12.28.12 @ 11:25AM
I'm against passing laws for behavior that has not YET caused damage or injury. I don't care if you text while you drive, if you don't hit anything or cause somebody else to hit anything. If there IS an accident, I want to be able to subpoena your phone records, and if they show you were talking or texting, I want to be able to throw the book at you.
JP| 12.28.12 @ 9:22AM
Last night in my city a group of 5 "youths" broke into a house looking for a 15 year old. By the time it was over, a 77 year old grandmother and her 59 year old daughter, and her 15 year old son suffered multiple knife stabbings. Two are in the ICU.
No guns, just a standard kitchen knife one could buy at Walmart was used.
I demand that no knives be sold until the owner can prove that he paid the taxes, went through a state approved knife usage and safety course, is bonded and insured, and has all of his kitchen utensils stored in state approved containers. This madness must end, NOW!!!!
Cobalt| 12.28.12 @ 10:46AM
Madness over guns and knives......and a man pushed his wife off a cliff, and she fell to her death, so now we should outlaw gravity.
CJW| 12.28.12 @ 11:42AM
There are millions of dog bites every year, ten to twenty result in death, usually by large dogs.. Should we ban all dogs? Ban large dogs?
Al Adab| 12.28.12 @ 4:12PM
Just Dobermans, Pit Bulls, Rottweillers and other "assault dogs" not those cute ankle biters.
CJW| 12.28.12 @ 4:55PM
Al Adab
You may have given the Dems an idea to tax owners of "assault dogs."
Al Adab| 12.28.12 @ 5:29PM
Ooops. As the kids would say, "my bad".
CJW| 12.28.12 @ 6:03PM
Al Adab
Have a happy, prosperous new year
Petronius| 12.29.12 @ 10:29AM
No. Just those goddam kick dogs like bull terriers, schnauzers, poodles, and the like. Those are the worst. Ask your mailman. he knows.
Stan Redmond| 12.28.12 @ 2:02PM
There's a Brittish doctor heading up a campaign to ban pointy kitchen knives. I wish I were joking.
OregonBuzz| 12.28.12 @ 9:29AM
Be it, guns, cars, rolling pins, baseball bats, the means of production, or people. The operative word is CONTROL. Get used to it folks, too many of us have our hands out and the government apparatchiks are more than willing to fill 'em up with money, food, "free" this or that. What price do we pay for the "free" goodies? CONTROL.
Cabermon| 12.28.12 @ 9:42AM
More stupid and/or impractical laws decrease our respect for the rule of law. Nixon's 55 mph speed limit made outlaws out of just about everyone out here in the West. Many of us have old or modified high-flow "illegal" showers. When it's easy and to our advantage to defy the law to no one's detriment, we break it and the law loses more respect. The inevitable end is selective compliance, which can mean the end of civilized society.
As Dickens said, "If this be the Law, then the Law am an ass."
Robert Pinkerton| 12.28.12 @ 9:59AM
If you want examples of laws whose effect is diminution of respect for law and lawfulness, you need look no farther than that Gift (BTW, in German, ''Gift" means poison.) of the Progressives and teetotal Protestantism, Prohibition.
Santiago| 12.28.12 @ 10:39AM
"People who’ve done nothing to warrant it will be transformed by legislative fiat into 'criminals' for the non-crime of owning or possessing a 'bad' gun."
I totally agree with this logic and the message of the article, and to go beyond it a bit, posit that we should logically conclude that the law does not equal morality. Morality is fixed, something is either wrong or it's not, but the law can and does change. I doubt there's too much opposition to this principle here on this comment board, yet somehow if we change "the non-crime of owning or possessing a bad gun" into "the non-crime of crossing international borders" and somehow so-called freedom loving conservatives reject this logic and insist that people are criminals for crossing borders without permission and since this is so obviously morally atrocious it must be banned and enforced. It's all about control. Immigration control.
Job| 12.28.12 @ 12:38PM
constitutionally speaking the first crime you speak of is protected by the second ammendment.
but if the Atlantic Ocean was as narrow as the Rio Grande i wonder how many could boast that "our forfathers came here legally"...
one of my favorite posters says fighting terrorism since 1492 on it and shows Geronimo and 4 other Apches on it. Guess the irony of it all is Might is Right is the only maxim that holds any value when the screaming is over.
Frank Drackman| 12.28.12 @ 1:58PM
Of course the Injuns were here first...
THEY HAD RESERVATIONS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Frank "Womp em" Drackman
Petronius| 12.28.12 @ 11:24AM
Finally, those 4 words from "The Great Roob Revolution", which dominate our polity: "I Don't LIKE IT." With Team Clinton, deference was paid by Donna Shalala, "We Are Social engineers. And WE are going to Change EVERYTHING WE DON'T Like." Real Freedom, Affluence, pleasure are their targets. This Freedom may consist of firearms and fast cars when not in use simultaneously. But let's get to the nut.
The low rent mob is really a tool of the elite for getting their way. Who formed the ACLU which motivates gutter dwelling atheists to kill the effects Christian morality had in this country through litigation? Who did the same with the NAACP to deprive Middle Class White People of Our Right to Freely Associate? Who harnessed ignorant indolent slobs to injure themselves, fomenting product liability suits, which are the #1 reason manufacturing got moved offshore? Who ruined the property values of middle class Americans with the Community Reinvestment Act? Who interferes with parental authority by force feeding children their treasonous social agenda, false history, scientific myth, sand box economics, and strips them of desire for success? Can you say NEA? They run Our Lives; not Us. We Cannot VOTE them out. Dr. Price predicted that the day would come when decent Americans will have had enough of the chaos, economic, ruin, and social upheaval to summon a Cromwellian figure to rid us of THEM. It's too late. Those people are in our cemeteries.
RichTex| 12.28.12 @ 11:36AM
Gun control won’t stop with merely banning the sale of certain rifles. Next, they’ll go after handguns, other rifles and shotguns. And banning sales won’t be enough, either. I’ve heard estimates of the number of guns in private hands in the U.S. of between 200,000,000 and 300,000,000. Those will have to be confiscated. For examples, see Great Britain and Australia.
And don’t expect to be compensated for the taking of your property. If we can’t afford to spend $25 billion to put cops in our schools (which in a weird sense of penuriousness, liberals tell us we can’t do), we certainly can’t afford to pay gun owners a total of $40 – 60 billion (at $200 per gun) or more.
Then, we have to make sure that all guns have been surrendered. That will entail random searches of people on the street, their cars and their houses. If you’re going to do away with the Second Amendment, why not the Fourth and the Fifth also? That little thing called the Constitution has just been an impediment to collective control for far too long.
Rhoetus| 12.28.12 @ 12:14PM
Just read the "Declaration of Independence" and you will see that we are again in a similar condition. Most Republicans are just as obtuse as the Democrats passing laws that destroy our liberties. Sworn Officers have become similar to their complaint written as: "for quartering large bodies of armed troops among us”, our own police have become the enforcers of tyranny as the progressives march us toward one world governmental tyranny.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/.....44926.html
Denver Todd| 12.28.12 @ 12:21PM
I used to work for a company with a large fleet of vehicles. We had speed governors. Also, the engine computer was reprogrammed so that it had less torque. We were minitored for engine idle time too. After I left, they tied cell phone usage in with gps, so that they knew if the driver was talking while driving. Even with all this, I felt like this was on the light side of surveilance. We never did have audio or visual recording of what went on in the driver seat. Note to employer: there is such a thing as a personal cell phone.
nathan| 12.28.12 @ 12:44PM
Many of you know me. I take an uncompromising stand on individual rights which I believe to be consistent with that of the Founders. However flawed in some respects they may have been, the southern ones in particular on the question of slavery, still past or present no greater group of political thinkers gathered together and they understand freedom and expressed it better, especially Madison than anyone before or since. And I choose, politically to stand with them at all times.
But as we close the year out, understand something. However passionate we get about this, it's not THAT important. Don't let it distract you/us from what is truly important. The only thing that matters to me/you/all of us five years from now, 100 years from now is the decision you make to accept or reject Jesus Christ. Fight about politics if you wish, fine. But if you aren't 100 percent certain where you will spend eternity if a drunk driver takes you out this weekend, then make sure you are certain before you get in the car tonight.
With that to my "adoring" fans :) and to all of you, be safe. I look forward to exchanging pleasantries with you in the New Year.
Frank Drackman| 12.28.12 @ 1:56PM
Nathan,
love your hotdogs, BTW,
and BTW, this isn't the "700 Club," Ole Time Gospel Hour", or" Tower of Power"
"100% Certain"? I'm not 100% Certain I've got 2 balls, let me check, Whew! Still There.
Maybe The A-rabs are right, or the Chinks, or Buddhists, or maybe Thor's waiting behind the Curtain to exact his debt for a lifetime of missed sacrifices...
Or maybe My Religon's the one true way, Nobody Knows, and it's rude to suggest you know any better.
Not sayin you're Moe-Hammed Attah, but its the same Ballpark....
Frank "Jehovah's Witness? I didn't even see the accident" Drackman
Marc Jeric| 12.28.12 @ 1:56PM
The Department of Transportation and EPA released the finalized, new fuel-efficiency standards for cars and light-duty trucks, which will require 2025 model year vehicles to have an average fuel economy of 54.5 miles per gallon (mpg). The new standard comes close to doubling the current CAFE average of 29 mpg and. Mullah Obama, our Marxist Muslim President from Kenya, issues his edicts like Zeus from the Olympus; why not 150 mpg? That is his way of enforcing the global warming hoax that he was unable to do through legislation. At 54.5 mpg the new cars will be just motorized tricycles – really death traps. Already our lighter cars have caused the annual death rate to jump to some 31,000 from the 20,000 in the years before Carter. Let us estimate the number of unnecessary dead in the last 30 years: 35 x (31,000-20,000) = 385,000 more dead Americans sacrificed on the altar of political correctness. This method of murdering Americans is much more effective than all the terror attacks by the jihadists could produce.
PolishKnight| 12.28.12 @ 2:32PM
Actually, I thought cars have gotten HEAVIER than during the 70's and 80's with extra reinforced doors and this has hurt MPG. Check out a datson from the early 70's and it has pretty good gas mileage. The challenge posed by such regulations is that they will probably require the existing safety standards combined with fuel efficiency. If auto makers fail to comply, then the regulators will do what the Soviets did and play games to grant exemptions (such as with Obamacare and unions getting an exemption for their cadillac plans, appropriately nicknamed.)
Regarding the death rate jumping: You're probably getting those higher numbers because the US population has grown since then.
Petronius| 12.28.12 @ 3:40PM
Saves on Social Security payouts and Medicare too. But the real reason for total government control of firearms is to facilitate the "final solution." By disarming the White middle class, the Liberal "agents of Change", the gang bangers, can shoot us with impunity and establish the Communist dictatorship we were warned about half a century ago. Here trolls.
Stan Redmond| 12.28.12 @ 2:11PM
Time to celebrate. We are all criminals already. Take a look at all the laws, city, county, state, and federal. I am sure if any enterprising prosecuter wanted any one of us could be fined and thrown in jail if they looked hard enough. Best defense now would be to just say you're a gay illegal immigrant that cotes democrat. You'll be left alone then.
Jack London| 12.28.12 @ 5:37PM
Here's something for you gun freaks to get off on - someone is tracking gun deaths since Newtown. You can read all the happy details on the click throughs. Enjoy!
https://twitter.com/GunDeaths
Jack London| 12.28.12 @ 6:10PM
And even more convenient you can click on each body here:
http://www.slate.com/articles/.....oting.html
BRB in SC| 12.28.12 @ 7:17PM
You are absolutely correct. As an old gearhead, gun enthusiast, and now financial advisor, your point about cars being regulated because nobody "needs" excessive horsepower is spot on. It IS the same principle. Who gets to decide what I or anybody else "needs"? It's none of their business, yet liberals want to make it all their business. Stand on principle and never give in.
sdfhlk | 12.28.12 @ 8:38PM
Merry Christmas,NBA ,NFL 2012
topcat52| 12.28.12 @ 9:03PM
I am not in favor of banning guns, but this piece is intellectually empty. One can certainly be in favor of regulating an item which, when used in the manner in which it is meant to be used, can kill people. Not so an automobile. If you think that the principle is the same, you are either not thinking at all or simply being purposely intellectually dishonest.
spike59| 12.31.12 @ 6:03AM
One can certainly be in favor of regulating an item which, when used in the manner in which it is meant to be used, can kill people. Not so an automobile.
------------------------------
the operative word is 'can'....not 'must' or 'can only'...and, btw, in the same way, an automobile can CERTAINLY be used to deliberately kill people
oldeham| 12.29.12 @ 3:30AM
Stupid is as stupid does.
Since the stupid people that write the stupid Federal Regulations want to save the planet, THEY decided to ban the manufacture and sale of incandescent light bulbs in the US. The recommended alternative is the CFL, which does run on less electricity. See WE are going to save the planet.
Next THEY discover the CFLs have mercury – a hazardous substance that can, in significant quantity and time cause major brain damage. So another part of THEY has to write more regulations on what to do if you break one. Now according to THEY if one is broken at work that is considered a HAZMAT situation and the area must be quarantined and a special hazmat team brought in for the clean up.
GREENLIVING.COM offers the following advise for the average people at home:
http://greenliving.about.com/o.....en-cfl.htm
Department of Energy says buy CFLs to save the planet – EPA says CFLs are dangerous – and obviously beyond the intelligence of move Americans because of the dumbing down of the education system to make the people easier to control.
So what to made of this – we have to 'save the (insert favorite cause)' and if a few people die along the way – well the died for the 'cause'.
Oh – by the way – doing away with incandescent light bulbs sent more local jobs to China.
This is just one example of the double think and double speak of our current government. Straight out of 1984.
Popwood| 12.29.12 @ 11:32AM
It is interesting that everyone talks about all the dangerous things which kill a lot of people, but no one mentions booze More than 50% of the cases handled in our local district court are alcohol relatedf incidents, or involving controlled substance drugs
Cats1cowboy| 12.31.12 @ 2:19AM
Help! Help! Help! Spoons are making me fat. Ban the evil spoons!
Michele San Pietro| 1.6.13 @ 9:48AM
I think you are free to use a speed limiter if you wish. At the same time, I consider absurd and undemocratic to make it compulsory.