LOCAL MAN CALLS FOR GAS TAX ON GAS GUZZLERS; TROPICAL STORM FORMS IN THE GULF

Today's Toledo Blade has an interesting letter to the editor. It's so good I decided to put it here in it's entirety:

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"Tax gas guzzlers and lower speed limits

Over the past several years there has been a constant increase in the number of huge sport-utility vehicles on the roads. These gas hogs have driven the price of fuel up, as have other factors such as the emergence of a middle class in what used to be the Third World countries we shipped our jobs to.

I can't feel a whole lot of sympathy for the guy down the street who can't afford to fill the new Hummer he just purchased with expensive fuel. Not only is he part of the price problem, he is clearly part of the global-warming problem. Remove all the hazardous materials from the beast, dig a big hole, and bury it.

I hope the next government increases the tax for large gas guzzlers and lowers it for small, fuel-efficient cars. Also, a modest reduction in the speed limit should be imposed, even if many drivers ignore it, as they will. Maybe a few speeding tickets will help. There is no excuse for 70 and 75 mile per hour speed limits anywhere.

The question of alternate energy sources should be a priority, but anything we do in that area will take time and the two things I mentioned would have an immediate effect.
Thomas Young St. James Woods"

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Mr. Young and I are exactly on the same the page - at least with the gas guzzlers. I have felt for years that the gas guzzling SUV's, Hummers, Minivans, etc . . . should be taxed heavily while the folks that use fuel misers (like the small cars and hybrids) and fuels sippers (like scooters and motorcycles with engine sizes below 500 cc) should get tax breaks.

I go for the lower speed limits too! We did 55 years ago; no reason why we shouldn't now.

I do note though, that Mr. Young lives in St. James Woods. St. James Woods is a neighborhood in Springfield Township just west of Toledo. It is a part of the typical urban sprawl: a large subdivision filled with cul-de-sacs- the exact kind of neighborhood built be dependent on the automobile.

Question Mr. Young: how far is your commute to work each day? You are obviously well entrenched in the middle class. Most folks who live where you do have to commute at least 10 miles each way. Or are you doing like lots of "good" MC'ers are doing: biking it?

Ya see ya only got it half right: not only do the gas hogs have to go, but also the culture they created - including the cul-de-sac neighborhoods like St. James Woods. Perhaps you might do well to read Cluster Fuck Nation by James Kunstler and you might get the point.

So, Mr. Young if you really want to effect change, you and your wife, Nancy L., need to sell your house worth $206,000.00 which you bought back in 1999 (according the Lucas County Auditor's website) and move into Toledo. That would really be far reaching and radical on your part and would help reduce global warming as you wouldn't have to use a car at all to get many places. And if you're biking it - why TARTA will let your bike ride for free, though you'll still have to pay a buck one way (and if the head honchos at TARTA execute their plan - a buck every time to transfer too - but as a dedicated member of the MC with a six figure income I'm sure that'd be no problem).

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On another note, Tropical Storm Edouard has formed in the northern end of the Gulf of Mexico just south of New Orleans. Projected tracks take it right throught the heart of gasoline alley and into Texas. Forecasters say it might strengthen into a Category 1 Hurricane (i.e winds at least 75 mph). But the oil rigs have not been evacuated - and probably won't: those that manage the derricks say it's too late for that. They plan to ride it out.

Whether the price of oil is go up remains to be seen. A tropical storm doesn't shake up the market's nervous Nellies as much as a hurricane would. If the Edouard does any damage to the the alley and causes a shut down oil's price will be certain to go up. If Ed just bounces through - then nothing will change. Have to keep on an eye it though.