The vast majority of the voting public aren't "thinking people" and only know what they've had drilled in their heads for over a decade. The U.S. uses too much foreign oil and that Big Oil is screwing us.

The main part of the problem (as far as alternative fuel use in the U.S. goes) is that the most of the cars and light trucks here are gas powered and that's not going to change anytime soon. Alternative fuel choices for the American public are limited to say the least. I don't think it's so much a "Conservative" scam, it's just the only way the masses can feel like they're doing their part to be "green" and help reduce our foreign oil dependence. Big Corn (read Big Ag) covers both sides of the aisle with gobs of money. Bush is probably playing politics with it, but show me a politician who doesn't or isn't.

Biodiesel is big in Europe because there are so many diesel vehicles. Until the EPA raises its allowable emissions output or manufacturers make cleaner diesels at a premium that the general public is willing to pay, it will remain as a fringe fuel.

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1980 300TD-China Blue/Blue MBTex-2nd Owner, 107K (Alt Blau) OBK #15
'06 Chevy Tahoe Z71 (for the wife & 4 kids, current mule) '03 Honda Odyssey (son #1's ride, reluctantly) '99 GMC Suburban (255K+ miles, semi-retired mule) 21' SeaRay Seville (summer escape pod)

bs. if that were true then someone should have turned them in because price gouging on gas is a crime. There are three trials currently going on here for katrina price gouging.

That may be a good slogan for a bumper sticker, but big oil ain't screwing me. Quite the contrary, actually.

Big Oil is the least of my worries but the sheeple believe it.

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1980 300TD-China Blue/Blue MBTex-2nd Owner, 107K (Alt Blau) OBK #15
'06 Chevy Tahoe Z71 (for the wife & 4 kids, current mule) '03 Honda Odyssey (son #1's ride, reluctantly) '99 GMC Suburban (255K+ miles, semi-retired mule) 21' SeaRay Seville (summer escape pod)

it was pretty close to 8.. lowest was at least 6$

The sheeple can either take their life savings and put it into production or leases or they can use it to buy my gas

Is that hidden lease or production button on the left or the right of the regular button? I cant seem to find it when I fuel.

with the increased production of ethanol, and taking more of our crops
like barley, corn, soy beans etc... if I want to wet my whistle, beer is
going to cost more. what about cornflakes???.
when I was in the U.S. navy back in 62 - 66, I was on a WWII destroyer.
that thing held 146000 gallons of bunker oil to boil water to make steam,
to push us forward. when we were with an air craft carrier god only
knows how many million gallons it held of the many different fuels.
every night we would send a mid fuel report so the head dude knew the fuel status of the ships in his command. get down to 65% and we would
all refuel off the carrier. this is about ever 4 days or so.
the military uses a tremendous amount of fuel, and the stuff the government uses isn`t exactly fuel efficient, yet the Al gore`s in
this country try to shove these high birds down our throats, and alway point their finger to some one else. remember, when pointing your finger, there are three pointing back.
this whole thing is about money, politics, greed, and fear.
charlie

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there were three HP ratings on the OM616...

1) Not much power
2) Even less power
3) Not nearly enough power!! 240D w/auto

Anyone that thinks a 240D is slow drives too fast.

80 240D Naturally Exasperated, 4-Spd 388k DD 150mph spedo 3:58 Diff

We are advised to NOT judge ALL Muslims by the actions of a few lunatics, but we are encouraged to judge ALL gun owners by the actions of a few lunatics. Funny how that works

There is a lot of oil out there, despite what you might hear in 2 minute stories about high gas prices on the nightly news. There is more oil if we want to get it, and the higher price it commands, the more practicle it is to drill for it.

Using feed crops to power vehicles when oil is in abundance makes no sense to me.

35 years ago, the price of oil went up because oil producers got together and cut supplies. Today, food supplies are in the process of being cut and what will happen? All for nothing. There is no shortage of oil. What there is, is a lot of people clamoring that government needs to do something to stop an impending disaster. A disaster that few real thinkers agree on. The future is screwing up the present, and that's just plain wrong. Logic is dead.

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DS
2010 CL550 - Heaven help me but it's beautiful
87 300D a labor of love
11 GLK 350 So far, so good
08 E350 4matic, Love it.
99 E320 too rusted, sold
87 260E Donated to Newgate School
www.Newgateschool.org - check it out.
12 Ford Escape, sold, forgotten
87 300D, sold, what a mistake
06 Passat 2.0T, PITA, sold

Las Vegas NV

Should have stayed in school. It is not a secret, but like anything else in life, accumulating wealth takes hard work.

Back in 1980 when I entered college, there was a pickup I lusted after. Loaded to the gills and priced at an astronomical $8000. Gas was around $1.20 in those years. Today that same pickup would be on the North side of $40K and gas is roughly $3. My problem with all this is, why do we ***** to no end about gasoline prices but continue to buy new vehicles that are, proportionally at least, way more expensive? Of course we can finance those new vehicles for 7+ years or even lease them and that has an impact on perceived affordability. Bottom line, we need to use less fossil fuels whether they are in short supply or not. I'm with Hat (I believe) in thinking it's gonna take $5 gas to really wake up us spoiled, consumptive US of Americans and spur us into a truly conservative mode.

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1983 M-B 240D-Gone too.
1976 M-B 300D-Departed.

"Good" is the worst enemy of "Great".

There ya go ...

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If, and it's a big if for the foreseeable future, various market forces could be steered to making larger hybrids and diesel hybrids, we could no doubt stretch out petro supply somewhat. It's unavoidably finite however and our thirst for it appears to know no bounds as of yet. Usage goes up every year, China and India can't wait to elevate their consumption. I read that Hummer sales are doing just fine even with current gas prices.

I'm as guilty as the next guy. I have clients spread out over the bay area. My warehouse is 40 miles from where I live. I only drive to it once a week and then crash there for a few days while I service my clients in that region. It's a lousy setup. I'd move it over here near Berkeley but for some reason, small (1000 sq.ft.) warehouses are very rare in the east bay but plentiful down near my previous client base, the north end of the silicon valley area.

In a more sane world, my clients would all be in a 2 or 3 mile radius of my residence. But with the seeming abundance of fuel, many of us have been lulled into thinking that driving vast distances is just part of the price of doing business. The big company I worked 6 years for routinely had jobs 30 to 60 miles away from it's office with carpenters doing 80 and 100 daily round trip commutes.

And if we start trying to use liquified coal to substitute for petro, good Lord, I hate to think of the vast swathes of land that will be purt near ruined to get it out.

The stories of mountain top coal removal are way scary. They sort half-assedly reclaim it when it's done but it's a shadow of what it was.

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1986 300SDL, 362K
1984 300D, 138K

Prices are one problem, what worries me is soil erosion and further aquifer depletion.

And if the accounts of little net energy gained from ethanol are indeed true . . . holy cow.

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1986 300SDL, 362K
1984 300D, 138K

This absolutely hilarious ...



How much does beer cost?

In 2007, 1 "Maß" (2 pints) of beer costs between 7.30 EUR and 7.90 EUR.

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