Obama is Right: It's Easy to Reduce the Nation's (and Your Own) Fuel Bill Dramatically »
Posted By jovial 1 year, 4 months ago in News
I have a 2001 Honda Civic CX. Just like most Americans, I have for years been racing that car around ignoring speed limits, accelerating out of intersections, racing ahead at light changes as if I were coming out of starting blocks, ignoring things like checking my tire pressure, and so on.
Read Full Story at opednews.com »
6036 Views Share Story 46 Comments Report
Submitted By:
jovial
Grew up In Brooklyn. Joined the Navy in 1976 stayed in 10 years. Aircraft Electronics tech. Worked for Major Govt. contractor then settled in California ...
Who Also Submitted: All »
Other Related Articles: All »
RSS Join the Discussion
+ Add CommentComments So Far: 125 (view all)
-
73%
jovial1 year, 4 months ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
Obama laughed at the McCain smear. If everyone did little things like keeping tires inflated and a few more sensible steps we could save millions of gallons of gasoline in this country. Obama was shocked that McCain would dismiss this. I wasn't surprised in the least McCain doesn't know anything about tires and physics or all those other things that require reading and common sense. To take tire inflation and correlate it to gas savings is too many steps for McCain's mind to handle.
Reply-
69%
markmawn21 year, 4 months ago
-
62%
injest1 year, 4 months ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
“I have for years been racing that car around ignoring speed limits, accelerating out of intersections, racing ahead at light changes as if I were coming out of starting blocks, ignoring things like checking my tire pressure, and so on”
Reply
Well great! then by following common sense (that you don’t seem to have) then Obama’s advice about your tries is good for you!
Wouldn’t be simpler just have read your owners manual? The info that comes with your tires when ya buy a new set?
How ever for Obama to assume that 90% of all drivers are morons who don’t check their tires and do basic maintenance is absurd.
This rings of his claim that people who live in small towns are all gun toting, bible thumping bigots.
Most people in the country are not morons, like the author of this article, most drivers, owners of cars are well aware of their tires and their cars (hint the “owners” that means they pay for them).
Ya know if ya brush your teeth that will help reduce cavities!
Ya know if ya wore a coat when it’s cold and raining it will help keep you from getting sick.
Please, does America need a President or Mommy and Daddy? -
33%
knowthefacts1 year, 4 months ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
Before spewing nonsense, listen or read what Senator McCain actually said.
Reply
Correct tire inflation is a smart thing for all drivers to pay attention to. But to make that the platform for Obama's energy plan is ridiculous. And listen to his ten year plan for removing us from dependence of foreign oil. He only mentions Arab countries. Apparently he is unaware that the largest percentage of imported oil comes from Canada and South America. -
50%
Blackacereturn1 year, 4 months ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
I find that whenever the republicans are against something is almost always because they didn't think of it first! It's never because it's a bad idea it's always because it's not their Idea. Well yo haven't had an idea in 8 years don't worry you will have one on the right it takes time to come up with ideas
Reply
-
-
87%
jovial1 year, 4 months ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
"What we really need instead of cheap-shot criticism of conservation tactics is leadership for a national campaign to get everyone to do the same thing. All those people who were so quick to buy those stupid plastic American flags to put on their antennas and attach to the windows of their cars so they'd flap wildly in the wind as they sped along burning up imported Arab oil after 9/11 2001 would be much more patriotic if they'd just slow down, get rid of all the extra pseudo-patriotic wind resistance, and start cutting their oil consumption."--FTA
Reply -
53%
buckncindykill1 year, 4 months ago
-
-
77%
jordan111 year, 4 months ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
We can't inflate our way out of this......>>>>
Reply
Who says we can? Not Senator Obama. He was giving a talk about energy, & the changes we need for the future. Someone in the audience asked what an individual could do now to help reduce their reliance on oil. Senator Obama merely said what experts have said for decades. keep your tires properly inflated, and you'll get better mileage. It was an example, not a cure for the problem. And he's right when saying if everyone did that, it would have a large impact on oil use. -
71%
vandeewine1 year, 4 months ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
The Republicans must get down on their knees every day and thank God for creating stupid people like you who can be easily swayed and psychologically manipulated. They'd never get anyone in their party elected if that weren't the case.
Reply
Can't inflate our way out of this??? Did you even READ the whole context of what Obama said and what it was about? See jordan11's response. It's exactly right. Obama was giving it as purely a tiny example of what can be done RIGHT THIS VERY MINUTE to help prices, as opposed to drilling everywhere and anywhere, which would lower prices about 20 years from now.
And FYI, the drilling would actually RAISE gas prices for quite some time because of two things: it costs a ton of money to buy, build and install the equipment required to drill in new places, and it also costs a ton to figure out places where the oil might be. Those two things are a MASSIVE investment on behalf of the oil industry. And guess who would pay for that investment if it needed to happen? Secondly, our refining capacity at the moment is maxed out, meaning we have to build NEW refineries in order to process any new sources of oil that new drilling might bring. Again that's another MASSIVE investment on the part of Big Oil and they will pass those costs onto the consumers, like every industry does when sudden new large expenditures are required.
But just keep drinking the Republican Kool-Aid, believing that killing our dollar, creating massive budget & trade deficits and keeping our guns and preventing gays from getting married is the solution to all our national problems. -
67%
Natureboy1 year, 4 months ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
"We can't inflate our way out of this....................."
Reply
That's actually what the Bush administration has tried to do, by devaluing the dollar and printing tons of money.
And that inflation is the inflation that really drives up gas prices, and really hurts the American people. -
50%
Blackacereturn1 year, 4 months ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
It's a start,,,and again it's not the only suggestion made by mr Obama you freaking lemming! I am getting stupid hea pains, i cant stand much more of the right of this country, they are soo dumb it hurts reading some of the things they say my god!
Reply
You know this is more about who this N word think he is telling me how to ride my tires...fools!
-
-
25%
ppiittuu1 year, 4 months ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
one thing about doing the "little things" to reduce our dependence in oil and perhaps bring down the price/barrel - it is dependent on US drivers and their ~250 million vehicles to do the same.
Reply
that is quite a dependency.
drilling now to bring down our dependence on oil is not dependent on 250 million individuals all drilling for oil.-
-
100%
ibstilyn1 year, 4 months ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
Hmm. I suppose the same logic would apply to Heroin Addicts .To reduce our dependence on foreign bought heroin from the poppy-rich arab states the only logical thing to do would be to grow opium poppies here. Look at all that land we have that could be used for domestic heroin production. Ending the addiction.."goin' to rehab".... isn't getting much mention from either the heroin addicts or the gas addicts.
Reply
and , yes..I get my $50 fix every week or so......of gas.......for the record.....
-
-
75%
MajJohn1 year, 4 months ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
I keep my tires properly inflated and check them regularly. In fact I add an extra pound. Ichange all the filters frequently. I drive using cruise control as much as I can. I cut my lawn after 7PM. What else am I to do? Run red lights? Drive at 20 MPH no matter what the posted speed? Park the car further away and walk? Perhaps not drive at all, just sit at home and drink ethanol!!
Reply-
80%
jovial1 year, 4 months ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
Good on you major. If we could get a lot more people to be as good as you are on these matters it might make a difference. I think the only thing that really brought down prices a s we see them now is ths fact that we as Americans used less when the price went over 4 dollars a gallon. People used less and the price went down. Now that it's going down let's see if use continues to stay down or do we go right back where we were a month ago.
Reply -
82%
protoham1 year, 4 months ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
In all fairness (but who said "all is fair in love and politics") properly taking care of your car, driving only when you have to, and driving smoothly will help. The states could help by putting in more traffic circles, replacing a lot of stop signs with yield signs, installing intelligent traffic lights, as the number one waster of gas is all the stopping and starting we do. So BO has the start of an idea. Drilling is the other solution. I guess that mean I endorse Paris. Oh No, what am I thinking!!
Reply
But in the end, I want an BO tire gage. LOL
-
-
100%
hyperbola1 year, 4 months ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
There are many other places where simple conservation methods can reduce energy usage. The fact is that America needs almost twice the energy input of europe or japan to produce more or less the same standard of living. This is because those countries began on conservation methods after the first oil shock in the 1970s and have continued developing them ever since.
Reply
A TV "commercial" that I once saw in Germany (and made me chuckle):
A driver is sitting at a railway crossing with his engine turned off as an interminable train passes before him carrying bundles of old newspapers.
At the end a message says: Germany now recycles 60% of all drink containers and 60% of all paper. -
50%
Commodore11 year, 4 months ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
Any idiot knows this stuff. But we shouldn't have to do this all the time. And this country shouldn't have to buy oil from lunatics who want to hurt us and nuke us. It's going to take a lot more than this to make this country energy dependent.
Reply -
44%
THOMNH621 year, 4 months ago
-
-
75%
Natureboy1 year, 4 months ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
Why wait - I occasionally have to drive a 60 mile round trip to the nearest big city. By traveling 55 - 60 mph, and coasting on downhill stretches, I have been able to double my gas mileage on the trip - and that adds up to money quick.
Reply -
100%
ind061 year, 4 months ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
Actually, THOMNH62, it was President Nixon who instituted the federally mandated 55 mph speed limit after the energy crunch of 1973.
Reply
Jimmy Carter didn't have anything to do with it.
Despite the fact that President Nixon was a liar and a warmonger and as crooked a politician as they come, he was not an idiot and that is why he took this unpopular step to help the country save energy.
From Wikipedia: "As an emergency response to the 1973 oil crisis, on November 26, 1973, President Richard Nixon proposed a national 50 mph speed limit for passenger vehicles and a 55 mph speed limit for trucks and buses."
And bless President Nixon for doing it, because sometimes doing the right thing isn't doing the easy thing.
Oh, how rude of me to interrupt, I believe you were blaming President Carter for the gas crisis of 1973, three years before he was elected, please, go ahead. -
-
-
-
47%
Spinward1 year, 4 months ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
Give me a freaking break.
Reply
I drive like a normal driver and, unlike liberals, it seems, I read the book that came wtih the car!
I maintain my vehicle including check-ups every 3,000 miles.
We are not a nation of idiots tearing all over town on flat tires with engines belching soot!
He said we could save as much oil as new drilling would produce by checking our air pressure and getting a tune up.
MY CAR ALREADY HAD A TUNE-UP AND THE AIR PRESSURE IS FINE!
Do liberals really need Obama's go-ahead to see to vehicle maintenance? I thought you guys were "educated".
Why do I need Obama if I can simply read my GD owner's manual?!?!?! -
86%
BravoSierra1 year, 4 months ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
I heard an automobile company bragging about getting all the way up to 32 mpg efficiency. 10 years ago I still drove a Chevy Nova with a Toyota engine that got 37 mpg. Before that, I had a early model Honda Civic that did even better. We are all being conned.
Reply-
Neutral
BravoSierra1 year, 4 months ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
I've noticed one of the most likely things to evoke a negative vote from neocons is the presentation of facts. I've owned two cars that both got better gas milage than what the automakers are currently saying is a "great achievement"... How can you possibly vote against a fact? lol. The published milage for the average 1988 NOVA is 33mpg highway. We got 37 out of ours. The 33mpg figure is published by the US DOT. The Honda Civic got 47mpg highway, 37 city. We achieved a nearly 50mpg highway vehicle 20 years ago already!!!! lol.
Reply
-
-
50%
BravoSierra1 year, 4 months ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
It's amazing that Republicans claim to be capitalists and believe in the free market. But, they seem to not understand the most basic fundamentals of collective bargaining and supply and demand economics. We boycott oil producers, they lower their prices. It's easy.
Reply
Secondly, they believe in laissez-faire free enterprise until they and their buddies get in trouble...then they pillage the national treasury to pay down their bad deals....lol. They are Socialists who specialize in taking profits and socializing risk by raiding the national treasury. The problem is that the stupid neocons who post here...don't realize they are supporting Socialism and that they are supporting having their own pocket book raided by robber barrons. -
60%
memestryker1 year, 4 months ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
Although I like Obama as an individual, I'm so not looking forward to Jimmy Carter's second term. Jumping from a science-bashing theocratic uber-capitalist president who can't stay out of our bedrooms and wombs to an arrogant moralizing paternalistic authoritarian one doesn't increase the warm and fuzzy index.
Reply
Yeah, I know, I'll attract plenty of negs on both "sides" on this one, but it can't be helped if I'm to be honest. We're talking about scrapping capitalism-gone-wild in favor of the U.N.-gone-wild. I view the U.N. as a bunch of control freaks from countries who make the U.S. look like a bastion of freedom and liberty. At least robber barrons provide jobs to citizens (if we keep them from off-shoring them or issuing endless visas so our own people don't have a chance of getting them).-
33%
Spinward1 year, 4 months ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
I gave you a plus because I understand EXACTLY how you feel.
Reply
Common Sense is what is missing and today, to the wonderment of all, PARIS HILTON offered a solution that blows the air pressure nonsense away.
I JUST GOT AN IDEA!!!!
Obama/Hilton 2008!
-
-
TcarosComment removed: Hard Banned
-
0%
buckncindykill1 year, 4 months ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
What Obama failed to mention is that he himself has received well over $400,000 in campaign contributions from "big oil." Nice try, BO!
Reply
Something else that Barack Obama has failed to bring up ... and that the media has failed to point out (there's a surprise) ... is that Obama voted for an energy bill in 2005 that included billions in subsidies for oil and natural gas production. Dick Cheney was credited with writing, or at least influencing, much of the bill. And yet Barack voted for it ... twice. Even more surprising is that John McCain did not vote for the bill "because it included billions in unnecessary tax breaks for the oil industry."
The Obama camp says that he supported the bill because it included "huge investments in renewable energy." Yeah, like the ethanol industry ... and we know how well that has gone. -
-
JoseMadreComment removed: Hard Banned
-
0%
EquusTn1 year, 4 months ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
I agree with the sentiment of the artice, but I have 2 issues on the details: first, I don't know where the author lives, but out here in the west a 55 mph speed limit is just unworkable. Try driving from Denver to Omaha at 55 sometime. I'll bet you can't do it. Even if you set your cruise control at 55, you're going feel like you're crawling, and you'll get so bored you'll shut it off in an hour, or crank it up to 75 (the current limit). Second, poking holes in mufflers is a big no-no. Again, I don't know about other places, but in Denver you have to get an emissions test (annually in most cases) and if they see a hole in your muffler you won't get your tags until you replace it.
Reply -
100%
EquusTn1 year, 4 months ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
I have to add, about "Republicans take pride in being ignorant" -- I believe more precisely Obama said, "It's almost like they take pride in being ignorant," and that's a valid statement. But the literal truth is that Republican politicians have no shame about peddling lies to people who are ignorant enough to believe them. They always operate that way. My favorite current example is the oil drilling issue. Every informed American knows that drilling isn't going to accomplish anything -- but McCain is shameless about playing to people's ignorance and pouncing on Obama for telling the truth.
Reply-
0%
jesh1 year, 4 months ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
when bush lifted the moratorium on drilling the price dropped , so the lie is that drilling wont accomplish anything . the republicans are still working on the issue in Washington while the democratic leadership has gone on vacation early . they adjourned early to avoid a vote on the subject , it's true !!!!! . do they really care about the concerns of common man ? doesn't look like it
Reply
-
-
0%
jesh1 year, 4 months ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
I work in maintenance so I know all about preventative maintenance , I have read on hyper mileage so this is not rely new info. for me . it is true and we all should be doing these things . but we will not be saving so much that we will stop importing oil ,this is side stepping the issue so he doesn't have to come up with real answers , and comes off sounding removed from real people struggling to pay the bills . what is the government doing to reduce fuel prices till the alternate fuel , electric car ect. start hitting the market ??? , we need a plan and start working toward it . this problem has been around for a while now !!!!!!
Reply-
100%
bluetexasvalley1 year, 4 months ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
jesh: "what is the government doing to reduce fuel prices till the alternate fuel , electric car ect. start hitting the market ??? "
Reply
It's amazing that someone in [auto?] maintenance is so far behind on automotive news. There are several hybrid cars now on the market, and several auto manufacturers have announced production of plug-in electric cars for the near future -- as early as next year, in fact. You should visit some automotive Web sites. :)
And even if they start drilling this afternoon, no oil will be pulled up for 5-10 years, and then, there will be little, if any, change in prices. Besides, most of us will be driving hybrid/electric cars by then.
-
-
100%
Poulenc1 year, 4 months ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
There is no "purity" as far as amending one's political positions goes--if every pols' hands were held to the fire over this, we'd have a wholly burnt contingent. (Hmmmm.)
Reply
The point is, one must ask what flip-flop equals hypocrisy and which equals a reasonable adjustment of opinion in light of increased information/understanding, changed resources, altered political realities, etc.
Add a Comment
Sign In With Your Propeller Account
Please keep your comments relevant to this story.
To create a live link, simply type the URL (including http://) or email address and we will make it a live link for you. You can put up to 3 URLs in your comments. Line breaks and paragraphs are automatically converted — no need to use <p> or <br /> tags.