I don't even know where to start with this. Go ahead, read H.R.4. READ IT! I DARE YOU! It's 640 K of TEXT! Even skimming over it, you can begin to see why our government has ballooned to a size that approaches the insane.

No sane person has read and understood all of this. The congress is inundated by people each trying to get their own chunk of taxpayer's flesh, and each has a bit of this they want to see passed. No one cares about the consequences of the bill as a whole.

Just dealing with one section: increasing mileage standards. This whole mess is currently riding on a recent National Academy of Science report on the subject. Well, what do you know. I have that report right here. Go ahead, read it.

I will go over this more later.

While I'm waiting, let me tell you about CAFE standards. The purpose of the CAFE standards is not to save energy, any more than the purpose of Social Security is to provide retirement income, or the purpose of the Endangered Species Act is to save animals. The standards are part of a consolidated effort to make it impossible for Americans to drive private cars that meet their needs.

If there had not been a loophole in the original laws for "trucks," the auto industry would have collapsed. The station wagon disappeared from the roads. The invention of the mini-van and SUV were a response to the law, a way to get through that loophole to give Americans the cars they needed.

I need a big car. I have two kids, a dog, and a wheelchair to haul around. Most Americans have similar needs. The hybrid/electric roller skates that the econazis would force on us just don't do the job. This is particularly true now that they have forced air bags on us that make the front seat a child death zone. Have you noticed the number of kids left in the back seat to cook to death lately? When I drove my old car, my kid was in the front seat with me, car seat facing backwards, but right next to me. I could see her, and touch her, and give her what she needed. Now, with the front seat lethal, these kids are facing backwards in child seats in the rear. Not even visible if you turn around. Who is more likely to forget their kids? Has anyone looked at this? But I digress.

Americans need big cars. The econazi assumption is that auto companies could make big cars with small car mileage, they just "don't feel like it." My opinion is that the technology has been taken almost as far as is economically possible. Can you build a 70-mile per gallon SUV? Sure. You want to spend $250,000 for it? Didn't think so. The auto companies are constantly balancing prices, technologies, and consumer needs. They are not being deliberately obstructive.

Done with the report? I will point out a few things in a later post.