Have they found their cape and tights?

In the Saturday address yesterday, the Democratic Party proclaimed that it is leading the way toward more fuel efficient automobiles, calling on the Congress to enact higher CAFE standards.
Excuse me, but where have they been all these years?
Is this a repeat performance and if so, is it going to go anywhere this time, or is it merely posturing for the election yet again?

We, in the environmental community, in the Green Party, in the community of common sense, have been pushing for this for years, decades even!
And now the Dems are donning their cape and tights, ready for their photo op, ready to save the planet at long last?

I'm sorry folks, but it just seems like another campaign prop pulled out for the media.

In response, a group of Republicans AND Democrats, mostly from the environs of Detroit, are saying, "whoa, wait a minute, it can't be done, it's going to harm us, it's a disaster!"

'Scuse me, but where have the big US automakers been in the last half of the 20th century til today? Remember when computers took up and entire room? Calculators you bought for college were a major investment? My TI calculator cost me somewhere in the area of $60 once. Now we have laptops. iPods have more storage than a Cray once did I'm told! In my field we have PCR to amplify DNA. We have LED lighting and compact fluorescents. I'm sure I'm missing countless improvements in our daily lives.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, GM, Ford, Chrysler, even Oldsmobile have barely nudged the internal combustion engine forward. In fact, for many years it almost went backward!

Back in the 70's we had an "energy crisis" and Jimmy Carter donned a sweater and asked us to conserve. Did we have any collective foresight then? Some did, alarmists they called em, but not Deee-troit. Today's abundance of SUVs on the roads, the popularity of the HUMMER, the veritable stagnation of Consumer Automobile Fuel Efficiency standards would argue otherwise. Wheeeee . . . . and the average American yutz just ate the ensuing orgy up.

And it's not just about how much oil is in the ground and now, CO2 emissions and climate change. It should have been about saving the consumer $$, reducing our bill a the pump at the very least. But they were busy improving what?

The cup holder? astounding . . . now I don't have to freeze my thighs!

Heated seats? My ass is usually warm enough if I'm sitting on it but it might help those thighs, unless it melts my frosty too fast .

Power windows! Women might develop muscles like Ahhh-nold if forced to roll up a crank window afterall.

Surround sound stereo! (I'm sorry Diana Krall, but I don't buy a car to sit in it and listen to jazz. It's supposed to be moving me from point A to point B, and if I'm savoring the jazz, I'm probably not paying attention to the kids on the side of the road or the big rig pullng out in front of me!)

Perhaps the beep beep beep feature when backing up is the best improvement yet, but the minivan it goes on? Ugh.

With the Democrats leaping tall buildings at the Renn Ctr., pushing back locomotives pulling fuelish cars, I'm sure we're saved . . .
until after the election rhetoric subsides and they tally up contributions that is.

Let's just see what the candidate roster is driving these days . . .

to be continued . . .