This has been sitting in the draft vault for more then one week- I've been burned here before; I'm skittish all of a sudden. Being banned last June was the last straw- I thought, and maybe you as well. That's if you ever crossed paths with me in the first place; which is unlikely. So....here it goes, what have I got lose right? Hit Publish What's all the fuss about me anyway, I'm harmless. Incredible, the indignity of it! More hubbub under the fold.
Is it me- do I rub people the wrong way, or maybe its a growing paranoia. Now its the barons at my local paper I'm wondering about being snoberoos? What some of us refer to as "elitists." Last week there was a short "letter to the editor." Letters must be brief they say. That didn't give the letter writer much of a chance to elaborate on his theme. The letter was about the Chevy Volt. I thought I could do justice to another citizens short letter using a longer "guest column" submission. They definitely invite John Q. Public to try. It says so in print on the bottom of the editorial page every day. Obviously it's a higher bar to jump than letters to the editor, but ......I think they want Professorial types, not plain folks like me bugging them.
This isn't about hard feelings (it was no big deal, forget what I said before about rubbing people the wrong way), this is about electric hybrids cars, and its about 2nd chances and the Daily Kos being the perfect place to publish your ixsnayed "guest column."
With my two cents added to the 6 measly sentences allowed some letter writer to my paper, it could be about oil addiction, global warming, new jobs on U.S. soil etc., ....silly things. The other persons letter, plus my unpublished stinker "guest column" (what other conclusion can I draw,) follows after a short word.
I said this before, I was banned here. I need to make amends. Who better to help me then Mr. Francis Albert Sinatra...
You learn from every lonely day
I've learned, and I've come back to stay
Let me try again - let me try again
Think of all we had before - let me try once more
We can have it all - you and I again
Just forgive me or I'll die - please let me try again
I was such a fool to doubt you
To try to go it all alone
There's no sense to life without you
Now all I do is just exist
And think about the chance I've missed
Very nice, now to the letter to the editor as written by Bob M
"There has been much coverage of the Chevy Volt and its phenomenal projected gas mileage. However, is it practical? Also, its price tag of $40,000 puts it out of the reach of most people. Don't be surprised to see other car makers coming out with hybrids that cost much less.
What is needed (barring a technology breakthrough such as the hydrogen car or the compressed air car) is an inexpensive car for the masses.
What we need is this generation's Volkswagen Beetle of the '50s and '60s.
BOB M.
Waretown
And this is the "guest column" denied me; reworked just a little bit. (I never promised the newspaper they were seeing the final version anyway, I said as much in a separate letter. I just needed encouragement first, I'm busy running a political campaign.....in the Garden State.
A letter writer last week mentioned the impracticality of the $40 k price tag of next years 2010 Chevy Volt- the super hybrid electric which GM claims will get the equivalent of over 200 mpg. He asks where is this generations Volkswagen Beetle? As a very minor independent candidate in this years NJ Governors race, I spend my days, nights and yes my sleeping hours too, thinking how I can crack the log jam on immigration reform?
...... (8/31/09: Would it be too immodest of me to think one person might have just fainted? There where quite a few people here with whom I hit a raw nerve in the past)......
As a healthy diversion from that losing issue may I wax philosophical about one direction the automobile industry could go, if electric is the short term energy solution- being that Mr. M***** and I are both probably huge car buffs?
He and I are both on the same wave length when he warns that barring a breakthrough in hydrogen technology etc- the nation needs something like that inexpensive German icon from the 60's. Here's my take on how we could get there, since a hydrogen energy "breakthrough" is unlikely.
I believe the main drawback to selling very small electrics is that the onus is on individual families to take the expensive environmental lead; and that’s the crux of the problem- as long as these cars are projected to be very pricey- conscientious families are being asked unfairly to add another car to the insurance policy which we don't really want; and electric cars have so many other drawbacks..... its not worth it. The insurance expense is one turn off; the steep price is the other. A double whammy right out the gait. Here are several "what ifs." What if the government, got even more involved in the car business then it already is, and contracted in advance, to purchase say, a half a million bare bones electric cars that they would lease back to us .... at the intriguing price of maybe a 100 bucks a month. What if these imaginary cars of mine weren’t allowed on the inter state, only the local roads; that would alleviate the range problems and some safety requirements, as well as keeping the cost to build down. Given these limitations, this car could never could replace the families more practical gasoline powered car for the foreseeable future. What if the government, ((I'm talking about the government (again)), mandates that insurance companies not charge us when we add that extra car, the electric, on the policy. Why not? Why the hell not? After leasing this car, families will still need the gasoline powered cars they already have, and will continue to pay the costly insurance on those vehicles- therefore it's still the same dollar amount of business the insurance companies get to write. There's the physics the insurance companies can't change; if there's three designated drivers you can't be out in 4 cars at the same time. And forget the business model for a second, there's the national security and energy policy to consider.
If the insurance agencies need to be compensated slightly for the extra book keeping etc., that's fine. If the insurance companies reject the idea, then Uncle Sam could show them who's boss and the government, that's us, could insure these very small electric cars for free and threaten to write all the other business besides!! That would shut the insurers right up- and this is a good deal for them after all. Isn't it? I already mentioned the token compensation for essentially adding on an additional car and not charging. Reminds me, (twice now it has), of the insurance companies in the health care paradigm. My electric cars, that freebie on the insurance policy (as I envision it), could be the equivalent of Americans without adequate health insurance- my family included- and insurance companies and town hall protesters not wanting to give an inch! Does that make sense?
The car companies, on their end, will hopefully continue to sell roughly the same amount of traditional cars- and with the additional electrics, that means a net gain in manufacturing jobs; the holy grail. If they don't, and sell less, they'll file Chapter 11. The health care discussion keeps popping into my mind when I think of this plan of mine; rising health care premiums, medicare and medicaid in the red etc. Maybe my plan stinks. I'm still for single-payer, but now I'm really off track and confused myself.
I could end my whimsical story right here and quit while I'm ahead, if indeed I ever was ahead; but indulge me just a little while longer. Every car company produces the same exact car, again helping keep the cost down. The car companies only compete on the battery technology- differentiating their product- keeping the research and development going strong.
And what about this? The car is so plain, and cost so little to lease, that some commuters drive it, say, to the train station in the morning, and they don't mind if their car is borrowed during the day by another driver, possibly a senior who doesn't own a car anymore. The owners would get a small fee. There's a remotely similar thing going on across the nation in our cities; time sharing of cars. In Europe, (where there's Universal Health Care), bicycles get traded back and forth during the day.
If my little idea ever came to fruition, the after market industry would have a field day adorning this car, wouldn't they. That's one fact in this morass I've proposed that is indisputable.
Maybe if a big shot said all this, it wouldn't sound like such a "foolish" proposal; a crack pot idea. Like trading cash for klunkers, inflating tires to the proper lbs., (Obama)or a gas tax holiday over the summer (McCain and Clinton last year).
Is it nuts? We own half of General Motors after all; there's lots of pressure we could put on auto manufacturers and insurers. They'd have to play ball. On our end we'd get a half a million look a like cars: a people's car. Mr. M from Waretown, NJ might be thrilled.
And here's where we really muck up the works even more. If this idea made sense (and the more I think about the less sure I am it does) wouldn't it be smart to start building more nuclear power plants right away? This dreamer's $100/month electric car, might sooth the objections of the anti nuclear crowd. Sort of like trading carbon credits, but in this case the cars and the energy source, nuclear, would be carbon free.
A brave new world? A conservative who is cautiously for much more government involvement in health care and now this! More tinkering with the private sector via the auto business (I think).
That was my letter with a few "minor" corrections added. I explained to the editors the other week that I only worked a one to two hours on the column. (Really! Here's the proof.)
From: "mrtambourineman"
Sent: Thursday, August 20, 2009 2:23 PM
To: Oped
Subject: Guest Column
Would you folks consider using this as a guest column? If it needs any tightening up or clarification I'd be more then happy to do that. I assume it does, I worked on it for just one hour today (maybe two; truth be told). I'd already posted the longer cockamamie version on line the other day
Here's their response....
Subject: RE: Guest Column
Date: Thu, 20 Aug 2009 15:40:48 -0400
From: lettters@pressofac.com
To: "mrtambourineman" (my real name redacted)
It's really not something we'd run as a column. If you'd like to cut it down to a short letter, responding to the letter, we'd consider it. Thanks - Carla Linz
To which I responded below, (I bit my tongue, I wished I hadn't. You can still read between the lines can't you?
From: "mrtambourineman"
To: lettters@pressofac.com
Subject: RE: Guest Column
Date: Thu, 20 Aug 2009 16:57:27 -0400
o.k. i'm a new man this year. i'll try shortening it quite a bit to a letters length
When I was young, I fell in love
I asked my sweetheart what lies ahead
Will we have rainbows, day after day
Here's what my sweetheart said.
Que Sera, Sera,
Whatever will be, will be
The future's not ours, to see
Que Sera, Sera
What will be, will be.
We've had issues in the past, the paper and me. But that's immaterial; it’s not like my paper hasn't published other "guest columns" on the same topic. I googled guest columns Atlantic City Press and saw this trash from a Michael Busler, an associate professor and a fellow at the William J. Hughes Center for Public Policy at Richard Stockton College.
Sincerely, my fellow kossacks: (back as) mrtambourineman
Here I am back home again, and I'm here to rest
All they ask is where I've been, knowing I've been West
I'm the family's unowned boy, golden curls of envied hair
Pretty girls with faces fair
See the shine in the Black Sheep Boy
If you love me, let me live in peace, please understand
That the black sheep can wear the golden fleece
And hold a winning hand
I'm the family's unowned boy, golden curls of envied hair
Pretty girls with faces fair
See the shine in the Black Sheep Boy
Here I am back home again, and I'm here to rest