[aardvark1]

I owned an '89 Geo Metro that got 50 mpg and had a back seat.

[hauerf]

It's obvious that California's greenhouse law is a sham.

Yes, of course it's a sham, but it's a feel good socialist sham and therefore it is good and deserves our support no matter what hard, cold logic tells those who are capable of thinking.

[daviddennis]

It's worth reading The Skeptical Environmentalist by Bjorn Loberg for its take on gloal warming. Executive summary: The best solution is to do nothing political, but increase spending on research on alternative fuels. Don't tax gas more, don't tax SUVs, just do the research.

He says, in effect, that if we spent $2 billion in research, we'd get truly cost-effective clean vehicles a decade or two down the road, and global warming would peak and decline rapidly(*). This is as opposed to trillions (!) in taxes and extra spending to get global warming down by a fraction of a degree worldwide.

In short, we are barking down the wrong tree when we take this punative approach. It's both bad politics and lousy science.

D

(*) He doesn't mention this, but a lot of this commitment has already been made by private companies such as GM. See the August issue of Wired for an intriguing cover story on GM's latest research.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Thanks for posting the article.

An update is needed for folks outside of California. Thru some parlimentary shenigans, the bill is now AB1493.

See this:California: Emissions bill senator's smoke and mirrors win (Cal Sen Burton gets credit )

And this:
California: Emissions bill senator's smoke and mirrors win (Cal Sen Burton gets credit )