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		Points of View Posted November 4, 2002 Guest Column © 2002 Ray Sharp Published with Permission

Dinosaurs and Other Beasts

By Ray Sharp

Oct. 30, 2002*

News Item: (AP) -- Average fuel economy for the galaxy of shiny new 2003 model cars and passenger trucks headed for showrooms is 20.8 miles per gallon, about 6 percent below the high point set 15 years ago.

Only 4 (four!) percent of new cars sold in the U.S. get better than 30 m.p.g. The most efficient vehicles are all -- you guessed it -- made in Japan. Topping the list are three hybrids -- cars with small conventional internal-combustion engines that run on regular gas and also electric motors powered by batteries that are charging while the vehicle is running. The gas engine kicks in when extra power is needed for acceleration, while at cruising speed, the electric motor supplies much of the power. I hope I've explained this correctly, but you get the point. I had the pleasure of riding in a hybrid last weekend -- there are several on the road in the Copper Country -- and learned that it averages close to 60 m.p.g.

Cars run on oil, same as they did when Henry Ford was leveling the forests of Baraga County, and oil comes from the forests of the Dinosaur Age. Ever notice how much the new SUV and truck models have grown to resemble the armored reptiles of the past -- Triceratops and Ankylosaurus and Stegosaurus and the rest of the plant-eating brutes? Now there's trouble brewing in our Dinotopia, from Global Terrorism to Global Warming. If not for the peculiar "mine is bigger than yours" American value system, and the complicity of the oil companies, car manufacturers and do-nothing Congresses of the dot.com-bubble Nineties, we'd all be driving more fuel-efficient cars today, instead of preparing to go to war in Iraq. But there will come a day when our gasoline economy converts to one based on hydrogen fuel cell technology, and then the great age of dinosaurian cars will sputter to its natural end, and a new era of transportation will take its place -- much the way terrestrial dinosaurs evolved into warm-blooded, feathered creatures that take wing and soar and sing.

Liberalism R.I.P.

The death of Sen. Paul Wellstone resonated far beyond his native Minnesota. You see, Wellstone was my senator, too, and senator for people who care about children's issues, universal access to quality health care, preservation of American manufacturing jobs and a whole host of positions associated with "liberalism." When the Carleton College professor and novice politician stunned the political world by riding grass-roots populism all the way to the U.S. Senate in 1990, Wellstone was called "the first Sixties radical in the U.S. Senate." Alas, until last week he was the only "radical" in the Senate, and probably the last. Often Wellstone was the lone voice of dissent, standing up for what he believed in while the two major parties, Republican and Republican-Lite, rolled ahead with their corporate-interest agendas like tanks bearing down on that lone protester in Tiananmen Square.

Michigan's two senators, Carl Levin and Debbie Stabenow, voted against the recent Iraq war resolution, as did Representative Bart Stupak. Levin is breezing to re-election, and will not be hurt by his vote. My sense is that Stupak will win re-election, too, although his vote against abdicating Congress's constitutional authority to our Warmonger-In-Chief may cost him a few votes against his no-name opponent. It's good to be represented by folks with integrity and principles, people who aren't afraid to declare their beliefs and act upon them.

Which brings us to Jennifer Granholm. What, exactly, does she believe in? To quote Bill Ballenger, writing last week in Inside Michigan Politics:

Pick your favorite metaphor: Prevent defense, running out the clock, rose garden, four corners, rope-a-dope, campaigning not to lose. Better yet: all of the above. The soporific, essentially selfish campaign run by Democratic nominee Jennifer Granholm will probably net her a Nov. 5 victory… but it appears it will cost her party numerous opportunities on down the ballot that Democrats thought just a few months ago they would be able to rely on.

Speaking of the governor's race, those "Support Posthumous Tax Cuts" signs bother me more every day. The implication is that Granholm will raise your taxes; but really now, just what is there left to cut? As a result of Gov. Engler's early retirement plan for State employees, all of Houghton and Keweenaw counties are manned by just one Children's Protective Services worker and unemployment offices are being reduced from 83 to just three -- I kid you not -- located in Grand Rapids, Saginaw and Detroit. So now you have to apply for benefits by mail. I bet that will work well -- not! So, to return to the question, what is there left to cut from state government?

Returning to the topic that started this Election Day rant, the death of Paul Wellstone, we're as likely to see another unabashed liberal elected to high office as we are to see dinosaurs walk the Earth again. Meanwhile, that lovable nonagenarian segregationist Strom Thurmond (R-South Carolina) is serving his ninth six-year term. Just for balance, I'd like to see Teddy Kennedy (D-Mass.) live to be one hundred and totter in to cast votes on the issues of the 2030s.

Don't forget to vote. It's what distinguishes humans from sheep.

P.S. Dick Cheney, please don't bother coming to my funeral either.

Ray Sharp, who works in public health, votes at Precinct 1 in Stanton Township.

Learn more about the author of this guest column, Ray Sharp.

*Editor's note: We regret the delayed posting of this article.

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