Sick People!

:bs: Personally, I think you just like yanking people's chains, but hey its a free country. I do have .02 though.

I think the Boston Tea Party analogy doesn't apply. Firstly the government has nothing to do with people buying H2. And secondly, I don't think anyone got hurt by a bunch of guys getting drunk, putting on some indian clothes, and throwing some tea off the side of a boat, unlike what could have happened by those idiots setting those vehicles on fire. ELF wouldn't even let you into their organization being a Lexus tech and all, not too mention you own an XJ. I guess that was about .04. Here's a nickle. Keep the change.
 
i too think the H2 is a large waste of fuel and money..... however it IS putting food on the tables of countless families who are thankfull that their town was chosen for the H2 production plant.. i would not buy one even if i had the money.. neither would most people.. thats why the comparably small number of H2's on the road hardly affects the world-wide consumption of oil. protest is a good thing. strong beliefs and activism should be commended when it changes even one mans mind.. however the ELF crowd is not going to gain any support that will be beneficial to themselves.. they are a shortlived group who will eventually grow up or end up homeless... using their logic any hungry person would be justified in burning down a restaurant that does not serve food that they like.. after hours of course..
mike
 
This is not rocket science here. Being against the air poluting SUV, I'm going to burn to the ground (and into the air) a buisness that puts food on the table for how many familys? Who the F*** gives them the right? Petty name calling? Anything less than bloodshed is a waste of bandwidth. Back to the yellow bellied point: After you put all into the air you are so cowardly "protecting", The Evil SUV's are replaced by an insurance policy. The net sum of this equation IS IN FACT these "elf" ***wipes have only accomplished ADDING to the pollutants in the air.

It is CLEAR that protecting, saving,careing for the enviroment is a steamy pile of horse sh**! What is the true motive of this millitant group? Their own actions defile their words. There is nothing that could ever be said by anyone that could ever justify to a rational mind their crimes!
 
How much damage to the air quality and the ozone layer did the eco-nazis do with burning the buildings and SUV's? Tires, insulation, plastics, foam all produce noxious fumes when burned.
 
Well, everyone is entitled to an opinion...

I suspect Handlebars might be singing a different tune if that fire had happened at his place of employment and damaged or destroyed his Lexus Technician tool kit, then found out that the shop's insurance only covers their losses, NOT his. (Think I'm BS'in? ask your boss Monday AM if your kit is covered)

5-90 makes a point about petrochemistry...look at the computer in front of ya...what's it made of? (or from)

All those wannabe terrorists did was create more pollution and more work for alot of folks who have enough to do already, from the beat cops & firemen that first responded, to the HAZMAT crews who will clean up the mess, to the lawyers who will prosecute and defend them, to the jailers who will have to deal with their whimpering carcass' after Bubba & Jamal wear them out, and to the taxpayers / business owners / shareholders / consumers who will likely foot the bill for the whole thing, one way or another.

I bet the parents will be proud of them when they find out their felonious offspring are essentially unemployable now.
 
Wow. Very interesting discussion, to say the least. I usually don't reply to political commentaries on a Jeep forum, but I feel somewhat compelled to. I'll also play nicely.

First and foremost, Mr. Handlebars, is the comment about "the firefighters didn't have to put themselves into jeopardy performing rescues". Believe it or not, firefighters actually go into buildings to put out fires, even when they're not trying to rescue people. In the summer of 2000, 2 Houston firefighters were killed while putting out a fire at a McDonald's. Firefighters and others put themselves in danger every time they respond to an alarm.

The definition of "patriot" has as many different meanings as people you ask about it. Driving a Saturn doesn't quite fit the bill. Neither does vandalizing H2's. Somehow, the idea that destroying another person's property in the name of the earth or the environment is justified alludes me. It's called rationalization: Making socially acceptable excuses for socially unacceptable behavior.

I'm a member of the NRA and have weapons at home. Am I to blame for handgun deaths? Even better, check this out: I also drive an F250 Superduty, and my wife has a Ram Air Trans AM. Should I just run out today and get an "earth killer" bumpersticker for our cars?

Finally, I really don't think I'm lazy, or a yuppie for that matter. I served in the military, paid my own way through school, got my degree, and work an average of 50 or hours a week. I work in a level one trauma center and do my very best every day to help people, and just be a good human being. But that doesn't matter, now does it? According to some people, the car they drive says it all.

Jerry's dead, get over it.

Calvin
(NOT a member of the Sierra Club, Earth First, the ACLU, or Greenpeace)
 
You guys are bringing up some points that I am not even arguing about.

All of the “could haves” that didn’t happen, we could waste a lot of bandwidth talking about that. It didn’t happen. Quit speculating.

I am not arguing about smog, either. Our skies are much cleaner now than they were 30 years ago, despite the marked increase in miles driven.

Petrochemicals? Unless somebody can produce evidence that there is a tremendous amount of needless waste going on there, it isn’t worth talking about.

What I am arguing about is reducing out dependence on cheap foreign oil. This is a very bad time to be building vehicles that set new standards for low fuel economy. You guys are getting all worked up about a bloodless attack that destroyed something that I think we all agree serves no useful purpose. I am worked up about an attack that did kill thousands of American citizens on American soil. Most of those attackers came from Saudi Arabia. Where do you think they got their funding, a bake sale? No, it came from American oil revenue. I hear a lot of you saying, “if I got my hands on the people responsible I will rip them apart with my bare hands!” Look, it isn’t going to happen so quit your impotent saber rattling. If you really are that serious about terrorism than all of you patriots would think nothing of making a small personal sacrifice to help our cause. Like burning less gas. Is that really asking a lot? How many of you gave blood after September 11th? That was a nice “feel good” gesture but it does nothing to combat terrorism. I’ve done my part, using my 40 mpg motorcycle to haul my ass around instead of the 17 mpg Jeep.

Glenn- You say they WILL catch those ELF perpetrators. Time will tell. Yes they did commit a crime and if caught they will go to jail. What about Osama? Where is he? How about Saddam? He’s dead, no he’s alive, no, he’s dead again. I hope the FBI does a better job than the CIA.

What if that was my shop that had burned down? I am living within my means. Everything I own (except my house) is paid for. If I loose my house I will still survive. I was unemployed and homeless for 4 months last year. I arrived in New Mexico with $300 in the bank. Now, 9 months later I have bought my first home. You people seem to have forgotten that this is the land of opportunity. I highly recommend everyone become homeless and unemployed for a while, it really opens your eyes up to what is important…like the distinction between wants and needs.

Now can somebody please, without name-calling, tell me why America needs to be consuming more fossil fuels instead of less?

(Alex, ALSO not a member of the Sierra Club, Earth First, the ACLU, or Greenpeace)
 
Handlebars said:
Now can somebody please, without name-calling, tell me why America needs to be consuming more fossil fuels instead of less?

(Alex, ALSO not a member of the Sierra Club, Earth First, the ACLU, or Greenpeace)

Not really,

Other than it hasn't cost us enough yet to conserve. When the price of fuel gets to 5.00/ gallon you will see what political demonstrations will be about. Americans will freak out. However, I don't see it happening because the rest of the world would be as economically hurt as the U.S. would be. If Americans stop buying oil tomorrow the world economy would collaps soon after.

So if Americans stop wanting more and just did as they needed what would the world really be like? Maybe we would all be fighting over religion, oh ya half the world is already doing that stupid thing.

The Boston tea party doen't fall in this type of group. The ELF is a phantom type group and because their actions are so terrioristic they aren't willing to STAND UP and STAY PUT and suffer the concequences of their actions. Once they truely put their mouth and body where their actions are they aren't going to get any real support or simpathy from the majority of Americans. They will always be concidered criminals.

And whatever their message is won't be heard over the criminal acts!


mark

(Glad to see you say it was a crime what happen to the H2s, at first it didn't sound like you did and is what most who responded (ie name callers) could only understand, and not the political side of things)
 
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Handlebars said:

What I am arguing about is reducing out dependence on cheap foreign oil. This is a very bad time to be building vehicles that set new standards for low fuel economy. You guys are getting all worked up about a bloodless attack that destroyed something that I think we all agree serves no useful purpose.

(Alex, ALSO not a member of the Sierra Club, Earth First, the ACLU, or Greenpeace)

The only current viable sort term solution to our dependence on cheap foreign oil is to drill in Alaska and numerous off shore sites within' our boundries that the Liberals don't want touched.

Not untill Americans are feed up and refuse to pay for high priced gasoline will there be serious research done to find a replacement fuel. And I'm talking prices only effected by massive resourse shortages. As long as the technology and the fuel is cheap. Americans will contiune to use them as they wish.
 
Now I hope one of you can chime in with the correct #'s, Maybe I'll research it, but I remember seeing in the paper a few months ago a graph showing a breakdown with percentages of where and who we get our foriegn oil from, and who buys the rest, and I remember it because I was suprised at what the percentage was of the oil we get from the middle east. Wether my memory serves me correctly or not I think that how terrorists from that part of the world get funding is far more complicated than that and therefore handlebars arguement bares little weight in my mind.

Furthermore shame on this so called ELF organization. What they did was absolutely wrong and unjustified no matter how gluttonous, gas guzzling, and obsessed with worldly possesions Americans may be. The fire they started did more damage to our environment then the vehicles they destroyed would have done, thats the irony with these extreme activitst groups, they usually act in a manner that hurts the very thing they stand for. Like the animal activists that released animals from a facility to save them thereopon the animals ran out into a non native climate full of non natural predators and quickly perished. My point is There are so many constructive activities they could be doing that would actually benefit both the environment in which we live and our society as well as get thier message out. For example they could sign up for an adopt-a-highway litter control program and get some free advertising for thier political organization then actually do something that makes things better.

xjblue (member NAXJA, UFWDA, U4WDA)
 
IIRC, most of our imported oil comes from Canada (I think.) Perhaps we should just annex them and nuke the Middle East!

I brought up the point on petrochemistry to show that while a great deal of oil is not used in automotive, but there are other industries that use fossil fuels (think power generation as well, come to think of it. The Greens don't seem to like the use of "green" power - solar, wind, hydro, and nuclear come to mind...)

When it comes to the Greens, I keep remembering an incident in Germany a few years ago where a vegan lunatic fringe decided to break down a hog pen and free the meat on the hoof. In their gratitude, the hogs trampled the Greens - no human survivors. They're saving the world for who, again?

5-90
 
Lots of interesting thoughts here, but I think it comes down to something simpler, as SDRiptide and a couple of others noted.

Assume if you want that the cause is noble and good. You commit a crime to further it. Do ends justify means? If so, what ends, what means? Maybe take a lesson from the weathermen. Why not a bomb next? Oops - killed a night watchman. Sorry, but the cause was noble.
 
The ELF has succeeded here in this forum. Their aim was not to stop the production or sale of large SUVs. It had nothing to do with striking terror in the hearts of SUV drivers or owners.

They wanted to raise conciousness. To start debates such as this one, to draw attention to the topic.

In that, they have succeeded very well right here. All of us have played into their hands quite conveniently.

I don't think the answer to their actions is to ignore them -- they've employed destructive tactics that cannot be tolerated in our society. But we can't focus on these acts, either, at the risk of perpetuating them by simply acknowledging them. The more attention they get with a particular tactic, the more they will employ it.

Tree-sitters protesting logging companies' techniques were an effective conciousness-rasing tactic quite a few years ago. When the media attention dropped off, the ELF (though it was not known by that name then) then employed tree spiking, and the media again focused on that for a while. The escalation continued with the destruction of large equipment, and continues today with arson at construction sites.

No one believed that any of this would stop logging. That wasn't the point any more than stopping the production or sale of SUVs is the point of branding and burning them in a dealer's lot.

We may or may not agree with what they've done, but we have done and are doing exactly what they wanted us to do -- talk about the topic, and try to influence others one way or the other.
 
Mark Hinkley said:


The Boston tea party doen't fall in this type of group. The ELF is a phantom type group and because their actions are so terrioristic they aren't willing to STAND UP and STAY PUT and suffer the concequences of their actions
Actually Mark, this is exactly how the poorly equipped Revolutionary Army defeated the British military- which at the time was the strongest in the world. The American forces fought a guerilla style war, attacking the ranks of red-coated British soldiers who would stand shoulder to shoulder then disappearing back into the civilian population. You guys keep crying foul at the ELF’s tactics, but this the same type of thing that brought BIG change to the world.

5-90 said:
IIRC, most of our imported oil comes from Canada (I think.)
5-90, you are correct. Saudi Arabia is #2 behind Canada.

http://www.ott.doe.gov/facts/archives/fotw246supp.shtml

Perhaps we should just annex them and nuke the Middle East!
There is no need to annex a country that is peacefully selling their oil to us. But the American public’s willingness to take oil from the bad guys has us mired in the occupying side of a guerilla war.

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/0411-09.htm

Scott Mac. said:
The only current viable sort term solution to our dependence on cheap foreign oil is to drill in Alaska and numerous off shore sites within' our boundries that the Liberals don't want touched.
Actually there is an extremely viable short term solution- quit driving gas-guzzlers! This is solution every American motorist can participate in! I haven’t heard any arguments supporting why we should be driving gas guzzlers other than “we can because we are the world’s superpower”.

It doesn’t involve any sacrifice. I still have my gas guzzling XJ, it just remains parked unless I am going to use it for what it is intended. I am not suggesting that everybody trade in their Cherokees for Subarus. Being fuel-wise does not require driving an econobox. I have a 40 mpg motorcycle that I use for a daily driver that is faster and better handling than 95% of the cars on the road.

Some of the more closed-minded participants in this debate seem to think that I am some kind of tree hugger. There is much more at stake here than the environment.

This is taken from the U.S. Department of Energy’s website:

“Reducing the transportation sector's reliance on oil is clearly the key to improving our nation's energy security.
{snip}
In the current situation, the United States has little control over oil supply disruptions and oil price fluctuations. The necessity of maintaining a stable supply of imported oil imposes foreign policy constraints, and in times of crisis, forces the U.S. military into action.”

http://www.ott.doe.gov/biofuels/energy_security.html

You people with children should be especially concerned. We will run out of cheap domestic sources of oil in their lifetime. How safe do you think their world will be when a nuclear-armed superpower that has an economy centered on cheap oil has to rely upon the rest of the world for it? Please note that the largest percentage of proven oil reserves is in the Middle East, an area that already breeds gruesomely effective terrorists. These terrorists are inflamed by a US foreign policy that revolves around keeping their oil available to us. They are also financed by an economy that gets a large percentage of its revenue from oil sales to the United States. I see an endless cycle here that centers on the average American citizen’s unwillingness to make a small sacrifice to help the nation’s security.

What alarms me the most is the frequent statements to the effect, "why don't we just nuke 'em!" Do you really want to open Pandora's Box? There are a lot of nukes in the hands of other countries, some of which are not friendly. If we start using them it will remove that fear of US nuclear attack from every country that has access to them, not just the primary targets. I see a lot more at stake than one business that was destroyed, or a town that profits from producing H2's, or the environmental damage done by burning those Hummers. But then, I have been accused of being closed minded. Who wants to enlighten me some more?
 
Handlebars said:
Actually Mark, this is exactly how the poorly equipped Revolutionary Army defeated the British military- which at the time was the strongest in the world. The American forces fought a guerilla style war, attacking the ranks of red-coated British soldiers who would stand shoulder to shoulder then disappearing back into the civilian population. You guys keep crying foul at the ELF’s tactics, but this the same type of thing that brought BIG change to the world.


You've got to be kidding me, lmao. Where do you come up with this stuff? First comparing the ELF arson to the Boston Tea Party and now comparing it to the whole Revolutionary War? Are you serious? Don't use the great history of our nation for your twisted little points of view. They are not the same thing and you know it.


You know what? I don't like people that drive Lexus vehicles, because that car simulates the rich, money hungry liberals that are pushing this country into the crapper, so I'm going to go burn down a luxus factory. Am I justified? Of course not. Yeah, we do need to use less gas, but trying to force your opinion on someone 9 times out of 10 it has the opposite effect. People are going to do what they want to do.

This reminds me of a conversation I had with this German one time in a German pub. Are you German? I'm done with this thread. I can't believe I have wasted 5 minutes of my life debating this with someone like yourself.
 
My comment about annexing Cnada was in jest, but I am of mixed feelings about the Middle East. Perhaps it is because people over there are progressively more confused about current affairs, but I'd defer to someone who's been over there more revently than myself (perhaps Dino may sound off on this for us...)

5-90
 
K9Cop said:
Yeah, we do need to use less gas, but trying to force your opinion on someone 9 times out of 10 it has the opposite effect. People are going to do what they want to do.
Yes! A grudging agreement! :)

BTW, I am not forcing my opinion upon you, I am presenting the world as I see it to you, along with the facts that support my view. I am still waiting for somebody to reply in kind with facts to prove my view wrong because frankly, I am terrified of what the future, as it now stands, holds for us and the world. I would really, really like to find out that I am wrong.

I am also not the the kind of person who points out problems and leaves it up to others to find a solution. I have come up with an economically viable way for everybody who reads this to help out with this situation.


I have 2 questions for you, K9Cop:

1) What are you doing to save gas?
2) Do you love your children?
 
The love I have for my children is NOT judged by how i conserve fossil fuels.

Mike
 
"Actually Mark, this is exactly how the poorly equipped Revolutionary Army defeated the British military- which at the time was the strongest in the world. ...etc"

Guerillas or not, those people were fighting what they saw as a tyrannical government, not an alarming trend or a bad habit among their peers. Part of the issue at that time was the extent to which all trade in the colonies was government controlled, and it's significant that they raided a British ship and dumped the tea in the harbor. They did not go down to their neighborhood tea merchant and sack his warehouse! And although the participants of the Tea Party may have been anonymous, as a group, the American revolutionaries demonstrated their willingness to be identified, and to die for their principles.

I see a difference there. That the ELF people do not is part of what I find scary.
 
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