the great campaign of 2008 rages on ... oh, it's sooooooo important. those candidates are really hammering away at the real issues and problems that confront us ... what great leaders they'll all be ...

are you kidding me???? are you????

please feel free to educate all of us on your candidate's position on global warming. and, don't feel too bad, it's not just the candidates - it's both parties and pretty much everyone else too.

here's some information I've been digging up about global warming. I'm no scientist. If you have better information and analysis, I'd love to hear it.

The Energy Bill the Democrats are currently pushing includes two key proposals to reduce our energy consumption. One is an increase in CAFE standards from 26 miles per gallon to 35 mpg. According to a post by Arianna Huffington today, each 3 mpg increase will reduce our oil consumption by one million barrels per day. So, the CAFE improvements, due by the year 2020 per the Democrats' energy bill, will save us about 3 million barrels per day. With me so far?

The second key feature of the Democrats' bill is to require that 15% of our energy come from renewable sources by the year 2020. That's 13 years from now.

That's the program Democrats have proposed to save us and the rest of the planet from the ravages of global warming.

Well, let's dig a little deeper. Current oil consumption in the US is 20 million barrels per day. Projections for the year 2020 seem to show that US demand will increase to 26 million barrels per day. That's an increase of about 6 million barrels per day. Renewables could cut that number down by 15%. 26 million times 15% means that you would save roughly 4 million barrels a day by using renewables.

So, let's add up the savings the Democrats plan provides. We saved about 3 million barrels by raising the CAFE standards. We would save about another 4 million barrels per day by using renewables. Adding the two together, the Democrats plan would save us about 7 million barrels a day by the year 2020.

But wait just a minute there. That 7 million barrels a day is a reduction from the projected 26 million barrels we'll use per day by 2020. That means that our projected oil use in 2020 will be a whopping 19 million barrels per day. The current use is 20 million barrels per day. The Democrats plan will actually only lessen current usage by 5% (20 million barrels per day compared to 19 million barrels per day in 2020).

Does the math I'm using seem logical and valid?

Now, if the Democrats' plan is calling for a 5% reduction over the next 13 years, that only about a .4 of 1% reduction per year. Now when you stack that up against all the global warming risks, what's your assessment of what the Democrats have done with their energy plan? Our coastal cities may have to be evacuated. All sorts of species may become extinct. Agricultural regions could go barren. The oceans could go barren. The American west and Africa could have no sources of water. And the plan offers a meager .4 of 1% a year reduction in oil consumption???!!!

What's missing, of course, is any meaningful call for deep, mandatory CONSERVATION measures. We have no choice anymore. We have to start looking at mandatory, severe reductions in auto use. The sooner we address this reality, the less harsh our suffering will be. I'd like to start with a 50% mandatory reduction in auto use. That's right, 50%. The only way to make this work is to call for a massive mass transit program. Real mass transit instead of the tinker toy system with have today. And how would we pay for it? Maybe the best way to protect the country isn't building an endless stream of military weapons systems. Maybe the best way to protect the country is to build something that will protect us from the clear and present danger of global warming. Mass transit is what we really need; not more bombers. We have more than enough of those.

Unfortunately, we still play our little "candidates on parade" games. This one insulted that one. This one was forced to apologize. This one's ahead by 5% in some state or other. Wake up you macaroons!!!! The planet is at risk. How have we managed to create a political process that values winning so highly that we don't demand real plans from our candidates on the most critical issues? That's really the source of the problem here. Global warming is the disease but the failure of our political institutions to address it is the real problem. And they dance and spin and smile for us. They're all so pretty.