Senator Calls for Halt to Automobile Travel as Oil Conservation Measure

[CactusCarlos]

http://www.azconservative.org/Semmens1.htm

Senator Calls for Halt to Automobile Travel as Oil Conservation Measure

Senator John Warner (R-Virginia) suggested that Congress consider banning unnecessary automobile travel in order to help save gasoline.

“In 1974, when we faced oil prices of $12 per barrel, Congress set a national 55 mph speed limit,” Warner remembered. “Studies showed that this saved 167,000 barrels of oil per day and reduced highway fatalities by an estimated 4,000 per year. Now, with oil prices more than ten-times higher we need more drastic action.”

Under Warner’s proposal all non-essential automobile travel would be banned. A “Bureau of Travel Permits” would be established within the Department of Transportation and charged with determining what travel would qualify as “essential.”

Preliminary discussions have indicated that travel by government officials would easily qualify as essential. Most trips by private citizens are expected to be accomplished via public transit. Carpools of five or more may be granted temporary permits subject to periodic audits of the participating members.

“Considering that about 90% of the travel is likely non-essential—I mean, only a small fraction of the population has truly important reasons for going by car—we could save 18 million barrels of oil daily,” Warner calculated. “We’d also reduce highway fatalities by around 35,000 a year. Our air would be cleaner. And we’d save billions by cutting back on roadway construction.”

Warner apologized for “not getting this brilliant idea sooner,” but expressed gratitude “for the high prices that have enabled me to finally see the light.”

[Chris_]

Anybody else thinking that all 535 of these assholes have been in the ****ing swamp waaaaay too ****ing long?

[Thor]

 

The good Senator seems to be clueless. Already, people are reducing the amount of travel they've been doing. I think the figure is travel is down some 10%. It will further reduce itself as people begin to not be able to afford the luxury of travel. My driving is restricted to and from work, some shopping (groceries and necessities), and maybe a trip to the pool to do some lap swimming. Of course, my beast isn't exactly "fuel efficient". I'm DEFINITELY not out cruising around, wasting gasoline.

CHICAGO -- American highways and byways could be considerably less crowded than usual this holiday weekend, with motorists staying closer to home or off the road altogether in response to soaring fuel prices, a survey released this week said.

About one-third of all Americans plan to travel this Memorial Day weekend, according to a new report from Deloitte & Touche, but nearly a quarter of them have changed plans due to the pinch at the pump and 12% have cancelled road trips altogether.

"There will still be a lot of people traveling," said Adam Weissenberg, vice chairman in charge of Deloitte's U.S. tourism, hospitality and leisure sectors. "But we have reached the point where people are starting to say, 'Gas is so expensive, I am just going to hang out at home.'"

He added that there were many predictions of similar attitudes when gas hit $3 a gallon and "it didn't seem to impact people significantly," while the current $4 level "seems to have done it."

The survey also found that 11% of respondents will be vacationing closer to home this weekend, with the average road trip expected to be 91 miles. The trend is a particularly acute among households with children under 13: While 39% say they plan to travel this weekend, 20% have cancelled their plans due to gas prices.

That may save consumers some money, but it will also likely put a hurt on a variety of businesses that serve the traveler. Service stations will suffer as they not only presumably sell less gas, but also fewer snacks, drinks and sundry items that make up large part of their profit.

Hotel chains, especially those with a heavy roadside presence like Intercontinental Hotel Group's (IHG: 12.65, -0.69, -5.17%) Holiday Inn and Choice Hotels International Inc. (CHH: 24.77, -0.80, -3.12%) brands like Comfort Inn and Econo Lodge.

"Up to now, the hotel industry hasn't been impacted much," Weissenberg said. "But we are going to start to see some softening, particularly in suburban locations."

Also under pressure are casual-dining chains that rely heavily on highway traffic, including Bob Evans (BOBE: 27.72, -0.93, -3.24%) , Cracker Barrel (CBRL: 20.85, -0.44, -2.06%) and Denny's (DENN: 2.56, +0.08, +3.22%) restaurants.

The Deloitte findings are rather more dire -- and recent -- than data put out by the American Automobile Association earlier this month. Two weeks ago, AAA said that about 360,000 fewer Americans, about 1% of last year's total, will travel over the weekend due to rising gas prices and airline fares.

Nearly 31.7 million Americans will travel by car, down 1% while 4.35 million plan to fly, a decrease of 0.5%. "The upcoming weekend should will tell us a good deal about how American's are reacting to the prospect of gasoline averaging $4 per gallon nationwide, and what gasoline demand will look like for the rest of the summer," said Geoff Sundstrom, a spokesman for AAA.

"The Memorial Day weekend is to convenience stores who sell gasoline what 'Black Friday' is to shopping mall-based retailers," he added. "It is a big volume weekend that sets the pace for sales through the rest of the season."

The price for a gallon of regular gasoline reached another record at $3.831 on Thursday, according to AAA's Daily Fuel Gauge Report. The price is up 9.1% from a month ago and 19% higher than a year ago.

In fact, prices records have been set consecutively from May 7 through May 22, according to AAA data. Prices began their latest record run at $3.6183 a gallon.

"If consumers are really going to cut back on their discretionary-fuel consumption due to high prices, this would be the time to do so," said Sundstrom. "The inventory and demand figures that follow a week or two later should tell a tale about whether energy demand in the United States aligns with the current price of oil."

[Chris_]

...Under Warner’s proposal all non-essential automobile travel would be banned. A “Bureau of Travel Permits” would be established within the Department of Transportation and charged with determining what travel would qualify as “essential.”

Preliminary discussions have indicated that travel by government officials would easily qualify as essential. Of course it would.  Most trips by private citizens are expected to be accomplished via public transit. And those of us that live in areas unserved by public transit would just be screwed then, I guess.  Carpools of five or more may be granted temporary permits subject to periodic audits of the participating members.

“Considering that about 90% of the travel is likely non-essential—I mean, only a small fraction of the population has truly important reasons for going by car—we could save 18 million barrels of oil daily,” Warner calculated. “We’d also reduce highway fatalities by around 35,000 a year. Our air would be cleaner. And we’d save billions by cutting back on roadway construction....

Who the **** is this retard to determine what is, and what isn't "essential travel"?

[Thor]

Man oh, man...... are we getting ever closer to a nanny state ?? Can we say "socialism" ??

[Chris_]

Under Warner’s proposal all non-essential automobile travel would be banned. A “Bureau of Travel Permits” would be established within the Department of Transportation and charged with determining what travel would qualify as “essential.”

"Papers please, comrade".    Commie.
Ya think that might put a little dent in the billions spent on tourism?  Idiot.
 

[Texacon]

This will never see the light of day.  This WOULD bring on the next revolution.  Who the hell is this asshat?

KC

[Chris_]

This will never see the light of day.  This WOULD bring on the next revolution.  Who the hell is this asshat?

KC

Senator John Warner (R-Virginia)

[Chris_]

This will never see the light of day.  This WOULD bring on the next revolution.  Who the hell is this asshat?

KC

Senator John Warner (R-Virginia)

RINO.

[Texacon]

This will never see the light of day.  This WOULD bring on the next revolution.  Who the hell is this asshat?

KC

Senator John Warner (R-Virginia)

Yeah, saw the R ..... doesn't mean much though.  Case in point;  Representative Ron Paul (R - TX).

Just thought someone from the VA area may have some info on this dude.

KC

[Chris_]

I find it quite illustrative that this turd was one of McLame's "Gang of 14".

Republicans
John McCain of Arizona
Lindsey Graham of South Carolina
John Warner of Virginia
Olympia Snowe of Maine
Susan Collins of Maine
Mike DeWine of Ohio (lost re-election in 2006)
Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island (lost re-election in 2006)

Democrats
Joe Lieberman of Connecticut
Robert Byrd of West Virginia
Ben Nelson of Nebraska
Mary Landrieu of Louisiana
Daniel Inouye of Hawaii
Mark Pryor of Arkansas
Ken Salazar of Colorado

Link

[Lord Undies]

This will never see the light of day.  This WOULD bring on the next revolution.  Who the hell is this asshat?

KC

Senator John Warner (R-Virginia)

John Warner is and always has been a liberal flake.  The 'R' after his name is about as descriptively honest as putting "Rev." before Jesse Jackson's name.

Remember, the good senator was married to Elizabeth "AIDS Ribbon" Taylor, FFS.  Thankfully, the old socialist is putting himself out to pasture after this term.

[Texacon]

This will never see the light of day.  This WOULD bring on the next revolution.  Who the hell is this asshat?

KC

Senator John Warner (R-Virginia)

John Warner is and always has been a liberal flake.  The 'R' after his name is about as descriptively honest as putting "Rev." before Jesse Jackson's name.

Remember, the good senator was married to Elizabeth "AIDS Ribbon" Taylor, FFS.  Thankfully, the old socialist is putting himself out to pasture after this term.

Thanks LU!  That splain's everything.

KC

[Peter3_1]

Warner is leaving office at least 2 election cycles too late. Idiot bozo that he is.

[DixieBelle]

Stroke?

Jeez....

VA has some real doozies representing us in D.C.

Thanks a pantload there Senator!

I wonder how many cars/SUVs/drivers/security personnel he has in his entourage? Of course that would be "essential travel" right??

edit to add: I can't find any other news outlet confirming that Sen. Warner said this.

This is what he did say on the floor -

http://warner.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=IssuesLegislation.FloorStatements&ContentRecord_id=08ab01cf-c0d6-b29e-3b4e-b05a81792833

Nothing about restricting travel or issuing permits. If he did say it outside of the Senate floor, I'd like to see it.

[Rebel]

Maybe TominTib pulled a shotgun on him again.

[DixieBelle]

LOL!!!!!!!!!!!

[rich_t]

And this MOONBAT is a Republican?

 

[Jim]

I'm not exactly sure when it happened but the old fart is full bore Altzheiners now.

I really thought this was an Onion spoof.

[Airwolf]

Ladies and gentlemen. This is proof positive of what happenes when a guest overstays their welcome.

[EastFacingNorth]

Uhm, folks are aware that this is satire, right?

Follow the link, it says so right in the byline.

Besides, the fact that this idea was quite literally ripped directly from the pages of "Atlas Shrugged" should have been sort of a giveaway.

[CactusCarlos]

Uhm, folks are aware that this is satire, right?

Follow the link, it says so right in the byline.

Besides, the fact that this idea was quite literally ripped directly from the pages of "Atlas Shrugged" should have been sort of a giveaway.

Honestly, no I didn't realize it was satire when I posted it.  Know what's scary, though?  In this day and age, something like this being said isn't so hard to believe. 

[DixieBelle]

I looked at the link and didn't catch that. Shows what I know!!!!

[JohnnyReb]

Uhm, folks are aware that this is satire, right?

Follow the link, it says so right in the byline.

Besides, the fact that this idea was quite literally ripped directly from the pages of "Atlas Shrugged" should have been sort of a giveaway.

Yeah,....well, some government DUmmies were already making lists of "essential automobile travel" to protect their liberal voting base.

1-18 miles round trip to welfare office.....twice weekly.=36
2-22 miles round trip to "free food for the poor"=22
3-11 miles one way to jail 4 times weekly to retrieve dependents=88
4-54 miles weekly to a WAL-MART where defendent is unknown to store personel=54
5-12 miles one way weekly to report to porole officer=24
6-18 miles round trip to nearest pawn shop=18
7-26 miles round trip to aluminum recycling center=26
8-118 miles weekly for beer and dope runs=118
9-200 misc. miles for entertainment and boota searches.=200

TOTAL- 586 miles per week of "essential automobile travel". Or 68 gallons of some form of petrol with 10 extra gallons if they drive a pre-1975 duce and a quarter Buick.

Working class, or those formerly known as "common taxpayers", will have to carpool, walk, hitchhike and/or commute as best they can on 4 gallons weekly. If they have ever owned an SUV, their ration will be cut by 2 gallons per week to make up for past abuse.

[Bluesuiter-Retired]

I sent an e-mail to his office when it first broke.

Anyone who has driven anywhere in Montana already knows how long it takes to get from one end of the state to the other, even with the speed limit at 75.  As it currently stands you spend nearly a full day driving either east-west or west-east.  With a 55 mph speed limit, travelers will have to think seriously about stopping at motel for the evening.

I told him - GO TO HELL!