[Newspoetry] "I don't want every American to have to drive this car"
Editor-Within-Chief
futrelle at shout.net
Wed Mar 13 13:00:53 CST 2002
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Senate rejected tough new automobile fuel economy
requirements Wednesday amid sharp disagreement over safety and whether the
new standard would force ``soccer moms'' to abandon their SUVs and minivans.
``I don't want every American to have to drive this car,'' declared
Minority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss., pointing to picture of a two-seater,
bubble-like subcompact. He said the fuel economy rules amounted to the
government mandating consumer choice.
Then, he displayed a picture of the car with two people in it, followed by
a picture of the car with around 10 people in it, followed by a picture of
the car with 25 people crammed into it, their contorted bodies twisted into
a maze of interlocking arms, legs, and torsos. ``Can you imagine what it
would be like if we tried to fit 10 million times this many people into
this subcompact car?'' he continued. ``This car doesn't have that kind of
capacity. It'll literally explode.''
Lott went on to describe new ``clown car'' technology that will make
high-capacity vehicles possible by 2013. A ``clown car'' vehicle capable
of carrying 280 million simultaneous drivers would only need to be the size
of Central Park, whereas a similar vehicle built with today's technology
would be nearly the size of Rhode Island. Lott's plan adds $230 million
worth of funding and tax credits for clown car research.
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/business/AP-Fuel-Economy.html
--
Joe Futrelle
editor-within-chief
http://www.newspoetry.com/
More information about the Newspoetry
mailing list