What Would You Drive, if the Taxpayers Paid?

[ZenKitty]

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/01/nyregion/01cars.html?ref=us

I consider myself quite aware of what is going on in our nation's capitol. This caught me by surprise. No wonder that EVERYONE in Washington is in no rush to solve the gas/oil crisis. Makes me sick.

:grr:

[babylonsister]

1. More, and holy shit! This is so beyond my ken, too:

What Would You Drive, if the Taxpayers Paid?


By RAYMOND HERNANDEZ
Published: May 1, 2008


Representative Anthony D. Weiner, Democrat of Brooklyn and Queens, drives a 2008 Chevrolet Impala, leased for $219 a month. Representative Michael R. McNulty, a Democrat from the Albany area, gets around in a 2007 Mercury Mariner hybrid, a sport utility vehicle, for $816 a month.

“It gets a little better than 25 miles a gallon,” Mr. McNulty said.

Charles B. Rangel, the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, is not so caught up in the question of gas mileage. He leases a 2004 Cadillac DeVille for $777.54 a month. The car is 17 feet long with a 300-horsepower engine and seats five comfortably.

“It’s one of the bigger Cadillacs,” Mr. Rangel, of Harlem, said cheerfully this week. “I’ve got a desk in it. It’s like an airplane.”

Modest or more luxurious, the cars are all paid for by taxpayers. The use of a car — gas included — is one of the benefits of being a member of the House of Representatives.

There are few restrictions on what kind of car the members can choose, and there is no limit on how much they can spend. But the benefit can be politically sensitive, given the growing concerns about automobile emissions and an economy that has left many people struggling to pay for the rapidly rising cost of gas, which was averaging $3.63 a gallon nationwide earlier this week.

more...

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/01/nyregion/01cars.html?_r=1&ref=us&oref=slogin

[Fumesucker]

2. There are just so many Heinlein quotes that fit various situations..

"In a mature society, 'civil servant' is semantically equal to 'civil master.'" -Heinlein

[Sanctified]

3. I would drive a Bradley. n/t

[Darkseid69]

4. I would drive....

an F-22 Raptor. Cut down on the commute time immensely.

[girl gone mad]

16. Seen them at a couple of different air shows...

talk about a sweet ride... :)

[raebrek]

18. But it would be difficult to find parking at work. n/t

[mikeytherat]

20. With a 20mm cannon and two Sidewinders on board

no one takes your parking space. NO ONE.

mikey_the_rat

[KSinTX]

5. The shocker to me is that Rangel's 2004 Cadillac DeVille

with its 17 feet of length and 300-horsepower engine is $777.54 while McNulty's 2007 Mercury Mariner sport utility vehicle costs $816 a month and it's a hybrid! Gas mileage is about 18 MPG which isn't all that different than 25. Can you spell W-A-S-T-E?

[Canuckistanian]

6. A spike through Dick Cheney's black heart

Well, you asked.

[orleans]

7. ooh. i like that option for driving. n/t

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

8. My favorite car

Renault Alpine A110. Extremely light with a fiberglass monocoque body and one of the best handling sports cars ever built. Porsches couldn't touch it on mountain roads because of its incredible handling capabilities. Unfortunately, because these 60s classics are so expensive now, I couldn't possibly afford it unless someone else financed it.

[DesertFlower]

9. i would drive what i'm driving now,

a mazda miata. good gas mileage and a nice little sports car. i love it.

[ZenKitty]

10. I appreciate the humor...sort of

Seriously, doesn't this sort of thing piss you off? It is just so wrong on such a basic level. Those cats are up there holding hearing after hearing trying to find a way to solve the energy crisis. It's just so hypocritical.

I'm trying to find a complete list of those in congress partaking in this "perk".

[ColbertWatcher]

11. I hope this doesn't divert attention from the CEO's obscene salaries...

...or is used as an excuse to start drilling in ANWR.

Just because the oil companies will do anything to maintain these high prices until right before the election when a drop in gas prices will benefit the party that allows them unlimited and unregulated price manipulation.

So fuck the the oil companies and all their fear, uncertainty and doubt. The car service driving my congressman around does the best they can with what they have.

The oil companies, on the other hand, are manipulating the market and prices beyond whatever their lobbyists are doing to our representatives, who I can hold accountable through elections. The GOP White House, Department of Justice, NSA, etc., however, seem to be working for the oil industry and have altered American law to keep CEOs safe from scrutiny.

Nationalizing America's oil infrastructure would solve this problem.

[ruby slippers]

14. ANWR is really needed to power the weather modification satellites....

not for cheap oil. Read Eastlund Scientific and you will see why....

[Faux pas]

12. If I was spending someone else's money, I'd ride a bike....

but that's just me.

[ruby slippers]

13. almost like Hillary's faulty photo op of the big truck gas-up followed by

8 SUV Secret Service vehicles at 8 mpg.....

She should have drove a Prius to the pump and pumped it herself, followed by Secret Service on bicycles or donkeys....

[and-justice-for-all]

15. That is obscene...

If WE are paying for all of that:
"Not only does the federal government pick up the cost of the lease and the gas, but also general maintenance, insurance, registration fees and excess mileage charges. The perk itself may draw heightened attention in the coming weeks as members of Congress consider proposals to address gas prices, including one to suspend temporarily the federal excise tax on gasoline, 18.4 cents a gallon."

Then we should decide what they can drive. Just like we should be telling bigAuto to take their Earth destroyers and shove'em up their ass!

[Solly Mack]

17. Yeah...they feel our pain..and then spend our money to feel better about it

I got a snicker here:

"In 2007, the House adopted a rule requiring members to choose cars from a list of low-emissions vehicles approved by the Environmental Protection Agency"


Would that be Bush's EPA?



“I’m not going to judge another member’s decision,”

LMAO


"...saying he was worried that a story about members’ cars could be “distorted” or negative."


ROFLMAO. Seriously?


"Mr. Rangel said he frequently offers rides to constituents so they can discuss their concerns in the luxurious confines of his DeVille.

“I want them to feel that they are somebody and their congressman is somebody,” Mr. Rangel explained. “And when they say, ‘This is nice,’ it feels good.”"

WOW

feel like somebody in a big fancy car...feel like that you're not only special but the guy giving you a ride in his car that you paid for is also special..and it's really worth it all f you talk about how nice it is

ROFLMAOPIMP


Why didn't the House Dems. just shoot themselves? Oh wait, they did...

lololololololol

[mikeytherat]

21. I want my congressperson to be someone...who gets the damn job done!

Jeebus H. Christ, Charlie. You want your constituents to feel like their congressman is "somebody?" Are you still in f**king high school or something?

mikey_the_rat

[trof]

19. Notice all the examples of Democrats and high priced cars?

And the repugs are mainly the 'good guys' downsizing?
I call biased bullshit.

[cayuga]

22. Of course this is propaganda

It's absurd that only Dems are abusers. But this is the way the government operatives work...they get their talking points of the day and spew their twisted half-truths across the land. Fox has been told to pick up on this today.