IWA For Sunday 011809

More evidence that the Extreme Left Loons are nothing but show.

Hey folks,

Once again, I have to point out the obvious. I have to explain WHY I call them the LWL {Left Wing Loonies} It's right there in front of you. All you have to do is look. All you have to do is pay attention. Just spend a little time watching these Idiots, and you will see that they are kooks. More importantly, they are LIARS. They are nothing but show.

It's Sunday. It's time for the IWA. This weeks winner is a NEW Showman. Some may even call him a scam artist. Some would call him a hypocrite. I just call him the Idiot of the Week. His name? Eric Massa.

So this guy want to show he cares about the environment. So he want to show up in a Enviro Friendly Car. Problem is, he doesn't OWN one. {Laughing} So he decides to BORROW one from GM. Problem Two, it will not make it from NY to Washington. Sorry folks, but if a car can not make it past 200 miles, it is nothing but a piece of garbage to me. So he has to use TWO. Both cars are TOWED, by SUVs for him to drive, then driven BACK by SUVs {Laughing} I guess he really showed the Kooks he cares. Here is a piece by Kennedy Maize over at Power Mag - New congressman defines ‘poser’ and ‘poseur’

Can you spell “poser?” Here’s my offering: “Eric Massa (D-N.Y.)”

Massa, newly elected Congressman from New York’s 29th district (that’s Corning, the glass folks), showed up in Washington earlier this week to be sworn in as a member of the House of Representatives in the 111th Congress, having arrived in the city driving a Chevy Equinox, an experimental fuel-cell vehicle fueled by hydrogen.

Nice. No emissions. Not exactly.

GM builds the fuel cell stacks in Massa’s district, and he was determined to show off the pride of his homeland at the Capitol. Photo op resulted: Massa and GM executive Monica Murphy refueling the car in D.C. Massa told the New York Times, “I have asked to drive this vehicle to Washington to demonstrate that this technology is real, it’s here and we are going to work to make sure it’s ready for the American people within a decade.”

TEN YEARS folks.

But Massa didn’t drive the vehicle from Corning, N.Y., to the District of Columbia, a distance of about 280 miles. Rather, he drove two different vehicles on his magical hydrogen trip.

It seems that the Equinox can only get about 200 miles on a tank of H. And it also seems that there are no hydrogen refueling stations between Corning and D.C. A GM spokeswoman told the Times that the answer to how to get from Corning to Washington on hydrogen was two vehicles, with a second car waiting for the congressman-elect in Harrisburg, Pa., somewhat more than halfway.

GM’s Markey told the newspaper that GM used two Chevy Tahoe hybrid pickups as towing vehicles. One towed the first H-mobile from the New York plant in Honeoye Falls some 90 miles to the launch site in Corning. The other towed a second Equinox from D.C. to Harrisburg, another 120-some miles. So the pickup trucks put at least 210 miles on their odometers staging a 280-mile, two-vehicle gasoline-free hydrogen trip.

According to GM, the Tahoe hybrids get about 20 miles per gallon, and less when towing a load. That works out to at least 10.5 gallons of gasoline for the trucks (not counting any kind of return trip) or about $21 dollars (with gasoline at $2/gallon).

So Massa’s green hydrogen trip probably would have been greener had he simply driven a new Chevy Cobalt XFE from Corning to the Capitol. According to U.S. government calculations, that Cobalt gets about 36 mpg in highway driving, meaning Massa would have spent less than $16 dollars to fuel up for the trip, and wouldn’t have had to stop to refuel.

For those troubled about global warming, Massa’s political stunt produced more, not less, carbon emissions, because of the tow trucks. The headline on the NYT blog was on the money: “At Least He Didn’t Take a Private Jet.”

My ancient Webster’s dictionary defines “poser” as “one who poses.” Another identifier also applies to Massa: “poseur.” My dictionary says this is “an affected or insincere person.” If the shoes fit….

And it does. Here is the Time's piece

NYT - At Least He Didn’t Take a Private Jet

On Tuesday, the 111th Congress opened amid the hullabaloo of Roland Burris being barred from taking the Senate seat that was vacated by President-elect Barack Obama.

There were more than 50 new members of Congress sworn in during the session, including Eric Massa, Democrat of the 29th District in New York, who rolled up to the Capitol in a Chevrolet Equinox Fuel Cell vehicle.

Mr. Massa had driven the Equinox from his hometown, Corning, down to Washington without using a drop of gasoline or producing any emissions — at least that was supposed to be the message. General Motors builds the fuel-cell stacks that go into the Equinox in Honeoye Falls, right in his district. And it was during a tour of the facility that he came up with the idea of taking a fuel-cell vehicle to Capitol Hill.

“I have asked to drive this vehicle to Washington to demonstrate that this technology is real, it’s here and we are going to work to make sure it’s ready for the American people within a decade,” he said in a news release.

But was the trip as green as the photo suggests?

{Laughing, banging hand on desk} I love this guy.

Not really. The range of the Equinox Fuel Cell vehicle is about 200 miles, according to G.M., and the distance from Corning to Washington is roughly 280 miles, which means Mr. Massa would have had to refill the tank with hydrogen somewhere along the way — but there are no hydrogen stations on the most direct route from Corning to Washington.

The solution: two Equinoxes.

Carolyn Markey, a G.M. spokeswoman, said Mr. Massa drove one Equinox from Corning to Harrisburg, Pa., where a second Equinox was waiting for him. He then drove it to Washington, where the above photo was snapped.

In order to deliver and retrieve the Equinox Fuel Cell vehicles, Ms. Markey said, two Chevrolet Tahoe Hybrid S.U.V.’s were used as tow vehicles: one to tow the first Equinox back up to Honeoye Falls, and another to tow the second Equinox, which originated in Washington, up to Harrisburg for the trip back down. So essentially, the entire 280-mile trip was also made by a Tahoe Hybrid, which gets about 20 miles a gallon on the highway. Towing another S.U.V. lowers that gas mileage.

So the trip wasn’t exactly emissions-free or gas-free. But that was all part of the plan, according to both Ms. Markey and Mr. Massa, who say that the trip was also supposed to emphasize the need for more hydrogen infrastructure.

{Sigh}

Congratulations Mr. Massa, you ARE the Idiot of the Week. But do not worry, you'll fit in nicely with the rest of the Loons.
Peter

Sources:
Power Mag - New congressman defines ‘poser’ and ‘poseur’
NYT - At Least He Didn’t Take a Private Jet