Letters to the editor, April 23, 2008

Highways can handle big cars

I laughed myself sick while reading the April 11 letter to the editor from, two obviously very young and clueless Damien Newton and Frederick Dennstedt, claiming that “ when the California highways were built, the engineers weren’t counting on the number or size of Explores and Hummers” on the road.

In reality, when the highways were designed and built, they were designed for what most people drove in those days, big Desotos, Chryslers, Mercury’s, and other huge cars that you could put your entire family into and take for an outing safely as opposed to the deathtrap little cars of today that require loading the family into two of them for the same outing. Obviously driving two of them removes any savings of driving one large car. Also, in 1956, Congress passed the “National System of Interstate and Defense Highways” bill under the theory that our highways should be able to carry Army convoys with military equipment in case of an attack during the Cold War. Obviously this military equipment that the highways were designed for is much heavier and smog producing than a Hummer or Explores. Perhaps these highways were not designed for the estimated 12 million to 20 million illegal aliens that the Los Angeles Mayor encourages them to use illegally.

Now along comes these two children to state that drivers of large vehicles should be charged extra for using our roads is the most reasonable solution to our transportation woes. Big cars cost more to purchase and operate, hence more sales tax and gasoline tax. Therefore, we are already paying more. Maybe a more reasonable solution would be to use that money for its intended purposes (transportation) instead of funding every social program that the liberals can think of.

As for the global warming side of their nonsensical letter. Look at your heating bill and you will see that during the winter of last year compared to this year there has been a two degree drop in average temperature. The whole global warming hoax is about getting more tax dollars. In a few years when the earth goes through a cooling cycle and Al Gore is questioned about it, he will respond, “It is only cooling now because of all the ‘earth saving measures’ that I invented.”

The bottom line is folks; gasoline prices will never go down as long as there is state and federal tax on it. I intend to keep driving the biggest SUV I can find just to keep my family comfortable and safe and of course to irritate environmentalists. And I am not going to switch from my Idle Spurs prime rib, Steer and Stein steaks, or Del Taco burritos in favor of tofu sandwiches and if I only live to be 90 instead of 91, so be it. I’m enjoying life and I hope you’ll join me.

Nick Benson
Barstow