Who Says It’s Inelastic?

Has our oil consumption dropped to 2002 levels? We’ll see what effect it has on the economy. It has to be hurting tourism.

[Late morning update]

Paul Dietz mentions Bob Zubrin’s flex-fuel crusade in comments. It looks like both candidates may be on board with a mandate for this:

The really good news is that both Senators John McCain and Barak Obama have declared their support for the Open Fuel Standard that must be adopted to ensure that each of the roughly 17 million cars we buy in this country every year are Flexible Fuel Vehicles.

The Thirties Again?

Arthur Silber has concerns about the Obama cult:

People had better wake the hell up, and they had better study some history very damned fast. I have sometimes remarked, and I repeat the warning here, that the twentieth century was a nonstop train of horrors — yet in one sense, the most terrible and horrifying aspect of the twentieth century is that we learned absolutely nothing from it.

Among the horrors of the twentieth century were several notable leaders who initiated events that led to slaughter and destruction on an ungraspably monumental scale. These charismatic leaders evoked a response from their followers almost identical to that called forth by Obama. These leaders specialized in “personal stories of political conversion.” Doesn’t anyone see the connection? Doesn’t anyone remember any of this?

Biting Commentary about Infinity…and Beyond!