Weapons of Mass Destruction
President Bush Bush 
had a case when he wanted to
find,disable and destroy the infamous Weapons of Mass Destruction
(WoMD). After all, nobody in this world needs these
devices. Bush, seeing his presidency lack a compelling theme,
seized the opportunity and became the lone ranger in search of justice
and peace.
had a case when he wanted to
find,disable and destroy the infamous Weapons of Mass Destruction
(WoMD). After all, nobody in this world needs these
devices. Bush, seeing his presidency lack a compelling theme,
seized the opportunity and became the lone ranger in search of justice
and peace. But what constitutes a WoMD ? And why was Bush looking in the Arabian Desert to find them? The whole world told him that they weren't there. Saddam Hussein was an evil dictator, but he didn't have them.
No, Bush should have looked in his own country. There are plenty WoMD there. And it is not hard to find them !
The Sport Utility Vehicle or SUV
Many Americans actually drive a Weapon of Mass Destruction! They call it a Sports Utility Vehicle or SUV. The name has got nothing to do with the real thing - it isn't sporty and not much of a utility either. what it is, is a vehicle of preposterous dimensions.
For those of you who have never been in the USA, I'll try to explain the hype. A SUV is loosely based on vehicles used in rough terrain. Fact is, many SUVs have lost the ability to be driven offroad. That fact is entirely lost on people buying them, since 95% never venture off the paved road anyway. SUVs are also much more luxurious than your standard bush vehicle. In many cases, the suspension is 'softened' to adapt to the not so tough driver - not something you would want when going offroad.
SUVs perform the same tasks as any other personal car in America. they used for shoppings trips to the Mall (another megalomane American invention) or bringing children to school.
Why do people drive them ?
So why do people need monsters like
to perform such basic tasks?
They :
- are unsafe.
- are uneconomical.
- contribute disproportionally to global warming .
This is, of course, stupid utter nonsense ! If you really want to be a tough bloke, go drive a
a
real bigh vehicle! More reasons to hate SUVs
When I ride my bicycle, my chances of surviving a collision with an anomaly like an SUV are 8 times lower than in a collision with a standard car. This is because as a pedestrian or bicyclist, I will end up under the vehicle instead of on top of it.SUVs clog cities, block the views of other drivers and have a tendency to flip over when changing direction suddenly. They are unsafe to drive or to be near to.
Normal passenger cars need a certain efficiency and pollution qualification. SUVs can by-pass these standards through a loophole in the law in the United States. It is outrageous that nobody has closed this loophole, although it has been known for many years to exist.
These vehicles are the summit of bad engineering, bad economics and bad safety.
Relief is on the way
Due to extreme demand and diminishing production , oil is officially on the way out. The first victims of skyrocketing fuel prices are the SUVs. General Motors and Ford, car manufacturers who swamped the world with their crappy SUVs (remember the overturning Explorers ?) the last five years, can now no longer sell them and their status on the stock market has been reduced to junk bond.The demise of the SUV first and the internal combustion engine later will make this world a better place. Let's hope we get there soon.