There's something of a pattern here, which isn't just about making fun of yuppies.

I remember years ago, Rush Limbaugh basically saying that environmentalists and anybody that tries to do anything for anybody other than themselves was basically doing it to feel better about themselves; clearly a desperate ploy to feel superior. The concept of any kind of actual altruism is so beyond the Conservative mind that doing something decent for the planet, your neighbors, the common good etc. must be attacked.

To stop wasting plastic, supporting more organic agriculture, supporting mass transit and driving a Prius are clearly arrogant, elitist things to do designed to help our poor weedle egos, right? ( BTW, since when was a Prius a status symbol? A full-size pickup costs more, and until the last year was the best selling car in America for about two decades. An "elitist" Chevy Malibu costs roughly the same as a comparable Prius, when you can get one. Why are people attacking this car? Trying to get back at this ecological, miserly bastard for making so much freakin' sense?)

So now people who are only trying to waste and consume less are being made fun of, being labeled as effete snobs, like they're roaming around attacking anybody who doesn't live like they do. I think I've somehow missed all these obnoxious people infiltrating decent people's lives. What, are there packs of hemp-wearing dudes in sandals, attacking your Cherokee with the Jeff Gordon sticker and beating it senseless with their Sigg bottles? Obviously, you have to fight back. "Look at that chic in the Civic Hybrid with the cotton grocery bag. What a stuck-up bitch." Hey, tough guy. She's a nun. Back off.

I sense that the author of this book and those that love his hilarious scribblings are basically so desperate to look down on somebody that they're not just playing the dozens in a lighthearted way with some Mac users at Starbucks. It goes deeper than that. It's not only attacking the motives and morality of folks who aren't doing anything but trying to live better and smarter; at its heart they're trying to say it's laudable to live like nothing matters but you. The consumptive life is righteous, the efficient life is not. It's a Conservative thing.

What's funny to me is, most of us who are doing our best to live a sensible, low-impact life (and we come in every race, creed, sex and economic class out there) don't give a rat's ass what the Landers of the world think about us. Hey, if his stuff was actually funny or in it's way passionate or clever (like the late George Carlin ripping into tree huggers, where he actually has some intellect behind it) I could laugh along with it and appreciate the "satire." But there's something between the lines of this observational humor that screams of desperation, of a need to make fun of something that you know may actually be decent at its heart. It's just sad. Grow up.

Another excellent post. You're absolutely on target, and once again has exposed the crap that fuels uninformed debate. And anybody that doesn't believe that the price of oil isn't unduly influenced by speculation is not paying attention.

It's scary that so many think if we drill offshore/ANWAR things will change. It's all really sad, and yet another example of why this country is in the deepest of deep doo-doo. America is fueled by ignorance; if only it could feed our SUVs.

I love all this flex fuel rhetoric. Ethanol is a fair fuel additive but a lousy fuel and you have to burn a lot more of it compared with an equivalent amount of gasoline. There's no way we can make enough of it anyway, and to overhaul our infrastructure to use it would be incredibly costly and a waste of money. Carmakers (especially GM) love calling ethanol green because it costs very little to make a car E85 compatible. It's huge step sideways though in terms of both environmental conservation and reducing oil dependency. It never hurts to make the car able to run on ETOH, but it is not an answer to anything. If you live in the midwest, OK, fine. But the rest of the country? No way.

What we need now is better public transportation infrastructure, and hybrids are a great answer until we get electric vehicles sorted out. Biodiesel, especially the stuff derived from wast oil products is also a real solution now that we have clean diesel technology. Older diesels do really nasty stuff to the air in terms of particulates especially.

There are a lot of people posting on this subject who don't have a clue what they're talking about, especially the author of the original piece. The oil companies and Japanese auto makers are stopping ethanol from reaching the coasts? That's hilarious. Brazil uses ethanol because they have so much sugar cane available, and it makes sense there. There are many other factors down there as well. We will be still very dependent on petroleum for many years; we need to do three things: conserve, conserve, conserve. Every city in this country need good light rail and it would create a lot of jobs as well.