Whooee! I see a lotta Canajun boogers are postin' up boog stories on the Conservatives sponsorship of a NASCAR racecar. I left a bigass comment over at Steve V's Far and Wide boog. I'm recyclin' that comment here.
You don't get converts by preachin' to the choir. NASCAR is big down in Merka with Red State Republicans. Canajuns, not so much. Green Canajuns, not at all.
Unlike the marginally enlightened bunch at the Indy 500, NASCAR has not embraced the concept or practice of using alternate fuels. That don't matter much since ethanol or E85 ain't really a solution or even a step in the right direction. Incredibly, 2007 is the first season for NASCAR to adopt unleaded gasoline.
The average NASCAR vehicle gets between 2 and 5 miles per US gallon. The average NASCAR weekend race emits 20-40 tons of CO2 into the atmosphere. Dozens of these events are being held every weekend 10 months of the year, mostly (but hardly exclusively) in the southern Merkan states.
The CPC is glorifying the waste of precious fossil fuel and endorsing the needless emission of tonnes of GHG's. At the same time, they're adopting the Merkan mentality that NASCAR is a popular "sport" that can be capitalized upon.
Those who really care about Mother Earth, don't go ga-ga over powerful gas-guzzlers racin' around a track for no other reason than sheer spectacle.
Motorized "sport" is anti-Earth.
That goes fer recreational ATV's, dirt bikes, Sunday drives in the family Hummer, speedboat races, lawn mower races and every other non-productive waste of fossil fuel.
The CPC showin' its true colours has opened the door for those really concerned about the environment. Now, the others parties can sponsor environmentally-friendly recreational activities and events.
If this don't blow up in Harpoon's face (even without the Bourque connection), then the opposition will have missed a golden opportunity to showcase who cares about green stuff and who gives lip service while they pour cash into GHG bad boys NASCAR.
I'm lookin' fer party endorsements and sponsorship of things like canoe races, sailboat races, solar-powered car races, footraces, bike races, swimmin' races, rowin' races. Maybe even chicken chariot races.
Almost anything'd be better than sponsorin' NASCAR, sez I.
JimBobby
15 comments:
Does the 20-40 tons number include all the people who drove to these things. The other deal with stock cars is that all the tracks are way out in the sticks. It takes forever to get to a race too because the roads are not sufficient for the kind of traffic being encountered. There's tons of idling and creeping around, it's worse than the 400 before a long weekend.
I didn't even know we had NASCAR in Canada and it's not like I expect the Cons to actually sprout "principles" any time soon so this sponsorship is just par for the course for that party of hypocrites.
Thankee fer chimin' in, DanFeller. Here's a link to my source on the 20-40 tons figure.
"Let’s start with NASCAR — after all, it’s is the second most-watched sport in America, after football. NASCAR race cars, like many of the ones driven at Beech Ridge, get between two and five miles per gallon of gasoline, and the average big NASCAR weekend, like those held at the New Hampshire International Speedway, guzzles up to 8000 gallons.
One gallon of gas equals 20 pounds of carbon dioxide, so that’s about 160,000 pounds of CO2 every weekend, 10 months of the year."
It would seem that the figure does not include the emissions generated by spectators who arrive in RV's and muscle car nascar wannabes.
The fact that NASCAR only quit using unleaded fuel this year is very telling. Lead pollution is positively linked to brain damage. How about them red state family folks draggin' the kiddies off to the track to ingest lead every weekend? How brain dead are teh ones who grew up on lead fumes and are now bigass NASCAR followers?
They put them race tracks out in the sticks on accounta the noise pollution would be intolerable fer city folks used to livin' beside the 401 and Gardiner Expy.
People go to car races hopin' to see a high speed and a spectacular crash. Watch the TV sports. All they show from car races is the crashes on accounta car race enthusiasts is ghouls who get a thrill from some idjit's bloody death while they poison the planet.
Didn't the Con's just come out big against street-racin'? Another facet to the mixed-message.
JB
JB
Well said!
Those NASCAR races mainly take place on ovals. All drivers can do is 'turn left'. Any attempt to turn hard right means that you crash along the wall.
Here's what (at least one of) the opposition parties should do.
Sponsor a curling team. And I mean that sincerely.
Curling isn't 'effete' or 'elitist'. Curlers are 'ordinary' hard-working Canadians.
TV ratings are almost as high as for NASCAR. Figures I've seen seem to indicate that viewership for major Briers and bonspiels in Canada is just a little below 5 million.
Plus, curlers love to party.
The opposition better 'hurry hard'.
Good point on the no right turns, Frankie.
Ma's got one of her four brothers who watches NASCAR on the TV. Whenever we're headed over there, the rest of us hope he ain't watchin' while we're there. It's irritatin' enough on TV. Bein' there in person, breathin' in all teh poisons and gettin' the noise at full volume, that'd be like torture fer most folks.
Tryin' to appeal to the lowest common denominator might be good polyticks but this is goin' lower than that. Just plain dumb.
I'm thinking their next move will be to sponsor a monster truck. Might as well go all the way!
Right as rain, CatnipGal. Diane Finley sez NASCAR people are CPC kinda people. monster truck people are probbly CPC people, too. Them monsters ride roughsdod over anything in their path, make a lotta noise, spew a lotta fumes and hot air but don't really serve any useful purpose.
Jim, I enjoyed your post. So I featured you in am opposing view from "Merica".
http://ccrnascar.blogspot.com/2007/06/blame-canada-nascar-haters-out.html
Next time, try to find a source that has a clue about what goes on with these races and these vehicles.
Thankee fer chimin' in, CCRfeller. I left a bigass comment over to yer boog. I don't reckon anybuddy likes it when somebuddy throws cold water on their favourite pastime.
Yer President has said in 3 consecutive SOTU addresses that yer country needs to get off of foreign oil. I'm wonderin' how NASCAR figgers it's helpin' the country do what GWB sez is so important.
I mentioned in my comment on yer boog that this whole thing fits into a Canadian political landscape that, for the most part, flies under the US press radar.
JB
Aren't they using some high-octane form of ethanol these days? That of course is big with pseudo-conservatives who like providing taxpayer dollars to the biofuels industry and don't care that it puts an added squeeze on consumers when they're "putting food on their families."
Indy 500 uses mostly ethanol. Nascar uses gasoline with ethanol added. 85% gas, I think.
Ethanol is not a green fuel when lifecycle production emissions are factored in. Ethanol is good for ADM, Monsanto and a few other big agra firms. Demand for ethanol has little to do with environment and lots to do with industry lobbying and the desire of America to free itself from dependence on foreign oil.
Yes, ethanol demand has already started pushing up food prices. Dairy prices are up with the price of cattle feed. Here in my neck o' the woods, the farmers are plantin' corn and makin' out good.
When called on the environmental aspect of this, Harper will spout something about how auto racing has enabled research at the very highest levels and has thus given us the most efficient cars for everyday use ever.
It's an embarrassing move anyway, which I sincerely hope will be widely seen as stupid and backfire.... POW!!
Great advice. In response to the NASCAR advertising, the Liberals should sponsor canoe races. Geez, why isn't a strategical genius like yourself already on the Liberal payroll?
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