Hybrid Vehicles and Radio Talk Show

Hi Everyone:

Today's topic might seem to be a continuation of last weeks blog but with a twist. Today's blog was triggered by something that I had just read and I feel a need to talk about it. I just read an AOL news article about something that Rush Limbaugh recently said on his radio program. FYI, I have not ever listened to his radio show, but it is my understanding that millions and millions of people do listen. Therefore it is safe to presume that when he says something, there are a lot of people who believe him, be it good or bad.

Rush Limbaugh said this about hybrid vehicles: "Nobody's buying them. Nobody wants them! The manufacturers are making them in droves to satisfy Obama! Sorry for yelling. Nobody wants them!" That is quite a statement!!!

Let's look at some facts. Toyota on its own has sold over 1,000,000 Prius hybrids since 1999, when they first became available. Edmunds' Green Car Advisor, per the AOL article, points out that 1.3 million hybrid vehicles have been sold in this country since 1999. It is obvious that the year 1999 was 10 years before President Obama took office.

It is also obvious that Americans do want and do buy hybrid vehicles, otherwise 1.3 million of them would not have been sold. I have heard and read that there are a lot of people who believe that there is no such thing as global warming and hence no need for hybrid cars. Let's put that argument aside for a moment. An undisputed fact is that this country increasingly imports more and more oil with each passing year from foreign countries (some of which are not our "friends"). Doing so does not and will not make us energy independent. If we do not become energy independent, this country will always be beholden to foreign countries that can and will dictate price and availability. This amongst itself affects our country's national security.

We have all recently learned that Honda is now ready to introduce its new Insight hybrid at a cost of about $20,000. That is $3,000 less then the Prius. Let the price wars finally commence and may the buying public, our environment and reducing our dependence on foreign oil be the winners. It is unfortunate that the big 3 are still behind the eight ball and are now beginning to try to play catch up, (see last weeks blog).

Although I agree that hybrid vehicles are a good start, they still use gasoline and the batteries do not last as long as the car itself. In addition, the electric only cars are also a good start, but you need to plug them in to recharge their batteries. There are still an abundance of power plants that use fossil fuels to produce electricity. I personally believe that hydrogen fuel cell vehicles will be the wave of the future. Hydrogen fuel cell vehicles don't use any fossil fuels and produce no harmful emissions, which is called zero emissions. All in all, we are in the infancy of beginning to wean ourselves off of foreign oil, thank goodness!

Now getting back to what Rush Limbaugh said. I am a firm believer that everyone is entitled to his or her own opinion, but the listening public must use common sense to distinguish between what people say as fact and what they say as entertainment. If what he said about hybrid vehicles was meant for entertainment purposes and he said so, then that is fine. Sometimes even saying something as a joke (without using any common sense) on the radio for entertainment purposes can backfire and get you fired, remember Don Imus? But, if what he said was intended as a statement of fact, then Mr. Limbaugh was dead wrong, because the facts don't support him. People in a position of being able to speak to a large audience of people should and must use common sense before opening their mouths.

Thanks for reading. I will be back April 19th. Talk to you then.