Gas prices in Las Vegas are too high-Spring may be here-Many distrust cow meat supply-Vote for change=Vote for Nader.

click on image to enlargeEARLY SPRING IN LAS VEGAS?:

Here is a picture of blooms on L.E. Fant's miniature peach tree. The tree started blooming early this week, when our Las Vegas temperatures moderated. This little tree usually provides 20 or more delicious peaches. L.E. picks them when each one is ripe and succulent. Every one is relished by him and birds which beat L.E. to the harvest.

GAS PRICES ARE CRAZY IN LAS VEGAS and GETTING CRAZIER AS EACH DAY PASSES-HOW TO SAVE GAS:

Gas prices are making L.E. sick. He is even changing the oil in his vehicles to synthetic in the hope of greater gas mileage being realized through less friction in the engines. He has checked tire pressures, made sure tune up is up to date, drives more gently--all to see a gas consumption average (in the city) of less than 14 mpg on both vehicles (little A.C. used as yet either). As the subject vehicles are relatively heavy (approx. 5-6,000 lbs each) perhaps this gas mileage is as good as it gets. It appears that to really reduce one's gasoline costs one needs to leave the vehicles in the garage, or, at least plan journeys with care completing as many tasks as possible within each trip. This is all extremely tedious, yet L.E. shall make a serious attempt to do so.

SMART CAR NOW NOT A SMART CHOICE FOR L.E.

As regular readers may recall L.E. seriously considered purchasing a Smart Car. However, when its fuel economy figures were released, L.E. was disappointed. L.E. believes such a small, two seat car (with no room for "the dog" when two persons are in the car) should return greater economy than those shown in the latest EPA estimates for Smart Car, after all it carries little more than L.E.'s Vespa scooter which has admirable gas mileage. Also L.E. has had bad experiences with Mitsubishi (the folks that manufactured the "Zero" airplane) car engines (a Mitsubishi engine is apparently fitted in Smart Cars).

The Indian manufacturer Tata (purchaser of Jaguar/ Landrover?) and the maker of the "Nano" $2,500 four door mini-car, is likely to introduce a mini truck based neighborhood electric vehicle to the U.S. L.E. shall investigate its virtues. L.E. wonders why the $3,000 subsidy toward electric vehicle purchase was dropped? http://www.tatamotors.com/

L.E. is considering changing gas cards to one which provides a rebate for each expensive gallon purchased (his current Chevron card has such a feature for only a limited time). http://www.rewardscards.com/

INTERPRETATION OF L.E.'s COW MEAT SAFETY SURVEY:

The results of L.E.'s informal survey regarding confidence in the safety of our regular supplies of corn fed cow meat revealed (as expected) that many of us have concern which is likely raised by the many incidences of safety recalls of cow meat, each recall seemingly for larger amounts than the previous one. Only one respondent indicated that they were not concerned with the safety of cow meat and believes the current U.S.D.A. inspection process is sufficient. L.E. shall make further investigation and report. L.E. suggests one should read "The Omnivore's Dilemma" by Michael Pollan, in order to gain a background into the cow meat industry. Also viewing the movie "Fast Food Nation" may be insightful.

VOTE FOR CHANGE=A VOTE FOR NADER.

L.E. believes a vote for Nader may result in actual, positive, change for the benefit of citizens-not corporations (even if he is not elected). Ralph has a substantial record to prove his sincerity of purpose, whereas, others asking for your vote for their candidacy for change have little, if any, record of promoting or achieving meaningful change. Please take L.E.'s informal survey regarding this issue. http://www.votenader.org/

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