Of All Gas Consumers, Bush May Be Most

[dubyaD40web]

Of All Gas Consumers, Bush May Be Most
Wednesday August 24, 2005 7:46 PM
By JENNIFER LOVEN
Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) - Getting President Bush from here to there consumes an enormous amount of fuel, whether he's aboard Air Force One, riding in a helicopter or on the ground in a heavily armored limousine. The bill gets steeper every day as the White House is rocked by the same energy prices as regular drivers.

Taxpayers still foot the bill.

Almost every vehicle Bush uses is custom-made to add security and communications capabilities, and the heavier weight of these guzzlers further drives up gas and jet fuel costs.

The White House declines to discuss travel costs related to the presidential entourage, and did not respond to a request for the overall effect of higher fuel prices on its budget.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uslatest/story/0,1282,-5230894,00.html

[joeunderdog]

1. Well, they knew it cost $12,000 for a (phantom) Clinton haircut.

Bush believes in a platform of "consumption" and says that conservation is "unamerican." Looks like he practices what he preaches ...in this one particular example, anyway.

[beltanefauve]

2. This is nothing new

This is not "news". I find it interesting that the media is making mention of this now.
Is the tide turning? "cause this is hardly a "Rah-rah Bush" story.

[The White Tree]

9. While not new it still contains an angle for crticism of the President

considering how often he is away from the White House on vacation.

Oil just hit $67 a barrel and he went from one vacation spot to a second all at cost to taxpayers I think.

Perhaps with the high price of oil and cost of transportation someone could suggest to Mr. P that nows not the time to be spending a lot of the taxpayers money vacationing.

I am serious about this. I was flipping around the TV and caught Bill Mahers show last night and one of the conservative apologists for Bush actually said in answer to the question of whether the President takes to many vacations something along the lines of, "It's good that he does, too many American's don't know how to relax and he is setting a good example for them"

How's that for being out of touch?

[Daphne08]

13. "..."too many taxpayers don't know HOW to relax?..."

That is beyond insulting! :grr:

[UpInArms]

16. a new variation of "Let them eat cake!"

How compassionate! :sarcasm:

[kestrel91316]

21. I'm still advocating for the French solution:

Liberal application of guillotines to these people's necks.

[habitual]

3. take away his vehicles

and make him ride his beloved bicycle everywhere he wants to go...

[mccoyn]

8. Or ride the bus! -nt

[Sydnie]

4. It was reported during the Schiavo fiasco that it cost

$40,000 for his flight back to Washington from Texas. Now he's out flying all over the place on our $$ while on "vacation". Add together all the flights we paid for during the campaign, much less all the added security costs for those trips, and he has cost us a pretty penny already.

[northzax]

19. a lot more than 40,000

I hear AF1 costs 25-30 grand an hour to operate, not to mention the escort planes. that flgiht cost the taxpayers 100,000, easy.

[bluestateguy]

5. Jimmy Carter put solar panels on the White House

But Reagan ripped them out months after taking office.

[SaveAmerica]

6. I didn't know that; that's a) childish b) wasteful (on many levels)

[htuttle]

7. Well, that sort of sums up Reagan's presidency, doesn't it?

a) Childish
b) Wasteful

[underthedome]

11. What was the excuse?

Isn't the cost with Solar Panels installing them?

[htuttle]

14. I think it was because it was Morning in America

Or something like that.

Didn't make sense to me back then, either.

:shrug:

[Gregorian]

10. A single 747 takeoff---5000 gallons.

Of course, Air Farce One weighs in less than a fully loaded passenger 747. But...you get the idea.


It's the war that used gas on a level one can hardly imagine. My guess is a billion gallons. Just a fairly wild guess.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

12. Call me skeptical.

That number seems inordinately high just for a take-off. That would mean that it costs an airline $10,000+ in fuel just to leave the airport.

Got a linkie?

[Gregorian]

18. You can Google it. It's fairly common info.

A jet is like being in a boat with a load of weights in it. Sitting in the boat, and throwing the weights will move the boat. Jets take fuel and use it to simply speed up the air. It takes a hell of a lot of air to move a heavy plane up to liftoff speed.

A 747 can carry over 50,000 gallons of fuel!
It weighs over a half million pounds!
It can use over 500 gallons just taxiing!

Here's just one link that makes the same statment I did about fuel use-

Well, that link doesn't open. So just look at the first search item, and read what's there.

http://www.google.com/search?num=100&hl=en&lr=&safe=off&q=747+gallons+fuel+takeoff&btnG=Search

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

20. That didn't do it for me.

Got something better?

[Gregorian]

22. Well, I found something else that's interesting.

The takeoff number in gallons is not so easy to pin down. And I believe it's compounded by the definition of takeoff. Is it the moment it leaves the ground, or is it when the throttle is backed off for steady state flight. That's my own question. But doing a few calculations, I can see the number isn't far from the one I posted. However, after searching a while I found this really interesting article. It addresses fuel consumption as well as something I've wondered about for years. I also studied turbine engines while in engineering school. And not unlike any internal combustion engine, stoichiometry is frightening. The amount of air that runs through an engine is staggering. Our poor planet.

http://www.earthisland.org/eijournal/new_articles.cfm?articleID=219&journalID=47

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

24. Close.

According to Department of Transportation figures, flying a Boeing 747-400 from Washington, DC to San Francisco burns 17,232 gallons of jet fuel. (Fuel efficiency: 6.7 mpg).

I guess it's conceivable that a third of it is for take-off and levelling.

:wow:

[struggle4progress]

15. Wow! Money out the wazzoo so he can dirt bike in Idaho ..

.. in order to avoid Cindy ...

[despairing optimist]

17. But there's no doubt that Bush produces the most gas

With every word he utters, no fouler odors have ever been emitted by mankind.

[burrowowl]

23. Yes! We taxpayers

foot the bill when it is the Republican Party that should foot the bill since his trips are political, people are screened to get into his speech areas! Not everybody can get into his events!
Even we charge the GOP, we the taxpayers will stil be screwed: they won't pay and if they do it will be at cheap rates.

IMPEACH THE FUCKTARD!