Obama says "Yes, we can" to hybrid Hummers
Leading presidential candidate Barack Obama earmarked $1 million for research on turning Hummers into hybrids. The earmark money will go to the Illinois Institute of Technology (Obama just happens to be the senator from Illinois) for the development of a cost-effective hybrid conversion kit. These kits could turn the army's gas guzzling Humvees into fuel efficient hybrids and would be a real endorsement for hybrid conversion in general.
The military is very interested in electric power trains because they offer many advantages on the battlefield like shorter supply lines and quiet operation. Obama has also been a very big supporter of hybrids even calling for every single government car to be a plug-in hybrid when it becomes possible. While, technically, GM can hybridize their Hummers and celebrities like Paris Hilton are willing to voice support for such a plan, GM probably won't make a hybrid Hummer.
[Source: Wired News, ABC News]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Wildgoosechase73 4:36PM (3/15/2008)
As long the additional batteries and drivetrain do not lessen performance or durabilty that's great. Most likely it will affect it's off road prowess which is fine for Arnolds Hummers but our military's HUMMVEE cannot afford that loss.
In short "uh, good luck with that"
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CC 5:00PM (3/15/2008)
Do not think Obama in the end will be the next president once his past comes to full light.
A waste to spend money that a private Co.->GM Should be spending on there own.
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snakesausage 7:13PM (3/15/2008)
Pork, pork, pork, pork, pork, pork, pork, pork, pork, pork, pork, pork, pork, pork, pork, pork, pork, pork, pork, pork, pork, with a side ear marks.
I am no fan of McCain but if I can convince myself that he will do what he promises, which is veto any bill with earmarks, I will vote for him. Actually, I do not care about any other attributes that a candidate has, if they vow to add a balanced budget amendment to the constitution and not raise taxes. All of this pork would be irrelevant if we weren’t deficit spending ourselves into oblivion. Once we fix our monetary issues we can focus on all of these other issues that our country faces.
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MikeW 11:01PM (3/15/2008)
Wow, Snakesausage you seem to put a high value on economics, why aren't you supporting Ron Paul. He is infinitely more knowledgeable than McCain in that regard.
HMMWV?
I thought that one requirement was operating after/through the EMP of a thermonuclear detonation.
If that requirement is lifted, then the Duramax 6.6 that was in the H1-alpha can drop right in. Even better with the 6 speed Allison.
More speed, better mileage.
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Chris M 2:43AM (3/16/2008)
Do you really think we shouldn't spend money to improve military efficiency, Snakesausage?
The title is a bit misleading, the money was for developing military hybrid vehicles, not for the civilian "Hummer". Of course, military technology sometimes trickles down to civilian use, like the Hummer did.
As for Ron Paul, he is loudly opposed to any other congressman getting earmarks for their district, but he's been busy getting plenty of earmarks for his own district. He pretends they aren't really earmarks, he's "just returning taxpayer money".
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bluegreen 3:41AM (3/16/2008)
Earmarks are only considered "pork" when it isn't for your own district. Get real people, earmarks are how people like McCain and Paul get elected! Who are we kidding, every single resident of the US has directly or indirectly benefited from earmarks. It's the Congress-person's job to ensure projects in their district get funded. There are limits however like Stevens' infamous $300 million bridge-to-nowhere (not to mention those darn pipes that the internets go through...) so $1 million for research at a university seems like a great deal.
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Lascelles Linton 9:38AM (3/16/2008)
Chris M,
I think there is a stipulation that anything created by the government goes into the public domain, so it should trickle down very fast. I think this may also be the first government funded hybrid conversion kit and it's going to get testing by the military. I would not be surprised to see a number of companies modify it to fit other cars or GM inspired by it to make the hybrid Hummer. The Hummer is really the Army's modern Jeep and I thought it would take much longer for it to be electric. Conversions means we could start to see them on the field very soon.
As for the pork, ear mark stuff, the only problem I have with it is, it would have been better to have a national, even international competition of some sort. I am sure IU is great and all but other schools or private companies may have been able to do it better. Also, who says electric hybrids are the way to go anyway? How about hydraulic hybrids or some carbon fiber or whatever. I am tired of politicians picking technology more than I am at picking specific schools. Anyway, like I said before, as far as pork goes, this really has the potential to be some kind of default standard for hybrid conversions. Not many conversions will be able to say tests on the battlefields...
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meme 5:52PM (3/16/2008)
"Do not think Obama in the end will be the next president once his past comes to full light."
Yes. When people learn that he had a single college-student mother, daughter of a furnature salesman and a bank teller, and an unfaithful man from Africa who left him as a child, that they lived in Hawaii while his mother continued her studies until she remarried an nonpracticing muslim oilman who moved the family to Indonesia for a few years, where Barack attended first a Catholic and later a public school (and learned about another culture), wherein his mother divorced and moved him back to the US, where Barack continued studies in Hawaii until graduation. During his teenage years, he openly admits to having used drugs to deal with his turbulent childhood (a NYT "expose" on the subject tracked down and interviewed his friends from the time, who remember him using *less* drugs than he described in his book); he gave them up shortly thereafter. After achieving good grades in Occidental College, he transferred to Columbia University and majored in polisci and intl. relations, graduating with a BA in 1983. He worked at BIC and New York Public Interest Research Group before moving to Chicago to become a community organizer, director of the Developing Communities Project. Shortly after meeting his wife, he entered Harvard Law, and was ultimately elected its first black president in its entire history. While being president of Harvard Law and graduating magne cum laude means you can get almost any legal job in the world you want, he returned to Chicago to direct a voter registration drive and work for a legal firm on voter discrimination and rights cases and to lecture on constitutional law at the University of Chicago. In 1995 he wrote "Dreams from My Father", then a year later was elected to the state Senate. In 2004, he gave the keynote speech at the democratic convention where he was quickly viewed as a rising star. Only in 2005 was he finally able to pay off his Harvard debts with the advance on his new book, The Audacity of Hope. In '06, he overwhelmingly won a senate seat, and now is running for president.
When people learn all of that, they'll be horrified!
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Yaggo 6:41PM (3/16/2008)
"These kits could turn the army's gas guzzling Humvees into fuel efficient hybrids."
Hummer will never be fuel efficient, whether a hybrid or not. You just cannot combine efficiency with that totally insane thing.
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CC 9:38PM (3/16/2008)
Working hard to convince yourself Meme. Even the worst person in the world can be posted up as gods gift to mankind if you only pick out the highlights.
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meme 12:17AM (3/17/2008)
"Only the highlights" is being deserted as a child and doing drugs as a teenager?
If you have something specific, by all means, speak up. If not...
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strdust 3:12AM (3/17/2008)
how about let keep this post more about the hummer hybrid possibility / research yah??? instead of getting it into another presidential nomination debate.
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Wally 8:01AM (3/17/2008)
I think "CC" is referring to what "CC" has "learned" about Obama's past in the flaming e-mails he has received about the subject....if you get an e-mail about Obama being a Muslim...hell, it's got to be true, don't it...
you'd think that anybody with a little internet experience would do a little research at Urban Legends or Snopes.com.
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Furion 9:32AM (3/17/2008)
"Hummer will never be fuel efficient, whether a hybrid or not. You just cannot combine efficiency with that totally insane thing."
Not making Prius MPG can still be efficient. For example, a hybrid bus can be very efficient while making a fraction of Prius' MPG (it's moving a lot of stuff). Same with military hummers. Efficiency is determined in comparison to the duties it's supposed to do and to alternative vehicles.
Humvee is a rugged military machine that's supposed to function in all kinds of terrain, in hostile conditions with a ton of armor bolted on. In that kind of use 15 mpg would be 'efficient'.
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CC 1:17AM (3/18/2008)
The media is only now starting to look into Obama's anti-american past. To quote his pastor/mentor/+ Jeremiah Wright "The chickens are comming home to roost"
If he was a muslim or not in the past, think H.Clinton was the only one pushing that.
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JL Mealer 5:47PM (5/03/2008)
Obama is an evil freak.
Terrorist waiting for his Jihad and Wright and his weatherman buddy prove it. Anyone voting for Obama is a traitor to America.
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JL Mealer 5:47PM (5/03/2008)
Obama has been on ANTI PSYCHOTICS nearly his whole life.. Do you really think a drug additcted president would be good for anything?
He awaits his American infidel jihad with Farrakhan and the other Islamic extermists. Keep in mind.. the Children of ISlam are trained at a very early age to plan their jihad..
ALL SIGNS POINT TO OBAMA'S JIHAD BEING A HUGE PART OF HIS PAST and it's coming to play in 2009 if we don't make it not happen.
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vfx 6:51PM (6/11/2008)
Mc Cain also does earmarks -like the 10M for a Law school in AZ: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/18/politics/18earmark.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
Does JL Mealer get his $50 for EACH of of his swipes or is the 2nd one gratis?
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