[AntiCHP]

Milt's right. His passionate reply hits the sentiment I feel right on the spot.

The thing is, you can cheer for the "positive" effects of this legistlation all you want, the bottom line is there is a whole seperate "pollution credit" economy of sorts motivating this program, not the cleaning up of the air so many people seem to believe.

So, if your clunker 1977 Caprice fires on 5 cylinders, detonates on the others, & smokes like a nervous defendant and somehow doesn't pass smog, and, as you have had verified by the referee stations, it can not be made to pass the minimum standard for that year... well, you can always elect to have the car crushed. (!) I don't recall the specifics, but I believe a registered owner -having gone through all the hoops- can receive up to $500. So, don't sweat it on selling you're '76 Carrera 3.0. You can just have it crushed and get the $500. Doesn' that sound a lot easier?

California has a (nother) dilema on it's hands in that it seeks to restrict total pollution state-wide to a certain level, but has a large number of businesses (refineries for example) which create a lot of smog, but also generate a lot of tax revenue (payroll and otherwise). Big business packs more punch that a handlful of gearhead motorists. "They can't, singlehandedly, ensure my reelection... and for me to appear to not care for the enviornment would cost me far more votes... As governator, I say, 'screw 'em'".

A big/commercial business, however, can buy the "smog credit" created by your crushed car [since the pollution removed by your crushed car can be qunatified?] to offset the pollution it is creating. If the polluting firm has enough credits to offset it's manufacturing-related emmissions then they don't pay a (or as much of a) fine.

So you can't kill a Scorpion with your bare hands, but it's pretty easy to squish a gillion ants -one at a time.

The whole damn thing is a money-making political sham. I'm appalled that the Hummer enthusiast didn't back us up with a veto.

I say, screw 'em! Take your car to your buddy's house up in Oregon or Nevada and have your car registered to his house!

And, NO! Those smoke-belching Mercedes deisel and semi's are exempt from the smog check program -because everybody knows they run a lot cleaner than a well-maintained 1978 911SC.

Maybe the time has come to build a protest car:
a W123-chassis (240D, 300D, 300TD) Mercedes: Small 4 door sedan, devoid of power assessories, and shoe-horn a european 5.0 V8 from an SEL. License plate: "Smogdis". Might as well leave "240D" and "Diesel" on the back...

Mike