The democratic congress passed a spending bill today; the New York Times says this:
"The legislation aimed at accelerating an end to the war passed on a vote of 218 to 212, with all but two Republicans
opposing. Even as the debate moves to the Senate, where a less
restrictive plan is to be considered next week, Mr. Bush dismissed the
action as “political theater” and promised to veto attempts
to manage the war from Capitol Hill."
And then look at this story, in The Street (thestreet.com):
"Crude prices climbed for the third consecutive
session in New York Friday on news of increased instability in the
Middle East and higher gasoline prices in domestic markets . . . "
And, later in the article:
"Energy futures were rattled in early trading on
news that 15 British Navy sailors were detained at gunpoint by Iranian
soldiers while they were boarding an Iranian cargo ship. The British
Foreign Ministry says that its sailors were operating in Iraqi
territorial waters, but Iran insisted they were in Iranian waters."
And yet, as our politicians debate the war they continue to say nothing about oil or our dependency on it. Any modern society depends upon energy for its very survival; the fact that we are further away from energy independence every day should give everyone pause. We will not run out of oil, but the world situation will make our current lifestyle impossible to maintain.
The only way to truly solve the Mideast's problems, and it will take a long time, is to eliminate the need to buy oil from them.
That addiction to oil is obvious to anyone who even does even a bit of study into this situation, and other western countries are to blame as well; we are all at least in part responsible for the situation in the middle east, and it is a situation that has grown to its current dimensions through decades of bad policy, through decades of supporting and enriching regimes that are and were repressive and totalitarian at the best and brutal at the worst. Do not forget, we supported Saddam Hussein at his outset, and armed him against Iran when that country broke away from the ruler we had put in place.
I understand not wanting to talk about these things, but they are the situation we are dealing with. We need to figure out a way to produce our own liquid fuel, someway, somehow, and combine that with more electric cars and drastically increased mileage requirements for cars.
It is often commented how only a tiny portion of America is paying a price for the war, but that must end. We are in an epic struggle - everyone agrees on that. But then they go blithely on to ignore the cause of that trouble.
It is possible to do get off of gasoline, but it will take great sacrifice - and in the end, it will be worth it. We need to act in the immediate future, though - the quality of life for all that come after us will depend upon our decisions in the very near future now, and the window of that decision making is at a point where the ability to enact a successful plan will be diminished - at that point, disaster will have struck while we are completely unprepared - what that means is six to eight dollar a gallon gas, heavily rationed, and a general collapse of the dollar and the economy. At that point, things will get dicey for a lot of people.
So the next time you can ask a question, ask this one - why do we fund the terrorists through the purchase of their allies' gasoline, when we can get off of it?
We can do this - so if we are funding our enemy through the purchase of oil, and if it is the epic struggle of our generation, then why don't we get off of gasoline?
"The legislation aimed at accelerating an end to the war passed on a vote of 218 to 212, with all but two Republicans
opposing. Even as the debate moves to the Senate, where a less
restrictive plan is to be considered next week, Mr. Bush dismissed the
action as “political theater” and promised to veto attempts
to manage the war from Capitol Hill."
And then look at this story, in The Street (thestreet.com):
"Crude prices climbed for the third consecutive
session in New York Friday on news of increased instability in the
Middle East and higher gasoline prices in domestic markets . . . "
And, later in the article:
"Energy futures were rattled in early trading on
news that 15 British Navy sailors were detained at gunpoint by Iranian
soldiers while they were boarding an Iranian cargo ship. The British
Foreign Ministry says that its sailors were operating in Iraqi
territorial waters, but Iran insisted they were in Iranian waters."
And yet, as our politicians debate the war they continue to say nothing about oil or our dependency on it. Any modern society depends upon energy for its very survival; the fact that we are further away from energy independence every day should give everyone pause. We will not run out of oil, but the world situation will make our current lifestyle impossible to maintain.
The only way to truly solve the Mideast's problems, and it will take a long time, is to eliminate the need to buy oil from them.
That addiction to oil is obvious to anyone who even does even a bit of study into this situation, and other western countries are to blame as well; we are all at least in part responsible for the situation in the middle east, and it is a situation that has grown to its current dimensions through decades of bad policy, through decades of supporting and enriching regimes that are and were repressive and totalitarian at the best and brutal at the worst. Do not forget, we supported Saddam Hussein at his outset, and armed him against Iran when that country broke away from the ruler we had put in place.
I understand not wanting to talk about these things, but they are the situation we are dealing with. We need to figure out a way to produce our own liquid fuel, someway, somehow, and combine that with more electric cars and drastically increased mileage requirements for cars.
It is often commented how only a tiny portion of America is paying a price for the war, but that must end. We are in an epic struggle - everyone agrees on that. But then they go blithely on to ignore the cause of that trouble.
It is possible to do get off of gasoline, but it will take great sacrifice - and in the end, it will be worth it. We need to act in the immediate future, though - the quality of life for all that come after us will depend upon our decisions in the very near future now, and the window of that decision making is at a point where the ability to enact a successful plan will be diminished - at that point, disaster will have struck while we are completely unprepared - what that means is six to eight dollar a gallon gas, heavily rationed, and a general collapse of the dollar and the economy. At that point, things will get dicey for a lot of people.
So the next time you can ask a question, ask this one - why do we fund the terrorists through the purchase of their allies' gasoline, when we can get off of it?
We can do this - so if we are funding our enemy through the purchase of oil, and if it is the epic struggle of our generation, then why don't we get off of gasoline?
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