Wednesday, May 17, 2006

GAS PRICES & MORE

Had to fill the ole gas tank up this morning. This is a pic I took a few weeks ago when gas was a super cheap $3.25 per gallon. This morning it was $3.43. Ouch. $50-plus to fill the freaking tank! I'm regretting caving in during a moment of weakness and not buying a Prius like I had considered. SpaceJase, this is your cue to mock.

With that gas price complaint said, I also want to say that the price of gas is not really the big issue here. One, is our country's reliance on Foreign Oil and being in bed with some nasty people to get the oil. Another is our Administration's policy of caring more for the Oil Companies than us and the Environment (which are linked) - (also, past administrations, Dem & Repub, are responsible as well). And another issue is the Environment itself. It's 2006 - we should not still be using the combustable engine. Cars have been using the same technology, more or less, since the invention of the automobile. Do you still use a typewriter? No. So why are we still using this old technology that puts us in bed with bad greedy people, drains our wallets AND pumps poison into the air (and therefore into our bodies) and is throwing our environment of inhabitability into dangerous levels???!! Drilling in Alaska (or other) is not the answer. Using Ethanol is not the answer (although a nice temporary solution to get off of Foreign Oil - it still pollutes the same). A NEW Technology is the answer. One that is very easy to have - the problem is breaking through the greedy corporate system that is in place stopping this advancement from being implemented.

The concensus amongs scientists (and most people) is that we now have 10 years to do something about the environment (ozone, etc) otherwise we will reach a tipping point in which, once tipped, we will NOT be able to do ANYTHING. Hello Skin Cancer! And hello Mother Nature behavior that isn't pretty - already look at Katrina and New England right now for what's in store. This isn't "hippy talk"...this isn't "liberal propaganda"... this isn't "Science Fiction." THIS IS REAL. To blindly look the other way or simply dismiss as silly is no longer an option. There's just too much at stake now
- Our fucking SURVIVAL.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

I agree!

Anonymous said...

in case you haven't read,..the X-Prize has just offered a 10 mill. dallor incintave to indipendant entrepenuers (sp) to come up with an alternativ solution for the internal combustion engine. (the same prize that was given out for the first privately biult/funded vehicle capable of space travel...which was accomlished). Another thing that people don't seem to realize, is that funding NASA (which is being cut due to puplic opinion) and other space programs, actually HELPS premote alternative forms of transportation, bc you have to think outside the box and use non-conventianal means to achieve feul effeciant travel.

-ME

Lisa said...

I'm generally a conservative, and I agree 100% with this - the government has dragged its feet for far too long. Rather than telling the gas companies to give up their profit we should be telling them to take that profit and use it to come up with alternative fuels before they run out of petro to sell us. And we've always been taking horrible care of the environment! Someday the movie "Day after Tomorrow" will be closer to fact than fiction.

Anonymous said...

HONDA ELEMENT...1st at the dealer
with a 5 spd 02-03...EX 2 wheel drv.. {4grand @ 80 mph}
Last new car purchase..83 civic s {4grand @ 90 mph} hatch...get it????? Shut up and play yer guitar!!!!

...j... said...

Ahhhh....10 years.....I think we got a little longer than that my self...but I am not a scientist. Talk about governments sucking ozone....we need to start picketing China and Japan...got a feeling they bust more Ozona aday that we do a week!!....not to mention I have been to China 8 times and seen a blue sky 4 days....4 days in over 6 months of looking up. I thought bush was offering incentives to develop alternative fuel sources.....hmmmm I might have to check the last few state of the union addresses to verify. I say to hell with cars...mass electric transit and get on the freaking bikes people!!!

Jim said...

Yeah, I'm hoping 10years is waaay too soon, but that's what they are saying and I pray they are wrong.

But what if they are right?
Fuuuuuuuuck. <----my best good ole boy voice. :)

Electric mass transit would rock! Although in LA - earthquake country -- its a little scary. Come on engineers! Build us a transit system that can survive the big one!

I had heard China had some serious pollution problems! 4 days? That's disgusting. Side note - that's cool you get to travel like that, though! Pick em up some of dem cheap China DVDs! hahaha

and never believe what ANY prez SAYS in the State of the Union Address, Bra! heh - look to what they actually DO! hehehe Promises promises.... we need an alternative to the ugly 2 parties -ZOD FOR PREZ IN '08!! We shall all kneel down before Zod!!!

hehehe

spaceJASE said...

I'm not going to mock you for not getting a Prius. I stepped out on a limb to test one so you guys could all say, "I know someone who got one and he/they LOVE it." THEN, when they make better ones in the next couple years, y'all won't be so hesitant and I will have helped everyone out a little.

I know Toyota just put out a Hybrid Camry. It's a midsize car with a nicer ride and still gets ~40 mpg. (If you're not willing to reduce yourself to an economy class car.) I wish the new "Yaris" line was hybrid, but they do OK at 34/40 mpg.

The prius still costs $35-40 to fill up, but I only have to do so once a month... twice if we go out on the weekends exploring. But I make up for it with the bus which needs fueling every week for only 200 miles. *sigh*