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One More Body Bag and Top Off the Tank
I was talking to my mom this afternoon and she mentioned having to clean out her closets before she goes on a shopping trip to the local thrift stores. She asked if I needed anything. I found I need very little since I beat a hasty retreat from my former life. I took off with a bag of clothes, some important papers, my kitty cat, all stuffed into my fourteen year old car. You know, the important stuff. I've since realized that if am looking for more storage space, I've got too much stuff.
I heard a news story on how all those storage garages are really taking off. It seems that people, instead of getting rid of their excess stuff, are paying to store it in one of those storage places. So now we are cutting down trees and clearing land to build storage space for our excess stuff. Unbelievable.
I noted in my last post that China has now become the leading user of natural resources because of their industrial revolution. We are still second. That's a really shameful place to be. We are third most populous with 3 hundred million behind China (1st with 1,320,000,000), and India (2nd with 1,104,000,000). That's right, we have a quarter the population of China, and a third the population of India and we have outpaced them both using natural resources. The USA has 4.6% of the world's population and we have been consuming the most natural resources. http://www.geohive.com/default1.aspx
Maybe the world's distaste for Americans has to do with our selfish excesses and our steamrolling smaller countries into supplying our next fix of resources that we are just too addicted to give up. Like oil. Just like our distaste for greedy excessive out of control politicians led many to vote against the status quo. Look at my tirade against Bob, nothing pisses off people faster than the unfairness of excess.
Tomorrow President Bush will give his State of the Union address. I'm going to miss it because A) I'll be in bed sleeping by the time it airs so I don't miss my 3am wake up , and B) I'm no longer permitted to see and hear him speak because Honey says he doesn't like to clean up the mess from me throwing things at the TV. That, and Bush's voice makes me rip out my hearing aids, cover my ears, and scream "la la la la la la". Honey says it's ugly and scary.
According to the local newspaper, the Bush man is supposed to reiterate something he said last year. Which I caught before the la la's began. Warning! Warning! Prepare yourself, you are reading it here first! This next sentence may offend sensitive eyes. This may be the smartest thing the Shrub has ever said. You read that right. I said that he said something smart. What he said last year was that America was addicted to oil, and we needed to find alternate means of energy. Someone probably told him to say that, but I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't heard it with my own ears. The oil man wannabe said we need to stop consuming so much oil, especially foreign, middle eastern oil.
Of course, he also gave a bunch of suggestions for alternative fuels, improved efficiency, and new technology. Then last month he opened a big section in the Gulf of Mexico and lifted a ban on drilling in Alaska's Bristol Bay. Back to stupid again.
I don't agree with mucking up another part of the world to feed our addiction. It's like telling an alcoholic that it's ok to drink occasionally. Suck it up and do it cold turkey. Necessity is the mother of invention. Challenge this countries best and brightest to come up with a renewable solution. I'm volunteering Bob's severance package as the prize.
The terrorists and insurgents are just going to have to find an alternate source of funding that doesn't come from the pockets of Americans.
I'm listening to an audio book where some mysterious pulses from outer
space have disrupted/stopped the use of electricity all over the world.
People stopped cold turkey. It was interesting to listen to all the ways
most people were able to cope after the initial panic. Those that had some
land, even just their front or back yard, were able to grow veggies or dig
wells and make an outdoor john (eventually). Those living in apartment
buildings were pretty much out of luck. Barter was in, money was out.
Instant Pioneer Days. Could we really do it? I suppose so but I think the
worlds population would take a big dip.
To expand on what Mom said... yes and yes. It can be done (Cuba did it when
they became virtually cut off from oil), and yes, it would probably mean a
lot lower population, especially in the industrialized world. We can
support our population at its current levels for one reason: fossil fuels.
Industrialized farming relies on these inputs for fertilizer and tractor
power, and the distribution currently relies on gasoline to haul things
from the large farms where the food's actually grown to the places where
it's processed and then to where we buy it.
Ain't that the truth. I doubt that GWB can say anything that would improve
the situation other than "I resign."
Your last sentence says it all. Why should we be paying for the future
attacks on American soil. As long as we buy gas from the Middle East, we
will always be funding the terrorists.