A Gallon Of Gas

Discussion in 'Old Hippies' started by earthfog, Jun 7, 2004.

  1. earthfog

    earthfog Member

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    A Gallon Of Gas

    I've been waiting for years to buy a brand new cadillac
    But now that I've got one I want to send it right back
    I can't afford the gas to fill my luxury limousine
    But even if I had the dough no one's got no gasoline

    I went to my local dealer to see if he could set me straight
    He said there's a little gas going but I'd have to wait
    But he offered some red hot speed and some really high grade hash
    But a gallon of gas can't be purchased anywhere for any amount of cash

    I can score you some coke and some grade one grass
    But I can't get a gallon of gas
    I've got some downers some speed all the drugs that you need
    But I can't get a gallon of gas
    There's no more left to buy or sell
    There's no more oil left in the well
    A gallon of gas can't be purchased anywhere
    For any amount of cash

    I love your body-work, but you're really no use
    How can I drive you when I got no juice?
    Because it's stuck in neutral and my engine's got no speed
    And the highways are deserted
    and the air smells unnaturally clean.

    It's got power-assisted overdrive and carpets on the floor,
    but it's parked out front just like a dead dinosaur.
    And I'll be paying off the bank for 45 years or more.
    It should go 100 miles an hour,
    but it's never moved away from my door.

    Who needs a car and a seven-forty-seven
    When you can't buy a gallon of gas
    Who needs a highway, an airport or a jet
    When you can't get a gallon of gas
    There's no more left to buy or sell
    There's no more oil left in the well
    A gallon of gas can't be purchased anywhere
    For any amount of cash
    You can't buy a gallon of gas

    Ray Davies 1979
    ----------------------------------------------------------------------
    The more we change the more we stay the same
     
  2. ~Sam~

    ~Sam~ Cosmic Traveler

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    Good Mornin', Earthfog...

    Good song. I'd like to know, from acorn to oak tree...

    Just why we're paying through the nose for gasoline. What, exactly, are the politics behind the prices at the pumps?

    I can't figure it, but it sure seems to me that this is the finest example of GREED we have ever had the privilege of witnessing.

    Sam

    And the road was like a ribbon the moon was like a bone
    He didn't seem to be like any guy she'd ever known
    He kinda looked like Farley Granger with his hair slicked back
    She says I'm a sucker for a fella in a cowboy hat
    How far are you going he said depends on what you mean
    He says I'm only stopping here to get some gasoline
    I'm guess I'm going thataway just as long as it's paved
    I guess you'd say I'm on my way to
    Burma Shave

    ~ Tom Waits

     
  3. earthfog

    earthfog Member

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    Morrning to you also Sam!
    Hard to say for sure, but seems to me that being the "Terror" war is being fought on the Oil companys turff, they figure they should get there cut.
    Exxon is now not only the bigest multination corpoation in the world, It is also the most profitible for last year, Wondser if that pisses Microsoft off enough to get antother y2k thing going, so they can sell all there products twice?
     
  4. grendel 44

    grendel 44 Dazed and Confused

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    As someone said (was it you Sam), every cloud has a silver lining. Maybe this will make people sit up and think and realize what we are doing to the earth with our gas guzzling (and every other resource guzzling) ways. How many people REALLY need those gas eating monsters coming out of Detroit? We all need to get from point A to point B, but do we really need to to it in an f'ing HUMMER.

    (Quote from DemocracyMeansYou.com)
    "Bush: Let me explainify the war against Iraq with a little bit in Texas Terminology.

    We SHELL not EXXONERATE Saddam for his actions.
    We will MOBILize this threat in the Persian GULF until an AMOCOble solution is reached. Our plan is to BPrepared.
    Failing that, we ARCOming to kick his ass."

    And kick his ass we did, didn't we????
     
  5. ~Sam~

    ~Sam~ Cosmic Traveler

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    One could ONLY hope, Grendel... one could only hope.

    But given the half-life of public opinion, which the Republicans above others take great delight in exploiting, I wouldn't count on it.

    I suffer from Road Rage often. And the most irritating of them all are the SUV's driven by Soccer Mom's. God! I hate to get behind them... yesterday, I yelled out of my driver's window; " Hey M'f'er... why don't you learn to drive that thing." Last week coming back to the homeplace with a load of hay in my old Jimmy, I was ass-bit by one of those spiffy new hummers... not run into, but harrassed... I stepped on metal and showed 'im what a GMC could do... yeah, I know, "blah, blah, woof, woof." But it did my heart good to have those 295 horses take off and leave him in my dust.

    I don't go out much, maybe use a tank full of gas every 3 or 4 weeks, and I haul a lot of stuff when I do. That's my excuse for driving a 4x4... not only that, she says sheepishly, but I've pulled out stuck tractors, Jeeps from the snow, and the rollback truck that got stuck out by the barn while delivering me 3 tons of hay. Good vehicle to have around the farm. Yes it is.

    I LOVE the quote from democracymeansyou.com... Daddy Shrub is in the 'Earl' business, ain't he? I guess one doesn't pick the money to steal an election off of Mesquite Trees... Do One?

    And I do wish that most folks would get up off of their arses and tell the Emperor that he's not wearing any clothes.
     
  6. grendel 44

    grendel 44 Dazed and Confused

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    :cool: Sam, I just want to say that it is folk like you that keep me visiting. You live way over yonder, so you need a good truck. But my stupid ass neighbor who works in an office doesn't reeeely need one (it just makes him feel like his dick is bigger((sorry to be crude, but...)).
    I now use about a tank of gas a month,I spent close to 30 years grinding away and working for the corporate nazis of a large healthcare orgaization and the trip to work drove me crazy. I live in Southern California, Orange county and now Long Beach. I had to hit that "orange crush" on the freeway every day and it just got worse and worse. I was starting to get really freaked when surrounded by big old vehicles in my teeny toyota. Now I feel such a load off my shoulders 'cause I'm too f'd up to work, so I can go places without sitting in a parking lot 'til you get there.
    It's a shame people cant hitchhike any more . I always picked 'em up and never had problems (except with this one bum who stank so bad we took him home and made him take a bath).

    I sincerely believe that our government condones the urban voilence because it stops us from taking a look around and seeing who the real crooks are. Nixon had nothing on good ole George, why I am even starting to like Nixon....aaarrgh, what am I saying. Must be alzheimers, but that's another story.

    Peace and Happiness
     
  7. luvndrumn

    luvndrumn Hip Forums Supporter HipForums Supporter

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    Greed

    Y'know (and my face-to-face friends will tell you that I speak on this ad nauseum), I will gladly accept the other six deadly sins heaped upon me if we can find some way to obliterate that word from from our speech, memory, and history. I will do this willingly because I know that the other six will have no teeth if this word is gone. It IS the root of evil.

    Half-life of public opinion? People won't squeal until they have to pay $10.00 (at today's index) a gallon for gas. They won't squeal until they can't afford luxuries like steaks, college education for their children, NASCAR or Pistons or Forty-niners tickets, or until it costs more to get to work then what they bring home. Or maybe all of the above. Some sheep are pretty thick. And then it depends on who's controlling the spin. (I'm watching the television as I type this, adding to my despair.)

    BTW grendel 44, welcome to the glass menagerie. "You know it's gonna get stranger." hmmm, guess us strange folk will have to turn pro.:sunglasse
     
  8. teepi

    teepi living my dream

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    Seems behind every american "Ideal" is that nasty GREED.

    Irks the hell out of me..its so obvious but as LUV called them (I use Lemmings) the sheep can't see the obvious.
    The biggest source of energy is shining in our faces every day, the next 2 biggest are blowing through our hair, and washing over use in our rivers.
    Oil is big business and what runs this country???? The Big Boys,oil is in their blood.

    I remember when Carter got into office and he enacted the "energy credit" if you installed energy saving devices in your home or office you could deduct the cost on your income taxes....
    When Reagan got in....poof, one of the first things he did was got rid of that.

    If it was kept, think where we could be now...we'de be using some type of fuel cell in our vehicles, or there would be a solar battery that could hold enough charge and not be so heavy we could drive cross country with.
    There could be wind farms in every city, major wind farms....hydro power on large scales for everyone to be able to heat their homes, low cost solar panels for the same thing....possibilities are endless....
    Some of these things are in effect on a smaller scale you can certainly have solar panels but they are not "low cost"..fuel cells are on their way, but how much further could we be??

    I saw on the news this A.M that gas in Iraq is 5 cents a gallon, and we're giving them our money??
    Whats the secret deal here???
    teepi
     
  9. earthfog

    earthfog Member

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    Luvndrumn,
    I am going to think about your post a lot tonight. Think you are really onto somthing here.
    I have always tolarated greed, as felt it was natures way of installing a unending drive into us. somthing to make us get up and move.
    Always thought how can you put your million year DNA under control and keep true to your speitual self at the same time.
    Is that the role of society, or is the purpose to keep us calm while the real wolves eat us,
    Never sure but am thinking it over
     
  10. luvndrumn

    luvndrumn Hip Forums Supporter HipForums Supporter

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    teepi,

    I have no way of proving this thought, other than the Machiavelian workings of my mind (which, by the way, I never act on), but it is my belief that the reason we don't have workable alternate energy solutions is that big oil has brought up all the patents or the rights to the ideas of the visionaries. Think on this: THERE ARE FOOTPRINTS ON THE MOON AND IN THE MIDDLE OF THE FOOTPRINTS ARE THE WORDS "MADE IN THE USA". So why don't we have workable, viable alternate energy paradigms/stategies/procedures? Only one reason that makes any sense to me.

    earthfog,

    I don't view making a better future for one's children or, in the absence of children, the future generations, as greed. I view having your share and the shares of others as greed. I say let all strive to advance as long as the striving does not imped another. I am for level playing fields. I am for equal opportunity to prove one's worth. If you choose not to take the opportunity, you have no one to blame but yourself.

    Now, who wants the soapbox?;)
     
  11. ~Sam~

    ~Sam~ Cosmic Traveler

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    Woah-a... this is the first thread I opened this AM, damn! Good stuff!

    Back, during the Conflict, I always felt that our presence in Viet Nam was a smoke screen for the crap going on in Israel. Maybe... maybe not. But never think that the powers of Greed that run this country don't have ulterior motives, cause they do.

    I could go on, but it'll just make me upset, and I don't wanna go there this early.

    Grendel, I used to sit in the same kinda parking lot... the Baltimore Beltway... until I collapsed from Hep C while working at Hopkins. I've been on disability since 1994, but sitting in a small car behind a pickup truck with a Suit driving made me see red. Same for those SUV's with a little blond driving that couldn't see over the steering wheel, and had one kid strapped into a carseat in the back... grrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

    And if you think that they'll legalize smoke anytime soon... forgetaboutit! They, tptb, are making money hand over fist on the sale and distribution, then on court costs by hauling in some local-yokel for possession of an O Z. Go fucking figure.

    LD... good to read you Man! Aboot the 1/2 life of public opinion... Yeah. They'll squeal like pigs. For about two days. Then there'll be some crap on the news to take their minds off of it... and there you have the plot.

    Lightning hit our satellite dish a few weeks ago. I was out milking when the storm hit, and from the milking stand I saw the bolt and heard the crash that shook the barn at the same instant. Made Me jump with pounding heart. And I had all these critters who were looking for me to calm them. Had to pull that out of my ass I did... anyhow... no TV. Surprising how the quality of our lives here has significantly improved over these few weeks.

    Back to plots... Have any of you bought plastic garbage bags lately? Notice how there's nothing to them anymore? A breeze could poke a hole in one. Same with toilet paper rolls... and a fistful of other things I can mention too. How about ice cream? You don't get a 1/2 gallon of ice cream in the 1/2 gallon container anymore... you get 1.75 qts. for the same price! What's zup with that?

    I think that in the near future, we'll go to the store and buy "Nothing" in a box or a bag, and be glad we could pay for it.

    For those who chase it... money Is god. It's like; How much can I shove into my pockets and beat feet so no one else gets it. And if someone else needs it... well, they can go fuck themselves.

    Teepi Girl! Nice to talk with you. You mentioned the secret word... collect a $100. Ray-gun. Shit! This country doesn't want a person with intelligent ideas that will help Joe Schmoe. They want an actor who gets up on stage and smiles and tells them what they want to hear... which is nothing. Sheep are like that, yes they are. They can see the flock around them... and if a leaf blows across the pasture and one sheep panics and runs... well, the others will follow it. For no damned good reason. I don't like sheep, and wool makes me itch.

    But the lemmings... now this little animal can barely see to eat. When the time comes to migrate... one takes the lead... and all the others will take up the tail of the lemming in front of them and they move on in their ages-old established migration route. One thing they didn't think of though... Erosion. The Sea has weakened the cliff along part of their route... and part of their path-of-memory has fallen into the sea. Only they're too small to see the big picture... and they can't see all that well in the first place! So In they go... one after the other... still holding fast to the tail in front of them.

    So There! Now... I'll step offa this here Soap Box and go out an pull some teats. LD... remember Betty the goat... from the last book? I'll have to put a pic of my Joline seeking a head-scratch in my forum... Shoulda named her Betty. Bye fer now... Shoot! I have to make myself a cup of chamomile tea... this has me all stirred up.
     
  12. teepi

    teepi living my dream

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    Hey Sam...sorry to get cha riled up first thing in the morn...lol

    Its a shame that we have the soapbox HERE only to rant with the very people who are intelligent enough to think along the same lines...I told Larry that when I hear something so good on a certain radio station....the people listening to it usually already agree, or are enlightened enough to figure it out after hearing it....the ones who REALLY need to be listening...aren't.

    I too get riled up, this is a passionate area with me.
    When my kids were coming up, I knew it was up to me to teach them to get on in this world.
    Self-suficiency is what I have always strived for (probably from being on the street and so many foster homes), and it irks me that so many continuously depend on others and the goverment to take care of them.

    They both are craftsmen (my daughters a craftswoman)...I drilled it into their heads they had to learn a trade no one could take from them.
    Something they could go anywhere and do on their own.
    I taught them to garden, and sew,and cook,...shoot a gun.....etc.
    When the shit comes down,it will be up to each of us to make our own way, better yet, make your own way as much as possible now.

    This gov't doesn't give a crap about YOU. While your sleeping, they're up coming up with more ways to get your money...
    This gov't wants you to work,pay taxes (they can give to others,and make deals with countries with,and who knows what else) and when you are not useful any more....
    Look at the age of retirement,if you were born after a certain year your social security doesn't kick in till you're 70 years old.....yeah, enjoy it...hell you're retired and rarin' to have plenty of years of FUN...hell, you EARNED it.

    Why DOES walmart have 75 year old "greeters?"
    Why does granny have to make a choice of eating OR having medicine every month?"

    GREED,..AGAINST the law to get your meds. from Canada??

    Greed...as LuV said,visionaries getting that late night visit, from a suit, carrying a briefcase with some bucks and a contract (gag order) in it.

    I sometimes wonder if a depression is something this country needs, make people REALIZE what is important...but people aren't the same as they were back in the '30's...they wouldn't figure out a way to help each other, or themselves...nope, the guns would come out.
    People would be taking from others what they wanted or needed.....


    "give me the gas,damned the consequences".....
     
  13. earthfog

    earthfog Member

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    Sam You bring up something I think about everyday. And as usual for me I sit on the fence if it is for the better or worse.

    Technology and industry find ways every day to make things thiner, cheaper and for the most part less functional.

    Apparently that is what we want as a society thou, the bear minimum of anything, as long as the outside is shiny and slick, don' mater much if it is pressed and stamped in some robot factory in Indonesia.

    You realize most things these days, simply cannot be fixed, no way, who wants to anyway, got to keep those kids working in Asia, just buy a new one, of course you can call the "help line" and talk to someone in Pakistan to tell you , Sorry it is out of warranty.

    What is the solution, over build things, use more resources, steal instead of plastic?

    for what, us old guys, we will be dead soon enough, train the young "The Future Wallets Of America"

    We yell and scream at our own wastefulness, but have a hard time to accept the crap they put on our store shelves in response.

    SUV'S and Soccer Mom's, well that is another story all together.

    I know the first part of your post has nothing to do with what I am talking about, it was just to Good not to quote.

    Peace
     
  14. teepi

    teepi living my dream

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    We pay more and more for less and less.

    Yep, their up all night while we're sleeping, coming up with ways to screw more money out of us.
     

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