Gas prices.

I don't understand why this isn't the hottest topic in the Protest forum. Instead we have people whining about fur and fast food. People need to get their priorities straight.

 

Interesting point you make. Consider the strong possibility that some protests are less for the purpose of activism and more for status. The showy badge that says that they're "more ethical than thou" furnishes the motivation to don a cause like a designer sport coat.

If people really cared about what's being done we wouldn't be getting ROBBED by big oil with the help of our criminal government to the tune of $4 per gallon. The rich are feeding off the poor and they clearly have NO intention of leaving a single morsel as long as business as usual is enabled by the current policy of do nothing and make speeches.

When I hear candidates like Hillary Clinton gloat about how they want to punish oil companies while wearing their knowing smirk enrages me on so many levels. Gas prices is but one symptom of the bigger issue of the wealthy having their way by purchasing legislation designed to force people into shelling out obscene amounts to pay for necessities. "Punishing" big oil??? Yeah, that's likely to strike a responsive chord with some but it doesn't take into account that big oil doesn't have to sell a single drop of their products inside our borders ihn order to make their money. Go ahead and punish them and they'll drive the price to the point where one would need a personal loan just to fill a tank.

Realistic development of alternatives needs to be aggressively pursued and the captive market needs to be opened to those alternatives or we will continue to be held hostage by those who are interested only in how much money they can fleece us from without any regard to whether there's any left over to survive.

 

A conversation I had the other day at the pumps

*=me
'= the other guy, plain old oe farmer

*You know, I never thought I'd see the day that filling my tank'd change the blue book value of my car*
'No kidding...when're they going to start putting loan officers out here by the pumps?'
*no clue, but if they're smart, they'll just cut out the middleman and just extract organs*
'Yeah, a tank'd be what, a kidney?'
*something like that*
'what's next? air taxes?'
*something's got to be done, you know*
'I know, write my congressman?'
*That's a start, get educated about the issues, the more people that know, the more change we can make...as ghandi said 'if you think being small, you cannot make a difference, you've obviously never been kept awake by a mosquito' *
'That's a point...have a good day, man'
*you too*

 

Pennyroyal Tea,

Sorry to here about your weekend arrest. I am looking forward to planning a gas strike. The police will have no reason to arrest you or anyone else for planning a strike. Let me know when you get going with everything.

Cat

 

Bush whines that refineries haven't been built lately. Why should the oil companies build refineries, more supply equals lower prices. In fact oil companies have been closing refineries for the last 25 years, all the while receiving tax exemptions and federal funds for research and development while reaping record profits.

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines01/0615-02.htm

But he wants us also to buy that drilling in ANWR will solve our problems at the pump...it won't it will put more of our resources in the hands of multi-national corporations that would feel no repugnance if ANWR was coated in oil slime. But they would have the power of manipulating the market even more by their control of the oil in that area, so they and their OPEC buddies could laugh as they vacation in Dubai and watch as their profits and our prices at the pump rise.

Don't let them drill in ANWR! Instead push this Administration and the current presidential candidates to push for the release of some of the record Federal Strategic Oil Reserves.

http://www.fe.doe.gov/programs/reserves/index.html

That oil was purchased at a lower price and belongs to the US citizens. This whole thing reminds me of when Enron stuck it to California and Bush and Cheney stood in the rose garden and said we would have to fix the problem ourselves knowing all the time that the engergy market was being manipulated by speculators. Enron executives made millions if not billions, while the working man in California saw his energy rates tripled, and people died. Gray Davis was railroaded as being weak, who exactly can stand up to the Energy Gods like Cheney, Rice and Bush. California couldn't. You think Hillary, Obama or McCain will?

 

Has anyone here ever heard of supply/demand?

You are all terrible victums. There's nothing you can do about it. Bush and the oil companies own your destinies. You all need and deserve welfare. You should all gather and start a club - called Liberalism. Congratulations on your new found shithole solution...

This makes me think that economics to a liberal is like quantum mechanics to an ape-man. Don't get me wrong. I have liberal beliefs. But the typical liberal is proving to be a f'n moron when it comes to economics. I could be wrong...

 

We can do something about it. We can call for the use of the reserves. Not a temporary rollback of gas taxes. We can see our government step up and use the resources it's purchased with our taxes, as marketing leverage for the working man. It would result in the oil pirates of the world knowing that manipulation can only go so far.

Don't buy the petty soundbites, call for lasting reform and regulation.

 

Use of the reserves will drop the prices for like, a week. It'll be gone before anyone even knows it's here, and then the reserves will be nonexistent, so... If there's an emergency bigger than there is now, we're basically fucked...

Anyway...

My fine is paid, I'm out of the woods with LO, so...

On to planning a nice protest.
Brothers and sisters, I'm working on it... I'm working on picking a day, a special, symbolic day, and having enough time to spread the word massively until that day, so that we can have as big a turnout as possible...

Rule #1 No violence.
Rule #2 No drug use there or before arrival... I get the demographic of this forum, but a bunch of stoned hippies slurring as they yell a protest chant will garner nothing but laughter... Good clothes, clean look... Hell, if I had any that fit me, I'd wear a damned suit and tie. The better you look, the more the man is gonna prick up his ears when he hears you yelling...

I'm working on picking a date.
As soon as I do that, I'll go to myspace and yes, even facebook, and create groups and events. Maybe I can seriously pull some outcry if I can get a few thousand people to jump on this.

For now, peace out, and a good day to all.


Soon, this protest will be a reality.
:H

 

I think this guy's got the right idea

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080517/ap_on_fe_st/odd_no_more_gas;_ylt=AjaVwh_OoOdf8FRhUdN9MtTtiBIF

As for a day, how about on one of the 'closing finacial quarters', just to be irritating about it....

after all, announcing your record profits WHILE people are protesting does look rather callous, doesn't it?

 

I have actually considered getting me a horse for the sunny days & a hybrid for the rainy/cold days. This world is going to hell in a handbasket. Greed has everyone by its finger...there's probably no going back now unless the government puts lots of funding & such into hybrids, wind energy, hydroelectric, & other alternatives.

 

I hear you...I'm considering selling off the gas guzzler and picking up a recumbent trike

 

Word! lol

 

not to advertise, but terratrike looks like one of the best companies out there for their price...I've ridden one of their 3.0 trikes before, and they're nice....comfy ride, even for me, and I'm 6'3" and 280 pounds....(20 stone)

for the price of gas (assuming it doesn't go up anymore) insurance, tags, and inspections alone, (for one year) I could get a path trike
http://www.terratrike.com/path.php
a bob trailer, a fairing, and all the little accessories needed....I'm mostly local use anyway, (short distance travels). If I had a car payment, it'd be about 6 months.

call me cheap...but it makes a lot of sense...as for wet weather....well, I'm waterproof, and that's why you carry a change of clothes in a waterproof carry....that'd be me giving my own personal erect middle digit to the oil companies.