Arts & Ammo

A Solution in Our Own Back Yard

I enjoy reading thoughtful blogs written by retired Command Sergeant Majors. J.D. Pendry writes from the perspective of a veteran and as someone coping with ordinary life in rural West Virginia. I am currently learning (happily) to cope with rural life, and sometime back I had to learn (less happily) to cope with Command Sergeant Majors. Both efforts have been rewarding in their own way.

Pendry talks about faith in ordinary people and self-reliance, and he usually contrasts that with various government schemes to circumvent common sense. Yesterday, he took on the issue of rising oil prices.

I do not get the impression that anyone in Congress, or anyone who wants to be our President, is interested in what their inaction or the restrictions they impose inflict on the Average-American that has to go to a job every day. Or to the grocery store, or doctor’s office, or mow the lawn, or get on an airplane to visit an ailing parent or sibling or pay the higher prices for virtually every product under the sun that is delivered to us in a carbon fuel burning vehicle.

In the country, there is no public transportation. People drive greater distances out of necessity. They drive larger vehicles because you can’t load much hay into a Toyota Prius, and a Prius is completely useless in getting your livestock to market. In fact, many city-dwellers have similar issues, especially those with more than two children.

I’m all for developing alternative and renewable sources of energy, but those are not current solutions. Meanwhile, we leave the fuel supply that works now in the ground while we buy it from others at exorbitant prices. When we finally develop the next generation of energy technology, our vast supply of minerals may be worthless and the new technology may be mortgaged to the oil-producing states.

There is some high stakes gambling going on in Washington right now. It is the gamble that one political party or the other will be the one to convince Americans that it can save them from “big oil”. Unfortunately, for us, all of the hands being played now are losers. We need the hand that will save us from big politics. . . .

I have been out in the bunker working on a new drilling technique. On Tuesday, November 4, 2008, it should be operational. When activated, if it works properly, it will suck all of the gas out of Congress.

June 2nd, 2008 Posted by Fitzroy | Ammo, Politics | no comments