Use It Or Lose It : Solution To The Rising Gas Prices Dilemma

USE IT OR LOSE IT !

A Commentary and Simple Solution To The Rising Gas Prices Dilemma :

It's NOT what you are thinking..no I'm not advocating the USE of more gasoline or losing access to it relating to consumption. Far from it!
Recently the boycott of EXXON / Mobil and other major oil companies in a show of protest against high gas prices is making its rounds AGAIN on the internet . Blah Blah Blah! It's an OLD idea that has been emailed and fowarded over and over till it's beat to death for several years now and has NEVER worked so far. Americans rely on the Fed's to do all their boycotting for them of foreign products, but boycotting American companies is a different story. Consumers aren't going to boycott any particular oil company, especially if they happen to have a gas card from that company or own stock in it. It's like asking buyers to boycott Walmart for raising prices. It aint gonna happen!
My fellow Americans ..you just dont get it !
But first allow me to side step for a moment and let's explore this problem a bit deeper thru a quick history refresher course. After all, any one who knows me knows I am THEE 'retro-dude' and I not only collect all things old, I have a memory like a hawk for all things retro. But enjoying things from the past doesn't neccesarily mean I want to LIVE in the past and it certainly does NOT mean I want the world to take one step forward and three steps backward ! I'm referring to the 'retro mania' mentality that pervades our current societal habits, lifestyles and view points that threaten to keep America and the rest of the world from EVOLVING and STUCK IN THE PAST!
Ok..so call me a nut..call me a visionary...but I don't think I am alone on this. I just may be one person who can see all sides of an issue. Maybe because I have lived several lifestyles in my time and have hob nobbed with poor hippies to entreprenuer millionaire types..from political left wing radicals to right wing conservatives..from atheists, to Hari Krishnas to devout Christians, from coal miners in Pennsylvania to tree loggers in Oregon to environmental tree hugging Green Party activists. Yes, as a religious man, a business owner, carpenter, construction worker, an artist, musician, writer, entreprenuer and traveler of this great American landscape, I have prayed with, worked with, sat at bars with, camped out with, entertained, lubricated and gotten into the minds of all types of Americans. One thing is for sure..NO ONE can call me a blind, narrow minded, see it my way or find the highway, backward son of a bitch ! I respect the individuals right to his own opinions, to speak his mind freely..but I also know when something is NOT right in Kansas Dorothy and some freedoms mean violating the rights of others ! If I did not know this at an early age I would not have found myself a youngster participating in civil rights & peace marches during the late 60's early 70's in an attempt to change the world for the better, all the while being beaten, bloodied and jailed for my fellow man, while that same fellow man sat on his butt and pursecuted me for my long hair and so called 'radical' ways that were intent on extending rights to the down trodden, underpriviledged, spat upon, denied, discriminated against fellow Americans, some of those who fought bravely in WWII, whose ancestors fought bravely in the Civil War...yes..or I was pursecuted for marching against Nixon in order to save soldiers lives, to end an unjust war, and send a statement to the Capitol that citizens CAN make a difference if they make a stand (the whole point of this commentary by the way). But I can't say I respect the freedom of any American to effect the lives of other fellow Americans adversely thru the propagation of ignorant, backwards ideas and habits and the refusal to grow and evolve to where we should be as we pass thru the new millenium.
You may not agree with my opinions or like what I am about to bring to light here..but if you feel you are a good American with at least some sort of conscience about the future of this country and the world, then I encourage you to read on. No matter how far out you may think I am or how idealistic these ideas may seem, I think in the end you will have to agree I speak the truth and it makes perfect sense...
We have all gone thru this before. Some of the old farts may have forgetten...and I'll excuse those too young to recall or have experienced at all. But the gas price 'roller coaster' is nothing new. Yet most Americans refuse to remember it or worse yet refuse to learn from it. Remember when, in the 50's and 60's GM, Ford & Chrysler ruled? Before names like Toyota were common household words? Do you recall how the Big 3 responded to the gas shortages of the early '60s that suddenly brought popularity and huge sales of the VW Beetle ? Most of the time the US auto industry had led consumers by the nose with production car offerings that were left over remnants from car designer's dream / concept cars. Outlandish auto monstrocities dripping with chrome and fins with no thought of safety let alone fuel economy. But, to give credit where credit is due, in the gas shortage era of the '50s & 60's they handed us cars they thought the consumer would buy based more on their pocket books than emotion. Cars like the Chevy Corvair (with a rear engine similar to the VW), the Buick Skylark with the 1st small aluminum block V6 (very unconventional in those days and now the norm), the Pontiac Tempest with a 4 cylinder motor (actually a small block V8 with half the motor blocked off ), the Ford Falcon, the original Plymouth Valiant and Dodge Dart, were all offered as small bodied economy cars with small motors and compact size for better fuel mileage. Most of these models were similar in size to the compact cars of today, but by comparison to their big brothers at the time, were incredibly smaller than the full size Chevy Impala, Buick LeSabre, Olds Starfire, Ford Galaxie, Plymouth Fury and even smaller yet compared to the large behemoth Cadillacs, Lincolns and Chrysler Imperials. Yet despite the efforts of the Big 3 to answer a need for smaller more economical vehicles, what did the public buy in overwhelming majorities despite rising gas prices? BIG CARS!

Fast forward 10 years to the early '70s. The public once again finds itself on the gas price roller coaster, only this time we can't hardly get on the ride! Gas is RATIONED and can only be purchased on certain days and you can only buy limited quantities. That is assuming you had gas stations in your area that even had gas to sell ! Some stations were hurt so badly economically, they were forced to close their doors FOREVER! This era, coincidentally, also marked the beginning of the end of the full serve gas station. It also marked the beginning of 'Big Oil' take over, as small independent stations were bought up left and right, as well as chain names like Sinclair, Esso, Sunoco, Texaco, Gulf, Phillips 66, Unocal 76, Standard Oil, and a host of others. Does anyone even recall the sheer numbers of 'Mom & Pop' independent stations that once existed during the 60's ? All but forgotten, which is what Big Oil wants. Today there are basically 5 Big Oil companies that have created a monoply. These monopolies have eliminated competitive pricing and one of the reasons we have high gas prices today that reflect record profits for Big Oil. These companies (ie: EXXON-Mobil) SHOULD be busted by the Feds for violation of Anti-Trust laws and broken up / divided back into smaller companies to create free market trade competition. The Feds have done this in the past..back in the days of J.D. Rockefeller and his kind..too long ago for most Americans to remember, and as long as the Republicans are in cahoots with Big Oil..it aint gonna happen!

During the shortage in 1973, once again, Detroit tried to answer the call by competing with Toyota and begins to introduce smaller cars and trucks like the Ford Pinto / Mercury Bobcat, the Chevy Vega. I had owned both of these cars in the past and found them to be great little cars and certainly undeserving of all the critcism they took from the so called experts, who only test drove the cars and rated them against foreign cars they obviously favored that were considerably more money to purchase. If these small American compacts didnt have enough to compete with, the American public was swayed away from buying these in favor of imports. Again, common sense steps aside and makes way for backwards thinking and a loss of belief in American made products, which is a whole other subject and too involved to cover here.
The big 3 even began selling Japanese models with their own name tags like the Mitsubishi / Dodge Colt cars & trucks, the Mazda / Ford Courier compact p/u truck, the Chevy Luv / Toyota based truck to compete with foreign compact import vehicles. But here again, the American public, though Toyota and VW sales were definitely on the rise, were still purchasing BIG American luxury cars, muscle / pony cars , trucks and vans...all GAS GUZZLERS! By 1980 the Big Three had introduced other compacts such as the Buick Sky Hawk, Chevy Chevette and Monza, Olds Star Fire, all of which had come and gone in a few short years. The only real survivor out of these compact cars was the down sized Ford Mustang. Even the land yachts of the past were downsized ...the Cadillac DeVille, the Buick Riviera, the Lincoln Continental and Mark series were all downsized to near compact status but eventually grew back to nearly their original full size. The tiny 'tin can' imports, Toyota, Honda, Datsun-Nissan, Mazda all got bigger and bigger over the years to satisfy the American appetite for large cars. The public proved it was as fickle and unpredictable as gas prices and the trend to purchase smaller more efficient cars was only a trend as long as gas prices were climbing. As soon as gas prices stabilized or dropped , the public was back on the proverbial big gas guzzler wagon!

Fast forward again to the new millenia. Just when it seemed cars and trucks were making some progress and becoming more rounded and more aero dynamic and a BIT more fuel efficient..along comes the HUMMER..a square, boxy monster of a vehicle that is a 'civilized' (and I use that term loosely) version of the Hum Vee the military first used in Desert Storm and Americans became facinated with! There have been several knock offs since its introduction and popularity. OK..so now average soccer mom Americans are declaring war on the highways with their fellow Americans by driving a vehicle that will certainly make 'mince meat' out of any vehicle and driver/ passengers that happen to collide with it, and it certainly makes a statement that its owners dont give a damn about the environment with its 4-10 mpg rating and obsolete 'neanderthal' mind set design.
OK..moving right along..now, let's pick on motorcycles. Sure, throughout the 50's and 60's there were always a few big displacement Harleys and Indians around. But who made motorcycling available to the masses and put the 'average' American, who never would have dreamed of being associated with the 'biker' image, on small displacement bikes? The post war Japanese companies of course. Back then Honda, which started out as one man working in a small shed producing an add on gas motor for bicycles, in a few short years became bigger than Japan's Big 3 ( Kawasaki, Yamaha, Suzuki). Honda built it's whole industry growth on the step thru Cub 50, and 90 cc which were basically mopeds. An incredibly fast growing industry built on sales of small displacement, light weight , gas sipping, inexpensive , sensible 'get me to school or the office on time ' motorcycles. Progessively Honda began offering larger and larger machines and by 1965, if you were able to own a Honda 450 cc , you were really something, because at that time a 450cc motorcycle was considered a big, fast bike, a 'touring' motorcycle as Honda referrred to them. By 1969, in the hay day of American muscle cars, they introduced the first production superbike, a four cyclinder 750cc . This spawned a whole slew of competitors to now see who could build the biggest and fastest multi-cylinder motorcycle and brought an end to the ' sensibility' of riding motorcycles to save gas and conserve the environment, as many of these big displacement bikes burned as much fuel and polluted as much as a compact car! Yes, admittedly I still love these bikes..but really now..did they really make sense or bring us truely 'forward' in our thinking of how to deal with future energy and environmental problems ? I think not!
Today Honda, as well as most other motorcycle companies through out the world, produces a whole line of fast, luxurious touring and road racing behemouth over sized motorcycles. In 2002 they enjoyed the (so called) honor of producing the largest 1800cc displacement V-Twin motorcycle. That honor was soon taken away by Kawasaki who now produces a 2000cc bike. This motor is larger than the original 1971 Ford Pinto inline 4 cyclinder 1800 cc motor! . If that werent bad enough, there exists a company who produces a motorcycle witha 350 cubic inch V8 motor (the same motor used in full size Chevys, Corvettes and Camaros at one time) that is a massive overkill example of how ridiculous this whole concept of 'bigger is better' has grown out of control. To add insult to injury, they have added a new line of 502 cubic inch (Cadillac sized) motor bikes and trikes that weigh in at 1300 pounds ! Thats the equivilent of about three 750 Hondas, that at one time were MORE than big enough to satisfy the general need for size and speed! On the flip side, most motorcycle manufactureres are producing 'crotch rocket' bikes that will excced 150 mph and many are closing in at 200 mph, basicallly street legal race bikes that encourage their young riders to speed and ride with wreckless abandon of any form of common sense. These bikes have claimed many young lives and have permanently mamed many others and should be outlawed from production and/or sale , especially to young inexperienced riders ! Who realistically NEEDS a motorcycle this big or this fast? I feel sorry for the man who has to link his identity and prove his manhood by owning one of these now politically incorrect vehicles, a remanant of past ignorances and macho intolerances and a prime example of REVERSAL of personal inner growth !
I ask you..have we lost all COMMON SENSE? Are my fellow Americans so INSECURE about their penis (or breast) sizes that they have to prove their manhood (womanhood) by constantly comparing who has the biggest and fastest whatever?
Are there not BETTER more MANLY (or humanly to cover both genders) accomplishments to be made..like saving our world's environment and having enough self rightousness and self worth and enough COMMON SENSE to know when to QUIT and know when BIGGEST AND BADDEST IS JUST PLAIN STUPID AND JUST TOO DAMN BIG ! ? !
It's obvious that the American Baby Boomer Generation is stuck in the past. This is evident by the fact we refused to let our children have their OWN IDENTITIES! We pushed our old fashion designs back on them so middle aged American men could once again enjoy watching young women dressed in low rise hip hugger, bell bottom jeans, halter tops , complete with Peace, Yin & Yang patches, boots, chains, Lennon'esc colored lens glasses, and long straight hair. As I recall, watching Star Trek in the early '70s , most of us believerd that by the new millenium, people would be wearing sleek, simple garb similar to that found on all futurama movies and TV shows, and that people would have advanced enough mentally and spiritually that they would not need all kinds of clothing and accesories to draw attention to themselves and to relate their personality. We all thought, by the year 2000, we would be living in cities under glass domes with moving side walks, pure, clean air and water, driving electric cars that doubled as flying vehicles! Magazines like Popular Science even predicted this, so its not simply a dillussion of my imagination!
My Fellow Americans .. I ask you...are we so stuck in the past with RETRO MANIA that we cant move on to the future and where we REALLY SHOULD BE advanced to in this modern era..simply by choosing to drive smaller, alternative fuel cars, trucks, motorcycles, boats etc etc. ? Hell no..I doubt it since we cant even get Americans to SLOW DOWN !
So I ask you my fellow Americans..how can we bitch about the price of gas when we are doing very little to show we are willing to conserve? I equate this with the American who bitches about their government but refuses to VOTE!
If you don't vote, no matter what the outcome or effect or how bogus you may think your single vote is, you have no right to bitch about the way things are done by your local, state and federal government unless you vote (which on the average is ONLY about 15f the U.S. population! )
Same rule applies here! If you aren't willing to take some action on a personal level to improve your life, the life of others , the lives of your children, by cutting down on air polution, helping to save lives or lessen injuries by slowing down and allowing an extra second or two for reaction time in a crisis, save wear and tear on your vehicle's motor, tires, oil change frequency, maintainence by slowing down, show the Feds and Big Oil that you CAN take an action to combat rising prices by simply boycotting the AMOUNT of gas and oil you purchase which by most economic rules should bring prices down, show your children that you CAN be a responsible, sensible citizen and FOLLOW LAWS that were not meant to be broken (even tho law enforcement may seem complacent ) and show your children that you CAN be a responsible, sensible citizen by CONSERVING the environment for future generations. IF YOU CAN'T DO THIS SIMPLE THING THEN YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO BITCH ABOUT GAS PRICES...AND IN MY MIND YOU REALLY HAVE NO RIGHT TO CALL YOURSELF AN AMERICAN because you are acting treasonous and are thinking only of yourself and not the betterment of your country and your fellow Americans who share this once great land with you.
To quote Woody Guthry's song " This Land Is Your Land, This Land Is My Land.." . This means this land does NOT belong to anyone of us but ALL of US and it also doesnt mean anyone of us has the right to screw this land up for the rest of us by not paying attention to what is going on around us and not conserving for our fellow man and future generations to make this land a BETTER place for them..not a worse place!
I would be willing to bet that the very same people who bitch about gas prices would never consider simply SLOWING DOWN to conserve gas and save themselves a few bucks in the process! I am sick to death of hearing all this whining about the price of gas when every day I see drivers of ALL AGES and from all walks of life SPEEDING their asses off in every driving situation from down town city streets, to rural country roads, to interstate highways to neighborhoods where children play in the streets. I have observed on a regular basis drivers going an AVERAGE of 15-25 miles per hour over the speed limits. In my own neighbor hood where the limit is 25, about the half the cars observed speed by at 40-50 MPH ! I am just waiting until the day comes when one of my neighbors kids skateboarding in the street gets run over by some asshole who is in a big hurry to go NOWHERE! Even yelling to them to SLOW DOWN as they fly by fast enough to blow my ball cap off doesn't effect them ! These Americans don't give a damn about anyone but themselves and getting where they need to go in a hurry, no matter what the costs, no matter what the level of danger for themselves, their passengers, or those who may be the unfortunate ones to encounter their paths of wasteful destructionno matter HOW MUCH GAS THEY WASTE! You know who you are and if you are one of these people, although you may have a hard time admitting it..please read on. On the side streets, the limit in Florida is 25 - 35 MPH ..most drivers are doing 40 -60 MPH in a big hurry to go NOWHERE ! On the US Highways (ie: US19, one of the most dangerous accident ridden highways in the US) the limit in Florida is 35-45-55 MPH depending on the zone..most drivers are doing 50 -80 MPH in a big hurry to go NOWHERE ! On the interstate highways, the limit in Florida is 65-75 MPH ..most drivers are doing 90 - 100 MPH in a big hurry to go NOWHERE ! No one is exempt! Not SOCCER MOMS or even the ELDERLY ! Forget about those little old lady drivers in Florida that everyone in rush hour traffic complains about as they slow down to 5 mph to turn a corner ! Hell..I LOVE them anymore because they at least help slow the other traffic down. These days the opposite is true! I see elderly drivers speeding 15-30 over the limit in a big hurry to go NOWHERE when you know darn well if they get into a accident situation, their reflexes wont allow them to stop in time! I see young people who have little driving experience weaving in and out of traffic, passing every car in sight, endangering their lives and the lives of others and WASTING GAS, OVER POLLUTING THE AIR TO BOOT! Has common sense just totally disappeared. Yes, in these days of 'excess', If I dont pay strict attention to my speedometer, I find myself speeding at 5-10 mph over the limit just going with normal traffic flow. I'm talking about city streets where the limit is 35 mph FOR A REASON! Because they are people walking on side walks, pedestrians and bicyclists crossing the street, even homeless crossing streets with theior shopping carts filled with all their belongings or garbage bags full of aluminum cans (God Bless them for RECYCLING and helping clean up the environment which is more than I can say for most of us..especially SPEEDERS!!) Still, as I speed discover myself speeding 5-10 MPH over ..I find my fellow Americans a big hurry to go NOWHERE , flying by me like I was standing still , driving like a bat out of hell at 60 MPH in a 35 ZONE with no cops in sight! I constantly find myself asking the questions that begged to to be asked: 1. How many Americans OBEY the law anymore? 2. How many Americans that are basically law abiding citizens show complete disregard for speed limit laws and make up their own speed limits? 3. How many mini van soccer mom's are dilusional about being good mothers and transporting kids to soccer games, all the while a big hurry to go NOWHERE, speeding 15 mph over the limit, trying to get to game on time while endangering the lives of a mini van full of kids? No exageration here..I see it ALL THE TIME! How can they fool themselves into thinking they are good role models when they show their kids complete and utter disrespect for the LAW ? 4. How many SUV / monster truck owners bitch about gas prices and still are in a big hurry to go NOWHERE and SPEED? How many ever give consideration to the safety of others and realize that if they slow down they not only save gas but save lives too? Ever see what happens when a Ford Expedition or Hummer hits a GEO metro? A DECREASE of 15 mph may have allowed just enough of an extra second to hit the brakes in time and saved the life of the person in a small car hit by a big one.... 5. How many COMMERCIAL truck drivers ever consider # 4 ? If commercial 18 wheeler trucks have to speed at 80 MPH to to make money while endangering the lives of other drivers then perhaps we should go back to using trains for mass freight transport? Commercial truck drivers caught speeding should be liable for TEN TIMES the normal speeding fines. 6. When will our President (who is PART of the big oil regime, and therefore part of the problem, obviously not part of the solution) and Federal Government call for a NATIONAL SLOW DOWN LAW to CONSERVE OIL and SAVE LIVES and to RENEW RESPECT FOR LAWS OF THE LAND? 7. How can we ever expect the rest of the world to respect us when we are so wasteful and blind to our arrogant ways? 8. How much revenue could cities and states bring in if speeding laws were strictly enforced with super heavy speeding fines ? Consider Germany's Autobon, where, if you are wealthy, one can get a hefty fine in the thousands range for disobeying one of their road ettiquette rules and pay according to your income, so no matter how much money you have you can't escape the LAW . Let's establish a SERIOUS MINIMUM speeding ticket fine of $500 and enforce it with computerized camera systems that automatically detect speeders, takes a photo of their license plate and sends the fine with photo to the violators. Violators who don't pay fines not only lose their license but face mandatory 30 day jail sentences. Maybe SERIOUS enforcement of speed limit laws would finally slow drivers down. This would also bring considerable revenue to states, counties and cities that are currently complaining they don't have enough funding for infra structure maintenance projects, schools , development etc. 9. Are penalties for accidents related to speeding stiff enough? Anyone who injures another driver, passenger or pedestrian due to speeding would face much stiffer penalties than are already on the books. 10. If each of us slowed down 10-15 MPH and actually obeyed the speed limit laws for a change let me repeat, yes we could MAKE A CHANGE and SLOW DOWN the GLOBAL DIMMING / GLOBAL WARMING effect that is gaining support thru more evidence each day! Any of you out there who don't believe the industrialized countries are causing problems for the rest of the world's inhabitants, including wildlife, vegetation , water resources, (the list is endless) then think AGAIN! You need to watch PBS Documentaries 'Dimming The Sun" and the "Journey To Planet Earth" series and GET EDUCATED ! Please for all our sakes , read this : http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/sun/producer.html
I could ask about 20 more questions relating to this subject..but if you really GET THIS MESSAGE you will be asking the questions yourself by now... For once in your lives , decide that each of us CAN MAKE a difference in our world ! Maybe we can't have direct control over our government and its leaders. Maybe we can't control how much we are forced to pay in taxes and how our hard earned tax dollars are spent and generally wasted by the feds. BUT we can make a DIFFERENCE in the future of our world and our childrens world and our grandchildrens world and for all future generations to come. Each of us as INDIVIDUALS that commit to following a simple rule to OBEY THE SPEED LIMITS (and if you really want to conserve go 5 MPH UNDER the limits!) can truly make difference in our worlds ecology, save lives, save energy, save money,and more importantly, save our dignity, save our image as good parents, as role models and descent human beings in our childrens eyes who may pass on this heritage to their children, , and who knows, maybe gas prices will even come down as a SIDE BENEFIT ! If we can all take the focus of bitching about the PRICE of gas and put the focus on SAVING GAS and SAVING OUR PLANET, SAVING LIVES ..then the other issues may resolve themselves and things will fall into place! It's called KARMA folks and its no coincidence that we FINALLY have a TV sitcom 'My Name Is Earl' to expose those of you who are unaware of what KARMA is all about and what some of us in the 60's saw as a way of life ..but too soon forgot the meaning of the word and it's purpose in our own little worlds !
Yes folks, the only REAL WORKING method that will send a message to Washington and big oil is if Americans were to show them we have enough common sense to conserve on our own by SLOWING DOWN...instead of being so ME oriented , greedy and wasteful and in too big of a hurry !
It's John Lennon'esc to 'Imagine All The People' living like they have some common sense I know. Just imagine if the Feds did actually lower speed limits like they once did in '74 and just imagine if people obeyed them and even went 5-10 MPH SLOWER than the imposed lower speed limits ? The fact that NO ONE in the media, the Feds / Prsident or anyone I have heard of has suggested lowering speed limits or rationing gas again tells me one thing. Most everyone in this country has lost all common sense and we are going down the tubes ! Dont hold your breath on that boycott idea. It WONT HAPPEN..and Im certainly not even thinking about holding my breath for people slowing down. In the end ..we will get what we deserve as the Chinese slwoly become the new world power and my fellow Ameraicans, who have turned into a bunch of arrogant, wasteful, self serving inconsiderate assholes, will be sitting around with their thumbs up their butts wondering how we got in this position in the first place?
Anyone recall the Interstate Highways speed limit reduction from 65 to 55 MPH back in 1974 (if my memory serves me correctly) ...back when we were all sitting in gas station lines and gas was RATIONED so that you could only buy gas on certain days? Do you want to return to those days again? Most of us had enough common sense back then in the 'GOOD OLD DAYS' that we slowed down of our own free will and realized it only took us a few minutes more to get where we were going AND we got there more SAFELY and SAVED gas AND $$$$ too! It seems to me my fellow Americans have LOST ALL COMMON SENSE! To quote one of my fav radio celebs Earl Pitts would say... " WAKE UP AMERICA ! "
DO YOU WANT TO MAKE A REAL AND LASTING EFFECT ON ALL OUR LIVES AND POSSIBLY THE PRICE OF OIL THRU LESS CONSUMPTION ?... HELP CLEAN UP THE WORLDS AIR QUALITY THRU LESS EMISSIONS ?..BE A BETTER EXAMPLE TO OUR YOUTH THRU FINALLY OBEYING THE LAW YOUVE SHOWN TOTAL DISREGARD FOR ?...HELP SAVE LIVES TO BOOT? JUST SLOW THE HELL DOWN !!!!!. JUST FOLLOW & OBEY THE SPEED LIMITS FOR ONCE IN YOUR LIFE FOR GOD'S SAKE !!!
WHERE ARE ALL THE ROCKET SCIENTISTS WHEN YOU NEED THEM ...?
This has been a commentary by a fellow Baby Boomer American who sees his counrty slipping away piece by piece from the way it once was and sees some simple solutions that no one is talking about and no one wnats to make small sacrifices for to save the country from losing its ground to the Pacific Rim / Chinese on a daily basis , as the #1 industrialized nation super power of the world! Let me point out that I am not a 'Mr. milk toast' conservative , woose type either. I have driven high performance motorcycles all my life since I was a kid, owned several vintage muscle cars over the years. I wont say I NEVER speeded while driving one of these vehicles, but on a very RARE occasion that I did it was typically on a back road WITH NO OTHER CARS IN SIGHT and it was for a short distance and well under 100 MPH as more of a test of my vehicle performance than for the sheer thrill of living dangerously. Admittedly I have had 5 speeding tickets in nearly 40 years of driving and most of those were for 5-10 MPH over the limit back in the days when most people obeyed speed limits and police actually handed out tickets for 5 mph over the limit.
Admittedly I too forgot the lessons and ideals of my youth who clung to hopes of a world without war and saving the planet.
I am not so idealitic to think man will ever get beyond waring with each other and killing each other over power and control.
But let us all realize their is a WAR that is now inevitable and at our doorstep! A war we must resolve to ban together as one race ...HUMANITY..and begin our long overlooked strategies to win the ultimate war on saving the Earth from our past ecological indiscressions before we destroy it and our selves and every living creature on it!
It wont be long unless we wake up and "smell the (proverbial) roses" that are quickly dying in the current climate of the "Good Old USA " As the saying goes "USE IT (common sense) OR LOSE IT"
If you agree feel free to pass this message along.

signed,
Earth Mover