Gas prices??? What are we to do??

[twometal]

One thing we can all do is contact our senators and representatives and tell them to stop subsidizing ethanol!!! Tell them we don't want federal regulations about what we have to use for a fuel source (or at least to pick a good one to shove down our throats).

It's debatable whether you even get the same energy out of corn ethanol that you put into making it... even if we break even, what's the point? It has artificially driven up the price of corn (we're affected in a big way here in Missouri), and also drives up the cost of gasoline.

If you've seen the news stories about food riots, you can thank our wise leaders for the same reason... there is a ton of money to be made by switching fields over from wheat or other food crops to grow lower grade corn. They get a huge tax break, a subsidy, and a few other little perks.

Also, tell the congressmen that it's time to use our natural resources! There is a section of Alaska that was specifically set up as a drilling site, but they refuse to allow it. There might be a one-eyed spotted field mouse out there somewhere.

We can also use the oil shale out west- in the 70s it just wasn't practical to refine it (costs about $40 per barrel to get out), but heck, even if it were to cost $60 per barrel it would be worth it now!

Becoming energy-independent is vital for this country. There are a lot of bad people that we stay beholden to because we don't dare cut off our supply. I'm all for developing new technologies as long as we don't regulate the crap out of the old ones- especially if it's for Al-Gore-scam reasons.

I really hope you're kidding about drilling in Alaska... What happens when there is no where left to drill? We will run out of oil, eventually. It probably won't be for another 5 or 6 decades realistically. But it's gonna happen. It's a resource that took millions of years to create, and we are gonna drain it all in less than 3 centuries.

Though it's not our oil supply that's lacking. Oil companies are making record profits, so obviously the rising gas prices aren't because it's costing them more to drill, otherwise their profit margin wouldn't be increasing.

And the other major factor in gas price is our rising domestic demand and the fact that we haven't built a new refinery on US soil in over 30 years.

We need to stop wasting money and fuel buying products that are shipped from half way around the world. All these lame made in china gizmos that you buy at wal mart... how much of it do we really NEED?

Oh, and the prius is a real joke. Great marketing though. Toyota made a bundle selling that car to a bunch of band wagon green fools. A 20 year old civic hatchback will get the same mpg, and a diesel will double that.

The human race has never and will never care about our home. And I doubt anyone will really notice until it's too late. You wanna hear something that will really make you think though? It's not oil that we really have to worry about... in the next several decades, wars won't be fought over oil, but drinking water.

Oh and before I finish my rambling, corn is horrible for making ethanol. Sugar cane is far more efficient. Brazil makes ethanol out of sugar cane, and they are completely self-sufficient now. But the corn industry is one of the most powerful farming industries in this country, so they have the most pull.

In fact, if you want to lay blame for crop shortages, blame people that eat too much beef. Cows are the most inefficient food source in terms of how much feed their require compared to how much food the produce. Oh, and they produce methane, a greenhouse gas.

And corn farms aren't even owned by the little guy midwest farmer anymore, many of them are owned my large corporations, and buy their corn seed from large biotech companies, and all have their well paid lobbyists, who make sure our congress is happy.

Who gets screwed? Us. It's all about profits, and stealing the biggest slice of pie. But the pie is running out, and it's our children and grandchildren that are going to go hungry.

It's funny how after clinton got caught lying about adultery, everyone was yelling for impeachment. But when bush and co. blatantly create false intelligence data to start an illegal war that has cost american tax payers $30,000 dollars EACH in debt, no one has seemed to care. Everyone conveniently forgets these things.

The two party political system has created a monopoly on the presidency. Whoever controls the party controls the system. The power of government has been taken out of the hands of the people. Our current election is a farce. The electoral college and superdelegates and party primaries, all of it is a complete joke. Doesn't sound like democracy to me (or even a proper republic, which is actually what our system is supposed to be...)

But with Pakistan and North Korea currently having nuclear capabilities, and Iran probably joining them in the near future, we might not even survive long enough to care. Oh well...

Carpe diem, right?

/rant