We have come so far and flown so high that it is nearly inconceivable we may have gone right beyond our areas of normal expansive and progressive interest. Flight. Ever since I was a child I have loved flight. Any kind of flying machine, or person who operated a flying machine, was of great and endearing interest to me. My father was in the military, which allowed our family to fly from duty station to duty station across the land and over oceans. And I loved it all, from the aluminum framed web seats, to the loud piston engines of mixed dependabilty...and even the boxed chicken lunches, which were commonly distributed. Although planes were not on time or always able to take off due to weather or mechanical problems, it was okay. Airports had few services and little in the way of entertainment while we waited, interminably, to fly.
But we waited and we waited willingly. We loved to fly, and we loved all the preparation that went into the process. We loved the unseen 'John Wayne' pilots, and we loved the stewardesses in their wonderfully stylish attire. We loved the big aluminum monsters that flew us through the air. Most of us knew them all, by airline, model description put out by the airline, and even the manufacturer.
So what the hell happened? United is losing money...again. The rest are losing money, or making little, while they shrink the number and length of their flights. And that is all over the world. The airlines are all complaining about falling revenue and passenger miles. And they are correct. So what happened?
We don't like to fly anymore. We fell out of love. Flying today is a bitter experience of humiliating phony service. It is a series of unending embarrassments, to those who fly economy, and almost intolerable in first class, which is so expensive as to be almost humorous. We have horrid parking at airports and worse intra-airport transportation. Just the act of dropping somebody off or picking them up is to be avoided at almost any cost. Homeland Security is rotten. Rotten attitudes and stupidly rotten procedures. More humiliation. Once aboard an aircraft it is just as bad. Less room for carry-on, if any room at all. Charges for everything. Crammed planes outfitted with ever smaller seats and spaces. Tickets that cannot be changed. Tickets that cannot be returned. Fear of being run through some security system and denied the right to fly. Fear of everything connected to flight or the geographics where it occurs.
We don't like to fly anymore. That is what happened to revenue and passenger miles. We attempt to avoid it. We take a car or a train, but, more and more, we don't go at all. And it is getting worse. With less disposable income, we fly only when we absolutely have to. Our hatred for the experience is obvious to all around us at the airport, making matters all the worse. We hate the security guards, even though we understand their work. We hate the airplane crews even though we know that it is not their fault. We hate the dirty unsafe equipment we see all the time.
And so, we are beginning not to fly. It is the airlines fault. It is our governmental leadership's fault. It is the caving in to vapid stupidity at fault. There are not going to be any 9/11's because no passengers will allow it anymore. Heard of any hijacked airliners lately? Me neither. But I think it is maybe too late for the current airlines to recover. Flight will have to change. We won't accept it the way it is. We will kill it off, by not going. Then something will replace it. Like cars. I noticed, the other day, that I was standing at a Borders bookstore magazine rack in the automobile section. I have always bought automobile magazines. I looked and then bought nothing. My love affair with that method of transportation is dying too. I used to love to read about powerful sports cars, the faster the better. Now I think they are a joke. I do not want to pay for gas to support a 500 horsepower engine. An engine that will spend all of its time idling in traffic, or in the very very unlikely event that I can drive fast at all, idling by the side of the road as the ever-more aggressive highway patrols write me expensive tickets, accompanied by idiotic morality tales about safety.
And the other car stuff is boring. Oh, I know we gotta have the hybreds and the electrics. It is for the good and economy of all, not to mention, green of all. But those cars are boring. You just can't read very far into an article about a Prius. So the cars are going to go too. We are driving less. We are driving less for the same reason we are flying less...because we don't like to do it anymore. We are so simple to figure out, if you take the time and trouble to study us...the people...the fabric of the culture. We work because we have to, and because we believe in work as a part of our foundation of worth. We play because we want to. We'll continue to drive the trucks and cars for work, and fly for work, but we won't do those things for fun anymore. Unless there is just no other way to get there, and then we may not go at all.
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1! Oil Company Profits 3!. Your Tax Dollars 3!. Churches
1!. Oil Company Profits: Exxon Mobil announced record profits this year. I propose a federal tax on this profit to be used to fund the 1.69 GAS COUPONS.
2!. Your Tax Dollars: For every dollar used to fund our war in Iraq we take 10 cents and put it into the 1.69 GAS COUPON Fund. How much has Iraq made in oil revenues since we invaded? Let's have some of that money, too.
31. Churches: Churches are the largest source of untapped liquid assets in the United States of America. I live in Florida. Today is Sunday August 3rd, 2008 or 08/03/08 How much money was donated in churches, synagogues, temples and related organiations since last Sunday? How much in your state? How much since January 1st, 2008? How much since January 1st, 2000?
Got any ideas on how to fund the 1.69 GAS COUPON? Please let us know.
Print barcoded coupons in $10, $20 and $50 denominations. Send $50 in GAS COUPONS each monrth to every man woman and child in your state that has had a state driver's license for one year or longer and has had no tickets or accidents in the past year. In six months traffic violations and accidents will drop.
What if you have coupons left over? I propose a secondary market where gas gas coupons can be bought and sold online or through newspaper advertising. Anyone want to become a GAS COUPON Broker?
Templates — Our collection of templates will get you started with an attractive site right away without you having to learn any HTML, though Blogger also allows you to edit your blog's HTML code whenever you want.
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What will happen then? Who knows. It might be fun, though.
"A nation that can't control its energy sources can't control its future."
-Barack Obama, The Audacity of Hope
Without enough oil the US economy would come to a standstill. The OPEC embargo in the 1970s had huge negative consequences of the US economy that lasted well into the 1980s. To cut oil consumption and lessen the effects of the embargo, a national speed limit was enacted, the strategic petroleum reserve came into existence, the Dept. of Energy was made into a cabinet-level position, and corporate average fuel economy (CAFE) standards were enacted for the first time. We knew that America's oil addiction made America's economy and national security vulnerable and we took aggressive measures in reaction to the crisis.
Yet the United States has continued to become even more dependent on foreign sources of oil since the OPEC crisis. In 1982, 33.4% of of the oil consumed on the US was imported from abroad. By 1995, nearly half of the oil Americans consumed, or 49.8%, came from abroad. And in 2004 (the most recent year for which statistics were available from the US Dept. of Energy) our dependence on foreign sources of oil had risen to 63.4%. We are becoming more and more dependent on oil each day.
So exactly where does our energy come from today? This is precisely what I examined in my thesis that I wrote last fall. Using figures from the US Dept. of Energy in 2004 (again, the most recent year for which the data is available), I calculated how much of our oil came from free, democratic states (as classified by Freedom House), how much came from states that were "partly free", and how much of our oil was purchased from states that were "not free" at all.
I found that 28.1% of the oil the United States imported in 2004 originated in authoritarian states classified as "not free". What countries does this include? Algeria, Angola, Saudi Arabia, and Russia. This did not even include countries like Venezuela or Nigeria, which are often considered to have repressive, corrupt governments in the West. These countries fell into the category "partly free". 26.4% of our oil was purchased from states that were "partly free". This means that combined, 54.5%, or more than half of our oil came from states that are not free, open, democratic societies.
The consequence of this is that large chunks of our oil supply are now coming from countries on the verge or civil wars like Nigeria, or places like Russia which are becoming more corrupt and authoritarian each day. In the last few years Putin has suspended elections of governors in the states of Russia so that he can appoint leaders there instead. In Russia and Venezuela the state has acquired oil companies and brought them back under state control, meaning that by purchasing oil from these states we are directly funding repression. From gay rights parades to independent media companies, the rule of law, property rights, and opposition parties--all institutions that are elements of open, democratic societies--have been squashed in the process.
If every country in the world had oil beneath its soil, we could simply buy it from more respectable places like Norway. But the fact is that most of the oil in the world lies beneath states that don't have open democratic societies. Developed countries like the United States and developing countries (India and China) alike continue to demand more and more oil each year that passes. Each state is trying to gain access to more and more oil to ensure that its future energy needs will be met. China has formed a strategic partnership with the corrupt government of Sudan, responsible for the genocide now happening there. But that relationship is not much worse than that the US now has with Russia and Venezuela. The fact is that the vast majority of relationships forged in the international community to gain access to oil resources are not good for the promotion of democratic rights and civil liberties.
Even if we try our best to buy responsibly, that means other countries have to get their oil from corrupt, authoritarian states. The only way to stop funding corruption, repression, and (in the case of Sudan) genocide directly (like we are now in Russia or Venezuela) or indirectly (by consuming large portions of the world oil supply meaning that other states must buy from not free states) is to cut oil consumption entirely. That is not realistic in the short-term but we must start trying to move in that direction as much as we can.
Senator Barack Obama is offering a comprehensive plan to move the United States in the right direction. Barack Obama will set the goal of reducing the consumption of oil by 7.64 million barrels a day by 2025. This is 40 percent of our total foreign oil imports. This would mean that we would no longer need to purchase oil from Russia or Venezuela. Of course, it doesn’t mean authoritarianism would cease to exist in these states, but it does mean Chavez and Putin would no longer be receiving millions of dollars from Americans thanks to our thirst for their oil each and every day. That is less money they will have to continue their assaults on private companies, political opposition within their countries, and individual rights of their citizens.
From increasing funding for science and technology research and development to increasing the fuel efficiency standards of American made automobiles, his plan would start making an impact soon after being implemented and also empower the American economy to find a long-term solution to the problem. By raising fuel efficiency standards and encouraging the use of E85, the United States will reduce its overall demand for oil and rely less on imports from abroad than it otherwise would have.
Senator Barack Obama is the only presidential candidate who has had the courage to go to Detroit and tell the automobile industry things it does not want to hear. On May 7, 2007 he addressed the Detroit Economic Club. He highlighted the fact that it is becoming increasingly difficult to sell inefficient vehicles in foreign markets and in the United States, especially now that gas prices are reaching near record highs. He has offered to help the automakers by footing the bill for their retirees’ healthcare benefits if they agree to invest half of the savings in research and development of hybrids. This will make them more formidable competitors in the domestic and global markets in the long-term, while offering another way to wean the United States off of foreign oil.
It is imperative that these measures be enacted as quickly as possible, not only for the health of our economy and the big three automakers, but also for the promotion of democracy and human rights in the world and America’s national security. Barack Obama’s innovative approach to cutting oil consumption will help promote democracy and stability abroad, thus resulting in a world less hospitable for authoritarian rulers and terror organizations. At home, our economy and national security will become less dependent on what is happening in countries like Nigeria, Russia, and Saudi Arabia. Without a doubt, cutting a major source of funding for hostile rulers around the world would make America and the rest of the world much better off.
