Standard Oil

Now the president eases back the environmental controls on oil. Got to get those prices down. Might as well streamline the refining process, eliminating additives. Smog be damned. Hell, let's bring back leaded gasoline. Oh for those days of leaded or unleaded pumps. I miss looking down at the odometer and seeing "UNLEADED FUEL ONLY" just below the turning dials. At least he made a little bit of sense when he called for taking back some of the tax incentives granted to oil companies. What a pinch for congress, I can't wait to see how they handle it.

And the president's call for a move to different types of energy makes Jimmy Carter look downright prescient. Back then we all laughed because a helicopter crashed and we ran him out on a rail remembering the lines at the pumps. I guess the sun is setting on the America that Reagan talked about. But the ground is still lit with the fires of the oil wells burning in the distance.

Yeah, Earth Day came and went. Didn't Clinton celebrate that? I guess if mother earth was a woman, Bush would just try and get her drunk and take advantage of her.

Back to oil. I think the conversation I had the other day with the man waiting for the bus illustrates the point well. Dislike of the war, but resignation and perhaps the price of gas will be low. Well now we don't even have cheap gas. Something is wrong here. Every good person knows that at least the gas was supposed to be cheap. And where is that anger going to be directed? Not at a Democratic president, not at a Democratic House or Senate. One step forward, two steps back (just don't let those steps back allow you to have any perspective). I thought every dead American would give me at least a half a cent or so off at the pump, right?

Finally, a young boy who knows about saving the environment says the answer is Jesus. What was the question again? To be clear, he was in kindergarten so I wouldn't exactly be too hard on him. And I think someone could probably write a wonderful essay on how one of the answers to helping the environment is religion or even Jesus. (I applaud the recent efforts by some religious organizations to begin to move in a Green direction). But his parents decided to sue. No doubt the school's move to take down his poster about Jesus and saving the environment wasn't exactly viewpoint neutral, it was censored for its promotion of a specific religious viewpoint. Which to me raises some interesting questions. How about instead of long elaborate proofs in Algebra and Geometry, I simply wrote, "the answer is Jesus." Then I could sue the school for viewpoint discrimination after I got bad marks. After all my answer was right, from a certain point of view.