Sunday, July 16, 2006

Divided we multiply apathy...



As I waited in line frustration mounted. I was a couple of cars back, poised. Suddenly the white Toyota at the front drove away. The car in front of me didn't move. The cars beside me were stuck, so I nosed ahead and cruised in to the last pump available. Ah hah. Quickly, I got out and started to fill up. The man behind me had finished at his pump, slowly drove past and scornfully looked at me like I had a problem. Why couldn't I have waited in line patiently, was the kind of look he gave me. I resisted the urge to mouth a comment his way... just, as he turned his head speaking emphatically to his female companion, most likely his wife. No doubt speaking about that loser who was so impatient. Quickly the well dressed female slid into the now vacant spot behind me in her Subaru and stuck the nozzle into her thirsty petrol tank. More cars welled up behind. I cannot tell you how many times I have been to this petrol station. Seriously, more often than not, it is full. Another station is under construction up the road. It will attempt to fill the demand. You see the competing supermarkets offer four cents off per liter. All in all it comes to around two dollars or so per tank, but hey that is a cup of coffee isn't it? Elderly, teenagers, Mothers, Fathers, all different, all with thirsty habits. And the time keeps ticking. The oil keeps flowing. The vehicles roll off of the assembly lines. The governments look good with every drop. Record revenues in tax make them seem like savvy, quick witted, responsible caretakers of the nation. They will even charge a Goods and Service tax on top of the already fifty percent or so they draw into the coffers. Time ticks on. Oh wow, our car is out of petrol again. Oh wow, I have to pay for that ticket I just received at the red light camera.
I ask you.
What happened in 1929? Did everyone in unison stop buying and start selling?

Dadost made a comment on the last BS. (By the way thanks Siesiers for your excellent piece.) He stated something along the lines that if the amount of dollars were spent on peace that were spent on war...... How about taking some petrol money and putting towards a lobby group against the consumption of petrol. No I am not some freaky guy who burns firewood in my lounge room for heat. If all consumers suddenly reduced their reliance on fossil fuels just for our cars, would the influence of organizations like OPEC be reduced? Would wars fought for oil be needed? Would dollars spent on war be spent on peace? Interest rates are going up to combat inflation. Inflation. Is the price of oil driving inflation? And the time kept ticking.

Check "View my complete profile" for the latest results. Final question coming next...

19 comments:

Anonymous said...

As I understood the war was not a fight over oil, but about nuclear power. As a result of the war prices have gone way up. Thankfully they have not cut us off completely. Maybe if the whole world was allowed to live in the same standard of life as we get to there may not be as many wars. Just my thoughts. I am glad I have stumbled on to this sight. It seems to bring up a few subjects that would be best to be heard by polititions.

targo....lost? said...

hhhmmmm economics,, supply and demand theory. As supply goes up the demand goes down thus dropping a price of a product. But as the demand of a product goes up the supply goes down thus making it a 'hot' commodity and having the price rise.


So here we are with wars going on in the middle east so we are all to think that the supply of a demanding product has gone down. Then on top of this Katrina hits and that is where the US processes their oil into fuel. Again halting in the production and therefore the supply of this needed product..


So how does Canada sit in this resource,, aren't we suppose to have our own oil fields? Don't we have our own processing plants?? How is it that we must, in this day and age, tap into anothers commodity when we have it literally sitting in our own back yards???


Just my thoughts that is all

Anonymous said...

It seems to me that the whole world is concerned about the price of gas. And rightly so, our whole economy, and lifestyle depends on it.

What ever happened to the days when some renegade gas company decided to sell gas cheaper than the other guys? Now those were Gas Wars that I can relate to. Hey maybe we could import Gas from Chavez in Venezuela and get a real Gas War going?

Oh, well, what can we do about it?
I heard of someone suggesting that we all just buy $5.00 of gas at a time instead of filling up. Hey, how about this, if everyone bought from Chevron on Monday,and Esso on Tuesday,Shell on Wednesday, Mohawk on Thursday, you get the idea, then one company would have to wait 7 days to get some money. Maybe if they had to wait 7 days they might lower their prices. In the meantime we could all still buy from Chevron on Mondays and Esso on Tuesday etc. and that way keep them all on the run to lower their prices.

Kind of like the idea of everyone flushing their toilets all at the same time. The trouble is to get everone to buy into it.

Hey Chanks, nice to see you back at it. Looking forward to the Horse race.

dost

Anonymous said...

I hear the high gas prices are the cause of the higher than usual Canadian dollar.

I would think that it is the big gas companys like Shell etc. that we should boycott. But like it was said earlier, how do we get people to jump on the band wagon?

I would rather have a papier-mache
cut than a chain saw cut....teehee

AV

Anonymous said...

Yeah,,,, just how do you "kidnap" a soldier? Real curious about that. Most soldiers I see are armed to the teeth and constantly on the watch for the enemy.

Were these guys sleeping? If so where were their buddies? Seems like Israel have a bit of an embarrasment on their hands, and as a result they want to go bombing things in Jordan until these two soldiers are returned.

While Israel and Jordan burn we moan about the price of gas. Life is rough!!

dost toast

Anonymous said...

WHAT IF THE WHOLE WORLD FLUSHED AT THE SAME TIME?

THINK OF THE TSUNAMI THAT WOULD CREATE!!!

Anonymous said...

Anyone who would willingly fire a missile into a civilian population is evil. Winston Churchill did it to innocent people in Germany in WWII. Hitler did it to innocent British people in WWII. The Americans did it to innocent Vietnamese people. Israel is doing it to innocent people in Palestine as you read this. The Americans did it to innocent people in Baghdad. The Japanese did it to innocent people in China in WWII. Al Qaeda did it to innocent people in 9-11. They're all murderers, none any better or worse than the others, and if you can find it in yourself to forgive them then you are among the chosen few who can help humanity to survive our own stupidity. I would love to learn to forgive them but right now I have so much hatred towards Israel for what they're doing that I feel as if I can't possibly do anything positive for anybody. This kind of madness reduces me to a savage. The very fact that I feel a burning desire to fire bombs back at them to give them a taste of their own awful medicine is just an indication to me that I am incapable of dealing with this situation. It's driving me crazy. Please say something to me to make me feel better. I apologize for my choice of miserable subject matter. It's all over the news and it's depressing me.

Anonymous said...

Just an added note, as I was surfing googleearth to get a closer look at Beirut where all the tragedy is unfolding. I noticed that there is a golf course right close to the airport in the city. I am curious if any of the bombs have hit the golf course. Are the golfers being spared? I mean, the Israeli military seems to think it's okay to hit a f***ing HOSPITAL so tell me just what the hell these people think their bombs and guns are designed to do, defend their country??!!!? They can't even aim well enough to avoid hitting a hospital?!!? This is savage and disgusting. I'm in shock. Perhaps we should just take it out on weapons manufacturers. Any company that designs weapons for military arsenals should be annexed to the government, the weapons disassembled, and the owners and workers thrown in jail PERMANENTLY. All in favour say aye. All not in favour get thrown in jail with the rest of the SCUM.

Anonymous said...

PSAM YOU ARE BEING MANIPULATED BY THE PRESS IF YOU THINK ISREAL IS THE ONLY ONE TO BLAME!!!!!

Anonymous said...

Psam pretty strong language there man. Hezbollah knew what it was doing, there has been a history between them.

Anonymous said...

Personally, I don't think Psam is blaming any one country. But in situations like this, I find a very strong need to blame someone or something. In my small mind I see no reason for all that is going on and see no reason why we can't all co-exist peacably. It is so easy, even children can do it. "You can be the leader first, then it's my turn, Georgie can have a turn after Stephen. Kaplinski that's not how we play....if you don't follow the rules you can't play!"

To me it seems logical but like I said earlier, "in my small mind"

AV

Anonymous said...

Oh while we're pointing out how evil governments are, I believe soon we'll start hearing evidence released showing some secret conversations between certain leaders of allied nations just before world war two that sounded something like this: "Germany is going to be exterminating certain races so we do not want to defeat them quick enough that they do not get a chance to carry out most of this extermination. We will hold off beating them until most of their plan is complete."

Anonymous said...

i think psam is just like any of the others in the middle east and would take up arms in a second and take away human life. if he is mad just cause of wat he saw in the media what if his brother or sister was killed. he wuld be the first inline to hit back

Anonymous said...

I am smart enough to know that if a relative of mine were killed in a bombing, and I were to try to "hit back" I would end up killing people that had NOTHING to do with the death of my family members. If everybody were smart enough to know that, then nobody would ever take up arms and fire against their fellow human beings in the name of governments that are serving their own selfish interests and are subersively acting to encourage warfare to occur so that they may entrench the power they have over their people in a veil of fear. The Americans and Iranians are helping give arms to the Israelis and Palestinians. The people in these nations are serving as guinea pigs for weapons testing. All four governments benefit from the results of these wars, and thousands of people that live there lose their homes, their cities, their family members and any sense of peace in their lives. Whoever wrote the last comment about me, I want to address you personally and ask you if a family member of yours was killed by a missile fired into your city, who would YOU "hit back"? If you could explain this to me, then perhaps I'll concede that I'd like to "hit" someone "back" if my brother were killed. Who could you find that was *personally* to blame so that you could "hit back"? When would you stop "hitting back"? I would really like an answer from you so please don't disappoint me. You have the opportunity to educate somebody here. Try to rise to the occasion. I'll just call you by the name you identified yourself as: anonymous. I believe there are a few people by that name. Have you got a last name? "Scared" perhaps? Well I'm scared too, so congratulations we have something important in common. You are like a sister or a brother to me, so please help me as I'm trying to help you.

Anonymous said...

Every time someone joins an army to avenge their own fellow family members and citizens, they end up doing the same thing to many other people as was done to their own family members and citizens in the first place.

chankslee said...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwS86Oaemh8&feature=Views&page=1&t=t&f=b

Hey, since I promised to do trivia on the next post....here is some interesting stuff for ya. My next one will be light especially after the heavyness ness on tha news.

Check out the link, (above)and the comments by dubya, and also you tube's reader comments.... interesting views including.... i despise the guy but he is right.... and it must be the end of the world bush is telling the truth...

There is nothing new under the sun.. wars, rumours, people like william shakespeare become legends. Psam what you are seeing in the Israel/Lebanon/Syria is nothing new and but a blip when compared with past conflicts. It would be good if we could learn from this debacle. Let us first explore why it happened, not what is happening...those are my thoughts anyways.

I think we can all hold times like anzac day or rememberance day in high regard and once again resolve on those days to hold our various governments responsible, and to be involved enough so that the people, us, can be involved in the diplomatic process. In that short clip with Dubya and the rest of the G8 you will see yourself represented. Each leader will reflect YOU. Make sure they are serving YOU. Make sure they know how YOU feel. They can accurately serve, and show the rest of the world how to do things. YOU are at the G8 summit and are responsible by your daily actions (like buying petrol) on how your leaders will conduct themselves. Those are my conclusions, or my 2 cents anyways. Hopefully it doesn't sound too high and mighty.......
have fun. be good. play safe...but whatever you do, don't pull Pablo's finger. Yes even if he is in the fiat.

Anonymous said...

AV, I hope you realized what a good thing you were doing writing your last entry. It made me feel so much better about everything that's been bothering me. In this vote for who thinks which blog entry has been the best one, I can't decide on a single one because there have been so many good ones, but I will say that overall your contribution to this blog site has been the one that has most consistently made me feel better when things were really upsetting me. Thank you.
I always smile when I see your name on an entry because I know I can look forward to reading something that will make my day better.

Anonymous said...

Wow, someone is really worked up'

Violence, and killing have been a part of this world since the begining of time. After God created Adam and Eve, he saw that the world was evil, so he then flooded the earth and destroyed everything that wasn't in the Arc with Noah. God killed Esau because he didn't find his offering acceptable. God asked Abraham to offer his son for a burnt offering. Wise King Solomon offered to solve a domestic dispute by cutting a new born baby in 2.

God sent his only begotten son to this earth to die a cruel death on the cross that we can all have redemtion of sin. Jesus told of wars, and rumors of wars that all must come to pass before he will return to this earth, and take his own to paradise. Death, violence, and war have been among us since the beginning of time, and it is all a test to see how we react, or how we get involved in this crisis.

Live each day you have in to the fullest because it may be your last. Dont dwell on things you cannot control, because it will only bring you down.

Anonymous said...

I am soooooo disappointed!