Typically, this is a topic that I shy away from. First of all, to me, it all seems a little corrupt. Second of all, I basically follow the presidential elections (as in, I usually know who winds up getting elected) and that is absolutely it – so I’m not exactly what you could call an “authority.” I know more about politics in Ancient Rome (my favorites are the Gracchi brothers!) than our government’s current squabblings and power plays.
However, don’t think that I’m saying I’m some kind of “Don’t Tread on Me”-shouting NRA member with a tent house where they have their 4 years olds cleaning guns and telling the news they don’t need government to look after them, while an old woman guts a deer in the background
In Camo.
So last season!
Not that I’m saying anything about the NRA. Hey, look, you have every right to bear arms …but I’m just saying, we haven’t been invaded since 1812. That’s almost 200 years. And even that only happened because an uppity U.S. commander crossed the border into Canada to invade the British-occupied city of Sandwich. Which, you know, sounds pretty delicious to me, too
…but it’s not like they invaded us first. Er, well that time.
Um. There was a point here somewhere.
Oh, right – this whole BP thing. OK, so…it’s obviously a disaster, but can I be "straight-talkin' Dad" honest?
I’m a little bit glad it happened. Obviously, the loss of life is tragic and it's destroying so much of the gulf, but perhaps a minor disaster to wake people up before an even bigger disaster to come?
OK, I'll detail in "of alls."
First of all – we have got to investigate alternative fuel sources (ethanol doesn’t count – it’s too expensive for some reason and we eat it. Read your labels!) and there’s just no urgency being given to that requirement. When the last drop of oil gets used…what are we going to do with all these highways? And more importantly, how are you going to get two cars out of your garage if you can’t even turn them on?
Second of all – the stuff is running out. Fast. Do you know how many people there are in China? According to my latest calculations, roughly 47 GRILLION. You know how long oil is going to last when they all start driving? About two weeks (a fortnight!) And with China’s sudden involvement and interest in the WTO and other things with capitalistic tendencies, their interest in cars (not just making them anymore, LOLZ) is going to go through the proverbial car-interested roof. Oil is running out and fast.
Oh, but Alaska! Alaska! some of you may say. My guess is after all this, the government is going to be too afraid to Tick off their constituents after the massive amounts of wetland and ecological damage the current oil problem is creating? There are people in Louisiana who will oppose drilling in Alaska just out of spite now! Plus, it’s a band-aid on the overall problem, not a solution.
Not to mention, oil is not a renewable resource. Picture a dinosaur, with its blood-dripping fangs and beady black eyes and lashing tail. 
That dinosaur is in your car! Why do you think oil is so awesome – it’s dinosaurs. We are driving to Wal-Mart (PUKE, I don’t care) on prehistoric thunder lizards’ corpses. And yes, yes, I’m sure there were many dinosaurs – but there are way more people (remember, we are in the Grillions now) and even though Brontosaurus was the size of at least 17 city blocks, its body can’t power your Hummer for 80 years.
Can’t be done. It’s science. You’re practically getting this info from Galileo, so you know, believe it.
Third of all – I hate cars! They get hot in the summer, they take forever to warm up in the winter and anyway, I like horses better. This is usually the point in my oil argument where my dad goes “Trust me, you don’t want to be riding Mr. Ed to work in the rain while it’s pooping five pounds of oats and slipping around on the wet asphalt.” No doy, Dad.
In the old days, when we relied on horses (which worked for thousands of years) if it was raining – guess what? You weren’t going into work. And neither was anybody else.
Rain Day!
These days, we are so driven by that urgent urgency of our success-crazed global economy, no one can even think of living their lives according to the terms of nature once again. If you don’t come into work on days when it’s snowing outside, people think you’re a slacker. I’m just afraid for my life, okay? So I think this whole oil argument is touchy because (obviously) it is really forcing us to think about our entire system of living and how horribly short-sighted it has been for the last 50 years.
So back to my original statement – I shy away from politics. I’m not going to call my congressman and say the government should take the hint this is giving us and start investing in solar technology...because I don’t even belong to a political party because I’m not a registered voter (plus, I’m not in the Electoral College so it doesn’t even matter!). But I do care what happens with this oil spill business. But politics and politicians in them...ehh. So…the quandary. What are we going to do?
And I guess I mean this whole BP thing (awful and terrible though it is) could have positive repercussions– since it’s forcing the issue to be discussed with the urgency it deserves.
For now.
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