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To my U.S. friends, please read and heed:
This is going around Bobby's office and he sent it to me:
Don't buy gas on 9/1/05!
Don't buy gasoline on September 1 to send a message to companies. It has been calculated that if everyone in the United States did not purchase a drop of gasoline for one day and all at the same time, the oil companies would choke on their stockpiles.
At the same time, it would hit the entire industry with a net loss of over 4.6 billion dollars, which affects the bottom line of the oil companies.
Therefore, September 1st has been formally declared "Stick It Up Your Ass Day" and the people of this nation should not buy a single drop of gasoline that day.
The only way this can be done is if you get the word out to your friends and families.
Waiting on this administration to step in and control the prices is not going to happen. What happened to the reduction and control in prices that the Arab nations promised weeks ago?
Remember one thing: Not only is the price of gasoline going up, but at the same time, airlines are forced to raise their prices and trucking companies are forced to raise their prices, which effects prices on everything that is shipped. Things like food, clothing, building materials, medical supplies, etc. Who pays int he end? We do!
We can make a difference. If they don't get the message after one day, we will do it again and again.
So do your part and spread the word. Mark your calendars and make September 1st a day that the citizens of the United States say "Enough Is Enough."
Dawn's Thoughts
I'm not so stupid to think that this will work.
Once in my life, I was a blind idealistic who was going to see sexism, racism, and factory farming ended by the end of this life. That was a half a lifetime ago now, and I may still be young, but I have learned a lot in that half a lifetime, enough to know that idealism is usually crap. Alas, though, I cannot resist.
Because I believe that even a few individuals can make a difference. And it may take a while, but if we are true to our aim, then we will succeed.
I have gotten to the point where I cannot watch the news. I have not watched Hurricane Katrina coverage. I mourn those lost and will make my Red Cross donation and keep those who lost loved ones and homes in my thoughts at every hour of the day. But yesterday, when I came home, Bobby had on the news, and they were talking about the hurricane, and they threw around those hot-button words with the same reckless abandon as ever: Death. Destruction. Tragedy. Terror. And they zoomed in close on the faces of the people who had lost everything.
My boss told me yesterday: "I watch it constantly. I cannot look away. It is like I am afraid to miss the blood and destruction."
This may sound callous, but it is also honest, and I commend him for understanding what so many who watch constantly to "keep informed" do not. But anyway, this is a tangent for another time.
Through the tragedy that has been Katrina, I hear little words weaseling around in discussions and news headlines. People have lost their homes and sometimes their lives and companies are more concerned with their profits.
Do you honestly think that gas prices are up to $4.50 a gallon in some places because of a hurricane? Yes, I understand the influence Katrina had on refineries and the pipelines, but prices were headed in that direction long before Katrina had gained enough strength to earn her name. It has been one straw man after another: hurricanes, terrorism, the death of Kings in faraway lands, aging technology, globalization.... Let me tell you something, we have had hurricanes before. Kings have died before. Globalization has been going strong for a decade. And we have experienced terrorism a lot worse than the most recent embassy bombings, and we certainly weren't paying three, four, five dollars a gallon for gasoline.
It is simple: The oil companies know they can make profits off of us. They know they have a friend in the Oval Office who won't stop them. They aren't stupid.
But we are, if we continue to believe that it is hurricanes, terrorism, and the deaths of kings that are the sole cause of the gas prices as they are.
We are a nation that lived through 9/11 and wasn't crippled economically the way we are now.
With gas prices the way they are right now, it now costs my husband about $16 a day to go to work, to serve his country and protect us. (That includes the cost of gas and the cost of the sham that is known as our "public transportation system," which our foolish, idealistic family continues to use, despite the fact that it is owned by a private corporation--not the government it "serves"--and that it costs him $10 a day to make a half-hour trip into DC.)
If you honestly still believe that hurricanes and terror are the cause of the situation today, consider that oil companies have had record profits in this last year. And are spending less than ever on research to improve refining techniques. (Which is another reason--aging technology--that they give for prices being the way they are. Funny how this all happened right when a friend of the oil companies is becoming a lame duck president....)
And now you hear the insurance companies whining about how many profits they are going to lose because of Katrina. People have lost their homes, their loved ones...why do we put up with allowing companies to shadow those losses with complaints about their profits?
Let's not be stupid, people. I don't know that there's much we can do--this is a David/Goliath situation, really--but at least, let's not pretend that our president and the corporations that finance him have ever had our best interests in mind.
This is going around Bobby's office and he sent it to me:
Don't buy gas on 9/1/05!
Don't buy gasoline on September 1 to send a message to companies. It has been calculated that if everyone in the United States did not purchase a drop of gasoline for one day and all at the same time, the oil companies would choke on their stockpiles.
At the same time, it would hit the entire industry with a net loss of over 4.6 billion dollars, which affects the bottom line of the oil companies.
Therefore, September 1st has been formally declared "Stick It Up Your Ass Day" and the people of this nation should not buy a single drop of gasoline that day.
The only way this can be done is if you get the word out to your friends and families.
Waiting on this administration to step in and control the prices is not going to happen. What happened to the reduction and control in prices that the Arab nations promised weeks ago?
Remember one thing: Not only is the price of gasoline going up, but at the same time, airlines are forced to raise their prices and trucking companies are forced to raise their prices, which effects prices on everything that is shipped. Things like food, clothing, building materials, medical supplies, etc. Who pays int he end? We do!
We can make a difference. If they don't get the message after one day, we will do it again and again.
So do your part and spread the word. Mark your calendars and make September 1st a day that the citizens of the United States say "Enough Is Enough."
Dawn's Thoughts
I'm not so stupid to think that this will work.
Once in my life, I was a blind idealistic who was going to see sexism, racism, and factory farming ended by the end of this life. That was a half a lifetime ago now, and I may still be young, but I have learned a lot in that half a lifetime, enough to know that idealism is usually crap. Alas, though, I cannot resist.
Because I believe that even a few individuals can make a difference. And it may take a while, but if we are true to our aim, then we will succeed.
I have gotten to the point where I cannot watch the news. I have not watched Hurricane Katrina coverage. I mourn those lost and will make my Red Cross donation and keep those who lost loved ones and homes in my thoughts at every hour of the day. But yesterday, when I came home, Bobby had on the news, and they were talking about the hurricane, and they threw around those hot-button words with the same reckless abandon as ever: Death. Destruction. Tragedy. Terror. And they zoomed in close on the faces of the people who had lost everything.
My boss told me yesterday: "I watch it constantly. I cannot look away. It is like I am afraid to miss the blood and destruction."
This may sound callous, but it is also honest, and I commend him for understanding what so many who watch constantly to "keep informed" do not. But anyway, this is a tangent for another time.
Through the tragedy that has been Katrina, I hear little words weaseling around in discussions and news headlines. People have lost their homes and sometimes their lives and companies are more concerned with their profits.
Do you honestly think that gas prices are up to $4.50 a gallon in some places because of a hurricane? Yes, I understand the influence Katrina had on refineries and the pipelines, but prices were headed in that direction long before Katrina had gained enough strength to earn her name. It has been one straw man after another: hurricanes, terrorism, the death of Kings in faraway lands, aging technology, globalization.... Let me tell you something, we have had hurricanes before. Kings have died before. Globalization has been going strong for a decade. And we have experienced terrorism a lot worse than the most recent embassy bombings, and we certainly weren't paying three, four, five dollars a gallon for gasoline.
It is simple: The oil companies know they can make profits off of us. They know they have a friend in the Oval Office who won't stop them. They aren't stupid.
But we are, if we continue to believe that it is hurricanes, terrorism, and the deaths of kings that are the sole cause of the gas prices as they are.
We are a nation that lived through 9/11 and wasn't crippled economically the way we are now.
With gas prices the way they are right now, it now costs my husband about $16 a day to go to work, to serve his country and protect us. (That includes the cost of gas and the cost of the sham that is known as our "public transportation system," which our foolish, idealistic family continues to use, despite the fact that it is owned by a private corporation--not the government it "serves"--and that it costs him $10 a day to make a half-hour trip into DC.)
If you honestly still believe that hurricanes and terror are the cause of the situation today, consider that oil companies have had record profits in this last year. And are spending less than ever on research to improve refining techniques. (Which is another reason--aging technology--that they give for prices being the way they are. Funny how this all happened right when a friend of the oil companies is becoming a lame duck president....)
And now you hear the insurance companies whining about how many profits they are going to lose because of Katrina. People have lost their homes, their loved ones...why do we put up with allowing companies to shadow those losses with complaints about their profits?
Let's not be stupid, people. I don't know that there's much we can do--this is a David/Goliath situation, really--but at least, let's not pretend that our president and the corporations that finance him have ever had our best interests in mind.
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