There's no escaping from the fact that oil is running out and this is fact is not lost on the decision makers in Washington, London, Moscow, Beijing, etc. So what should the average Joe do? Well, how about starting with learning more about what goes on in the name of securing oil supplies, and then ask the question, 'What can I do about it?'. If the question is sincere, the answer will appear.
I'm sure there will be much talk about the number 4000 today - media outlets vying with one another to sensationalize the tragic milestone of the 4000th US soldier to die in Iraq, as if they truly care, before breaking off to the commercials. Even the PBS evening news, that supposedly doesn't carry commercials during the news, will be preceded and followed by oil company ads. Most people will go 'tsk, tsk', and flip the channel. There will not be much mention of the number of Iraqis killed - for one thing, no one really knows how many, and the numbers vary from several tens of thousands to over 100,000 Iraqis killed and about 2 million people displaced. And we are told things are getting better.
Let's see, it's Monday today - I don't know, I guess there will be 'Dancing With the Stars' or some such show to follow - can't miss that! This being a holiday for me and my wife, I got to watch a little bit of the Ellen Degeneres show with her - she was giving away some GM SUV to one of the audience, and was going to lend a few more to select viewers to drive across the country to attend her show - and there will be a camera crew to film their adventures (?) along the way. And in another segment, she did some crazy stunts in a supermarket - just playing with bread, butter, throwing fruits and stuff, you see - nothing major...I used to consider Ellen as one of the more intelligent and sensitive talk show hosts (I know there's always the larger-than-life image of Oprah) - I used to admire her courage to be who she is, heck, even her dress sense - practical and functional - even Oprah has to 'dress up' every now and then, with make up and stuff - but lately I don't care much for any of these characters. Ellen driving a hybrid may be just a stunt, or she's just trying to be part of the 'in' crowd. There's this peculiar American pastime of throwing and wasting food in the name of fun - and it's sad to see no one is immune to that disease. And what's with the SUV thing - does she even care that these things use up gas, and one of the reasons US soldiers are dying in Iraq is to 'secure' the supply of this stuff, so we can all drive our SUVs, RV's, pickups, while towing the boats, come summer? Do Americans really care? I'm not at all sure. I pray to God that I don't run into a right winger that moronically repeats the same old stuff of 'getting rid of Saddam' and 'protecting America' BS - at least not today! And not even on TV!