Tag: barack obama

CUT OIL SUBSIDIES/INVEST IN A NEW ENERGY ECONOMY

In the video posted in the link at the end of this banter, it is commendable that President Obama has addressed the issue of oil company subsidy and record profits while so many people struggle to make ends meet–and as vital programs get scrapped in the name of “saving tax payers money”–but sad that he still has to coddle the oil industry by making the comment about being rewarded for their success….

Sad, only because somehow, someway, pro-oil, pro-polluter, and tea party-like ideologies will twist what he is saying in the video, into some rhetorical bull crap that hints at the tones of “He is ANTI-BUSINESS/AMERICA” And, in turn, such rhetoric is fixated in many minds only because we have been so dependent upon oil for so long, that it has become their GOD, with the company their benefactor, and so many cannot fathom ANY OTHER lifestyle that somehow can depend upon it much less. It is a typical smear tactic these days by hijackers of the Republican and Democratic Parties in The Corporate States Of America.

YOU TUBE COMMENTS: As usual, You Tube is a run way train wreck of short sighted and/or ignorant comments posted below the video by those who actually think they are being wise. They are missing the point that we need to trim the corporate welfare to huge oil companies and re-invest this money into renewable, cleaner energies. Someone will gain the fruits and bask in the glow of the benefits this economy will create. Will it be us? Or are we too stupid as a nation to see this? China will not be, so I guess they’re smarter than us.

The oil industry had its time to get all the subsidy it needed. Maybe its time they get off the stage. Now we need to invest in cleaner and renewable sources for a more sustainable future–and, so we are not at the mercy of oil companies. I want to add–that in light of many thinking we can solve this issue with domestic drilling–that drilling domestically will not drill our way out of a crisis.

We simply use and waste too much fuel too fast to risk putting our dirty footprint on the planet’s last great frontiers that are essential in supporting a healthy globe–to support healthy life. The Gulf spill is virtually a non-issue in the mainstream news right now, yet the damages it has done to the eco-system and economies that depend upon its health are suffering.

We have depended upon basically once source of fuel for so long, and as we phase out this burgeoning industry with newer, smaller, more progressive and diverse ones, promoting renewable energies, we will see affordable prices again.Oil should not have a monopoly on the worlds energy.

Lastly, I feel it is important to mention that for those in the US, despite oil companies making record profits, that for years we actually have been paying far too low for fuel prices—especially when you consider what the planet sacrifices to bring us that gallon of gasoline that we waste on frivolous things anyway. Many people are actually conditioned to think they “NEED” the amounts of fuel they are using.

I have witnessed time and again how wasteful people can be with existing energy. They mindlessly consume as if it were endless. And, having said this, I feel that in some way, and say with sarcasm, that Mother Earth will conduct an internal energy audit on the USA. She will yield no more finite fuels UNTIL, it has been re-evaluated how we are currently using existing resources.

Just some questions to ponder in the audit: Are you leaving lights on all over the house? Are you mowing your lawn 3 times a week? Are you having it sprayed with petro-based chemicals by trucks that use oil?… Are you using gas powered tools to do the work of what can often and easily be done by hand…such as blowing dust all over the neighborhood with a gas powered blower as you walk along the curb? (I mean REALLY? Since when has this become necessary? ONLY when a machine was invented to do it.) Are you supporting the flooding of domestic markets with cheap plastic crap by shopping at the big box store scene only? Are you driving when walking can easily be an alternative?

If anyone answered yes to the above, Mother Nature says she will yield no more energy. So, perhaps we need to focus on living more sustainably–and understand that such does not mean you will be compromising your lifestyle. In fact, many may discover the joy in less being more.

Now, with that said…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OIc83PWSBF4

Posted by Angry Man In The Basement at 9:31 AM No comments:

NO-BAMA…NO OIL!

I always thought it was naive to think that by placing our lives, values and trust in the hands of one person, that we would all live happily ever after….but hey, I always make sure I vote! So, when I voted for Barack Obama, I voted for the kinds of changes I would like to see in this country. Regarding this nation’s energy issues, I am not satisfied with the President’s recent push for off shore drilling.

I wrote an article about why I felt off shore drilling would not fix the US energy woes during the McCain/Obama election race so I won’t go into what I discussed in the past other than saying that we use oil at a rate in this nation faster than we can pump it out of the ground—and no amount of holes we drill in the ground will satisfy what should be curbed—and that is, our insatiable addiction to the oil habit.

It just seems to me, however, that the President is somehow caving in and trying to attract support from the Bush, Cheney, McCain, Palin, and oil lobby club–all who which were adamant opponents of his ideas on energy policy. But rather, than getting to political, I would like to focus more on the idea that the US as a nation, needing to take inventory, responsibility, and accountability for how we presently use the oil we have.

To me, it is not worth leaving our dirty footprints on what are some of the earth’s last high quality environments—all life support systems, providing for free, some sort of sustenance for our very own lives. To me it is not worth polluting the last breath of air and last swallow of water for the sake of sustaining the kinds of economies that have our markets flooded with cheap Chinese plastic goods like Happy Meal toys we really don’t need in the first place.

Instead, why don’t we take a look at how we can find much of the fuel we supposedly need, in the fuel we waste on a daily basis as individuals. Let’s ask ourselves many questions how we use fuel daily, and if we really need to be using it the way we are using it. Some questions that pop up in my mind are the following…..

In terms of transportation: Do we really need to own a vehicle that gets a whopping 7 MPG in the city? Do we really need to add a gas powered motor to a bicycle? Do we need to let our cars idle for moments on end on a weather perfect day while waiting for someone? I am sure most are smart enough to figure out sensible alternatives if they put their minds to it and stop letting mass marketing tell them what they need to drive and how they need to drive to be a satisfied customer!

How about how we approach yard care? Do we really need to have a lawn treated with carcinogenic petro-based chemicals because we have been conditioned by companies like the one that rhymes with SNOTS—that a lawn has to be a colorless, fragrantless, sterile, lifeless and mono-culture patch of green turf that isn’t even used for a sporting event? I liked the neighborhood better when it was a peaceful, fragrant and colorful scene—especially after a long winter’s hibernation! Do we really need to keep all 20 acres of our rural property mowed? Why not plant a wildflower meadow on half of it instead? Furthermore, do we really need to mow the lawn 3 times a week just for the sake of making it look like a groomed carpet?


Do we have to use gas powered filthy emissions producing dirt blowers that just rearrange dirt and create a storm of ambient air pollution just because we think a driveway has to present the illusion of being anti-septic? Thanks for covering my house, car and lungs with filth. Try a broom; it is much more social and far less polluting.

How about how we carry groceries or other products? Paper or plastic? How about neither? Why not use something re-usable.Besides, ever notice how much these plastic bags are turning up in our environment. They are literally choking lakes and oceans.

These are just a few questions that address how we may be wasting oil on a daily basis that we may totally be taking for granted and never making that particular action’s connection with oil consumption. All involves the use of oil in either using it directly, or in the manufacture process of what product we are using that we do not really need to be using. Try and think of many more ways you may be using and wasting oil on a daily basis that you may not have considered–such as leaving the computer on for too long!

Finally, as a nation, we have been accustomed to using a certain level of oil and thus, we think we actually need this much. And, so drilling for more while ignoring the fact that we need to seek alternatives and conserve what we are already using— would only increase the dependence and addiction. Such is analogous to buying an alcoholic more to drink or a fat lady the all-you-can-eat buffet! We make up a small portion of the world population, but use most of its resources and demonstrates a total imbalance in how we live with the rest of the world. We really don’t need to be using this much oil. We use it because of selfishness, greed, and for some….a choice to remain oblivious—and because many of us have never been taught that resources aren’t limitless. It is time for a change…the real change I thought I was voting for. So, please…NO Bama…No oil drilling, for the fuel we think need can be found in the fuel we waste. Don’t cave in to the short term profit driven greed of a few.

Posted by Angry Man In The Basement at 9:33 AM No comments:

Obama–The Breath Of Fresh Air The US Desperately Needs

As I watched election night unfold I must admit there were moments I had a notion that John McCain would pull ahead or near with Barack Obama in the electoral votes. It was about the time when the east was awaiting vote tallies from the west. I thought OK, we did our job over here—now come on west, we need some support out there. I thought this especially in light of Ohio finally turning blue, a major hurdle and victory for the Obama campaign.

Both these campaigns fought long and grueling affairs so I figured the final outcome of the race would be close. But when the west tallies started coming in, and blue started to color the western map, I began to believe that this country still had some hope for not only planting the seeds to cultivate needed change here—but I also had hope that we would gain the kind of respect as a world community member this country so desperately needed after what I saw as 8 years of a corrupt and shameful administration. Sure, all administrations had their share of corruption—but the one we have endured for the last eight years has brought the word to a whole new level.

Barack Obama surely has a shipload of crisis to deal with upon starting his administration. The economy, education, health care, crime, poverty, the environment and so on—-But in these difficult times, I think what people saw in Obama was a guy who talked to them—not at them. He reached out to everyone and listened to their concerns no matter what age, race, socio-economic level and promoted a union of the nation to solve problems by listening to all—and not division by seemingly listening or appealing to one half only.

Throughout the campaign, I began to listen to him and to be honest, he just made a lot of sense to me in which direction this country should be heading locally and internationally as a world example setter and leader. As his campaign victory was sealed by clinching it with the 270 needed electoral votes, I began to feel chains broken of the kind of mental imprisonment for simply too long, made me feel our country was more a bully on the block, than a welcomed neighbor.

I think Barack Obama is going to make a great President. I feel even those who may not have supported him so much now—or who were undecided, can put away the kind of fears that hold us back from evolving as a nation—and will discover what I have noticed about this guy.

In light of the Obama win, I feel John McCain gave a most humbling speech. I thought his urging of some of his supporters to refrain from shouting remarks of frustration really said something about his integrity–and in facet, with this speech, gained a degree of admiration and respect for him from me. I think he will work now to unite the country again with Obama—and stop the kinds of division that would cause this nation to crumble in so many ways—and from becoming a nation of haves and have- nots.

I feel Barack Obama will be the kind of President the US needs is because he really seems to be in touch with people from all walks of life—and articulate himself as a leader if integrity, which projects locally and abroad. I feel he will set the stage to give this country a new chance for a new economic beginning that nurtures the economy from the ground up. From the ’ground up’ is how the economy originally grew, and for too long , it has been a concept that has been ignored through the promotion of the failing trickle down economic theory. In other words, Main Street survived long before there was ever a Wall Street.

The economy was grown from the roots of the many independent and family owned businesses. By creating such an economic environment will set a stage here that has people less depending on big business to employ us all, thus breeding the economic diversity that will breed stability. More people will be able to compete as independent businesses and make a living for themselves. Environmentally speaking, I feel we will be a country that relies much less on oil, not just foreign oil—but OIL–in that new alternative energy ideas will be introduced. There will be many jobs created in the new age of cleaner, greener fuels, and our environment will be better off.

On election night 2008, I think America finally grew up and is ready to leave behind a path of destructive division–socially, economically, and environmentally.

See Obama’s victory speech:
http://video.ap.org/v/Default.aspx?g=007659e2-42b8-4f0a-b95c-052a40b932d3&mk=en-ap&f=advoh

Posted by Angry Man In The Basement at 10:08 AM