Hi Everyone:
Back in March I talked about oil prices. Now I can't believe that Americans are not hanging out of their windows and screaming, I am mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore!
Just in the past 6 weeks or so the price of gasoline has increased almost $.75/gallon. Now let's review what happened about a year ago. We were all told that India and China were using a lot more gas to fuel their economic development and consequently demand was higher and supply was lower. Well we all know now that that wasn't really the case and that speculators were the real culprits in the extraordinary increase in the prices. One year ago, a barrel of oil was selling for $148.00 with the price of gas a little over $4.00 per gallon. Today the cost of a oil is around $75.00 per barrel. That is almost 50% less than a year ago. BUT, the price of gas is closing in at $3.00 per gallon. WHAT? By my math if $148/barrel of oil equates to $4.00+/gallon of gas then $75/barrel of oil should equate to about $2.00/gallon of gas. There is a huge problem here! Doesn't anyone else see this?
Let's further review the differences between now and a year ago. We are now in the worst recession since the great depression of 1929 which lasted for years afterwards. In our current recession, millions of people have been laid off from their jobs which means that there are fewer people commuting to work and people are doing less driving period. It has been published in numerous media outlets that we, as a country, are using a lot less gasoline. Let's also not forget that this current recession is a global one and not just affecting our country. The global economic factor is lowering the global consumption of gasoline/oil. Less global consumption means less demand which equates to a larger supply. This all means that the price of gas (or the price of oil) should not be increasing. If anything, the prices should be decreasing. Six months ago when the OPEC members lowered their production, the prices kept sliding.
Now though it seems that it is business as usual for the oil companies and probably the speculators that the summer driving season means higher prices. It is very apparent that greed rules supreme and damn the people who can hardly afford to live (due to the massive layoffs). Again I repeat, why aren't people mad as hell about the price of gas? It is evident that common sense looses out to greed every time. This is wrong at every level.
Til next week.
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Sunday, June 14, 2009
Car and truck bumpers
Hi Everyone:
Sometimes I think of things and wonder why no one else thought of it. Today I am talking about car and truck bumpers. Not the strength of bumpers, but rather the height of front and rear bumpers. Yes the height. Why? That's a good question.
If you really gave it some thought, all bumpers should be the same height. Not just car vs car bumpers, but all bumpers of all vehicles should be the exact same height. Therefore a tractor trailer would not be able to go over the bumper of a smaller car it hits in front of it. Similarly, SUV's also then would not be able to go up and over the bumper of a smaller car it hits in front of it. The same would hold true for both front and rear end collisions.
Common sense tells me that if bumpers on all vehicles were the same height, a lot of lives (drivers and/or passengers) could conceivably be saved who are involved in these kind of accidents. It would seem that the easiest way to achieve the same height would be to lower the height of bumpers on the larger vehicles such as large cars, SUV's, vans, trucks and tractor trailers. Then when there is an accident different size vehicles would at the very least hit bumper to bumper and not have the larger vehicle ride up on the smaller one.
Cars and trucks have been manufactured for over 100 years and you would think that someone would have thought of this idea before. They certainly have had enough time to solve this problem. The solution is simplicity at its best and does make common sense. Let's also not forget that with higher fuel prices and increases in greenhouse gases of greater concern, it is inevitable that there will be a greater number of smaller vehicles on the roads and they need all the protection that they can get with these type of collisions. I wonder why this isn't so?
I understand why manufacturers are not presently addressing this problem, but hopefully will be in the near future.
Til next time.
Sometimes I think of things and wonder why no one else thought of it. Today I am talking about car and truck bumpers. Not the strength of bumpers, but rather the height of front and rear bumpers. Yes the height. Why? That's a good question.
If you really gave it some thought, all bumpers should be the same height. Not just car vs car bumpers, but all bumpers of all vehicles should be the exact same height. Therefore a tractor trailer would not be able to go over the bumper of a smaller car it hits in front of it. Similarly, SUV's also then would not be able to go up and over the bumper of a smaller car it hits in front of it. The same would hold true for both front and rear end collisions.
Common sense tells me that if bumpers on all vehicles were the same height, a lot of lives (drivers and/or passengers) could conceivably be saved who are involved in these kind of accidents. It would seem that the easiest way to achieve the same height would be to lower the height of bumpers on the larger vehicles such as large cars, SUV's, vans, trucks and tractor trailers. Then when there is an accident different size vehicles would at the very least hit bumper to bumper and not have the larger vehicle ride up on the smaller one.
Cars and trucks have been manufactured for over 100 years and you would think that someone would have thought of this idea before. They certainly have had enough time to solve this problem. The solution is simplicity at its best and does make common sense. Let's also not forget that with higher fuel prices and increases in greenhouse gases of greater concern, it is inevitable that there will be a greater number of smaller vehicles on the roads and they need all the protection that they can get with these type of collisions. I wonder why this isn't so?
I understand why manufacturers are not presently addressing this problem, but hopefully will be in the near future.
Til next time.
Sunday, June 7, 2009
Bill O'Reilly
Hi Everyone:
Well it happened again. Another public figure, this time TV personality, Bill O'Reilly used his platform to talk to millions of people without using any common sense what-so-ever!
Today's post isn't about whether one is for or against abortion. It is about public figures thinking they can say anything they want without any consequences. This is what happened. Since 2005, O'Reilly had talked about abortion provider and Kansas resident, Dr. George Tiller 29 times on his TV show, The O'Reilly Factor. O'Reilly actually used Dr. Tiller's name each time he talked about him. Salon's Gabriel Winant wrote that, "O'Reilly didn't tell anyone to do any violence against the doctor, but he did put the doctor in the public eye and helped make him the focus of a movement with a history of violence against these kinds of targets." O'Reilly even went so far as to call Dr. Tiller, "Tiller the baby killer!" So what was the consequence of O'Reilly's venom against the doctor? Dr. Tiller was murdered in cold blood while he was in his church.
Frank Schaeffer, who with his father Francis in the 1980's said that force could sometimes be justified in fighting abortions, wrote in The Huffington Post that he and the religious right "all contributed to this killing by our foolish words. I am very sorry." The Washington Post media critic Howard Kurtz wrote about the online commentary that O'Reilly bears some responsibility for the killing but said he wasn't going to join the attack.
O'Reilly himself said this about Tiller's killing that "quick-thinking Americans" should condemn it. O'Reilly's incendiary words about Dr. Tiller lead to his murder. The Fox News host, O'Reilly and maybe even Fox News should definitely be held accountable for his words and to question whether he had gone to far in personally assailing Dr. Tiller time and time again for years. I think that O'Reilly should be charged with accessory to murder.
If O'Reilly had used common sense, he wouldn't have named Dr. Tiller and where he lived. O'Reilly has the right to voice his anti-abortion views but not in the way he did. I believe that there is a law against someone yelling fire in a crowded place and there should be a law against how O'Reilly used a person's name and address. Because O'Reilly failed to use any hint of common sense in what he said, it lead to the death of a human being. This is just so wrong on any level. I hope the authorities do hold O'Reilly accountable. Freedom of speech can go only so far!
Till next week.
Well it happened again. Another public figure, this time TV personality, Bill O'Reilly used his platform to talk to millions of people without using any common sense what-so-ever!
Today's post isn't about whether one is for or against abortion. It is about public figures thinking they can say anything they want without any consequences. This is what happened. Since 2005, O'Reilly had talked about abortion provider and Kansas resident, Dr. George Tiller 29 times on his TV show, The O'Reilly Factor. O'Reilly actually used Dr. Tiller's name each time he talked about him. Salon's Gabriel Winant wrote that, "O'Reilly didn't tell anyone to do any violence against the doctor, but he did put the doctor in the public eye and helped make him the focus of a movement with a history of violence against these kinds of targets." O'Reilly even went so far as to call Dr. Tiller, "Tiller the baby killer!" So what was the consequence of O'Reilly's venom against the doctor? Dr. Tiller was murdered in cold blood while he was in his church.
Frank Schaeffer, who with his father Francis in the 1980's said that force could sometimes be justified in fighting abortions, wrote in The Huffington Post that he and the religious right "all contributed to this killing by our foolish words. I am very sorry." The Washington Post media critic Howard Kurtz wrote about the online commentary that O'Reilly bears some responsibility for the killing but said he wasn't going to join the attack.
O'Reilly himself said this about Tiller's killing that "quick-thinking Americans" should condemn it. O'Reilly's incendiary words about Dr. Tiller lead to his murder. The Fox News host, O'Reilly and maybe even Fox News should definitely be held accountable for his words and to question whether he had gone to far in personally assailing Dr. Tiller time and time again for years. I think that O'Reilly should be charged with accessory to murder.
If O'Reilly had used common sense, he wouldn't have named Dr. Tiller and where he lived. O'Reilly has the right to voice his anti-abortion views but not in the way he did. I believe that there is a law against someone yelling fire in a crowded place and there should be a law against how O'Reilly used a person's name and address. Because O'Reilly failed to use any hint of common sense in what he said, it lead to the death of a human being. This is just so wrong on any level. I hope the authorities do hold O'Reilly accountable. Freedom of speech can go only so far!
Till next week.
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