Wednesday, August 31, 2005

a thing of the past...?


It seems the current obstacle in our automobile-obsessed society is the price of fuel. Gasoline prices in Toronto were approaching $1.20 per litre this morning, but are expected to back off some as the day progresses, and the aftereffects of the devastation created by hurricane Katrina are more fully understood. Just like the stock market, of which the energy sector is a large part, speculation on what might happen is the major influence on what does happen.

Now, I don't want to get off on a rant here, but does it make any sense to you that a possibility of a shortage in fuel supplies causes the price of what is already in the tanks at gas stations to rise, often dramatically, and then fall, all in the same day? That'd be like charging a dollar for a newspaper in the morning, doubling that later in the day because there was a forest fire raging near a paper mill, and then lowering it again when the fire gets put out. I realize there are intricacies to the oil business which I don't fully understand, but how smart do you have to be? George W. Bush is in the oil business, and he calls it "oal"...

People in North America have still got no real reason to bitch, kvetch, piss and moan about the price of fuel when they refuse to give up their gas -sucking behemoth SUV's and pickup trucks with V-8 and even V-10 engines, and then drive alone to Costco to save a nickel on a 45 gallon drum of relish. We have an unreasonable sense of entitlement on this continent that will become our undoing. Just look at the crime in Toronto right now, or the general rise in terrrorism in the years before 9-11... We also do nothing about it. Canada is worse than the USA in this regard. In other countries, if you don't like what the government is doing, you stage a demonstration, or start a revolution. Here, we stage a Tim Horton's whine-fest (20 minute maximum at the table, please) and demonstrate only if it doesn't cut into our TV time.

Get used to some of the things we take for granted being under fire. this is only the beginning. All I can say is pay attention - and make mine one cream, one sugar.

3 comments:

Miloj Gack! said...

We, as Canadians, are a nation of sheep.

"Baa"

Lawrence said...

I hate to say it but here in the states we don't protest or even vote out the fumbling inadequate baboons (my apologies for offending any baboons)we call congressmen. We sit on our tuther ends, watch CNN and grumble.

Okay, okay we protest occasionaly, but for all the wrong things and then we're usually shepherded to a site that is away from anyone who will listen.

By the way, thanks for the correction. I'm a notoriously bad speller.

Creaulx said...

Hey - it's Cousin Larry! I bet you hate that! ;) Just kidding. I find the hardest thing about talking politics is knowing when to draw the line - where is the point in your infallible rant where people stop listening, and how can you stop before you reach that point? For me, humour is the only way to defuse that bomb.