Reactionary

I watch some CNN every morning in spite of it being early and my TV’s remote (or sensor) being broken. I scroll all the way from 60 (the Food Network) to 20 manually just because I like my smattering of news in the morning. I’d prefer to read the New York Times online like I used to but my computer doesn’t work right (all my crap’s broken).   

The most common story other than Robin Hood and Guy of Gisbourne (Obama and Clinton, for the uninitiated) is the spiraling cost of oil. They could just record it rather than having Ali Belshi reiterating how many more cents gas has gone up overnight. Regular gas is over $4/ gallon. I remember being a child and seeing it for sale at 99c/ gallon. Today, they had some clips of people in Chicago complaining about it and saying the government “has to do something”. There was a political analyst (I don’t remember who) saying the so-called “tax vacation” being championed by Hillary Clinton and John McCain won’t save anybody real money and it’s only being pushed by politicians so they can be seen as “doing something about it.

“What is the fixation with “doing something”? I guess it’s a twitch on the way to a full-fledged flare of DTs as Americans come to the realization that there is nothing to do because it will never, ever again be like the way it was. It’s a new world now and oil is a finite resource. Read that again if you must. Look it up: finite. It will end and when it ends there aren’t any other animals just lying around volunteering to be buried in just the right circumstances to create more oil for humanity. Even if there were, time isn’t really on our side since I hear the process is lengthy. Get used to it. there can be no quick fixes because the fixes entail deep, lasting changes as we have to learn to live without it. Unfortunately, making do isn’t something Americans are good at.

But if Washington insists on doing something, they can start by biking to work. I’m sure pictures of politicians and their assistants on bikes on DC’s wide boulevards would be an image worth getting behind. As it is, cutting a few cents off the bill for the summer and stopping the contributions to the strategic oil reserve whose very existence is somewhat quaint will not do anything to stave off the full-body seizure just on the horizon.

I’m in the market for a bike. What this city needs are more places to park them.

Posted on May 19th, 2008 under General, News, Rant •  Print •  Email • RSS 2.0 feed • Leave a response, or trackback