The Truth

Yup,
I have pecked almost fifty articles from my perch in the mountains of southern Oregon, now. By the measure of the response I have gotten from them, I guess most of them weren't worth responding to. People are busy. They agree with me silently, I know.
Occasionally, I get a response and it's all good; There's a million Samuel Clemens these days. Bloggers; how does one distinguish oneself where there are those that are more talented? Original thought is a lot of hard work. It normally takes research, ideas, travel ...and patience.
I'm recapping news today, but some interesting stories about Iraq's oilfields and production being locked into future contracts with US oil companies. And there is the Truth of the War with Iraq. Not weapons of mass destruction. Not Iraqi democracy. Not Al Qaeda, Iran or the Axis of Evil.
Oil, goddamn oil that's ruining the atmosphere, bankrupting the country, and will destroy the world, as we know it. Its warmer and wetter and the tornado season is all year long. Rainfall records and flooding levels are being shattered worldwide.
There's been a lot of talk about Jimmy Carter and the Seventies lately on the national news. I was comparing the situation to President Carter's tenure and the upheaval in the Seventies in article I wrote in January (Change We Can Believe In 10JAN08 and Educate Educate Educate! 21JAN08 ) It probably wasn't original thought then, but it's good to have the national media catching up with me. Normally it doesn't take them six months to steal my ideas.
The Carter Administration was neutralized by OIL in the Seventies, The Obama administration could very well be neutralized in the future.
The big question now is, will Obama play ball?
Alternative energy is the answer. And the American way of life will have to change. But will OIL let us?
It is the Bush Administration that concerns me. Never in my lifetime have I felt so deceived by the government. This whole escapade in the Middle East was an orchestrated collection of terror, lies, manipulation, greed and profiteering for OIL.
The war on Iraq was a manipulated act of imperialism for OIL. A shameful act of aggression and profiteering. US oil company profiteering.
Do you know it cost about $1.00 US to pump a barrel of crude oil out of the ground?
How quickly the President-Elect removes our troops from Iraq, and how aggressively he pursues alternative energy, will indicate how much he's working for every Americans future, or conversely, how long he'll continue policies that should have changed forty years ago. Will he sell out?
And the answer is not to throw all regard to the wind and let the bastards do what ever they like in the pursuit of oil, the answer is KICK the habit because the price of a gallon of gas will never come down.

Bring Money

The last six months I was in the Military, the Army allowed me to wear civilian clothes and attend Methodist College in Fayetteville, North Carolina. The military was pushing College degrees, and if you (the individual soldier) were within one semester of obtaining one, Fort Bragg would release you from all duties to attend school at Methodist to obtain it. The College was all for the program; Uncle Sugar was paying all the fees and the College was growing like the troops were feeding it Miracle-grow.
While attending this fine institute of learning, I was assigned to read a story about a poor women living with three lazy sons, a slovenly husband, and a pack of dogs the men kept, which, along with the men, the woman was responsible for feeding. The woman had married the man, bore him sons, and then spent her life laboring for them. The men were demanding, ungrateful, and thoughtless. Even the dogs would howl and whine if they weren't fed on time. One cold evening, tired, old, and worn out, the old women began to trudge the mile and a half through the soft snow home from the grocer. The wind had picked up a little, and she was having trouble keeping her top coat button buttoned, a bag of groceries in each arm. Halfway home the dogs, hungry and impatient for dinner, came searching to hurry her. At home the men grumbled about a late dinner. And there in the snow, as the old women stopped to rest for a moment, she closed her eyes, and never opened them again. The dogs, sniffing the food, tore the bags open and feasted, afterward returning home. The old women spent her life, and last moments, for dogs.
I tell this story because BooBoo, my nephew's dog (Dogs 03Apr08), is soon to arrive from the city and I'm feeling a lot like the old lady in the story (my oldest son dropped a dog on me himself and then skipped off to Europe for life, seemingly).
Bring money nephew. Lots of it because I'm eight days from payday, and I got twelve dollars, four days worth of food, no gas, no grass, no ass, and I ain't looking forward to another dog I can't afford to feed.

Terracing the Property

My neighbor deopped by today with just the thing you need to turn 10 acres of Shack land in the southern Oregon mountains into something refined and a great deal more 'Europeanesque'. Anyway, he worked on my driveway for a while.

Notice my partner in the foreground? Croco-dog.

The Chevron Incident

Sons and Friends,
The Road through the mountains to my Shack is open again. The last of the snow blocking the road has melted away and the scenic route from the Northern California Redwoods through the Southern Oregon mountains is now open. The logging trucks, rolling by my house daily now, are laden with the BIG trees from somewhere back, up in the mountain forest above. Motorcyclists seeking the Scenic route are no longer passing by the Shack twice; finding out the hard way the route was closed. I'll be worn out by the end of the day, watching the extra traffic go by. Actually, I have postponed my Spring work until Summer and now must get busy. The result of being idle. Life is Wonderful, Every Miserable Moment. But first, a man has to live and escape the routine occasionally. I was in that California city in the valley where the two rivers meet for four days last week. Saw friends, played Poker and won, rode the motorcycle. It was all good. The motorcycle gets 40Mpg on the Highway. The RoadMonster. I filled up on the Oregon side first. Gas was $3.89 a gallon. It jumped $0.20 cents in Northern California, and when I got to that river city, then it was $4.29 a gallon for Regular, except ...... Thursday morning I pulled into Chevron. I was on my way to get a comfortable hotel room when I stopped for gas. As I swung my right leg over the Motorcycle and dismounted, I was face to face with the pump. It read-

20.00 DOLLARS
5.83 GALLONS

As I turned towards the store\cashier I started doing the math and two steps later I realized; That ain't 4.29 a gallon! Then I looked again. The prices read REGULAR 4.29 / PLUS 3.39 / PREMIUM 4.51 across the pumps. Like they do, you know? There are twelve pumps at this Chevron. Two rows of six. Three to a side. They were mostly full. I walked up to the gentlemen in front of me. I asked him if he noticed the PLUS was a dollar cheaper than the sign advertised. He looked at me and responded,"Yeah, I noticed that. Probably a mistake , huh?" I responded, "Yeah, probably,.... maybe I'll tell the clerks inside... after I fill up, of course." We laughed.
I noticed he was filling up with PLUS, too. I say 'too' because on the way into the store to give the clerk my twenty dollar bill, I took note that EVERYBODY was pumping PLUS into their cars. As I filled The RoadMonster (yes, it occurred to me that my windfall wasn't as big as some but, I didn't mention the price on the pump to the clerks), a large 1980's type, big ol' wide, true-gas-hog of a Cadillac pulled in on the other side of the pump. As the youngish driver of the car stepped out I said, "Hey.... the PLUS is selling a dollar cheaper on the pump then it's advertised on the sign." He looked at me and said, "Huh?" It didn't take much explaining for him to get the gist of things pretty quick though; He was filling up with PLUS too when I hung up the pump and went in to get my change. CHANGE from a twenty after filling up my motorcycle. Unheard of since forever! On the way out, at the pump nearest the door, I saw this fella hit the regular button as I walked by. So I stopped him and explained the situation. He couldn't see the price of the gas though; when he hit the regular button the price of the other two grades quit lighting up so he couldn't see their prices. You know... like they do. But he shut the pump off and, when the other prices were lit and showing, he picked the PLUS too. I felt like Santa Claus. I was Paul Revere running around that gas station telling everybody about PLUS! A self-exiled Californian returned from the mountains of Southern Oregon, Informer of the Exploited, Carrier of Good News, Enlightener of those within my reach... Let the Seller Beware! I did have a moral moment though. I reflected to a gentleman in a suit as he filled his Explorer with PLUS, "...all these otherwise honest, hard-working people don't seem to have any reservation about taking advantage of an obvious mistake." He replied, "Chevron can afford it." So I called my friend Gary; He lives nearby. I called Sandy, she works nearby. Chevron can afford it. Let the Seller Beware. It was their pump. As I drove away, I saw the guy in the suit step around the pump and converse with the stranger on the other side, something about PLUS, I think. It was a happy group that morning. Sandy went by an hour later, Plus was 4.39 a gallon.
Maybe the clerks noticed, or maybe a sympathizer showed up. Regardless, though it was not planned, and we were not to blame, there was a moment that morning; a moment of opportunity to conspire and be secretive, a moment to fight back and be offensive, rather than helpless and at the hands of the profiteers. And I was Proud to share The Chevron Incident with my fellow Americans who, doubtlessly, are indicative of the resentment and attitude of the whole Population: Let The Seller Beware... Revolution is only a mistake away. I can hear Jefferson Airplane now. TakeStock ! (Catchy Name, huh?)