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cookie-lady's Blog

by cookie-lady from cookie land orlando

Last Post 282 days, 10 hours Ago


It's been 40 long days of Lent, laying low and holding to my commitment of not blogging [my Lenten promise], but with Easter, joy, and now I am restored!  Now I blog again!

Since I last blogged, much has changed in our community.  What is this world coming to?  No doubt we are all are feeling a pinch in our wallets, if not yet, each of us will before long.  Which brings me to the question:  At what price, freedom?

From where I am, I don't see an oil shortage driving the cost of a barrel to record highs of upwards of $110; all I see is greed.  Well, I'll be darned if I will let the thieves ruin my life.

While we can each take a stand and drive less, we're still going to see the price of oil affecting us in costs that are passed along to the end consumer.  From the supermarket to air fares, the rising price of oil will be something not one of us can escape.

So, I ask...At what price, freedom?

Short of developing community co-ops that would allow us to trade and barter among ourselves for goods and services, what can we do to thwart skyrocketing costs that are on the horizon?

If we encourage Congress to push for a bill that would allow drilling in ANWR [Alaskan National Wildlife Refuge] it might help, but there hasn't been a refinery built in the United States in over 30 years, so how would we manage and refine crude oil?  It's a nice idea, but it's too little, too late. 

We should have been looking at this decades ago as we were setting ourselves up to be oil junkies at the mercy of a bunch of Middle Eastern countries who ruthlessly realize oil to be our Achilles Heel and have no mercy when it comes to a commodity they know we are willing to pay for.

How much is too much?  What price will be the straw that breaks the proverbial camel's back when it comes to fuel?

I am sick of it.  I am flipping mad, too.  But, even if I take a stand and start riding the bus or taking my bike on shorter trips, it will have little impact.  How long will it be before the cost of fuel is reflected in the cost of a can of soup or a new suit? 

The rising cost of fuel is already being passed on to the consumer in airfares, with airlines tacking on a fuel surcharge of between $10-50 on each ticket.  Our domestic carriers are feeling the pinch and just when they were finally rebounding from the associated problems that followed September 11th.

We need to find a solution and it needs to make a lasting impression on our economy and answers the question: At what price, freedom?  We already know the cost of bondage to oil producing countries.  It's time to figure a way out of our dependence on Middle East oil.

Heaven help us!  We have got to find a way out of this mess!





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Member Comments Total Comments: 10
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Gammies61 read my blog view my photos
Mar 24, 2008 | 12:12 PM

It's good to have you back.

Do you remember in Elementary School, we were told, "oil will not be around forever"? Why wasn't anyone prepared? A few cars which run on electricity, and a renewable fuel made from corn. Well, now there are more houses and less farms, so the price of corn goes up. The corn is also used for feed, so the price of meat goes up. Never ending battle.

If you find a way out of this mess, please share the info. LOL

cookie-lady read my blog view my photos
Mar 24, 2008 | 12:20 PM

LOL!!!!

The only way to escape taxes and rising oil prices is death! Seems a little extreme, doesn't it?

I guess we'll just have to cope, at least for now.

Gammies61 read my blog view my photos
Mar 24, 2008 | 12:26 PM

Don't think I want to get out of this mess, that way. LOL

I did fill my car up two weeks ago, and it has just dropped under the full line today. I try to save all my running of errands, and get them done at one time. I feel a little guilty for all the joy riding I did as a kid. Those were great days though.

cookie-lady read my blog view my photos
Mar 24, 2008 | 1:30 PM

Awww......don't feel guilty, I don't.

I keep telling my kids that I intend to leave the biggest, best carbon footprint I possibly can...complete with every indulgence available. LOL!

Truly, I don't think they will ever see the sort of thing we saw in the 70s, with long lines around the block for gas, at inflated prices. The "energy crisis," brought to us by our favorite president, Jimmy Carter. That whole thing was laughable at best.

We had "odd or even" days in Los Angeles. If your license plate ended in even number you went M-W-F and odd you could fill up T-TH-Sat. What floored me is that it was all so fake. I don't believe there really was a real shortage, it was just the stupid embargo the president put in place to try to show them...oh, and he showed them, LOL!

What they saw was all of us on the nightly news, lined up, waiting to buy gas! If those Middle Easterners didn't know it before, they sure found out that they had us, forgive the pun, under a barrel.

So, what are we showing them today? I think we are showing them how stupid we are by paying upwards of $3.45 or so for a gallon of gas.

In truth, all of our businesses rely on oil, more specifically, fuel. It's just a gotta have it that we truly gotta have to keep America moving.

What WE need is to create a grassroots movement to wake up Congress and free up ANWR for drilling. It's our only hope, and WE own it!

Look, the residents of Alaska don't care, they get paid royalties from oil profits that run through the pipeline every year, every resident. Google it and get the full sto

PegasusWing read my blog view my photos
Mar 24, 2008 | 3:24 PM

If the increasing price of gasoline would force the auto mfgs to produce more efficient cars, then it will be worth it.
The Prius has a car that gets 150mpg on the first gallon, then 50mpg there after, (Spring Car Show).
Unfortunately, I doubt US mfgs just will produce fuel efficient cars.
I think that oil barons are on the board of directors of Ford, GM, Chrysler Corp.
My '98 Saturn got 38 mpg: new ones get 30mpg.
With good leadership we could get off foreign oil.
Just imagine if we had the leadership that made it happen.
Mid East--back to the camel age!

cookie-lady read my blog view my photos
Mar 24, 2008 | 4:09 PM

Pegasus.....

Agree to a point, good leadership might change things, but we are still looking at politicians here and that means games.

I would love to see the Middle East go back to "the camel age!" As long as they know we need a product they produce, that just isn't happening.

As compassionate a person as I believe I am, I have very little care or concern about the people in the Middle East. I hate to be judgmental and stereotype people, but they seem to be ruthless, scheming and dishonest, and quite literally, they stink. Apparently, daily personal hygiene is not at the top of the list with that population.

They [the government and people in Middle Eastern countries] are responsible for killing our young men and women in our Armed Forces, killing 3000 innocent people on Sept 11th and now for crippling our economy! These people ARE NOT our friends.

Talk about scum....there it is.

Gammies61 read my blog view my photos
Mar 25, 2008 | 8:37 AM

Agreed.

northton read my blog view my photos
Mar 25, 2008 | 7:25 PM

Hey Cookie!

My, my, that is rather racist. I am sure you would change your mind if you had a few friends there. Nonetheless, cultural differences can be a big hurdle in understanding and appreciating people. I don't think I would be well liked over there.

As for oil, I see nothing wrong with them charging a lot of money for it, especially when the supply is dwindling. We would do the same.

I don't think drilling in Alaska will make any difference in the long run. We'll prolly drill it all out in just a few years anyway.

My opinion of people in general is that they are obstinate and selfish. As Gammies said, we have seen this coming for years and yet here we are today still trying to ignore the problem. It's only when things affect us directly that we start to care.

I'll bet if gas were cheap, but oil supplies were sure to run out next year, we would drive even more. As a matter of fact, I believe we would use fuel at a massive rate, since it seems to be human nature to grab and hoard rather than share.

"Better get it while you can."
"Enjoy it before it's all gone."
"If I don't use it someone else will."

cookie-lady read my blog view my photos
Mar 25, 2008 | 8:51 PM

North,

I do not have a racist bone in my body. What I do have is a son that is shipping out to Bagdad soon and a niece that was blown up in a senseless bombing.

The have us by the tail they know it.

We can fix a lot of things in this world, but one thing for sure, we can't fix stupid.

northton read my blog view my photos
Mar 26, 2008 | 4:33 PM

That's too bad. I was waiting for a cure. LOL

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cookie-lady

Just a mid-life crisis baseball mom using words constructively to paddle my way through life. If you can't leave them laughing, leave them puzzled! I love chocolate! Prefer the expensive kind! DIE HARD MET FAN. Newest joy is blogging on MyFoxOrlando.com and raising the feathers of fellow blog-heads. Love to debate politics and sports! OK, your turn....what about you?

Member Since: 8/25/2006