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2008 Soap Box Archives Band-Aids Our
government has proposed to help revitalize the economy by giving out what they
call stimulus package checks, and while I hope the people who get them will use
them for useful purposes like paying bills or offsetting the price of fuel, I
have serious doubts that the action will have any lasting effect on the economy. And a major problem is that, I don't believe the price of fuel has come anywhere close to topping out. So as the oil companies continue to raise prices, a part of the money will go to make an even bigger bottom line for the petroleum industry and until something is done about the price of oil the economy will continue in a downward spiral. That's just a cold hard fact. The government's first answer to any problem is to throw money at it, which would be fine if it was their money they were throwing, but we all know where it's coming from in the end. And therein lies the problem. What it boils down to is that our politicians simply don't have the cajones to take on the hardcore environmentalists. Not only do they not want to explore for new sources of oil, they don't even want to harvest the known sources, and even if we did produce the crude we don't have the capacity to refine it, since there hasn't been a new refinery built in decades. These people are even against windmill power because they say birds fly into the windmills. I have been around wild animals all my life and know that they are very adept at adapting to their surroundings and I simply don't believe that windmills will be a serious threat to birds or any other animals. We heard the same thing about the effect of the Alaskan pipeline on the caribou herd, but from the information I've heard, the herd has actually increased. I had and still do have high hopes for ethanol but it's got to be made out of something that is not such a huge part of the earth's food supply. The price of corn and other grains are causing shortages and running up the price of food all over the world. What ever happened to switch grass? China, India, Japan, and other countries are easing their dependence on fossil fuels by building additional nuclear power plants, but we can't go that route because the same people don't want nuclear, and Washington is being it's usual gutless self. This conundrum does not have an easy answer, but something has got to give, some solutions have got to found, but until we get some people in Washington with the guts to represent we the people instead of a rich, radical environmentalist lobby, it's not going to happen. I hope the people who receive the checks will use them wisely but the truth is, it's not a solution, it's just a Band-Aid.
Pray for our troops God bless America Charlie Daniels April 28, 2008
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