0643 - Pythonic

To begin, you Readers need two conversion factors. First, courtesy of our Pocket Ref, a British Imperial Gallon is 1.2009 U.S. Gallons. Second, an EC Dollar is 2.6882 U.S. Dollars. So, at the moment and for quite a while, an Imperial Gallon of gasoline ("petrol") bought on Anguilla costs EC$10.69. Before fainting, divide by 2.6882 and then by 1.2009 and get US$3.31 a U.S. Gallon. That's not so startling, and what's more, you really can't drive more than about 12 miles from end to end of Anguilla. We don't have long commutes. In the States, these days, the population is having fits because gas prices are up over $3 a gallon, and sometimes way over. This week, we say to the whiners: "It's your own fault" – so there. As we all know in our genes and in our hearts, humans are greedy, and love to over eat, over fish, over reproduce, over spend, over waste, and then blame somebody else, anybody else, for high prices, scarcity, carbon emissions, and general ecological destruction. While we hold no portfolio as apologist for the shabby behavior of U.S. Congresspeople, it isn't all the Dems and the Repubs, it is really you voters (or non-voters as the case may be). If they are panderers, you are the panderees.

Both on Anguilla and in the States, those huge SUVs are popular as symbols of power and status. The damage when you have to drive six miles to the Post Office s not great. But, if you listen closely, you will hear the U.S. pols (President included) bleating loudly about the need to increase vehicle mileage. A good idea, friends, but where have you been for close to two decades, and where you when the Government called SUVs "trucks" and not passenger cars, so they didn't have to meet mileage standards? Answer: the Pols of both parties were preventing any higher standards. Now, the OO, and the entire political and economic Staff here, do not feel that $3 or $4 gas is a threat to civilization. We have a testing ground for this proposition, and it is called Europe, where gas has been far more costly for decades.

Clearly, people have selfish and even cruel genes that let them over eat, over spend, over waste and over populate. We are closer kin to the horrid and vicious rulers of collapsed countries in Africa than we would like to admit. What did you do this week about the victims of genocide in Darfur? We stand firm for observance of laws and safe borders, but if you listen to the hysterical U.S. opponents of "Amnesty", they sound a lot like the bearded Muslim terrorists popping up on TV daily. When we grew up, friends, wasn't "Amnesty" a good thing? You know, like forgiveness. Just where does the Bible condemn forgiveness of trespasses? Isn't border-jumping a trespass? And how come the anti-Amnesty screamers are often the same guys calling for teaching religion (that is, selected religion) in the schools, along with fake science? Consistency, thy name is not the Hard Right.

As for gas prices, what's the matter with that much-worshipped icon, the free market? If gas prices go up, people may not flee the central city for the ‘burbs, where they drive 40 miles to work in their own large space with private airco. Share cars if you don't like high gas prices. Build better public transit. Pimp up the decayed center city so that it is livable, and you may even be able to breathe when you walk to work there. And, the next time you vote, look at the Administration and Congress in Washington, and do good.

And by the way, the title above means : Of or resembling an oracle; prophetic. Since you Readers haven't been sufficiently praising our perceptive and early predictions of the disastrous mess in Iraq and other such clumsy incompetencies, we award ourselves the title of Pythonic. With due modesty.

Next time [delayed]: Chaddy [OO #644]

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