Gas Pricing


       I happen to drive a full size Ford Bronco which is by definition an extreme gas hog. I don’t love my truck but I do really enjoy having it and have experienced some great moments with it. Lately though I have been observing the amount of visits I make to my local gas station. I am not one to complain about the gas prices or the amount I pay for filling that colossal fuel devourer. The saying: ‘If you want to give a dance, you must pay the band,’ comes to mind.
       As time rolled by I started to realize that twenty dollars of gas would only give me an eighth of a tank of gas when prior I was able to put in a half tank. My mind soared into nostalgia of my first car. I will be dating myself with this but I am very proud of my age. When I was filling up my first car gas prices statewide annual averaged, full-serve unleaded:. 1973, 57.2 cents. 1974, 60.8 cents. 1975, 63.5 cents. 1976, 67.5 cents .. Today we are paying more than five times what I paid with my first car.
       Don’t get me wrong I am not cheep. . . No wait, I am cheep, as a matter of fact my second middle name is cheep and I don’t like the amount of money being dished out for gas! Forget the cost of living figure; the expenditure out going to minimum wage does not match. Minimum wage should be over $8.00 an hour today to keep up with the price of good and service based on 1973 figures.
       Then I heard of the Land of really, really cheap gas. Venezuelans pay 12 cents a gallon -- and not a penny more. (read more). How and why are the richest nations of the world paying such a high per gallon price when Venezuelans pay only snippets for their gas?
       I decided to look into the matter as I noticed that parts of the country pays less for gas than other parts. But the confusing part of the price difference is that the areas that pay a lesser pump price per gallon are states that have their gas shipped in. Areas like Los Angeles which is surrounded by oil rigs destroying the scenery of the coast line and who also have the refineries to turn the crude into gas, have a higher price per gallon at the pumps.
       I got it, tax brakes for the refineries to perform in the state and the people must pick up the slack. Tax brakes for the petroleum companies for digging off the coast, destroying the view and endangering the environment while making the consumer foots the bill for the tax cuts. Oil Profits Soar with Pump Prices. read more
       Oil Company’s CEO’s earn $42,000.00 a week as reported by a CNNMoney.com senior writer while I have been forced to park my wonderful truck as often as I can afford to because I cant afford not to. I was one who if needed to run to the corner store I would just hop into my truck and make that run. Now I consider and reconsider if I really need to go out. If I do need to make a little run I now walk or ride my bicycle. As a matter of fact I now ride my bike to the gym which is six miles round trip rather than driving my fun SUV. When I have to really go out I make long list so I can accomplish all my task in one run.
       I have been able to save only forty dollars a week. For me that is good but I would rather be banking $42,000.00 a week!

On August 6, 1945 the world's first atom was dropped on the Japanese City of Hiroshima. The Atom bomb was dropped by an American B-29 bomber named the Enola Gay. Anyone within a mile of the explosion from atom bomb became a bundle of smoking black charcoal within seconds. Over 60,000 people were killed and those who where still alive were in agony from their burns. The atom bomb obliterated more than four square miles and there was very heavy damage in the outlying areas also. Three days later the USA dropped another atom bomb on Nagasaki, Japan. This bomb killed another 35,000 people and injured even more.
The first W.M.D. was used and the United States was the terror that unleashed the threat to the rest of the world. America which stands at the goodness to all mankind by attacking those who threaten the world was the initiator of this threat by being the first to use Weapons of Mass Destruction.
Evil people do exists as terrorism reaches across every continent as innocence are killed and raped and enslaved, however the truly evil people are those who for the sake of economic power and personal glory close their eyes. There is a W.M.D. that is a threat to all mankind and yet it is not addressed. Those in power around the world either by ignorance, alleged moral rationale, and indifference or for the love of money chose to not mention, chose to blame, chose to impede or chose to horde their personal gains and not attack the problem.
The W.M.D. that is most devastating to the global health and welfare is greed and power. The result of the weapon comes in the deaths of millions of people around the world. 95,000 plus died in the bombs on Japan but thirty million have died from HIV/AIDS. On every continent today, there are millions infected with AIDS to the staggering numbers of forty million plus. Husbands giving to their wives, children receiving from their mothers and still many governments refuse to give aid to those suffering because of their so-called moral stand against prostitution, gay sex and illegal drug use.
Money is denied to countries if condom use is promoted. Money is denied to countries if prostitution is allowed. Money is denied to countries if needle exchange programs are instituted. Money is denied to countries if safe gay sex is promoted. Governments past their judgments and deny its people life on this so called moral stand.
35 But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil.
36 Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful.
37 Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven:

Another result of the W.M.D. that is devastating the world is hunger. It’s hard to believe that still today The UN body said more than 2 million children died this year of hunger and diseases in Africa while the world's attention was on a series of natural disasters and the spread of bird flu. In India the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from Manabadhikar Suraksha Mancha (MASUM) regarding the suicides of two young girls who had suffered extreme hunger and malnutrition for a prolonged time and could do so no more. Sundari Sardar and Phulan Sardar, from the state of West Bengal, committed suicide after having endured several days without any food whatsoever, and years with only very little. With no hope in sight that this situation would change and that food would come there way, the young girls took their lives. On moral grounds I guess it is ok for our people die, suffer and kill themselves.
In South Africa De Beers Mining Company Ltd , profited over $4 billion (in 1989) and the profit is growing while its workers and their families are ding from HIV/AIDS and are being denied medicine to prolong their lives. Exxon Mobil, the world's largest publicly traded oil company, reported (2005) that profit rose 75 percent from a earlier, to $9.92 billion. Revenue rose 31.9 percent, to $100.7 billion. As we spend more on gas and our saving draw only a piddle 3% if we are lucky and millions are starving through the world.
Power and greed is a weapon of mass destruction that is killing millions. There is a war on drugs. There is a war against terrorist. There are wars for religion. Still the number one killer of people and the planet is greed and power.
Tony Blair says fighting HIV/Aids is not just a "moral duty" but is in the UK's "national interests". "It is my hope that by working together we can help raise awareness, increase political will and mobilizes the resources necessary to stem the tide of this epidemic." At the start of the HIV/AIDS crisis Margret Thatcher along with the entire British parliament were referenced to the ignoring of the AIDS crisis in Britain, where the authorities didn't really care until heterosexual people started dying, Imagine the lives saved had she adopted Blair’s stand.
Nelson Mandela achieved the impossible by aiding the ending of the apartheid era. He became the leader of South Africa and the entire time in office, never once addressed HIV/AIDS. Since he stepped down in 1999, Mr. Mandela has campaigned for greater awareness of Aids issues since the passing of his son to the disease. Thabo Mbeki the successor to Mr Mandela also ignored the subject of HIV/AIDS to the point of telling lies about the illness to denying care to those suffering.
President Ronald Regan was similar to Mr. Mbeki with spewing misinformation about the illness and providing no assistance. George Bush Sr. with his moral stand aided in further dieing and his son G.W. is furthering the legacy of his father.
To tackle HIV/AIDS, the government of China has pledged to invest 1.75 billion yuan from 2003 to 2007. This after stating earlier on in the crisis of HIV/AIDS that they were a closed society and would not have to be concerned with that problem. After 840,000 cases of the illness in 2003 and 44,000 deaths I guess they are now concerned.
All of these governments along with the rest of the worlds governments and the people controlling the governments are more concerned about their wallets and their legacies and their power. Allowing the mass destruction of the world’s population through decease and they are equally responsible for the millions dying of hunger. Like the letter in Prince’s song “Dear Mr. Man,” something has to change because,
"We tired a-y'all”





Artist: Prince
Song: Dear mr. man
Album: Musicology


What's wrong with the world 2day?
Things just got 2 get better
Show me what the leaders say
Maybe we should write a letter

Said Dear Mr. Man, we don't understand
Why poor people keep struggling but U don't lend a helping hand
Matthew 5:5 say "The meek shall inherit the earth"
We wanna b down that way
but U been trippin since the day of your birth

Who said that 2 kill is a sin
Then started every single war that Ur people been in?
Who said that water is a precious commodity
Then dropped a big old black oil slick in the deep blue sea?

Who told me, Mr. Man, that working round the clock
would buy me a big housed in the hood
Cigarette ads on every block
Who told me, Mr. Man, that Eye got a right 2 moan?
How about this bog old hole in the ozone?

What's wrong with the world 2day
Things just got 2 get better
Dear Mr. Man, we don't understand
Maybe we should write a letter

Listen, Ain't no sense in voting - same song with a different name
Might not b in the back of the bus but it sure feel just the same
Ain't nothing fair about welfare
Ain't no assistance in AIDS
We ain't that affirmative about your actions until the people get paid

Ur thousand years r up
Now U got 2 share the land
Section 1 - the 14th amendment says "No state shall deprive any person of life,
liberty, or property, without due process of law"
Mr. Man, we want 2 end this letter with 3 words
We tired a-y'all