Big Oil

I must be getting older....or at least a bit more like Andy Rooney,  the curmudgeonly complainer of 60 Minutes.  Certain things really get to me now, and I make sure some people know that they do.  I get cranky....very, very cranky.

Case in point.  The other day an old friend of mine (who has always been a mid-centered Democrat) told me she wasn't going to vote for President this year.  This was due to the fact that her Mom disliked McCain because he was not really a war hero and her grandfather told her Obama was a Muslim.  That comment certainly bugged me.  Not only is none of it true, it is incinderary and ignorant.  McCain survived a Prisoner of War camp and he survived while his concern increased for his fellow prisoners and his injuries from a plane crash worsened.  Sounds like a true hero to me.  Obama was raised in Kansas and attended a Christian Church that his very American grandparents attended.   Last time I looked, Kansas was not a hotbed of Muslim activity but what was really negative about this comment was the insinuation that if an American citizen is Muslim he must therefore not be a good American.  Only two words for this type of comment.  It is a racist, hateful remark.  Both charges are untrue and I hope the electorate does not believe such bitter, deceitful crap.

That leads me to a local issue.  When, all of a sudden, did the City of Batavia School District become the bad guy in the Youth Football argument.  At our first Board Meeting of this school year, a resolution was planned and passed to see if we could aid in this situation.  This was done knowing that not all the participants are from the City School District and that ourfields are already crowded and hard to maintain without adding more money to the budget.  A phone call from Councilwoman Clattenburg was recieved AFTER the resolution was written and placed on the agenda.  In the spirit of cooperation, and with thanks to Mrs. Clattenburg, we moved forward to make this the first directive given to the Buildings and Grounds Committee for this coming year.

There the board sat yesterday unanamously passing a resolution which states that there will be an investigation and discussion to see if the North Street Extension Property may be developed or another plan that would include the District's property could be used to help alleviate this problem.  Regardless of what some may think, we do like to help and solve, not obstruct and confuse.  The Board of Education and its new superintendent, Margaret Puzio, acted out of a community minded incentive and a pro-youth incentive.  Lo and behold.... a speaker gets up and blasts the board for refusing to act on this issue and refusing to allow Youth Football to use Van Detta.  The statements were all unfounded.  Youth Football has NOT ASKED US to act on this at all.   NO ONE from youth football has contacted us or asked.  Councilwoman Clattenburg asked in accordance with our already planned resolution.  Even staff writer's of the Batavian write negatively about the school and situation without asking the simple question.  If the meeting speaker and the staff writer had asked, they would have found out the truth.  Now they know it.

Complaint number three is simply the result of gas prices and any political candidates "energy policy".  Please listen to what all the politicians and pundits are saying.  Remember it is an election year and in some polls the number one concern the electorate has is the price of gas....so much for insurance and education and security.  The plain truth is that people vote their pocketbook.  No matter what anyone says, that is the truth.  WIth this in mind I ask a simple questionm "Why did we Americans allow Dick Cheney to write a SECRET oil and energy policy and ply us with his fraudulent explanation?"  I have been talking about this failed Bush Energy Doctrine since it was first developed in SECRET.  It contains ways to defuse concern on Global Warming (Even the Whitehouse admits it exists now!  WOW! talk about a baptism!).  It talks about increasing profits to allow for more exploration, but very little exploration has been done.  It in itself promotes our reliance on oil, both foreign and domestic.  Of course that is more money in the pockets of the Bush/Cheney "Friends and Family Plan".

My answer to this was to purchase cars that got close to 40 miles per gallon or more.  Some in the public bought huge machines that get less than 12 miles per gallon.  Here is my idea.  Smaller, more fuel efficient cars should get a gas rebate which will be paid by the higher taxes the BIG HUGE MANLY vehicles will pay to fill up.  That way there will be incentive to purchase and drive the higher mileage vehicles.  Before anyone goes and checks the Constitution, there is no amendment stating that we have rights to be gas guzzlers.  Let the insatiable appetites of the low mileage drivers place this one right on thier backs.  It deserves to be there.

Thanks for listening.....maybe one day, I will replace Andy Rooney...... nah...Batavia is too interesting.