The Noble Cause: $3 gas and the American Way

[aztc]

Dear Cindy Sheehan,

You want George Bush to look you in the eye and tell you what Noble Cause your son died for, and I support you in your effort. I also want to offer my view on the matter, and hope the following comments will be viewed as the good medicine is intended to be.

King George has accomplished another goal with the arrival of three dollar a gallon gasoline in the United States of Consumption.

Now that the defense industry is humming away building bombs and aircraft to deliver them, the amusement parks are full and car sales are up, so who cares about an extra $20 or $30 to fill the tank? After all, the SUV is air conditioned with comfy seating and a DVD player, so why not spend the summer driving somewhere? Right?

The royal family couldn’t be more pleased as they carefully dismantle labor unions, social services and retirement funds, plundering the accumulated public wealth of generations as a mortgage is taken out with communist China serving as the lien holder of our children’s future. This in exchange for the instant gratification of a few hours shopping spree in search of more ways to be entertained and comforted.

Despite record financial losses and horrible safety records, the private automobile and jet aircraft remain the travel option of choice for a generation of obese consumers intent on the next shopping/entertainment rush-fix. Addicted to cheap fuel, sprawl and long commutes dominate daily life in America as everyone struggles to make car and insurance payments.

The Noble Cause that Casey Sheehan died for is to protect and nurture this “American Way” of life, or in other words, he died in support of the Consumer Culture. Yes, Cindy, your son died for Disneyland, Wal-Mart and Just In Time Inventory. Isn’t that great? Do you feel better now? Ok, soon you will hop back in someone’s SUV, drive to the Airport, board a Jet Airplane to the west coast, then ride in another private car to get home.

Along the way, be assured, the Noble Cause your son died for is the cheap ride you took to get to Crawford, and the one you will take to get home when this is finally over. Your son died so that you would have cheap gas to get to Washington DC on September 24th. You think $3 a gallon is expensive? I would say at this point that gas should be worth way more than three bucks a gallon – after all, what was Casey’s life worth?

Meanwhile, reject and marginalize whacks like me that have been urging conservation for years. Insist on your right to drive 75, 85 or whatever, each person in their own zone of comfort and convenience. Justify your Jet Air travel habit as 2 million others do every day, all of which are on equally urgent missions as yours. These actions will insure the cash flow through the royal family’s registers is constant, keeping the Consumer Economy and Military Industrial Complex (the one that builds the jets and cars you use) humming. Now isn’t that Noble?

Tim Castleman, http://Drive55.org and http://PeaceTrainToDC.com

[Demit]

1. Tim has a point, of course, but that's a bit of a cheap shot to direct it

to Cindy Sheehan. She's not the image of a thoughtless privileged jetsetter that this guy seems to want to project on her in order to make his point. Drawing a connection between the price of a gallon of gas and what her son's life was worth is the lousiest kind of sledgehammer. Boo to him.

[aztc]

2. How does she get from Vacaville to Crawford to NY to DC

Look, I support Cindy, but cannot fail to point out that we are FUNDING the military industrial complex every time we buy an airline ticket or fly in a jet aircraft. I wish Cindy would lead by example and make a big deal out of taking the train instead. It goes through Crawford and stops in a nearby town every day, uses half as much energy per passenger mile, with a corresponding reduction in pollution and funding for the aerospace industry.

http://PeaceTraintoDC.com

[Demit]

3. Then why on earth do you advertise for cheap airline tickets on your site?

You're sure sending some kind of mixed message there. Borrowing Cindy Sheehan's high profile to hawk your pet peeve, then contradicting yourself on your own site. Good grief!

[aztc]

4. Busted - link leads to chooseclimate.org

http://chooseclimate.org offers a simple online calculator to find out how much C02 her trip contributed to climate change.

[aztc]

5. DemItALL, sniper

Plenty willing to take a snipe at me, but unwilling to apologize for your nastiness afterward, eh?