Pumping Gas: Let’s tell McCain why it matters
John McCain doesn’t think it matters whether or not he pumps his own gas.
WICKSOL: When was the last time you pumped your own gas and how much did it cost?
MCCAIN: Oh, I don’t remember. Now there’s Secret Service protection. But I’ve done it for many, many years. I don’t recall and frankly, I don’t see how it matters.
Well, John McCain, here’s why it matters. I went to the gas station last week and put $25 in our Honda. That $25 used to be more than enough to fill up the Prius, but now it takes it to just over half a tank. That same $25 in the Honda got me 4.57 gallons of gas, which was just over 1/3 of a tank. I don’t drive the Honda unless I have to, because it gets such crappy gas mileage.
The Prius gets great gas mileage, especially when it’s driven on the freeway at 55mph or we’re in stop-and-go traffic. But here’s the thing: When I go to the gas station and pump my own gas, putting my debit card in the machine and watching the pump suck out $50 to fill a ten-gallon tank at Costco (where we go to save .10/gallon), something else gives. For us, that ’something else’ means not buying the roast at the market and opting for something else cheaper, but for other folks, that something else might be a meal for their kids, or for themselves. It might mean they don’t fill a prescription that they need, or that they don’t buy milk that week, or they have to let the electric bill slide and go without electricity until they can afford to reconnect it.
It might even mean they have to quit the job they commute to every day because it no longer makes sense for them to spend $5/gallon to earn $9/hour. And here in California, almost everyone commutes.
So, John McCain, when you arrogantly brush away the fact that you not only don’t pump your own gas but have no clue about what the rest of us do, and then have the utter NERVE to try to paint Obama as an elitist, it matters.
When you tell those of us who are pinching all sorts of pennies to keep our homes from foreclosure but won’t take a stand against the Enron loophole, it matters.
When your buddy George W. Bush doesn’t even have a clue that gas prices are going to cross $4/gallon and then steps on the California CAFE standards because we set them higher than his piddly-ass non-goal, it matters.
It matters to everyone who doesn’t have $100 million in the bank, a tax-free military pension and a fat government paycheck.
Every time I fill up, memories flood of those arrogant Enron assholes laughing at ‘grannies in California’ who were going to be screwed as they jacked around our electricity prices. I hear them laughing and remember my 92-year old grandma pinching pennies to keep her air conditioning going so her ailing husband could stay comfortable in the summer months. It might as well have been you laughing, Senator McCain.
You betcha it matters to me, John McCain.
Does it matter to you? If it does, speak up here in the comments or on your own blog with a link back. Let’s ALL tell John McCain why it matters.
Sphere: Related ContentReminder for John McCain and George W Bush
This scene, taken tonight just past sunset, is why there must be absolutely NO offshore drilling. Just a reminder for the two would-be coastal rapists. Those birds are California Brown Pelicans, previously endangered, now thriving. They were endangered by the arrogance of man. We can’t afford to do that again. Note the absence of oil in this water. Just off frame to the right there is a pair of young sea lions playing in the waves. Would they play if oil was leaking onto the shore?
It’s Sunday, and all God-loving politicians like George W. Bush and John McCain should hear this message: No drilling for oil off these shores.
Schwarzenegger Smackdown over Offshore Drilling
Arnie, I take back everything I said about you hijacking the governor’s office. At least for today, because you did an awesome smackdown of the McCain/Bush/Crist sudden and passionate love affair with offshore drilling.
“Politicians have been throwing around all kinds of ideas in response to the skyrocketing energy prices, from the rethinking of nuclear power to pushing biofuels and more renewables and ending the ban on offshore drilling, it goes on and on the list. But, anyone who tells you this will lower our gas prices anytime soon is blowing smoke.
* “Today we have visions of Congress patting itself on the back after mandating 35 miles a gallon by 2020 and thinking it has finished the job. That’s the same fuel efficiency Italy gets now. America can, and must, do better. For both our long-term economic security, and our national security.”
He also had some words of praise, and some advice:
“If everyone in the country took the simple step of making sure they had correct air pressure in their tires, their gasoline costs would go down 4 percent. America’s oil consumption would drop by 800,000 barrels a day. That is twice the amount some experts have said we would get if we pumped all of our known offshore reserves.”
* “As you research, create, support, and invest in renewable energy technologies think about the payoff. Not just the next year, but also the next decade. Your idea might not look reasonable or affordable now, but energy prices are not going back to the good old days. So consider long-term profitability, long-term return, and long-term benefit.”
Like I said, Republicans and Democrats oppose offshore drilling. Bush and McCain are just reaching for something — anything — to justify the absolute mess Bush has made of our national security and energy policy. Of course, his first mistake was handing the energy policy to Cheney.
Sphere: Related ContentFISA Vote Delayed
This was the best I could have hoped for: The Senate has delayed a vote on the FISA legislation until after the July break, saying that Senator (my hero) Russ Feingold wants more time to work on the telecom immunity provisions.
What it means to us is this: There is time to push back on the Democrats who caved in on these provisions in the Senate and the House, and also time to communicate the reasons for opposing this to our friends, family and other people who don’t understand what it does and why it’s bad.
Good work, Senate. Now fix this thing.
Sphere: Related ContentJohn McCain’s Captors: We Didn’t Torture
An astounding sound bite from Tran Trong Duyet, keeper of Hoa Lo prison, where John McCain was held, beaten, and tortured:
“I don’t know how he’d react if he met me again,” said Mr Duyet, flicking through old black and white photographs of himself and his American prisoners at Hoa Lo.
“But I can confirm to you that we never tortured him. We never tortured any prisoners.”
I guess we know where our government learned to say that waterboarding wasn’t torture, too. By McCain’s own account, he was beaten, held in solitary confinement, and subjected to torture that permanently disabled him.
Duyet’s entire interview is nothing but party-line propaganda, similar to the same spew that comes out of this administration about torture, Guantanamo, and civil rights.
So is Mr Duyet implying that that Senator McCain lied about his treatment at the Hanoi Hilton?
“He did not tell the truth,” he says.
“But I can somehow sympathise with him. He lies to American voters in order to get their support for his presidential election.” .
Reading this just leaves me cold. I believe McCain was tortured in Vietnam, which makes his vote against the Intelligence Authorization Act that much more unbelievable. How can someone who was subjected to torture turn to a propaganda spinner like Duyet?
I suppose it depends upon how desperate he is to get elected.
Sphere: Related ContentObama’s Response to Constituent’s FISA Protest
Sorry, but it’s FISA night again. I’m really unhappy about the telecom immunity, and have been unhappier still about the somewhat vague response Barack Obama has given regarding his support for it.
However, one of his constituents wrote a letter to him urging him to vote no and received a more complete response.
The House and Senate worked out a compromise, reconciling differences between the two versions of the bill before it can be signed into law. While I recognize that this compromise is imperfect, I will support this legislation, which provides an important tool to fight the war on terrorism and provides for an Inspectors General report so that we can finally get to the bottom of the warrantless wiretapping program and how it undermined our civil liberties.
It’s still not enough for me, but I’m willing to accept that these affidavits that will have to be filed with the court by the Inspectors General will contain enough information to cast light on the illegal actions of the current Administration.
Dianne Feinstein is on notice, though, along with Nancy Pelosi and the rest of the caving Democrats in the House. This is not one I will forget when you’re up for re-election.
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