Brave Or Stupid?

A Milwaukee area gas station owner shut off his pumps Thursday in a protest over high gas prices. As we have previously discussed, I'm not so sure that these types of protests, or the threats of these types of protests, do any good. The gas station owner himself said that he will make up most of the estimated $1,500 in gas sales the next day when he starts selling fuel again. He claims his protest is because he does not make any money off of fuel; he loses his slim profits to gas wholesalers and taxes.

We can't make any changes by just trying the same thing in a slightly different way. Einstein said insanity is repeating the same action over and over again, expecting a different result. How is not buying (or selling) gas on one day of the year going to effect the price of gas at all? Don't write your congressmen; they're already in bed with the oil companies. They don't care about how it hits your pocket; they care how it hits theirs. If you don't want to spend so much money on gas, get rid of your gas guzzler and buy a (God forbid) hybrid vehicle. They even make hybrid SUVs for those of you with small penises.

For years, Europeans have been paying high prices at the pump. In London, you pay the equivalent of $7.10 (USD) per gallon, and the world hasn't ended for those folks. They have come up with alternatives to petrol. They, in particular, utilize nuclear power quite a bit. Where they pay dearly for transportation fuel, their home energy bills are much cheaper. Another thing that Europeans are good at is carpooling and public transportation. The U.S. has a decided disadvantage for using public transportation, we are a very large country and there isn't always a bus going where you want to go. However, there are things we can do to reduce the amount of money we spend on gas and petroleum products.

1. Walk your fat ass around the block once in a while - if you can walk there, don't drive. Duh.
2. Turn off your lights when you're not in the room.
3. Buy fluorescent light bulbs - they can save you 80% on lighting costs. They produce the same amount of light using 1/5th the electricity. They also last YEARS instead of months.
4. Spend time outside during Daylight Savings Time. Its dayLIGHT SAVINGS time. It's right in the name. You'll use less electricity if you'd turn off Springer and look at the outside. Go ahead, it's OK. Turn off the TV; it's a rerun anyway.
5. Buy a f*%king fuel efficient car, you a$$hole! Are you so insecure in your manhood that you have to drive a 454 Chevy pickup? I see lots of big pickup trucks, but the only big thing being hauled by them is usually an ego.
6. Take all the crap out of your trunk. On average, every 100lbs your car hauls reduces the gas mileage by 2%. Again, maybe you should walk around the block and lose some weight.
7. Don't use the AC unless you have to. If you have a small living area, turn your AC off when you leave for work. A small area will cool back off very easily; there's no reason to pay to cool it when you're not at home.
8. Observe no-zone action days. If you hear not to pump gas until after 6pm, don't. It will be cooler after 6pm and you'll lose less to evaporation while pumping.
9. CARPOOL - learn how here
10. Stop being a dumb American. A lot of people have it worse than us. If we had compassion for those folks instead of greedily ripping them off, maybe they'd sell us a cheap gallon of gas.

Have a good Memorial Day Weekend, and remember your fallen countrymen - respect their sacrifices by being a responsible American.