Pain at the pump

Like the weather, everybody talks about it. The daily news makes a point of informing us of the national average price of gasoline and the daily fluctuations in the price of crude oil. When we fill up our cars, we wince at the final receipt, but we do it anyway because we have to get to work (at least those of us who still have jobs). But, like the weather, no one seems to do anything about it.

The other night I went to the gas station to fill up because it was supposed to rain the next day and I didn't want to stand in the rain in the morning filling my car with gasoline. I also wanted to take advantage of a small decrease in the pump price before it went up another 15 cents overnight. So, I pulled up to the pump, fished out my credit card and approached the pump. As I moved to the pump, my eyes went to the previous transaction still displayed on it. The total purchase was $3.00 and the amount of gasoline dispensed was 0.77 gallons. I looked again, because frankly, I thought I had misread the display. Then I realized the painful reality of the situation. I was looking at the widow's mite of gasoline transactions. Someone had put their last dollar into the gas tank and didn't even get a gallon of gas for their trouble.

Had I been there when the transaction happened, I know that I would gladly have filled their tank as I have done this before when panhandled at a gas station....but I wasn't there and I thought sadly of the plight of the person who was there before me. With a highly fuel efficient car, they could likely only have gone 20-25 miles, on a motorcycle, perhaps 45-50 miles, but someone who can only afford to put 0.77 gallons of gas in their car likely drives a beater that is not fuel efficient and may be relegated to a much shorter drive.

Our President has said that people should buy more fuel efficient cars, but if one can only afford to buy gasoline 1 gallon at a time, it is not very likely that they can pony up $40K for an electric car or a hybrid vehicle. Besides, even if they could afford the $40K electric car, I have never seen a charging station anywhere. Personally my commute one way is 27 miles, so even with an electric car I might not be able to get home even if I charged my car fully everyday....not very practical in the very large country in which we live. The reaction of the President to the high price of fuel is to appoint a committee to look into speculation.....Big woo. Let's face it, the President is sabotaging our country at every turn in order to advance his green agenda and is crippling us. The best thing we can do for our country is to work diligently against the re-election of this President and the rest of the progressive incumbents in the House and Senate.

The YOU SCARE ME Letter

I received this letter in an email from an acquaintance who suggested that I pass it on. It speaks for itself.

AN OPEN LETTER TO PRESIDENT OBAMA

By Lou Pritchett

Dear President Obama:

You are the thirteenth President under whom I have lived and unlike any of the others, you truly scare me.

You scare me because after months of exposure, I know nothing about you.

You scare me because I do not know how you paid for your expensive Ivy League education and your upscale lifestyle and housing with no visible signs of support.

You scare me because you did not spend the formative years of youth growing up in America and culturally you are not an American.

You scare me because you have never run a company or met a payroll.

You scare me because you have never had military experience, thus don't understand it at its core.

You scare me because you lack humility and 'class', always blaming others.

You scare me because for over half your life you have aligned yourself with radical extremists who hate America and you refuse to publicly denounce these radicals who wish to see America fail.

You scare me because you are a cheerleader for the 'blame America' crowd and deliver this message abroad.

You scare me because you want to change America to a European style country where the government sector dominates instead of the private sector.

You scare me because you want to replace our health care system with a government controlled one.

You scare me because you prefer 'wind mills' to responsibly capitalizing on our own vast oil, coal and shale reserves.

You scare me because you want to kill the American capitalist goose that lays the golden egg which provides the highest standard of living in the world.

You scare me because you have begun to use 'extortion' tactics against certain banks and corporations.

You scare me because your own political party shrinks from challenging you on your wild and irresponsible spending proposals.

You scare me because you will not openly listen to or even consider opposing points of view from intelligent people.

You scare me because you falsely believe that you are both omnipotent and omniscient.

You scare me because the media gives you a free pass on everything you do.

You scare me because you demonize and want to silence the Limbaughs, Hannitys, O'Relllys and Becks who offer opposing, conservative points of view.

You scare me because you prefer controlling over governing.

Finally, you scare me because if you serve a second term I will probably not feel safe in writing a similar letter in 8 years.



Lou Pritchett



Note: Lou Pritchett is a former vice president of Procter & Gamble whose career at that company spanned 36 years before his retirement in 1989, and he is the author of the 1995 business book, Stop Paddling & Start Rocking the Boat. Mr. Pritchett confirmed that he was indeed the author of the much-circulated "open letter." “I did write the 'you scare me' letter. I sent it to the NY Times but they never acknowledged or published it. However, it hit the internet and according to the ‘experts’ has had over 500,000 hits