Freeing Ourselves from Oil Dependency

Worrying about how to feed our huge oil appetite, which is a losing battle, since we'll run out sooner or later anyway, we should concentrate on how to get out of that bind. Why look to off-shore drilling when it really won't help much? How many more billions of dollars are we going to throw at wars with oil-producing regions when it eventually won't give us more oil?

As an alternative, I would propose that the government do some really constructive things like get all the auto manufactures (domestic and foreign) together to set a direction toward alternative fuels. Then set a target date when they will all introduce their new line of cars at the same time. This way they can still compete with other features for their cars, but none of them will be afraid that anyone will introduce a gas powered car that buyers simply can't resist.

As a further step, the government could also spend some of the billions, that it now spends on wars, to provide an initial subsidy to the auto makers as incentive to go the alternative fuel direction.

How about it? Could we that are hurting so bad with the high gas prices encourage congress and the President to do this?

What makes a President!

We've seen during this election how Senator Obama has risen to be the presumptive nominee of the Democratic party. The things that makes him a winner is not his experience, or his grasp of facts and figures. It's his ability to move people (and presumably the people in Congress, also). This, in my humble view, is what will make him a good president and leader. If you look at the history of the presidency, it's the presidents that had this quality that were really successful (Kennedy, Reagan, for example). These were not particularly brilliant individuals, but they certainly had the ability to move people. I suppose Clinton did also, but perhaps his methods were a little more underhanded.

I would certainly like to see more of the type of leader that can move people, both on the national and local levels. I'd like to have more to choose from.

Resturants and Seniors (or not so Hungry People)

I eat out occasionally, and am really bothered by the amount of food served. Being a senior, there's really no way I could, or should, eat the amount of food most restaurants serve. Yes, some have senior menu items, but not many, and the servings are not really that much smaller. Yes, I could request a "doggie bag", but these left-overs are many times not real suitable for reheating. It's not as much a question of money as it is of waste. That could add up to an awful lot of food that goes into the trash.

To prevent all this waste, restaurants need to either cut down on the amount they serve everyone, and charge a premium for those that really feel they have to have more, or simply offer a senior percentage discount.

Please stop the waste!!!!