How to stop the madness that is the foreign oil

Americans use almost 20,000,000 barrels of oil per day. Our own companies
supply only 30 percent of that oil. The rest is bought from other OP!
countries and totals appro"imately 20 percent of that oil.
#ow, if you put that in perspecti$e, we buy %& percent of e$ery barrel of oil
we use. 'urther, !anada supplies us only (& percent of that total. Thus, we
wind up buying oil from hostile Arab nations. )hen * say hostile * mean +audi
Arabia. ,es, * said it. Although they ma-e nice and play somewhat fairly in the
oil business, lets not forget that this is also the home of Osama .in /aden.
Anyone remember him0 The terrorist that caused 3 wars in the 1iddle ast,
crippled our con2dence in our safety at home and literally caused the crash
of this countries 2nances.
How did Osama .in /aden crash our economy0 )ell simply put, he distracted
our leaders with terrorism and wars, caused the 3.+. to go to war in three
di4erent countries, and drained our co5ers to fund these military
campaignes. That is the simpliest answer * can gi$e you. One man, one
monster, one demon with the help of a rag tag group of hanger6ons and
social outcasts has done more to damage the 3.+. and it7s citi8ens than any
other country, organi8ation or natural disaster e$er has in our history.
* am assuming that the e"tremist and followers of Osama .in /aden were well
aware that they would be dealing a lethal blow when they planned that
attac-. *t is hard for me to belie$e they really thought it through to the point
that we would be in all the con9icts and would wind up nearly bro-e. .ut that
is what happened. The single attac- on +ept. ::, 200: brought our country to
it7s -nees. There is no way to deny it, though we ha$e put a bra$e face on to
the world, those of us feeling the e4ects of the bad economy, the loss of our
lo$ed and honored ser$ice men and women and the decline in our in9uence
on the world stage -now it is true. 'or the 2rst time e$er the 3.+. got a blac-
mar- on its credit rating due to this attac-.
* will concede that the housing 2asco and the cost of labor in the 3.+. didn7t
help the case for the 3.+. 'urther, the unwillingness of our go$ernment
o5cials to wor- together, the abuse of power by our o5cials and the decline
in manufacturing ;obs in our nation were to blame as well. *t was a $irtual
$olcano ready to erupt before that fateful day. * admit that.
)hat * won7t concede is this. *f not for the attac-s, the wars we waged and
the decine in con2dence in our leaders ability to lead we could ha$e sa$ed
oursel$es from the 2nancial part of this e<uation. Perhaps without the
distraction of the wars and the search for terrorists and the constant
attention paid to possible security threats to the 3.+., our leaders would ha$e
seen this 2nancial crisis coming and been able to head it o4.
* -now loo-ing bac- things are always clearer. * clearly see how this happened
today. * ha$e long wondered what the point in going to war against the
terrorist countries and countries that sympathi8e and abet these terrorist was
all about. Only in the past few wee-s has it become clear to me. * who watch
e$ery news report and thin- * am informed. +o if *, who has made a concerted
e4ort to be informed about what is happening in the world, am ;ust now really
understanding the truth about how our nation came to the state it is in now,
then is there any hope for those that are so nonchalant and self absorbed
that they ne$er consider the facts and implications of this past decade e$er
going to get it0
*t is a terrifying fact that one man and a bad attitude can ree- ha$oc on a
nation, people, and world that is de$astating and long lasting. * don7t -now
why * am so suprised to reali8e that one man could be the catalyst to bring
this country down. Afterall, Hitler did it not so long ago. * suppose *, as well as
other Americans, are nai$e in thin-ing that something li-e that could e$er
happen again. At any rate, * am more sympathetic to the plight of President
=.). .ush than e$er.
* ha$e always been a patriot and * try to be respectful of my president.
Although * didn7t understand the need to go to war after the >:: attac-s on
the )orld Trade !enter, * was supporti$e of my country, it7s leaders, and our
troops. * wondered aloud at the in$asion of *ra< and to be honest * am still
befuddled by that choice. * am to understand bad intelligence too- us there. *
can belie$e that. Afterall, lac- of communication was the reason that the
attac- on Pearl Harbor was so de$astating. #o one was warned ?when clearly
there was intelligence that was a$ailable to that e4ect@ that an attac- was
probably immenient. Anyway, * get the whole scenario. * ;ust hope the rest of
the nation and world 2nally ha$e their ephiphany as * ha$e. * am not
con$inced that our trouble and money wouldn7t ha$e been better spent on
securing our borders and security and not waging wars. *n hindsight, * see
how the decisions were made and * understand the people wanted retaliation.
That is the thing about our reaction, we o$er reacted. )e should ha$e been
calm and waited and been the $ictim, instead we made oursel$es the bad
guys to the whole of *slamic world and most of Asia. * fear we ha$e ;ust built
armies and intelligence for those countries we occupied and left to turn
against us.
)hat is the lesson we, as Americans, ta-e away from the past ten years0 Aid
we learn anything0 )as there any growth in our understanding of oursel$es,
our go$ernment, or the world as a whole0 * thin- so for many of us. * thin-
that a lesson has been taught and many of us showed up for class. +adly, *
thin- more than half of us didn7t. * fear that this hard lesson has gone
unheard and unheeded by the ma;ority.
+trange people we are, Americans. )e go along e$eryday with our heads in
the clouds and dri$e our huge gas gu88lers, wear our designer clothes and
eat our unhealthy food as if there is no conse<uences. )e pay too much for
e$erything and ma-e nothing oursel$es. )e spend more than we ha$e and
sa$e nothing. )e eat too much and e"ercise too little. )e are a nation of
gluttons and airheads. *t is beyond belief how strange we must loo- to the
other fol-s in the world. 'latly, we are sel2sh.
)e use more oil than any other country in the world. )e use oil that we by
from countries that despise the $ery premise of our nation. #ations that
would ha$e us wiped o4 the map if possible are funding their military and
weapons programs with money we pro$ide buying oil. How smart is that0 *f
that isn7t enough to ma-e you pause, these same countries are using money
we pay for oil to buy up the 3.+. How does that sit with you0
There are good arguments to be made from many angles as to why and how
to become independent from the oil producing nations. * understand that our
scaling bac- our consumption alone will not bring down the price. !hina and
Australia are using as much as us and that is the thing that dri$es the prices
up. * am also to understand that the demand for oil is as much as is being
produced. )hat the nation as a whole doesn7t understand is that the
production of oil is being stiBed by those that would li-e to -eep the prices
high as they build their nations. Aoesn7t ta-e a roc-et scientist to 2gure out
that you can sell oil for C:00 dollars a barrel to people who ha$e none.
Aoesn7t matter that OP! and the others could up production and bring the
price down, why would they0 They ha$e grown accustomed to the high price
for a barrel of oil and it doesn7t suit their purpose to sell it cheaper and
deplete their reser$es <uic-er. The bottom line is ;ust this, they can control
the amount of oil produced and in doing so, they control the price. *t is good
business e$en if it doesn7t pass the smell test. Americans are accustomed to
being treated fairly. )ell, Arab nations are used to being treated unfairly.
Arabs -now they hold all the high cards and they don7t blin- an eye when
they state that they are in control and intend to -eep it that way.
*t doesn7t matter that the 3.+. has oil reser$es of it7s own. There is enough
demand for oil from countries hostile to the 3.+. to sustain their production
without our dollars. )hat is important for us as a nation is to understand that
we can impact the price of oil for the other countries relying on OP!. *f we
cut our consumption it is good business for our own economy. )e don7t want
to be relying on others for our needs. )e don7t need to be beholding to others
for our sustantance. )e don7t need to let our nations security be in the hands
of others. That is e"actly where we are now. )e can7t operate our public
transportation systems, go$ernment 9eets, or military without the use of
foreign oilD +omething has got to gi$eD
+o how do we 2" this. * am sure there is someone in the world that has this
answer. * thin- * ha$e a good one. +top using so much gasoline and plastic.
Although we cannot stop buying oil completely we can stop the nonsense of
nearly 20 million barrels a day. There are many things each of us can do to
ma-e a di4erence. )e don7t ha$e to par- our cars and wal-. )e ;ust need to
be informed and stop pretending gas prices are going to go down. *t is not
going to happen. *ran has publically said it will not produce one barrel for less
than C:00 per barrel. )e do not buy directly from *ran. .ut if *ran can get that
much per barrel, the others aren7t going to ta-e less.
*n summary there is no more cheap gas. *t is time that e$ery citi8en of this
nation to ma-e a stand and ma-e a di4erence. )e can7t bring down the price
of a gallon of gas but we sure can buy less and stop funding those that would
not be our friends if not for trading oil with us.
* ha$e ne$er been openly against any relegion. * ha$e mine ?!hristianity@ and
* li$e and let li$e. Eecently, there has been a big dust up o$er the installation
of a *slamic 1os<ue on the perimeter of the )orld Trade !enter disaster site. *
ha$e some $ery strong feelings about this as * ha$e read up and disco$ered
that the mos<ues usually go up as a sign that a $ictory for the *slamic state. *
don7t thin- it is appropriate to put a mos<ue in that particular place with the
-nowlege * ha$e about the signi2cance it spea-s to in the *slamic circle.
)hether * agree or disagree is of no cons<uence at this point. The point is
simply this. They own the property and this is still the 3nited +tates of
America and it is their constitutional right to do with that property what they
will. 1y <uestion is how that property came to be owned by a entity that
should ha$e no interest in it to begin with. * want to -now that. )hy would
any 1uslim want to own a property in #ew ,or- !ity. *t defys the $ery tenants
of their relegion. * will say no more on this sub;ect.
Though * will not go into how * feel about the 1uslim mo$ement in the 3nited
+tates and the ob$ious implications that accompany the growing population
of muslims. * will spea- on what * see happening in our nation. Anytime you
see the rise of a new relegion, the proliferation of a relegion or the decline of
a relegion it is usually easily e"plained. There is e$idence that the 1uslim
faith will e"plode in this nation in the ne"t twenty years. * am not saying that
is a bad thing. * ha$e no problem with 1uslims that are not ;ihadists or
terrorist. *n fact, almost all those practicing the faith are peace lo$ing and
honorable people. * fear the rise of the militant groups in our nation. * fear the
implications of ;ust one group of radical *slamist forming on our soil. The
implications of that could be far worse than the )orld Trade !enter attac-. *
fear that although the intentions of most our population of that relgion is to
li$e in our country as any other citi8en does, there are those that are not so
honorable as in any relegion.
)hat * ta-e away from this phenomenon with the proliferation of the 1uslim
faith doubling e$ery 2$e years in the states is simply this. There is a $oid that
we are not 2lling with our youth. )e are not teaching our children about our
own faiths or they would not be open to anothers. There is a whole
generation of people who don7t identify themsel$es as any denomination or
relgion. They ha$e li$ed in the 3nited +tates their whole life and ha$e not
been e"posed to any faithD How does this happen0 * don7t -now the answer,
but the truth is it has happened. Our nation was built on the premise that it
was 7di$ine pro$idence7 that brought us to this 7republic7 state and our youth
ha$e been totally untrained in the way they should goD /ea$e a $oid and
someone will 2ll it. That is what the new faith in our country is doing. *t isn7t
;ust *slam. *t is )iccan, +cientology, etc. Our youth are loo-ing for spiritual
guidance and we are not 2lling that need.
* used to belie$e that Americans were resilient and would ne$er fail in ta-ing
care of it7s own business. * fear that is not true now. * see a nation of slac-ers
at one end of the spectrum and greedy e"ploiters on the other. +adly, in the
middle is a few, the minority, of hard wor-ing, honest, o$er ta"ed people who
are 9ailing about in the winds that is our go$ernment. How long can our
nation rely on only 33F of it7s citi8ens to carry the burden of all the programs
and ta"es that are funded and mandated by our go$ernment0 * see a
disparity in the way the wor-ing man and woman are treated as opposed to
those that ha$e achie$ed 2niancial success. * see a whole generation of
people who ha$e no wor- ethic at all.
Our country and it7s citi8ens are in a war with more than ;ust terrorist,
competing economies, and dwindling resources. )e are short on wor-ers in
comparison to that that are refusing to wor-, relying on go$ernment hand
outs and those that simply through no faul to their own cant wor-. Add to this
already lopsided economy the big companies who are ma-ing a fortune on
the misfortune of the poor and disenchanted. Thin- of the war on drugs and
try to ma-e sense of that oneD How can we ha$e a war on drugs when the
companies that ma-e them own the politicians who ma-e drug policies0
!onsider that the drug companies are getting patents on natural herbs and
that we can only get them through them now0 Thin- of all the addicts that
are no accident. .ig money in addiction and our go$ernment has sold out to
these companies that create addiction.
*t7s a $icious cycle that is draining the wor-ing american of his income and his
future. The go$ernment pays for the addict to get the medicines and then
pays for the treatment to get the addict o4 the drugs that are only on the
mar-et because the go$ernment let the drug companies control themD *t7s
beyond ridiculousD All of this paying out by the go$ernment is right out of the
33F who actually wor- and actually pay ta"es, paychec-s. Our nation has
become a welfare state to e$eryone e"cept the wor-ing poor. The richest :F
pay $irtually no ta"es and the lowest paid wor-ers get refunds for ta"es they
didn7t e$en pay.
*n the $ery new future this nation has some bridges to cross or burn. )hich
ones to -eep which ones to burn0 That is the <uestion. )ill we as a nation
ma-e the hard choices that lead us to success or simply ones that -ic- our
roc- on down the path a little farther0