I am 53 years old, but I have to say I feel like a man of a hundred or so, given all the computer gremlins that have been hitting my poor little host and server. I really don’t know yet, what the problem is, but it is causing the sites I run to not load for people, or if it is, sure isn’t for me.

It is annoying, as it does make some think I have just packed up and gone, but that isn’t the case. Hopefully those who have subscribed to the feeds, who have linked to the sites, aren’t too pissed, and will continue to have patience as my Host works to find the problem causing these gremlins to shut the site down at the most inopportune times.

Anyhow, for those who have tried, and failed, please keep trying. Eventually the service geeks get it working, and hopefully, each time, it’ll stay working. Fingers crossed, as I need a drink. ONE HUGE ONE!

I wonder at times, if people are just naturally stupid, if we have been exposed to lead paint for too long, or if it is simply that we are being born with less brain cells, than before. If you listen to Hilary Rodham Clinton, or John McCain, you really need to shake your head, specially when it comes to Gas Prices.

Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton lined up with Senator John McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee for president, in endorsing a plan to suspend the federal excise tax on gasoline, 18.4 cents a gallon, for the summer travel season. But Senator Barack Obama, Mrs. Clinton’s Democratic rival, spoke out firmly against the proposal, saying it would save consumers little and do nothing to curtail oil consumption and imports. (source)

Now I am no Economist, or math whiz, but I have to say that what good does removing a tax of less than 20¢ a gallon do for you? Will it lessen the price of hamburger that is trucked in to your grocery store? How about the wheat farmer, will it let him plant more at a cheaper cost? Is it going to make airlines drop the price of tickets for those travelling from one coast to the other? Is it going to lower the price of a postage stamp?

This is the whole problem with these flash in the pan schemes. They are short term, they sound good, but they do ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to solve the real problem. That is that fuel is expensive, whether to fuel your SUV, or to HEAT YOUR HOME. It isn’t going to make summer camp cheaper for your kids, sure won’t make the cost of educating your kids come the fall any cheaper either. It won’t make bread cheaper, won’t help businesses like Ford or Chevrolet build cheaper cars either.

A suspension of the gas tax WILL NOT make the goods you buy any cheaper, specially when you consider the bulk of them are MADE IN COMMUNIST CHINA! The price for shipping them isn’t going to be lower, nor are the costs going to go down for Airplanes, Trains, or Trucks that deliver the stuff to your stores. Business will continue to rake it in, because like a sap, we believe a stupid TAX SUSPENSION slash CUT is the SOLUTION TO EVERYTHING.

At a meeting with voters in North Carolina on Monday, Mr. Obama said lifting the gas tax for three months would save the average consumer no more than $30, a figure confirmed by Congressional analysts. Mr. Obama has previously dismissed Mr. McCain’s proposal as a “scheme.”

“Half a tank of gas,” Mr. Obama told his audience. “That’s his big solution.” (source)

While John McCain and now Hilary Rodham Clinton propose to suspend the Federal Tax, Obama is opposing it. Will it help him? According to most it won’t, which is why I wonder if we just aren’t plain stupid. Or is it that we are simply selfish, and very short sighted?

So we get a summer vacation, so we get away from the daily grind and it doesn’t cost quite as much as it should, how does that help? To begin with, you have to do a fair amount of travel to make it worthwhile, in savings, but nothing else is going to be cheaper. When labor day comes, the prices go back up, and instead of having a whole summer of finding solutions, we wind up right where we are now, facing outrageous gas prices, with winter coming.

And I don’t think it is rocket science either. Give people a healthy tax rebate if they buy a Hybrid Vehicle, or if they use Alternative Energy Sources. I mean think about it. If we gave a few thousand dollars back to every one who bought a Hybrid, do you think that it would be too long before Detroit was manufacturing a whole slew of different Hybrids? Do you think gas prices would remain so high, if less people were consuming the vast quantities they do now?

And what about alternative sources? If there was REAL MONEY in it to switch to bio diesels, or diesel, how long would it be before we saw new advances in the types of alternative fuels? That is the real marketplace, but it takes money, money that is being used for campaigns instead of helping us weather the worsening economy.

Obama is right, Clinton & McCain are wrong. They are simply pandering to our fears, instead of offering us real solutions. While I am not too thrilled with Obama and some of his polices, so far he is the ONLY CANDIDATE TRYING TO LOOK OUTSIDE THE BOX. I mean let us face the truth, Tax Cuts have been around for ages, specially under George W. Bush.

HOW IS IT WORKING FOR YOU?

Big Business has gotten richer, has huge profits, and yet the cost of goods continues to go up. The quality of goods is constantly being lowered, while we pay more for it. Yet the Corporate Profits continue to skyrocket. Inflation is on the rise, and even working two jobs won’t keep your house yours, let alone allow you to take the kids to soccer practice, or to eat any better. That is what Tax Cuts have given you so far, so I have to ask:

When do we stop allowing ourselves to be BOUGHT OFF with Shiny Beads, Shoddy Trinkets, and Phony Words of Sympathy from the likes of John McCain and Hilary Rodham Clinton?

Living up here in God’s Country, as most refer to Vancouver Island, I think we get a bit complacent, and out of touch with reality at times. Today our Family Doctor told us he was retiring, which I suppose you could expect, but you know, not a heck of a lot of notice.

Now Mother is 91 next month, and it is important that we keep monitoring things. She is on Cumadin, which requires monitoring, and other medications, so we did get a list of alternative doctors. So I called one that is close by, that specializes in people over 70 and you know, I am gonna keep looking.

To begin with, they will send me an APPLICATION, to be sent back and if approved, they’ll book an appointment.  UH EXCUSE ME? An Application for THEM TO APPROVE?

I don’t get it, because I AM THE CUSTOMER, and it isn’t whether they like me, it is whether I LIKE THEM that matters, they are the one’s who will be paid, not me. Still, you have to wonder, if maybe we all just got this whole thing ass backwards. Doctors wanting an application from the patient?  Sort of be like Sears or Zellers asking for an application before they will let us shop in their store.

I DON’T THINK SO!

While Gas is hitting or topping $3.60 a gallon in the United States, it has topped a $1.29.9 a Liter up here on the West Coast of Canada. For those who aren’t able to figure out the ratio, it is about 3.95 liters per U.S. Gallon, 4.54 Liters per Imperial Gallon. So basically, if we were using U.S.A. measurements, gas would be about $5.13 a Gallon. Given the current exchange rate, I think it would be about the same, as last time I checked the dollars were about even.

Gas prices hit $3.60 a gallon and oil futures rose to their own new record near $120 a barrel on Monday as labor actions overseas threatened crude supplies. Oil prices later retreated to close up only slightly as the dollar stabilized against foreign currencies. (source)

It is amazing isn’t it? Because of some shit thousands of miles away, we get stuck with higher fuel prices, and yet when it the damn price drops, do we get the benefit?  NO WE DON’T!

And that makes me wonder, more and more, if this isn’t a phony excuse. I mean take into fact that ALL OIL COMPANIES are recording RECORD PROFITS, and yet they claim that they are merely passing on the high cost of goods, to the consumer. If true, how in the hell are they making more money? Then too, there is how you won’t find a difference in prices at the pumps, NO MATTER WHICH COMPANY YOU BUY FROM.

Now I don’t know, but I have been in business since I was eleven years old. I know that two stores, selling the same goods, rarely have the SAME PRICES. One store buys more, gets a better purchase price, another buys from a different supplier, gets a better price. There are tons of reasons of why two stores selling the same item charge different prices, so how come OIL COMPANIES CHARGE THE SAME?

Plus it isn’t like ALL OIL COMPANIES have the IDENTICAL EXPENSES. That would be impossible, given that not all of them are the same size. So I don’t buy this SAME PRICE COINCIDENCE BULLSHIT that they spout. If that isn’t a clear case of [[COLLUSION]], I don’t know what it is.

Unfortunately the people we have elected to Govern, are in the pay of these Giant Corporations. Of that there can be no doubt, otherwise how could such blatant rip offs continue, without any sanctions, any investigations? I mean come on, they took on Microsoft, AT&T, and other conglomerates, and beat them too, so how come they aren’t taking on the Oil Industry?

Too many Campaign Contributions from them, perhaps?

Well, a long day is finally coming to a close, I hope.

In case you might have noticed, we have had some strange downtime today, due to moving from an old server, and hosting plan, to a new more improved box, and upgraded hosting plan, so as to make things run faster, smoother. And like all things these days, what should be a simple push of a button turns into a hair pulling nightmare.

Thanks to James at Ez Provider Net for doing a bang up job in sticking to the issue, and getting it all worked out, so hopefully this site will load faster, be easier to manage (on my end) and well, just keep on chugging away.