Stop complaining about gas prices already!

Gas prices are soaring, no doubt. The most recent spikes are simply due to the fact that a bunch of idiots drove into gas stations nationwide in effort to save about two or three dollars on a tank. The ironic part is that these idiots are the exact reason why some stations (in Metro Atlanta) were charging over five dollars per gallon. Conclusion: The idiots didn't save money by filling their tanks, they spent more. Now here's the deal, the recent(not hurricane related) spike in gasoline has to do with other issues.

China's economy is growing like a fetus! Because of China's relatively recent growth spurt, the U.S. is finally having some competition for oil. And, of course, prices are going up as a result. Many bigwigs could see this coming for years, and that's why they own many stocks in companies like Chevron/Texaco, ConocoPhillips, Shell, and others who are making about 100 BILLION dollars(Yes, 100 BILLION) in profit per year. However, the funny thing is that prices for crude oil are not increasing as fast as prices at the pump! That means that the blame for such recent increases in price cannot be blamed solely on the OPEC cartel. In fact, OPEC is trying to ease prices.

Back to the oil companies, it will only get better! These same companies, with their enormous profits seem not to be able to invest any money or effort into creating more oil refineries increasing production. How ironic it is. So what to we have here? We have these companies creating an artificial gasoline shortage so they can reap in billions every time we run into tough times or every time there is a natural disaster like Katrina and Rita. You see, as demand increases for a product, most companies try to increase production. Not oil companies! They know that people will need oil no matter what(especially with every new city designed to make you drive everywhere), so if they lobby to make it almost impossible to open new oil refineries, they win by creating these artificial shortages making gas prices skyrocket.

So, you ask, why am I writing all this? Because the consumer has power. Do you want gas prices to fall? If so, here's the only option.

Quit using so darn much fuel! Drive less! Car pool with friends from work. Move closer to work. Take a bus if possible, or ride with someone as much as possible. Buy a more efficient vehicle. Move to cities or towns where everything you need is within walking distance or at least short driving distance. If you drive 25 miles to work and buy a car that gets 30 miles per gallon as compared to 15 in a truck or SUV, you save $100 per month in gas in driving to work alone! Doing simple things like this will not only make it cheaper in the short run, but if everyone starts to do this, guess what else will happen? Gas prices will drop dramatically because nationwide demand will decrease immensely. Refineries will actually keep up with demand, and oil companies will be forced to drop prices to get rid of costly inventory. All these experts on the radio and TV get fancy-shmancy shows and tell us to do things like keep our tires inflated and to park at Taco Bell instead of going through the drive-thru only to save us a whole nickel. Real gas savings is created by driving less and having a vehicle that gets significantly better mileage. Sacrifice some horsepower to drop gas prices and help the environment a little by causing less global warming(and quite possibly less powerful hurricanes and storms).

The key here is that people need to quit complaining about gas prices and simply change their ways. Complaints should be made in the form of driving less and getting more efficient vehicles. That way, the complaints will actually be heard!

What Happened To Our Public Schools?

In the United States today, we face a serious problem with public education. Many of our public schools are unsafe and ineffective. In fact, I believe many of our kids are better off not attending schools at all if their only option is a modern public school since, in my opinion, many schools delay maturity and “shelter” our kids from real life. Some schools are downright terrible, and most are less than adequate in instilling responsibility, diligence, civic duty, and respect. Many kids have gone to school only to find that schools are recruiting centers for gangs and many other forms of public disarray. Of course, there are a few excellent public schools, but they are the minority, and they’re usually found in affluent or rural areas where the public values education.

Our society has eroded where many parents are now more like friends than parents. They’re afraid of making their children angry, and they’re overprotective to the point where they deny the fact that their kids can make mistakes. Then there’s the more disturbing side of the equation. We have many parents that neglect(Yes, neglect!) their kids by giving them absolutely everything they want. Regardless of their income, they shower their kids with materialistic possessions and compliments that make their kids believe they are invincible. They tend to underestimate the importance of criticism and discipline. They protect them from anyone who tries to tell them they are misbehaving or being inconsiderate. And their kids tend to have respect for no one, including themselves. In reality, these parents are afraid to parent. How wrong it is!

This is no longer a minor problem. There are simply too many parents in this category.

Year after year, these types of parents have barged into public education threatening educators with lawsuits and reprimands. Because of this, our pubic education system has changed quite dramatically for the worse.

Teachers are no longer able to teach or discipline. Principals have become nothing more than political appeasers for parents who use teachers as scapegoats, and, of course, the number of disruptive kids is skyrocketing in classrooms all over the United States. Mutual respect between parents and teachers is all but gone. Teachers with high behavioral and academic expectations are either burnt out with frustration, end up quitting or retiring, or getting fired because they stand up to the loud and disruptive parents. Well, they should do just that, but that creates too much discomfort with administrators and school board members. Because of this, our schools are filled with fledgling, unqualified teachers nationwide, and the turnover rate is only increasing and making things worse. The teachers that stay dare not to hold high expectations because it takes so much to stand up to their superiors and parents when kids start to fail. Students are able to blame everyone but themselves for failure or bad behavior, and the sad part is that they honestly believe they are not responsible for themselves.

Many also think schools are failing because of the poor urban kids. It doesn’t matter how much a family makes, their children still have the ability to learn from mistakes and get out of the pattern and gain self-confidence as long as the institution promotes such change. However, with the lack of expectations in our schools these kids have no impetus to change.

Who’s losing because of all this? The students! In many places schools are instilling into children that they can do anything they want and get away with it. And they are also instilling into children that very little work results in high grades or endless compliments. Let me assure you, criticism and true accomplishment is what makes kids successful in life, not excess praise and easy grades.

So, in breaking it down, what is the true problem with our public schools? It all leads to the fact that disruptive kids and parents are the ones that ruin it for everyone else. For many reasons, our system cannot afford to allow these disruptive kids and parents to bog down the education of those that want to learn. The most effective means by which to improve the situation is to take these kids out of the mainstream schools. Discipline needs to be reinstalled into schools. Until then, nothing else can improve. And after this happens, then and only then dramatic improvement will be possible.

Here’s how we can do it:

1. Remove disruptive students from schools! Give their parents the choice to sign off on letting them go to a publicly-funded, no-nonsense boarding school where they will learn cooperation, discipline, civic duty, and respect. Or tell the parents who refuse that their kid is no longer welcome to attend the mainstream public school and must seek a GED on their own time. Of course, many “coddling laws” must be changed in order for this to be legal. Keep in mind that allowing these kids to remain in mainstream schools is sending the wrong message to everyone. They keep acting out with no consequences, and before you know it, they’re illiterate graduates who end up going to prison or dealing drugs on the streets. Whereas, the boarding school will teach them to respect themselves and that they can improve their situation.

2. For high school, have parents educated on how the students are solely responsible for themselves mandated documents the parents must sign. Then have them sign that students have a certain number of detention hours before they have to attend a hearing determining whether or not they need to be sent to a public boarding school or be sent home. Notice, mainstream high schools will be reserved for students who meet tough academic and behavioral expectations.

3. For students that fail courses or grades, they have 6 weeks(or equivalent) to improve grades or force being sent to a lower level class. The responsibility for improvement lies on the student and the parents, not the school. Many kids fail simply due to lack of motivation and work ethic, not because of lack of ability. For those with proper motivation and work ethic that still have failing grades, remediation is needed.

4. Bring back tracking, and allow kids with similar abilities to be in similar classes. Also, not all kids are going to college, so bring back vocational schools for those that have definite interests.

This system is much like real life. You get out of it what you put into it. Teachers will be much more passionate and much more effective. Students will learn discipline, confidence, work ethic, civility, and respect. Disruptive, immature students will be separated from more mature students, and their needs will be met by going to boarding schools that promote self-accountability over academics. Principals will once again be able to support their teachers and have options in making real progress toward parents. Disruptive parents will be in the minority, and the overwhelming numbers of supporting parents will lead to the fact that principals will be able to tell loudmouth parents to take a hike. In other words, I think my tax money is being wasted when disruptive kids are allowed into a classroom with kids trying to learn, and I would whole-heartedly support teachers and principals that try to remove these kids from the classrooms. After a few years, it will be evident to kids and parents that teachers and principals have authority, and schools will be much more conducive to learning.

People at this point are too complacent and really don't know what's going on in public schools.

Those that take the option of quitting school will still be able to get a GED just like everyone else can now. (I know a person who quit school in 8th grade and got a GED only to make over 100K per year as a banker, so don't tell me getting kicked out of school is always a bad thing. For many people, real life can teach people better than schools.)

I am up for suggestions, so please comment. Obviously, I left great detail out of this.

Our society needs this change, or at least something as effective.

Once again, our society will value education and our society will improve as a result.

The need for a better Energy Bill is undeniable. In addition to the war in Iraq and Afghanistan and various improvements of homeland security, we need to take aggressive steps to further our independence of Middle Eastern oil curbing both terrorism and prices at the pump. And our government, with the new energy bill, has done nothing to promote our independence of Middle Eastern oil. Not even mileage requirements are in the Energy Bill. We simply need to make it so no money is sent to the Middle East for oil, and it could be done in 5-10 years! Here are some quotes from a conservative hawk and former CIA agent, Frank Gaffney:

"The more we are consuming oil that either comes from places that are bent on our destruction or helping those who are ... the more we are enabling those who are trying to kill us," Gaffney said.

And here's his view on Bush's and Schwarzenegger's Hydrogen dreams:

"They'd rather work on something that won't be in their lifetime, and that's this hydrogen economy stuff," Frank said. "They pick this kind of target to get the public off their back, essentially.

The point isn't that we directly send money to terrorists by buying oil from the Middle East, but as long as we buy oil from the Middle East, we have to maintain relationships with those nations, and that's what increases the chances that terrorists find reason to hate us. Fact: Wars such as Afghanistan and Iraq, although seemingly justified, will never stamp out terrorism. I believe our government isn't stupid enough to believe that, so why lose thousands of lives and spend hundreds of billions of dollars in trying? The real reason is strategic. China will be needing a lot of oil sooner than you can finish your dinner. Controlling oil in the Middle East will be our only hope of preserving our grip as a superpower in preventing China and India from rising to the top with us. Sure, my ideas may be extreme, but I've thought and thought about this, and this is the only thing upon which I can agree is plausible.

Here's my plan:
1. Mandate the use of E15(15% Ethanol-85% Gasoline) in all cars by 2007, then E50 by 2010. This is already taking place in many urban areas, and the capability is already there.

2. Mandate the use of at least B20(20% Biodiesel-80% Dinodiesel) in all diesel pumps nationwide by the year 2007 or 2008. Capability already exists. And mandate all Dinodiesel(from fossil fuels) to come from GTL Diesel from the SABOL process using our own coal and natural gas by 2012. This can also be accomplished by emission standards alone. Dinodiesel is diesel made from crude oil. GTL diesel is sulphur free diesel made from natural gas, of which we have plenty right here at home.

3. Mandate a 20% increase in mileage in all pickup trucks and SUV's that are currently "left alone" by government regulators; this needs to happen by 2007 or 2008. This is already possible. It's nothing more than making a Ford Expedition get 19 miles per gallon instead of the 16 it gets now. This is no feat for today's engineers. Keep in mind that these gas-guzzlers will be guzzling more and more alcohol as time progresses, not oil.

At this point in 2010, the 40% of oil that comes from the Middle East is no longer needed, but if that's even too fast, it will definitely happen by 2015 with these changes..

4. By 2012, mandate the use of B50(Biodiesel/GTL) in all pumps nationwide, and mandate E85 as the fuel for cars nationwide. Our capability of ethanol will be met as it's already well on it's way right now. Ethanol can be made at around $0.67 per gallon, and even less if we import it from Brazil. All of our oil needs can then be met by Venezuela, Mexico, Canada, and the U.S. alone. Biodiesel and GTL demand will be met with emerging technologies(easy since oil companies are already running tests in towns in the Midwest).

5. By 2010, mandate that 80% of all pickups and SUV's more than 5000 lbs run on diesel, which is much more efficient and much less of a greenouse gas contributor and will no longer contribute to air pollution due to the use of Biodiesel, GTL, and technologies already found at Corning, Inc.and in Volkwagen TDI vehicles.

Notice that none of this even takes mentioning hybrids, which will only make the goals even easier to reach.

Here are some positive results of all this. Oil prices will drop dramatically because OPEC nations will lose sales. They would probably drop even if the U.S. Government announced plans to even do this. We will no longer be required to deal with Middle Eastern Countries, namely Saudi Arabia, and the probability that hate toward us builds(for whatever reasons) will diminish with time, and so will terrorist attacks against us. The reason for this is that we simply will not be intervening in any of their policies. Excessive loss of life and money will be avoided. Our military resources will better spent at home or abroad in situations that more effectively improve national or global security. Due to ethanol and biodiesel use, air pollution that causes childhood asthma, lung cancer, heart attacks, among many other health problems will be almost eliminated. Also, biofuels such as ethanol and biodiesel "recycle" carbon in that burning them does not add a net amount of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere, which causes global warming.

We simply cannot leave all this responsibility to the capitalistic market. When SUV's and cars are bought with horsepower being more of a competitive sales carrot than mileage, progress gets lost in the proverbial gas pedal. There is need for government to promote a better society, free of terrorism and pollution. Wars can only provide so much security, and they can backfire if few things deviate from the plan. Besides, companies like GE, Chevron/Texaco, BP, and many other are already delving into these technologies, they only need a reason, and the consumer can provide those reasons.

Please send this link to everyone you know to get the ball rolling. Support your troops and make fuel prices drop by buying a more efficient vehicle, car pooling, combining trips, and not using your vehicle when unnecessary. Write your senator. The complacency has to stop!