US Revolutionary War 2005?

Anyone else absolutely irate about the high price of gas? I know I am and it has got me thinking? Sometimes that can be good, sometimes that can be dangerous. This time it may be a bit of both. If you want to do something about it, keep reading.

"No taxation without representation" was the motto that sent us into a revolution against the British. I feel there are striking resemblances today. Let me explain.

In today's United States we are double, triple and even quadruple taxed and more on just about everything we purchase. We pay income tax on the money we make, two to be in fact. When you purchase something imported we pay a tariff on most items, then pay sales tax. On gas, there is an import tax to get it here, then we pay state and federal tax to purchase it.

Some of you may say we are represented, but I say no. The politicians that are supposed to be representing us are looking out for big business, not the consumer and citizen. Not so much on a state level, but definitely on the federal level. You say you want proof, just look at the Bush Administration's policies. The Energy Bill that was recently passed offered no relief for consumers at the gas pumps, but did offer tax exemptions for big oil in the sum of over 11 billion dollars. This is the break they get considering that say Exxon/Mobil made a small profit of 7.8 billion dollars in the first three months of the year. So how much did you spend on gas the first three months of the year?

Do you feel like your Congress represented you in this particular case? I don't think so. They are not in touch with the American people. They won't be downsized, not at least until the people rise up. They don't need health care, that is paid for by all the taxpayers.

Folks, we did it to ourselves. Most choose large gas guzzling SUV's instead of fuel efficient or hybrid vehicles. We should have seen the signs in the 70's, but we didn't and now we are paying the price. I drive a tiny Kia and it cost me $27.50 to fill up a little more then 3/4 of my tank. I can only imagine what the guy or soccer mom who drives a Navigator pays. I would love to buy a hybrid but, with the cost of gas, I can't save enough to have a down payment. I am sure there are a lot of things that most of you would love to purchase right now, but the gas squeeze has put that on hold. (NOTE: Anyone who wants to donate a hybrid is more then welcome. Just had to put that out there.)

In an ideal world we would all be personally responsible and environmentally friendly. But this is the McUnited States, where we have to super-size everything because a regular burger isn't good enough. We buy McCars and McHouses and McLattes and McTV's and all we are really doing is McScrewing ourselves in the long run.

Tea was the materialistic symbol used by the original thirteen colonies to make a stand against the British. Oil or "Texas T" should be our symbol. Besides the fact that the Bush Administration is knee deep in the oil industry, made and makes considerable money, and turns their collective cheeks to the average citizen; we should take our stand against oil.

I am in no way saying dump oil or gas in any body of water, as they did with tea. What I am saying is we as a country should go on strike for a week and see how it affects the oil companies and the rest of the world. We should lay out of work(better yet take your vacation time) and refuse to drive anywhere for a week in protest of the high and still raising gas prices. The blogisphere should blog swarm this and we should unite red and blue to fight this until it breaks. Less then six years ago I was paying around a buck for a gallon of gas. Now I can buy cigarettes cheaper. I never thought I would see the day.

If One.org can make a stand to feed the hungry people of Niger, then why can't we take a stand against the oil companies? This is our time, if we don't act now we will see $5 a gallon for gas and that won't be pretty.

Anyone interested in organizing or participating in this, please e-mail me at jovittore@earthlink.net .

Video Game Violence

A parents biggest cop out is to blame their childs wrong doings on something other then themselves. Via Yahoo and Reuters, this article talks about video game violence and how it makes young boys do bad things.

As parents, my wife and I know everything our child is getting into, watching and listening to. Many parents do not. There are many times I feel like popping in a violent video game and shooting the shit out of whatever it is I may be fighting, but if my daughter is home and around my XBOX space, I wait until she has gone to bed. It is ultimately the responsibility(when you have kids you have this thing called responsibility) of the parent to guide, teach and protect the children from things their little eyes shouldn't see. If my child happens to see something she shouldn't, it is explained in terms she can understand and she learns from it. Hollywood, the video game makers and cable TV aren't your childrens disiplinarians, you are. The people that feel that the makers of movies, games and programming should stop making this stuff, are simply showing everyone that they can not be responsible parents.

I played video games from the time of the Atari 2600. I always knew they weren't real and I certainly didn't run around eating a bunch of dots running from ghosts. I never pretended I was a frog and leap-frogged across traffic. And I certainly never wanted to run through the jungle, due north, and shoot everything that was in my way(Contra, for those who didn't get that one). The point being, that my parents instilled in me that this was all fantasy. Everything produced today, where as it is more graphic, is still fantasy, even know they are very life like in nature. If your child plays games, goes out and kills someone, and then proceeds to blame the game, they where a tard to begin with. Games don't kill people, people kill people.

If we are going to ban video games,movies, music, etc... then we should certainly stop coverage of the most gruesome of sites, the news. My child sees more crap that produces nightmares on the news, then anywhere else.

The study in the above article link was produced by a Catholic University, and parents against groups. It might as well have come from the Pope. Video games about going to church aren't very fun. Morals and values have no place in entertainment, and that is the key word, entertainment. Sheltering children, does not prepare them for a very callus and bad world that lies ahead. What it does, is make them extra curious and more prone to do something wrong. Yes, kids do stuff that is wrong. It is a parents job to make them learn from their mistakes.

What I am saying is this, if you can't be good parents, then you shouldn't have taken on the responsibility. But, under no circumstance should you folks ever FUCK with my entertainment and tell me how to raise a child. That I can do on my own.

I'm Back, But There Are Some New Rules

As you can tell, it's been a while since my last post. There are a couple of reasons for that, I have been busy with my business, I have had a massive writers block, I have been working on Converge South's music events, and I have been battling wasps in my bedroom(which I am deadly allergic to and my landlord doesn't want to do anything about). A lot has happened in the world and locally, and I have been reading it all from my fellow bloggers. So, I haven't been in the loop, but I haven't been completely out of it either.

Now to the new rules. As you can see from the post below, Scotty Gets Beamed Up, the comments got heated. Yes, I fed the trolls, but I felt I had to. Anyway, since this is my site, these are my rules:

1. Anonymous posts without a valid e-mail address will be deleted. I don't care if they are pro or against what I am writing about. I will send a thank you to all commenters I don't know and if it is returned, the post will be deleted. There are great anonymous posters, many of whom I read their sites, but they do not hide behind a lack of name, they are easily accessible and I have no problem with them. I understand some people have to remain anonymous for certain reasons, but those who come to drop bombs and leave are not welcome. Friendly bombs or not.

2. Anyone commenting in a libelous or slanderous way, or are taking viscous uncalled for attacks on anyone will be deleted. This includes the use of racial and social slurs, they are intolerable and will be deleted. If in the course of the topic I deem this acceptable behavior, then there will be an exception. Any threats of violence will be turned over to the FBI for prosecution.

3. I encourage commenting on the topic written about. Good conversation is what this is all about. I encourage commenting in general. I love having discussions with all of you. I don't enjoy writeby's, especially from the no e-mail, no website, no name variety. The more comments the better.

With that said, I hope I am out of my writers block and back on the information super highway. Next stop, blogisphere.