MEMORIAL DAY - 2008

PLEASE TAKE A MOMENT TO REMEMBER

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Received one image for your local fuel price over the weekend. This is Cumbria UK.
Rounding up to the nearest pence, thats makes their petrol £1.12 (€1.41) a liter and their diesel £1.23 (€1.55) a liter. The conversion makes that $8.40 a gallon for regular and $9.24 for a gallon of diesel.

With the cost of crude now over $135 a bbl, consider this:
When crude reaches $200 a bbl (and it will) then a gallon of crude will cost about $4.55. Thats before transportation costs, refining fees and distribution expenses are added. Guesstimates make the pump price around $7.50 per gallon. Since most of America doesn't have a reliable mass transit system alternative there will come a point when you can't afford to commute to work. This would hit the lowest paid the hardest. Those making minimum wage or slightly more. If they can't afford to work then their employers will have to pay more to maintain staffing requirements. Causing the cost of goods to go up. See where this is going? Inflation. Runaway inflation. You'll need a shopping cart to take cash to the store to come back with one bag of groceries. Just like pre-Hitler Germany. In fact, this was one of the driving forces behind Hitler's rise to power. We haven't reached the point of gas shortages, yet, but we aren't far from it. However, we are nearing the point where mandatory gas rationing may be just around the corner. $15 a gallon within 10 years. Regardless of price, we can't burn crude in our automobiles, we need it refined to gasoline or diesel. Our refineries are running at over 85% of maximum refining capacity and there are no new refineries on the near horizon. They can't be built overnight. You must allow about 15 years from proposal to completion. Most people are for more refineries, just not in their neighborhood.

Just some food for thought as you fill your tank.

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The Mars Lander has successfully touched down near the Martian North Pole. If it finds evidence that life has existed in Mars' past then the odds of finding it through out the cosmos will have grown exponentially.

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Its not that I can't see Dubya riding a motorcycle, its just that I can remember how dangerous he was on a bicycle.

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"Fearless Leader" has once again shown the true feelings he has toward the American GI. The proposed new GI Bill of Rights would provide benefits more in keeping with the 21st century. He opposes it because it might cause soldiers to not re-enlist and would cost too much money. Money he would rather spend getting them killed in an unwinnable war. He may have been part of the Vietnam Generation but he sure didn't learn from it.

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Tonight, on the American cable TV channel Arts & Entertainment (A&E), there will be a 2-part miniseries of the classic 1971 sci-fi film Andromeda Strain, which was based on the 1969 Michael Crichton book of the same name. It will conclude tomorrow night. Check local listings for time and channel.

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Happy Memorial Day everybody. I hope you had a very wonderful weekend. Thanks for stopping by. I'll have more later.

Mahalo

Aloha

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THE PICTURE GALLERY

Over The Limit?
UNDER ARREST!
Please don't drink and drive

"Let's all be careful out there!"