On 17 May 2004 07:19:16 GMT, (Veeduber) wrote:

Worth a try.
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Dear Richard (and the Group),

The only message a one day deferral of gas-buying would send is that the
American public is as dumb as a stump.

Which we already knew.


If you want your message to appear in the bottom line of a corporation you must
boycot their product, as gun owners did with Smith & Wesson. To simply defer
your purchase is the sort of meaningless feel-good bull**** they feed to
college kids to keep them from burning down the school.

Which only works some of the time.


As a point of historical interest there has been at least a dozen such idiot
plans to "send a message" to the oil companies, dating back to the Arab oil
embargo following the 1973 'Yom Kipper' war. It doesn't take a rocket
scientist to see how ineffective they have been.

Actually it wasn't a boycott, but people conserving when we had that
real shortage back in the 70s. We started economizing, car pooling,
buying cars that got good gas mileage and it really did show up as a
drop in the demand for oil. Really put a crimp in the US auto
industry for a few years too.

But, we used less, so gas became plentiful, we forgot about becoming
really independent of foreign oil and we are now back to big engines,
6.000# plus vehicles, and the possibility of a real shortage this
summer because the refineries don't have enough capacity to provide
that much gas.

People cant take the blame, they need some one or something else to
blame so they blame the oil industry for making big profits because
the demand is at an all time high. They blame the politicians for not
forcing the oil refineries to charge less, all the time using more
gas. Proving once and for all, as does the TV program, there is no
intelligent life in the universe.

As I mentioned in another post; I now get 20% better gas mileage and
drive only 25% as much as I did 20, or even 10 years ago. My wife's
car has over 170,000 on it and it still gets 37 mph.

18 instead of 15 and 8,000 instead of 30,000, or 22,000 fewer miles.
If my math is correct I was using 2000 gallons a year. I now use 444.5
gallons for a decrease of 1555 gallons per year. At $2.00 per gallon
that is over $3,100 saved per year at today's prices.

However, it's not just the dollar savings, but the reduction in what
we use.

I wonder what effect it would have IF every family would reduce their
use by 75%, or even try. It is possible by learning to schedule and
combine trips. Most just complain and continue on with business as
usual as they don't want to deal with the inconvenience of planning
and scheduling.

Even though we could afford to drive as much as we used to and
purchase new vehicles every few years, we cut back on the use and
drive 'em till the wheels are about ready to fall off...or they get
totaled.

Roger Halstead (K8RI & ARRL life member)
(N833R, S# CD-2 Worlds oldest Debonair)
www.rogerhalstead.com


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Want to send a REAL message?

Imagine what would happen if EVERYONE in the nation stayed home for a day.
Don't go ANYWHERE. Don't buy ANYTHING. Don't even turn on the TV. Freeways
completely empty of vehicles. Public buildings with their doors locked and
parking lots empty. Sporting events not being played in an empty, echoing
stadium.

Never happen of course, for the simple reason that such an expression of your
individual freedom just happens to be illegal for most of us 'free' citizens of
the United States of America.

Better to play it safe. So go ahead and defer your purchase of gas for a day.
Or fill up the day before. Really show those oil companies who's the boss.
Yeah... that should do it.

-R.S.Hoover