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Take time to interview a stranger...

By: Jake Solochek Take time to interview a local person
It started with a simple observation. I was sitting in a cafe on Las Olas Blvd. and I notice that a stately looking gentleman was shaking his head. I looked in the direction of his gaze and I saw two women laughing, both talking on cellphones -- not with each other, talking to two separate people. One was berating the judge who put Paris Hilton back in jail and the other was complaining about the cancellation of a TV show.

Wow. This was more interesting than editing a web page called Roadlovers.com or giving free english lessons. I leaned toward the gentleman and said, "It's amazing that two people can be meeting for lunch but not talking to each other."

He looked at me and said the following: "Let's look at the world as a doctor looks at a patient: part by part, cataloging the symptoms. Civil war in Iraq, Gaza, and impending civil war in Lebanon. Rising unrest in Jordan, Egypt, Indonesia. Rough treatment of civilians and restricted economic rights in Venezuela, China, Tibet, Syria and Russia. Dissatisfaction in France (nothing new). Genocide in Sudan, anti-semitism and anti-capitalist forces in South America.

And what do we focus on? Whatever People magazine and ET televison put on the tube."

I looked at him. "You've been thinking about this a lot!"

"I have the time," he said, casually. "While I'm operating there is only so much gossip I want to hear, so I start taking inventory of the world. It passes the time and makes me feel better. At least some time is being spent on something important."

I nodded and he continued. "I've asked five people about what they think is the big surprise about the Prius. Not one person could tell me what Bill O'Reilly mentions frequently: it takes acres of land in Canada to assemble the components for the hybrid car. The land is so polluted, only military training camps can use the desolate space. Such an environmentally friendly car... and it's especially polluting.

Here's another surprise: the energy needed to make a new Prius could be used to drive a Hummer for 20,000 miles (that's 2 years).

What else are we missing? In our society of retarded development, we need more grown ups. We need fewer people obsessed with the saccharrine diet of "war on terror lite." When was the last time we rationed fuel?
When was the last time you were asked to sacrifice for the war effort? What are we doing about getting ethanol without making corn more expensive?

As a nation, we know what we should do.
In 1944, there were contests on the radio and comic strips in the newspapers, but we ate less, we saved more, we conserved energy for the war effort. There was a sense of urgency. Now, there appears to be no sense of urgency.

The problem is clear: some people have forgotten how to sacrifice and most people under 50 have never really been in terror of an invading army. My family got out of Austria the day before Kristalnacht. We ran as refugees for months, so we know what this jihadist war is about--deprivation and who can outstarve the other side..

The President has said that there are many fronts in the war on terror. If you have a computer and are inclined to do so, you can make acquaintance via the internet. Instead of monitoring the "free paris" web sites, why not watch the jihad on the internet. Learn what they want to do to us - then tel others about what you learned.

The connection between oil and support for Islamic militants is well-documented. Read a book by Thams Friedman and talk to school children about the benefits of bicycle riding. Real patriots walk or cycle. When you can bicycle, when I can use an electric car, when we can take a bus, let's do it for the common good. After all, there's a war on.

The problem comes when not enough of us pulls our weight. "You'll save for the two of us," someone told my friend who drives a propane car. That's the attitude eroding our efforts overseas, not debates in Congress or dissent and anti-war marches.

When we are sending marines to die as policemen, there's the ages-old solution, used effectively at times in South America when the civilian government loses its way. Suspend the constituion and have a putsch to get control. Then divide Iraq into three parts, share the revenue and put in trained military police and three strong men (admit it, we need more "dictators" in the middle east). When the body is sick, the doctor prescribes remedies (more exercise, less chocolate), not more of the same comfortable routines that created our illnesses.

Cut oil use and when oil demand drops below the capacity of our refineries, surprise, surprise: we'll see $2 gasoline again. The Doctor prescribes "no more unpatriotic bullhockey:" Expose the Prius for the charade that it is.

Finally, write a letter to the editor. Repeat the truth as you see it until the politicians vote that way -- or Putsch! I've learned that it takes more than hearing truth. I nod my head and say, "that's so true,"
and I'l forget it in a week. We all need reinforcement to stay focused on the prize. Choose your war front.

You want a lower price for gasoline? Reject this unpatriotic deception that "a hybrid is 30% more efficient." Park your Prius and carpool. Drive a hummer on biofuel made from switchgrass.

Get serious about finding domestic fuels. Thirty years ago, oil shale was said to be unfeasible until the price of oil rose to $30 a barrel. Helllooo! The price floor is double that. Let's get serious about who our enemy is -- it's not the companies that might pollute the permafrost or disturb caribou while delivering domestic.

While we're at it, let's set a standard of "we're in this together" and start with our language -- let's set aside "African-American." I'm not a European-American, although I was born in Vienna. If you can
determine your ancestry back to Ghana via DNA genealogical research, great. Otherwise, we Americans need to pull together and stop worrying about who should be voted off American Idol.

There was a song in the 1960s about Freedom and liberty: "Each generation has to win it anew, because it's not something handed down to you." That's what we're headed for... It's time to pay for the life we're living.

What did Jefferson say? There should be a revolution every twenty years. Well, let's grow up and approach politics with a scalpel and a strong patriotic energy diet."

Then a woman came up to him and said, "Let's go, honey," and the doctor from Vienna disappeared, leaving me with a feeling that I should go do something to sacrifice for the country. And it all started because I sat for several minutes and just listened.

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Note: I was curious about the Prius claim and so I did a search on "prius pollution digg" and found the following from a Recorder Online article:

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If you put together the energy to drive and build a Toyota Prius, it takes almost 50 percent more energy than a Hummer.

CNW Marketing (an analyst) calculated the energy from electrical, fuel, transportation, materials (metal, plastic, etc) and other factors over the expected lifetime of a vehicle. The Prius costs over $3 per mile driven over a lifetime of 100,000 miles - the expected lifespan of the Hybrid. That's about $300,000 in costs based on energy.

The Hummer's costs amount to about two dollars per mile over an expected lifetime of 300,000 miles. In other words, That means the Hummer will last three times longer than a Prius and use less combined energy doing it.

adapted from an article by staff writer Chris Demorro, The Recorder.com Central Conn. State University
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