Sitting On My Porch Part Forty Six

I’m still not blogging about that oil spill…………..You are all going to drive yourselves crazy.

I’m sitting here watching game 1 of the NBA championship. I am picking the Lakers in 7 games but I have to say that the referees are ruining tonight’s game. The crazy thing about NBA playoff series is that each game can be called differently by the same officiating crew. It makes no sense. I have been thinking about going to the park for a few games of basketball again to get in shape. Nothing will get you in shape better than basketball provided it doesn’t kill you.

It’s the fifth hurricane season since Katrina and we already had a test run with Gustav. Everybody knows what to do and where they are going. There’s no need to panic. We can’t do anything about nature if it comes this way and we can’t do a damn thing about the oil. Let’s just go about our every day business until Dr. Jeff Masters says it’s time to get ready.

I am happy to report that my new house guest Ms. Raccoon has been caught and relocated to a nice natural habitat. The neighbors don’t have to pay us back for calling the removal service. Some of my friends think I overreacted by calling someone to catch the animal but that’s because they didn’t have to wake up in the morning to a raccoon staring at them through the bathroom window. I am not ashamed to tell you I was scared of the raccoon. It's not my fault. We never had those in the Lower Ninth Ward when I was growing up.

One of the problems America has is that we are too concerned with looking for a clear right or wrong answer that fits our beliefs instead of coming up with realistic solutions to problems. I’ve heard some people say that we need to end our dependence on oil and look for other energy sources to replace it. The opposite argument is that we depend on oil so much in our every day lives that it would be impossible to live without it for the foreseeable future. Everyone on both sides of that debate should see the reality which is that we probably should have other reliable sources of energy but the way our economy is set up at the moment, half of the people couldn’t afford it so we need oil too. Everybody can’t run out to get solar panels on their house and a new electric car. We are all having enough stress paying for the ones that burn all that gasoline. No matter how good of an idea you come up with people are going to resist or not participate if it doesn’t fit the survival plan for their lives. You have to take that into account. There are people right now who understand what's going on in their environment and can't afford to take a stand against it.

It reminds me of when I am watching one of those cooking shows where the chef keeps telling everyone how they need fresh and healthy ingredients to live longer and better. Everyone would choose that if they could but we all can’t afford the pork loin that was cut from the pig that only ate fresh vegetables and spring water. That kind of pork cost about 50.00 at the store. For 50.00 a family of four could buy a meat special from the corner store full of meat filled with steroids and table scraps and still have enough to pay the light bill. Do you think people buy that 20 piece chicken deal from Church’s Chicken because they want to feel miserable. They don't want their kids to have 30 year old bodies at the age of 12 but they do what they have to do. More people would do the progressive thing if they could afford it. First, you have to find a good source of energy to do all the things oil does. Then you have to make it affordable so I can actually use it every day.