Jack it up pal!

i do have to admit that with a certain perversity, i am enjoying these higher gas prices. i drive some fuel efficient volkswagen. i pretty much only need to drive to and from work, which is about a 20 minute local jaunt. so that plus errands and going out, i only need to fill up once every two weeks. so, yknow, the extra $20/month i need to spend to fill up my car ain't breaking the bank. here's why i am enjoying higher gas prices:

1. suv drivers feeling the pain. this one's a no-brainer. soccer mommies and guys who want to swing their big dicks by driving some H2 are now having to drop almost $400/month on gas. i hope that shit increases to $500. fuck you and your non-conservationalist ways. 80% of suv/truck drivers out there don't need to be fucking driving gas beasts. end of story.

2. force energy behavior changes in people. this country is too fucking spoiled. no one wants to take mass transit, no one wants to share transportation, everyone is fucking me me me. well fuck you all. if you want to waste energy by driving yourself around town, you SHOULD have to pony up $5/gallon for that pleasure. with any luck, once we start breaching the $4 mark, maybe people will fucking wake up and go HAY GUYS maybe fossil fuels aren't an unlimited energy source!

3. force energy policy changes in government. not really bloody likely with our current federal administration but on the regional, state, and city level... maybe, just MAYBE more civil planning will go towards mass transit systems that WORK. dc area WORKS. los angeles area does NOT WORK. governments need to take the lead and wake the fuck up that the tulip-covered days of $1 gallons of gas are looooooong gone (and yeah i actually remember paying 75 cents a gallon) and that shit NEEDS. TO. CHANGE. institute more HOV-mandatory lanes on the highway. stop allowing vast subdivisions of mcmansion homes to be built without public transportation being incorporated into the civil engineering design. encourage alternate-fuels. DO SOMETHING.

4. reinvention of the us rail system. again, not bloody likely as long as amtrak is around. but ya know, traveling by train can be cool. with europe, japan and korea as paragons of rail travel, why are we as the most advanced country (supposedly) on this earth sucking hind tit in this field? yeah, air travel is nice but guess what? dependant on fossil fuels! do we even HAVE a bullet rail anywhere in this country? what a fucking joke.

this country for too long has had a selfish and spoiled sense of entitlement. like we are ENTITLED to cheap gas prices. we DESERVE cheap gas. we REQUIRE cheap gas. fuck you. even at $3/gallon, no one other than oil-producing countries pay less than us. europe? no. asia? HELL NO. canada's been paying more than us since peter jennings first came to the us to find work. far too long we have based our economies and government policies on cheap fuel. well time for us to wake the fuck up and start thinking real long-term, alternate solutions to just cheap gas. ever wonder why countries like japan and korea have longer winter vacations than summer? it's so the government doesn't have to pay heating costs of schools during the winter months, whereas there ain't no air conditioning during the summer.

and luckily, the dc metro area is a region where mass transit/conservation rules mostly work. the metro rail is pretty handy to get to all places dc and most places in NOVA and MD. each region has a pretty comprehensive bus system... even the upper crusty places like tyson's corner. this region even has a DRIVER-enforced system called 'slugging.' basically, most highways into DC during morning rush hour and out of DC during evening hours are either HOV-2 or HOV-3. so there are areas designated out in the burbs and in dc where drivers can pick up riders going to their area of destination so they can fulfill the HOV requirement. that fucking ROCKS. i think the only support government, local or otherwise, have given this system is to put up signs at the designated meeting areas.

so yeah, i ain't exactly crying any rivers for anyone who has to spend more for gas, even if it is severely affecting your bottomline and ability to have disposable income each month. the halcyon days of using gasoline to water your plants are long over. so suck it up and move on.