OK, let's go through this one more time. All of these things are connected.

Like dominoes, all of these smaller airlines are going out of business. I live on an island in the middle of the f-ing ocean and people here are buggin big time. They're going to have to make rafts like Cubans to get outta here soon. And, gas is approaching $4 a gallon...well, it's been at $4 here for a while, but that's besides the point.

This, and a lot of other things went to hell when Reagan, then every president after started deregulating everything including the kitchen sink. And that includes your boy, Bubba. [Oh, as an aside, are you paying attention to just how much that dude is fucking up his wife's campaign? I'm starting to think that Al Gore wasn't so stupid in 2000...well, at least not for that, anyway.]

Here's the deal...you have the power to deal with this. To make this change. Not to make it perfect, but to make it better. Oh, you're not going to like it, but you have the power. Here are a few suggestions:

• Stop buying shit you don't need!!! Seriously!


• When you really need something, do everything in your power to buy it locally, or at least hand-made. Clothes, food, toys, music, whatever. It cuts down on how much is transported and helps the local economy. Yes, it's more expensive, but you're buying less anyway, right? (see the first one)


• Turn off your TV. Get up. Go do something. Don't go for a drive, dummy. But do something in your own neighborhood. Garden, fix up an empty lot, play ball with the kids in the street, campaign for a local non-incumbent running for office (I had to sneak that in). Do something.


• Bug people around you. There. I said it. Not in that snobbish, South-Park-hybrid-car-episode way. But start talking to your friends, family, neighbors, co-workers, whomever about stuff that you're doing. Seriously. Brag about your fluorecent light bulbs and your solar water heater. Remember how when we all got e-mail accounts you would get 45 jokes a day. Well, start spreading cool e-newsletter tips from Co-op America or Ideal Bite. We need to start making conscious living normal.


• When some idiot you know continues to insist Barak Obama is a Muslim, Hillary doesn't lie or John McCain isn't old, correct them. Send them links, leave them clippings. (By the way, I'm not voting for any of them - I'm going third party)


• You don't HAVE to drive or fly or buy. Seriously. You don't. You need food, clothing, shelter and protection from things that can kill you. Everything else is WANT. Oh sure, you may want some things more than others, like good food, sex...OK, and beer, but it's still want. (notice I said you, not the species) You don't HAVE to have the biggest car, or drive your car that much at all. You don't HAVE to fly. You choose the most convenient way.

You want to bitch about the man, yet you continue to give him big shovels full of your money. The man knows you gotta Jones for stuff...you just gotta take care of it.

I don't remember if I posted this recently, but check out The Story of Stuff. Found the embed code:



Supply and demand, baby. The man thinks you will do anything to get on a plane or drive that car. Show him that you'll do other things instead and he'll kiss YOUR ass for a change.