Excuse me.
Living in New York, it's sometimes easy to forget that the rest of the country gets around from place to place by car - walking is nearly unheard of in this country. These cars, lest we forget, are powered by burning gasoline, as are airplanes, and even many of the buses we take to work.
We drill and we burn. Drill. Burn. Drill. Burn. And drill some more. All the while, we continue to pollute the environment and send money to such places as Venezuela and Iran.
Torah is pretty clear about our obligations to this planet. Adam and Eve are given dominion over the Earth, but must be its stewards. With great power comes great responsibility. The shmeta year - a sabbatical for the Earth - forces us to farm land only six of every seven years - for that one year it is as if we no longer own the land, it is no longer ours with which to do what we wish.
And yet, we still relate to gasoline as if it is there to be used as fuel. What other purpose does it serve? It just sits there waiting for us to use it. It calls out: drill me, burn me.
Despite all the talk these days about conservation and being "Green" it seems like we're going nowhere fast. At least, we're being led by politicians who don't even realize what a problem the use of petroleum poses - to our air, to our water, to our economy and our national security.
Just this week, Clinton and McCain are both calling for a temporary repeal of the national gasoline tax. Are they joking!? The New York Times, rightfully, criticized that move today. Repealing the tax would do little to help out the economy, would encourage further misuse of oil, and would further our already outrageously high deficit.
Obama stands alone on the side of common sense here.
And then, the New York Times also has an article today looking at the cars that various House Representatives drive on taxpayer dollars. Sure, the $1,000 per month lease-fees are outrageously high for a publicly financed vehicle, but, what should be more offensive is the fact that Michael McNulty, of New York's 6th District, drives the most fuel-efficient car in all of the House.
His SUV, a Mercury Mariner, gets measly 28 miles to the gallon.
Pathetic.
Is it any surprise then that there has been so little progress in Washington on the issue of changing our 19th-century based energy system? For the time being, short of drastic changes, we'll go on wasting more and more, heating the atmosphere, destroying our lungs, and sending money to unhappy people.
Looks like we'll be passing on any sabbatical from gasoline for a long, long time.
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