Citizens for oil

Well, my apartment currently has no power. Actually, it has some power, but just enough to power a few light bulbs but nothing else. Thankfully, with the usage of my two Verizon Wireless Blackberries (thanks RIM), a Verizon Wireless Kyocera AirCard, a spare Nextel cell phone, a Verizon land line, I am still able to piece together a very ghetto network. Of course, it also helps that I have spare batteries to go with my Blackberry so I can blog away!

So as I lie nestled comfortably under two layers of comforters, I can't help but to wonder, is this what the folks in those "Citizen's for Energy" commercials do? Typically, the humming sounds of my UPS and computers would fill the ambient noise in my room. But tonight, the only sounds I hear are the rain drops crashing aginst my window.

Drip, drip, drip. Oh yes, also the sounds of little blackberry keyboard ticking away at my finger tips. But this is hardly drowning out the rain that I hear coming from the outside.

Back to my simulated "rest of America without heat" experience...

Is this what they do? Day in and day out? Luckily, I was able to wash my face with some warm water that was still in our water heater as well as brush my teeth. But for these folks that have to fend for themselves, is this what the America is about - just getting by? If these people have nothing for heat, and we as a country have no means to provide heat for our own people, just what kind of "inalienable rights" do we have exactly?

Sure, life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness is good. But if you can't stay warm, it is quite clear to see that you would have a pretty hard time to pursue something when you are frozen to the bone.

We as a nation pour billions upon billons of dollars (whose monetary value is going down the crapper) to defend our country from those who believe that our way of life is pretty fucked up. We have kick ass guns, kick ass vehicles, and a ton a nuclear weapons that can blow any nation off the face of the earth.

Yet, our very own citizens that we claim so dearly in our propaganda that needs defending can barely fight mother nature against her harsh cold winter nights. One look at the streets of DC and strip away the concrete buildings, you would find the same desolation and despair as the streets of Baghdad - homelessness, poverty, crime, violence, disease, and malnutrition. I mean seriously, would you drink the water coming out of the tap in DC?

Oh shit. Power is back on. Guess someone wanted to put the kybosh on my rant. The lights are on and the heater just kicked in. I guess Joe for oil came through once again and I have Venezuela to thank for that. Well, actually it probably is Dominion Power, but I won't tell if you won't tell.

Just something to think about the next time you flip on the light switch or adjust that thermostat on that heater of yours. Which by the way, is made in China.