Got Gas? I Seriously Doubt It!

I don't think I have ever seen a case of what you believe will come to pass that surpasses what is going on this very moment with gas prices. If we ever needed proof that we are a society that is utterly addicted to oil, this is it.

I heard rumblings about how Knoxville was going to experience a gas shortage because of Hurricane Ike. I didn't believe it. Sure, gas shortages in the Houston area with all the people trying to evacuate, I get that. But seriously people....a gas shortage in Knoxville as a result, you have got to be kidding me. Oh how wrong I was!

Here is a piece from the local news about the impending local gas shortage. The minute there was a whisper of gas prices going up because of the shut-down of off shore drilling and on shore refining people went nuts. There were people at my work who went out at lunch time with over a half a tank of gas in order to top off. Stupid me thought it was all a joke so I stayed put with my not quite quarter of a tank. On my way home, I saw $3.99 at a gas station that I pass and was pissed. Then I passed another gas station and saw $4.47. I became irrate. The line was 5 cars deep. Hell people, you'd think there was a mandatory evacuation order for Knoxville because of this storm.

OPEC has got to be shitting a glee brick right now to watch the U.S. behaving like a bunch of oil starved maniacs.

Knoxville in the News

That's right...Knoxville, TN has been in the news a lot lately. Church shooting, school shooting. It isn't what is expected around here. And yet, CourtTV is camped out in this relatively small town city now for coverage of the Eric McLean trial.

I don't have a grand point to this post. I think what I want to write about is the whole misguided notion that society seems to have about "it could never happen here". Plain fact of the matter is, it can happen anywhere, anytime. Loading society up with guns wont stop it. If someone is going to go ballistic, they are going to go ballistic Metal detectors in schools? Fine, the shooting will occur right outside the school. Locking our kids up instead of letting them roam free? Fine, the predators will bide time. Monitoring computer usage? Fine, go anonymous. It just seems to me we can't stop a lunatic without stopping the behavior at a very early age.

You know, I suppose some of this comes from my new found jaded perspective of my job. Honestly though, I think I had come to this conclusion a long time ago. We are lost. I don't know how we find our way back, but there are lost souls out there who are going to do crazy things. And none of the rest of us will ever understand why.