War For Oil

It’s hard to convince me anyone who really has power wants to solve the oil problem. There are too many interests against finding a solution. From the government’s point of view, it might cut tax revenue–state and federal. From the private sector’s view, at least the one most lobbyiests seem to work for, war is a better business, and alternative fuels are bad because so far there isn’t much to fight over.
Right now I can’t see what they’re worried about, the amount of people using alternive fuels amounts to less than a cupful compared to the pacific ocean. And the potential isn’t that high in terms of whether it can replace fossil fuels even by a few percent. But that doesn’t mean individuals who take initiative on their own should be hit with swat teams and storm troopers for doing it (nobody’s actually done that that I know of, but it’s probably only a matter of time. I was watching “Dallas Swat Team” the other night, when they mistakenly threw a bunch of flashbang grenades into the wrong living room, with a baby, a grandma, a mom, and a couple other kids.).
On the other hand, smuggling alcohol in fast cars led to Nascar–even I don’t know what I mean by that.
Maybe illegal waste vegetable oil and biodiesel brewing will lead to new and spectacular cultural iconography…??? An African superpower based on fuel coconuts? Better butter orgies across the Indian subcontinent? Organic submarine races sponsored by BioBudweiser? Help me out here…whatever it is, if Will Ferrel lives long enough he’ll make a funny movie about it.
Soon we’ll be taxed for not driving, for the sun, for going on a diet, for having a composting toilet, but especially for not needing either a large corporation to supply you with something, or the government to supply it to you. We either already are or will be taxed for individual independence. Isn’t that what our founding fathers fought for?
This story is about as good as when the county building inspector threatened my dad over his composting toilet. This toilet is state of the art, costs $1200, and makes pure pathogen free compost and needs no water. According to the building inspector, it’s illegal to do that. If you want to help yourself, the law is not for you.

Via Daily Kos Diary, “…David Wetzel, a 79 yr old retired chemist from Decatur IL had been using recycled vegetable oil in his 1985 Volkswagen Golf diesel car for 7 years. This January, ” the State of Illinois Dept. of Revenue sent 2 “special agents,” Gary May and John Egan to his house. The two agents threatened the couple with felony charges and asked them to post a $2,500 bond!” According to the Herald & Review, where the full story is explained, a Republican State Senator has introduced a State bill “…which would curtail government interference regarding alternative fuels, such as vegetable oil…”I would agree that the bond is not acceptable, $2,500 bond,” Watson said, adding that David Wetzel should be commended for his innovative efforts.” (His car) gets 46 miles per gallon running on vegetable oil. We all should be thinking about doing without gasoline if we’re trying to end foreign dependency.””
It looks like it turned out ok for this guy in the follow up story. But I can’t forget they sent two revenue agents to get him out of bed and bust him for not throwing away used cooking oil–regardless of whether he needs to pay a road tax.