danielredbeard’s weblog

Two things that I’m salty about today:

First, gas prices.

I find that I agree with the ideology of Conservatism, and specifically, Libertarianism, most often. I believe in the Free Market, capitalism, and the ingenuity of humanity. But I also sew the aforementioned with a thread of honesty, that those whom are successful by their own measure of what “success” is, are honest, hard-working people.

What pisses me off is when this idealism is bandied around loosely by folks whom are neither honest or hard-working, or worse yet, those who plan ways to screw people.

Tomorrow we are supposed to receive our “stimulus” money by direct-deposit, and it occurred to me that this same week, oil/gas prices have really shot up. And actually, those prices really started to sky rocket around the time that the stimulus checks were put forth first as an idea, and mores so when it became a plan.

I am in no way a Big Oil conspiracy believer, but this has me second-guessing myself. That most Americans will spend a lot of their “stimulus” money on gasoline just seems too convenient. It doesn’t pass the smell test. For years I think a lot of people know that before holidays, etc., gas will increase for anticipated demand. I get that. But this I do not get. This I do not think is happenstance.

What can a person do? Not much. We’ve sold a vehicle, plan our trips strategically, and keep our one vehicle well-maintained for best fuel efficiency. I hope to see a hydrogen car sometime soon.

Second salty thing: “Green” household cleaners.

I’m a clean, organized person. I like cleaning the house – it relaxes me like nothing else. I try to clean our house every week, and have been doing so since my teens. It has caused me to be quite particular about the household cleaners out there. So about a year ago I saw a product called Seventh Generation, and began using it. Later I saw that Babies R Us sells it, and it was good confirmation that the stuff is both a good cleaner and safe for Garrett. I wanted to see what these other new “green” cleaners were like, since they were competitively priced, so I have been using this new “green” cleaner that is literally green – one of the big brands trying to cash in. Using these products is easier on my eyes and lungs, but there seems to be a trade off for using these “green” products.

Namely, that which I clean ends up not being as clean as the normal stuff. Seventh Generation leaves behind an annoying white residue if I don’t wipe it off a lot. This new green stuff creates so many suds, it takes twice as long to wipe up as both Seventh Generation or the normal stuff – and it doesn’t seem to cut through the grime I’m trying to destroy!

Between the two, SG is likely my choice. I’m all in favor of using a product that won’t pollute my or my family’s lungs. But it should at least WORK.

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