Please keep political comments off this list.  Your errant comments
don't belong here.

Tim Hurlbut
87 & 90 Vanagon

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com]On Behalf
> Of G. Matthew Bulley
> Sent: Friday, September 13, 2002 8:59 PM
> To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
> Subject: Political eruption, Bulley Style; was Vanagons for Peace
>
>
> In the final analysis, there is only one reason for the Administration's
> fixation with Iraq. Insurance on the flow of cheap oil.
>
> There would be no such thing as "terrorist attacks on the US" if we
> weren't trying to force our beloved democracy down the throat of every
> nation where there is a natural resource we want to keep cheap.
>
> Middle Eastern terrorists aren't inflamed for "no particular reason"...
> it is because the US is bound and determined to shape policy and
> governance in the Middle East so we can keep our cheap oil. Wouldn't you
> be peeved if, for example, Brazil was militarily forcing its political
> will in the US? Wouldn't you be tempted to take some wacky action to
> hurt Brazil? Duh. Why don't Americans get this?
>
> If the US weren't addicted to cheap oil, if we could bear $8 gallon
> gasoline because we had walkable towns, and fast trains, Saddam Hussein
> would be just another corrupt, power-hungry dictator, preparing for war
> on his neighbors, and we'd read about it in the papers. Other countries
> with better land use and smarter transportation systems don't want to
> get involved in Dubya's "war", because they don't rely as heavily on
> cheap oil. They don't have a dog in the fight, and consequently they'd
> rather read about it in the paper.
>
> Since we Americans demand fresh salad greens in January from 3,000 miles
> away, and we love Wal*Mart, whose scam on America is completely reliant
> on cheap oil to get those cut-rate drills and chintzy sweaters from
> China to the crappy grey box near you, our kids will die to keep our oil
> cheap. And you thought that little yellow smiley was fueling the cheaper
> prices. Watch what happens to Wal*Mart when fuel prices do spike, (and
> they will eventually).
>
> Bottom line: we're the one's with the addiction. We're the one's who
> should have to pay the price, or should have to develop better land use
> policies, and transportation options that cut our per capita oil
> consumption 85%. That would put our oil consumption on par with most
> other countries in the world. Or we can keep asking for plums in
> February for $.89 a pound at Wal*Mart, and raise an extra kid or two to
> send to Dubya's perpetual war for cheap oil. Reality.
>
> Developing business and guiding change since 1996,
>
> G. Matthew Bulley
> Bulley-Hewlett
> Business: www.bulley-hewlett.com
> AIM = IExplain4u
> Phone: +1.919.658.1278
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM] On Behalf
> Of Andy Mahler
> Sent: Saturday, September 14, 2002 1:03 AM
> To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
> Subject: Vanagons for Peace
>
> friends
> this is the first item I have posted to this list
> (other than a request for help from my Wolfy-driving cousin who was
> passing
> through)
> My wife and I have three Vanagons, all Westys, two '84s and an '88
> We got our first Vanagon in 1991, the same year I helped organize
> what has since grown into an eighteen state regional cooperative network
> of local, grassroots forest protection organizations called Heartwood.
>
> I mention this because my wife and I have spent a lot of time in our
> vanagons
> in every one of those states, hooking up with the good, caring,
> hard-working local folks who
> sometimes alone, and sometimes with a handful of friends,
> organized among their neighbors
> to stop the careless and wanton destruction of the remnant hardwood
> forests
> of the East, Midwest, and South (heartland + hardwood = Heartwood).
> Our Vanagons have taken us down some windy-ass driveways in the Ozarks
> and the Appalachians, from Mississippi to Minnesota, and from Missouri
> to
> Maryland,
> from the mean streets of big cities to the most rugged and remote rural
> areas,
> the Vanagon has proven itself, time and again, the most useful beast in
> the
> barnyard.
>
> We always had a place to sleep, even when broken down by the road in the
> middle of nowhere---
> and when you're in this line of work, the great thing is you're never
> more
> than a couple of hours
> from someone who will come get you, help get your vehicle back on the
> road,
> feed you a great meal,
> and set you up in a beautiful place for the night-- and, the next day
> they
> take you to the most beautiful forest, or a wild free-flowing river, or
> some other sweet precious spot that gives them solace and strength in a
> crazy old world.
>
> I am on a lot of lists, none of which get as much traffic as this one
> I am beginning to recognize names and personalities
> and wish to say
> thank you for the generosity in sharing wisdom and experience and spare
> parts
> for good advice and good laughs
> for your devotion to these contraptions and their many admirable
> qualities
> and of course their idiosyncrasies
> long life to them all, and to you
>
> I don't spend as much time on the road as i used to
> spending more and more at this computer
> in the woods here in southern Indiana
>
> I'm going to go on digest mode for a while (too much to read as it is)
> but I wanted to post this message before I do
>
> and now, to the point
>
> to me the Vanagon is not just a conveyance
> it is a political tool
>
> a remarkable utilitarian expression of personal transportation and
> self-sufficiency
>
> (those who do not wish to read a political opinion are advised to
> discontinue reading now)
>
> Times are getting tough and people are carrying a lot of stress
> The political situation is getting ugly and the bill of rights is
> getting
> constricted and eroded
>
> I may bring down coyote's wrath, but I just have to ask
>
> Won't you all please take some action, small or large,  soon,
>
>
> TO STOP THIS INSANE WAR!!!
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Thanks for listening
> thanks for caring
> thanks for whatever you choose to do
>
> and thanks to TomC and Coyote for moderation
>
> peace
>
>    @
> andy