Even as the American public voices its dissatisfaction with war, we have those in Congress who advocate we be more active in some of the skirmishes that are going on in the Middle East. Sen. John McCain, being one of them. He wanted us not to pull out of Iraq. He wanted us to give more support in Libya, then we did. He wants us to give air support in Syria. He wants us to team up with Israel and bomb Iran. One wonders how many battlefronts we would have had, had he been elected.
There is more than one way to lose a war. The most obvious one is going home a loser. The second reason is bankrupting our nation. We seem to be achieving both.
To those in Congress that want more war I say this. Raise taxes to offset the cost of the war. It’s the least you can do because after all it’s your war and not my grandkids. If you’re going to speak for the public then let the present public pay for it — and right now knowing the mood in this country — good luck with that.
Mike Holst
Crosslake
Comments (3)
Add commentheh
Keep fighting against against those hypothetical situations, Mike. Lord knows we have no problems with the current actual real foreign policy.
Gas is gas
Kent all your gas probably came from the Flint Hills refinery at Pine Bend, MN. They have about a dozen distribution terminals in Iowa, including one in Des Moines. The octane difference may have affected your mpg result.
Probably too much ethanol splash-blended
Probably too much ethanol splash-blended. I'm actually surprised that Rolf hasn't explained it.
Ethanol has a ridiculously high octane ration, and when used in a blend can function as an octane booster. But because it is already partly oxidized, it cant give up as much heat...energy...when burned. Roughly, a 10% ethanol blend gives up 4-5% in fuel economy in an engine designed to use a wide range of fuels. Your car may not be able to efficiently handle an errant batch of fuel.
In order to attempt to increase the amount of alcohol (and increase the investment return of folks who have bought into alcohol production) the government is quietly pushing to increase the standard fuel to 20% ethanol. Testing on new cars made since the 2000 model year has shown that most cars will run with minimal driveability issues (some say defined as not stalling at a stoplight or in traffic) but gas mileage tanks.