Of Cellphone and Crude Oil

OF CELLPHONES AND CRUDE OIL

Six years ago, I had the good fortune to travel to Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines after over a decade long absence from Asia. One of the things that impressed me was ubiquitous usage of cellphones. Even the lowly flower lei merchants running from car to car in the busy, crowded and crawling traffic queues in the highways of Manila, had cellphones. I'd see them in their sweaty, dingy T-shirts and shorts, rubber slippers, wet kerchief knotted around their heads, sitting on the pavement speedy fingers skillfully texting. In Singapore and Manila, there are cellphone booths with flashing lights of many colors peddling every cellphone accessory known to mankind....and even wares that millions of Americans don't even know exist. And even if a portion of these accessories made it to America, the mark-up would be ridiculously exponential. I also discovered that in Asia, you can purchase a unlimited array of brands and styles of cellphone your heart and pocket can afford and then simply buy a 'simm card'---a chip that you insert in the cellphone to make it function. When your minutes are gone, you simply go to any of the kiosks that dot the city and purchase another. I was told that you can buy these cards anywhere----supermarkets, gas stations, malls, everywhere. Later, I learned that the same holds true in Europe. Maybe even in Africa. Hey, maybe even all over the world! Except in America.

Here in the US, you must sign up with the looming corporate telephone giants--Cingular, Verizon, Sprint.....before you can get cellphone service. They provide you with the cellphones and your choices are limited to their stock, which is unfortunately, very limited in styles and choices. And you pay...and man, do you pay for minutes. Texting can be very expensive. There are stories of teenagers racking up hundreds and hundreds of fees for texting. In Manila, the texting capital of the world, texting is the only way to go. It is affordable...even cheap. Everyone texts. All the time. And the fee is so very rock bottom. And this is why even the lowliest squatter-dwelling city people can afford a cellphone. In America, only the privileged few can text....or own a cellphone. The equivalent of a dirt poor, third world Manila street peddler who uses a cellphone to text his friend around the corner who sells cold water from an old cooler on wheels does not exist in America.

I often think about this. The stupidity of all. In America, cellphone technology is limited and controlled by various agencies and corporations who have stringent regulations. And these regulations ensure that the telephone giants, Verizon, Cingular, etc... make gazillions of dollars. What drives these regulations? MONEY. Of course. Let's have middle America pay through their noses so these big corporations and their CEOs can be billionaires and fund their lobbyists who can fund their politicians.

My biggest gripe right now is not cellphones anymore. It's fuel. And I'm not just talking about oil. Sure, we often ask ourselves, why do we have to be dependent on Middle East oil; those entities and nations who fund the terrorists who want to vaporize every American and for that matter, every non-Muslim? We are in denial. We want to believe that, say, Syria and Saudi Arabia are our 'friends'. Not. We used to be friends with Iran when they fought against Iraq. Now we are Irag's 'liberators'. Beirut used to be one of our favorite tourist destinations. Now we are bombing that beautiful city and further widening the gap between the Lebanese people and our people. And we all used to be 'friends'. It's a phenomenal joke. And it's all politics.The big picture that politics cannot see is that our 'politics' actually give birth to new generations of America-haters. It quickly becomes "cultural". Hatred for America now becomes ingrained in these people's psyche and culture and our only solution is to annihilate the generations being raised to hate us and hopefully, create new generations who, we hope, will love us. It's a joke.

Don't we have oil in North America? Many of us are not even aware that we have vast, VAST oil resources. So what's the problem? Money of course ...and the physical properties of crude oil. Middle East crude oil comes already in what is called "liquid gold" form. That cuts refinerary costs substantially. Most of our (Canada, Mexico....American continent....) oil don't come already in viscous liquid form. Most are 'solid'---large, humongous amounts of oil meshed with solids...quite like grainy mud. (see photo above...) And to separate the liquid gold crude oil from the sediments requires heavy processing which is very costly per barrel. Which makes Middle East oil 'cheap'. I don't profess to be an expert in the economics of the oil industry...or just simply economics for that matter, but it just seems so simple. Find a way to refine our oil resources. Damn the birds and bears of Alaska and just drill. Surely there's a way to drill for oil in places like Alaska and STILL preserve its beauty. Okay, so we've preserved that Alaskan bucolic scenery. But our sons, fathers, mothers, daughters are all fighting in the middle east. And dying.

Which brings me to my gripe; where are the electric cars? And why are hybrid cars so expensive? Electric cars died because they don't use up much gas. And oil companies don't like that. Hybrid cars still use gas to power them but if you are a city driver, you can cut your gas use substantially by using a hybrid car. But the cost is paralyzing for most of us. The biggest hindrance of all is simply this: information. Our powerful media can destroy the office of the president, his image, his intentions. Media can influence morality, culture, fashion---the way we think. But it doesn't have time to disperse valuable information about hybrid cars let alone the value of using our resources wisely and judiciously.

I could go on and on about this but I'm not going to. Besides, I have a mountain of laundry to "refine" and "repackage". But one thing is for sure, I'm eventually getting a hybrid car and let's see how militant I can be about cellphones next time I buy more crystals to add bling to it.