On Saturday morning, May 6, 2006, I was driving South
on Interstate 55 towards Edwardsville. Watching the
traffic I noticed most drivers were driving slower
than usual, but still too many were exceeding the 65
mph speed limit and wasting gasoline. Imported
gasoline that is the main reason our nation has a two
billion dollar a day foreign trade deficit…a
situation that threatens the short- and long-term
economic stability of our country. Not to mention that the
burning of gasoline is without a doubt, unless you’re
George W. Bush, a major factor in global warming. We
need to conserve and not waste every drop of gas and
diesel fuel that we can until cleaner, less polluting
sources are available. We need to think about what Ben
Franklin said, "Waste not, want not."

 Then at about 1100am as I was driving 60-65 mph a
black Chevy Suburban blew by me. As it passed I
noticed with interest, a bumper sticker on the driver’s side rear
window, "Congressman Ray Lahood."  I
caught up to the Suburban as it slowed for traffic, its
license plate number:  F0RL.  I followed for a short
time as the driver reached 80 mph. When it left me it
was going at least 85-90 mph. Whoever the driver was,
he put his own and others’ lives in danger
that morning with his reckless and arrogant driving, to
say nothing of the waste of gasoline.

Never has it been clearer that we have a
President and a Congress who act like the
Constitution reads "Of, By and For Big Oil" instead of
"For the People."  We need to elect people to Congress
who understand a healthy environment means more than an
environment that gets the incumbent elected every two
years.  America and the world needs to act responsibly
and drastically decrease its use of fossil fuels
over the next 10 years. We aren’t going to do it
reelecting our present Congressman or driving Chevy
Suburbans, even if a congressman with massive
contributions from corporate PACs can afford it.