And the Heat Goes On

Las Vegas’ blistering summer heat has arrived! Nearing the 110 mark during the day and feeling fortunate to get into the 80’s at night we have left behind the springtime ritual of “opening up” before going to bed. The air-conditioner is these days a 24/7 proposition. All this caused me to read Joe Klein’s essay, Kill Your Air Conditioner, with greater than usual interest. He’s absolutely on target as he advocates the spirit of sacrifice that we Americans are going to need to adopt if we hope to make any serious inroads against the growing oil crisis. Klein appropriately points out that President Jimmy Carter never was forgiven by us for making the mistake of calling for sacrifice. In fact, the greed that resides within us has actually rewarded George W. Bush’s failure to call for any sort of sacrifice, instead calling for increased consumerism as the way to react to 9/11 and doling out paltry economic stimulus checks (we got ours yesterday; whee!) as the way to deal with a crumbling economy. Klein points out that both McCain and Obama are far more “green” than W could ever hope to be (although it’s clear that’s not one of his concerns) but pity the fool who would admonish us to sacrifice for the greater good.