[Carrie]

Peaches: I have a rule: no one gets to criticize what I wear, what I drive, what I eat or what I live in unless they're paying for it

Go Peaches!! Well said!

RawAlex: Would you like to join Vick in asking me not to take part in these discussions? I can handle that just fine.

Why not? You asked me - albeit politely - to fuck off... what's good for the goose is good for the gander.
You asked what your job has to do with this - well, quite a bit. You take every opportunity to slam American's habits, luxuries, and policies - yet the majority of money you make is American. If you really are disgusted that much by who or what we are, or what we do, why aren't your convictions strong enough to make you not accept our money?
You say that this isn't about Americans - thank you, Sarettah, for quoting where Alex specifically brought up *American* oil consumption. How about posting statistics on everyone else's oil consumption as well? Hell, how about posting France's oil consumption, and the amount of barrels they get each year from Iraq?

Look, I DO agree with you on many points. Everyone should use less oil. But face the facts, man. This isn't 1840. We're not riding one mile to the corner store on a horse to get our groceries and spending an hour catching up on the latest town gossip with our best friend, the grocer.
This is 2003. To get anywhere, you need a car. There are laws that prohibit you from carrying small children in a car without massive space-consuming carseats.
How do you propose that I get my two 35-lb children and their 20-lb huge carseats to the grocery store that is miles and miles away, and get back with a week's worth of groceries, without my Jeep? I'm sorry, but the carseats alone won't fit into the 240SX SE, nevermind the kids and the groceries. Yeah, it's a lot better on gas, and it's a hell of a lot more fun to drive, but it just doesn't get the job done.

You love to bash SUVs - what's the alternative? That no one has children, that no one has family gatherings or outings? If we didn't have my Jeep, when my family of 4 and my 2 parents wanted to go out to celebrate something, we'd have to take two vehicles. That's wasting even more precious oil than the Jeep does.

Other ways to save resources? Okay, how about solar panels on your house? Sorry... can't afford them. How about an underground house? I'd love to have one and my father even has designs for one, but sorry - can't afford that either. I've got it - windmills. Nope, can't afford the land to put them on and can't afford the equipment for that either.

I do what I can... I don't make unnecessary trips to the grocery store, I do all of my weekly errands at once. I turn off the lights in empty rooms. I wait until my laundry will completely fill the washer before running that machine. I usually take showers instead of baths. But things like that aren't enough for you - you've identified one product - the SUV, the ultimate "vehicle of destruction" for the Liberals, speaking of toeing the party line - and declared that everyone should stop using it without a thought as to those who NEED it.

Where are the majority of SUVs sold? I'd be willing to bet that it's in states where the weather demands a vehicle with 4WD, like Syracuse New York, which gets more snow annually than Siberia, and which is where I was living when the Jeep was purchased.
Who are the majority of people who buy SUVs? Again, I'd be willing to bet that it's FAMILIES or people with two or more children.
Sure, there are guys out there buying SUVs just because they look cool or just because they can - but lumping us all together as purposefully wasteful insensitive bastards is just as bad as lumping together all content providers just because a few of them resell pics they're not licensed to sell.

And all of this bullshit of "It's all about the oil" - give it a break!
We were attacked on September 11th, 2001. On our own soil. What is so frigging wrong about us putting our foot down and saying enough is enough? Americans have been attacked all over the globe for far too long and that was the last straw. Bush has made it quite simple - the terrorists have gotten away with their activities long enough, it's time someone did something about it. THAT is what this is about.
Saddam Hussein is a terrorist. He kills his OWN people. He has different weapons to use against people - bombs, missiles, chemical weapons - and he has shown that he's not against using them for no particular reason other than a stray air molecule brushed one of his nosehairs. If you listened to his interview with Dan Rather tonight, he made it quite clear that he intends to follow the "rules of Allah" to the letter - do you know what those rules are? The most important one to this discussion is that anyone who does not pray to Allah is an infidel, and all infidels should be killed. Does that not strike home a little bit? I haven't seen you wearing a turban lately.

He also made it very clear that once we attack Iraq, he's going to attack us on our own soil. It was a clever threat surrounded with artful language, but it was clear. How can he do that if he hasn't prepared for it already? He doesn't have anything that could reach us if launched from Iraq, but we do know that he has nerve gas that takes one single drop to kill a man... he's got 4 friggin TONS of the shit.
Colin Powell clearly laid out what Hussein has, and what he's hiding from us. Who do you believe? Powell or Hussein?

This isn't about oil. It's about turning the other cheek so many times that you don't have a cheek to turn anymore. It's about wiping out an obvious threat before it becomes an even bigger threat - not just to the US, but to the entire world.

So no, I won't politely fuck off... but I guess I will refrain from joking with you again since you seem to have totally lost your sense of humor.