42

All about gas, Sonny, Georgia, hurricanes, soccer moms, and protesters - how they're all tied together in one big wallowing ball of blame and shame.

Also, does the fact that this is my 42nd post at blogspot mean anything?

I've been amused by local news lately. Last week, Governor Sonny Perdue asked local school systems to cancel school for two days to conserve fuel. Apparently, doing so would save quite a bit of gas (I heard somewhere it was 500,000 gallons of diesel) thereby staving off another "gas shortage." So for the past 2 days, most Georgia schools have been out for "snow days." In my county, today is their first day back to school since last Friday.

It was a good move. It helped to lessen fears over the gas supply. Motorists didn't panic as they did after Katrina diminished our gas supplies. So there weren't any runs on the gas stations like we saw after Katrina. As a result, the price of gas has remained fairly stable. Even though we've had refineries down temporarily and a there was a blip in the pipe line that supplies the metro area with fuel, people haven't panicked. For this reason alone, I think his idea was smart (though I don't think that the potential gas hysteria was Sonny's only reason for making the request). Coupled with Sonny's temporary suspension of fuel taxes in Georgia, I'm feeling pretty happy that I voted for him. But some people aren't as happy with Sonny's newest initiative.

A group of mothers had a teach-in at the state capital yesterday. They were protesting the two requested snow days because they say that school shouldn't be cancelled for economic purposes. They say that educating their children is more important than the fuel shortage. This is a bit short-sighted of them. Suppose Rita had made more of a mess than it did and that fuel was in very short supply. Suppose also that Sonny hadn't asked the local school systems to shut down for 2 days to conserve gas. It is entirely possible that there could have been a real shortage, not the kind induced by Georgian panic as we saw recently, but the kind that could strand motorists. So let's suppose that this real, non-panic-induced gas shortage had happened after Rita.

Where would Georgia commuters be? Most Georgians have a pretty long commute. We have one of the longest average commute distances in the country. My own commute is 30 miles long one way and takes over an hour to make. If such a real gas shortage happened, perhaps some would be stuck at home. Some might be stranded along their commute routes many miles from home and work. Others could be stranded at work or the mall or anywhere else they happened to run out of gas. What about the price of gas? What about emergency services such as ambulances and fire trucks?

But those are the adults. These teach-in mothers are so concerned about their kids they're protesting at the capital. So let's look at their kids. Some of those kids could have been stranded right along with their parents. Some might have been stranded at school. Some could have been stranded alone at home. What would those teach-in mothers think then of Sonny? They'd think that he didn't do enough to stop the shortage. And rightfully so.

Friday, Sonny had no way of knowing what Rita would do. Hurricanes are unpredictable that way. So he took the initiative and looked ahead into what could happen. And then he took measures to ensure that the worst case wouldn't happen. With all of the fuss over the lack of emergency preparation in New Orleans, can anyone truly fault him for his actions? The very last thing our stretched federal emergency resources need right now is another state with a crisis. And Sonny had the foresight to try to prevent another crisis.

All that aside, I've been amused by these mothers at the teach-in. On the surface, they seem to really care that their kids aren't going to be taught for 2 days. But I have to wonder at their motives. They don't make such a fuss about Georgia's poor school performance. They don't have teach-ins when Georgia's school systems are ranked lowest in the country time and time again. These mothers don't have teach-ins when national studies show that Georgia's teachers are the poorest prepared, were the worst college students, and are least educated in the country. So I have to wonder what their true anger over the 2 snow days is all about. I suppose they are upset about having to actually be responsible for their own kids for 2 days. Baby-sitting is, after all, what Georgia's government schools do best.

You know, if these same mothers were half as upset over the poor performance of Georgia's school systems, perhaps we wouldn't have the lowest SAT scores in the country.