Some random thoughts

Friday, October 30, 2009

•Gas prices are going up as we approach Thanksgiving. Does it mean anything? Can we learn anything from this recent spike?

Perhaps the only thing we, as consumers, can learn is that we have no idea why these things happen and the explanations that we get never seem to hold water for very long.

With this recent spike, there is fear that consumers – i.e., us – will cut back on holiday spending in order to cover the cost of gasoline for our cars and fuel oil for our homes. It’s possible, of course, but the idea that, say, an additional 11 cents a gallon will force us to buy Jimmy fewer Xbox-type gadgets doesn’t really hold water, either.

•So, the Patriots and the Buccaneers played a professional football game in London last weekend. Well, professional if you give the Bucs the benefit of the doubt, to wit: They’re professional because they get paid to play.

And now there is talk of putting an NFL team in London. Name? We suggest the London Towers.

What’s next? A team in Rome? Name: The Roman Esques.

•Have you noticed that former Vice President Dick Cheney won’t go away?

The Boston Globe pointed out this week that Cheney is bashing President Obama for dithering, or something, on Afghanistan, but that it was the Bush-Cheney administration that refused to send an additional, and requested, 30,000 troops to that war-torn country.

Isn’t it fun to point fingers when you’re out of power and thus have nothing to lose?

•We wonder if local and state police departments have been getting more calls in the last couple of weeks about suspicious vehicles. A recent news story following up on the horrific murder in Mont Vernon quoted a woman who lives nearby as saying that on the night of the attack, her dog barked, her flood lights went on, and she saw a car near her home. If that were to happen now, it’s likely police would be called. We are all much more aware.