(From the November 15 edition of the Las Vegas Penny Press -
http://www.pennypresslv.com )

I had a very hard time getting my Sunday paper this week.

My trip to Wal-Mart to pick up copies of the sonogram of our new son

and to the 99 cent store to pick up the paper kept getting interrupted.

People kept wanting to know about my bike.

My bike is, well, unique.

For starters, my bike has three wheels. That, technically, would make

it a trike. A lot of people won’t say that for fear of equating it with that

Sesame Street thing that the kids got for Christmas last year. Still, it’s a

trike.

My trike isn’t just pedal powered, either. It has an electric hub motor.

It’s designed for assisting uphill and rough terrain traveling. A lightweight

mountain bike could do 20 mph on a straightaway on motor alone. The

trike won’t.

Still, it gets me to the grocery store, the laundry, and Wal-Mart. I defy

anyone to carry 20 pounds of Kitty Litter, 20 pounds of cat food, a gallon of

milk and a case of soda on a bicycle.

With this, I can.

It got me to thinking that people are sick and tired of dealing with the

hassles of cars and especially the price of gas. Now that we’re heading for

$100 a barrel oil and $4 gas, maybe the tide is turning on how we think

about energy.

I know that when you head into rural America you see a number of wind

turbines and solar panels on homesteads. Yet the large energy companies

continue to plod ahead in the 19th century. To be sure, oil, gas, and coal

will be with us for some time to come, but why haven’t these companies

moved forward?

The answer is obvious.

The consumer has opted, where they can, to use alternative energy as a

supplement to their electric co-op, and the electric company by law has to

buy the surplus.

Maybe it’s time to give the power companies their own incentive to go

green. I mean, what’s good for the consumer should be good for big bidness,

right.

Why not have Congress offer massive tax breaks for retooling to wind

and solar, and even geothermal. All three are abundant here in the desert.

All three can help during times of peak demand. After all, it’s really sunny

at 110, and windy at colder temperatures.

The legislature in Carson City continues to threaten to use the big stick

to force Nevada Power to go green, but won’t actually use it. Why not try

the carrot approach and see if the power companies bite.

I’m just asking.

The roller coaster economy is in full swing, and I still believe that it

bodes ill for both parties. Republicans desperately are trying to reclaim

the economic higher ground after months of playing the Big Spender on

Capital Hill. Democrats keep trying to buy back their constituencies that

are, slowly but surely, waking up to the fact that the Democrats don’t care

about them unless it’s election time.

Welcome to the edge of change.

2008 could be the start of a new era. If only the American people are

willing to do whatever is necessary to bring about a sea change in government.

Start now by ignoring the television.

They won’t cover all the candidates, especially those that might make a

difference. They won’t cover the issues.

Read. Listen. Learn.

Talk radio in the past was a motivating force for change. Unfortunately

too much of it these days is shill for the powers that be. Ten years ago talk

radio was the voice of the common man, of Middle America. Today it’s art,

playing for Amerika.

Newspapers are either blue or red. They don’t understand that the

American people are neither. They are killing themselves, and the circulation

numbers prove it.

The American people are desperately seeking change. They want leadership.

Leadership is something that, in my opinion, none of these candidates

have shown.

None of the above is looking like the best choice.