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Tuesday, February 9, 2016

I HAD A GREAT DREAM LAST NIGHT THAT I SPENT $1.43 A GALLON FOR GAS AT A GAS STATION HERE AND THAT GENE AGREED WITH AND PRAISED FATHER KAVANAUGH IN THE POST BELOW THIS ONE! BUT OF COURSE NONE OF THESE TWO THINGS COULD HAVE HAPPENED!


Gene has left a new comment on your post "THE REFORM OF THE REFORM IS INCREMENTAL BUT IT IS ...":

Is this possible?!!! I actually agree with Kavanaugh...plus, that was a funny post. The Lord be with ya'll.

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Posted by Gene to southern orders at February 9, 2016 at 5:49 AM

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

Can I trump everyone by saying, perhaps Gene is on a Trump high so that even Fr Kavanaugh looks good at this point in time?

TJM said...

Jan, ha!

Gene said...

If I did not know Kavanaugh was a Priest and met him out somewhere for coffee, we would probably get along just fine and have good conversations.

Trump would not be my first choice, but he has my vote if he is the nominee. He will draw from a broader cross section of the population than any other candidate except possibly Christie, and we have got to defeat the Democrats this time. The Republic cannot survive another Dem administration.

John Nolan said...

Is $1.43 a gallon cheap or expensive? We think petrol is cheap at the moment (£0.99 a litre) which is £4.50 a gallon (Imperial) and £3.80 a gallon (US). At the current exchange rate this would be $5.50!

Fr. Michael J. Kavanaugh said...

John - In recent years, $1.43/gallon is very cheap. That's good for the consumer, but only in the short term. And, as we hear every day, the low per barrel prices for oil are devastating the oil industry. Tens of thousands of jobs have been lost, and smaller businesses that service the oil industry are collapsing.

One of the issues we face in the USA is that the federal tax on gas (petrol) which is used to maintain our national highways has not been raised since, I think, 1993. This is due to the very silly and, ultimately, dangerous belief that some have that all taxes are evil and, at all costs, must be avoided.

The result is that our highway transportation infrastructure is in trouble. We love the big and showy expenditures such as new urban roads and overpasses, but no one perceives as "sexy" replacing steel girders in bridges on remote stretches of interstate highways in Montana.

TJM said...

Fr. Kavanaugh, well the federal gasoline tax is a piggy bank for the federal pig to misuse and misdirect. Much of the tax is not spent on roads but other "socially worthy" left-wing loon goals. When the federal government makes 3 times on a gallon of gas than the "evil" oil companies make in profit, there is something seriously wrong. I find that people who have lost their Faith in God and themselves, believe in big government. Sadly, many clergy fit that category these days.

Fr. Michael J. Kavanaugh said...

TJM - I am sure that if the things provided by the use of tax revenue don't benefit you directly, you conclude that they are the goals of left-wing loons. Gas taxes have paid for bike trails and highways beautification. Since you don't ride on bike trails and since you prefer ugly highways, you conclude these are wastes.

It is just TRAGIC, I tell you, that in 2011 BP had profits of $26 billion, Chevron $27 billion, Conoco-Philips $17 billion, Exxon-Mobil $42 billion, and Shell $32 billion. And they eked out such pittances of profit all the while being granted massive tax breaks by the government. Tragic.

The misuse of a tax by politicians is not an indication that the tax is unnecessary or bad.

I find that people who have lost the understanding that our lives are directed to the service of God and others believe that all public policy revolves around them. Sadly, many Catholic laity fit into this category these days.

Anonymous said...

I see that Fr K says that oil companies made huge profits in 2011 during the tenure of the current President Obama. What has President Obama done to relieve the burden on the poor? He was elected on a great hope that seems to have largely fallen flat. All he appears to have done is put a further burden on those, like the Little Sisters of the Poor and turning the Whitehouse into a rainbow fairyland. I am not surprised that the people are now turning to someone like Donald Trump - I read that one swing voter voted for him because he felt Trump was the only one not in it for the money ... I think, given a choice between Clinton, Sanders and Trump - Trump may well romp in.

Gene said...

Bike trails? Give me a break. I am an avid cyclist and have no use for bike trails. There are plenty of rural roads, access roads, fire roads, and other dirt roads for anyone. Bike trails are cut through woodlands, wetlands, and preserves just so urban morons can pretend they are having a wilderness experience.

The Western economies run on oil. The world runs on oil. I have no problem at all with oil companies profits...they employ millions,
their labs and research have applications far beyond fuel, including medicine, pharmaceuticals, manufacturing materials, textiles, cosmetics, pesticides, space flight, micro-surgery, nano-tech, and scads of other applications.

Highway beautification? LOL! It is the vaunted "poor" and your illegal immigrants that I always see dumping crap along the highways...dirty diapers, fast food waste, beer cans...these are the ones those government taxes are wasted on and who are the most unproductive and least law-abiding elements of our society.

I have found that Priests and laity who have lost their faith and will not confess their belief in Christ's resurrection and Real presence tend to place their hope of heaven in government and "public policy."

Fr. Michael J. Kavanaugh said...

Gene - You don't prefer bike trails, but many do. Like TJM, you seem to think of money spent on things you don't like, then it's a waste.

I have no problem with oil companies making profits. As the Church teaches, "It is essential that within a business the legitimate pursuit of profit should be in harmony with the irrenounceable protection of the dignity of the people who work at different levels in the same company." not all profit is legitimate, and some is gained at the cost of the dignity of people.

I see your vaunted luxury car owners being just as disrespectful of our highways as those driving economy vehicles.

My hope for heaven is based in God's mercy, not in any government.

Gene said...

That's funny, when I go cycling and driving, I never see anybody driving a high-end car throwing trash out the window except, interestingly enough, blacks. My son and daughter live in gated communities, and I live in a middle-class subdivision...guess what, no trash on the roads, no old furniture in the yards, no old appliances tossed outside. But, gee, when I drive by these areas populated by Mexicans, blacks, and other wonderful minorities, the places look like garbage dumps. I do not see this nearly as much in lower class white areas. I can show you. It has nothing to do with poverty...it has to do with common decency. We are filling the country with primitives.
My comments on bike trails are not because I do not "like" them. They are an unnecessary intrusion into natural areas. Oh, and I am sure you do not like money being spent on firing ranges, gun shops, conservative political gatherings, donated to the NRA, or any decent conservative cause. You are such an arrogant hypocrite (a seeming consensus on the blog) but your head is in a place where you cannot see that.

Fr. Michael J. Kavanaugh said...

What tax revenue is spent on "firing ranges, gun shops, conservative political gatherings, donated to the NRA,..."?

Gated communities were once woodlands, wetlands, preserves, and other natural areas. Bike trails aren't the only intruders.

There are people who are bothered by what the consensus of a dozen blog posters might think. I am not one of them.

Gene said...

I wasn't talking about tax revenues, I was talking about money in general. Bike trails are often cut through Nat'l Forests and State forests. There is one through Keg Creek Swamp and Phinizy Swamp there in Augusta, there are several in the Baldwin Forest near where I live, there are a couple through the Piedmont, and a number through other forests I know of. Bike trails attract hikers and dirt bikers, four wheelers, and others who are not particular about the messes they make or the damage they do. You cannot keep these folks out because there are not enough rangers to monitor the trails.
Residential communities are not cut out of reserves and National Forests unless some congressman is getting laid by a corporate wife or getting money under the table from a developer.