Did the Secretary of Transportation, Pete Buttigieg, actually suggest we could get out of gas-powered cars and trucks AND electric vehicles? I heard him highlight other methods of individual transportation including bicycles, scooters and even wheelchairs.
But I did not hear him mention another option for individual transportation, one that was quite popular, especially out West, before Henry Ford invented the Model T. Maybe Sec. Buttigieg and the entire Biden Administration will buy into my idea because it can help eliminate our use of oil with the added bonus of millions of new jobs, many of them union jobs.
So, what is my great addition to the Secretary’s list? Horses. Yes, horses.
Now, I love horses. Back in 1924 I wrote, “A man that don’t love a horse, there’s something the matter with him.” I think Sec. Buttigieg might get behind this idea because horses thrive on oats, grass and hay. All horse feed is fueled with solar energy. Not a drop of oil in a horse diet. Why, this might even propel him to the Democratic nomination for President in 2024.
Switching to horses would eliminate the problem of farmers producing too much grain which has to be exported. No, millions of acres of corn, soybeans and wheat would be converted to raising feed for horses. Instead of expensive solar collectors sprawling across farmland to fuel electric vehicles, our pastures, meadows and vast fields of oats would convert sunlight into fuel for horses.
Just imagine, with millions of horses traveling our roads and streets every day, all the jobs that would be created for workers in… sanitation. Yes, our 7,000,000 unemployed are hankering for a job shoveling, sweeping, and loading the “by-product” into horse-drawn wagons. The guys and gals driving those wagons would, of course, be members of the Teamsters Union.
Here’s another benefit. While these horses are in town, they’ve got to eat. That would solve another major problem for the climate: gas-guzzling lawn mowers. While you’re working 9 to 5, your horse can be turned loose in a city park to graze. Or a homeowner who lives near your office building might pay for your horse to graze their yard. Not just graze, but fertilize. Instead of the cost of parking, you get paid for lawn service.
Of course, this is silly. We’re not regressing 150 years. Horses today are mainly for pleasure riding. Rodeos, horse races, and horse shows entertain millions who have no desire to ride one a few miles to work every day. Mr. Buttigieg prefers to ride a bicycle to work, at least the last mile of his daily commute.
Meanwhile in the news, Covid-19 keeps running into new variants. Just as we seem to be getting past the one from India, we’re hit with one from Africa. I don’t think it’s fair to blame these countries or a whole continent, even substituting Greek names for ‘em. No matter how many variations of this deadly disease show up, they all started two years ago in China.
We’re not blaming the Chinese people, no sir and no ma’am. Even if we contributed to the “gain-of-function” that created the virus, the blame for the spread rests on the Communist Party leaders of China. They are the ones who let this disease spread from their Wuhan Lab. Not only let it spread, but encouraged it. Encouraged the spread everywhere except to the rest of China. So, from now on, we need to stick with one name: Communist Chinese Covid. And the one Communist in charge of all this misery and destruction is named Xi Jinping. Now, he probably has a few good traits. Probably kind to his wife, children and grandchildren. After all, he didn’t let THEM die from Covid.
But Xi Jinping runs the country and deserves the blame for killing over 5,000,000 in 200 countries around the world. I realize killing 5,000,000 innocent people is not unusual for Communist rulers. (They’ve killed about 100,000,000.) We have battled against this slaughter by Communists for a hundred years, and it’s time for the slaughter to STOP. Xi needs to be X-ed out.
Historic quotes by Will Rogers:
“Horses raise what the farmer eats, and eat what the farmer raises.” DT #1967, Nov. 23, 1932
“The country has gone sane and got back to horses.” DT #2112, May 11, 1933
“If everybody [traded their car for a horse], they would be out of debt in a couple of years. Just think, no gas, no tires, no roads to pay for.” DT #2043, Feb. 20, 1933
“Where is your old automobile? There will never be a time when the old horse is not superior to any auto ever made… They used to take your horse and if they was caught they got hung for it, now they take your car and if they are caught it’s a miracle.” WA #507, Sept. 11, 1932
“It seems the whole idea of Communism is based on propaganda and blood.” There’s Not a Bathing Suit in Russia, 1926