Writes a friend: "I know I'm preaching to the choir when I say that I cannot believe that the same government that is eating up fuel at a mind-boggling rate in this 'war' is the same government that is supposed to 'save' me from 'big oil'.

"My Marine Air Station houses the AV-8B 'Harrier'. Each Harrier holds about 1,100 gallons of fuel (minimum, up to about 2,300 gallons with external tanks). Every day, groups of four to eight Harriers fly about 10 sortees a day. For ease of calculation, let's say five Harriers holding 1000 gallons each fly ten sortees a day for 20 days each month. That's 1,000,000 gallons each month.

"But I reckon that the fuel use here pales in comparison to the amount of fuel used at Naval Air stations, on aircraft carriers, at Air Force bases, and in the Middle East. Worse yet, the Harrier holds only about half of what the F/A-18 holds. The F/A-18 is the work horse for the Navy/Marine Corps. The C/D model holds 1,600 gallons internally, plus another 1,000 externally. The E/F model holds about 2,100 gal. internally, another 1,500 externally, with a maximum external load of about 2,600 gallons. Imagine these things flying round the clock all over the world. That's not the 'sound of freedom' as I'm often told, but the sound of the government sucking our valuable resources dry.

"Granted, Jet-A is vastly different than automobile gas. But it is a kerosene based fuel, and so is closely related to home-heating fuel. So when next winter rolls around and the booboisie start crying about the cost of heating their homes, maybe they should step back and consider how much cheaper their home-heating fuel would be if Uncle Sugey weren't sucking down billions of gallons a month. If I may be so bold, I predict that the people will soon grow accustomed to the high auto gas prices, but the media will stir up a hornet's nest against 'big oil' this winter. You know the story, big bad oil prevents old people from heating their houses by cruelly jacking up the gas prices until Joe Liberman and John McCain come up with a bi-partisan plan to save us from ourselves. Wait, I don't know if I'm making a prediction or re-hashing the past. It's all a blur to me now. (And don't even get me started on the 'greens' who tell me that civilian air travel is bad for the environment.)"