Soap vs Bodywash
Monday, 27 February 2006 | 70 readers so far
Trevor had a contest about “why we’re here” recently. It’s too late for my entry, but I can tell you why I’m here.
I’m here for SUV drivers, bodywash users and America’s dependance on foreign oil.
Make no mistake about it, forget WMD, or a third world nation’s stability. If it was for those reasons, why isn’t the United States in Iran or Korea?
So why SUV drivers and bodywash users? SUV drivers is fairly obvious. SUVs are gas guzzlers.
Bodywash users is a little harder to explain, but I’ll try with one word - plastics.
Plastics are made from oil. The proliferation of plastic containers is staggering to me - from soda and water bottles to bodywash bottles. Why change from soap to bodywash? Is soap really that harsh on skin? It worked for hundreds of years. Why change? I live with three other guys, soldiers, in a trailer and they all use bodywash! What? Soldiers even use bodywash? We’re in Iraq for crying out load. Skin needs to be soft to impress the girls over here? Hardly. These guys use it though, and I don’t really understand it. I didn’t even have room in the shower to place my re-usuable, plasitic soapdish. I’ve been coerced by these guys to use bodywash.
It’s really quite nice, though, I must say, but I feel kinda quilty going through these plastic bodywash bottles.
BTW, send more bodywash to Trevor, we’re running low.
1 February 27th, 2006 at 1:03 pm
Trevor says:
Nice argument Jeff, but as usual way too neat and tidy, which is how you like it.
When you get upset with the dominant operating system, you vilify Bill Gates. When you get upset because you’re in Iraq, you vilify the reasoning behind why we are here. It sucks here, yes. But the reasons for the initial invasion were sound and now we’ve got to stick it out.
Why haven’t we invaded N. Korea? Because no one thinks it represents the same clear and present danger that everyone thought Iraq and Saddam Hussein did when we invaded. North Korea hasn’t gone to war with South Korea recently and it can’t invade China, so it’s pretty much contained unless it uses a long range nuke, which would gain it nothing. Iraq was constantly warring with and invading neighbors in case you missed it. It had used chemical weapons on Iran and the Kurds, in case you slept through that. Saddam Hussein had killed somewhere between 250,000 and 500,000 citizens.
Why haven’t we invaded Iran? I think it’s just a matter of time before the world is forced to deal with Iran.
The we did it for the oil theory is bullshit. Oil production is lower now than it was pre-war due to the insurgency. If oil production were higher the money would be benefitting Iraqis. The culture of corruption is so deeply ingrained over here though, that it is going to take generations to get things sorted.
The cost of the war is going to be much higher than any oil profits coming out of the country for decades. I think we’re here because stability in the Middle East is necessary if we want stability elsewhere. Unless you are in favor of building giant fences around the entire area and screening who gets to come and go stabilizing the region is necessary.
We can’t keep tolerating the fact that the Middle East’s two main exports are oil and terrorism, and that Iraq has been a part of that story. It’s a twisted up muddled up world full of complicated political relationships, especially here in the Middle East. If you really think that oil is why we’re here, I’ll be challenging you not to buy that car you’ve been talking about when we get back. Maybe you can learn to live with a bicycle instead. It runs on foot power, which means we’d have to invade fewer Middle Eastern countries in the future if your logic is sound.
Or, we could just drill in ANWR. But I think we’d still be in Iraq even if we tapped the oil in ANWR and put you on a bicycle.
2 February 27th, 2006 at 4:10 pm
Kitanis says:
Hmmm… Body Wash sure helped me stay clean in Qatar. We had 3 min showers in those “cadillac” restrooms. For me, having to trudge 125 Yards to the shower in the morning, The Body Wash as convience.. Soap in a bottle instead of the soap dish that you had to shove in a plastic bag when you put it in the shaving kit. Nothing about Soft Skin.
You bring up the SUV comment too… It interesting when I read those comments from all circles. SUV’s do indeed take up more gas than say, the Geo Metro.. But when you get down to it.. its a individual choice on what kind vehicle he/she drives. My Libertarian mind brings to me to say.. Its No Ones Buisness if a person drives a SUV or a Go Cart for that matter. to Say any different about “they burn more gas than the rest of us” is a right.
As far as being in Iraq.. its much more than oil.. If oil was the proble, then gas would be more affordable.. its not..
3 February 27th, 2006 at 6:36 pm
Barb says:
Hey Jeff, I would be happy to send more bodywash, and I want Trevor’s skin to stay soft so when he comes in, it won’t be like touching sandpaper.
What flavor would you like?
4 February 28th, 2006 at 11:24 am
Trevor says:
Jeff likes the oily flavor of body wash.
5 October 27th, 2006 at 8:39 pm
Josias says:
Fools rush in where angels fear to tread. Josias.