Gas hikes may literally be the price we pay for invasion

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A good portion of my morning was spent writing replies on Facebook to people who are miffed at the rising price of gas.

I usually don't respond to much on Facebook because, well....I hate it. There's no way out of it. I don't mind debate, as a matter of fact I enjoy it, but there's something about Facebook debate. And I know what it is. There's no physical attribute to it.

When we debate in person, our bodies go into protection mode and we typically don't push the envelope because we have a mechanism that kicks in - we don't want people to hate us in person. On our phones, laptops, tablets et.al we just don't care. We feel safe.

Our safety right now is hobbled a bit as we watch Russians lob projectiles into Ukraine. That's part of the discussions we're having because, of all the things Americans are worried about right now, the price of gas seems to be at the top.

Not that people are being killed overseas, or that Putin promises to let people have an escape route, and then hits it with explosives. We're worried about $4 per gallon of gasoline or worse.

I'd put $20 on -200 odds that Putin has a newspaper photo of Americans lined up at gas pumps thumb-tacked to his headboard as motivational fodder. I could care less. I could care less about the price of gas if it's squeezing the Russian economy. I'll pay $5 a gallon to help save lives.

Sure that's a bit dramatic and the supply of gasoline in America is literally what fuels our economy, but we have to sacrifice as well.

My daughter worries about something being lobbed into New York City from across the ocean. I don't blame her. But sometimes I chuckle at how this invasion is playing out. The fact that Germany seized a $600 million yacht owned by a Russian oligarch made me laugh. A $600 million boat...

I'm impressed with anti-aircraft batteries. These look like fireworks bases with laser tracers and they can fire so much ammunition at Russian fighter planes that it looks like a laser netting. The netting also interrupts missiles and shells from the jet. Ukrainian defensive positions have shot down quite a few jets. With a smile I watched footage of a farm tractor hauling away a Russian tank.

Then I see the death and destruction taking place in eastern Europe - apartment buildings on fire and sick children huddled in the basement of hospitals because intel said Russian forces are going to hit the hospital. It's funny no more.

Putin's on a hair trigger and I always believe in all of our better angels. It's beyond fanatical to think of launching a nuclear strike - and not worth consideration in my mind. There's no coming back from that. So I pay more attention to how the Hawkeyes are playing and helping plan the construction of a new health department.

This conflict needs to end the right way, but wars aren't fought the same way anymore. President Biden is calling the play based on the best minds he has access to. Many other countries are in lock step and we're squeezing Russia's pressure points, which is actually saving lives and bringing global forces to bear on the issue.

To me it seems like the right way to go. Gov. Kim Reynolds and the GOP didn't seem to be offering any other solutions to the crisis, but pointed to what they perceive to be Biden's shortcomings. Isn't it prudent to ramp up pressure to see where the breaking point is? Punishment should be progressive.

When America's interests have been threatened in the past, we were the toughest kid in class because we were united. We need to get back to that mentality. We can fight our own internal issues when this gets cleaned up, but for now higher prices for gas may literally be the price we pay.

That, and for some crazy reason, having to listen about the size of the hands of quarterbacks at the NFL combines for the past four days - But That's Beside the Point.

Chuck Vandenberg is editor and co-owner of Pen City Current. He can be reached at charles.v@pencitycurrent.com.

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