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Think Outside The Box

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Rob Mixon

Published: July 7, 2008

Orson Welles (May 6, 1915-Oct. 10, 1985) was an Academy Award-winning American director, writer, actor, and film producer. His father was a well-to-do inventor. His mother was a beautiful concert pianist. Welles is perhaps best known for "The War of the Worlds." This was an episode of the American radio series, a drama series that was heard on Mercury Theatre on the Air. It was performed as a Halloween special on Oct. 30, 1938 on CBS Radio.

The first 60 minutes of the broadcast was presented as a series of news bulletins. Many listeners were fleeing from their homes, and some listeners were merely terrified! They believed that Martians were actually invading the world!

Thinking outside of the box is often a good thing to discover new ideas. Brainstorming, the process of throwing out any idea to others that comes into your head, often reaches solutions that would not otherwise have been discovered. America appears to be at such a time and place.

Politics and religion always have people opposed like two positive, or negative, ends of a magnet as they are repelled by the ideals or thoughts of someone of an opposite belief. Having said that, Sen. Mel Martinez has stated how minority Republicans, 49 of them in the Senate, are not being considered about problem solving by the majority Democrats. One of these problems is the nation's energy crisis and Martinez is calling for a stop to partisan bickering. He is calling for use of our own natural resources.

In 2006 Martinez and Senator Nelson achieved having 8 million acres in the Gulf of Mexico, designated for oil and gas exploration. This was a bipartisan effort. This area would produce 5.8 trillion cubic feet of natural gas and 1.25 billion gallons of oil. This area is also away from any beaches although modern methods would have the possibility of an oil spill at a minimum. No exploration has taken place.

Anwar in Alaska is environmentally safe, the local people want it, and the required area to be used for acquiring oil would be two thousand acres in a 19.6 million acre wilderness. One million barrels of oil every day for decades can be produced from this area, according to the research that has been done. More oil refineries are needed. There have been no new refineries for three decades. This is not just a problem with President Bush and his policy. Before the Democrats took over Congress, fuel was $2 per gallon, and now it is over $4 per gallon. Congress has a responsibility to act in a bipartisan way to work for all Americans. The mere speculation of more oil would affect the price per barrel of investors and foreign governments.

So what do senators like Mel Martinez and director, actor, Orson Welles have in common? It appears that they have found a need to think outside of the box, to move the public, even if some of the people that receive their message are frightened of their environment.

Rob Mixon
Lake Placid

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