By now, the whole nation knows Nashville gas stations are out of gas because of slow deliveries due to Hurricane Gustav and the fact that our gas comes from pipelines in that area.

Not so, not so. Nashville is out of gas because people panicked.

Yes, deliveries are slow but the problem stems from people panicking over the fact that deliveries are slow. People are lining up at gas stations and filling up their vehicles and assorted large gas containers as well. It’s an every man for himself situation.

When there are literally tens of thousands of gas stations in one place, like Nashville, gas stations rarely run out of gas in the normal course of business. Few would be running out of gas now, if people would just use their heads.

For example, one station nears us gets nightly deliveries if necessary. Nightly. Another is getting deliveries every other night I’m told. These are stations that are part of franchises within the city. They are not Mom and Pop one store filling stations. Before the middle of the next business day, they’re out of gas again because panic keeps people from seeing the reality right before their eyes.

Instead, they line up, clog intersections, and fill up multiple five gallon gas cans.

While much of the surrounding state is as red as red can be, with the exception of Memphis, Nashville is as blue as California or New York, hence the subtitle of this post.

The red areas of the state are doing just fine with their sluggish deliveries. The Nashville area seems to be the only problem area in the state. All things considered one must wonder if being blue counts for the lack of brains.

Addition: I won’t name the stations or franchises. The reason being is that it’s likely to cause a run on them for no good reason. As it is, the one station that gets nightly deliveries has standing orders that if it gets too bad there’s this big red button they can push that shuts off all the pumps and locks down the store. If it gets any crazier, they may have to use that button.