If your like me, you have something that really pisses you off. Some part of everyday life that most folks might take in stride, but for some reason it irritates the hell out of you. I have a special peeve, and if I were to become world dictator, look out! I’m talking about one of the banes of modern life, the speed bump. Those things are in every parking lot, every apartment complex, and somehow have escaped onto the public streets. Irritating pieces of crap that do nothing whatsoever but bother whoever has to drive thru their domain, and that is damn near everywhere.  Ya wonder why some folks just snap, take some poor bastard who is stressed to the max, he  hits one of those things  leaving Costco, having spent the last of his meager funds on a 20lb sack of rice, then  tears the exhaust out of his 20 year old Corolla as his shot shocks bottom out on the obstacle course decreed  by who knows what faceless corporate lackey to desecrate the parking lot until the end of  time and/or end of private transportation for us all..…” he was so nice, I don’t know why snapped.” When I become dictator for life, one of the first decrees…besides being on all the money, and the stamps, all that good stuff, will be that every speed bump is knocked down. Maybe we can turn a few of them into jumps! Ok, I’m back to earth now. No ‘El Presidente for life’, no decrees, no stamps, no jumps, No Lambo’s….sigh…..back to the video editing salt mines!

As many of you know, or have sort of figured out, I’m a political person. Which in my case, in itself, is ‘politically incorrect’. There are those who think that I’m supposed to be the proverbial ‘brain dead slut’ and at the appropriate times I certainly do “shut up and suck.” I also get to use my cyber soap box to talk politics, and that’s what I’m about to do right now……..

Have you seen the Nissan polar bear commercial?  If you haven’t, here it is, take another look at it before  you read further-  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNeEVkhTutY Its been out for a little while now, and I think I saw one of its first runs.  I thought, “ya know, this is so cool, yes it’s a bit corny, and not entirely accurate (more on that in a moment), but it triggers emotions  and thoughts, you know, maybe to think about what is happening to the planet, energy conservation, etc, this is  so powerful, that the noisy far right rabble who apparently want us back in the bronze age or something, are going to  bash this big time.”  So I went to the leader of the Republican party’s site, the one and only Rush Limbaugh, and sure enough, the  shallow, lying buffoon bashed Nissan for not one, but two days in a row. Wow, the Flintstone  set must be really worried about this one, huh? Ready or not, here’s my take on this whole deal.

First off, electric cars are not really ready for prime time yet. There needs to be  a huge breakthrough in battery design. Batteries need to become far smaller, far lighter, and much more efficient at holding a charge. In addition, we need to build a true  national energy grid. Even if we could get the Rush Limbaugh/tea party set to grow brains, it would still take time and the national will to create the energy grid we need, not to mention building the infrastructure to put together the proper  combination of wind, solar, and yes, nuclear energy to make a true conversion to electrical powered vehicles a reality. But..it COULD be done. And, what IS  important here, are the baby steps necessary to get to this point. How far along would we be if the Wright Brothers were told, “no we need jets first”. Or  Henry Ford got, “you need to create Boss 302 Mustangs before we invest in you.” Progress is a never ending event, and you have to start somewhere. While not the first electric car, Nissan made designing, building, and marketing  the worlds first practical, cost effective, mass produced  electric automobile a priority, and they succeeded in a magnificent way. Yes, I know all about the negatives, and can argue both sides of this issue fairly well. But the argument of the drooling cretins, the childish simplistic Limbaugh vomited nonsense, what the “let’s drill/global climate change is an evil UN plot to enslave America” crowd says as they slam Nissan, the total denial of what is happening weather and climate wise, tell me how useful  this point of view is for solving anything!  God, can’t half of the country EVER be helpful? The answer is “no, they can’t”. This commercial is well done, it tugs at ones heartstrings, it puts climate change, endangered species and clean energy all at the center of ones thought process in just a few seconds,  and then suggests  one  possible remedy, what is so wrong with that  Rush?  And if it will help sell some of these cutting edge vehicles  for Nissan, I say more power to them. Of course, all of those things are   an anathema to Rush Limbaugh and his flock of zombies. Climate change?? An evil liberal plot! Endangered species? Never happens! Clean energy? “Drill baby drill!”  Its really a bit scary that the country is so incredibly polarized, and its sleazebags like Limbaugh who have had a big hand in this situation.  I really do not like to think bad thoughts and project ill will towards anyone, but  there are some folks out there that make my live and let live motto hard to live by nowadays.

There was a time in my life when, to quote the old expression, I was “footloose and fancy free.” Moving from place to place, living like a tumbleweed, moving everything I owned in the back of a buddies pick-up truck….or in the trunk of a big Buick, for that matter. Then, of course, I grew up…a little bit anyway. Nowadays, and I don’t know about you, but personally, I do not like to move.  It’s a pain in the ass, stressful, and not very productive. As a recent veteran of not one, but two cross country moves, I know from whence I speak.  But now, we are hearing that this is the “new reality”. You see, now that we are losing our houses and our jobs, we are supposed to become a nation of vagabonds. Blowing like the wind, criss-crossing the country for that minimum wage job, what fun!! And  that wage might get even more minimum if that jolly bunch of candidates who want the minimum wage repealed have their way. We are to embrace homelessness, poverty  and job hunting across the land as the “new America”. I see a revival of rusted out old  Buick’s coming soon,  the inevitable websites “how to live out of your trunk”, “rest stop showering 101”, “10 best ways to raid McDonald dumpsters”. And folks actually wonder why China is cleaning our clocks right now.

Of course, what is now  a ‘problem’ of too many houses might be getting fixed in an unforeseen way. Just the other day a man’s house burned to the ground because he did not pay the 75 dollar surcharge to the fire department. His local fire department watched it burn down. And Glen Beck says its ok. Again, this is a another coming attraction  of a possible American future.  Beck says, and I quote “he did not pay the tax, so for the fire department to put out the fire would have meant that he would have been sponging off of his neighbors.”  Boy, wouldn’t it be nice to have this excuse for a human being as your neighbor! Apparently, going from door to door BEGGING for money  to pay hospital bills, which this bottom feeding  troll actually says is how to pay for your wife’s open heart surgery is NOT sponging off of your neighbors. Can’t say we are not being warned. This is the future, we are seeing it unfold before our eyes. A future where a very tiny percentage have it all, and the rest of the population are slaves to their whims. No safety net, no minimum standards,  no restrictions on business at all, a dog eat dog, Darwinian survival of the fittest society, and as for the rest “I’ve got mine, and  as for the rest of you, you can just go FUCK YOURSELF.”  Don’t believe me? Check out  some of the links below. See who founded the Tea Party and what they stand for and want.  By the way, I personally hope that the homeowners insurance company sues the almighty shit out of that fire department of Obion County, which they probably are going to do! I know there is another side to this story and all of that. There always is. That is not the point, it’s not about “I can explain, see it’s about the revenue stream, bla bla.” If we have truly gotten to the point where we will allow a family’s house to burn down because of the almightly fucking dollar, we have really come to a very ugly place.

On a much lighter note, we went to our local racetrack Saturday night. Nothing really too special was going on, except the Winged Sprint cars  and the mini sprints were there, along with a few of the regular local classes. The stands were almost full, the weather was perfect and the racing was great. I don’t think we spent more than 30 bucks for everything, including admission. There are a lot worse ways to spend a Saturday night, I had almost forgotten how much fun going to the local races can be.  With few exceptions  wherever you might happen to live, you have one of these slices of Americana not too terribly far away, and if they are still racing this season, get out and check it out soon before ya start freezing your ass off.  If not, find out where it is, and go support it in 2011!

Gotta run now, ttyl:) Bye for now……..

http://theweek.com/article/index/206405/the-billionaire-koch-brothers-tea-party-puppetmasters

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/08/30/100830fa_fact_mayer?printable=true

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/29/opinion/29rich.html

Politics