Sunday, July 27, 2008

Oh, come on!/Maddai!

I saw a bumper sticker yesterday. Actually, it was a gas tank cover sticker. It said, "$1.47 per gallon before Bush," or something to that effect. Now, I am as anti-Bush as the next gal, but if that is your argument against his administration, if rising gas prices are the worst thing he is responsible for in your opinion during his reign, if you honestly believe it is a basic human right to own and drive a car and that you should not have to pay much to do so regardless of its effect on the environment or just the simple common sense that there is no such thing as an unlimited resource, you've got some soul-searching to do.

And that, my friends, is as preachy as I hope to get on this blog.

Full disclosure: we are about to buy a car. We will drive the car and probably do so frivolously. We will do our best to be as unfrivolous as possible.

That sticker just really rankled my cockles or raised my hillcocks or whatever it is one says on these occasions.

Traduzione
Ieri ho visto un adesivo per il paraurti posteriore. Non era sul paraurti posteriore di questa macchia ma invece sul coperchio del serbatoio del gas. Disse: "Un gallone costava $1.47 prima di Bush." Io sono totalmente contro Bush ma questo adesivo mi ha rotto o' cazz', se la posso dire cosi'. Che tipo di persona si lamenta del fatto dei prezzi alti della benzina ignorando tutta la violenza e crudelta' dell'amminstrazione Bush? Vi dico chi: una persona che crede che sia un diritto umano basilare di avere una macchina e guidarla tanto quanto vuole e per un costo basso, una persona che non capisce la realta' di risorse naturali limitate. Che vergogna.

Noi stiamo per comprare una macchina e sicuramente la guideremo quando non e' necessario, quando ci sentiamo pigri. Spero di resistere quanto possibile. E spero di ricordarmi sempre che avere una macchina e' un lusso e gli americani pagano da sempre molto di meno per la benzina paragonata a quanto pagate voi, carissimi europei.

Scusate, vado un'attimo a comprarmi una bici!

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I don't know, you may find that Berkeley just provokes other preachy blogs...but they are fun to read.
By the way, we do have some unlimited resources available, like the sun and wind. Just need the will to make it feasible.
Talking about the prices Europeans pay for gas, unsubsidized by their governments as well as often taxed for the environmental toll: here in Switzerland, filling up a station wagon takes about $150. Makes you think twice, well, at least me. Our neighbors here often take the car to deliver their kids to preschool instead of walking 10 minutes. I don't really understand. Maybe they are worried their kids will get dirty--NON TI SPORCARE! It ain't just a neopolitan saying.
love
Gayle

Homebody at Heart said...

Yes, those are those among us who never voted for Bush, don't believe a word the man says or anyone in his administration and can't wait for some to be charged with war crimes. But, the guy with the sticker probably did vote for him. After all, the unsaid premise of the war in Iraq was a cheap and plentiful source of oil. (And believe it nor not, I work with dingbats who still believe in the "weapons of mass destruction" premise of the Iraq war.

Doug said...

Well said.

Re: car -- Prius it up! $24k in RI; ours is terrific.

Nancy - Girl in Giro said...

I totally agree with you!Obviously, ignorance lands on both sides of the political spectrum.

roy said...

do your folks still live in brooklyn?i didn't see them at the tennis courts last summer.