Everyone's talking about the hurricane, the survivors, and the fuel prices, so I'm not going to. I won't stop thinking about it, but I doubt anything I could say would be any different than what everyone else is discussing at work and home and everywhere else.
Therefore, I'm going to yap about something else. A favorite rant: SUV drivers vs. SUV haters.
I was on a message board last night where people were complaining about gas prices. Half the group started flaming the other half for owning "big, pretentious, gas-guzzling, environment-polluting monsters on wheels." Also "4Wd is SO unnecessary!" Okay then. You there, in the Honda Civic with the spoiler and the lo-pro tires... Come up here when there's a foot of snow on the ground and try to get up my road. Come on, you can do it! What's that? Your 3" ground clearance isn't enough? Your slick tires have no traction? Well, turn up your bass booster, maybe you can bounce your way up the mountain... No? Gee, sorry to hear that. Mind getting that useless tin can out of my way so I can get my 4X4 in gear and go to work? No problem, I'll just push it out of the road with my bumper... Come back and pick it up after next spring when the mud dries up, okay? It's not going anywhere. Oh, and remember...4WD is SO unnecessary! *Snickering as I drive off*
As to polluting the environment... vehicles today have stricter emissions standards than ever before in the history of automaking. Please tell me how my modern-emissions-equipped SUV, which passes state emissions tests annually, is pumping out more pollutants than your 1987 Econobox with the exhaust leak and the oil dripping out of the valve cover? (If you have a newer hybrid vehicle, I defer that remark. I envy you, truly.)
Having said that, Hummers and Escalades and the like really are pretentious. People that buy them and then gripe about gas prices will get no sympathy from me. Hey Hummer dude, back away from the gas pumps! Save some for the rest of us!
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