woah - arkansas white boys & bio-diesel - to be cont'
Driving into Arkansas, I had to leave the main highway and travel about 40 miles north to find biodiesel - I'm really thrilled (leaving superhighways are always a thrill~....), I've been able to get bio-diesel in Atlanta and now arkansas - my next stop will be albuquerque, new mexico. Rural arkansas is filled with shanties and shacks more or less falling down surrounded by scraps of iron & barely discernable washing machines and lots of undiscernable junque, along side petite, perfect ranch and brick homes with manicured lawns and new swing sets. Fast food resteraunts compete w/gas stations, pawn & gun shops for frontage at the rare corner w/a traffic signal.
When I found the company that supposedly had bio-diesel, they sat off the road several feet from & off to the right of the driveway I was turning into across a lane of on-coming traffic. Before I even crossed the lane, several youngish white males came pouring out the front glass doors, looking a little stunned but full of disbelief, kinda like i imagine those in nite of the dead movies would appear to be (if i'd ever seen such a movie) - and they only saw one side of my truck from a distance. As I pulled into the space in front of the glass mirrored door they all were pouring out of, they were saying to themselves 'will ya take a look at this?' and "bob's gotta see this" or "jim's gotta see this". hmmmm. I couldn't wait. I hopped down & asked if they were the fellows selling biodiesel fuel. They kinda scratched their heads & said i'd have to ask bob or jim. Great. They kept making noncommittal grunts and exclamations and calling for more workers to file out, which they did - all white males. okay. They stood several feet from the side of the truck & me - I told them they really needed to see the back of the truck as well and en mass they gaited over there.
Their voices silenced while reading but they constantly shuffled in the dirt, skipping around each other, as if they had to stay in motion. One of the younger ones broke the silence, reaching up and doing a stacatto tap on the attack on "women's rights" and said "this is it, this explains everything." and they all threw knowing glances at me. 2008, Hillary Clinton. Yeah. Then she'll bomb us and that'll be the end of our country. When I asked how come they're afraid of Hillary Clinton, no one spoke immediately but their group silence was broken with continuous mutterings & nonsensical exclamations.
One of the guys, billie his nametag read, toothless, kinda greyish-smoker's white, middle-aged, skinny with longish mousey brown hair billie informed me that I was now in bush country. I told him that was too bad for a state that was Clinton & Gore country and asked him who he voted for. He told me bush, hell yes, he supported the president cause of all those iraqi's trying to come over here & kill us again & this prez can take care of the whole middle east, all them that's attacking us.
Drearily I asked him if he was aware of the facts of 9/11 and we had that whole conversation. Billie didn't believe me - and he HATES the u.n. okay. So then I asked him if we can agree on the history of iraq, the u.s. & hussein, at least since the 1980's leading up to this war. He said sure. So we had that conversation: rumsfield, hussein, weapons of mass destruction, the kurds, iran - then bush senior, kuwait, hussein's baby daughter killed, embargo, bombing, 9/11, and - do not forget - the 2nd largest oil reserve left in the world. Bille listened.
Billie began by informing me that he was NOT an informed voter. go figure. What a familiar mantra - bush supporters claiming they're not informed - this can no longer be an excuse folks & we've got 4 years to make sure ALL voters are informed - whether they want to be or not!
I get kinda incredulous when people who have voted ignorantly admit freely they are not informed. Then Billie wanted to claim liberal was a dirty word - because we just want to give things away to people instead of making them work. I said, Billie, there is not one 'rich' country in the world that does not provide basic health care for it's citizens, except us. I said, Billie, over 22% of our children live in poverty in this country; 8% in canada, 6% in japan. Billie, I said, you are talking about people just like you and me. Then I couldn't resist. I said Billie, I'm sure you haven't fixed your teeth because you've been squandering your thousands of dollars on lavish riches. Son, if you had voted for Kerry, this time next year, you'd have health care insurance and your teeth fixed.
Billie tried to say, yeah that's why canada is broke, providing health care and above poverty-line living for her children. I had to gawf as politely as I could - do you know how broke we are? The dollar has been steadily dropping around the world, AND in canada. Billie, would you rather be broke because you've supported the killing and occupation of iraq in order for the bush oil cartel to make trillions; or would you rather be broke because you've provided health care for all your citizens?
Billie was thinking! "I just listen to rush limbaugh and to bill o'reilly" he begins to explain his limits to me. I querry "is that ALL you listen to?? "Yes, that's all I NEED to listen to!" "Oh, no Billie - you need to listen to me. Why do you listen to 2 very narrow-minded, rich white men who present the same limited perspective on our country & world? I listen to Rush and Bob/bill too (gag gag) AND I listen to national public radio, to cnn, to air america, and I read the papers, and search on the internet. You are totalling limiting yourself and cutting yourself off from a balanced view of everything. And of ever discovering the truth. Why are you doing that?"
Billie admits he hasn't had conversations with liberals or democrats. But he scoffs at the idea of not drilling in alaska to save caribou - he says caribou like they are the pieces of broken cement scattered around the huge parking lot we're in. I'm incredulous. I ask him is he really willing to drill in the oldest, most pristine (i.e. undestroyed by white men's greed) piece of land we have left in our country, just so he can have a few more years of guzzling gas?
He asks me if they can't make a bio-diesel for gas engines. He goes on to say that if Kerry would do that he'd vote for him.
Billie, Billie, Billie - i'm groaning at this point. You missed your chance this time. Kerry DID promise to develop alternative fuels for you - the candidate you supported, bush, has cut funding to the alternative fuel program - because his cartel doesn't have an economic stake in hydrogen cells as they do in oil.
Billie has a little more color in his cheeks now. He says a squeaky "really". I tell him, it is not too late to vote on the issues. I told him he voted on emotional macho drek. He can still become informed and stay informed and vote informed.
Grrrrrrrrr.
Another young white man who has been also listening to our conversatoin told me he voted for Kerry but this place was totally bush - I said, it's not, because he is there and there's probably others too. I asked him kinda jokingly if they were going to do anything dicey to my truck or the fuel because, after all, they're the party that are willing to kill for what they want - he smiled and said they just want my money, they don't care what I have written on my truck!
Caribou. Billie needs a lesson on caribou, to begin with.
When I found the company that supposedly had bio-diesel, they sat off the road several feet from & off to the right of the driveway I was turning into across a lane of on-coming traffic. Before I even crossed the lane, several youngish white males came pouring out the front glass doors, looking a little stunned but full of disbelief, kinda like i imagine those in nite of the dead movies would appear to be (if i'd ever seen such a movie) - and they only saw one side of my truck from a distance. As I pulled into the space in front of the glass mirrored door they all were pouring out of, they were saying to themselves 'will ya take a look at this?' and "bob's gotta see this" or "jim's gotta see this". hmmmm. I couldn't wait. I hopped down & asked if they were the fellows selling biodiesel fuel. They kinda scratched their heads & said i'd have to ask bob or jim. Great. They kept making noncommittal grunts and exclamations and calling for more workers to file out, which they did - all white males. okay. They stood several feet from the side of the truck & me - I told them they really needed to see the back of the truck as well and en mass they gaited over there.
Their voices silenced while reading but they constantly shuffled in the dirt, skipping around each other, as if they had to stay in motion. One of the younger ones broke the silence, reaching up and doing a stacatto tap on the attack on "women's rights" and said "this is it, this explains everything." and they all threw knowing glances at me. 2008, Hillary Clinton. Yeah. Then she'll bomb us and that'll be the end of our country. When I asked how come they're afraid of Hillary Clinton, no one spoke immediately but their group silence was broken with continuous mutterings & nonsensical exclamations.
One of the guys, billie his nametag read, toothless, kinda greyish-smoker's white, middle-aged, skinny with longish mousey brown hair billie informed me that I was now in bush country. I told him that was too bad for a state that was Clinton & Gore country and asked him who he voted for. He told me bush, hell yes, he supported the president cause of all those iraqi's trying to come over here & kill us again & this prez can take care of the whole middle east, all them that's attacking us.
Drearily I asked him if he was aware of the facts of 9/11 and we had that whole conversation. Billie didn't believe me - and he HATES the u.n. okay. So then I asked him if we can agree on the history of iraq, the u.s. & hussein, at least since the 1980's leading up to this war. He said sure. So we had that conversation: rumsfield, hussein, weapons of mass destruction, the kurds, iran - then bush senior, kuwait, hussein's baby daughter killed, embargo, bombing, 9/11, and - do not forget - the 2nd largest oil reserve left in the world. Bille listened.
Billie began by informing me that he was NOT an informed voter. go figure. What a familiar mantra - bush supporters claiming they're not informed - this can no longer be an excuse folks & we've got 4 years to make sure ALL voters are informed - whether they want to be or not!
I get kinda incredulous when people who have voted ignorantly admit freely they are not informed. Then Billie wanted to claim liberal was a dirty word - because we just want to give things away to people instead of making them work. I said, Billie, there is not one 'rich' country in the world that does not provide basic health care for it's citizens, except us. I said, Billie, over 22% of our children live in poverty in this country; 8% in canada, 6% in japan. Billie, I said, you are talking about people just like you and me. Then I couldn't resist. I said Billie, I'm sure you haven't fixed your teeth because you've been squandering your thousands of dollars on lavish riches. Son, if you had voted for Kerry, this time next year, you'd have health care insurance and your teeth fixed.
Billie tried to say, yeah that's why canada is broke, providing health care and above poverty-line living for her children. I had to gawf as politely as I could - do you know how broke we are? The dollar has been steadily dropping around the world, AND in canada. Billie, would you rather be broke because you've supported the killing and occupation of iraq in order for the bush oil cartel to make trillions; or would you rather be broke because you've provided health care for all your citizens?
Billie was thinking! "I just listen to rush limbaugh and to bill o'reilly" he begins to explain his limits to me. I querry "is that ALL you listen to?? "Yes, that's all I NEED to listen to!" "Oh, no Billie - you need to listen to me. Why do you listen to 2 very narrow-minded, rich white men who present the same limited perspective on our country & world? I listen to Rush and Bob/bill too (gag gag) AND I listen to national public radio, to cnn, to air america, and I read the papers, and search on the internet. You are totalling limiting yourself and cutting yourself off from a balanced view of everything. And of ever discovering the truth. Why are you doing that?"
Billie admits he hasn't had conversations with liberals or democrats. But he scoffs at the idea of not drilling in alaska to save caribou - he says caribou like they are the pieces of broken cement scattered around the huge parking lot we're in. I'm incredulous. I ask him is he really willing to drill in the oldest, most pristine (i.e. undestroyed by white men's greed) piece of land we have left in our country, just so he can have a few more years of guzzling gas?
He asks me if they can't make a bio-diesel for gas engines. He goes on to say that if Kerry would do that he'd vote for him.
Billie, Billie, Billie - i'm groaning at this point. You missed your chance this time. Kerry DID promise to develop alternative fuels for you - the candidate you supported, bush, has cut funding to the alternative fuel program - because his cartel doesn't have an economic stake in hydrogen cells as they do in oil.
Billie has a little more color in his cheeks now. He says a squeaky "really". I tell him, it is not too late to vote on the issues. I told him he voted on emotional macho drek. He can still become informed and stay informed and vote informed.
Grrrrrrrrr.
Another young white man who has been also listening to our conversatoin told me he voted for Kerry but this place was totally bush - I said, it's not, because he is there and there's probably others too. I asked him kinda jokingly if they were going to do anything dicey to my truck or the fuel because, after all, they're the party that are willing to kill for what they want - he smiled and said they just want my money, they don't care what I have written on my truck!
Caribou. Billie needs a lesson on caribou, to begin with.
posted by Xan @ 8:32 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home