---- Original Message ----- From: "Jed Rothwell" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Wednesday, 31 August, 2005 01:30 PM Subject: Gasoline panic has begun in Atlanta
<snip> > I told her "serves you right for driving that big car!" It serves the whole > damn nation right. I am sorry, but I have zero sympathy for people who > drive gas guzzlers. They should have known this was going to happen sooner > or later. You go too far here. I'm sorry, but I am sure I am not the only one here who is getting a little tired of the holier than thou tirades. You drive a Prius, that's great. Enjoy it. I'm happy for you that you are happy with it. But guess what? Not all of us make as much money as you do. I am a full time Class A mechanic in the nearly jobless Buffalo New York area, bringing home a little over $12,000/yr. That, to say the least, sucks. Especially here in the "great" state of New York, where everything is illegal, there are cops out to get your money to offset Albany's stupidity and the Erie county budget crisis, etc, where insurance is ridiculously expensive, etc. I barely get by. Most of the people here do. Do I just need to work harder? How? You try lugging around transaxles all day long, for 40-42 hours a week, see if you can work harder! Get it straight, now: I CANNOT AFFORD A GOD DAMNED HYBRID!!!!! All I can afford are old, used cars, which are your hated gas guzzlers. I work ~15 miles from home as well, you want me to bike there? In the snow drifts? Not to mention that the buses here are DREADFUL, never on time, and half the time don't stop for you, they just keep going. Wake up, there is nothing else I or a large part of the working class can do about any of this! You want me to drive a ULEV/Hybrid? Then you get someone to sell me one for a price I can afford. And at $12k/yr, it better be damned cheap. If you have no alternative for those of us who work our rear-ends off for so little, then I suggest you kindly lay the hell off. And by the way, as far as SUV's go, I hate the damned things, because they are built like &%^$. I work on these things daily, and they are overcomplicated junk. If only I could find a nice, old diesel Dasher......50mpg would be nice. Guy down the street sold his a while back for $1500. If I'd have known, it would be mine now. The Prius is new....I am waiting to see what happens when the windings get fried by the salt environment of good old Buffalo. Anyone ever hear the phrase "shit happens"? That's what this storm is all about. I'll bet dollars to donuts that this has nothing to do with "global warming", which whether it is really that big a deal or not, whether we are the root cause or not, is the catch all for every problem in this day and age. People have to blame something, and to feel like it is our fault, and we can do something about it (whether we choose to or not) makes people feel much better than having to say, "you know, we can't control everything...there are forces greater than ourselves, and sometimes we just can do NOTHING." I am sorry if this offends my fellow Vortexians, I am not in a good way right now. My hometown is Ocean Springs Mississippi, a 15 minute drive from Biloxi, and my family is there. No communications with them. --Kyle
