From Shrill, To Imbecile

For quite some time I’ve ignored the poison coming from Egalia over at Tennessee Guerrilla Women.  Her tagline is “Fighting the radical right in Tennessee and the nation”.

How, exactly?  By helping them elect their candidate?  Brilliant!

I know that Egalia takes blogging very seriously, and is dogged in her pursuit of readers.  I know she knows all the tricks to improve her standing in Technorati, and I have no problem with bloggers working the system to sell ads and whatnot.  She is very smart, and, 99% of the time, I’d bet our policy positions run parallel.

So, i understood her passion for Hillary.  Like I have repeatedly said, I like and admire Hillary Clinton.  I had to choose, and I chose the candidate i liked better this time.  I did this without ever bashing Hillary or Bill.  I remember cornering Braisted at a get-together and asking him to re-think his public flaying of Hillary Clinton, because I felt it unwise if not unfair.  In short, I tried to conduct myself in a manner I would expect back from another Democrat.

I had to remove TGW from my reader, it reminded me a little of watching someone slowly lose their lucidity as they age or from some disease.  The wallering became unbearable.  Had I been a Clinton operative, I’d have asked her to shut it all down and take a vacation.

So today, I’m rummaging around in the wreckage of MCB, and i glance over at their aggregator and see that Egalia is now staking whats left of her credibility on a massive withdrawal from the Democratic Party by angry white women. She sees this as something positive.  The idea actually appeals to her.

Never mind that in past elections, people of color, members of the GLBT community, and organized labor have all had their candidates marginalized and their concerns tossed overboard both in the Primary AND General elections, and managed to buck up and help keep the Party strong.  Hells bells, I’m a Liberal with a capital L, and I worked my ass off in 04 trying to help Kerry get elected.  He ain’t exactly Dennis Kucinich.

So, I’m left to ponder what it is that Egalia seeks to do.  Does she intend to punish every Democrat by actively supporting a wave of defections?  What about the millions of female Obama supporters?  Millions.  What is she saying to women like Ginger, who waited, watched, listened, inquired and finally chose to support Obama?  Is she not angry enough?  Not White enough?  Not woman enough?  (Yea, ok, I know Ginger, and she isn’t particularly angry, but theres no question that shes a woman, (I mean, shes given birth and everything) and good God Almighty the woman is most definitely White.  Egalia, are you telling her shes misguided?  If that doesn’t smack of elitism…

Did misogyny play a role in Hillary’s defeat?  Sure, particularly in the media.  There is every reason to be mad about that.  Work to change it.  How many candidates of color went down in flames simply because of their race throughout the years?  We’ll never really know, but one cannot credibly argue that misogyny was more rampant than racism.

Meanwhile, as Egalia continues to don her blinders, oppressive legislation continues to be proposed by her supposed enemy, The Radical Right.  How does widespread disunity among Democrats help to combat it?

I’m really disappointed by all this.

I Remember When Hummers Were Something Good

Apparently, someone left the ivory tower over at General Motors, picked up a newspaper, and scurried back to alert the bigwigs that they should re-tool to stay competitive in the coming 4 buck a gallon market. I remember being very pissed off when they acquired Hummer, possibly the stupidest vehicle ever created (for civilians).  That truck was marketed to people who wanted to play dress up like real soldiers!

Well, better late than never.  They have, in true corporate-speak, scuttled the Hummer brand.  Even though I am a card-carrying America Hating Liberal, it pains me to think of how many people will lose their livelihoods as a result of these plant closings.  I will continue to believe, though, that had GM made some tough choices, bitten the proverbial bullet, and re-tooled long ago, these people could be part of a thriving, competitive company.  Instead, they sought to maintain their market share by buying our elected leaders, and even then, they had to creatively finance their own products.

Heres my favorite part of that article, from CEO Rick Wagoner:

Wagoner announced the moves in response to slumping sales of pickups and SUVs brought on by high oil prices. He said a market shift to smaller vehicles is permanent.

tick tock tick tock.

Market Opportunity?

I’m trying very hard to be amused by this. In yesterday’s post, I mentioned a few things us older drivers have dealt with concerning gas price/availability, like wild fluctuations in price, rationing, etc.  One that I forgot:

I’m waiting to see these horrible things piled high in the end caps at Walmart and O’Reillys.  If people will steal old fryer grease, they will steal gasoline.  I’ve already taken steps to secure my diesel tank, as the price for that makes regular gas look like a bargain.