Head 'Em Up - Move 'Em Out...


The first few days of 2008 have produced some interesting things in our little corner of the cosmos; some highly predictable, others...not so much.
For example, who'd have thought Obama and Huckabee would take the Iowa caucus (which in my opinion, means little)? Well, I plan to wait until "Kate Smith" is singing (which reminds me, to all you opera lovers - don't expect any *new* version of the 3 tenors...ain't gonna happen out of respect for the late Luciano Pavarotti).
Still, the first week of the new year might be a portent of THINGS TO COME (which was a damn fine movie starring Raymond Massey - 1936).
And I would never have dreamed that WANE on-air personality Terra Brantley would suffer a house fire which would devastate her residence (everyone got out OK...even the pet).
But I (and anyone else paying attention) COULD see the rising gas prices were on the horizon. Take a look around...we're back OVER $3 a gallon (makes one wish one's vehicle ran on MILK...at least THAT'S over fifty cents CHEAPER per gallon).
And with rising fuel costs comes.....(all together now, gang)...RISING FOOD COSTS. If it's not a frost hitting Florida and screwing with the citrus crops, it's the price to DELIVER anything and everything ELSE to our markets, so what I said LAST year about the domino effect is firmly in play with our economy THIS year (and if you regularly read this blog, you already KNOW that).
Speaking of FOOD...the NAFTA debacle stumbles on. Our "free trade" with Mexico includes (if you haven't already guessed)...CORN, along with dried beans (Mexico needs BEANS...gimme a break), powdered milk ( so much for the military getting their daily supplements...lol), and high fructose corn syrup (made from even more CORN...duh).
Now call be weird, but with all this CORN going south of the border, um....what exactly will be left to FEED our LIVESTOCK...or SUPPLY all those ETHANOL plants so we can have a "cheaper" form of fuel that provides less POWER per gallon than regular gasoline...or make freaking CORN FLAKES and FROSTED FLAKES for the masses HERE, in AMERICA??? (Another "chimp on the pony" moment, Mr. Heston?)
Never fear, though...Mexico is sending US stuff as well, like SUGAR (funny...that's what they USED to refer to HEROIN as, back in days of yore), as well as "certain horticultural products" (oh, so THAT is what they're calling all those wetback immigrants flooding into OUR country...glad they told us).
Nice to know Mexico is looking out for US, isn't it?
Still, it beats burning down all those slums in post-election KENYA, doesn't it?
Oh, and Ford is now the #3 auto-maker in this nation...Toyota has snatched the #2 spot from them, and is now gunning for the "Big Kahuna", namely GM. So I wouldn't sweat the fact that India's MATA car company (who will be unveiling their $2500 car at the Detroit Auto Show in a few weeks) is looking to buy out Land Rover AND Jaguar from Ford. What I would worry about is having CHINA send us some of THEIR cars (as soon as they get the emissions gig worked out). They're already sending us all the parts that GO INTO our vehicles as it is.
With all that going on, I did manage to find ONE thing highly unusual in my quaint little ghettoised neighborhood...BOTH recycling AND trash were picked up BEFORE 0700 hrs. And they didn't wake me up during EITHER process...simply A-frigging-mazing!
Like to see THAT trend continue (yeah, right...and I'm going to win the BIG lottery, become Fort Wayne's citizen of the year, AND be asked to serve on several of mayor Tom Henry's new committees by next week's end...bwahahahah)!
Well, one thing I CAN be sure of for 2008...the more things will CHANGE, the more they will STAY THE SAME.
Business as usual...the status quo...call it what you will, it's all inexorably coming to a town near you...like a jail on wheels.
And now...You know the news.
Do have a safe weekend.