Safety helmets must be worn

I’m not really understanding this forced reworking of General Motors.

According to the federal Department of Go-karts, GM will be abandoning it’s Hummer line, discontinuing it’s obvious obsession with building larger and larger and heavier SUVs, and will be building mostly golf cart-sized vehicles from here on out. In other words, it will be abruptly turning it’s back on what used to be it’s better selling product lines. (?)

So, since it’s sales are badly slumping, and since it can no longer sell the oversized vehicles America has obviously wanted for the past couple of decades, then the new plan is to build and market the much, much smaller vehicles America did not want all along?

Nothing perplexing about any of that.

Face it, Smart Cars and Chevy Volts are just not going to cut it, they are not practical vehicles if you happen to have more than zero children. If you have more than one child, I’d pay good money to watch you try and fit two of those horribly large child safety seats into any glorified go-kart.

My kid has a mid-sized Mazda. Not big, but not smallish. But, when she makes the trip from Knoxville to Wilkes-Barre, she has to rent a large SUV to fit herself, her husband, her two kids, the two horribly large child safety seats, the dog and the resulting luggage into the vehicle. All of which would never, ever fit into the Mazda. Long-run, it would be smart and prudent for her to purchase a new SUV when the Mazda starts showing it’s age.

Although, with the Oblahblah administration desperately trying to attach new taxes to practically everything without calling them taxes; and with democrats continually trying to force behavioral changes by way of illegally-applied sin taxes, I’m thinking my kid would be financially punished for simply going out and buying what’s smart and prudent to buy…exactly what she needs.

And rather than pay the sin taxes, and rather than become a social pariah in an increasingly dumbed-down and brainwashed society, perhaps she ought to just go with the tyrannical flow and buy two used Yugos for the purposes of visiting Pennsylvania.

Another thing. Have we given any concern to our safety while out and about amongst the hordes of unthinking people who regularly ignore stop signs, red lights and the yield signs? Almost all of which is done while greatly exceeding those annoying posted speed limits? Do we really feel like being T-boned in what amounts to as the new Yugos?

I could be missing something vitally important, but I just can’t see Americans clamoring for and purchasing vehicles barely the size of refrigerator shipping cartons. And if I’m truly getting it and accurately depicting what will likely happen, how does the GM transition from selling the more popular vehicles to building and marketing the far, far less in-demand vehicles make for a greater market share?

Personally, I think this will greatly enhance my safety while out and about on a bicycle. Because if you collide with my bicycle with one of your tiny new hybrid thingamabobs, there’s a good chance I‘ll be puffing on a smoke and watching intently while you’re being loaded into the waiting ambulance.

Chevy Volt versus Rock Stomper? Smart Car versus Hummer bicycle?

Bet on the bicycle.

And to those of you who may be tempted to dump your dinosaur of a vehicle for one of these toy cars of the future, a bit of good advice.

Remember, always wear your helmet. Because in the new motoring Amerika, safety helmets must be worn.

You’re welcome.

I understand that the actions of police officers must be scrutinized at all times. And I suspect, so do most responsible police officers. Being that they are entrusted with enormous powers, they need to be scrutinized by their higher-ups, the media and the general public.

And I’m not one for much hand-wringing when police officers discharge their weapons, resulting in the death of a civilian. Usually, a precursory look at the facts is enough to satisfy me that their actions were justified. Let’s see here. The guy was totally polluted, swinging a machete at the police officers and he ignored repeated commands to disarm himself and back off.

BANG!

While it may seem hard-hearted, while it may seem to be lacking some necessary concern or compassion, I’m good with that.

But in this Scranton case, while I’m hesitant to mention it in lieu of many much-needed facts, I can’t imagine why three or four police officers could not subdue a knife-wielding 52-year-old woman without shooting her multiple times, without killing her.

I know a few Wilkes-Barre cops. And one I would even call a friend. Now, if he were to have shot to death that very same woman, I would not make light of it due to the possibility that it may be weighing heavy on his heart. I’m close, but I’m not as yet that completely stupid.

But the juvenile part, the more dominant part of me would be just dying to bust his ball bearings. The thing is, I fully expect my Wilkes-Barre City cops, very many of which have military training, to be able to subdue just about any 52-year-old woman without killing them. There it is. I said it.

Yes, I know, the circumstances dictate the response. And quite often violent acts go down at dizzying speeds necessitating that one reacts before being able to think things through. But I can’t understand how an outnumbered, overmatched, off-her-game middle-aged woman (even one presenting a clear and present danger to the police officers involved) had to be what some might call...summarily executed. And, yeah, I said that, too. Summarily executed.

What? No electronic stun guns? No pepper spray? No non-lethal component? And if not, why not?

And to Scranton City officials, I really resent having to speculate at all. To think that city officials would be so wholly tight-lipped in the aftermath of such an unsettling incident is insufferably frustrating and terribly ill-advised. Five days have passed and not a word. No statement. No nothing. Three shooting deaths in seven years at the hands of the Scranton police, and mums the word? That’s unacceptable, ongoing investigation or no ongoing investigation.

Say what you will about them, but them’s my thoughts on that.

No takers on the Oblahblah questions, huh?

A rather shrewd experiment on my part.

To be honest, that’s about what I expected. Nobody from the Hope & Change crowd is of yet willing to admit that they’re beginning to have second thoughts. Any doubts.

Well, at least unwilling to post them as a reader’s comments, that is.

Here’s a sampling from the e-mail inbox:

Worrisome…disconcerting…alarming…problematic…and empty suit.

And you know damn well that smattering came from Oblahblah supporters. Because, any hard-core republican worth his weight would have been more than willing to blast the president in the comments section.

Whatever.

You wanted the inexperienced trainee and you got ‘im.

End shrewd experiment.

Later