Rantings Of A Mad Rodent

This will come as a shock to my family and friends, but I'm actually starting to dig Fords now. I'm a Japanese car fanatic, mainly Nissans, but Ford is beginning to impress me. So much so, that I'd actually buy one! To me, Ford has always stood for "Found On Road Dead", or backwards, "Driver Returns On Foot", but I think those days are gone. Believe you me, I'm just as shocked as you. Their cars' quality have steadily improved, and they told the government where to stick their loan. You gotta like that.

The new Ford lineup is impressive as well. Take the Flex for instance, an SUV that seats 7 comfortably, and gets decent gas mileage. It has retro styling without looking contrived, and the Vista Roof option is aces as well. It also offers as an option, a cooler inside. This is the perfect family/road trip vehicle. Then there's the Lincoln MKS, and very good looking luxury sedan, that could easily compete with it's rivals, but I'll admit that Ford needs to tweak the performance ability of this car to get it to match it's sticker, but they're on the right track and I feel that they will sort it out. The Mustang needs no explaining, it is what it is.

Then you have their lineup of crossovers, the Lincoln MKX and the Ford Edge, 2 impressive looking vehicles that have the roominess of SUV's and the handling of a sedan. Most shockily to me, is the soon be released Taurus! Good God, what took them so long?! For decades, Ford sent their best offerings to Europe, and now, they've decided to bless to home crowd. If you haven't seen pictures of the 2010 Ford Taurus, do so. I've always felt that they should've put the damn thing out to pasture, but with it's new design, it's actually on my shortlist.

Everyone always scream, "Buy American!", but America's big 3 didn't give many of us a good enough reason to "Buy American!". Ford seems to be changing that, in fact, they have! I singled Ford out because I've always liked some GM and Chrysler models, but I wouldn't be caught dead in a Ford. All of that has changed now. Ford's really stepping up. As their old tag line used to ask, "Have you driven a Ford lately?". Well, have you? I think you'd be impressed.

With all of the bullshit that's going on today with these corporations, I find myself thinking about the French Revolution. Whatever you may feel about the French, you have to admit one thing, they had the right idea in 1789. When the rich got richer off the blood, sweat, and tears of the poor, and the poor got the door, they did something about it! They were not content to let the problem "correct itself". They cut people's heads off! Some of you may think that's extreme, but I don't think it is. What's being done today, is no different than what the aristocracy was doing to the French people back then.

Corporate greed has gotten out of control, because the CEO's have no fear of reprisals. "What are they going to do about it?", they asked themselves, and of course the answer was always the same: nothing. Them giving out bonuses, buying 45 million dollar jets, and spending a half million dollars on spa weekends with our money, is the new way of saying, "Let them eat cake!". Can you imagine how they would conduct themselves if they knew that the people watching had a guillotine at the ready? Of course, the French citizens had been pushed to the brink. I guess people living in tents in 2009, losing their homes and retirement funds, and having their jobs shipped overseas is not enough anguish for us Americans. Back in the 1700's, Americans were so pissed about being unfairly taxed by King George, that they actually DID something about it, which of course, led up to the Revolutionary War. Somehow, over time, we Americans have become a bunch of unfocused punk bitches.

It's one of three things to me: either we don't have the guts to react like the French in 1789, we're too stupid to know that we're living in the same condition they were in, or we Americans just like to take it so that we can have something to bitch about. After the war with Iraq started, we Americans hated the French for not going along with it. It got so stupid, that idiots were referring to French fries as "Freedom fries". As least I can say this about the French: there was a time when they had the balls do what should be done now. I want you "freedom fry" eaters to go read up on the French Revolution and then asked yourselves: What are we willing to do?

While you're at it, pass me a freedom fry.

These days, I'm hearing more and more people wishing that the President will fail, and politicians voting against what's best for their country just to remain loyal to their party, country be damned. Yet, they all claim to be "patriots". Is this the new "patriotism"? Can you still claim to be a patriot if you vote to enact policies that aren't good for the country just for the sake of remaining loyal to your party? Also, if you're too cowardly to fight for your country, can you still claim to be a patriot?

Gone are the Minutemen of the 1700's, now it's just of bunch of cowardly right wing nut jobs and an ex Vice President who ducked out of Vietnam because he had "better things to do", but he wasted no time sending others to war. Yankee Doodle fucking Dandy indeed! Hell, forget war, most of these "patriots" never even served in the military to help protect "their country". Right wing talking head Neal Boortz claimed that he had flat feet when he went for his physical, and therefore; wasn't allowed in. That turned out to be a lie. Republican pimp/god Rush Limbaugh dodged service, and Sean Hannity, well let's face it, Sean's not the most masculine guy in the world.

The other thing that I find interesting is: there are more people on the "traitorous" left that have served in the military than there are on the "patriotic" right. It begs the question: Is cowardice and wishing doom on your President the new face of patriotism?

Okay, I haven't posted in about a week, but there's a painful reason why. Ladies and gentlemen, please give a warm round of applause to the stomach virus! My God, talk about a beast! It had me writhing around and doubled over in pain, and quite frankly, it made me its bitch. It made me question my God, as in, "Look! There's nothing left in there! What the hell are hoping to find?! Just tell me what you're looking for , and I'll go find one, because it sure as hell ain't in my stomach!". Hey, the dry heaves will make you do that! And then there was my wife, "You don't look so good.". She's always been perceptive. Even as I'm moaning and rolling around on the bed, she was able to spot that something was amiss. She missed her calling as a detective. Sorry, hon! Anyway, all is well now, but there's gotta be an easier way to lose 12 pounds!

I just want to thank WAMJ 107.5 Atlanta. They changed their format into another r&b oldies station, as if we needed another one. They got rid of the Warren Ballentine and Al Sharpton shows, but kept Steve Harvey and Michael Baisden, because black folk don't like to be informed, just entertained. They got rid of the 2 shows that kept us up on politics, the country, and things that affect our community, and kept the comedy show and the show where sex is always the topic in one form or another. Fucking sad, actually. Oh well, we'll be in the dark, but atleast we'll be entertained. Thank you, WAMJ!!

This may not be popular with some, but here goes. Ever since Chris Brown went Ike Turner on Rhianna, domestic violence is all people seem to be talking about on the radio morning shows. From Steve Harvey and Tom Joyner to Rickey Smiley and Frankski, and quite frankly, more than a few are taking this opportunity to dawn their capes. Tom Joyner even said that he hopes this ends Chris Brown's career, then he played an R. Kelly song. They're all having these brown nosing dudes and women's rights advocates on their shows, and they're giving out bad advice. Sad, but true. My personal opinion? No man should never have to hit a woman, and women need to learn that there are such things as boundaries. If you see that line in your rearveiw mirror, step back!

These morning show guests and hosts are taking all of the responsibility out of the woman's hands, and that's dangerous. They're telling women that no matter what they do, they can't be hit. Y'all need to cut that shit out right now, or alot more women are going to be getting their asses kicked. My brothers and I were taught not to hit women, but everybody didn't have the same upbringing. Rhianna has always taken pride in the fact that she likes to fight guys straight up, she even bragged about the fact that she once broke a glass over her brother's face, and women everywhere thought it was cool, and now when a guy really fights her back, they all wanna play the victim. Can't have it both ways.

Instead of telling women that they should bare no responsibility, how about teaching them when to fall back? How about teaching them that not all guys were taught not to hit women? How about teaching them the fact that if they hit a guy, some guys will hit you back? I saw a woman beating on her man in a parking lot one day. She was hitting him in his face while yelling, "What are you gonna do, hit me back? Why don't you hit me back, so everyone can call you a punk! C'mon punk, I betcha you won't hit me back!". I told one of my female friends this story, and she responded with this: "If I was that dude, I would have kicked her ass!". Now, if a woman feels like that, how in the hell do you think a guy feels?

I think men and women need to share in the responsibility and work together on solving this issue. As longs as one side has a "victim for life card", and the other has a "guilty no matter what card", shit WILL NOT change. Instead of these spineless brown nosing radio host trying to score brownie points with their women audience, how about being real for a change? Steve Harvey likes to say that he's teaching women to think like men. If that's the case, you should also teach them that a man knows that if he hits someone or keep pushing a person to the limit, there will be reprisals. Bad advice will not solve this, nor will sucking up to your female audience. How can we fix this, if one side don't think that anything's broken?

Today I read a story about R&B singer Usher being disappointed about seeing pictures of singer Chris Brown riding on a jet ski. Really Usher? Disappointed are you? Ooh! He said that Chris Brown should be somewhere showing remorse. Showing remorse how? Should he be locked in a dark room crying somewhere, or should he be walking around town staring down at his shoes with puppy dog eyes? Sean Combs offered his Miami mansion to Brown and Rhianna, so that they can spend time together and escape the madness, but Usher feels that Brown should have taken that opportunity to show remorse.

Doesn't Usher have bigger fish to fry? Shouldn't he be concerned that his wife lied to him and tried to have ill advised liposuction surgery behind his back, and almost died? Surly, that's gotta be more important to him than Chris Brown riding a jet ski! Dude, worry about your own shit, and let Chris handle his. How about you get a handle on your wife? What she did affects you a helluva whole lot more than Chris Brown riding a jet ski. She almost made your ass a widower by ignoring doctor's orders and going to Brazil to have a life threatening surgery, after she lied to you and said that she was going "on vacation"! How about you be "disappointed" in that?