General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsI was blamed for the high cost of gasoline today.
I had my bicycle at the gas station across the street, putting air in the tires.
Guy in an H2, fills up his gas hog and starts yelling at me.
"You tree-huggers are costing me money!"
I figures this guy has to be an FIB.
I was right.
Illinois plates, and "liberal hunting license" on back bumper.
I asked the dimwit why he was whining at me since I can't afford a car, and why he *HAD* to drive a fat gas-guzzling H2.
"I need it for my family!"
I remind him a minivan has more room and sucks less gas.
Guy tells me to fuck off and roars off down the station's driveway.
I notice guy had a Tea Party window decal.
Today's GOP.
baldguy
(36,649 posts)PDJane
(10,103 posts)He should be grateful you're lessening the demand.
Archae
(46,364 posts)Rush said so!
The Genealogist
(4,723 posts)The attitude that people who ride bikes or take buses are "poor trash" or hippie-librul-commie-pinkos. Taking the bus is a daunting, time-consuming process in a city where large swaths of town have absolutely no bus service, or once-an-hour routes that stop running before rush hour is even over, and just planning how to get from point A to point B can be tedious for someone unfamiliar with the city buses. As for bike riders, they put their lives on the line when they go out, as this is a VERY auto-centric city, where motorists are often ignorant of bike riders. Even walking can be deadly, or at least scary. I've been legally in crosswalks, only to have cars nearly hit me making turns, or drivers impatient with my not getting out of the road fast enough to suit them lead them to nudge up close to me to chase me out of the street so they can get where they are going because THEY are so important and the law doesn't apply to them. And yes, Springfield, MO is VERY much "conservafairyland," as you put it.
Arugula Latte
(50,566 posts)How did we get so many angry, insane people in this country?
Devil_Fish
(1,664 posts)madokie
(51,076 posts)faux noise and rushbo are why we are where we as a country are today.
I like truth tellers
Arugula Latte
(50,566 posts)Sarah Ibarruri
(21,043 posts)I'm certain their brains are fucked up.
saras
(6,670 posts)For those outside the midwest = F***in Illinois Bastard
used in surrounding states
anti-alec
(420 posts)No FIB found so far, but I suspect that the Mercedes SUV that cut me off trying to get off I-90 is Rahm...
Viking12
(6,012 posts)So when I leave, I will not slap a tea party decal nd go get soused on the drive bck then'
lunasun
(21,646 posts)inside @ City Hall(IMO) but could be him !
ProfessorGAC
(65,321 posts)I'm from Illinois. Live pretty close to the Indiana state line too. Not right on it, but maybe 30 miles west.
I sure hope i'm not an FIB.
GAC
Justice wanted
(2,657 posts)Arugula Latte
(50,566 posts)Gi-normous, gas-sucking, obnoxious vehicle. By definition, if you own one, you're an asshole.
geardaddy
(24,931 posts)Archae
(46,364 posts)The ones seen on the highways.
sharp_stick
(14,400 posts)They had the big ass H1 pretending to be like the military hummvee only on a Tahoe body, that was followed up by the cheaper and unbelievably uglier H2 version, usually sported by men seriously lacking in a certain body part and totally pissed off at the fact. Following that was the pathetic H3 girlie hummer.
jmowreader
(50,572 posts)The H2 is the rebodied Tahoe.
laundry_queen
(8,646 posts)Gold Metal Flake
(13,805 posts)Mopar151
(10,006 posts)Militaristically styled body on a Chevy Blazer chassis. How to tell a fake Hummer? A real, H1 Hummer is the civilian version of the HUMVEE military tactical vehicle. You could drive it over 2 milk crates, stacked. An H2 can't make it over a single milk crate without hanging up.
onehandle
(51,122 posts)pa28
(6,145 posts)Archae
(46,364 posts)I've lost track of the number of times I've encountered assholes in the bigger SUV's, and either I've nearly been run over, been cussed at or had a horn blasted at me.
pa28
(6,145 posts)Lately it seems that truth is stranger than fiction. I'm still trying to adjust.
Archae
(46,364 posts)And they keep proving me wrong.
Just look at their war on women.
Ron Obvious
(6,261 posts)Ah, so you're the one, eh?
Never mind. As you can tell from my avatar, I'm a fellow cyclist and get this kind of shit all the time. I'm happy when it's no worse than name-calling and not, say, a beer can thrown at my head when I'm riding.
Archae
(46,364 posts)Never been hit, fortunately.
What bugs me more is when some idiot screams in my ear as they pass me.
Because of the doppler effect and road noise, the scream comes out "GYTH MER DILL!" or something like that.
Ron Obvious
(6,261 posts)I've never been hit either in about a dozen or so attempts. The screaming in my ear is sadly extremely common, especially in the case of two boys and a girl in a pick-up truck. It seems to be a testosterone thing.
I've found that if I act as though I'm writing down their license plate number in my smart phone and pretend to call it in, they shut up immediately even if they'd been trying to run me off the road just before. I suppose that'll work until I hit the genuine nutter again who'll pull out a gun. That happened to me once years ago in Texas and I'm still shaking thinking about it. I'm always worried I'm going to run into someone like that again.
proud2BlibKansan
(96,793 posts)Archae
(46,364 posts)Some idiot from Illinois.
They have to have:
Illinois license plate
Filthy back hatch or trunk lid (says "Wash me"
Stupid right-wing bumper sticker (the guy who yelled at me had "Liberal hunting license" on his bumper)
ProfessorGAC
(65,321 posts)I drive a 32 mpg convertible in the summer, and an old 31mpg BMW in the winter, and i have never had a bumper sticker on any car i've ever had.
Now, i will cop to the filthy trunk lid. Cars are merely a tool to me, not a status symbol. Although i do like a ragtop.
GAC
baldguy
(36,649 posts)Snarkoleptic
(6,002 posts)North of the cheddar curtain they call us F@&kin' Illinois Bastards or Flatlanders.
Paulie
(8,462 posts)Flying through the iPass lanes without paying their fair share of the $2 a toll every 5 miles while laying cheese curds behind them like caltrops.
Archae
(46,364 posts)GO PACK!
"Da Bears still suck..."
ProfessorGAC
(65,321 posts)Bear fan, here. I just had to do that.
GAC
The Doctor.
(17,266 posts)These morons are getting all worked up to take out all their fears and anger on anyone they perceive as 'liberal'.
This is only going to get worse.
Shankapotomus
(4,840 posts)All the bad press the Righties are getting is starting to get to them. They need to lash out and this moron chose you.
BeHereNow
(17,162 posts)I'm glad no one was hurt.
BHN
Snarkoleptic
(6,002 posts)Their anguish is most delicious!
Aerows
(39,961 posts)Thus not using gas, thus reducing demand for gas... raises the prices on gas? Clever use of reverse capitalism there, my friend. I guess if we all drove gas guzzlers and increased the demand for gas it would be cheaper.
jillan
(39,451 posts)You know what they say about men who drive big SUVs, don't you
Archae
(46,364 posts)Didn't want to get beat up though, for waving my pinky.
The guy was mad enough at me as it was.
You see, I questioned his "wisdom" for driving a Hummer instead of a minivan.
jillan
(39,451 posts)Just the thought of how much it costs to fill up their 'status symbol'.
Selatius
(20,441 posts)If you're somebody making a six or seven digit annual income after taxes, it wouldn't matter to you how much money you spend on gas. If, however, you're somebody only pulling a five digit income, it matters a lot more.
Plenty of people have status symbols. Few actually have the power behind those objects, and that's why they are called the 1%. There's so few of them.
BiggJawn
(23,051 posts)One of these days the guy I see every morning in his lemon-yellow H2 is going to chase me down and ask what the deal with the pinky finger is...
Warpy
(111,407 posts)and it was being driven off the air base. Those penis extenders have been parked in this town, the owners garaging them and hoping either for cheaper gas or some Hollywood producer looking for them for a film, willing to pay a premium price for one.
Vehicles even here in the wild west seem to get smaller every year.
Walk away
(9,494 posts)krispos42
(49,445 posts)...because you hadn't gotten it recently.
nadinbrzezinski
(154,021 posts)and how up ended it is, has he?
At least he did not physically threaten you, which is always a potential problem with somebody like that.
progressoid
(50,008 posts)I have a close relative who rides all the time an isn't a "tree-hugger".
rufus dog
(8,419 posts)But the logic of a Hummer driver escapes me.
Edit to add:
During the gas embargo I rode my bike to my cousins house. When I cut through a gas station one guy went off on me, cussed me out, called me names I had never heard. I was 10 years old.
newspeak
(4,847 posts)Good come back. "I can't afford a car."
Rosa Luxemburg
(28,627 posts)Turbineguy
(37,386 posts)he's the reason credit cards charge 29% interest. He's too fucking stupid to notice.
Zalatix
(8,994 posts)Tea Partiers need to be shown the most severe level of hostility and militance that is legally allowable.
They need to be shown that we won't take their bullshit, ever.
pinboy3niner
(53,339 posts)taterguy
(29,582 posts)They're only a few bucks.
Pumps at gas stations are designed for car tires, which are much larger than bike tires.
It's way too easy to overinflate and that leads to your tire blowing up.
I speak from experience.
ProfessorGAC
(65,321 posts)Big oops. The gauge said it was at the right pressure, but no. I got 200 feet from the gas station and boom.
GAC
dembotoz
(16,864 posts)done it a couple times myslelf
trouble is my kids keep breaking the foot pumps.......
Archae
(46,364 posts)Kind of difficult to bring it along on a bike ride.