~ AUTOSAURUS ~
I like to think of myself as a bit of problem solver…
Like the time (1993-94) when I encouraged our NC tobacco farmers to start talking about commercial hemp as an alternative crop… not because I thought they would actually, necessarily, grow any hemp any time soon, but because I realized that just talking about it would make the Clinton administration, who wanted to raise tobacco taxes (and devalue the farmer's product, etc.) nervous, because they didn’t really want the salt of the earth, back-bone of America, farmers, to come out extolling the benefits of commercial hemp (read: marijuana)… This would pose policy problems, long ranging, for a host of government and BIG BUSINESS interests. (Read Jack Herer’s “The Emperor Has No Clothes”)
And, so, as soon as the word got out, what the farmers were talking about in the fields (growing hemp)… all of a sudden, you just didn’t hear anything else about any tobacco tax increases. Sometimes the best defense is, indeed, a good offense. Yeah, I’ll take credit for creative thinking there…
Little did I realize that a couple of those old farmer guys actually got to work researching and politicking… and, lo, 8 yrs. Later they had the NC General Assembly loosen laws prohibiting the growing of a hybrid; cannabis (hemp) and hibiscus, called KENAF… (Cannabis L). It looks just like cannabis growing in the fields, except it produces a large hibiscus-like flower, that is uterly un-smokable (of course). They built an 8 million dollar plant which produces several products…stable/kennel products (absorbent bedding etc.) and raw fiber for press-formed materials like dashboards. So, now the region has a budding commercial hemp/agro-industry that employs and profits hundreds (thousands?) of people a year in this region. Yeah you can go ahead and give me credit for saving the tobacco farmers, and incidentally, promoting a budding (don't you wish, ha!) commercial-crop industry… Well, let’s just say my hemp exploits were timely, at least. I got some statewide press and TV coverage, and sort of became the area “hemp activist”... a recognition I proudly own up to.
So, the long point is… I’ve been up-to-it again… Thinking about a problem…and trying to solve it with creative thinking… and, perhaps, just a little bit of gall!
And, the problem du jour?
> CARS, CARS, AND MORE DAMN CARS! <>MASS TRANSIT. And many people would love to be able to take the rails or busses… but only a small percentage of commuters, in most cities have mass transit systems to ride.
And then there are the millions of folks that just “aint going to ride a damn bus or train until they make Coupe Devilles (and Escalades) against the law!” And we all know that’s not going to happen. And as much as I’d like to see all the cars gone, I would be the last to vote for a blanket prohibition against the ownership and operation of a personal motor vehicle (check back on that one).
Truly, the best solution, of course, would be the development of clean burning engines like hydrogen and electric, etc. Don’t hold your breath.
Until that day comes, my solution is: everyone should VOLUNTARILY agree to give up their personal (gas-burning) vehicle, as mass transits systems are developed to handle, eventually, more or less, ALL of our transportation needs. (I can hear them laughing clear to the cornfields of Nebraska.)
So, to that end, I propose a contract… an agreement, among those (few?) who will, in the form of a pledge… that: we should all, voluntarily, give up our personal cars… (and here’s the catch) if… everyone else will agree to give up their car(s) too! Ha! E-Z out. I mean, really, what are the chances? Yeah, I know… I’ve got a better chance of getting people to change their religious ideas (see previous post) than to imagine that many people will volunteer to give up the daily gas and go. God, we love them cars!
Still, keeping true to the immaculate concept, I pose, as an example and invitation to all, the following pledge…
Please respond (post your pledge), in the comments section below. Or go to ISOR@localnet.com and let me know your thoughts!
The Cadillac Memorial Pledge:
I, (your name)_Mitch Bowen_ , having the benefit of understanding the wide range of detriments imposed upon the earth, and all its living creatures, by the overuse of millions of dangerous and environmentally intrusive personal automobiles… do, on this Date _ 7-08-06_ , pledge, myself, to voluntarily disown (or, otherwise, not use) my personal vehicle, when such a time may come that the greater majority of people might enjoin this pledge… to rid the world of the scourge of the ages: gas/oil burning automobiles, trucks and other combustion-engine driven vehicles.
Now… that wasn’t so bad was it?
So, lets all get signed up and put an end to this multi-million-headed monster!
Sign up now, and cure the world of car-mania!
We’ve got other problems to get on to!
FYI/ AUTOSAURUS: Extinct, beast of burden; circa late 20th, early 21st century internal-combustion engine-driven machine, designed for the transportation, primarily, of commuters and families by the tens of hundreds of millions.
Causes of extinction: neglect; impracticality; incompatibility with living systems and Earth’s atmosphere; simply put… the cars got tired. Ooo… sorry!
One last thought… DRIVE SAFELY… meanwhile!
Like the time (1993-94) when I encouraged our NC tobacco farmers to start talking about commercial hemp as an alternative crop… not because I thought they would actually, necessarily, grow any hemp any time soon, but because I realized that just talking about it would make the Clinton administration, who wanted to raise tobacco taxes (and devalue the farmer's product, etc.) nervous, because they didn’t really want the salt of the earth, back-bone of America, farmers, to come out extolling the benefits of commercial hemp (read: marijuana)… This would pose policy problems, long ranging, for a host of government and BIG BUSINESS interests. (Read Jack Herer’s “The Emperor Has No Clothes”)
And, so, as soon as the word got out, what the farmers were talking about in the fields (growing hemp)… all of a sudden, you just didn’t hear anything else about any tobacco tax increases. Sometimes the best defense is, indeed, a good offense. Yeah, I’ll take credit for creative thinking there…
Little did I realize that a couple of those old farmer guys actually got to work researching and politicking… and, lo, 8 yrs. Later they had the NC General Assembly loosen laws prohibiting the growing of a hybrid; cannabis (hemp) and hibiscus, called KENAF… (Cannabis L). It looks just like cannabis growing in the fields, except it produces a large hibiscus-like flower, that is uterly un-smokable (of course). They built an 8 million dollar plant which produces several products…stable/kennel products (absorbent bedding etc.) and raw fiber for press-formed materials like dashboards. So, now the region has a budding commercial hemp/agro-industry that employs and profits hundreds (thousands?) of people a year in this region. Yeah you can go ahead and give me credit for saving the tobacco farmers, and incidentally, promoting a budding (don't you wish, ha!) commercial-crop industry… Well, let’s just say my hemp exploits were timely, at least. I got some statewide press and TV coverage, and sort of became the area “hemp activist”... a recognition I proudly own up to.
So, the long point is… I’ve been up-to-it again… Thinking about a problem…and trying to solve it with creative thinking… and, perhaps, just a little bit of gall!
And, the problem du jour?
> CARS, CARS, AND MORE DAMN CARS! <>MASS TRANSIT. And many people would love to be able to take the rails or busses… but only a small percentage of commuters, in most cities have mass transit systems to ride.
And then there are the millions of folks that just “aint going to ride a damn bus or train until they make Coupe Devilles (and Escalades) against the law!” And we all know that’s not going to happen. And as much as I’d like to see all the cars gone, I would be the last to vote for a blanket prohibition against the ownership and operation of a personal motor vehicle (check back on that one).
Truly, the best solution, of course, would be the development of clean burning engines like hydrogen and electric, etc. Don’t hold your breath.
Until that day comes, my solution is: everyone should VOLUNTARILY agree to give up their personal (gas-burning) vehicle, as mass transits systems are developed to handle, eventually, more or less, ALL of our transportation needs. (I can hear them laughing clear to the cornfields of Nebraska.)
So, to that end, I propose a contract… an agreement, among those (few?) who will, in the form of a pledge… that: we should all, voluntarily, give up our personal cars… (and here’s the catch) if… everyone else will agree to give up their car(s) too! Ha! E-Z out. I mean, really, what are the chances? Yeah, I know… I’ve got a better chance of getting people to change their religious ideas (see previous post) than to imagine that many people will volunteer to give up the daily gas and go. God, we love them cars!
Still, keeping true to the immaculate concept, I pose, as an example and invitation to all, the following pledge…
Please respond (post your pledge), in the comments section below. Or go to ISOR@localnet.com and let me know your thoughts!
The Cadillac Memorial Pledge:
I, (your name)_Mitch Bowen_ , having the benefit of understanding the wide range of detriments imposed upon the earth, and all its living creatures, by the overuse of millions of dangerous and environmentally intrusive personal automobiles… do, on this Date _ 7-08-06_ , pledge, myself, to voluntarily disown (or, otherwise, not use) my personal vehicle, when such a time may come that the greater majority of people might enjoin this pledge… to rid the world of the scourge of the ages: gas/oil burning automobiles, trucks and other combustion-engine driven vehicles.
Now… that wasn’t so bad was it?
So, lets all get signed up and put an end to this multi-million-headed monster!
Sign up now, and cure the world of car-mania!
We’ve got other problems to get on to!
FYI/ AUTOSAURUS: Extinct, beast of burden; circa late 20th, early 21st century internal-combustion engine-driven machine, designed for the transportation, primarily, of commuters and families by the tens of hundreds of millions.
Causes of extinction: neglect; impracticality; incompatibility with living systems and Earth’s atmosphere; simply put… the cars got tired. Ooo… sorry!
One last thought… DRIVE SAFELY… meanwhile!
posted by Mitch Bowen | 7:40 PM
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