Haven't been listening much to the news lately. A lot of it is dedicated to Kate and -- who is it? -- one of Princess Diana's kids getting married. I may watch the wedding if it's on at a decent hour (after noon), but I find all the reports on rumors and who's invited and who's not terribly tedious. I wasn't invited. I hadn't really expected to be. I wouldn't go anyway because it would involve flying.
Anyway, this impending wedding and Donald Trump are sucking up all the oxygen and I'm not particularly interested in either one of them.
So I just now saw the clip of the Comrade giving advice on how we should handle the skyrocketing cost of gasoline. He says something like, "Well, buy an electronic car. And, by the way, you could attach a windmill to it while you're at it."
I mean, I'm really beginning to think that this president is having some sort of a breakdown. Is this guy kidding or what?
A. Where the hell do you get the money to buy a way over-priced vehicle that really doesn't go very far? And who would want to anyway?
B. Windmills and solar are useless when it comes to automobiles... And pretty useless otherwise, too. As well as ugly and overpriced. And when it comes to windmills, downright dangerous.
But the Comrade does know how to campaign. Things get tough, the country's going to hell in a hand basket, so the Comrade gets on his walkin' shoes and hits the road to schmooz a bunch of college kids.
What the hell is this?
I almost feel sorry for him. He's in so far over his head. The only problem is, all of us peons out here in the hinterland must suffer the consequences of his bad and/or entirely lacking decision-making.
Buy an electric car?
Really. That's just appalling. For one thing, where do you get the electricity to power up the damn thing? Or doesn't the Comrade's reasoning extend that far into real life? Maybe he thinks electricity just magically comes from the little man who lives in the wall and operates the electric socket.
How about drilling for oil in the USA, moron? Doesn't that sound just a tad more relevant?
Like, did you ever try to make your bed with your cat in the middle of the mattress and refusing to move? "Just work around me." Cats at least have the excuse of not having any real brains... Of course, that might apply to the Comrade, too. But it's not cute when the Comrade does it.
And did hear that Speaker of the House John Boehner suggested eliminating the tax breaks the oil companies get. As a first reaction, I'd have to ask: what the hell has he been smoking?
On second thought, however, since the oil companies aren't allowed to actually produce any oil, maybe they don't deserve any tax breaks. No fault of their own. I do believe the tax breaks are granted to accommodate the cost of exploration. And they aren't allowed to explore, beyond sitting at their desks, looking at maps and staring vacantly into space. So....
Anyways, we've all heard about Louis XVI and his lovely bride, Marie Antoinette. I was even at Versailles once. The tour guide showed us the very room where the peasants were invited to come and watch the queen eat breakfast.
At any rate, people in France were starving. So heavily taxed -- doors and windows were taxed, for example -- and harshly controlled and regulated. Yet Louis failed to heed the advice of Swiss economist Colbert, who recommended that to fix the economy, the king should just "laissez faire" or "leave them alone."
At some point, possibly after La Bastille prison was torn down brick-by-brick by a few disgruntled citizens, someone tried to explain to blockhead Marie that the peasants had no bread. She replied very nonchalantly, "Let them eat cake."
She was reportedly so stupid, so surrounded by yes-people and luxury that it's likely she was unaware that people had no cake, either. And I believe a better translation has revealed that she actually suggested brioche rather than cake...
So Marie Antoinette eventually was beheaded, along with her idiot husband, Louis XVI, all of her children, her ladies in waiting, seamstresses, the lady who powdered her wig and washed her stockings, the people who lived on the same street, all of their relatives, etc etc. Robespierre et. al. were really determined to get rid of every last trace of these pompous morons. That was when La Guillotine rose to prominence as a significant social influence in France.
So anyway, Versailles is pretty "magnificent" in a typically French way -- dripping decoration and ornamentation, all kinds of frills and scrollwork. Though the palace was curious empty of much furniture. The guide noted that most of it had been carried off by revolutionaries, and whatever could be recovered was probably in the Louvre.
Versailles is some ways out of Paris. So after the tour and wandering the grounds at Versailles (Marie had a real, working farm installed on the premises, complete with a peasant family, so that she could have a pastoral view from her window), I was standing with a couple other Americans waiting for the bus to take us back to the city. A Coke machine was conveniently located right there, filled with these little 6-0z., old-fashioned bottles of Coke. And as we're standing there talking, one of the Americans lowers his voice a bit so as not to offend any natives, and said, "Well, I can see why they had a revolution."
Yeah. Right.
So let them drive electric cars!
Save the Republic.
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