Prediction: Five by the Fourth

   Is it me or is there irony in the United States shipping all of its manufacturing to China and then scolding the Middle Kingdom for creating too much pollution (not to mention the Reds gladly accept all our toxic, dead tech hardware)?
   Moving forward {the most recent, pervasive, cliche 'd day [probably from the State Department]}, the US will try to scramble to regain economic footing on the globe as we gradually understand that China has purchased almost all of the coastal drilling rights of the Southern Hemisphere with money they have — let's face it — sucked out of US, and that we are about to get screwed nationally if we don't start drilling nearly everywhere reasonable (considering what reasonable environmental impact the drilling would affect).
   Now, I'm sorry a spotted owl or two may have to be relocated, inconvenienced or threatened but we at least have explore for more domestic oil [as part of an overall progressive energy transition, not to mention line of defense], because we're looking at $5 gas buy the 4th of July. And then it will drop down in the autumn to a level which will be known as the new normal — what we can 'live with,' I'd say $4.66 for about eight months.
   Right now, we have every hick and fric 'fracking' and making bundles of money by selling their property rights to natural gas-prospecting land rapers.
   The craze is so popular the Feds have yet to really catch up to it; meanwhile, the poorest of the poor feel like they've hit the lottery when prospectors hold out wads of cash before their once-empty, hazy gaze.
   We're screwed, and in 2001 and 2008 we knew we were going to get screwed and, predictably we let ourselves get screwed anyway.
   I still cannot believe the number of gas-guzzling machines on the road — and half of the time there is one person inside; three-quarters of the time they will have a cell phone plastered to their head. [Half of them are men.] I guess if you get unlimited calling then you feel that paying $60 or $80 at the pump twice a week sorta balances things out?
  I dunno.
   The dearth of smaller and more versatile pick-up trucks or small vans to choose from also continues to stupefy me. The manufacturers just keep making them bigger cuz we Aumericuns likes them monster trucks.
   I'll tell you a secret.
   If you want to take me to a screaming, estrogen-fueled roller derby ruckus; a 50 thousand acre flea market; or even a WWF mash and bash, that's OK — but one American Experience not on my bucket list would be witnessing a dozen multi-diesel-fueled trucks, savagely grinding metal, glass and upholstery, with 22-foot tires shooting dirt 70 feet high  INSIDE  A  FREAKING  DOMED  BUILDING.
   But I digress.
   I'm just going to say it again: it is an absolute crime — there has to be a conspiracy here — that in 2012, in the United States of America, the majority of vehicles produced still do not average 35 mpg.
   There seems no patriotic sense of urgency for our national predicament —  we have known we are vulnerable to the whims of OPEC since the 19freaking70s. Are there really so few qualified bio-fuel or electrical engineers in this country to make this happen?
   [Oddly, BMW, of all outfits, has an offering that carries a 35 mpg. Leave it to the Krauts.]
   End of rant.