MAD AS HELL

I normally eschew the political (outside of the dog game, that is), however, yesterday’s events require that every citizen get angry. Anyone my age can remember the great black comedy NETWORK, written by the brilliant Paddy Chayefsky, and starring Peter Finch in a Oscar winning turn. The 1976 movie skewers the news industry for pandering to a gullible public. The most memorable scene in the movie occurs when the crazy as a loon anchorman, Howard Beale (Finch), on air incites viewers to go to their windows, throw open the sash, and scream, “I’m as mad as Hell and I’m not going to take it anymore!”



Well this is me, Old Dog New Tricks, encouraging you to do the same. However, I want you to use every 21st century mode of communication (e-mail, You Tube, text message, Facebook, etc) you can to let your elected/appointed officials and the oil company robber barons they serve that we are ALL as mad as Hell and we aren’t going to take it anymore. Yesterday, all over this country, gas stations, emboldened by their suppliers and cheered on by every sleazy news outlet in the US, raised gas prices by $1.00 a gallon and higher, in the space of a couple of hours, on the unfounded rumors that refineries would be destroyed by hurricane Ike.
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CNN recently promoted a Chicken Little disaster movie masquerading as news analysis, about our vulnerability to foreign oil. In that mockumentary, they morbidly and gleefully predicted that a hurricane would destroy offshore drilling, disable Houston refineries, and leave us at the mercy of Mideastern oil supplies vulnerable to terrorist attack. This disaster scenario continued with terrorist attacks on Saudi oil fields, followed by a worldwide collapse of economies.

Well, it ain’t gonna happen, because I and citizens like me aren’t going to be the bit players in this farce. We Americans, by selective breeding, are a rebellious type. If any elected official wishes to hold onto their pitiful jobs or collect one damn more cent in taxes from us, they better put a stop to this and quickly. As a former journalism student, I have mourned the lack of any integrity in modern news reporting. I am aghast at the rampant doomsday cheerleading practiced by these entertainment outlets who pretend to be news sources. I’m not sure I can even trust PBS, much less the networks, or their bastard cable children. If ever there was a time for Americans to take back their country it is now.


To bring it back to topic, I am not giving up traveling to dog shows because some oil company CEO, network exec, or hand out politician, wants to milk me for my last dollar. The goose that laid the golden egg is fighting back!