Relationships

Lets take a test drive?

Perhaps it’s time to take a car for a ride, and see if I can still remember how to drive.

That feeling of wondering about maybe driving again. What would I drive given the chance? One of those new modern cars, I hear the damn alternators are water cooled, or would I be more at home with a car that has a little less newfangled high maintenance features.

A car with experience in the ways of driving – one that drives itself instead of relying on constant user feedback?

Perhaps a car that can both drive itself and allow a little mutual road rally dancing – autopilot or drive by the seat of the pants.

Where is the comfort zone with this new means of transport? Does it need premium fuel or cough sputter and croak? Can it live off the land a little? How about a little fresh table scraps in the flux capacitor (Back To The Future style). Oh how precious to go with the flow.

I can remember the smell of leather seats when getting into a new car for the first time in ages. As apposed to the familiar I know every creak and vibration, the response to the steering wheel of the bumpy dirt road vs. the roll and sway of a lane change as we motor down the highway.

Remember that Fall cruise for the colors, and being one with the car so well that you can look around at the tree lines and clutch/shift/steer/brake completely detached from the act of driving? And then get behind the wheel of a car never before driven, and you cant find the windshield wipers, how do you turn on the lights, how do the brakes feel, can I start this damn thing without having my foot on the brake? Autopilot.

Those of you who have been reading this blog since the beginning, know where what I think about the relationship between Condoleezza Rice and George W. Bush. Which is why, I find this editorial at USA Today particularly provocative :

It's hard to think of a good reason [Dick Cheney] should remain in office and logical to assume that some Republicans are pushing him to leave. It could be on "doctor's orders." He's 65 with serious heart problems.

Bush then could name a vice presidential successor who they hope might be nominated and win in '08. But the appointment would need approval of both houses of Congress. With control shifting to the Democrats in January, time may be of the essence.

Likely on the short might-be list (alphabetically):

•Bill Frist, 54, Senate majority leader from Tennessee.

•Rudy Giuliani, 62, former mayor of New York City.

•John McCain, 70, U.S. senator from Arizona.

•Condoleeza Rice, 52, secretary of State.

You know what --it wouldn't shock me if this were true. Especially with the prospect of Dick Cheney's impeachment.

Whether the political-industrial machine or Big Conservative Media want it or not, the case for impeachment is still very real and very much on the table. So it wouldn't shock me if, just for the shock value, Bush let's Cheney go to have Condoleeza as his rightful successor.

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Lorraine needs your blessings. Her boyfriend, who was just 43, died suddenly of a brain hemorrage. He had no know medical condition. The actually had had a wonderful night out, only marred by the splitting headache that was to cost him his life.

To say she is devastated is to put it mildly.

Pondering about the gift of love and the sorrow of death, I looked to the Tao Te Ching for widsom. I found this:

Verse 16, Tao Te Ching
Empty your mind of all thoughts.
Let your heart be at peace.
Watch the turmoil of beings,
but contemplate their return.

If you don't realize the source,
you stumble in confusion and sorrow.
When you realize where you come from,
you naturally become tolerant,
disinterested, amused,
kindhearted as a grandmother,
dignified as a king.
Immersed in the wonder of the Tao,
you can deal with whatever life brings you,
and when death comes, you are ready.