Are we still the people of courage?

Here at Germany it's allready possible to drive regular with Bio Diesel. Round about 1.800 Stations offer it country wide, the prices are ca. 3 Cent below the price of petrol Diesel. It's produced with 'Raps' (rape?), a yellow flower. I tested it several times with my 1700ccm Ford Sierra Turbo Diesel, there is no difference to petrol diesel by speeding on the Autobahn and no need for a special tuning of the engine. Problem is, by using all possible fields here for growing Raps, it's just 10% of the overall needed diesel amount in Germany. In nearly all municipalities the public autobusses are driven by fluid- gas, but this isn't easy to handle and you need extra expensive equipement in your privat car for using it.

Homebudz, how much would I like to ride a fire breathing road demon , but until I find a way, to transport my bike two times over the ocean without needing to become a millionaire, I'll drive this one the next few years. I drove BMW and Moto Guzzi in earlier times, really good bikes too, some Oldtimers, like NSU and Zuendapp too, but a Harley is a Harley, especially on the mountain roads here near by Munich. What do you think about the VROD? At the moment I think about buying me one after the Sporty, although a lot of people say, this isn't a true Harley. If the Euro stands good against the Dollar and you can make a good price, may be, I buy and customize my next bike at your shop, what would need only one oversea transport. Do you know, wether there is a problem, driving a Harley, manufactured for International Countries (digit '5' at the 1st postion of the V.I.N.) within the US? I would like to use this opportunity for a little sightseing trip and even for visiting some members of this forum, if possible, before returning to Germany. Ok, only dreams at the moment, but I allways liked the dreams most, which became real.
Sorry, Goddes Om, for getting a little bit offtopic, but you mentioned the Harley first

 

I think life gets in the way of actualy doing something about the issues we are concerned in.. you'd like to join an activist group.. but the boys scoccer practise is on thursday.. or annie's school recitial is on friday night.. and the car needs overhauld, the taxes are due..the mortage is due the kids collage fund.. grandma has alshimers..the kids need braces.. yes I think life gets in the way of living.. we all agree that something must be done.. but where to begin..

 

Ups, shameless, sounds as if you have all the conditions to become quite a good blues musician.
Why not begin by playing the blues?
Dont' Forget To Boogie!!!

 

ba ba da da dum...dum..dum...

I've got the...

"Soccer ball,overhaul,taxman at the door,
Granny don't know my name any more,
crooked teeth,
Wanna get involved,
But life got in the way...
BLUES"....



I know how ya feel, life has a habit of sneaking up on you, just when you got all your plans laid out.
Pesky life.

 

LMAOOO teepi.. ya got it goin' on..I'll get out the saxifone and u grab luvndrumn.. who will we get for vocals.. I can sing if anyone wants the sax.. I have a guitar and a harmonica..woohooo.. we got a band goin' on now.. maybe Goddess Om can play the flute.. Homesbudz on the pipes.. gate and blackie can sing backup.. southernman can play the fiddle..

 

..........

 

where the hell has everyone gone? there are more than enuf people in this country who want change. what's the problem?

 

we're old n tired.. we wanna rest.. between the kids and grandbabies who has energy to protest..we want our remotes and our easy chair.. we want to get lost in the in the morning air..just five minutes of quiet would be nice.. before I have to cook the beans and brown rice.. I'd like to stop the war in Iraq..and bring all the soliders back.. to feed the hungry and heal the sick.. to do all that would be quite a trick.. we'd have to be ten million and more.. to even get past the dubyas front door.. when we got in we'd give him a hit.. of what used to be call the good shit.. then he'd be smillin' just like us.. the smile that comes when ya got a buzz.

 

There used to be MASSES of people willing to stand up and take risks and try to bring about change in all kinds of things, from politics to peoples attitudes to accepting each others differences.
We started an experiment....and on a large scale some of it worked some didn't.
Civil rights came about but predjudice against skin colors is still here.
People became more aware of their environment, but big business (alot not all) ignores it.
Women are yo-yo'ed back and forth on the equal rights amendment and the abortion issue.
The chasm between upper and lower class is widening with middle class slowly disappearing.
But most of all GREED seems to have gotten such a foothold in peoles, lives.attitudes and actions.
More and more of the people I talk to have become so disillusioned with their lives and dreams...when it has become such a sruggle to just get by everyday, and now they have (like SHAMELESS says) the kids or the grandkids to worry about, and prices are going up and up and they worry if their going to lose their job, and they need just a tiny bit of help maybe from the Gov't because their job doesn't offer healthcare..but damn they make too much money to get just a little help, and they;re making 8.00 an hour but according to the powers that be "thats too much money",,,you can become disillusioned. You're ideals may take a backburner, while you're just trying to feed your family. You have to turn your back on 'this' to take care of 'that'....
And at the end of the day you are no more ahead than you were last year...
yeah, it can make you tired.

THEN we can talk about the "lemming attitude" that it seems more and more of the masses are adopting....
The Goverment needs to be run like a business, not an "old Boys Network" but the masses will stand in awe and rally around "their" candidate....who is telling them just what they want to hear, all the while KNOWING that once he gets elected...most of what he's running on will be thrown out the white house window..
The first time Clinton ran I worked for a newspaper in Norfolk Va. tremendous amount of military there and I lived with my girlfriend...
Clinton was all for Gays in the military..and remember "national Healthcare"...healthcare across the board, for EVERYONE???
Well as soon as he got in office you started hearing less and less about the healthcare,
hell, "it's big business Bill, can't fuck with the big boys"....
And while there is the "don't ask, don't tell" policy in the military, gays are still treated as if it has to be a big secret 'cause there's something wrong with them...actually I personally liked that gays wern't allowed..it gave my husband his way out back in 1969.

My point is....there comes a time when you have to accept that you can do what you can do, most of us older people gung ho'd it then, and now we want to bask in the light that we have made in our lives. I still write letters, and I still spout off, but mostly I think its to make myself feel better...lol
I am still a person of courage, I live my life how I want, alot of people think Larry and I are strange...but it takes courage to do your own thing and not be afraid to be different.

Sorry this is too long, but you all know how I get.
teepi

 

thanks teepi. that was a good post. i see your point. i just have one question for everyone though.

if a youth movement would rise up in the us today, wouldn't the 30-50 year olds back em?

 

if a youth movement would rise up in the us today, wouldn't the 30-50 year olds back em?[/QUOTE]I'm sure we would back them. Personally, like teepi, I do all I can, whether that is email activism, or turning up at rallies and marches etc. You guys who have not done that for a while should go just for old times sake. You have no idea the shivers that go up your spine when you're in there with a couple of thousand people and you actually "get it" that yes, maybe this CAN make a difference. That's the way it used to feel. We let the porpaganda put us off. We let the mortgage and the lack of time put us off, INSTEAD OF SIMPLIFYING AND PRIORITISING. I have been as guilty of that as anyone else, but if we stick to our principles we will MAKE time. An hour less watching TV, or whatever. We need to get inspired and motivated. Take the grandkids in and march with them...the last march I went to I nearly cried with joy to see grandparents, parents and little kids all side by side. It will teach the little ones about what is important in life and they will thank you for it later. Honestly!

 

I am a big rally-er, it's a highlight of my life. Unfortunately during the last year I have had a grueling work schedule, but I still make time for protests etc of most kinds if I can possibly attend. I especially love picket lines (have done my share of them and reaped rewards from standing my/our ground as one of many unified workers), have marched in lots of labor rallies, and related political activities. If today's youth started an uprising I would be there in full force (exciting!). It's what we ALL need, apathy is such a dead end. I pass out buttons and stickers to my kids' college age friends (or any age), and try to teach them the path, whatever they perceive as an issue, then get out and be vocal about it. We need the "kids" to get active and carry on. Activism is important, just to be passionate about a cause. One voice can create many voices, and even one voice can be heard. Don't ever doubt it.

 

I've seen people use it before. They also had a big exhibition of it at a festival I went to earlier this summer. It really is brilliant! When I need to get a car, I'll make sure I get a diesel engine, and start making bio-diesel for it....

 

well, something is coming like it or not. there's a lot of electricity in the air. i've never seen this country so divided. i've never seen so many people come out against a "president".

all these movements are gonna start converging and pretty soon we'll all see the light.

and a little fyi on the biofuel. hemp produces more biomass per acre than any other crop. that's one of the top five reasons hemp is still so prohibited in the US.

 

that was so beautiful!!! ya know whats sad, i realized that this world is run by suvs, starbucks, and cell phones. haha amazing.

 

omg.. I drive an SUV.. but I am redeemed.. I have no cell phone nor do I go to startbucks..ha!!.. I'd had to drive 50 miles for starbucks and I drink tea anyway..

 

People have more in common with their grandparents than their parents, I've found. Can't quite imagine dragging my grandad out in his wheelchair to storm Whitehall.

 

ya never know.. self control.. he may enjoy it.. your granddad prolly has a lot to protest about.. as in seeing more BS for longer a time

 

Right On Sister!!
Thats exactly what its all about....learning and teaching, giving of yourself and accepting,.... there has to be balance.
If you don't have alot of time,... alot your time,...and do what you can...everything counts.
teepi

 

there are no marches or rallies around here.. in texas..cant travel far cuz of the livestock and my doggies.. I have writen letters to gov. officials and to the newspapper editorials.. I plan to vote.. but GOD help me I don't know who for.. Kerry is a french ho's puppet and dubya.. well he's dubya.. what to do.. I would like Robin Williams for Pres. he has a way of telling it like it is..plus he's funny.. how can we do whats best for the people when we have such a limited choice.. the worst of the two evils.. well I don't know..