In an earlier post, I mentioned that part of our country's issue is that our state car is pathetic.  But this story is even worse.

During the question-and-answer session, when the association’s chairman asked Bush his favorite kind of car, Bush said he just bought a Ford Fusion. 

Here we have a presidential hopeful actually claiming to like driving a Ford Fusion.

Now, I get it, his answer is politically motivated.  He wants to get the UAW by throwing support behind a Detroit car.  He wants to get the environmentalists by pimping a green ride.  He wants to get the "common man" by riding a car with a baseline MSRP under $25,000.

I get it, I really do.  But here's the thing...so does everyone.  Jeb, buddy, your last name is "Bush":   you're not going to get the environmentalists to think you're green.  You are part of a (sadly) permanent ruling class:  you're not going to get the common man to think you're "one of the guys" by driving a POS car.   And the UAW, well, your brother started their bailout in '08 and we all saw how well that worked for his party.

There was a time when presidents had cool cars.  FDR had a Packard 12, which may not have looked the manliest, but the whole V-12 engine makes up for that in spades.  JFK had a T-bird convertible <insert-morbid-joke-here>.  LBJ had an Amphicar, which also isn't that manly, but is pretty cool in a quirky way.  Reagan rocked a '52 M-38, a '62 CJ-6, and a '83 CJ-8 (Good year, '83).  Clinton had a '67 Mustang.

You want to get some respect and popularity with we little people?  Three options:

1)  Embrace your wealth.  Get something sporty that the common man would get if he won the lottery.  Get yourself a Maserati, or a McLaren F1, or if you want to be all budget-y, an Audi.

2)  If you must go American, get something with some testosterone.  Get a Wrangler or a maybe borrow a page from your fellow Republican Fred Thompson and campaign in a red pick-up.  If you must buy Ford, get an F-150.

3)  If you're willing to restore, go classic.  As I can personally attest, you can score a CJ in good shape for well under $5,000.  Or find an old Porsche 941 for about $10,000.  Either one screams taste and commitment.

In any case, consider this:  the last time a Republican presidential candidate tried to make a big deal over his USA-made common-man ride, it was Nixon and his '50 Oldsmobile 98...and we all know how that worked out.

Well, I wish I'd have known...

...that this was a valid objection around, say, May of 2013, when the city of Ludowici, GA, was asking how often I had "conjugal fellowship" with my wife.

This bit of levity is provided by Kevin Underhill author of loweringthebar.net, one of the funniest sites out there.

Happy New Year!

Note:  I started this post the day before New Year's Eve.  Unfortunately, I spent New Year's Eve and Day, and the following day with bubbly and a headache.  And by "bubbly," I mean Alka-Seltzer Cold and Flu, and by "headache," I mean one of the top five most painful sinus infections of my adult life.

First, on the global scale, things have never been brighter.

Second, this year's end finds our family in a far better place (figuratively and literally) than last.

For the literally part, we now have our own house where I get to do stuff like put in bathroom shelves and mount D rings to the basement ceiling to swing my kids from.  The initial drain issues have been clear for 6 months or so.  We are not dealing with a front door handle that is frozen, water that stinks, windows with drafts, or a [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] landlord telling us all of the above is "just Montana."  And in our good deed for the year, at least one other couple will not be putting up with that either.

This year also saw the (hopefully) end of the Dot's craniosynostosis adventure.

Since her surgery has resulted in an explosion of development, I shall let the Dot explain her year in her own words:

Get onna air-----plane!

[Dot] fly to Te---xas!

Doctor fix [Dot]'s head!

[Dot]'s head get doo-ty!

[Dot] get a ban--nage!

Fortunately, her scalp has remained closed for most of two months now, so we may have in fact come to the end.

The Squirt added his own amount of fun and terror to the start of our year:

 

Bye-Bye Mommy!  I'll be good!

 

But came through in style and was well enough to accompany his sister on another flight two months later:

Any odd behaviours can probably be blamed on too much upper atmospheric radiation and rarified oxygen at a young age.

Our other added critter to the count, Chaos, has been a welcome addition.  No home is complete without a dog.

 

Last, but certainly not least, the real hero of the year.  While people are constantly impressed by how much of a trooper the Dot is (and she is, no doubt), in my opinion, the Lump has been the one who has soldiered on.  Being unceremoniously dumped at an emergency baby-sitter's for 3 days while Mommy and Daddy dealt with the Squirt's untimely arrival; being left behind during the surgical trip (not that it was that traumatic, since she got Grandma all to herself for a week); a short-notice move and a new dog; getting shorted attention because her siblings take up all of it; she has approached it all with an unflappable stoicism that does her Daddy proud.

Way to go, little girl.

There are several things out-of-place keeping the year from being perfect.  Mainly Nikki and Theseia.  Hopefully both will be repaired and repatriated next year.  The only other thing I could wish for right now is my antenna tuner (hopefully here by the end of January).

Other than that, I'm putting this year down as one of the best we've had.  Here's hoping 2015 will be as good.