the rix mix

Jill writes:

I just got home from getting my hair done. My local gas station, where I paid $30 to fill up a Corolla last night at $3.85/gallon, is today charging $3.99. It is 95 degrees out on June 7 in New Jersey. Southbound traffic on the Garden State Parkway is almost nonexistent, which means that most ancient of Jersey Rites, the day trip "down the shore" has gone the way of the Flagship, Denison Clothiers (where money talks and nobody walks), and Murray the K. No one is talking about vacations. No one is talking about anything but the price of gas. I spent $91 at the A&P on fruit, coffee, cheese, a package of pork chops, a package of Laura's Grass-Fed Lean Ground Beef, a box of panko bread crumbs, some low-fat ice cream bars, and a cheesecake for Mr. Brilliant's birthday. And Sean Hannity is talking about how Barack Obama "will move this country in a direction that is so radical that it will shock your senses."

C'mon let's talk about Spam (always on sale now, they love it in Hawaii), 80% ground beef (the kind that shrivels into nothing as it gives up the grease & water), imitation sandwich slices (the not-cheese cheese), a shrink-wrapped angel food cake from the day old bin for Mr. B. What's wrong with Jello? Let's talk about sacrifice. Let's do it to Support the Troops. Let's pretend something frighteningly radical hasn't already happened in America. Let's pretend it's socialists, fearsome liberals, the secular God-hating atheists, Rev. Wright, & sleeper cells of radical Muslims hiding behind their 99 Cent stores in Jersey City. Let's pretend we weren't trashed by All-American white males, unexotic protestants & Catholics, from places like Texas & Wyoming. Let's pretend the speculative $140 barrel of West Texas crude makes no one obscenely rich. Let's pretend it's all because we're not drilling for more oil in Alaska & for natural gas offshore of Virginia Beach. Let's pretend it's about lesbians kissing in California. Let's pretend the people running GM & Ford & Chrysler are visionaries. Let's pretend Mrs. Obama prefers kaftans & hates whitey. Let's pretend there's no drought in Georgia & no tornadoes in Missouri & New Orleans doing just fine thank you. Let's pretend there aren't 4000 plus dead American soldiers & many thousands more than that maimed in body & mind, they're other folks' sons & daughters anyway. Let's pretend all we need is a president who's sort of like George W. Bush but older & not quite George W. Bush so he can make a few minor adjustments & fix everything & we can drive V8 Silverado pickups as family cars again. Yeah, a president who doesn't know iPod from Izod, & all that interweb shit. Let's pretend our senses aren't already shocked. Baby, let's pretend, if we close our eyes & believe, it might come true.