[Superman]

I've never done a poll before and I'm thinking it might be a good way to bait you guys. In China, as they say, the respected approach to life is to gain understanding of the flow of the stream, get in the stream and go with the flow. In my country, the premium is on fighting your way upstream while making lots of bubbles.

I'm watching television occasionally these days and can report that I'm a little saddened by a couple of the SUV commercials. I think it's the Cadillac commercial in which the narrator says something to the effect that when you drive an Escalade, traffic will have no choice but to either keep up or "get out of the way." But there is another commercial, perhaps Dodge, where the Dodge driver throws a chain around somebody else's inconveniently-parked PU and DRAGS it out of the way.

Now, I don't mind folks with the "trailblazer" attitude, but my fear is that in America there is a premium on acting like a butthead. Everybody drives a COLOSSAL vehicle because the bigger the better. Nevermind that SUV's create more dangers in a variety of ways than they protect folks from. Nevermind that we're PROUDLY using up 80% of the world's energy and other resources while trashing the environment. And get a load of our favorite behavior......sucking as much personal income out of the community economic trough as we can accumulate unto ourselves. Competition's where it's at, baby. Kickin' asses and takin' names.

So, I'm wondering which of my Pelican friends will admit that this is their attitude as well.