Off-Roading on the Darkside

We've done it! We, too, have joined the hordes of SUV-owning yuppies! Congratulate us for finally seeing the light. We officially understand why this demographic exists and it certainly has nothing to do with income levels or vehicle fashion trends.

All our Off-Road-Warrior-Wannabees were right all along –how can you possibly navigate dirt roads without your SUV? And the ease of driving through two-foot-deep potholed roads is, as you say, far easier with four-wheel drive. How can you handle the mud generated by the torrential downpour of the rainy season without your oversized wheels? Indeed, we now understand the desire for an SUV and are proud to say we own a baby SUV ourselves.

However, at $7.75 US dollars a gallon for petrol, we want to remind you with the most obnoxious righteousness we can muster in our voices that perhaps the wrong people are paying the costs of the war in Iraq- those trying to eek out a living in the third world. Gas prices here have quadrupled since the invasion of Iraq by the Coalition of the Willing. If they rise any more between now and April harvest, the Coalition or the Unwilling, the poorest 10% in Zambia will starve because of suffocating margins due to increasing transport costs –and this is in a country capable of feeding itself and exporting its surplus (although never to the US, due to our farm subsidies).

Go ahead, consume extra gas and vote Republican. Add fuel to the fire of poverty and starvation. This year, we’ll be right there along with you (minus the voting for Republicans, of course).

Sean & Kate

12/18/05