Although I had hoped to expound upon another topic, those delightful paranoiacs who put so much faith in their handguns continue to escalate my agita.

Last week, I came across an article in the Atlanta Journal Constitution about an altercation that transpired – allegedly – following a minor fender bender.

As the newspaper reported the incident, it was impossible to know exactly what had occurred:

The other day, I recounted to my son, Pete, a story about hitchhiking while a young undergrad at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale.

In 1972, people were neither particularly freaked out about picking up hitchers, nor too scared to thumb a ride.  Songs extolling the praises of riding the asphalt as a free spirit were commonplace (“Me and Bobby McGee”; “Sweet Hitchhiker”; “Hitchin’ a Ride”).

On several occasions, when traveling alone, I played the part of “hitchee.”  During a trip to see several of my Army buddies in New York City, the journey became boring, tiresome, and somewhat daunting – not to mention uncomfortably hot during August in a 1965 Dodge Polara with vinyl seats and no air conditioning.

Let the Teabaggers crow all they want about the “big victories” they’ve scored in primaries around the country.

Their braggadocio, to a large degree, makes quite entertaining television.

All they have done is push viable candidates, who had real chops within the Republican Party, out of numerous races – leaving doors wide open for opponents in the Middle and on the Left to amass votes from more moderate-thinking voters.

Long ago, I ceased to be amazed at the complicity of the corporate-run mainstream electronic media to skew the public discourse in favor of the right, and the arrogance which it displays in doing so.