allegory of texas politics

Music: :Zoviet*France: Collusion (1984)

Thursday night driving home from class, a young man in the neighboring lane motioned to speak with me. After I fumbled for some seconds trying to find the window's controls, I got it down and he said "your back passenger tire is going flat!"

"Thanks for letting me know," I said, "really appreciate that." I drove on it for a little less than a mile until I reached a gas station. After getting quarters from the attendant, I filled the tire back up with air and went home.

Yesterday I went to the annual "welcome back" introduction thing for my department, which is usually followed by a happy hour at a local watering hole. I parked in my assigned garage, which I hate. I think it's insulting that I have to pay over five hundred dollars a year to go to work. UT's Parking and Transportation Service, or PTS, is fiendishly nasty and frequently incompetent; on Thursday, for example, I got a $25 ticket for backing into my car space (which I'm trying to fight).

So, I return to my vehicle and, lo, the back passenger tire is completely flat. In 110-degree weather, it is now my lot to change a tire. Which I do (thankfully, not in the sun, but still it was sweltering). As I was changing my tire, which took me about 25 minutes, three PTS service carts drove past me. A ticket writer passed me about nine or ten times making the rounds in search of the smallest infraction. I made eye contact with him, and one of the service cart drivers. Not one person stopped or offered to help.

That attitude, my friends, is Rick Perry. If you elect this guy, America, you're going to not only pay, but suffer if you ever get down and out . . . .