I was blamed for the high cost of gasoline today.

[Archae]

I had my bicycle at the gas station across the street, putting air in the tires.

Guy in an H2, fills up his gas hog and starts yelling at me.
"You tree-huggers are costing me money!"

I figures this guy has to be an FIB.
I was right.
Illinois plates, and "liberal hunting license" on back bumper.

I asked the dimwit why he was whining at me since I can't afford a car, and why he *HAD* to drive a fat gas-guzzling H2.

"I need it for my family!"

I remind him a minivan has more room and sucks less gas.

Guy tells me to fuck off and roars off down the station's driveway.

I notice guy had a Tea Party window decal.

Today's GOP.

[baldguy]

1. Taking personal responsibility once again.

[PDJane]

2. How does your driving a bike mean higher gas?

He should be grateful you're lessening the demand.

[Archae]

5. Apparently riding a bicycle = "enviro-wacko liberal" in conservafairyland.

Rush said so!

[The Genealogist]

14. I feel this attitude sometimes in the Ozarks

The attitude that people who ride bikes or take buses are "poor trash" or hippie-librul-commie-pinkos. Taking the bus is a daunting, time-consuming process in a city where large swaths of town have absolutely no bus service, or once-an-hour routes that stop running before rush hour is even over, and just planning how to get from point A to point B can be tedious for someone unfamiliar with the city buses. As for bike riders, they put their lives on the line when they go out, as this is a VERY auto-centric city, where motorists are often ignorant of bike riders. Even walking can be deadly, or at least scary. I've been legally in crosswalks, only to have cars nearly hit me making turns, or drivers impatient with my not getting out of the road fast enough to suit them lead them to nudge up close to me to chase me out of the street so they can get where they are going because THEY are so important and the law doesn't apply to them. And yes, Springfield, MO is VERY much "conservafairyland," as you put it.

[Arugula Latte]

3. Gawd, Republicans have really gone off the deep end.

How did we get so many angry, insane people in this country?

[Devil_Fish]

31. Two words: "faux snooze"

[madokie]

54. If ever you've posted a truth you just did with that statement

faux noise and rushbo are why we are where we as a country are today.
I like truth tellers

[Arugula Latte]

64. As well as the embattled bloated hate radio gasbag himself, I guess.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

4. I'd love for there to be a large study (with brain scans) of right wingnuts

I'm certain their brains are fucked up.

[saras]

34. It's being done, but science moves slowly at best, and even more so when corporations control it.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/101615909

[lunasun]

6. FIB

For those outside the midwest = F***in Illinois Bastard

used in surrounding states

[anti-alec]

45. Hey! I'm in Chicago!

No FIB found so far, but I suspect that the Mercedes SUV that cut me off trying to get off I-90 is Rahm...

[Viking12]

55. They only become FIB when thet leave the state of IL

[anti-alec]

66. Ah.

So when I leave, I will not slap a tea party decal nd go get soused on the drive bck then'

[lunasun]

65. I never thought of him as a danger on the streets , he does enuf damage

inside @ City Hall(IMO) but could be him !

[ProfessorGAC]

57. Hey, I Resemble That Remark

I'm from Illinois. Live pretty close to the Indiana state line too. Not right on it, but maybe 30 miles west.

I sure hope i'm not an FIB.
GAC

[Justice wanted]

7. Okay being a "stupid" here but what's an H2?

[Arugula Latte]

10. Hummer.

Gi-normous, gas-sucking, obnoxious vehicle. By definition, if you own one, you're an asshole.

[geardaddy]

56. And have a small penis.

[Archae]

11. Hummer.

The ones seen on the highways.

[sharp_stick]

12. A Hummer

They had the big ass H1 pretending to be like the military hummvee only on a Tahoe body, that was followed up by the cheaper and unbelievably uglier H2 version, usually sported by men seriously lacking in a certain body part and totally pissed off at the fact. Following that was the pathetic H3 girlie hummer.

[jmowreader]

29. The H1 WAS the military Hummvee

The H2 is the rebodied Tahoe.

[laundry_queen]

38. A penis extension. nt

[Gold Metal Flake]

42. A poseur. A surprisingly delicate piece of shit.

[Mopar151]

44. H2's are fake Hummers (so are H3's)

Militaristically styled body on a Chevy Blazer chassis. How to tell a fake Hummer? A real, H1 Hummer is the civilian version of the HUMVEE military tactical vehicle. You could drive it over 2 milk crates, stacked. An H2 can't make it over a single milk crate without hanging up.

[onehandle]

8. I knew it was your fault. nt

[pa28]

9. Your tale is well composed and most absorbing my friend. n/t

[Archae]

13. Eh, it just happened, that's all.

I've lost track of the number of times I've encountered assholes in the bigger SUV's, and either I've nearly been run over, been cussed at or had a horn blasted at me.

[pa28]

16. Sorry about that.

Lately it seems that truth is stranger than fiction. I'm still trying to adjust.

[Archae]

17. I know, I keep thinking right-wingers can't get any worse.

And they keep proving me wrong.

Just look at their war on women.

[Ron Obvious]

15. Ah, so you're the one.

Ah, so you're the one, eh?

Never mind. As you can tell from my avatar, I'm a fellow cyclist and get this kind of shit all the time. I'm happy when it's no worse than name-calling and not, say, a beer can thrown at my head when I'm riding.

[Archae]

19. I've had that.

Never been hit, fortunately.

What bugs me more is when some idiot screams in my ear as they pass me.

Because of the doppler effect and road noise, the scream comes out "GYTH MER DILL!" or something like that.

[Ron Obvious]

24. Never been hit either

I've never been hit either in about a dozen or so attempts. The screaming in my ear is sadly extremely common, especially in the case of two boys and a girl in a pick-up truck. It seems to be a testosterone thing.

I've found that if I act as though I'm writing down their license plate number in my smart phone and pretend to call it in, they shut up immediately even if they'd been trying to run me off the road just before. I suppose that'll work until I hit the genuine nutter again who'll pull out a gun. That happened to me once years ago in Texas and I'm still shaking thinking about it. I'm always worried I'm going to run into someone like that again.

[proud2BlibKansan]

18. What's an FIB?

[Archae]

20. F***ing Illinois Bastard.

Some idiot from Illinois.

They have to have:

Illinois license plate
Filthy back hatch or trunk lid (says "Wash me&quot
Stupid right-wing bumper sticker (the guy who yelled at me had "Liberal hunting license" on his bumper)

[ProfessorGAC]

58. Good, I'm Not An FIB Then

I drive a 32 mpg convertible in the summer, and an old 31mpg BMW in the winter, and i have never had a bumper sticker on any car i've ever had.

Now, i will cop to the filthy trunk lid. Cars are merely a tool to me, not a status symbol. Although i do like a ragtop.
GAC

[baldguy]

21. .

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=fib

[Snarkoleptic]

26. We Illinoisans call Wisconsinites "Cheeseheads".

North of the cheddar curtain they call us F@&kin' Illinois Bastards or Flatlanders.

[Paulie]

30. And toll cheats!

Flying through the iPass lanes without paying their fair share of the $2 a toll every 5 miles while laying cheese curds behind them like caltrops.

[Archae]

32. Proud Cheesehead here!

GO PACK!

"Da Bears still suck..."

[ProfessorGAC]

59. Pfffffffffffffffffffffffffttttttttttt!

Bear fan, here. I just had to do that.
GAC

[The Doctor.]

22. This is bad.

These morons are getting all worked up to take out all their fears and anger on anyone they perceive as 'liberal'.

This is only going to get worse.

[Shankapotomus]

23. LOL They're losing it

All the bad press the Righties are getting is starting to get to them. They need to lash out and this moron chose you.

[BeHereNow]

27. Actually, I wouldn't laugh... these people are dangerous.

I'm glad no one was hurt.
BHN

[Snarkoleptic]

28. We're witnessing the death throes of the republiclown party.

Their anguish is most delicious!

[Aerows]

25. Riding a bicycle

Thus not using gas, thus reducing demand for gas... raises the prices on gas? Clever use of reverse capitalism there, my friend. I guess if we all drove gas guzzlers and increased the demand for gas it would be cheaper.

[jillan]

33. You should've laughed in his face and said - I'm not the one paying for gas.

You know what they say about men who drive big SUVs, don't you

[Archae]

37. I was tempted to do that!

Didn't want to get beat up though, for waving my pinky.
The guy was mad enough at me as it was.

You see, I questioned his "wisdom" for driving a Hummer instead of a minivan.

[jillan]

41. Here in Az, there are plenty of Hummers on the road.... it makes me laugh

Just the thought of how much it costs to fill up their 'status symbol'.

[Selatius]

53. People who bitch about the cost of filling up their SUV aren't rich.

If you're somebody making a six or seven digit annual income after taxes, it wouldn't matter to you how much money you spend on gas. If, however, you're somebody only pulling a five digit income, it matters a lot more.

Plenty of people have status symbols. Few actually have the power behind those objects, and that's why they are called the 1%. There's so few of them.

[BiggJawn]

49. The Pinky Wave...

One of these days the guy I see every morning in his lemon-yellow H2 is going to chase me down and ask what the deal with the pinky finger is...

[Warpy]

35. I've only seen one of those dinosaurs on the road since the fall of 2008

and it was being driven off the air base. Those penis extenders have been parked in this town, the owners garaging them and hoping either for cheaper gas or some Hollywood producer looking for them for a film, willing to pay a premium price for one.

Vehicles even here in the wild west seem to get smaller every year.

[Walk away]

36. Please be careful. These folks are very stupid and very dangerous! nt

[krispos42]

39. Ask him where your high-gas-price royalty check was...

...because you hadn't gotten it recently.

[nadinbrzezinski]

40. Dimwit has not figured out law of supply and demand

and how up ended it is, has he?

At least he did not physically threaten you, which is always a potential problem with somebody like that.

[progressoid]

43. Also a failed assumption about bike riders.

I have a close relative who rides all the time an isn't a "tree-hugger".

[rufus dog]

46. The logic of a bicyclist costing a Hummer driver escapes me

But the logic of a Hummer driver escapes me.

Edit to add:

During the gas embargo I rode my bike to my cousins house. When I cut through a gas station one guy went off on me, cussed me out, called me names I had never heard. I was 10 years old.

[newspeak]

62. or, how's those speculators on wall street doing?

Good come back. "I can't afford a car."

[Rosa Luxemburg]

47. Moran

[Turbineguy]

48. Tell him

he's the reason credit cards charge 29% interest. He's too fucking stupid to notice.

[Zalatix]

50. I would have said "fuck off and get lost, don't talk to me, EVER!" first.

Tea Partiers need to be shown the most severe level of hostility and militance that is legally allowable.

They need to be shown that we won't take their bullshit, ever.

[pinboy3niner]

51. I knew it was you!1!!

[taterguy]

52. Seriously dude, invest in a floor pump

They're only a few bucks.

Pumps at gas stations are designed for car tires, which are much larger than bike tires.

It's way too easy to overinflate and that leads to your tire blowing up.

I speak from experience.

[ProfessorGAC]

60. Happened To Me, Too

Big oops. The gauge said it was at the right pressure, but no. I got 200 feet from the gas station and boom.
GAC

[dembotoz]

61. they go boom really loud

done it a couple times myslelf

trouble is my kids keep breaking the foot pumps.......

[Archae]

63. I have a tire pump, but I keep it at home.

Kind of difficult to bring it along on a bike ride.