Clinton, Bush and Oprah

I had an interesting conversation with my co-worker, R, today.

It started to be a small lecture about the mechanism of the engine (because of my car problem), then the conversation kept going and going... talked about gasoline, E85* vehicles, corns, hydrogen-powered vehicles, Clinton and Bush, Bush Senior, the war, religions and Iraqi government, and Oprah...

It seems not all are connected, but believe or not, it's all connected and I summarize it here:

Me: "So tell me how the engine starts really?"
R: (long explanation of the engine...)
R: (and more additional explanation of the diesel engine...)←very throughly but I cannot put it here. Too long, or too complicated that I did not understand all...
Me: "Oh, I saw the State of the State last night and the governor was enthusiastically talking about this E85 gasoline"
R: "You know what? Even though she talks about it, it won't happen. Because there is not enough surfaces on earth to produce enough corn to provide everyone E85 gasoline."
Me: "What? then why is she promoting?"
R: "Because somebody gave her money" ←just like this, he says things so dryly
R: "What's better than corn oil, Hydrogen. Hydrogen is way powerful than gasoline and it's clean too."
Me: "Do we have a hydrogen car?"
R: "No, because it's daaaangerous. If you put hydrogen into your tank, and if there is a tiny split or hole in a tank, your vehicle will explode! (gesturing like a bomb exploded with his arms)" ←again very dry
Me: "Well, I guess the automotive industry starts looking into the way to use hydrogen for a vehicle. Gasoline will be gone someday and we need some alternative resources."
R: "I agree. and do you know what the worst thing Clinton did while he was a president?"
Me: (pausing quietly..)
D: "He slept with the intern!" ←suddenly the other co-worker jumped into the conversation with such a comment. I could not help laughing... yes, I believe that's the worst thing :)
R: "yeah, but no, the worst thing he did was that he did not invest money for the hydrogen vehicles!"
Me: "Oh, how about Bush?"
R: "There is no way he will do it. First he got no money. All money was spent for the war. Second, why does he want to do that? Oil is his business. He needs everybody depending on the oil! so he gets money!"
Me: "That's unfortunate for this country, having such a president. I saw that he spent billions of money on this war. And he still wants to spend more. Why is that?"
R: "Because of his dad" ←meaning Bush senior
R: "His dad failed at Gulf war; couldn't get Saddam Hussein then."
Me: "Ok, but Hussein was executed. And Bush is still sending troops. Why?"
R: "Because he is idiot" ←another dry comment
Me: "Is this war in Iraq supposed to be religious war?"
R: "Yeah, between Suni and something"
Me: "So America got nothing to do with that, right?
R: "Right"
Me: "So why are Americans trying to help Iraqi government? It's their war, isn't it?"
R: "Because that's what Americans do. We go out there and help them, even if they do not want to be helped. We force others to believe what we believe. We force others our standard."←still dry. says this as-a-matter-factly
Me: "That's disrespectful!"
R: "Yeah, you know Oprah, she is a good example. She went to Africa and did whatever she wanted to do. It satisfied her, but she does not have any right to invade their cultures and traditions." ←apparently he was very critical about her. I like her ok, but I feel sometimes that she is too much feminist. and I agree with him close to 100% on this one. We have no right. We could give hands if they are asking for help, or if some inhumane things are going on. Otherwise I believe in each one's ability to change and heal...


I think the line whether or not we should help/support others is sometimes very fine. I like the idea to help others if it's really helping them. Like the war in Iraq, I don't believe it is helping them at all. I think it is becoming Bush's war, and not ours or not iraqi's.. I think that Bush probably wants to end it too, having so much deficit and all, but maybe he just doesn't know when and how.

*E85: Alcohol fuel mixture, typically contains up to 85% of ethanol (corn is the primary source of ethanol). It's clean but not so efficient...