Picketing: Don't glare at ME, Mr. Salesperson. Glare at TOYOTA.

Yesterday as I picketed Toyota in front of West Columbia, South Carolina's new Fred Anderson Toyota dealership, wunna their sales force came out, stood about 10 or 15 yards away, and glared at me for several minutes. That's fine, if that's what the guy wants to do, but I have a suggestion for the lad: Instead of glaring at me, glare at admitted-crook and Coverup King Toyota. You know. The thug you've chosen to sell vehicles for.

You see, I didn't bring this situation about. Toyota brought it about when they refused to acknowledge an obvious manufacturing defect in MR2 Spyders, turning their crooked backs on hapless owners such as myself, out the better part of $10 grand when the engines disintegrated. Leave it to a bully like Toyota to take advantage of the fact that Spyders were a limited production vehicle, thereby making class-action lawsuits as impractical as individual court pursuits.

Crooked automakers like Toyota, GM, and now Honda have learned that it pays to ignore manufacturing defects. After all, they can get free passes from their bought-and-paid-for "safety" stooges like NHTSA, as the government agency's bigshot employees look forward to being rewarded with high payin' jobs in the auto industry. Meanwhile, the Department of "Just Us" stands guard to make sure nobody goes to prison if and when dirty facts are exposed. Short of time-consuming, expensive lawsuits, there really isn't any viable recourse for consumers. Factor in a tail-tucked public, bullied into accepting any kind of crookedness imaginable, and there you have it: a formula par excellence for immoral and illegitimate profits galore at the consumer's expense, both physically and financially. It's called tyranny, something that's come to be the hallmark of this little police-state, corporate-controlled oligarchy and its corrupt, two-headed, one party sham of an electoral system.

What do you expect me to do, Mr. Salesperson? Knuckle under to the crook you work for, and simply kiss the better part of $10 grand goodby? The next time you get the urge to glare at someone, Mr. Toyota Salesperson, focus your gaze on the culprit instead of the victim.

Update 10/21/2014 - NY Times published a GREAT article yesterday about the growing airbag scandal. "Toyota said it would in some cases disable the air bags, leaving a note not to ride in the front passenger seat."