Opinion: Seeing Red With Yellow Carpool Stickers

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As they’d say in England, cheeky bloke, isn’t he?

On eBay, some Californian -– actually someone who says he hails from the ‘’People’s Republic of California’’ –- is selling big bumper stickers the size and shape and color of the ones the state issues to hybrid-car owners qualifying them for the carpool lane.

I’m presuming it is a man; I don’t think women would get this worked up over cars, nor equate carpool hybrid stickers with a state plot ``to remove testicles.’’ He’s on eBay selling the bright yellow stickers, which read: ``[Diamond lane] Access Denied – California Hasn’t Neutered Me,’’ or the alternative, for huge engines, ``[Diamond lane] Access Denied – Cubic Inches Not Kilowatts.’’

The seller is clearly itching for a fight. As his listing reads, ``… CA’s lawmakers are sneaky ones … these are sure to be collectibles once we received the coveted ‘cease and desist’ via certified mail … Just stash a few in a drawer and wait for California to put us out of business!’’

The seller pledges that ``made in USA quality will give you years of grin pleasure as you drive along side that car pool lane giving hybrid owners coronaries’’ –- speeding in what the seller calls ‘’neck-snapping power’’ versus ‘’a car that runs on alkalines.’’

Perhaps he should send one to Gov. Arnold Schwarznegger, to adorn one of his Hummers.

Poor man. He’s evidently furious about hybrid carpool privileges, but I’m afraid the converse isn’t true. Happy hybrid carpoolers won’t become remotely apoplectic at the sight of his parody stickers. More likely, they’ll just generate pity [in addition to kilowatts]: driving a gas-hog vehicle these days is already its own pricey punishment.