The Great American Automobile Boondoggle

The American Motorists is about to make a serious mistake… yet again.

Back in the seventies, when the so-called fuel shortage occurred, Americans began trading the big cars in for those little "gas sipping rattletraps" from overseas and later from the American automakers. As it turned out they were fairly good on gas mileage… if you didn’t mind giving up safety, and comfort, which the standard sized American car afforded.

In time, the gas shortage was seen for what it really was… a hoax… and gas stations, again, had plenty of gasoline. But the American motorists had a pile of junk on his hands. That is… those who survived car crashes in those tiny little things.

Already, I’m seeing ads in papers for SUV’s, and Standard, as well as the Mid-sized, American cars on sale, with prices drastically cut, some thousands of dollars off the price they’d normally bring on the market. Dealers are frightened they will be stuck with the large cars, and trucks, and they’re practically giving them away to cut what they see as losses coming down the road aways.

Now, having said all this… let me say, if you own an SUV, or a standard size automobile, or Pick-up… keep it. At least you’ll be safe in a car crash. Families with small children should keep their SUV’s for the safety of their families, too.

I have a Pick-up and my wife has a standard sized four-door sedan. We plan to keep them. My daughter has one of the largest, if not the largest SUV’s on the market today. She also has two small children, one an infant. That vehicle affords a margin of safety for her, and for her children, that those little beer cans, on wheels, will never provide. So it costs more to fuel up. How can you put a price on the safety of your family, how?

Those little cars, as we have learned, were death traps in a collision with a standard sized vehicle or truck (including SUVs). Reducing the speed limit didn’t do much other than make motorist angry, add to the road rage, and make lots of money, from speeding tickets, for the states and municipalities.

Now, remember what we learned from the 70’s and 80’s when the market was flooded with those little toy cars: the owners were so angry, that some of us did not downsize as they did, they tried to put a guilt trip on all the owners of standard sized cars, and trucks, claiming that when your standard size vehicle hit theirs, in a collision, people tended to get killed in the little car. Well, that was true, but the people in the standard sized vehicle survived!

The point I’m trying to make is that the decision to buy one of those tiny death traps has a price, not shown on the sticker. That is the price of your life and the lives of your families.

The hybrids coming out onto the market today will be featured in the Smithsonian before too many decades are past. The technology is not new; it’s just newly applied.

We need more refineries in this country, built away from the immediate coasts. We need them badly. We have oil. We just have no way to refine enough to meet today’s demands. As soon as we get new refineries built, and the newly refined petroleum products begin to hit the market… watch OPEC”S prices drop like a stone… and their production increase.

Finally we do need to begin serious research into an alternative for oil when it does run out. That is still many years down the road, but we need the research started now.

Until that day arrives we have no real choice but to use what we have. What we have is oil. Be safe, drive your big truck, or car. Drive less, if possible, but think of your safety and the safety of your family.

“Longstreet”

Who's running for President?...Who???

Who for President?

Well, Al Gore says he is not going to run for President in 2008. John Kerry is demonstrating how little he learned from 2004 and seems to be angling, once again, for a “flame out” as the Democratic nominee for 2008.

And then, of course, there’s Hillary. I hate to break it to Kerry, who seems more, and more, to be off in a world separate from the one the rest of us inhabit, that should Hillary deign to offer herself for the Democratic nomination… it is hers. All others need not apply. Maybe Kerry will go join Gore doing whatever it is Gore does. (Something about Moonbat TV, or something like that.)

Now… a quick look at the right side of the political spectrum and we see… oh, no! Not McCain! Yeah, John McCain! Surely this is a joke, right? It must be! At least we Southerners see it as a joke.

Look, McCain has about as much chance of carrying the South as a snowball has in Hades in mid-August! NONE!

The same holds for Rudy Giuliani. He’s a nice guy, a Republican, but he is a moderate and pro-choice. He’s out. Not to mention the fact that he hails from the Northeast. Down South, the Northeast is liked… well, almost as much as Iraq!

Jeb Bush understands it’s time for America to take a break from the Bush Family. He will not offer himself… this time around.

So, who is the South looking at for the Republican nominee? It’s beginning to look more and more like George Allen from Virginia.

The one candidate we could get solidly behind is Condi Rice. She will be pressured in the next few months to announce. Frankly, I simply have no idea how she will decide. But, again, being frank, I’d love to see the first woman President of the US be a Republican, and a Black Republican, at that. One thing, do not expect her to capture the Black vote. She won’t. What you can expect is that she will treated just as Clarence Thomas was treated. Shunned by Black Americans. The Black vote, in America, is still in slavery, and still on the Plantation of their "Masters"… the Democratic Party.

Black voters need a leader. They have none, currently. Those who pose as leaders of the American Black electorate are doing more harm, than good, to their race. It may take another generation, or two before the American Black community wakes up and sees it has been lied to, and taken advantage of, for decades. In the meantime, there is little reason for the Republican Party to waste time, and resources, on a part of the American electorate already captured, and shackled, by the Left.

Positions are being staked out, and soon the political landscape will begin taking on definitions that will allow us to see whom the likely nominees for both parties will be.

In the meantime, Conservatives… keep your powder dry. Prepare to begin firing when the target is clear. It won’t be long.

“Longstreet”

Avian Flu? Think Swine Flu Fiasco!

The Avian Flu. Anything like the Swine Flu??

What the dickens is going on with the Avian flu, the media, and the politicians?

I have had any number of people approach me, in the past few days, and exclaim, “You know, if the Press keeps on, they’re gonna talk people into getting the Avian Flu!”

Well, I spent over half my life in the media and I know a little about shaping and guiding public opinion. Seems to be, all the earmarks of a full out propaganda campaign are at work here.

Now, lets see, there have been, worldwide, only 60 cases of Avian flu… right? And all the cases were in Asia… right? How many thousands of chickens have been slaughtered? A lot.

In the past few days the airwaves in America have been filled, to overflowing, with talking heads telling us that the sky is falling! The end of the world is nigh! The Bird flu is coming! It’s coming and it’s going to kill you, and your family, and wipe out civilization, as we know it, on this planet!

That sound about right?

I mean did I catch the tenor of the panic-stricken voices shouting Pandemic! Pandemic!

Now, take a deep breath, and sit back, and allow me to remind you another such campaign to invoke panic in the American populace.

Ever hear of the Swine Flu scare in 1976? Oh yeah, it was a mess. The National Immunization Program failed. A lot of people WERE immunized, but the epidemic never appeared! Never! To make matters worse, hundreds of Americans were killed, or injured, as a result of the inoculation given them by the government. Some 40 million Americans were inoculated for the Swine flu. The Swine flue epidemic never appeared. I repeat: It never appeared!

Millions of dollars spent, people frightened, hundreds killed by the vaccine, and no epidemic.

It has been nearly 30 years since that fiasco. Basically one generation has expired. But those of us still on the “right side of the grass” remember that disaster and are not eager to see it again.

However, it sure appears that between the docs, the press, and the politicians that is exactly where we are headed.

So, next time you hear “Avian Flu”… think Swine Flu. Remember, many more people were killed, in the US, from the inoculation to prevent the Swine flu than were killed by the flu itself. Let’s not do that again!

“Longstreet”

Ugly Cars

With everything, so serious, going on in the world, today, such as the NYC Subway problem, the bombs at OU and Georgis Tech, the stolen aircraft, from Florida, turning up in Georgia, the Miers' nomination to the Supreme Court... and a host of other serious subjects, I thought I'd take time out today to look at something that has been bugging me. Maybe... only me. Ugly cars! So here goes:

Is it just me, or, are cars (automobiles) getting uglier?

Have I missed something, or is there, indeed, a worldwide conspiracy to make, and sell, ugly cars?

I have seen cars on the roads, and streets, of America, in the last two years, that people, of my generation, would have been ashamed to be seen in… let alone own!

What’s with the small boxy look? I have seen a few lately that actually look like a box on wheels. Ugly. I mean bad ugly.

Then, some of America’s carmakers are turning out cars, which look as if the designer had been smoking some crazy weed when he drew the darned thing! They look like rolling boxes on wheels! My grand son, who is 3 years old, could have designed a better looking automobile. And worse, people are buying them!

I saw one, a while back, that actually looked like a remake of the old AMC Gremlin. Remember the Gremlin? Uh huh! Well, it’s back, but with a foreign carmaker’s name on it.

Look, I know I’m and old fogie. A cranky old man, perhaps, but... I know beauty when I see it. I haven’t seen any beautiful automobiles lately.

I grew up in the 40’s and 50’s. Those were cars, man. Each car was new and different and had a personality. People would actually name their cars, or their trucks, like a pet.

The fifties actual began the “chrome” styling of cars. The shiner the better. Those cars would sparkle. Then came the sixties, and muscle cars, with speed and huge engines. About the mid sixties the American carmakers married beauty to muscle and speed and gave us classic cars that will forever stand alone as pieces of automotive art.

Would if be so difficult for American automakers to give us some vehicles with style and grace as in days past. Not these clunky, style less, piles of nuts and bolts and four corners.

I yearn for the likes of the ’56 T-Bird. The 65 Mustang. Those cars had style, panache. The Cougar, the Barracuda, the Duster, the Charger, the Hawk, all cars, which made statements as you drove them down the street. Sleek, futuristic looking, and designed with grace and fluidity built in. Rolling art, that’s what they were.

No longer. The car is just a functional tool now. No longer does it make a statement about the person driving it. They have no class. There’s no sparkle, no, and I keep coming back to the word… style. None. Just a lump of metal. Cold, characterless, and uninviting. Except for one car I have seen this season that, to me, boasts of style and grace and muscle. The Dodge Charger. It is a stand-alone. Nothing can come near it in the latest crop of autos. It looks sculpted. Low slung and sleek. It speaks of speed and beauty. Of elegance, even. That’s my kind of car. Why aren’t there more? Why?

Isn’t it about time for a carmaker in the US to break out of the mold and produce a car we can be proud to drive?

In my day we could hardly wait for the fall to roll around because the new cars would be unveiled… usually in October. The whole town took on a festive air as the dealerships rolled out their latest offerings wrapped in gleaming chrome, all angles and swept-winged as though it was in flight... even as it sat in the driveway. Those were cars!

I used to broadcast from the showrooms of the car dealerships on the day the new cars were put on display. Free soft drinks, and hotdogs, were served to all comers. Many new cars were sold on that day. Many.

US automakers have made a lot of mistakes in the past 30 years. Not the least of which was to produce a lackluster automobile, which looked like every other carmakers product. You can hardly tell them part except by reading the logo, if you can find it.

Look, even with gasoline prices at all time highs... carmakers have the ability to produce attractive automobiles. Whay aren't they doing it?

Come on, Detroit! You can do better than this!

“Longstreet”

"Loose the Dogs of War"

At the risk of raising the ire of the left, let me say something that is hardly said, at all, today. The US won the war in Iraq!! That’s right! If you get your news from the MSM , I’ll bet you didn’t know that.

Yeah, in case you missed it, it went sorta like this: the US, and troops from a coalition of other countries, invaded Iraq, defeated Iraq’s army… completely, overthrew the dictator of Iraq, Saddam Hussein, hunted him down, and dragged his sorry derriere from a hole in the ground, and currently have him in prison where he is awaiting trails for atrocities committed on his “watch”.

The war in Iraq had a beginning, a middle, and an end. The WAR is over, won by the US and the coalition countries.

The carnage caused today is a direct result of elements of terrorist gangs from within Iraq, and Islamo/facist nations, scared to death that democracy will get a foot hold just across their borders. They know if that happens… they are doomed. So an insurrection, which began with a few PO’d die-hard Bathists… after being fed men, and material, and has become a first class guerilla army, causing needless death, pain, and destruction in Iraq today.

How do we win this second conflict in Iraq? Unleash the US Military. Let them do the job they were trained for. Allow them to smash Iraq, if necessary, to kill or capture as many of the “Evil-Doers” as possible.

As of this writings, I’m told, that today, the same tactics we used in Viet Nam are again being used and US service men, and women, are being killed needlessly. We are sending US troops in to clean out a town, or village, of terrorists. The troops go in and blast them out of their hiding places, secure the village and then…. LEAVE! In a few hours the surviving terrorists filter back into the same village, or strong hold, and resume their activities. This is the same “formula for failure” the US military employed in Vietnam. It caused demoralization of our troops. And it resulted in many, many needless deaths of US fighting men.

We really need to unleash our military and let them cleanse Iraq, and in doing so, make a statement, loud and clear, that if you go to Iraq with the purpose of causing mayhem, you will be killed. Plain and simple. Then… we need to do it.

We have been far too easy on Iraq… far too easy. When the US Military begins trying to wins hearts and minds, instead of the war, we begin to lose. I believe in the Nixon philosophy, “Get them by the b*lls, and their hearts and minds will surely follow”!

Get the lawyers out of the command centers, and off the battlefields, and let the US military do it’s job. The men, and women, of the finest fighting machine on the globe are being humiliated … not by the terrorists, but by their leaders who will not allow them to fight!

This must stop. Loose the “dogs of war” and be done with it!

“Longstreet”

Looking Back to Look Forward

I had the great good fortune yesterday, Saturday, October 8th, 2005, to preside over a Grave Marker Dedication program for Revolutionary War Hero who was killed at the Battle of Eutaw Springs, S.C., on September 8th, 1781.

As a member of the "Sons of Confederate Veterans", I attend many Grave Marker Dedications for Confederate Veterans and usually have some part to play in those ceremonies. But yesterday was my first for a veteran of the Revolutionary War.

As I was speaking to those in attendance at the joyous, yet solemn occasion, it occurred to me that there was, in fact, a distinct link between the Revolutionary War heroes and the Confederate heroes we celebrate so often. It is, simply put, a grandfather/grandson thing. In other words: the grandsons of the Revolutionary war heroes fought the American Civil War… on both sides.

As the Boy Scouts presented the colors, there was Old Glory, beside her was the Betsy Ross flag, beside that one was the NC flag, and yes, there was the Confederate Battle Flag.

Tears flowed, openly, as we sang the National Anthem of the US, and the Pledge of Allegiance was recited and we celebrated this family’s history. They are able to boast, as so many families from America’s Southland, ancestors who fought in every war America has been involved in. That family has paid their dues to this country… and then some. I recognized a young male family member who has just returned from Iraq where he served with the US Marines. He will be returning shortly. He was given a round of applause and on behalf of his family, and Americans everywhere, I thanked him for his service.

Now, I don’t know where you are in the world when you read this, but I ask you to understand that, here in the American South, we live, and breath, our history. The Civil War was just yesterday to us. The Revolutionary was, well, day before yesterday. Memories are precious to us. We celebrate those memories and we celebrate our families.

Southerners are often misunderstood. Our pride is on open display for the world to see. Our soft-spoken manner is something we adopted over a couple of centuries. It is deliberate. It marks us as Southerners. It is a badge we wear proudly. As many have said, just because we speak slowly, do not assume we think slowly. Our military men, and women, are the cream of our southern society. Here we honor the decision by a young man, or young woman, to serve his, or her, country in the US Military. At the same time, when taking the oath upon swearing in, we will whisper under our breath, “and for the South”.

We have not forgotten that once, for a short while, we had our very own country. Even though we love the US, the echoes of our Ancestors Independence rebound through our very souls.

When the war, which really created the UNITED States, was ended at Appomattox Courthouse, in Virginia, in April of 1865, a new nation was created. There was a melding of the best and brightest of both sections of this country. We became, from that moment, a world superpower. Much of the world did not know it at that moment, but history would prove that that was the moment of the birth of the greatest nation in the history of the world.

But, we Southerners have precious memories. Memories we refuse to give up. That was what we celebrated this past weekend at that Grave Marker Dedication.

A few days ago, I heard a news commentator say when describing Texans, “they feel they are Texans first, then Americans”. He was right. That is true of so much of the American South. When America needs us… we will be there, but we remember… always, our allegiance to our God and our family comes first… in that order.

This past weekend, once again, I had the privilege to share that family’s pride and love of family. Theirs is truly a story of a Southern family. It is not unique in the South. But it is THEIR story.

Winston Churchill once said: “The farther back we can see, the farther forward we can see.” This past weekend, we looked back, and in doing so, we looked ahead… at a future assured by the sacrifices this family made to this country.

“Longstreet”

Hollywood vs. Conservatives

Hollywood’s actors are the best promoters the Republican Party has!

I am sick and tired of Hollywood’s elite “emoting” with their half-baked ideas on American politics. More often than not, their “pearls of wisdom” are counterfeit, and much less than wise, quite often exposing the unfathomable depths of their ignorance of the representative republic the forefathers planned for us.

To attend a paid performance of one of these Hollywood pundits and, right in the middle of the performance you paid for, have them rattle of their leftist views of the Republican Party is in the poorest of tastes. But whoever thought taste and class was present in the culture of Hollywood.

Have you noticed how their political diatribes bear remarkable likenesses to rehashed communist propaganda film dialogue from the 1950’s? Is that a coincidence? I wonder.

The thing is, you see, once I have heard one of these intellectual lightweights spout their hate of Conservatives it is never out of my mind when viewing, or listening, to them practice their art. An actor who spews hatred for the President, for instance, and then asks me to accept him as the character he is currently portraying on the big screen, or the TV screen, is asking me to do the impossible. I cannot do it.

I wonder, has this hurt them at the box office. Has this hurt them in their pocketbooks yet, for it surely will? The pain will be even more intense amongst those who put up the money for the production of those terribly expensive productions. The question then arises, how long will the moneymen, and money women, of Hollywood put up with the loose lips of the left wing activists of the acting community of Hollywood?

Many of us, myself included, will not watch a movie, even on TV, in which a left wing activist is starring. I cannot get past their “air headedness”. I mean these are people hired to play a part because they are good at “pretending” they are somebody else. How do we know when the acting, the pretending, stops and the real person, if there is one there, steps forward?

I am convinced that one of the reasons the Liberal left is so prominent in Hollywood is the tendency of liberals to base their politics on feelings, on emotions, not fact and reality. Actors, you see, make a living emoting, using their emotions and playing upon the ‘feelings’ of the public. It, then, is the most natural thing in the world for “emoting actors” to hook-up with a political party of emotions. One could hardly be surprised at that.

In the days of the Hollywood studios, actors who made their politics known, let alone publicly supported one political party, or the other, would quickly find himself, or herself, without a contract and out on the street. Why, because it hurts business. Plain and simple.

So, next time Hollywood wants to realistically look at why their revenue from motion pictures is down, maybe they ought to take a look at the political causes their actor’s associate themselves with, and then compare the actor’s politics with the politics of the majority of Americans. They will be surprised. We won’t… but they will.

“Freedom of Speech”, they yell! Of course it is. They have the freedom to speak anything they want. But… I have the freedom not to listen, and, in the case of the actors, not to buy a ticket to one of their movies.

A lot of Americans are exercising that last “right” these days.

“Longstreet”