Random thoughts amid the debris....
Last night I watched HBO's "Into the Storm", a very nicely done character study of Winston Churchill, 1940-1945.
As actor Brendan Gleeson deftly portrayed this giant of the 20th century, I was happy (at least as much as I get) for the 105 minute reminder of a small nation fighting... alone... against all odds for survival, liberty and freedom; and if necessary, unto its very death.
It was long said of the British Empire that in her darkest hour, a leader always steps forward.
Sadly, all that's left of that England, its people and leadership, are just stories from long ago.
Considered "the savior of the Nation" by virtually all Britons at the end of WWII 
(his approval rating, never below 78 per cent, stood at 83 per cent). Yet he was turned out of office later the same year.
One scene from the film has particular resonance for our country now. I paraphrase:
An opposition party member reminded the prime minister that "the war's over; the people want a new social order that would ensure better housing, free medical services and employment for all."
Churchill would simply not believe that the people who defeated the Nazis would surrender to socialism.
I know how he feels.
Was talking with one of my oldest and dearest friends, TSC, the other night and we agreed that since we are well into the back nine of our time perhaps we should immigrate to Israel.
Israel, too, is a small nation alone fighting against all odds for survival, liberty and freedom; and if necessary, unto its very death.
I could sign onto that at any point in my life. The day is coming that I will likely not be able to say that of this nation.
Now it's GM -- Government Motors.
Like Churchill, I would have never in my wildest... imagined this wholesale scuttling of American free enterprise.
If this disastrous leftist take-over remains unchecked it will mean the death of not just the U.S. auto industry, but capitalism.
Quick... name a Russian car, a Cuban auto or even a motorcycle, Africa? There is one socialist car that is well remembered.... as the worst car in history; the 1985 Yugo CV... from where? Soviet-bloc Yugoslavia.
"Malcolm Bricklin, he of the Bricklin SV1, wouldn't be satisfied until he had forced every American to walk to work. To that end, in 1985, he began importing the Yugo GV, which turned out to be the Mona Lisa of bad cars. Built in Soviet-bloc Yugoslavia, the Yugo had the distinct feeling of something assembled at gunpoint.
Interestingly, in a car where "carpet" was listed as a standard feature, the Yugo had a rear-window defroster — reportedly to keep your hands warm while you pushed it. The engines went ka-blooey, the electrical system — such as it was — would sizzle, and things would just fall off. Yugo. Or not."
There is nothing.... let me emphasize--nothing, in the federal government that is run efficiently, within a budget and meets its stated goals and projections. Government projects and departments just get bigger, more expensive and less efficient. Everyone in America has always known that, socialists like Obama included.
Socialists do not care, that's not the point; socialists do not seek success, improvement, and growth as does business; socialists seek only ever-expanding control and power.
I just heard Dear Leader explain to me that I will be sacrificing my last years for the good of this collective... a Brighter Day... a Workers' Paradise.
“... more jobs will be lost, more plants will close... you will be making a sacrifice for the next generation. It’s a sacrifice you may not have chose to make, but a sacrifice you are nevertheless called to make so that your children and all of our children can grow up in an America that still makes things, that still builds cars, that still strives for a better future,” he said.
This is no "sacrifice"... unless is it redefined as an altruistic decision with a gun held to your head.
You may recall the film and book "On the Beach"... a grim look at the end of the human race after a nuclear war. The few remaining survivors in Australia awaited The End with various mindsets. One, played by Fred Astaire, spent his last days driving his race car at full bore like a maniac, until his final drive in the garage, listening to the roar of the engine.
I always believed the character represented America.
Columnist and author P.J. O'Rourke sums up what all this means to America and Americans in his WSJ piece, The End of the Affair:
We’ve lost our love for cars and forgotten our debt to them and meanwhile the pointy-headed busybodies have been exacting their revenge. We escaped the poke of their noses once, when we lived downtown, but we won’t be able to peel out so fast the next time. In the name of safety, emissions control and fuel economy, the simple mechanical elegance of the automobile has been rendered ponderous, cumbersome and incomprehensible. One might as well pry the back off an iPod as pop the hood on a contemporary motor vehicle. An aging shade-tree mechanic like myself stares aghast and sits back down in the shade.
I don’t believe the pointy-heads give a damn about climate change or gas mileage, much less about whether I survive a head-on with one of their tax-sucking mass-transit projects. All they want to is to make me hate my car. How proud and handsome would Bucephalas look, or Traveler or Rachel Alexandra, with seat and shoulder belts, air bags, 5-mph bumpers and a maze of pollution-control equipment under the tail?
Take a few minutes to read the entire piece... you'll find yourself nodding in agreement and fond memories, just as I did last night watching England arise.
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