DanHan: Comes A Point When You Run Out Of Track...

OS watched in horror a few years ago as Clarkson and the boys undertook their ill-advised journey through Florida, across the Gulf Coast, terminating their travels in NawLeenz. It got so ugly, so quickly.

There was, however, a truly funny moment when the boys were told they were to engage in the classic timed quarter-mile straight sprint in their junker cars, on a track that was only a quarter-mile plus about fifty yards. At yard fifty-one lay the ditch full of alligators.

Fahr-'em-up boyz!! And off they went, with brakes that were definitely not up to the task. No one was injured, blessedly, but things ended badly for one of the cars, if memory serves.

This episode is not unlike what we now see happening in both the United States and Europe. February 2012 was the highest monthly deficit this nation has ever recorded, in over two hundred years since the Constitution was ratified. The Senate will not pass a budget. The White House is a runaway freight train.

This can only end badly, and OS, in his darker moments, wonders if perhaps folks in the White House have some sort of train-over-the-cliff moment in mind for us all. It explains their behavior, when nothing else will.

Meanwhile, DanHan (as always) states the case succinctly. OS does wish we could lease this gent for a couple of decades. Sort of a reverse Lend-Lease back to Great Britain. We'll even give them Puerto Rico in the bargain, since we took some islands from them in the 1940's.

A Moment Of Inspiration For Sunday: The I-TEC Flying Auto

A Green Shoots nominee, without a doubt. A wonderful contrast to the darkness visited upon the culture by WeimarBen, Timmy, the ECB, and the ClownCircus.

Steve Saint, the son of a missionary doctor, one of that group of four murdered by tribesmen in South America in the late fifties (another story, another day--or look up 'Jim Elliott), has created what appears to be a workable drive/fly auto.

This promotional video was produced about his drive from Florida to Oshkosh, Wisconsin, about 1500 miles. It's street-legal, with Florida tags. 0-60 in under four seconds, about 25 mpg, and with the wing deployed, and its push-prop enganged, it flies about 40 mph. Wouldn't want to run into a thunderstorm with it, but hey!--look at this thing, ya'll! It really could have a lot of uses. It can be fitted with pontoons, and run over water. It can drive over ice. There are a lot of hard-to-reach places in this country, and this could reach them, especially when roads are closed.

Not an Obama recovery sign to be seen on it. Wonder why....wonder why....

And his real reason to develop and market it? To be able to fund production of this sort of aircraft for missionary pilots in the bush and jungles--for humanitarian relief.

A big cheer for these folks. Let's just hope the soulless beings who run our guv'mint don't take too much notice.

We wouldn't want both entreprenurial spirit and Christian Charity to have a chance to flourish in the open now, would we? Folks might get all ambitious and uppity, decide they can do without Himself, Ben, Timmy and Big Sis.

They might (OMG!!) succeed.

Jest sayin'...

In the meantime, the boys at Top Gear could have a ball with this! Imagine The Stig behind the wheel...or perhaps Captain Slow!

A Few Nice Words About Jeremy Clarkson, Top Gear Host And Curmudgeon

His Grace, Archbishop Cranmer, intended to perform a public service today by publishing an essay that he believed the Sunday Times had spiked and toss down the Memory Hole--turns out not to have happened, apparently. But it's still a great read.

Not surprisingly, Cranmer didn't endorse his views, but that wasn't the point of the exercise.

Clarkson is grumpy, opinionated, often irritating, and OS has a sort of continuing 'beef' with him about his disdain of things American. When he visited with his Top Gear crew a few years back, driving from Miami to New Orleans, he really made a total ass of himself, and the producers pulled stunts that put the trio into harm's way more than once. It was not a shining moment, we'll say, and leave it at that.

But, he is honest, candid in his opinions, memorable, a wonderful entertainer as host of Top Gear, and Monday nights are made so enjoyable by watching him, Richard the Honorary American, and Captain Slow on their travels across the globe. The 'Celebrities Behind The Wheel of A Sensible Car' feature never fails to amuse, and every appearance of The Stig is the greatest fun.

In short, Clarkson has something so many people have lost: a lively sense of humor.(Or, is that spelled 'humour'?)

And, the man can bleeping express himself clearly in English, a skill the humorless girly-men of Fleet Street and Oxbridge long ago lost. Those people use words to obscure. Clarkson, whether you approve of him or not, at least attempts to illuminate and make the reader chuckle at the same time.

Go get 'em, Mr. Clarkson! Burn some more fuel for us all, the polar bears will be just fine. And, come pay a visit with an open mind. We're not all that bad!