Camaro redux

Nostalgic column in the WSJ about the return of GM's Camaro. The writer has been fond of Camaro since it cam out in '67. He opines that GM would be in better shape if it had a few cars like Camaro that drivers actually like. I can relate to this. I liked Camaro from way back. It offered as much pizzazz as Corvette for half the price. There came a time in my life when I could afford a Camaro just to drive to work.
Then came a ski weekend. I invited Gigi and her boyfriend to come up to Cannon. Over the phone I heard "Oh I dunno. It's gonna snow this weekend and JD's car isn't too good in snow." I reassured her that the roads would be plowed and the forecasted snow would make the ski conditions especially good. I must have been persuasive and Friday night GiGi and JD and JD's big black Camaro showed up at Mittersill. It got stuck backing into my driveway. Saturday it got stuck entering the Peabody Slopes parking lot. That night it couldn't make the grade on Lehan Road going into mother's place. Even when we popped the rear deck and had two of us sit on the rear bumper to put more weight on the drive wheels. We parked it at the bottom of the hill and walked the rest of the way.
That kinda burst my Camaro bubble. After that demo of totally unroadworthiness in winter, I knew if I ever took a Camaro on a ski weekend I'd never hear the end of it from the rest of the family. It would take years to live down. So. No Camaro.
Too bad. It's still a nice car in good weather. I stuck with front wheel drive minivans and sedans which can pull themselves up three mile hill in an ice storm. And GM still needs some decent cars. I'm currently driving one of the last ones they ever made, a '99 Caddy DeVille. God knows what I'll buy when the Caddy finally wears out. Certainly nothing in today's GM lineup is attractive.

Tea Party, Plymouth New Hampshire. Tomorrow

Been reading a few internet rants about evil, immoral and fattening Tea Parties organized by Fox News. Pure malarky. The Plymouth NH Tea party is organized by purely local folks, with zip for support, publicity, or anything else. I ought to know, I'm doing a part of the organizing, and I'm pretty local and small time. The others in the effort are just as local. Some of them are bigger time than I, but nobody is anywhere close to being a state wide figure, let alone a national figure.
The Plymouth Tea Party steps off at 3:30 in the center of town. Hope to see you all there.

Why require presidential OK to use force against pirates?

According to the TV news, Obama issued the OK to use deadly force against pirates. Should not all US Navy captains be authorized to use any amount of force against pirates, at any time? At least against pirates at sea, attacking merchant shipping. Maybe we can require presidential OK to bombard pirate ports, but any Navy ship ought to be able to take out pirates attacking ships at sea, without checking with the president.

Congress could do something about piracy

Ships ought to have a small arms locker, with rifles and pistols for the ship's crew. Why don't they?

Probably 'cause the owners are afraid of getting sued if their crew shoots a pirate, and getting hassled by port authorities all over the world who believe in gun control.

Congress could pass a law saying small arms are legal on board all US flag vessels, shooting pirates is legal anywhere, and any port that hassles US flag ships over carrying arms will get hassled by the US of A.

Surely Captain Phillips' sailors could have done even better against four gunmen in a bass boat with a few ordinary rifles for self defense.

Happy Easter

So, I got up, watched the morning pundits on TV . It was snowing and 35 degrees up here. So I went to church. If you go to church at all, you oughta make Easter. Lots of other folk feel that way and the church was packed. Might have 40 people and a flock of kids. Cutest part was the Easter Egg hunt after services. The kids loved that part. Still snowing.
After church I made a dump run and then visited with my Mother. It was still snowing on the way home and it's beginning to accumulate about now.

Pirates of the Indian Ocean?

How can four gunmen in a bass boat stand off the US Navy?

How long will 187 jet fighters last in wartime?

Hard to say. Last time I went to war, my air wing lost 90 fighter planes in 90 days. That's a plane a day from just one base.

Defense Secretary Gates has decided to stop the F22 program at 187 planes. He is going to shut down the F22 production line, which means no more F22's, ever. Gates feels that the F22 is too expensive ($150 million each) and too specialized (only does air-to-air) and not needed going up against the likes of Iran. All this is true.

On the other hand, going up against a more up to date enemy (China? Russia?) we will need F22's. F22 is the hottest fighter in the world, every one fears going up against it. The Japanese want to buy it. Exercises have F22 gaining a 30:1 kill ratio against every other fighter.

To win, or even survive, a war, air superiority is everything. Air superiority means our helicopters, transports, and close air support aircraft can fly where they please, and our ground forces don't have to worry about getting bombed and strafed. It means the enemy's helicopters, transports, and close air support gets shot down by our fighters.

F22 delivers air superiority. Until we run out of them.

Maybe we could fund more F22's out of the $787 billion Porkulus bill? Aircraft production is real economic stimulus.