Bump's Stump

Over the past few months I've been watching the TEA PARTY MOVEMENT. They support  conservative  positions  but do they go too far?  I view political rallies, marches, and picketing with a jaudiced eye. There have been too many of these groups taken over by the lunatic fringe. (The John Birch Society comes to mine). You know, the boneheads that go radical. But so far I have been impressed with the peaceful character of the TEA PARTIES . They appear not to be radicals at all, and very much in favor of our traditional values, our American heritage, and perhaps most important, they advocate common sense.  Sarah Palin is the best known member and it's easy for me to rally around her. She has a genuine talent and a solid conservative history. Despite the awful liberal attacks on her personal life, she stands firm with her beliefs. I like that a lot. I am, however, very disappointed that the Republicans  are not supporting a conservative political agenda. They obviously don't

Does the media pay attention? There is a catastrophe happening right now in the Gulf. An accident caused a off-shore drilling platform to be destroyed leaving an unplugged hole in the ground more than 5,000 feet below sea level.  A HUGE amount of oil (no one knows how much) is pouring out of the hole and into the sea. Within a month or so it may be the largest oil leak accident in history. AND NO ONE KNOWS HOW TO STOP IT . This boggles my mind. There are hundreds if not thousands of off-shore drilling rigs and apparently very few, perhaps none, have been designed to have a disaster contingency plan. When I heard that I went through the roof.  I am not familiar with the oil industry. I have been familiar with being responsible for a small  manufacturing concern that was  subject to endless laws about protection and safety. They were enforced. Last month a couple dozen men expired in a coal mine that had been cited with numerous violations of safety laws over several years. Many

PROLOGUE Nothin fancy ab out me. Farm kid. Not rich but always fed. College grad. Sergeant in Air Force. Traveled in Europe and North Africa. Electrical Engineer. Alergic to drafting tables. Settled on salesman career. Became C.E.O. small L.A. corp. Retired. Bought engraving business. Retired again. Healthy. Very worried about my families future.  Liberal intelectuals look down their collective snouts at us heathen conservatives. I had a double dose yesterday at my friendly book club. There are only 10 of us, and 8 are firmly liberal Democrats. We get along just fine. Very good friends and all that. We respect and listen to each other. Simple as that. There have been a few times when my ears turned red. One of thoses times was yesterday. Certain public people that twist my socks. People like Jane Fonda, Noam Chomsky, George Soros, and Norman Mailer for example. These and a few others are blithering idiots who spit on America (and Americans) at every opportunity. Is it a coincidence

. Every generation picks up a characteristic identifier. In the 1940's the brave patriotism of Americas G.I. like Willie and Joe formed such an image. It was also the time of Rosie the Riveter, the jitterbug, and the New Deal. The 1950's are identified the Cold War, cars with huge fins and lots of chrome, and the almost but not quite war in Korea. It was the time of Elvis Presley, the Sputnik and our race to catch up. The 1960's were dominated by The Beatles. Nothing and nobody else comes anywhere close. Oh yeah. How about the acid tie dye cool aide drop outs, flower children, and the beginning of resistance to the growing war in Viet Nam. The 1970's carried over the drop outs, university picketing, rush to Canada to avoid the draft, racial violence in Los Angeles, and more fancy drugs everywhere. Viet Nam became a horrible disaster for everyone concerned typlified by the massacre of My Lai and the general descent into the South East Asian Heart of Darkness. By

Am I the only one other than TOYOTA to notice the over-zealous complaints recently?  It looks to me like Toyota did (or does) have a few problems. In the media it is sometimes an unproven reference to a sticky accelerator pedal. At other times it's a weird claim that if one of their vehicles is purposely driven TOO FAST and TURNED TOO QUICKLY it might go out of control - if it is driven by a driver who is really trying to turn it over. H ow quickly the very few claims   have morphed into thousands?   The media have gone into a feeding frenzy.  Why this special attention? I DOUBT THAT ANY CAR MAKER HAS SAFER CARS THAN TOYOTA.    So who would benefit from damaging Toyota's reputation?  THE AMERICAN AUTOWORKERS UNIONS  that's who.   These unions have long been frustrated with their inability to organize the foreign auto companies that build cars in America.  It is these same unions that are responsible for putting our car manufacturers at a financial disadvantage in the ma