One of the most comical far-left columnists published today is Bill Straub of the Cincinnati Post's Washington Bureau. Actually, one reason his column is read by anyone at all in the Midwest is that it is consistently hilarious in that it often reads like a parody of others on the far left. The problem is, he is serious.

Anyway, last Monday Straub opened his column saying: "Weak laws and easy accessibility have left Ohio with a growing reputation for supplying firearms used in out-of-state crimes, according to several gun-control advocates. A study conducted by Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY), based on Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms data, shows that Ohio ranks ninth among the states as the origin point for guns involved in crimes elsewhere, effectively undercutting the efforts of states that have stricter gun laws." <http://www.cincypost.com/news/guns071000.html>

The sniveling Chuckie Schumer, eh? Now there's a real authority! Once at a public meeting, we asked him how he likes that well armed Jewish militia holding maneuvers in the Catskills nearly every weekend. Neighbors report that there is a lot of shooting, some of it with automatic weapons, coming from there when those boys are playing.

He didn't answer, of course. Instead, as I was later told, Schumer sicked the police on me. Too bad. I flew back to my own state that evening. However, I did call the New York police to say hello.

Charles Schumer is very, very selective when talking about guns. Apparently it's acceptable for California's (so says rumor on the street in D.C.) little Bobsey Twin Senators to carry guns. They showed the world they don't know what they are talking about when the subject is guns. But, they had themselves sworn in as Federal Marshals so they could travel armed -- including on commercial aircraft. Then there's Hillary, still using a couple Secret Service agents (who she refers to as "trained pigs") supplemented with a squad of over-armed bouncers.

Schumer and Straub reported that "the study was meant to show that states portrayed as having weak gun laws -- like Ohio -- are making it difficult for nearby states with stricter gun laws to reduce violent crime."

That is, of course, baloney.

Ohio has crazy gun laws. In fact, the various police associations actually lobby against the safety of the people. They want to assure that police are the only ones in Ohio able to carry firearms. So they continuously lobby the legislative and administrative branches against something as common sense as concealed carry permits. And, apparently Ohio's new governor dances to their tune, displaying little trust in the people -- and a flippant concern for their personal safety while in transit.

Nevertheless, with over a million hunting licenses issued annually, Ohio is a major hunting state and nearly half of the population is armed. Ohio also has quite a few gun shows, which greatly bothers Schumer and his friends on the far left. But, the State also boasts the 20,000 member Ohio Gun Collectors Association. They trade collectable guns a lot at those gun shows. There is nothing wrong with that.

And, as if it isn't bad enough to call on Schumer to comment on Ohio, Straub then went to the Washington based anti-gun group, Violence Police Center, Kristen Rand, director.

"They haven't passed any laws to discourage any activity of this sort. The way it manifests itself is Ohio contributes significantly to illegal gun trafficking," Straub quotes the totally biased, professional gun grabber as saying.

Rand said Ohio's role isn't going unnoticed. She points to Hi-Point Firearms in Mansfield, the state's largest gun manufacturer, as an example. Apparently, Hi-Point made a 9 mm rifle that was used in the Columbine High School killing in Littleton, Colorado.

One wonders, then, if she would have also blamed Sears had one of these Columbine punks also smashed someone's skull with a claw hammer. Because, in order to blame the manufacturer of one type of inanimate object, or the people of the state in which that object was produced, it follows that one must also carry that blame on to baseball bats, knives, vehicles, chains, bottles, and whatever else can be used as a weapon. Else, the fallacy of that logic seems glaringly suspect.

But, so is the logic of our liberal media in the dawn of this new century. Accurate reporting, written as a logical story, is a lost art that has been replaced by professional paid propagandists.

Media corporations profess standards. Then they allow the Bill Straubs of the industry to continue on with their blather, trying to make people believe this type of far-left disinformation.

The Cincinnati Post, by the way, is a Scripps Howard newspaper. They should know better.

As we have reported these past few years, that obnoxious Environmental Protection Agency has not only outlived its usefulness, it will soon have about the same worth as a buggy whip in a drag race. Automobile technology has changed considerably over the past three decades and newer model cars no longer pollute the air. But, the EPA keeps plugging along anyway, demanding tail- pipe emissions testing and foul smelling reformulated gasoline. It's hard to stop a bureaucracy when we have a Congress that fears confronting these socialist control freaks.

Anyway, I wrote a little about hybrid vehicles back in Issue #60 (Nov. 23, 1997) and described some of the things to come. Reader interest was great. Well, here it comes. The future is here.

So, I went out to try to get a ride. Actually, it's hard to believe that I was actually out looking for a foreign car, what with growing up in Detroit, and all. But, I wanted to see the new Prius sedan.

As reported here nearly three years ago, Toyota builds the Prius. This is an hybrid automobile -- not quite a gasoline powered automobile, but not completely electric powered, either. It runs on both electricity and gasoline. Hybrid.

The best part, though, is it charges its own batteries as you drive. You just add gasoline once in a while. So, for you folks who wanted a low-emission vehicle, here comes the Toyota Prius. And, it's in production now. Sales in the U.S. have already started -- if you can find one. I can't.

Toyota's hybrid system provides higher fuel efficiency and cleaner emissions by combining drive power from a 1.5-liter gasoline engine and an electric motor. A computer decides which operates when, depending on the speed of the vehicle and other factors.

So, because it's an electric car quite often in the city, the sedan averages, interestingly enough, 52 mpg in the city and 45 mpg on the highway.

There are a whole slew of energy saving tricks built into the Prius. For instance, fuel efficiency is boosted by automatically cutting the engine when the vehicle is at a stop (it reverts to a totally electric car), regenerating the energy accumulated during deceleration, and regenerative braking. In other words, driving down hill, and/or braking, will both help to charge the batteries. And, so will the gasoline engine.

Reporters testing the car say that it is so quiet and smooth that they could not tell whether it was running on electric power or gasoline. Therefore, Toyota installed a gauge on the dashboard so the driver will know (if they care). Also, as can be expected with most electric cars, it moves out quite briskly.

So OK, it's not 100% electric. But it is a comfortable four-door sedan, you do not have to plug it in for a charge, and it will get you from New York to California a lot cheaper than most any other sedan on the market. We see the Prius as an excellent beginning in the transformation of the automobile. This is the type of vehicle Detroit should have been marketing for the last decade.

The Prius has been on the road in Japan for over two years and Toyota reports 34,000 sold. This year, as a trial, they plan to market 12,000 here.

The Prius is outfitted like a real car, too. At a package price of $20,500, the standard features include air-conditioning; anti-lock breaks; keyless entry; power windows, door locks and mirrors; and an automatic transmission. It also comes with a six year, 100,000 mile warranty. And, it's 86% cleaner than required by the strictest federal rules. <http://www.toyota.com/afv/prius/f_prius.html>

Prius isn't the only game in town, however. The Honda hybrid is a two seater hatchback called the Insight. They say the Insight averages 61 mpg in the city and 70 on the highway. The Insight has a price tag of $20,000, but only 5,000 will be marketed in the U.S. this year. <http://www.honda2000.com/models/insight/index.html>

Detroit, as usual, got caught out to lunch again. Ford Motor Co. will market the Escape, a hybrid sport utility vehicle, starting in 2003.

This technology has been around over twenty years but was generally disregarded domestically. Instead, American manufactures are working on totally electric vehicles powered by fuel cells. A company named Ballard Power Systems has been developing fuel cells for automotive applications since 1989 and is closely aligned with American manufacturers. <http://www.ballard.com/auto_intro.asp>

For a sneak peek at things to come, a few web pages are provided below. Some of these vehicles are already under test on the road and I have actually checked out two of them up close.

Hybrids at the Atlanta auto show:

<http://www.autoshow.reedexpo.com/atlanta/2feature3.htm>

 

Los Angeles auto alternative fuel vehicles:

<http://www.calstart.org/panda/homepage_news/000111_auto_show.html>

 

Here's a look at some alternative fuel models already, or soon to be, available:

<http://future.newsday.com/10/ftsid1.htm>

 

The Jeep Commander concept vehicle.

<http://www.car-truck.com/chryed/concept/command.htm>

<http://evworld.com/reports/images/jeep-fcev2.jpg>

<http://www.jeepunpaved.com/glossary/concepts/commander.html>

<http://www.calstart.org/newsSearch/selDis.html?cmd=98081949>

About midnight, a few months ago, I received a telephone call from a major newspaper editor I have known for a number of years. And, apparently being in the "editor" mode, his message was as much of an order as a request: "Go over" to such and such a newspaper on the Internet "and read that second article. Then, call me back right away."

It was no surprise that I happened to agree with the point this particular RINO columnist made in the article that day. Two or three paragraphs of the text were my writing.

But, to be truthful, you kind of get used to that after a while. We all do it, somewhat. That is, we might all rip off a well worded sentence or thought here and there from time to time. Swiping two or three major paragraphs of a 750 word article without attributing is a little much, though. Using that much text is often called plagiarism.

But, rather than jump up and down about it, I went over to the web site where Forest has the Heads Up newsletter archived, copied the original article and its URL and e-mailed them to the editor. Only after that did I call him and have a good laugh.

He was definitely not overjoyed about the situation, though. Even after I told him I really didn't care all that much, he was still huffy about it. So, the fix was to hurry up and rewrite or attribute. They rewrote enough so it didn't sound like me.

So, it was with a grin and a chuckle that I read about the liberal Boston Globe newspaper suspending columnist Jeff Jacoby without pay because he copied part (or all?) of a great piece originally researched and written by Rush Limbaugh, Jr., the father of Rush Limbaugh of radio fame and David Limbaugh the columnist and attorney. <http://www.FreeRepublic.com/forum/a396a60942a4f.htm>

Rush touched on the subject on his syndicated radio program and David seemed to agree in his popular column for World Net Daily:

"In an e-mail to friends Jacoby described the process by which he researched and wrote the piece. He said he had before him three pieces, by Paul Harvey, Rush Limbaugh (Jr.) and a reader's e-mail. He then set about to verify the accuracy of the piece through independent research.

"Jacoby said it never occurred to him to mention that he was 'far from the first to write about the fates of the Declaration's signers.' Globe officials told Jacoby that had he added such a disclosure his 'suspension' could have been averted. I'm sorry, but that dog just won't hunt. Jacoby offered to include such a statement in his next column but permission was denied. The writing was already on the wall -- in fact it may be that they were looking for an excuse." <http://www.worldnetdaily.com/bluesky_limbaugh/20000711_xcdli_jacoby_raw.shtml>

Sure. The liberals do not like conservatives writing in their rag. That's nothing new.

A variation of that same text was also published by a liberal candidate for State office in a local newspaper here. He also got caught and tried to apologize. The problem is, a lot of people around here listen to Rush every day and Rush has read that very same piece on the radio -- starting a couple years ago -- and published it in his newsletter. And, of course, Rush attributed it to his father, saying that his father wrote the text as a speech a few years earlier.

So, here I sit watching the hubbub. Rush and David do not seem to mind that Jeff Jacoby used that piece unattributed. That is not the right thing to do, but Rush and David Limbaugh own the works of their father now. It's their call. So, case closed.

Except, I still remember the distress of my friend the editor when he realized a columnist ripped off just a couple paragraphs from me without attributing. All of us scribblers out here would like to think that all editors are so conscientious as to verify the truth and accuracy of everything in their newspapers. But, that is far from the case in real life. There is usually a vicious double standard at work in the press. Especially in the ranks of the national media.

For instance, nearly any newspaper reporter in Washington (except at the Washington Times) can take any statement on nearly any topic from a liberal politician and the information (spin) will be printed nearly verbatim in the paper as fact. However, any statement coming from a conservative politician cannot be used on its own merit. The message of conservatives must always be tempered for "balance" with the opinion of liberals.

Jeff Jacoby was not tempered enough. Now he is quieted --for at least four months.

Besides, liberal editors and publishers do not like patriotic material in their newspapers. It doesn't fit in their overall scheme of things.

This little newsletter has been published continuously for nearly four years under the name "Heads Up." But, there is now a problem with that name and it's time for a change.

The Heads Up newsletter was originally started after I published two articles in the same week about United Nations activities. The first piece was about the UN's bright idea of taxing the world so they could pay for their own standing army. The second piece described the previously undisclosed (in the popular literature) UNESCO and the U.S. Man in the Biosphere scam of placing international regulations on American land and causing our national treasures to be internationally regulated as Heritage Sites.

As things happened, those articles somehow got sent all over the world and ruffled a few dozen feathers in the international law community. They, in turn, started a writing campaign directed at everyone distributing my articles and ended up causing quite a bit of discussion -- most of which was unwanted.

The fact that I was exactly correct in what I wrote never entered into the problems. Lawyers in the international community did not want me exposing their plan to regulate American land, so they caused a lot of trouble for those distributing my writing. That was it in a nutshell.

However, it didn't quite work out for them.

I quit sending out articles for nearly two weeks. Then, some readers wrote to inquire why I was no longer writing. And, apparently some of these readers knew each other over the Internet. When I told them why I had stopped writing, some were appalled and wanted to help.

Anyway, it was decided that I would write the newsletter and they would each distribute it through their own respective e-mail lists. That way, it would be impossible to censor any of my writing because it would have many distribution channels. All I had to do was write and send it to those 38 people once a week.

Well, over the past three years, the list of

38 newsletter distributors has grown to a list of a few hundred. There is no telling how many people receive the newsletter every week and I don't worry about it. Subscribers have always outnumber unsubscribers by more then twenty to one and most subscribers pass the newsletter along to friends. That's all that counts.

But now it is time for another change. Recently, at least two groups started titling their publications "Heads Up" and they do not always write material I agree with. Some readers are sometimes confusing these other publications with mine. And, over the past few weeks, there have been a number of people writing to take me to task for what was written in the other publications.

Needless to say, that sometimes gets a little confusing for me, too. It's hard for me to defend something when I don't really have any idea what they are talking about.

Also, there has been some discussion about doing a little more in the instant news category, as on a news & views web page.

Last time, we picked the name "Heads Up" for the newsletter without giving it much thought. Now it's time for a name change, but this time I will do it over a period of weeks. And, I will use my name to insure it is not used by others.

"The Fiedor Report" has a nice ring to it, but that sounds like I copied the idea from the "Drudge Report." Also, it would be nice if the name could be abbreviated to three or four letters and still be distinctive enough to be recognized.

So, herein I put the question out to anyone who wishes to respond: What shall the new name be?

  ** uhuh **

The President said he is reducing taxes.

uhuh.

Congress says they are balancing the budget.

uhuh. Sez who?

Web Home Page: www.uhuh.com

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