Autobahn
I know that I live in what is still, after all that's happened, a G.M. town. I know that before the reassertion of the turn-of-the-20th-century appellation "Vehicle City" Flint was fondly nicknamed, after its most sprawling industrial complex, the "Buick City." I lament the decline of Grand Blanc's defining summer traditional, the Buick Open golf tournament. But even taking into consideration all these factors, sweet merciful crap, there are a lot of the new Buick Regals on the roads around here! This morning, I parked Lumi in the middle of three open parking spaces; when I returned this afternoon, Lumi was flanked on either side by a Buick Regal.

Also, & I admit this next bit has to be shoehorned into "Autobahn" since it's only about motorcars the way Sports Night was about sports, I continue to be appalled by the persistent belief in economic protectionism. A local auto dealership has been airing preposterous television advertisements proclaiming solidarity with the many laid-off works of metropolitan Flint & touting its supposed virtue in only carrying American brands. I find this claim to virtue irksome, even offensive, on two counts: {a} The claim that it is always most patriotic to buy goods from an "American" company flies in the face of economic theory (the advantages of specialization & the gains of trade) & economic reality (the advantage to the American consumer of buying cheaper imported goods over more expensive domestically-produced goods & the gains to American exports from fostering economic growth in underdeveloped parts of the globe). Call me old-fashioned, but I still consider cold, hard facts to be more important than fantastical, chauvinistic assertions. {b} The offending dealership sells only General Motors brands, foremost amongst them Buick. The hot-selling Buick Regal is based on the Opel Insignia, Opel being G.M.'s subsidiary in Germany. The first model year Regals were manufactured by Opel in Germany & imported in the U.S.; Regals are now produced on this side of the Atlantic... in Oshawa, Ontario. Not the U.S., the Canadas! Supposing for the sake of argument that we did accept the spurious notion that it is virtuous to "buy American," would it really be better to buy an "American" Buick manufactured in Germany or the Canadas or a "Japanese" Honda manufactured in Where's Teddy?'s hometown of Marysville, Ohio?

I'm much more of a partisan for Buick than I am for Honda, but let's support or oppose certain marques for the right reasons, those of mere opinion or fancy, not based on dubious logic & counterfactual facts. I don't like Honda automobiles because I dislike our wimpy Honda lawnmower, which sputters & halts if there's even the merest suggestion of moisture in the grass. Dodgy personal preference? All to the good. Jingoism parading as virtue? Dirty pool, old son.

He's Dead, Jim
The cough remains about the same. Yesterday's lightheaded sensation, itself usually the result of flooded sinuses, has given way to a running nose. My hope is that this means I am on the mend. My voice—my beloved, sonorous voice—is off, the frog still residing in my throat.

The Rebel Black Dot Song of the Day
Rob Carriker, "The Red, White and Blue" from Over There!: Songs of America's Wars (T.L.A.M.)

Commentary: Today's R.B.D.S.O.T.D. is actually "Columbia, the Gem of the Ocean," inexplicably retitled "The Red, White and Blue" for the purposes of Over There! Even if the song was titled "The Red, White and Blue" it should be "The Red, White, and Blue;" the comma is not optional. What is in actuality "Columbia, the Gem of the Ocean" is today's patriotic R.B.D.S.O.T.D., part of our week-long musical celebration of Independence Day.