As I searched the Internet today for car news I was saddened and shocked to read that Boyd Coddington has died. He was 63. Who's Boyd you ask? I didn't know him personally but I knew of his legacy by watching his show on TV. Boyd was a custom car builder and designer. He even had worked at Disneyland, one of my favorite places. His custom cars are the "creme de la creme" of custom cars, just beautiful creations dreamed up and built by Boyd and his staff. These kinda guys are not your everyday guys. They dream it and they build it from scratch. Boy toys, dream machines, and power houses for us to drive, ogle, and enjoy. He's gone but his legacy continues thanks to his wife who will carry the dream on. I don't know her either but I bet she's amazing. These custom car builders are amazing. Starting with the frame and ending with the flames, they fabricate, bend, mold, bolt, paint, and upholster cars like no other. There aren't many of these guys who can do it right and make it pretty. They are a breed of special brains that give us pure automobile beauty. When one of these artists pass on, we can only hope that the legacy is passed on to others.

Watched the news last night, saw an SF cop beating an Iraq war protester in the street with a billy club. The protester was just a guy, not a thug or a bully, just a guy. Looked to me like the guy just bumped into the cop and the cop went into a fury, clubbin' away at whomever he could hit, including young girls and old girls. It all took me back to Viet Nam days, when I was a late teen. At the war rallies I attended, I saw the cops swinging the billy clubs then too. My girlfriend and I huddled next to big building column so we wouldn't get hit. They never stop. Yeah, they hit whomever they could strike. Just plain people making a statement. Free speech is what we are free to do here, yet the cops just don't get it. My Dad was in WWII. He said war was hell and he said it with conviction. War is hell and we have a right to be against it if we so desire. That doesn't give the cops the freedom to beat the ordinary citizens into oblivion. Cops don't beat bicyclists when they ride their bikes down Market Street, SF.
Watched the news last night, saw a bunch of protesters protesting the Marine Recruiting Center in Berkeley. Marines have saved our asses for many decades. They are good people too, always faithfull. They are just doing their job, just like war protesters. Marines don't like war anymore than us plain folk. The Marine Corps is a way for some Americans to find something to join, just like religion. It isn't about war, it's about comraderie and fellowship. Marines are just doing the job they have found to do that makes them feel good. The Marine Corps should not be protested, the people who run our government are the ones to protest. The politcians get us into war, not the Marines and all the other Armed Forces. It is the commander-in-chief who gets us into war. (George W. Bush) Let's honor the Armed Forces because they protect us against fascism. They protect our American freedom. Protest in front of the White House, keep the president up all night. It will give him time to think about it and all the son's and daughters who have lost their lives fighting for his agenda overseas. And oh yeah, watch out for the DC cops billy clubs, we all saw those being used during the civil rights movement and Viet Nam war rallies.
Here's some homework, google the meaning of Semper Fi, Marines don't have to take this quiz!
and read this: http://www.oo-rah.com/Store/editorial/edi52.asp
Imagine all the people, John, I do.

"Imagine"

Imagine there's no Heaven

It's easy if you try

No hell below us

Above us only sky

Imagine all the people

Living for today

Imagine there's no countries

It isn't hard to do

Nothing to kill or die for

And no religion too

Imagine all the people

Living life in peace

You may say that I'm a dreamer

But I'm not the only one

I hope someday you'll join us

And the world will be as one

Imagine no possessions

I wonder if you can

No need for greed or hunger

A brotherhood of man

Imagine all the people

Sharing all the world

You may say that I'm a dreamer

But I'm not the only one

I hope someday you'll join us

And the world will live as one

John Lennon