41 Replies to “He, For One, Welcomes His New Self-Driving Overlords”

  2. No, David’s a good guy. But he suffers the psychological effect of growing up without a truck in his life.

    1. I agree. Mr. Warren has fought the good fight for Canadian conservatism. Back in the 1980s, when I became a full-fledged conservative, I like others discovered how tiny the movement was in this country. I read the National Citizens Coalition materials (not much there), and “the Idler”, dead-tree publication Warren edited that tried to promote cultural conservatism.

      When Conran Black bought up the hard-left Southam newspaper chain, he installed Mr. Warren as editor in chief at the Kingston Whig Standard, then a far-left newspaper. Mr. Warren I understand taught a course at Queen’s university, a case where a Catholic conservative chafing in a cess pool of left wing thought. He wrote one column hinting that he felt physically endangered there. I spent four years at a Queen’s grad school, and the politics were tough to take.

      From there David Warren wrote weekly columns for the Ottawa Citizen, then a post-Conrad Black newspaper. On the internet he confessed that one day he would be fired. Actually, he was given a good severence, then he was fired. On his web page he claims, in semi-retirement, to be in a financially precarious situation. I would say tht, given that jobs are hard to come by for conservatives in conservative organizations, it is difficult for people like David Warren. He has fought the good fight.

      1. I used to read “the Idler” when it was in production and just this week I was going through a box out in the shop and found a mint copy the Summer edition 1993. Too bad we no longer produce an erudite magazine of this quality.

        From the inside page: The Hours of Folly are measur’d
        by the Clock, but of Wisdom,
        no Clock can measure

        I’ll take more David Warren anyday

    2. Yes Kate you nailed it;

      Truckless Toronto, the downtown — a place where you will be more sane if you walk, has a few folk who claim to be conservatives. But can you really be conservative if you haven’t used a machine to extract, or, transport a natural resource? Maybe a naive conservative?

    3. I don’t know a single conservative that is concerned in any way about their “carbon footprint.” Although, I am conflicted because he seems to understand that carbon footprint starts at the mine shaft and includes the junkyard, which eludes most liberals. And the comment about good clean nuclear power. Yeah, he’s a tough one to pin down.

    1. Oops. Forgive my Californian ignorance. If this man is a stalwart conservative … I needed to read more of his archive. And I admit his writings are somewhat oblique and ponderous.

      Nevertheless … someone who admires ugly little econo boxes … would surely LOVE the Soviet ZaZ!

    2. That’s the Ruski Fiat.
      Fiat built a factory in the place formerly called USSR, for donations to the communist party of Italy. The factory was called Togliatti, the contemporary Italian communist of the time. They may have changed the name of the town to Togliatti to honor the Italian communists.
      It was the single reason the communist party of Italy was so rich, never mind the proletariat.
      This is what I read more than 60 years ago in a newspapers published by communists.

      1. I think the ruskies bought the Fiat plant and moved it to Russia. The complete line. Reassembled it and started production. It’s exactly the same Fiat that the Italians used to produce.

        Back in the day I knew a guy who used to go to Pakistan and ride the Kyber Pass on a motorcycle. He did it several times. It was still ‘safe’ to do it then ( late 70’s early 80’s) He’d go to I believe India and purchase a 350 Enfield. They had bought out the production line and produced the original Enfied. They cost about $1000 bucks and when he was done he’d sell it used for $900.

  4. Dear God is right.
    imagine living around this pantywaist.
    I do NOT use that term lightly and very infrequently. political correctness and all that.

  5. Does this little car come with its own remote? My wife said she’d pay 2k for that thing, tops, and use it as seed capital for a business driving around to little kids’ birthday parties in a clown suit!

    I hear the Benny Hill theme playing in my head after seeing that!

    I guess I won’t be persauding my wife to give up the Jeep anytime soon …

  6. I drive, but I don’t own a car. My needs are limited enough that’s it’s cheaper for me to rent when I need one. The FIAT 500 is a current favorite of Enterprise, so I’ve driven one and actually rather liked it. Plus, one of my other mental infirmities is that I have a thing for FIATs. Well, not so much FIATs as the Lampredi designed 124 engine, which was actually originally for a Ferrari F2 car (which won two world championships back in the years that the WC was held for F2 cars). The FIAT street version detuned it and replaced the aluminum block with cast iron (which caused it to eat head gaskets due to the difference in thermal expansion rates, but was only a half hour job to replace once you’d done it a couple of times and you could do the timing belt at the same time).

    I might actually consider buying a 500, if it were the usual sort of junk Fabricated in Italy Automobile from Turin, but it manages to sink even lower than that as a Dodge made in Mexico, so I’m out.

    1. The Fiat morphed into the Lada. How can one argue against such a pedigree. Fiat was kicked out of Canada in the 1980s after it designed the first self-composting car. It wasn’t their intention of course – to build a car that decomposed while you drive it, or to get kicked out of Canada. It was the fact that all their cars were composting…Fiat was ahead of its time.

    2. There’s a reason for the new nickname, it’s earned.

      Fix It Again Tony

      Two of the worst companies fir quality and dependability merged several years ago.

      Fiat and Dodge. A marriage made in hell for buyers

  7. https://www.bing.com/images/search?view=detailV2&ccid=s2ALE%2fMy&id=DE738678207CAB930AEB2D875FFF5A54E6B61758&thid=OIP.s2ALE_MyExuyQrNBmgpX0wHaFj&mediaurl=https%3a%2f%2fwww.askideas.com%2fmedia%2f06%2fFunny-Pig-Face-Car-Image.jpg&exph=480&expw=640&q=funny+caqr&simid=607994035973260370&selectedIndex=219&ajaxhist=0

    If that is what a Canadian Conservative media-ite drives, I thought what would a Canadian Liberal media-idiot hoping to soon get their Independent Senator Recompense drive?

    Found it .

  8. The ambience is enhanced if you read his poetic script out loud using the voice of HAL from 2001 A Space Odyssey and finish with the song “Daisy, Daisy”. It will make you think about putting an extra elastic on your Fiat 500 Super Car. Wear a helmet because life is about to get 2x more exciting.

  9. Top secret.

    The Liberals have finally figured out the Stupid Tax won’t fly, especially in election year and have decided to change direction.
    To that end they have purchased all the Canadian Auto Companies and will soon produce the climate friendly Librano which will be the only car available to non Liberal-listed Canadians.

    Sneak peak below:

    https://www.bing.com/images/search?view=detailV2&ccid=WsqbMBwZ&id=958B7D38BA8EE1B7F107E9F731818C4CBF45C98C&thid=OIP.WsqbMBwZ-1u9OoT-tkBoBgHaFs&mediaurl=http%3a%2f%2f1.bp.blogspot.com%2f_b10vSxp_9K0%2fTUV1jYfwKmI%2fAAAAAAAADbA%2fgp-VdOwUz6w%2fs1600%2ffunny-cars27.jpg&exph=461&expw=600&q=Hilarious+Cars&simid=608032475911162935&selectedIndex=230&ajaxhist=0

  10. Cant imagine a real conservative who dislikes cars and won’t drive!
    Is this guy a poofter? His writing had that tone.

  13. Warren may be a bit of an odd-ball, but when it came to slaying the champagne socialists, few did a better job.

  14. Guys, lighten up a bit here…

    David Warren’s article was clearly tongue-in-cheek, but also well-written, witty, and reasoned.

    Not everything needs to be slammed as bullshit or praised as biblical, and it doesn’t help anything to demonize or worship any author.

    Some writings are simply intended to amuse. If you have lost the ability to be amused, then maybe best not to write anything yourself.

    1. Sorry … he lost me with the Chinese clock analogy. Was that supposed to be some homage to Confucianism? I didn’t find it relevant or “enlightening”.

    2. I see your point, Stuart, but some things are amusing to a general audience and some are not. This is not. (Admittedly, what we find witty or funny is sometimes very subjective.)

      Kenji previously acknowledged Warren as a “stalwart conservative” but, correctly I think, described his writings as “oblique and ponderous.” Oddness does not always guarantee a comedic effect. The problem here may not be so much the readers’ ability to be amused but the writer’s ability to amuse. He’s no Stephen Leacock or even a Mark Steyn.

      1. “no Stephen Leacock”
        ‘You could have treated this assignment a bit more seriously; you ain’t no Stephen Leacock you know”
        What Mr. Cooper my 10th grade English teacher wrote on the bottom of one of my poorer efforts.

        1. LOL. I’ll bet it was amusing for a 10th grader. At least something he said stayed with you which wasn’t the case with most teachers I had. (One of my classmates, Lawrence Cooper, became a teacher. That wasn’t him, was it?)

  15. FCA is missing out not selling euro Diesel versions of vans and cars in red of neck Albertieville.

  16. fiat.
    I first read it as flat. as in FLAT.
    as in FLAT tire.
    fix it again tony !!!!

  17. I kinda like that he’s are talking about internal combustion engines, where oil and refined gasoline produce the best power to cost ratio on the planet, and not some shit California Con man’s electric parking lot bombs. Some like their petrol engines big, some like their petrol engines small. But no one likes the battery operated vehicles.

  18. Mr. Warren is inventing excuses for his lack of getting a driver’s license. THE most free thing you can do in a public place is drive a car. No Conservative would poo-poo it.

    As for the 500 – it is one of the worst-selling cars in North America – with 180 day dealer inventories – just 6000 cars. Figures he would be attracted to it. (for the record I found it to be a fun enough car – even funner in Abarth tune – ruined by bad auto and manual transmission drivability. But I don’t fit in its target market and judging by sales apparently better options exist.)

    1. “THE most free thing you can do in a public place is drive a car.”

      Ain’t that the truth!

      Bought a 49 Ford 4 dr sedan at 16.
      Bought a 1961 Triumph TR3 at 18.
      Traded it for a 1960 Porsche 356B 1600 Super at 19.
      It was the very first Porsche 356B coupe in Ft McMurray in 1965, if I am not mistaken.
      However, I was absolutely gobsmacked to also see a Jag XKE there at the same time.

      BTW, all with my own hard earned munney.

  19. it’s his last comment, no doubt intended to be arch, but “IC engines are too brutish” just smacks of hypocrisy and effete snobbery. Every goddam thing David Warren eats, reads, or wears was carried on a truck using an IC engine. His entire life of ease and repose – he writes for a living, how much physical effort does that require? – is made possible by the lives and efforts of millions who get the oil out of the ground, refine it, ship it, retail it, and use it. Those ‘brutes’ should tell him to take a hike, and we’ll see how long he continues to enjoy his life of idleness.

    If someone doesn’t want to drive, that’s fine. But to sneer at everyone else who does by calling them “brutes”? Second word is “OFF”, Mr. Warren.

  20. The “Sweet Songstress of Saskatchewan” is – and always will be – the immortal Sarah Binks. Look her up, read, enjoy.

  21. Dudes, let’s leave public denunciations for ideological heresy to the leftists. David Warren is on our side, his column in Ezra Levant’s old Western Standard was terrific. I know, I subscribed. I don’t really get a lot of his piece, but these attacks on David are out of proportion.

Proudly powered by WordPress & Skyrocket Themes

MENU

Navigation