"Put the skeer in them fellas."

After our last sketch some have asserted that we were taken in, duped; that Obama’s seemingly tough stance with Detroit is simply one more cleverly disguised heist, a move for a further gov’t lock on free enterprise. (They remind us that Obama did not really draw the line anyway, but gave them another 60 days, keeping a gov’t handle on the situation.) They may be right; certainly that is the blanket motivation of this administration.

In the case of GM and Chrysler, many of us have understood for a long while that bankruptcy was the ideal. Anything else - simply an extension of the pain, and further corrosion. That was obviously the correct view. Bankruptcy is perfect for these clowns - it is a measured process, it slows things down, looks at all contracts (watch out UAW) and all suppliers, and, all potential buyers of portions or the whole - one or two of which might be in the South, where vehicle production is still profitable. Key is that bankruptcy eliminates the politicians and lobbyists in one swoop, substituting instead the courts. Unfortunately, bankruptcy as most of us know it may not be in the cards; the UAW is too important to Democratic electoral politics. Yet there is some rumbling this am of a "controlled bankruptcy". We’ll see.

But for the moment Obama has done a great service, whether he intended to or not. The key is the message, not only to Detroit but to the rest of the corporate welfare queens, now jostling in line. Maybe the door is closed. Maybe better go home and attempt to straighten things out, or wind it up. Maybe now even the masses have had enough.

Nathan Bedford Forrest was not only the South’s preeminent cavalryman, but most likely the greatest American cavalryman of all time. He terrorized the North, especially Sherman. Forrest was constantly at Sherman’s flanks, putting what he called "the skeer" into every Union soldier’s heart, prompting Uncle Billy to call Forrest, "..the very devil," adding that he would order a force, "..to go out and follow Forrest to the death if it cost 10,000 lives and breaks the Treasury."

Putting "the skeer" in them fellas in Detroit is a good thing, no matter the motivation. The rest are listening.

Robert Craven