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DIECAST
Collectible Model Cars And More
| Item# |
Description |
Stock
Status |
| 11001R |
Motor
City - Ford Model A Fire Chief Pickup (1931, 1:18 scale diecast car, Red) 11001R |
Restock |
| 1280QW |
Sun
Star - Ford F-100 Pickup Truck (1965, 1:18 scale diecast car, Turquoise/White)
1280QW |
Restock |
| 1462BU |
Sun
Star - Ford Galaxie 500 Hard Top (1963, 1:18 scale diecast car, Blue) 1462BU |
Restock |
| 3112 |
Sun
Star Classic Rally - Lancia Delta HF Integrale 8V Race Car
D. Auriol/ B. Occelli (1:18 scale diecast car, White) 3112 |
New |
| 3113 |
Sun
Star Classic Rally - Lancia Delta HF Integrale 8V Race Car
M. Biasion/ T. Siviero (1:18 scale diecast car, White) 3113 |
New |
| 41005 |
Motor
City - Ford Model A Pickup (1931, 1:18 scale diecast car, Weathered Rust) 41005 |
New |
| 4188 |
Sun
Star Classic Rally - AUDI Quattro Rally Race Car S. Blomqvist/
B. Cederberg (1:18 scale diecast car, White) 4188 |
New |
| 4434W |
Sun
Star Classic Rally - Ford Escort Mk. II RS1800 Race Car R.
Clark/ S. Pegg (1:18 scale diecast car, White) 4434W |
New |
| 4437BU |
Sun
Star Classic Rally - Ford Escort Mk. II Race Car H. Mikkola/
A. Hertz (1:18 scale diecast car, Blue) 4437BU |
New |
| 4438BU |
Sun
Star Classic Rally - Ford Escort Mk. II Race Car R. Clark/
N. Wilson (1:18 scale diecast car, Blue/ Black) 4438BU |
New |
| 4504R |
Sun
Star Classic Rally - Lancia Stratos Race Car B. Darniche/
A. Mahe (1:18 scale diecast car, Red) 4504R |
New |
| 4507W |
Sun
Star Classic Rally - Lancia Stratos Race Car S. Munari/ S.
Maiga (1:18 scale diecast car, White) 4507W |
New |
| 4508BK |
Sun
Star Classic Rally - Lancia Stratos Race Car M. Alen/ I. Kivimaki
(1:18 scale diecast car, Black) 4508BK |
New |
| 4643GN |
Sun
Star Platinum - Lincoln Premiere Convertible (1956, 1:18 scale diecast car,
Green) 4643GN |
Restock |
| 4651R |
Sun
Star Platinum - Lincoln Premiere Hard Top (1956, 1:18 scale diecast car, Red)
4651R |
New |
| 4941R |
Sun
Star Classic Rally - FIAT 124 ABARTH Race Car R. Pinto/ A.
Bernacchini (1:18 scale diecast car, Red) 4941R |
New |
| 71001CM |
Motor
City - Woody Trailer (1:18 scale diecast car, Italian Cream) 71001CM |
Restock |
| 92006BU |
Motor
City - Horse Trailer (1:18 scale diecast car, Blue) 92006BU |
New |
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Lu
Toy Wonders, Inc.
www.toywonders.com
201-229-1700
A
Longer Perspective
(Part 2 of 2)
By Lu Su
"What
are we doing in Iraq?" I ask myself, as I sip my coffee and
ponder the question. I am a bit amused with the odd thought (perhaps
out of insolence) that somehow by simply thinking about the question,
I can somehow arrive at the correct answer. I do realize that
long perspective answers often take time to come into fruition,
but it seems that we sure could use a good short answer right
now -as our casualties and involvement in this country continues
to increase. Last thing we want is our men and women in harms
way asking the same question (But I bet their version of the question
would contain an expletive).
As
I look at all the short answers that have been offered up, you
know all the ones that make for good two second sound bites by
politicians on TV, I wonder if a deep question like this can be
answered in one sentence. Some of the one sentence answers that
I recall are " To establish democracy", "To liberate
Iraqis from a tyranny", "To stabilize that region (which
is a kind way of saying to stabilized the region in order to feed
our addiction), "confront an axis of evil", "To
rid/prevent a hostile country from having/obtaining WMDs".
"To bring the fight to the terrorist". There probably
is some hint of truth in all of these answers; but definitely
none of them are strong enough to unify us.
In
trying to loosen this knot, I believe we need to start by asking
some questions. We are in Iraq because we value something. What
do we value that brings us there? If we can answer this, the next
logical question would be where do our values come from? Don't
values stem from our convictions? Where do convictions come from?
Don't convictions come from our morals? Whether it be good, bad,
selfish, or noble morals, isn't this the root cause that drives
us to go, say, or do something? It seems that morals is something
unique to the animal called man. At least I have not seen any
news coverage of animals, reptiles, insects, or birds flocking
to Iraq for an reason or lack of one. So we are in Iraq becomes
of our morals? Where the heck do we get our morals from? And whose
morals should we use in deciding important matters like this?
Yours? Mine? The majority of the population?
The
last perspective, we took a longer perspective and re-wound the
tape back about 150 years -back to President Lincoln's time and
to the American Civil war. I want to go back even further than
that look at the significance this piece of land has played in
history and what conflicts errupted out of this land that may
have shaped our morals. Perhaps it doing so, it may foretell something
to come in our future. Certainly if we know something about the
future, with hindsight we would be in a better position to answer
the question in hand. Wouldn't it be great if we could fast forward
the tape and see what the end result would be. This certainly
would be a nice video recorder to own -fast forward and see the
future (like a Back to the Future machine). Perhaps some sort
of futuristic TIVO? You could set a dial, enter a setting, and
then see what life will look like 25 years from now. What happens
25 years from now if I ........go to this school, marry this person.........
or take this job?
I
do recall one point in history that I bet the world wished they
had at their disposal this futuristic TIVO was when Adolf Hitler
pushed his tanks across Czechoslovakia and Poland. If memory serves
me correctly, the world did nothing and things worked out quite
poorly for most of the inhabitants of this world. Hitler was before
most of our time, but more recent cases include Slobodan Milosovich
in 1998 pushing his tanks into Kosovo and in 1990 Saddam Hussein
pushing his tanks into Kuwait. What is it about military tanks
that gets us off our butts and then want to go depose leaders?
Maybe these African despots have caught on to the connection.
"Send only our men in jeeps and trucks. If we send our tanks
across the border, the white man will come". In the end it
was mainly America and NATO allies that rose up to depose both
the the Iraqi and Serbian leader. So remember these two names
"America" and "NATO". There will be a quiz
later.
Back
to the subject of a longer perspective. In my studies, I have
noticed a lot of FIRSTS occurring in this land called Iraq. I
see the occurrence of these FIRST time events in this particular
region as being very significant, because it has shaped man's
morals. In order to look at the historical significance of this
piece of property, I needed to consult a famous history book called
the Bible. Even if you do not believe in Bible, God, religion
and Santa Claus, I think anyone with an open mind should investigate
the most published, translated, and scrutinized piece of literature
in the world. Much of what we know of the ancient world comes
from the Bible and the cities, towns, cultures, rivers, rulers
mentioned in the Bible match up with non-religious text from other
cultures. However unlike most other books where you start reading
from the beginning, if you spiritual journey takes you to investigate
this book, I would start with the book of John before reading
the first book called Genesis. Incidently th first five books
of the Bible comes from Jewish teachings called the Torah. It
is generally believed that Moses (that guy with a white beard
and a Charlton Heston accent) wrote a significant portion of the
Torah/Old Testament.
This
time lets rewind the tape back; way back this time. All the way
back to written account of the start of mankind. The setting is
the Garden of Eden. Certainly a map of Iraq along with her "friendly"
neighbors would help here. Notice Iraq makes up the majority of
the region called Mesopotamia. What allowed ancient civilizations
to flourish in this area can be attributed to the Tigris and Euphrates
rivers, which run the entire length of the country.
The
first book of the Bible is called Genesis and in its second chapter
it reads:
This
is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created,
in the day that the LORD God made earth and heaven. Now no shrub
of the field was yet in the earth, and no plant of the field
had yet sprouted, for the LORD God had not sent rain upon the
earth, and there was no man to cultivate the ground. But a mist
used to rise from the earth and water the whole surface of the
ground. Then the LORD God formed man of dust from the ground,
and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became
a living being. The LORD God planted a garden toward the east,
in Eden; and there He placed the man whom He had formed. Out
of the ground the LORD God caused to grow every tree that is
pleasing to the sight and good for food; the tree of life also
in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of
good and evil. Now a river flowed out of Eden to water the garden;
and from there it divided and became four rivers. The name of
the first is Pishon; it flows around the whole land of Havilah,
where there is gold. The gold of that land is good; the bdellium
and the onyx stone are there. The name of the second river is
Gihon; it flows around the whole land of Cush.The name of the
third river is Tigris; it flows east of Assyria And the fourth
river is the Euphrates.
The
setting for the Garden of Eden story is definitely in Mesopotamia
(not to be confused with Missouri). Given the three names that
people today still recognize, Tigris river, Assyria, and Euphrates
river, there is a better than average chance that the author of
Genesis has the setting Garden of Eden (whether you take the story
literally or figuratively) in modern day Iraq. Note the author
is specific in the setting. He could have said, "Once upon
a time". Or "In a galaxy far far away", but he
didn't. So in this story, you have the first accounts of life,
knowledge of good and evil (which might have something to do with
morals), and of course the first man
enters the stage. If you were to read the next chapter of Genesis
you would encounter the first break up of relationship
with man and the creator (God). Perhaps you have heard terms like
"fall of man" or "man's fall from grace".
The theological term is "sin"; but in America we don't
do sin anymore. We just perform errors in judgment now -a mistake.
So it seems to me that if you forget to carry the 1 into the tens
column when balancing your check book, that could be called a
"mistake". When you high jack a plane and crashing it
into a building with the purpose of killing yourself and thousands
of others, that should called a mistake too? So basically the
first rebellion (first sin) more than
likely occurred in Mesopotamia. Fast forward the tape and go to
Genesis chapter 11.
Now
the whole earth used the same language and the same words. It
came about as they journeyed east, that they found a plain in
the land of Shinar and settled there. They said to one another,
"Come, let us make bricks and burn them thoroughly."
And they used brick for stone, and they used tar for mortar.
They said, "Come, let us build for ourselves a city, and
a tower whose top will reach into heaven, and let us make for
ourselves a name, otherwise we will be scattered abroad over
the face of the whole earth." The LORD came down to see
the city and the tower which the sons of men had built. The
LORD said, "Behold, they are one people, and they all have
the same language. And this is what they began to do, and now
nothing which they purpose to do will be impossible for them.
"Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language,
so that they will not understand one another's speech."
So the LORD scattered them abroad from there over the face of
the whole earth; and they stopped building the city. Therefore
its name was called Babel, because there the LORD confused the
language of the whole earth; and from there the LORD scattered
them abroad over the face of the whole earth.
Almost
all scholars are in agreement that the plain of Shinar was in
Iraq and somewhere near the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. Before
the territory was called Iraq, the older name for that territory
was called Babylonia. Babylon in a more ancient tongue was called
"babilani" which means "the Gate of God(s)"
and it became the capital of the land of Babylonia. The ruins
of Babylon can be found 50 miles south of modern day Baghdad and
located on both sides of the Euphrates river. The etymology of
the name Babel in the Bible means "confused" and throughout
the Bible, Babylon was a symbol of the confusion caused by godlessness.
The name Babylon is the Greek form of the Hebrew name Babel.
Babylonia
during its hey day, extended much further than the current borders
of Iraq (into modern day Jordan, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait,
and Turkey). One of the most important aspects of Babylonian religion
and tradition, and probably the best known, is the ziggurat. Ziggurats
were huge "stepped" structures with, on their summit,
far above the ground, a temple. This Temple would have been to
the city god. The city ziggurat would easily be the most conspicuous
building in the city, towering above any visitors coming to their
city. Therefore the ziggurat was not just a religious center but
also a center of civic pride. Each city's ziggurat would have
been easily seen from all vantage points in and out of the city.
The ziggurats were built on an immense scale.
So
at the Tower of Babel, which was located in modern day Iraq was
man's first concerted group effort to be/reach God. So here we
have an account of the first group rebellion,
first languages ever being spoken,
and the first scattering of people.
Fast forward the tape a few generations and in the same chapter
of Genesis 11; verse 31, you get another significant man that
enters the stage.
Terah
took Abram his son, and Lot the son of Haran, his grandson,
and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son Abram's wife; and they
went out together from Ur of the Chaldeans in order to enter
the land of Canaan;
Abram
was originally from this land we call modern day Iraq -most likely
born and raised there too. Who the heck is Abram? If you read
on, you will see that Abram is renamed to Abraham when God promises
that ALL Nations would be blessed through him. Has that come true
yet? Have all nations on the earth been blessed some how and in
someway through this man? Please note that before Abraham, there
were no other Jews. Abraham was the first Jew. All Jews trace
their line through Abraham's son Isaac and the Muslims trace their
ancestry to Abraham through his son Ishmael. I think a very interesting
case study would be to investigate what problems may develop when
you get a woman pregnant, who happens NOT to be your wife. It
cannot be good. Isaac and Ishmael had the same father but different
mothers. How many battles and wars have been fought between the
Jews and Muslims since Abraham's time? How many people have died
over this on going feud? I guess the more pertinent question is
how many more will die in the future? Much of the lack of peace
in the Middle East can be traced all the way back to the events
that took place in Abraham's tent. Today Jews, Christians, and
Muslims (more than 3 billion people) all regard Abraham as a father
of their faith. So out walks a man from Iraq and becomes the first
Jew and instigates the first family
feud that has really gotten out of hand today.
Fast
forward the tape. The setting is ancient Babylon. King Nebuchadnezzar
II is the tyrant in charge of the most powerful empire on earth
(at that time). I know you science fiction fans are probably asking
"Isn't the Nebuchadnezzar the ship on those Matrix movies
staring Keanu Reeves?: Here my wife looks over from the book she
is reading and asks me, "I thought you were working on a
newsletter for work. Why are you asking me how to spell 'Nebuchadnezzar'?"
I explained why. "So you are writing about the Iraq war and
the Bible?" she inquires. "I don't know if it is possible
to talk about two more controversial subjects", she adds.
I
explained to my wife (who is a novice) that all diecast model
car conversations will eventually lead to the philosophical argument
of good and evil -of which the Bible seems to offer a decent moral
compass for mankind. My wife gave me a blank look.. So I gave
her an example. Next year, my favorite childhood cartoon Speed
Racer is coming to movie theatres throughout the world. Consequently,
sales on the Ertl 1/18 diecast version of the Speed
Racer car is expected to spike. The movie will stars Keanu
Reeves who also happens to be the star in those Matrix movies.
For those that did not happen to catch the Matrix trilogy, the
Matrix is a movie whose overall theme is that evil can be overcome
by really good kung-fu. Anyone that has watched the Matrix knows
the movie is just laden with biblical names like: prophets, Zion,
Trinity, and Nebuchadnezzar. Moreover the main character Neo plays
a messiah/Christ-like figure that is reborn, baptized, murdered
and resurrected. Good news is in the movie seems to have a happy
ending for some. Take note of the last statement and let's find
our next significant character from Iraq.
Fast
forward the tape a few generations and in the book of Daniel chapter
2. This is the same Daniel that you might have heard in your childhood:
Daniel in the lions den. Here we see that young Daniel who is
just a teenager at this point interprets one of the most significant
prophecies in the Bible. The King of Babylonia who ruled from
the city Babylon kept having a troublesome recurring dream. What
makes this prophecy extra significant is the dream/prophecy is
interpreted right then and there; so it's a gimme. The following
is an excerpt from that chapter. If you can spare an additional
minute, I encourage your to read the entire
chapter of Daniel 2
The
King's Dream
You, O king,
were looking and behold, there was a single great statue; that
statue, which was large and of extraordinary splendor, was standing
in front of you, and its appearance was awesome. The head of
that statue was made of fine gold, its breast and its arms of
silver, its belly and its thighs of bronze, its legs of iron,
its feet partly of iron and partly of clay. You continued looking
until a stone was cut out without hands, and it struck the statue
on its feet of iron and clay and crushed them. Then the iron,
the clay, the bronze, the silver and the gold were crushed all
at the same time and became like chaff from the summer threshing
floors; and the wind carried them away so that not a trace of
them was found But the stone that struck the statue became a
great mountain and filled the whole earth.
The
Interpretation--Babylon the First Kingdom
This was
the dream; now we will tell its interpretation before the king.
You, O king, are the king of kings, to whom the God of heaven
has given the kingdom, the power, the strength and the glory;
and wherever the sons of men dwell, or the beasts of the field,
or the birds of the sky, He has given them into your hand and
has caused you to rule over them all. You are the head of gold.
Medo-Persia
and Greece
After you
there will arise another kingdom inferior to you, then another
third kingdom of bronze, which will rule over all the earth.
Rome
Then there
will be a fourth kingdom as strong as iron; inasmuch as iron
crushes and shatters all things, so, like iron that breaks in
pieces, it will crush and break all these in pieces. In that
you saw the feet and toes, partly of potter's clay and partly
of iron, it will be a divided kingdom; but it will have in it
the toughness of iron, inasmuch as you saw the iron mixed with
common clay. As the toes of the feet were partly of iron and
partly of pottery, so some of the kingdom will be strong and
part of it will be brittle. And in that you saw the iron mixed
with common clay, they will combine with one another in the
seed of men; but they will not adhere to one another, even as
iron does not combine with pottery.
The
Divine Kingdom
In
the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom
which will never be destroyed, and that kingdom will not be
left for another people; it will crush and put an end to all
these kingdoms, but it will itself endure forever. Inasmuch
as you saw that a stone was cut out of the mountain without
hands and that it crushed the iron, the bronze, the clay, the
silver and the gold, the great God has made known to the king
what will take place in the future; so the dream is true and
its interpretation is trustworthy.
This
dream that Nebuchadnezzar had occurred in Babylon (50 miles south
of Baghdad) and took place roughly 600 BC -probably in the palace
near those Hanging Gardens of Babylon those Greeks kept raving
about. The dream basically states that there is only going to
be 4 empires before something totally out of the ordinary occurs.
Like the scholars back in King Herod's time who were able to interpret
the written prophecy accurately, when he asked "Where is
the child to be born?", I believe our scholars have also
accurately mapped the empires correctly to the corresponding parts
on the statue. Unfortunately, the significance of both answers
will neither be investigated nor taken to heart by most people.
I am sure that I have already lost most of the readership of this
article by now. The former talk show host Phil Donahue said something
very astute about our culture: "People would rather watch
a show on lesbian nuns than watch vice -presidential debates".
The
correct interpretation of the Roman empire being the forth kingdom
is especially significant for us. If the text is correct, it is
stating that there are to be NO more empires after the forth.
Why do we think Rome was the 4th Kingdom (legs of iron with feet
and toes of clay and iron)? The catch phrase "divided kingdom"
is key here. Just like two legs, the Roman empire did have a left
and a right leg. The empire split with one capital was in Rome
(Italy) the other in Constantinople (Turkey). Very unusual thing
for any empire, country, or civilization to do. If the legs of
iron represented Imperial Rome (you know home of Caesar, orgies,
and Gladiators), who are the feet of this mixture of iron and
clay? Well if the feet still has iron it it, it must be the same
stock of people that made imperial Rome. Rome's expanse encompassed
countries like Italy, Spain, Portugal, Germany, France, England,
Iraq, Turkey, and Israel. Can anyone name an organization that
includes most of these countries? (perhaps the EU or NATO?). Or
perhaps we are looking in the wrong place. Can anyone name a country
that contains such a diverse group of people? So according to
the text, a characteristic of this later part of the kingdom is
that it is strong but not united.
If
you were to map out all four empires, you would see that all four
kingdoms had control of the piece of property we call modern Iraq
today. if you take a long term perspective on this, remnants of
the Roman empire acquiring control of this region again certainly
should raise some eyebrows here. This entire Mesopotamian (Middle
East) region has been a contiuous hot bed of conflict and rebellion
throughout history. Perhaps you could argue conflict was born
there. At best our continued presence there will be an upstream
battle. Are we like salmon and have some innate instinct to go
back to where it all started? Much seems to be converging there.
If the text is correct, the empires of man are coming to an end
and a new type of rule is coming soon. It's probably a good thing.
We just don't seem to run kingdoms that well. So start looking
for those ten toes. I bet they will emerge soon.
