Sunday, February 28, 2010
Saturday, February 27, 2010
Had O-nough?
Vince Haley
Special to AOL News
Feb. 24, 2010
In 1946, Republicans ran on a campaign slogan of
............................"Had Enough?".........................
to mobilize voters who had grown tired of 16 years
of Democratic control of Congress.
Yet only one year after electing him to office, voters have grown tired
of President Barack Obama, or more precisely, his agenda to "transform"
the United States. So much so, in fact, that the 1946 slogan is again
finding traction. With a nod to the ubiquitous Obama campaign logo,
the simple question that frustrated Republicans, Democrats and Independents
are asking family and friends is now:
............................................."Had O-nough?"..........................................
There's a joke going around Washington.
President Obama can take credit for exactly three new jobs
since he's been in the White House:
one in Massachusetts, one in Virginia and one in New Jersey.
And now he's creating a fourth in Indiana, where Evan Bayh is walking away from
the U.S. Senate. Bayh was surprisingly honest on CBS' Early Show last week:
"If I could create one job in the private sector by helping to grow a business,
that would be one more than Congress has created in the last six months."
It sounds like Bayh has
...............................................Had O-nough..............................................
The Department of Labor announced last week that 473,000 new unemployment
benefits applications were filed. Picture the crowd at this year's Super Bowl in
Miami's Sun Life Stadium. Now multiply by six. Yet, the White House insists that
2 million jobs have been created, and Vice President Joe Biden assures us that
"the best is yet to come." Biden may believe this, but almost nobody else does.
A recent CBS News poll notes,
"just 6 percent say the stimulus package has created jobs ..."
.................................................Had O-nough?.............................................
When the Bush administration put forward a plan just before he left office
on energy exploration in the Outer Continental Shelf, public comments ran
two-to-one in favor (which is in line with public surveys on the question).
But as the Wall Street Journal's Washington Wire reported, Obama's Interior
Department was more interested in hiding this fact than acting on it.
"The Secretary may get questions about this ... while he's in Houston,"
an e-mail said. "We do have a preliminary tabulation of the comments,
it has not yet gone to the Secretary. So the Secretary can honestly say
in response to any questions that he's not yet seen the analysis of the comments."
...................................................Had O-nough?..............................................
Americans' frustration with Obama's agenda goes beyond jobs.
A week after the Justice Department announced 9/11 terrorist
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed would be tried in a federal court in New York City,
the Gallup organization found, "By 59 percent to 36 percent, more Americans
believe accused Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed should be
tried in a military court."
Yet, the White House adamantly defends the rights of terrorists.
.................................................Had O-nough?................................................
Let us not forget the health care debate.
Rasmussen Reports noted "61 percent of U.S. voters say Congress
should scrap that plan and start all over again."
But Obama insists on trying to ram it through.
...........................................Had O-nough?.........................................
Evan Bayh took the easy way out.
The question remains whether or not American public opinion
will rise to such a boil that President Obama changes his agenda –
but one thing is for sure, and that is the question every American is asking:
.......................................................Had O-nough?....................................
(Vince Haley is vice president for policy at American Solutions,
which recently launched www.hadOnough.com – an online portal for
citizens to let it be known that they have had enough with President
Obama's agenda and want a new direction.)
Nation, Opinion
GM (Government Motors)
............................The 2010 Obama.............................
This car runs on hot air and broken promises.
It has three wheels that speed the vehicle through tight left turns.
It comes complete with two teleprompters programmed to help the occupants talk their way out of any violations.
The transparent canopy reveals the plastic smiles still on the faces of all the happy owners.
Comes in S, M, L, XL and 2XL
It won't get you to work, but hey, there aren't any jobs anyway!
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Toyota and the Union-Backed, Government-Led Witch Hunt
by Brian Johnson
Toyota, which employs over 35,000 workers in the United States with factories in eight states, is the target of a government-led and union-supported attack due to recent recalls.
In the U.S., it is estimated that 15,000 Lexus HS250h and 133,000 Prius models will be recalled due to gas pedal issues, with another 500,000 Prius and other gasoline-electric hybrids needing anti-brake software modification. As unfortunate and inconvenient as recalls can be, this not the first, or last time an automobile will need to be brought back to the shop for a quick fix.
One might think this is the first auto recall in decades from the way government officials and Congressional Committees have pounced on Toyota. However, as recent as last month, Honda announced a recall of 646,000 Fit models (or Jazz in some markets) due to a faulty master switch that could allow water to enter the electrical components resulting in fires. Ford, less than one year ago, was forced to recall more than 4 million cars based on 550 vehicle fires. The recall concerned cruise-control deactivation switches that were installed in 16 million Fords. Part of the recall included nearly 1.1 million 1995-2003 Ford Windstar family van models.
There was no government outcry and no demand for Congressional hearings over these recent recalls. So why has Toyota suddenly become the target of a government-led witch hunt?
Toyota’s U.S. operations are extremely successful, not saturated by inefficient union monopolies, and are in direct competition with the now government-owned General Motors.
From their first U.S. factory in 1988, the Japanese company’s success in the U.S. is extraordinary. In 2003, the Camry became the best-selling car in the U.S. and still is. In 2005, Fortune magazine stated: “By nearly every measure, Toyota is the world’s best auto manufacturer. It may be the world’s best manufacturer, period.” In 2006, Toyota became the third-biggest seller of cars and trucks in the U.S. In 2007, Toyota captured second place in the U.S. market, replacing Ford, which had held the No. 2 position since 1931. In 2008, as GM declined and temporarily avoided bankruptcy, Toyota surpassed their unionized competitor becoming the largest automaker in the world.
Toyota’s ability to ascend, while others plummeted, lies in their philosophy based on efficiency and productivity called “The Toyota Way.” This corporate philosophy is not anti-union, rather based on the principle of “kaizen” which means “continuous improvement.” This principle seeks complete quality management by improving local work environments and raising productivity. It empowers executives and plant employees, who are famously authorized by Toyota to stop the assembly line to quickly solve any problems based on their own discretion. Such practices are never heard of and often forbade in other highly unionized automobile facilities.
In fact, the differences in efficiency and productivity (and why the unions are determined to penetrate Toyota’s workforce), do not stop there. When GM fired over 35,000 employees between 2006 and 2008, Toyota laid off zero. GM loses almost $2,500 in profitability per vehicle where Toyota makes almost $1,500 per vehicle. This is largely due to GM’s forced union contracts. GM’s union, the United Auto Workers (UAW) mandates that GM pay, on average, each non-skilled line worker about $33 dollars per hour. This inflated wage includes workers who are “idle,” meaning they don’t have a specific job that day, but can still come to work, sit in a special facility and collect a pay check.
These artificially inflated costs, bound by forced union contracts, are sinking other US auto industries. Toyota has managed to rise above that, not by being anti-union, but by believing in and enforcing a corporate-wide model based on efficiency and improvement.
Now, the agents of the government, which controls GM, are publicly castigating Toyota in an attempt to smear the company and increase their own profitability. As a direct competitor with Toyota by way of involvement with GM, the assault against Toyota represents one of the most public conflicts of interests the business world has experienced.
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, told owners of a recalled Toyota to “stop driving it” and take it to a dealer to get it fixed. As a appointee of President Obama, who supported the government takeover of GM, LaHood’s comments should be viewed as a violation of the government’s own “non-compete” commitment. In publically condemning Toyota, which is now a competitor of a government owned corporation, LaHood is using his position to drive down the market share of Toyota and advance the interests of GM.
LaHood’s comments and the call for House Congressional Hearings into Toyota, led by members with union-heavy districts whose interests appear to be self-serving, has led to a public outcry from a bi-partisan group of Governors whose constituents rely on Toyota for employment. Led by Gov. Mitch Daniels (R-Ind.) who says, “Let’s recall. Let’s fix it…If a fine is in order, then fine, but they have gone so far beyond that. It’s very, very suspicious in view of the government conflict of interest.” Daniels added, “These Congressmen running this committee have their own agenda and it is a discriminating agenda in this case. They didn’t do this the last several hundred recalls.”
The government, in this case backed by the union saturation of GM, has a clear conflict of interest in owning companies that are in direct competition with Toyota. The problems have been determined, the solutions are in process. Sec. LaHood and the union-supported Democrat heads of the committees holding hearings on this matter should step back and allow the private sector to function without biased interference.
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
CNN, Huffington Post Urge Violence Against Republicans
Two of the most popular liberal news sites are calling for violence against Republicans for obstructing the radical agenda of President
Barack Obama.
CNN and Huffington Post have each published op-eds this past week
by regular contributors with headlines that explicitly call for
Obama to use violent gangland tactics against his political opponents.
CNN published a column by Roland Martin on February 11 with the headline, Time for Obama
to go ‘gangsta’ on GOP.
Martin concluded the article with a plea for Obama to emulate the
violent tactics of the Prohibition-era Chicago mob boss Al Capone.
Obama’s critics keep blasting him for Chicago-style politics.
So, fine. Channel your inner Al Capone and go gangsta against your foes. Let ‘em know that if they aren’t with you, they are against you,
and will pay the price.
The Huffington Post followed-up with their own call for gangland
violence against Republicans with the publication on February 14
of a column by David Bourgeois with the title, Obama Better Start Breaking Kneecaps.
Bourgeois concludes his article with this call for gangland violence.
You’ve given it your best shot, you’ve tried numerous
times to talk with the Republicans, to negotiate, to meet them
halfway on every single matter before the American people. But
they hate you for many reasons. It’s time you break kneecaps.
It’s time to destroy the Republican Party. They don’t deserve
a seat at the table when all they want to do is score political
points by being the Party of No.
call to violence with a wooden baseball bat with Obama’s first
name on it in large letters.
Fox News chief Roger Ailes for allegedly provocative rhetoric by
Fox host Glenn Beck.
HUFFINGTON: Well, Roger, it’s not a question of picking a fight.
And aren’t you concerned about the language that Glenn Beck is
using, which is, after all, inciting the American people?
There is a lot of suffering out there, as you know, and when he
talks about people being slaughtered, about who is going to be
the next in the killing spree……It’s not about the word police. It’s about something deeper.
It’s about the fact that there is a tradition as the historian
Richard Hofstetter said, in American politics, of the paranoid
style. And the paranoid style is dangerous when there is real
pain out there.
Ailes defended Beck, saying he was accurately talking about the governments of Hitler and Stalin.
Violent rhetoric such as that espoused by CNN and the Huffington
Post is usually found in the bowels of Internet discussion forums,
not as sanctioned op-ed headlines on news sites with White House
press passes.
CNN and Huffington Post would be well-advised to retract the calls
to violence and issue apologies to Republicans before Obama
supporters are incited by their violent rhetoric and start going
gangsta and break kneecaps of Republicans.
press secretary Robert Gibbs should shame them into doing so.
Surely the Obama administration does not countenance violence
against their domestic political opponents.
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Valentine's Day Weekend, Afghanistan:
A crew from the United States Air Force spent Saturday night and Sunday morning airlifting different groups of wounded soldiers from Kandahar to Camp Bastion to Bagram, back to Kandahar, then back to Bagram, and back to Kandahar. These patients were from Afghanistan, Australia, Canada, and the United States. Here, an Air Force nurse caresses the head of a wounded, unconscious Canadian soldier while whispering into his ear.
________________________________________________
The War in Afghanistan has truly begun. This will be a long, difficult fight that is set to eclipse anything we’ve seen in Iraq. As 2010 unfolds, my 6th year of war coverage will unfold with it. There is relatively little interest in Afghanistan by comparison to previous interest in Iraq, and so reader interest is low. Afghanistan is serious, very deadly business. Like Iraq, however, it gets pushed around as a political brawling pit while the people fighting the war are mostly forgotten. The arguments at home seem more likely to revolve around a few words from the President than the ground realities of combat here. I can bring the ground realities, but can sustain the coverage only by the graciousness of readers. Please keep that in mind. Please click…https://www.michaelyon-online.com/support-the-next-dispatch.htm
Michael Yon
Online Magazine
Saturday, February 13, 2010
Last Weeks Rants From "Drinking With Bob"
Barack Obama is a Great Reader but a Terrible:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0gwaXYaMf0
Stop Being "Cool" and Start Being President...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKO2lVj47Tc
STOP Spending "OUR" Money...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2UdjtipSS_g
Toyota is NOT the Problem. General Motors
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zx6GZfrt39A
12 Year Old Girl Arrested for Writing on Her Desk...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lbtrsDrBJI8
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Why I Live In Florida
The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA's Terra satellite captured this true-color image on February 7, 2010, showing part of the region affected by heavy snowfall. Snow blankets the area hundreds of kilometers inland from the Atlantic coastline. Along the latitude of New York City, however, snow cover thins considerably. Credit: NASA
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Monday, February 8, 2010
John Murtha Dies
Because of my Mother's teaching, thats all I have to say.