Monday, November 29, 2010

GM Rubbing Salt in the Wound...

I know, you are tired of hearing me complain about GM, but they just can't quit. Did anyone else catch the new ad during the NFL games where there is lovely piano music in the background and beginning with a boxer being knocked to the canvas? The next scene featured a space vehicle starting to rise and then settling back down, followed by Popeye falling (or drowning.) Next we see Evil Knievel missing a stunt and a guy holding him, then a guy on his hands and knees in sepia colors (to make it look like an old classic) apparently being watched by a room full of dejected guys -Popeye still falling, and Harry Truman holding up a newspaper featuring the headline touting "Dewey beats Truman." (For you younger people, he didn't.)

Ta da! Popeye magically pulls out his can of spinach, kicking his way to the surface, the boxer on the canvas shakes it off and gets up and screen black with the words: We all fall down - followed by something about needing help to get up and finally, "Thank You from GM" (Big difference, except for Knievel, there was no evidence of anyone else getting any help.)

To begin with, Obama didn't give us any choice in the matter, they profess to have paid back every penny and their spokespersons last week again lied by saying that the preferred stock holders and bond holders have been made whole, and they are the beneficiaries of $45 gazillion in tax credits over the next 20 years. All in all it gives me real heartburn to know that they have fooled the American public once again. Oh, and I still get letters from them thanking me for my loyalty and don't I want to come in and check out the new models.

A couple of topics we may want to dig into a little more deeply:

1-A friend who is undergoing chemo and has been getting a $1000 shot on a monthly basis has been told, through (not by) her doctor that the FDA says she now needs two shots instead of one. No government control?

2-Since there is no excess Social Security in the pot for the government to take and replace with a worthless IOU, they are just not going to pay the interest due on all the so-called loans they have taken thus far.

3-Wouldn't it be really easy for there to be a box on the IRS form for those making over $250,000 to check if they are a business? Then the really rich could go on to pay more--just like Warren Buffet, Ted Turner, Bill Gates, etc. Just do it without forcing their guilty consciences on others.

4-Still need to address earmarks as stand alone items. What's so hard about that?

5-Russia has finally admitted to it being Stalin who was responsible for the 1940 massacre of 22,000 Poles in the Katyn Forest--not the Nazis as they have been saying all along. (Nazis have more than their share of that kind of behavior.)

One wonders if the Japanese will ever admit to their own people, let alone the rest of the world, that they attacked Pearl Harbor and other South Pacific outposts on Dec. 7, 1941. That's a date which is coming up next week lest we forget.

What with all of the problems abounding we still had much for which to be thankful last week and which we should praise God the rest of the days. God bless......

Monday, November 22, 2010

A Slight Change of Focus

Since the Jackson County Republicans have seen the need for new blood I have been relieved of my duties on the Executive Committee which opens up new opportunities including what I started talking about last week.

We will be starting a group comprised of folks who are intensely interested in the issues of the day. You know, the kind of thing that we only briefly address on a blog which by necessity cannot be long enough to cover any subject in its entirety.

If any of you readers out there are local and would like to participate, you are more than welcome. Perhaps the best way would be to post a comment and we can exchange contact information.

This will be a casual group--no dues, meeting when we decide to, choosing our topics as we go, but really researching and sharing information. Perhaps an occasional speaker may join us--we are fortunate to have some experts in various fields living around us. We may even evolve into being able to give our legislators information that would take pressure off their staffs. At the very least, we'll give it the old college try.

Other than the lame ducks which are actually pretty crippled as I see it and the flap over the new TSA methods of screening passengers which is again a reactive position rather than being proactive we've been treading water lately. The shakeups in the political parties are probably more exciting than politics at this point with challengers beginning to line up against Michael Steele.

Not that there aren't any other topics to talk about, it's just that it looks like we might have exciting times of learning and sharing ahead of us and I'm anxious to see how many folks agree.

So God bless and have a wonderful Thanksgiving. We still have an overabundance of most everything in this fantastic place we call our homeland.

Monday, November 15, 2010

It's Just About Time......

Now that we're past the "same old, same old" and things are beginning to sift out, there are getting to be more topics than can be addressed once a week. Consider:

If Rolls Royce can fix those engines as fast as they indicate, doesn't it mean that they knew there was a problem and they've already been working on it and perhaps they should have grounded fleets earlier? Just thinking...

Obama's "Get Outta Dodge" trip was the most obvious, cowardly move ever, even for him.

When is this government going to get over the fact that subsidies have no place in a capitalistic society? If Tyson and others want to sell their chicken fat to extend bio diesel, let them, but don't ask us to pay to make it happen.

Does anyone know whether or not the bankruptcy laws in states such as Florida which protect a family homestead can also prevent foreclosure?

When visiting India, did it appear unseemly to anyone else that it was way too familiar a gesture to Obama to have his arm around the shoulders of Prime Minister Singh?

If the new Tea Party Congressmen start to trade off tax increases for cuts, we'll know it was all for naught. Let's remind all our newly elected representatives that what we're looking for is CUTS FIRST! Ad even if, by McConnell's definition earmarks are a minuscule part of the budget (my word, not his, but that's what he meant) it's the symbolism and honesty involved.

The next message: If it's important enough to be in a bill as an earmark, it should be important enough to STAND ALONE!

China is now making deals for coal with Australia. Their usage is skyrocketing and where does that leave us with our EPA trying to single-handeddly destroy businesses who need that kind of energy.

Speaking of energy, some time has elapsed since we visited the costs of solar and wind power and how much we spend in subsidies for those two. You just can't turn around without running into another way to spend our money or anything they can borrow.

One to two year old second hand cars cost more than new ones? Maybe it's because a whole bunch of "used" cars got smashed to smithereens during the Cash for Clunkers program. That's not the entire story, but it needs investigating.

Quotes heard during Obama's Asian trip:

"The Fed's mandate, my mandate, is to grow our economy. And that's not just good for the United States, that's good for the world as a whole." Obama

"The last time there was a competitive devaluation of currencies it ended up where it did, in the Second World War." Brazils President-elect, Dilma Rouseff

"It doesn't add up when the Americans accuse the Chinese of currency manipulation and then...artificially lower the value of the dollar." Wolfgang Schluble, German Finance Minister

Russia's president will insist "such actions (as pumping cash into the U.S. economy( are taken with preliminary consultations with other members of the G-20." Arkady Dvorkovich, Russian G-20 negotiator

"The U.S. decision does not recognize, as a country that issues one of the world's major reserve currencies, its obligation to stabilize capital markets." Zhu Guangyao, Chinese Vice Finance Minister.

And all the people said, "Amen" because they couldn't argue with any of them with the possible exception of our President.

I'm thinking my future includes beginning a monthly program with speakers and participation research which can then be shared with membership, legislators, the public and any other audiences we can serve. It's a big job which needs more than my personal input. I generally have a biased opinion. What do you think?

God bless.......

Monday, November 8, 2010

Of Course We are Grateful-

At 1:45 Wednesday morning I posted on Facebook something like: I have a Congressman! I have two Representatives from Jackson County as well as two Senators! I have a conservative Supreme Court! And of course we have good representation on the college boards...

However, when we all awoke from our euphoria we realized that the work is just beginning. So Praise God for what we have, but now we have to keep and build on it.

This will be difficult with a President who considers Republicans his enemies. And please don't consider this a mistake. I believe the real description is a Freudian Slip which means that what he really meant slipped out without his thinking. Can't help wondering why he is campaigning in India. No joke, doesn't it sound like he is running for something over there?

We also have to watch the Fed. What is Bernanke thinking? Printing more money so the value and interest rates go down? How low can they go? Pretty soon they may pay folks to borrow money. This is scary stuff and we need to remind people that this is counter productive.

However, the week ended on another bright note. My husband came home just glowing with the story of liberal University of Michigan's incredible win on the football field, but more so because of the patriotic flavor of the day at the Big House. Honor was given to veterans all through the afternoon, all branches of the military along with a flyover originating in Texas with pilots who were grads of U of M and patriotic music throughout. Again, who could ask for anything more?

God bless.......