WHY BANKRUPTCY IS THE BEST OPTION FOR GM

General Motors is a once-great company caught in a web of relationships designed for another era. Instead of a taxpayer-funded bailout, GM should be allowed to go bankrupt, says Michael E. Levine, a distinguished research scholar and senior lecturer at New York University School of Law. [snip]

GM has about 7,000 dealers, Toyota has fewer than 1,500 and Honda has about 1,000:

• These fewer and larger dealers are better able to advertise, stock and service the cars they sell.
• GM knows it needs fewer brands and dealers, but the dealers are protected from termination by state laws.

Foreign-owned manufacturers who build cars with American workers pay wages similar to GM's, but their expenses for benefits are a fraction of GM's:

• GM is contractually required to support thousands of workers in the UAW's "Jobs Bank" program, which guarantees nearly full wages and benefits for workers who lose their jobs due to automation or plant closure; consequently, it supports more retirees than current workers.

And then there's the Union workers' retirement 'benefits'...

[Reminder: 'chapter 11' bankruptcy is meant to be a mechanism through which debts and contracts are restructured to allow continued operation - but the mowtown three have said 'it's not for them'...]

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Obama Calls for Aid to U.S. 'Auto Industry'

President-elect Barack Obama said the government needs to provide help to U.S. automakers on condition that management, labor and lenders come up with a plan to make the industry ``sustainable.''

``For the auto industry to completely collapse would be a disaster in this kind of environment -- "

[but the 'industry' isn't insolvent - there's dozens of car manufacturers in the US employing Americans that are solvent - only 3 aren't -- the three with unions...]

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Mayors want part of auto bailout

STERLING HEIGHTS -- The mayors of four large Metro Detroit communities on Monday called for a share of the federal bailout sought by Detroit's Big Three automakers to help redevelop shuttered facilities and factories.

The mayors of Warren, Sterling Heights, Livonia and Dearborn met at the Sterling Heights Public Library for about an hour to discuss the proposal. The mayors were joined by representatives from Gov. Jennifer Granholm's office, Michigan's congressional delegation

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Music Industry Sings Military’s Praises for Second Year

WASHINGTON, Nov. 17, 2008 – Just in time for Thanksgiving, 14 musical acts are showing just how thankful they are for what the military does for everyone back home.

Led by John Ondrasik of Five For Fighting, the musicians lent their hit talents to “For the Troops II,” a CD featuring 14 hit singles covering the spectrum of musical genres.

“At the end of the day, it’s really not even about the songs,” Ondrasik said. “It’s about the gesture of thanks and support and appreciation. I salute all these artists who did that.”

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How Fallujah was lost

A NEW ASSESSMENT PRODUCED BY THE U.S. ARMY HAS FOUND THE MILITARY’S FIERCEST FOES DID NOT RECEIVE THEIR TRAINING from al-Qaeda, Ansar al-Islam, or Hezbollah, but from Harvard University, the Columbia School of Journalism, and the New York Times editorial board. [snip]

The outcome of a purely military contest in Fallujah was always a foregone conclusion – Coalition victory. But Fallujah was not simply a military action, it was a political and informational battle...The effects of media coverage, enemy information operations, and the fragility of the political environment conspired to force a halt to U.S. military operations.

Specifically, the report mentioned false claims of civilian casualties, singling out Al Jazeera and Al-Arabiyah footage. “Children were shown bespattered with blood; mothers were shown screaming and mourning day after day.” The United Press International (UPI) news service reports that it has confirmed the Army report’s accuracy. It confirms the thesis that the most effective efforts against the war have emanated not from al-Qaeda or other extremists groups but from American politicians and journalists.

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New honeycomb tire is 'bulletproof'

The University of Wisconsin-Madison and a Wausau, Wis., company have come up with a 37-inch, bullet- and a bomb-proof Humvee tire based on a polymeric web so cool looking there's no need for hub caps.

Resilient Technologies and Wisconsin-Madison's Polymer Engineering Center are creating a "non-pneumatic tire" (no air required) that will support the weight of add-on armor, survive an IED attack, and still make a 50 mph getaway. It's basically a round honeycomb wrapped with a thick, black tread.

The military wants an alternative to the current Humvee "run flat" tires, which despite the name, still need a minimal amount of air pressure to roll and can leave troops stranded after being shot or blown out.

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'Iranians train Syrians to Fight Sunnis'

Iranian officers affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) have in the past four months established intelligence cells in Lebanon, comprised of Syrian agents and Hizbullah members, whose aim is to track down and annihilate Sunni armed cells, the Kuwaiti-based daily A-Siyasa reported.

''Approximately 200 IRGC agents, who were based in Iraq, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates, have arrived in Lebanon via Syria since late July''

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Olmert: US must take the lead against a nuclear Iran

The United States must take the lead in preventing a nuclear-armed Iran, outgoing Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told an audience of American and Canadian Jewish leaders who gathered in Jerusalem Sunday night. ran has not terminated its ''devious goals,'' Olmert said - listing the hunt for nuclear weapons, its pursuit of regional hegemony, or its support for terrorism

[Q: Iran's closer to Europe - why doesn't it 'take the lead'? {rhetorical}][snip]

''Iran cannot become nuclear. Israel cannot afford it. ''


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The Islamist Role in the 2008 Canadian Elections

If you are Canadian and Islamist, you probably voted for the New Democratic Party (NDP), which won 18.2% of the vote on October 14, 2008. This was an increase in of about 1% in the vote and led to seven more seats from the 2006 elections.

However, the party could not budge itself from its permanent 4th place in Canada's parliament. Endorsed by the Canadian Islamic Congress (CIC), the left-leaning NDP has shown an incredible lack of understanding of the Islamist agenda and how soft jihadis are using democratic institutions by manipulating our respect for multiculturalism... [snip]

The lesson for all Muslims is written on the wall: If they are unwilling to stand up to the Islamists in their communities and stop the influence of Saudi Arabia and Iran, we will all suffer because of the actions of a few.

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Berkeley's Idea of Tolerance

California [HT:BG]
At the home of the politically correct, liberal University of California at Berkeley, Israel National News reports on how the school reacted when still yet another pro Israel event - this time a hip hop concert sponsored by the student Zionist Freedom Alliance,(ZFA) - was disrupted by Arabs and their supporters.

The latter group unfurled a large Arab flag and when asked to remove it, the outnumbered pro Israeli students were beaten, some severely. Several also alleged the pro Arab students shouted racist remarks. [snip]

Meanwhile, the anti-Israel group is planning to file a petition to remove from office Moghtader, who tried to break up the fight.

Yes, this is Berkeley, where the Free Speech Movement - for some - originated.

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Speak now or forever be silent

[the fall of Taiwan]
From the abrupt detention of Chiayi County Commissioner Chen Ming-wen (陳明文) and Yunlin County Commissioner Su Chih-fen (蘇治芬) of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) to the shockingly abusive manner the police employed to disperse protesters during the visit of Chinese envoy Chairman Chen Yunlin (陳雲林) last week; from police monitoring of Taipei City councilors’ activities to the Taichung County Government checking whether any civil servants had taken any days off during Chen’s visit from Nov. 3 to Nov. 7 ― all these have aroused concern at home and abroad that democratic values and human rights have suffered under the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government.

At home, groups of college students across the country have since Thursday last week staged a sit-in to protest against police brutality in dealing with the demonstrators and to urge President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and Premier Liu Chao-shiuan (劉兆玄) to apologize over the matter. Abroad, some 20 academics specializing in Taiwan affairs in the US, Canada and Australia last week issued a joint statement expressing their concern over the detentions of opposition politicians being held incommunicado without charges, warning that these “arrests could signal an erosion of Taiwanese democracy.”

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China Gives No Sign of Bailout Help After Summit

BEIJING -- China got what it wanted in Washington's financial summit _ a promise of a bigger role for developing countries in global finance _ but gave no sign Sunday whether it will respond by using any of its $1.9 trillion in reserves in a bailout fund.

China has been pushing for developing countries generally _ and itself specifically _ to have more influence at the International Monetary Fund and other global bodies. Analysts say that might be Beijing's price to give in to foreign appeals to dip into its reserves and contribute money toward an IMF emergency loan fund for struggling countries.

The Washington summit was an "important and positive" step toward "the reform of the international financial structure," foreign ministry spokesman Qin Gang said in a statement. It made no mention of possible bailout contributions...

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Never forget

Nearly two decades after the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of communism in Eastern and Central Europe, five nations remain "captive" to communism -- China, Cuba, North Korea, Vietnam and Laos.

Amid all the hoopla about the Beijing Olympics and the "ohs" and "ahs" over the dozens of skyscrapers soaring above the Chinese capital, we must keep in mind that China is also a land of forced labor camps...
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France’s Sarkozy Says U.S. Power in Global Economy is Diminishing

The United States will have to share its role as the world’s economic leader, French President Nicolas Sarkozy said Saturday regarding the global economic summit. (Snip) ''Is America the number one power in the world? Yes. Is it the only power in the world? No,'' Sarkozy said. ''We are in a new world, a new environment. That does not mean there is less of a role for the United States. It means more of a role for others.''

[same old crap: he means American action per the direction of others who don't do themselves...]

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Eastern Bloc collapse boosts climate outlook

The world is on track to meet its Kyoto protocol target, according to very preliminary [i.e., spun] data released for the first time today, but not through a global willingness to regulate greenhouse gases.

The efforts of some countries to rein back emissions have been bolstered by an economic downturn in others, says the UN.

This means the encouraging news could be reversed if governments do not put policies in place to slow and eventually reverse the trend...

[think that sentiment through]

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When Almost Everyone is Lying to You

How can it be that millions can be led to believe the Earth is warming when, in fact, the warming that occurred following the end of the last Little Ice Age in 1850 was completely natural? Nothing “forced” it to occur as is the claim about the Industrial Revolution, the use of so-called fossil fuels, and an utterly false assertion that carbon dioxide (CO2) is the primary factor for the warming. Like all periods of warming (and cooling) the Sun was and is the primary factor. Everything else pales in comparison. [snip]

Now connect the dots. If you want to know why we continue to hear about alleged new threats to the global environment and false assertions of a warming that is not happening, you need begin with the United Nations—in particular its Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change—and then factor in the deliberate machinations of various U.S. government (and other nation’s) agencies that are committed to maintaining the global warming hoax.

This is not about the climate. It is about the private gain of many people, some of them the world’s wealthiest already, and the need by various governments to keep people frightened and distracted from the simple truth that the Earth is now fully a decade into a distinct, identifiable, and verifiable cooling cycle... [snip]

As Lord Monckton wrote in a letter to John McCain,

“Not for a single moment longer must you allow yourself to be distracted by the murderous foolishness of the climate alarmists.”

This is good advice for all of us.

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Sorcerer's Apprentice Caught With Pants Down - Again

A particularly egregious and obvious error seems to have finally outed Al Gore's Merlin, NASA's Dr. James Hansen:

[snip: same UK 'surreal blunder' piece, see: NNBrief > UK Paper Notes 'Surreal Scientific Blunder' in Global Temps Measurement; US Media Doesn't Care, but with >]

It's not the first time, either that his "records" fail any test of accuracy and that he's tap danced away from any notion of being accountable for his errors.

Update -- Bruce Thompson writes:

Now is the time for President Bush to bring the debate on global warming out into the open by firing James Hansen of GISS. There certainly is cause for firing him. And since the GISS data has been the primary data source for the global warming alarmists, publicizing the unreliability of their data is crucial to defeating carbon taxes.

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'Today' Begins Annual Global Warming Scare Week

[meanwhile, our professional media...]

The full "Today" show cast went to "The Ends of the Earth," as a part of NBC Universal's "Green Week," all in an effort to, once again, do the bidding of the likes of Al Gore, to create hysteria about global warming.

With live reports from Matt Lauer worrying about reefs off the coast of Belize, Meredith Vieira fearful about drought conditions in Australia, Ann Curry watching the snow caps melt on Mt. Kilimanjaro and Al Roker troubled by glacier extinction in Iceland, the cast pushed the green agenda throughout Monday's "Today" show.

The following are just some of the scarier, introductory teasers from the "Today" cast as they occurred on the November 17, edition of the "Today" show:

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THE REAL COST OF TACKLING CLIMATE CHANGE

Many environmentalists claim that nothing less than an 80 percent reduction in emissions by the year 2050 will suffice to combat global warming, says Steven Hayward, a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.

Barack Obama has endorsed it. These targets would send us back to emissions levels last witnessed when the cotton gin was in daily use:

• In 2006 the United States emitted 5.8 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide, or just under 20 tons per capita, according to the Department of Energy.

• An 80 percent reduction in these emissions from 1990 levels means that the United States cannot emit more than about one billion metric tons of CO2 in 2050.

The United States last emitted one billion metric tons around 1910; but in 1910, the country had 92 million people, and per capita income, in current dollars, was about $6,000.

Source: Steven Hayward, "The Real Cost of Tackling Climate Change," Wall Street Journal, April 28, 2008.

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Film-makers taking on our 'global warming hysteria'

The tide must certainly be turning in favor of rationality and away from the religion of global warming. It's starting to become fashionable to question its tenets. Harry McGee writes in the Irish Times:

A new Irish film claims that climate change guru Al Gore is an alarmist and that those who think they are saving the planet are only hurting the poor

If the advance publicity is anything to go by, Not Evil Just Wrong will do for Al Gore what Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11 did for George W Bush.

"This is the film Al Gore and Hollywood don't want you to see," declares the website for the latest work by film-makers Ann McElhinney and Phelim McAleer.

The media establishment will certainly not help this film reach its audience.

Young people, who go to the movies in greater numbers than other demographic segments, are particularly attuned to exposing fakery and hypocrisy. They are also the group that will suffer most from the economic consequences of the polcies advocated to control carbon dioxide, the alleged pollutant that is necessary to sustain life.

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Chief Heather Fong (left), the first SFPD female Chief of Police;
Theresa Sparks (center, former male), President of the San Francisco Police Commission,
Sgt. Stephan Thorne (right, former female), the first transgender SFPD police officer.
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