Thursday, December 24, 2009

Christmas 2009

Merry Christmas to you and yours. Hope you get everything you want and have a safe happy New Year!

Here’s the true meaning of Christmas from the greatest Christmas special of ALL-TIME. Enjoy.

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Happy Thanksgiving 2009

I posted this last year and all but a few things hold true. I still love Rush and just listened to his annual Thanksgiving story today.

What's changed from last year is we did have another terrorist attack on US soil, Fort Hood, my mom is in town this year & both my in-laws went to Florida so hope they have a great time.

As for everyone else hope you have a great turkey day, know I will!

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Happy Veteran’s Day 2009

I dedicate this post to my father who is a Korean war vet and 2 of my uncle’s who are Vietnam vets and my father in-law who’s a Vietnam vet.

Thank you guys and to all who are or have worn the uniform of the American soldier.

We owe our freedom and very lives to you!

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Reagan’s historic Berlin wall speech

The great Ronaldus Maximus giving one of his best speeches. Pity the current crop of ‘world leaders’ and state run media don’t give Ronnie his due for the part he played in the wall coming down.  But we lived through it and know how it really went down.

Reagan - Tear Down This Wall

Friday, October 2, 2009

Fangoria’s top 20 Halloween haunts for 2009

These all look great, if I had the money I’d visit everyone of them!

1)  Netherworld – Norcross, GA (Atlanta area)
One of the most creative and ingenious Haunted houses ever created; movie quality special effects, elaborate sets, a powerful acting troupe and remarkably unique scares make Netherworld our #1 Haunted House in 2009!
http://www.fearworld.com/
2)  House of Shock - New Orleans, LA
The House of Shock is one of the most infamous Haunted Attractions in the world! A full horror pre-show features pyrotechnics, explosions and even a freak show.
http://www.houseofshock.com/
3)  13th Gate – Baton Rougue, LA
Louisiana takes 2 of our top 3 spots with 13th Gate coming in at #3 on our list.
Journey through 13 intensely detailed areas where your worst nightmares come true and anything can happen.
http://www.midnightproduction.com

4)   The Darkness - St. Louis, MO

With a total renovation for 2009 you’ll see props and sets beyond your imagination at this fright complex in the city under the arch.
http://www.scarefest.com

5)  Dead Acres – Pataskala, OH (Columbus area)

An all out extreme haunted house on the outskirts of Columbus, OH; Dead Acres is a full on sensory assault performed every night right before your very eyes!
http://www.deadacres.com/

See all the rest here…HALLOWEEN 2009: FANGORIA’S TOP 20 HOMETOWN HAUNTS

Thursday, September 3, 2009

Glenn Beck, hated by both sides?

As I peruse my usual political sites everyday I'm noticing a growing trend of Conservatives lashing out against Glenn Beck. Didn't include the links here but anyone paying attention knows what I'm talking about but anyway...

For the life of me I don't understand all the hate, scorn & ridicule directed at Beck from the right side of the aisle. Your just helping the Far left, anti-American whack-jobs by hating on ole GB. In my opinion Glenn is doing the lords work. Yeah, he can be over the top and buffoonish at times and he freely admits he's a clown but all that aside. He is single handedly doing more to expose Obama & his socialist/communist puppet masters than any other person in America including Rush. If Beck keeps this up, pulling back the curtains to expose the real wizards pulling the levers, I fear he's going to be snuffed out. Every night I watch his show and as he peels the layers away from all the left wing, Soros funded progressive(socialist) groups I shake my head and think to myself: Dude, I sincerely hope you wear a bullet proof vest & have security for you and your family.

Scary for modern day America but that’s where we find ourselves in Obama’s quickly developing Airstrip One.

Friday, August 14, 2009

A future I want no part of

 

If we follow the path our living messiah is attempting to lead us down this could be our terrifying future.

January 20, Year 20 AO (After Obama)

Early morning sunlight flashed in Bill’s face, which wrinkled in irritation. He rolled on his back, leaving the worst of the light on his shoulder but too late; the sun had done its job. He was awake. He lay there for another minute or two but finally caved in to the inevitable, threw the heavy blankets aside and sat up, dropping his feet to the floor.
Brr. Freezing. He got up, the chill starting to sink in, and looked at his thermostat. 60 degrees. *SIGH* It was on days like this that he missed being able to set his temperature as he liked it instead of having a federally regulated thermostat set it for him. He knew a couple of tech-savvy guys who had hacked theirs and set it so that they were comfortable. Later they said it was almost worth the huge fine they had to pay and the public shaming. Almost. Bill had a sneaking admiration for them but realized, of course that carbon crimes were no small matter.
He opened his small closet and pulled out his robe and wrapped it tightly around himself , walked into his cramped living room and plopped down on the sofa, picked up the remote, hit the Power button and the TV actually turned on! . Excellent. Thank goodness for sunny days. Since electricity had started to get so expensive back in the early Change days most folks had done the only sensible thing and had gone green. Of course with any worthwhile endeavor there were sacrifices to be made and the fact that most green technologies were a bit, well dodgy, just had to be accepted. On a really cloudy day his rooftop sun collector produced about enough power to keep his refrigerator going and keep his quota of four, 60 watt max energy saver light bulbs on. But today he had heat and TV, too.

Rest here at Flopping Aces

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

They came for the smokers...

...and nobody cared. Now they are coming for the Obese. Anyone care yet?

Yup, it's official. Obese is the new Tobacco.

Known this was coming since the war on Cigarettes started. Wasn't exactly sure where our elected nannies and self appointed do-gooders would go next but now we all know. It's obesity.

Just thinking out loud here but how are all you fat...errr I mean Obese people feeling right about now?

The campaign against you is just ramping up, your starting to get blamed and demonized for every bad thing that's wrong with the health care industry now and why costs are spiraling out of control. Are you feeling at all like us smokers have for the past 20 years? Can't speak for all smokers but for myself it's always pissed me off that I've been treated worse than a leper with AIDS since the early 90's and been pushed further away from people in restaurants, Airports, hospitals and everywhere. Hell about the only place I can smoke is my home and I'll wager there are plans in the works by the smoke police to put a end to that too.

Like Rush has been saying this week, we have cut the number of smokers in the this country by more than 1/2 in the past few decades and where did it get us? Medical cost's certainly didn't go down, they are higher than ever. The only benefit that I can see is our life expectancy has increased which is great but that raises a question in my little pea brain. Is our increased life expectancy due to millions of people kicking the habit or the huge advances in medicines and medical procedures? Don't know the answer to that but suspect it's a bit of both.

Now I'm no idiot. I know smoking is bad for you but it's your choice to make. Just as what you eat is your choice. It's not mine nor a Government paper pusher who pounds back cocktails for lunch everyday.

It's none of our business what someone else eats, how fat they get or if they are smoking a pack of cig's while inhaling a extra large Pizza while downing a keg of Budweiser. The founders intended for us to be a free country and real freedom means having the right to make stupid decisions about our health. Punitively taxing legal products such as tobacco, fast food or unhealthy snacks just to control certain behavior that our elected asshats don't agree with isn't America. At least not the America I or my folks grew up in.

To be sure health care in America needs to be worked on, streamlined and you should pay for what you use. Not somebody else. I don't want to pay for my neighbor's Dr. visit's and I'll bet you don't either. Should the bureaucrats in DC take it over to supposedly fix it? ahhh HELL NO. Everything they touch turns into a disaster which leads them to do more to fix the disaster they created in the 1st place. Costs will go even higher while the care will suffer.

Anyone who deals with Medicare or the VA like I do almost on a daily basis knows the disaster we are in for if Obamacare comes to pass. God help us all if it does.

Saturday, July 25, 2009

1982 PBS Documentary Featuring Walter Williams

Life has been getting in the way big time and other than twitter I haven't had a lot of time to post lately but I've seen these vid's on several sites and wanted to put them up here if nothing else so I could find them later. Also a huge fan of Walter's and he does a stellar job in this documentary explaining how the policies of good intentioned politicians have wrecked generations of black folks and I might add poor whites too. A must watch and all as true today as it was when filmed in 1982. Hell, things have only gotten worse.

Friday, July 3, 2009

Independence Day 2009

After the Obama administration has run it's course who knows what kind of socialist hell hole we'll be left with but right here and right now this is still the best country on earth. Thank god for it.

Between fireworks and cookouts please take a moment to read our founding documents and you'll see what the fathers of the country intended is nothing like what we have and where we are headed.

American Founding Documents

Monday, June 29, 2009

RIP guys, all of you will be missed

After the last week of what seems like a icon a day kicking off this week just has to be better.

Ed McMahon (March 6, 1923 - June 23, 2009) They'll never be another late night comedy duo like Ed and Johnny. They were the best and the current crop late night guys are just not that funny.

Farrah Fawcett (February 2 1947 - June 25 2009) Every boy in the 70's had a crush on Farrah and had this poster. I was no exception. Even had the plastic glass with this photo sealed in it. Still have to this day on display in our living room.

Michael Jackson (August 29, 1958 - June 25, 2009)

This is the Michael I choose to remember...Not the sad freak show that he had become but what he was at his peak. To all the kiddies out there who might wonder why Michael’s death is such a big deal. Watch these videos and you’ll see why.

Billy Mays (July 20, 1958 - June 28, 2009)

Out of all the celeb deaths last week this one shocked the me most. MJ has been kind of sickly and scrawny a long time, Farrah had cancer for 3 years and Ed was 86 and in shaky health so not surprised there but Billy Mays!??! That guy looked strong as a grizzly bear. Don't know if the rough plane landing had anything to do with his death(AKA the Natasha Richardson effect) here's a link to it from FoxNews.

Update on Billy’s death: TV pitchman Billy Mays had heart disease, coroner says

Update 08/07/2009 - Autopsy Results finally in & there was a reason Billy was always ‘on’

Autopsy Shows Cocaine Contributed to Billy Mays' Death

Monday, June 22, 2009

Hiring Joe Legal versus Hiring Jose Illegal

Haven't received this email yet but I'm sure I will. Ran across it here

Some of those numbers like food and and rent per month seem a little inflated to me (maybe not for CA but I live in KY) But I think but the general message is exactly right.

Here is an example of why hiring illegal aliens is not economically productive for the State of California ...You have 2 families..."Joe Legal" and "Jose Illegal". Both families have 2 parents, 2 children and live in California . "Joe Legal" works in construction, has a Social Security Number, and makes $25.00 per hour with payroll taxes deducted.... "Jose Illegal" also works in construction, has "NO" Social Security Number, and gets paid $15.00 cash "under the table".

Joe Legal...$25.00 per hour x 40 hours $1000.00 per week, $52,000 per year Now take 30% away for state federal tax. Joe Legal now has $31,231.00.

Jose Illegal...$15.00 per hour x 40 hours $600.00 per week, $31,200.00 per year. Jose Illegal pays no taxes... Jose Illegal now has $31,200.00

Joe Legal pays Medical and Dental Insurance with limited coverage $1000.00 per month [$12,000.00 per year]. Joe Legal now has $19,231.00.

Jose Illegal has full Medical and Dental coverage through the state and local clinics at a cost of $0.00 per year. Jose Illegal still has $31,200.00.

Joe Legal makes too much money is not eligible for Food Stamps or welfare. Joe Legal pays for food. $1,000.00 per month [$12,000.00 per year]. Joe Legal now has $ 7,231.00

Jose Illegal has no documented income and is eligible for Food Stamps and Welfare. Jose Illegal still has $31,200.00.

Joe Legal pays rent. $1,000.00 per month [$12,000.00 per year]. Joe Legal is now in the hole minus (-) $4,769.00.

Jose Illegal receives a $500 per month Federal rent subsidy. Jose Illegal pays rent. $500.00 per month (section 8 housing). $6,000.00 per year. Jose Illegal still has $25,200.00.

Joe Legal now works overtime on Saturdays or gets a part time job after work.

Jose Illegal has nights and weekends off to enjoy with his family (and eat out!).

Joe Legal's and Jose Illegal's children both attend the same school. Joe Legal pays for his children's lunches while Jose Illegal's children get a government sponsored breakfast & lunch, and they also qualify to be "bused to school" at tax payer expense.

Jose Illegal's children have an after school ESL program. Joe Legal's children have to find a way to get to school and go home after school as, "latch-key kids" with no adult supervision.

Joe Legal and Jose Illegal both enjoy the same Police and Fire Services, but Joe paid for them and Jose did not pay.

Jose Illegal can send most of his money back home to build a new home for retirement, and have money to buy a new truck (and still have Medi-Cal benefits while living in a foreign country; until someone turns him in to authorities....if they ever find out!!)

Joe will be lucky if he has any money for retirement, a new vehicle, medical/dental benefits, or a place to live.

I have done the math, all you have to do is to look at it yourself. Don't hire illegal aliens.....Don't vote for any politician that supports illegal aliens.....And most important of all, write your politicians and let them know how you feel

PS: You forgot, Jose illegal's wife claims "single, no head of Household" and collects additional benefits that Joe legal's wife cannot claim.

No wonder our country is in trouble!! Think about it!

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Jon Voight Torches Dear Leader

 

Everyone else is posting this so why not me and besides it's brilliant. This fellow should seriously consider running for office like NOW.

Sunday, May 24, 2009

Memorial Day 2009

Been so busy with life in general it's my 1st post in awhile but I couldn't let Memorial day pass without saying something.

I chose the photos and links of the Korean War because my dad is veteran of Korea and right now he's in the ICU at the VA hospital with a very bad case of pneumonia. He's holding his own but the outcome is still uncertain.

Been spending a lot of time at the hospital and doing a lot of praying. Unfortunately don't think either of those will change anytime soon.

This weekend between the picnic's and barbeques please take the time to thank a veteran and say a prayer for all of those who have made the ultimate sacrifice in keeping the US safe. I sure know I will.

Thursday, May 14, 2009

O’Reilly talking points on the politics of ridicule

Haven't watched Bill O'Reilly much in the past year, maybe longer. Used to watch him without fail every night but got bored and frankly it seemed he was getting far too middle of the road for my tastes. I tune in now and again when I can remember (and wife will give me the TV long enough)

Maybe Bill is feeling Beck's heat & decided to kick it up a notch but whatever the reason he had a great talking points on last night. Keeps this up I might just have to start watching him again. 

O'Reilly On The Politics Of Ridicule & Alinsky's Rules for Radicals

Sunday, May 10, 2009

Happy Mothers Day

I'm spending the day with my mom and mother in law and if they are still alive you should do the same. They won’t be here forever and you’ll wish you had when they are gone!

All you moms out there have a blessed day.

Saturday, May 9, 2009

Top Ten Reasons Blacks Should Stop Voting Democrat

Those are some damn good reasons……

by Lloyd Marcus
http://www.lloydmarcus.net/

10  The same problems Democrats have been promising to fix for 40 years are worse.
9  In 1950, 24% of Black kids grew up without dads. In 2009, 63%. Seven out of 10 are born out of wedlock. A result of Democrat encouraged generational government dependency.
8 The Black male high school dropout rate is 40%. Of those, 72% are jobless and 60% will probably be incarcerated. Another consequence of government replacing fathers in the home.
7  Amid the chaos after Hurricane Katrina, Democrat congressman William Jefferson used the National Guard to get home to retrieve $90,000 suspected bribe money from his freezer while New Orleans residents were trying to get rescued from rooftops.
6 Despite documented proof to the contrary, Democrats tell blacks the shameful lie that America is racist and their only hope is to keep electing Democrats to level the playing field.
5 Despite high test scores by inner city black kids in the D.C. school voucher program, Democrats plan to shut it down to appease their voters in the teachers union.
4 Democrats continually seek to lower standards. Thus, proving their bigotry of low expectations from blacks.
3  Most blacks believe marriage should be between a man and a woman. The Democrat party aggressively supports gay marriage and proposes stronger "hate crime" laws that include protection for pedophiles.
2 The Democrat party strongly supports abortion on demand, including the murderous partial birth. A disproportionate amount of aborted babies are black. 50% of black babies are aborted. Some call this Black Genocide. BlackGenocide.org
1 And, the number one reason blacks should stop voting Democrat...INSANITY is doing the same thing over and over again expecting a different result!

Thursday, May 7, 2009

Ann Coulter absolutely torches Joy Behar

 

heh…

Joy Behar: I want to know if you want to be water-boarded because Sean Hannity has volunteered to be water-boarded, but don’t see him sticking his head under the faucet yet.

Ann Coulter: No I don’t want to be water-boarded; do you want to be aborted? Because I think you support abortion. In fact, can we abort the terrorists instead of water-boarding them?

Quote of the Week: Ann Coulter Leaves Joy Behar Speechless

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Savage banned from England, could sue

So this is the level of dhimmitude that the once mighty Great Britain has sunk to...tell the truth about radical Muslims and you get barred from entering the country. Sad to see what's becoming of a once great empire. Going by the state of the UK I think it’s a badge of honor to banned.

Conservative talk show host Michael Savage's commentary has offended groups from parents of autistic kids to Muslim leaders. But the San Francisco-based syndicated talker, who made a "name and shame" list of people banned from entering Britain, may have been shocked himself to find some of his opponents, including civil libertarians, defending him.

On Tuesday, British Home Secretary Jacqui Smith published the names of 16 of 22 people banned from the country since October for allegedly fostering extremism or hatred. Along with Savage, who has called the Quran, the Muslim holy book, "a book of hate," Muslim extremists, jailed Russian gang members and a militant Israeli settler were banned. Smith cited "public interest" reasons for not disclosing six of the names.

Chrysler won’t payback bailout money

Not surprised at all about this. I contend it was never planned for them to pay it back. Auto bailout was never about saving the car companies but about saving the UAW.

The entire multi-act play of not allowing them to go bankrupt in the 1st place, bailing them out then insisting they go bankrupt was a brilliantly orchestrated plan to turn majority control over to the UAW and it worked to perfection. Next stop…GM

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Chrysler LLC will not repay U.S. taxpayers more than $7 billion in bailout money it received earlier this year and as part of its bankruptcy filing.

This revelation was buried within Chrysler's bankruptcy filings last week and confirmed by the Obama administration Tuesday. The filings included a list of business assumptions from one of the company's key financial advisors in the bankruptcy case.

Some of the main assumptions listed by Robert Manzo of Capstone Advisory Group were that the Treasury would forgive a $4 billion bridge loan given to Chrysler in the closing days of the Bush administration, a $300 million fee on that loan, and the $3.2 billion in financing approved last week by the Obama administration to fund Chrysler's operations during bankruptcy.

CNN Money: Chrysler won't repay bailout money

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Arlen Specter flips, now a Dem

 

Only comment on I have is big farking whoop. Only thing that’s changed is he’ll have a D by his name instead of R and since he votes with Dem’s most of the time we won’t notice a damn thing.

Veteran Sen. Arlen Specter announced Tuesday his intent to switch from the GOP to the Democratic Party, earning him the support of President Obama in next year's re-election campaign.

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said Tuesday Obama will raise money and campaign for Specter if asked.

Despite winning election to the Senate five times as a Republican, Specter has jumped ship faced with the prospect of a strong challenge from conservative Pat Toomey in the GOP primary and Pennsylvania trending Democratic.

Longtime GOP Sen. Specter Joins Democratic Party

Monday, April 27, 2009

RIP Pontiac 1907-2009

It's a very sad day. No, nothing to do with Swine Flu or Obama rocketing us toward socialism at breakneck speed or the fact I'm out of a job in 4 days. That stuff is important yes but pales next to this....and it's the death of Pontiac brand.

End a of era is so overused but for this it's true as can be. For the making the Firebird/Trans Am alone Pontiac should be saved and yes I have my own selfish reasons. Don't most? Least I'm honest about it. Anyway....

Just mentioning Trans Am to me instantly transports me back to the summer of 1977. Being 9 years old at the time I went with my best friend Charlie & his sisters to the local twin cinema's to see this new flick called Smokey and the Bandit. Truthfully I didn't have any idea what it was about but as we were walking in I noticed a poster up in front of the theatre:

At the time CB's were all the rage and I knew some basic terms like  Smokey referred to a cop, 99% of the time a state trooper.

Was like, ok. Yeah, that looks cool. We went in got popcorn, some candy (think Ju-Ju B's and m&m’s) and sat down in the darkened theatre. About 90 minutes later I stumbled out into the sunlight trying to make my brain digest what I had just seen. At that moment I knew that nothing else on Earth mattered but this: I wanted to be Burt Reynolds & I HAD to have a 1977 Pontiac Trans Am with the Georgia License plate on the front. The one with the confederate flag.

32 years have elapsed since that day and now. My thinking and life has a changed a lot. I no longer want to be Burt but still think he's a cool dude and good actor. The closest I ever came to owning 1977 Trans Am is a couple hot-wheels cars & a Revel model I put together(long since destroyed) You never know but perhaps someday I’ll be able to afford a blacker than night 1977 Trans-Am replete with the screaming chicken on the hood.

Ran across the below photo of Burt, Sally & the Trans Am on a random website. Looking at it takes me back to much simpler, sane time…the summer of ‘77 when it was still cool to smoke, still cool to drive a beast of a car with a Confederate flag on the front and not care a whit about political correctness. Amazing what a simple photo can do, isn’t it?

image

Friday, April 24, 2009

10 Questions that should be asked of Al Gore

But he won’t be because no Republican has the gonads to do it. Would be very entertaining to watch him stumble and squirm his way through these very good questions.

He (like most) are in it for the money. Bottom line, the more he scares people the more he stands to gain. If he would divest himself of all of his interests in these companies and actually start practicing what he preaches (you know, walk the walk) then I’d be far more likely to believe he’s serious about saving the planet.

Here’s just the 1st 3 questions, rest at link below

1. You are a partner in the venture capital firm of Kleiner-Perkins and a co-founder of the United Kingdom-based investment firm of Generation Investment Management, each of which stands to gain financially from greenhouse gas regulation. Please describe any other financial interests that you have in any other businesses that stand to profit from greenhouse gas regulation.
2. In October 2008, the New York Times Magazine featured a cover story on how Kleiner Perkins had invested $1 billion in 40 companies that would profit from new environmental and energy laws and regulations. What will be your share of any profits from these ventures?
3. How much of your own money have you contributed to Kleiner-Perkins, Generation Investment Management and other businesses that stand to profit from greenhouse gas regulation? If you have not contributed significant amounts of your own capital to these businesses, what, then, is your role in them? Are you a lobbyist? Are you the face of their public relations efforts?  Is your job to run around scaring politicians and the public into enacting greenhouse gas regulation?

Human Events: 10 Questions for Al Gore by Steven Milloy

100+ Tea party slogans

 

These are great. Some very clever people out there. Far more so than I am for sure. 20 below, link to all at the bottom.

1. Why do I feel like a ship passing Somalia?
2. Get your hands out of my Piggy Bank!
3. Give me Liberty - Not Debt!
4. My grandchildren are Pissed!
5. No - Bama; No New Tax; No Worries
6. Who is John Galt?
7. The more you make the more they take.
8. Obama - Commander in Thief.
9. Don't tax me, Bro!
10. Next time, read the bill.
11. You can't multiply wealth by dividing it!
12. Politically Homeless, please help!
13. Change or C-H-A-I-N-S ?
14. What would Reagan do?
15. Change is all we have left. (Photo of: pennies, nickels and dimes.)
16. P olosi
O bama
R eed is
K illing us
17. I am not your A T M.
18. Read my lipstick "No More Taxes!"
19. Tax Revolution Brewing.
20. Spread my work ethic, not my wealth.

From Tea Party Patriots - Over 100 Slogans I Have Accumulated From TEA Parties

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Obligatory Earth Day 2009 Post

Was going to write up a lengthy post on Earth in the lurch 2009 or evil humans are destroying the planet 2009 or what the hell ever it's called but just couldn't muster up enough gumption to give a shit. So in lieu of the diatribe I had planned here's links out the arse to some good reading on the truth about the green Nazi's

The entire environmental movement has been hijacked by displaced Commies or people who don't really care about the earth but are using the guise of "saving the planet" as a way to take our freedom and money away from us. Do you think it's a total coincidence that Earth day just happens to fall on Vladimir Lenin's birthday? No, neither do I.

Sometime today remember to start a bon-fire with your old tires (use gas to light it) and bbq up some spotted owl eggs served with a side of Bald eagle in a endangered turtles shell.

Links to my Delicious bookmarks:

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Holocaust Martyrs and Heroes Remembrance Day 2009

 

Yeah, sure. It didn’t happen. Right…right.

Well screw the Holocaust deniers, there’s a place in hell for those feces flinging asshat’s. We must never forget this happened and always make sure the truth is taught to our children.

Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Day (Yom Hashoah in Hebrew) is a national day of commemoration in Israel, on which the six million Jews murdered in the Holocaust are memorialized. It is a solemn day, beginning at sunset on the 27th of the month of Nisan and ending the following evening, according to the traditional Jewish custom of marking a day. Places of entertainment are closed and memorial ceremonies are held throughout the country. The central ceremonies, in the evening and the following morning, are held at Yad Vashem and are broadcast on the television. Marking the start of the day-in the presence of the President of the State of Israel and the Prime Minister, dignitaries, survivors, children of survivors and their families, gather together with the general public to take part in the memorial ceremony at Yad Vashem in which six torches, representing the six million murdered Jews, are lit. The following morning, the ceremony at Yad Vashem begins with the sounding of a siren for two minutes throughout the entire country. For the duration of the sounding, work is halted, people walking in the streets stop, cars pull off to the side of the road and everybody stands at silent attention in reverence to the victims of the Holocaust. Afterward, the focus of the ceremony at Yad Vashem is the laying of wreaths at the foot of the six torches, by dignitaries and the representatives of survivor groups and institutions. Other sites of remembrance in Israel, such as the Ghetto Fighters' Kibbutz and Kibbutz Yad Mordechai, also host memorial ceremonies, as do schools, military bases, municipalities and places of work. Throughout the day, both the television and radio broadcast programs about the Holocaust. In recent years, other countries and Jewish communities have adopted Yom Hashoah, the 27th of Nisan, to mark their own day of memorial for the victims of the Holocaust.

Yad Vashem Holocaust Martyrs and Heroes Remembrance Day 2009

Torchlighters 2009

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

Monday, April 20, 2009

Columbine 10 years later

Columbine Victims

It’s hard to wrap my head around the fact that it’s been 10 years since this tragedy occurred. To understand exactly what 10 years is consider this: If the kids above would have not been brutally murdered they would be in their mid to late twenties and probably married with kids themselves. 

The teacher William Sanders might be retired now fishing and golfing his days away. But thanks to a couple lunatics we’ll never know.

May God bless their souls

Saturday, April 18, 2009

Obama & Hugo: Fist bumping fools

Commies of a feather ehh?

What is there to say except it’s absolutely fucking disgusting and borderline traitorous if you ask me.

A sitting US president should not be doing “the hey, how are you brother” handjive with a avowed Communist enemy of America. Think that photo alone tells you everything you need to know about the former Communist..I mean community organizer.

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Tax day, tea party day and more

 

With everything going on today had to post something so here it is. There’s two three FOUR big things today that are happening or are of a historical nature…

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Sheriff Joe's letter to Sharpton

This is freaking hilarious. Surprised the MSM isn’t shitting kittens over how Sheriff Joe just torches the reprehensible race baiter Rev. Al. They (as usual) probably haven’t been alerted to it yet. Give media matters a few days to send them the talking points and they’ll be all over it…

Entire letter below, Link to the PDF file here

Reverend Al Sharpton
106 West 145th Street
Harlem, New York City, New York 10039
Fax: 212 690 3070

Dear Reverend Sharpton:

I have read about you with much interest since learning of the protest you plan to lead against me in Maricopa County in June as a way to force my resignation or removal from office.

Your public proclamation leads me to the conclusion: not only do you not understand Arizona; you also do not understand democracy. As the elected Sheriff who, so far has been elected to five consecutive four-year terms, I answer to the four million residents of Maricopa County. I do not answer to the whims of the media, or locally and nationally elected officials who want open borders and who have their own agendas. Nor do I answer to a publicity hound outside interloper who has demonstrated no interest in looking for the truth before making loud uninformed noises.

While your public outcries are colorful, there are several instances where you have inserted yourself into other people's affairs without knowing any of the facts. Poor judgment has caused you plenty of trouble in the past and promises to do so again. Most earnest people want to learn by their mistakes. You seem to glory in repeating them.

I would like to help you avoid further embarrassment by assisting in your understanding of the illegal immigration problem here in my county. When and if you do make the trip here, I invite you to call me to talk about these false allegations.

We can discuss how my deputies are extensively trained by the federal government to properly combat illegal immigration and how the laws of this state allow this Sheriff's Office to question and investigate the immigration status of those people deputies detain in the course of our everyday law enforcement duties.

Don't make the same mistake made by the four Democratic Congressmen calling for a U.S. Department of Justice investigation of this office. They and other politicians relied solely on media reports and anti-law enforcement handouts that are replete with inaccuracies. They have brainwashed a handful of local residents to believe these lies. Rest assured that the men and women of the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office do not racially profile anyone.

However, we do enforce the state and federal illegal immigration laws. And we will continue to do so as long as these laws are on the books. You can parachute into town, stomp your feet up and down and hold more press conferences against me -- that is a hallmark of democracy too -- but you will not stop me, nor slow me down for one second, from doing what is right.

Before you bring your circus to town and take to our streets by marching against this Sheriff, let's get you fully informed for a change. Congressman John Conyers did not have the courtesy to respond to my invitation to visit with me personally. I hope you will consider my invitation. Surely, a man like yourself -- a reverend -- who famously preaches from the church pulpit understands the infinite wisdom of these words: You shall know the truth and the truth will set you free. Let's talk about the truth, Reverend. I await your response.

Sincerely,

(signature)

Joe Arpaio
Sheriff, Maricopa County

Confirmed: The Obama DHS hit job on conservatives is real

Well it’s official. If you support the constitution or disagree with Obama (one in the same) then your a perceived threat to the left. We can only wonder where this will lead but I think we all know….

From Michelle Malkin:

Yesterday, Roger Hedgecock and the Liberty Papers posted an unclassified DHS Office of Intelligence and Analysis report titled:

Rightwing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate Fueling Resurgence in Radicalization and Recruitment.

The “report” (PDF file here) was one of the most embarrassingly shoddy pieces of propaganda I’d ever read out of DHS. I couldn’t believe it was real.

Read the rest here

Monday, April 13, 2009

Navy Seals free captain & kill 3 Muslim pirates

Yeah, I’ll go there because the MSM won’t. Most, perhaps all of the “pirates” are Muslims from Somalia. Seems we are fighting the religion of piece(s) everywhere we turn. Oh well, didn’t want to get off on that rant. Wanted to say….

Great job Seals! Should have happened days ago but when you got a limp noodle for a president that’s more worried about what the world thinks than taking care of business then you get stalling and indecision but at least he did something.

U.S. Navy Frees Captain, Kills 3 Somali Pirates

and now comes this….to which I say bring it on Jack Sparrow!

Pirates Vow Revenge After U.S. Navy Rescues Captain

From BlackFive: How the Rescue Happened

Sunday, April 12, 2009

Happy Easter

Going to church for the 1st time in years this morning then after that out to brunch with the wife's parents. After that over to my parents house for awhile so somewhat busy day ahead. Weather is supposed to be beautiful so should be great.

To all happy Easter and if you don't go to church today please take a moment and think about what this day means. It's more than just cute bunnies.

Thursday, April 9, 2009

Dennis Miller on Obama’s bow to his Muslim masters

Dennis is so ON in this clip it’s ridiculous. Would love to see him and Ann C. get together and fire off the one liners. Maybe at the next CPAC ? :)

In case the video wont play here’s the direct link to it: Dennis Miller on the Obama Bow

Ann is brilliant this week…Let's All Surrender Our Weapons -- You First!

So many good comments in Ann’s piece it’s hard to pin down my fav but it might be this:

Liberals tolerate rallies on behalf of cop-killers, but they prohibit law-abiding citizens working at community centers in Binghamton, N.Y., from being armed to defend themselves from disturbed, crack-addicted America-haters like Jiverly Wong.

It's something in liberals' DNA: They think they can pass a law eliminating guns and nuclear weapons, but teenagers having sex is completely beyond our control.

Let's All Surrender Our Weapons -- You First!

Messiah not as loved as MSM would have you believe

See story below from the great blog No Quarter for Chairman O’s adoring followers in Turkey. (Above pic borrowed from them)

Surprised at the foaming hatred? Don’t be. The fact of the matter is that he’s not as well liked as the MSM would like you to believe. Not even in the US. Everything the Obama admin stages & everything the MSM reports is designed to make you think that he’s the 2nd coming of Jesus and he’s love the world over.  Remember, IT’S NOT TRUE! Also some people & countries just hate the US and the only way that would change is if we converted to Islam, shredded the constitution and implemented sharia law. Which I think has been penciled in to happen in Chairman O’s 2nd term :)

Astonishing Images of Turkish Protests

Dick Morris on The factor 04/08/09

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Haven’t watched O’Reilly in awhile but caught most of it last night. The segment with Dick Morris and Dennis Miller were the best by far and here’s the video of Morris laying out my boy lollipop. Outstanding!

Dick Morris talks to Bill O'Reilly and examines Bawney Fwanks's Responsibility In Fannie/Freddie meltdown.

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Yee-haw! Let the queering begin…

The Republican governor of Vermont yesterday vetoed a bill legalizing same-sex marriage, only to have the state's Legislature override the veto today.

The bill passed easily through the Vermont Senate last month, 26-4, but the House approved it 95-52, just five votes short of the two-thirds majority needed in the 150-member body to override a gubernatorial veto.

The Associated Press reports the vote today to override the veto was 23-5 in the state Senate and 100-49 in the House.

Vermont legalizes same-sex marriage

Saturday, April 4, 2009

Gay marriage now a-ok in Iowa

I’ll bet they are shocked and appalled that this is now sanctioned and approved by their state Government

 

Midwest shocked to become new gay marriage capital

I’m no fan of public displays of affection from any gender but that’s rather disgusting isn’t it?

Personally I have no problem with gay and lesbians doing whatever they want behind closed doors but am past tired of it being literally crammed down our throats even though the vast majority of Americans are against gay marriage. For thousands of years marriage has been defined as 1 man and 1 woman. There’s no reason to change that now to placate a tiny but vocal minority of the population.

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Tea party map – April 15, 2009

 


View 2009 Tea Parties in a larger map

Freedom Works has put together a very useful map to keep track of all the tea parties. HT to Michelle Malkin for the link.

Tuesday, March 31, 2009

RIP Andy Hallett

Right before bed last night I saw this and just couldn’t believe it. 1st reaction was how does a 33 year old guy die of heart disease!?! and he’s been fighting it for the past 5 years? WTF, man this sucks, that’s just far too young to die.

I was a huge fan of Angel and one of the main reasons other than Angel of course was Lorne, the host. Played brilliantly by Andy. You could always count on him to show up and liven up any scene he was in or break out into song with a surprisingly good voice.

God bless Andy. He will surely be missed.

Links to check out:

Sunday, March 29, 2009

Happy Birthday....



...to me! Yeah, might has well toot my own horn.

On March 30th I'll be 41 and can't farking believe it. Seems it wasn't that long ago I was bummed out about turning 30 and I'd love to be 30 again knowing what I know now. Oh well, like they say. Getting older is always better than the alternative.

Funny side note is my wifes parents are celebrating their 41st wedding anniversery too! So they were married roughly the same time I was being born. Weird ehh? Just shows we were meant to be together.

We don't have much planned for today as it's a weekday but my lovely wife has planned a great Saturday for us night next weekend at the Melting Pot and I can't wait. There's about 3 bomb pop's with my name on them.

Friday, March 27, 2009

Maskatron lives!

Well I found something I didn't know I was looking for and it's made me giddily happy for some reason. Maskatron!

Ok queue the crickets and tumble weeds as I'm sure nobody but me knows what the hell I'm talking 'bout. Well let me 'splain...

Maskatron is a Six Million Dollar man action figure that I had back in the 70's and I absolutely loved it. Played with it ALL THE TIME. Even had bath time adventures with it. In fact I still have it's head in a box of old junk over at my parents house and I think there’s a face or 2 with it. There might be more so I need to leave work and go look. Will post pics if I find anything worthwhile.

Ran across this great spread of 6 million Dollar man toy ad’s over at the Plaid Stallions website. Looking at all these I think I had almost everything. Even some of the Bionic Woman stuff! No, wasn’t gay or even curious but needed her to make the crossover episode re-enactments authentic :-)

Also check out Maskatron on bionic wiki

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Bravo Daniel Hannan

If I’ve seen this once I’ve seen it 10 times and no I am not kidding on that but it’s so good just had to post it. If not other reason so I could find it again if needed.

It is so very refreshing to witness a politician speak the truth with strong conviction like this fellow. Would be even better if our worthless criminals in congress were more like Daniel. If so I have a feeling our country wouldn’t be in the shitter as it is now.

Sidenote: Ever notice that if you speak with a British accent you can say almost anything and still sound dignified and above the fray? Just saying….

Read Daniel’s blog at www.hannan.co.uk

Going after CEO’s then go after Hollywood

 

Great idea from Linda Harvey at WorldNet Daily

Is Nicole Kidman worth $15-$20 million a picture? How about George Clooney, Matt Damon, Reese Witherspoon or Angelina Jolie? If we're capping Wall Street salaries, we need to be socially just and review the West Coast as well.

Are there people who could be substituted for Cameron Diaz, who'd be willing to work for, say, $5 million a film? Or even a paltry million? Shouldn't we share that wealth? Maybe she'd become nicer or at least well-informed at a lower rate of compensation.

Sidney Poitier said recently that Hollywood CEOs should earn no more than $500,000, and I'm with him. The same should apply to the stars. I know it's a hard-knock life, but people have been known to live on money like that.

And what about pro sports? Terrell Owens reportedly earns around $7 million a year. Aren't there ex-high school receivers out there willing to step into his cleats for a lot less than that?

Don't miss Whistleblower magazines definitive exposé on Left Coast celebrities, "Why Hollywood is Insane"

And we haven't even gotten to the musicians yet. How much effort does it take for some of the music produced now? These people don't need compensation. Wouldn't most be willing to work (if you can call it that) for nothing? I say, free downloadable music for everyone, all the time, under the new regime!

If our wealth confiscating Government is going to start ‘fixing’ everyone’s pay to ensure ‘fairness’ then start where the salaries are truly out of control, Hollywood. Let’s see if all the celebutards will still support and throw fund raisers for Chairman O when 1/2 or more of their income disappears.

Applying the Liberal wealth redistributionist’s thinking to this you know it’s not fair that huge stars like Brad Pitt & Angelina Jolie are paid so much per film while other lesser known actors who work just as hard are not. Who cares if they aren’t good enough to get paid as much as a A-list celeb. This is all about FAIRNESS not actual talent.

And hell, that’s just scratching the surface, next stop professional athletes. NBA, NFL, MLB, PGA. Some of those guys surely aren’t worth what they are getting paid right? It’s just a outrage that contracts were drawn up privately between consenting adults to arrive at a monetary amount that both parties feel is in their best interest. That’s not fair to the less talented athletes! Regardless of their talent or lack thereof  they deserve to be paid more!

Now let’s set our sights on rock star’s income. The big Liberal tax the evil rich types like Jon Bon Jovi, Bruce Springsteen and Bono earn far more than they need. About time they pay their ‘fair share’ don’t you think?

If the punish and demonize the rich plan would go after those groups I just might get behind the punish the rich crusade. Soon as monkeys fly outta my ass and I turn into a socialist that is.

Capping salaries? Start with Hollywood

Monday, March 23, 2009

Official Logo of TOTUS

Chairman O has a rather creepy cult like logo so his teleprompter should as well and it’s not even creepy. Just cool & hilarious.

Friday, March 20, 2009

TOTUS has it’s own blog

image

This is one of those ideas wish I’d thought of.

What  the hell is TOTUS your probably asking. Well if you a Rush fan you KNOW. Teleprompter of the United States. Tell me that’s not funny as hell.  Rush is talking it up and has been on a roll lately saying things like Obama’s teleprompt told him to say this or that. LOL

Barack Obama's Teleprompter's Blog

And of course, he/she is on twitter as well BOTeleprompter Not sure about Facebook. Will check and get back to ya :)

Thursday, March 19, 2009

Shep Smith shooting straight on AIG

Always thought Shep was a centrist or even left leaning at times but boy he's dead-on with this. I’ve watched it about 5 times and haven’t got tired of it yet.

Monday, March 16, 2009

Overall #1 seed is your Louisville Cardinals!

 

It’s about time. Like Rodney D. used to say we get no respect but we are now. Nationwide & perhaps worldwide the cards finally some recognition for being a great team.

No doubt this group of guys have the skills to go all the way I just hope they don’t get caught up in the hype and not let being #1 go to their heads. Keep blinders on, keep playing your game and you’ll do fine.

Good luck guys!  Links to some good b’ball reading:

Louisville earns school's first appearance on top of AP poll

Louisville gets No. 1 overall seed

Cards at the top of their game

Big Dance: Who takes the crown?Big Dance: Who takes the crown?

Fifty Thoughts on Selection Sunday

Beast in the East: Louisville Stops Syracuse, 76-66

For all you old farts take a listen Kenny Loggins – This is it You can can almost see Dr. Dunkenstein, Roger Burkman, Wiley Brown, Scooter, Rodney and all the rest from that magical team.

Thursday, March 12, 2009

Richard Allen Davis will never be executed

If ever there was a poster child for the pro death penalty side it’s the human crapstain Richard Allen Davis. If we had such a thing as real justice in America that piece of trash would be chained up to a wall this very moment and Polly Klaas’s father Marc, would be allowed to beat him until he was unrecognizable. Unfortunately that will never happen but at least we can dream.

This story hammers home the point of why it’s more costly to put people to death than to incarcerate them for life. The whole process is SLOWER than the glacier that created the grand canyon. I mean look at this:

How did it take this long? Davis was sentenced to death in September 1996 for the 1993 crime. Then it took the California Supreme Court office that handles appellate attorneys until mid-2001 to appoint attorney Phillip Cherney to represent Davis. As I've reported before, five years is not an unusual hiatus.

Then it took Cherney until July 11, 2005 to file an opening brief. Producing the appeal took longer than the prosecuting of Davis.

After another four years of delay and back and forth with the California attorney general's office, voila, there was a hearing in March.

Unreal isn’t it? Chances almost 100% he will OD on death row or die of old age before he’s ever put to death and he knows it. Easy way to solve this is so simple. I call it my 1 and 5 rule.

When convicted and sentenced to death you get 1 and only 1 automatic appeal that takes place 5 years to the day you were convicted. You have 1825 days to either prove your innocence or cast enough reasonable doubt in a jury’s mind that they won’t put you to death.

If you are successful then no death for you. If not then you are led from the courtroom and immediately executed with whatever method the state is using at the time.

Should be very simple but sure I’m missing something in the big picture of things. It’s unarguable that it would save a blue TON of money and keep death row fairly cleared out. Sounds like a win win to me.

Richard Allen Davis: Safe on Death Row

No Cost Stimulus, great idea. Too bad it will never happen

 

This is a great plan that anyone who’s not a anti-capitalist green fruitcake (or in their back pocket) should agree with. Costs basically nothing, removes rules and regulations that have stifled access to our energy sources for decades. Could also provide ten’s of thousands of jobs and potential trillions in tax revenue.

What the bloody hell is not to like about that?!?!

Well, trouble is it will never EVER pass because of the enviro-whackjob lobby won’t allow it. They have bought and paid for most of the dimo-crat party and whoever they don’t own won’t go for it because it relies on the Government giving up control. Something neither party will do.

Economists, politicians, and the public alike are questioning the viability of the massive $787 billion stimulus signed into law. In response, Congressman Rob Bishop (R–UT) and Senator David Vitter (R–LA) recently introduced legislation that would create an estimated 2 million jobs, increase gross domestic product $10 trillion over the next 30 years, and lower energy costs—all without a huge expense to the taxpayer.

The No Cost Stimulus Act of 2009 would do this by expanding domestic energy supply and streamlining burdensome, unnecessary environmental review processes that have placed a stranglehold on access to reliable U.S. energy sources for decades.

No Cost Stimulus Expands Energy Supply and Creates Jobs

No Cost Stimulus Being Announced Today

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Rise & fall of the big 3

Want to start this off by saying I DID NOT WRITE THE BELOW ARTICLE! Only reason I’m posting the entire piece and not quoting it is because it’s actually a speech by Joseph B. White and I ran across it on Free Republic. It’s a long but very good read on how the big 3 went from kings of the road to teetering on insolvency. So settle in with a pack of smokes and bag of popcorn and start reading……

How Detroit's Automakers Went from Kings of the Road to Roadkill
Hillsdale College Imprimis | February 2009 Issue | Joseph B. White

Posted on Wednesday, March 11, 2009 06:27:56 by IbJensen

JOSEPH B. WHITE is a senior editor in the Washington, D.C., bureau of The Wall Street Journal. A graduate of Harvard University, he has worked for the Journal since 1987, and for most of that time he covered the auto industry, serving as Detroit bureau chief from 1998-2007. He writes a weekly column on the car business and the regulatory and social issues that surround it for the Journal's online and print editions, and contributes new-car reviews to SmartMoney magazine. Mr. White is co-author (with Paul Ingrassia) of Comeback: The Fall and Rise of the American Automobile Industry, and won the Pulitzer Prize for reporting in 1993.

The following is adapted from a speech delivered at Hillsdale College on January 26, 2009, at a seminar on the topic, "Cars and Trucks, Markets and Governments," co-sponsored by the Center for Constructive Alternatives and the Ludwig von Mises Lecture Series.

I'D LIKE to start by congratulating all of you. You are all now in the auto business, the Sport of Kings-or in our case, presidents and members of Congress. Without your support—and I assume that most of you are fortunate enough to pay taxes—General Motors and Chrysler would very likely be getting measured by the undertakers of the bankruptcy courts. But make no mistake. What has happened to GM is essentially bankruptcy by other means, and that is an extraordinary event in the political and economic history of our country.

GM is an institution that survived in its early years the kind of management turbulence we've come to associate with particularly chaotic Internet startups. But with Alfred P. Sloan in charge, GM settled down to become the very model of the modern corporation. It navigated through the Great Depression, and negotiated the transition from producing tanks and other military materiel during World War II to peacetime production of cars and trucks. It was global before global was cool, as its current chairman used to say. By the mid-1950s the company was the symbol of American industrial power—the largest industrial corporation in the world. It owned more than half the U.S. market. It set the trends in styling and technology, and even when it did not it was such a fast and effective follower that it could fairly easily hold its competitors in their places. And it held the distinction as the world's largest automaker until just a year or so ago.

How does a juggernaut like this become the basket case that we see before us today? I will oversimplify matters and touch on five factors that contributed to the current crisis—a crisis that has been more than 30 years in the making.

First, Detroit underestimated the competition—in more ways than one.

Second, GM mismanaged its relationship with the United Auto Workers, and the UAW in its turn did nothing to encourage GM (or Ford or Chrysler) to defuse the demographic time bomb that has now blown up their collective future.

Third, GM, Ford, and Chrysler handled failure better than success. When they made money, they tended to squander it on ill-conceived diversification schemes. It was when they were in trouble that they often did their most innovative work—the first minivans at Chrysler, the first Ford Taurus, and more recently the Chevy Volt were ideas born out of crisis.

Fourth, GM (and Ford and Chrysler) relied too heavily on a few, gas-hungry truck and SUV lines for all their profits-plus the money they needed to cover losses on many of their car lines. They did this for a good reason: When gas was cheap, big gas-guzzling trucks were exactly what their customers wanted—until they were not.

Fifth, GM refused to accept that to survive it could not remain what it was in the 1950s and 1960s—with multiple brands and a dominant market share. Instead, it used short-term strategies such as zero percent financing to avoid reckoning with the consequences of globalization and its own mistakes.

Competition from Overseas

In hindsight, it's apparent that the gas shocks of the 1970s hit Detroit at a time when they were particularly vulnerable. They were a decadent empire—Rome in the reign of Nero. The pinnacles of the Detroit art were crudely engineered muscle cars. The mainstream products were large, V8-powered, rear-wheel-drive sedans and station wagons. The Detroit marketing and engineering machinery didn't comprehend the appeal of cars like the Volkswagen Beetle or the Datsun 240Z.

But it took the spike in gas prices—and the economic disruptions it caused—to really open the door for the Japanese automakers.

Remember, Toyota and Honda were relative pipsqueaks in those days. They did not have much more going for them in the American market prior to the first Arab oil embargo than Chinese automakers have today, or Korean automakers did 15 years ago. The oil shocks, however, convinced a huge and influential cohort of American consumers to give fuel-efficient Japanese cars a try. Equally important, the oil shocks persuaded some of the most aggressive of America's car dealers to try them.

The Detroit automakers believed the Japanese could be stopped by import quotas. They initially dismissed reports about the high quality of Japanese cars. They later assumed the Japanese could never replicate their low-cost manufacturing systems in America. Plus they believed initially that the low production cost of Japanese cars was the result of automation and unfair trading practices. (Undoubtedly, the cheap yen was a big help.) In any case, they figured that the Japanese would be stuck in a niche of small, economy cars and that the damage could be contained as customers grew out of their small car phase of life.

They were wrong on all counts.

There were Cassandras—plenty of them. At GM, an executive named Alex Mair gave detailed presentations on why Japanese cars were superior to GM's—lighter, more fuel efficient, and less costly to build. He set up a war room at GM's technical center with displays showing how Honda devised low-cost, high-quality engine parts, and how Japanese automakers designed factories that were roughly half the size of a GM plant but produced the same number of vehicles.

Mair would hold up a connecting rod—the piece of metal in an engine that connects the piston to the crankshaft. The one made by GM was bulky and crudely shaped with big tabs on the ends. Workers assembling the engines would grind down those tabs so that the weight of the piston and rod assembly would be balanced. By contrast, the connecting rod made by Honda was smaller, thinner, and almost like a piece of sculpture. It didn't have ugly tabs on the end, because it was designed to be properly balanced right out of the forge. Mair's point was simple: If you pay careful attention to designing an elegant, lightweight connecting rod, then the engine will be lighter and quieter, the car around the engine can be more efficient, the brakes will have less mass to stop, and the engine will feel more responsive because it has less weight to move.

Another person who warned GM early on about the nature of the Japanese challenge was Jim Harbour. In the early 1980s, he took it into his head to try to tell GM's executives just how much more efficient Japanese factories really were, measured by hours of labor per car produced. The productivity gap was startling—the Japanese plants were about twice as efficient. GM's president at the time responded by barring Jim Harbour from company property.

By the late 1980s, GM's chairman, Roger Smith, had figured out that his company had something to learn from the Japanese. He just didn't know what it was. He poured billions into new, heavily automated U.S. factories—including an effort to build an experimental "lights out" factory that had almost no hourly workers. He entered a joint venture with Toyota to reopen an old GM factory in California, called New United Motor Manufacturing, Inc., or NUMMI. The idea was that GM managers could go to NUMMI to see up close what the "secret" of Toyota's assembly system was. Smith also launched what he promoted as an entirely new car company, Saturn, which was meant to pioneer both a more cooperative relationship with UAW workers and a new way of selling cars.

None of these was a bad idea. But GM took too long to learn the lessons from these experiments—good or bad. The automation strategy fell on its face because the robots didn't work properly, and the cars they built struck many consumers as blandly styled and of poor quality. NUMMI did give GM managers valuable information about Toyota's manufacturing and management system, which a team of MIT researchers would later call "lean production." But too many of the GM managers who gained knowledge from NUMMI were unable to make an impact on GM's core North American business.

Why? I believe it was because the UAW and GM middle managers quite understandably focused on the fact that Toyota's production system required only about half the workers GM had at a typical factory at the time. That was an equation the union wouldn't accept. The UAW demanded that GM keep paying workers displaced by new technology or other shifts in production strategy, which led to the creation of what became known as the Jobs Bank. That program discouraged GM from closing factories and encouraged efforts to sustain high levels of production even when demand fell.

GM and the UAW

This brings me to the relationship between Detroit management and the UAW.

It is likely that if no Japanese or European manufacturers had built plants in the U.S.—in other words, if imports were still really imports—the Detroit carmakers would not be in their current straits, although we as consumers would probably be paying more for cars and have fewer choices than we do. The fact is that the Detroit Three's post-World War II business strategies were doomed from the day in 1982 when the first Honda Accord rolled off a non-union assembly line in Ohio. After that it soon became clear that the Japanese automakers—and others—could build cars in the U.S. with relatively young, non-union labor forces that quickly learned how to thrive in the efficient production systems those companies operated.

Being new has enormous advantages in a capital-intensive, technology-intensive business like automaking. Honda, Toyota, Nissan, and later BMW, Mercedes, and Hyundai, had new factories, often subsidized by the host state, that were designed to use the latest manufacturing processes and technology. And they had new work forces. This was an advantage not because they paid them less per hour—generally non-union autoworkers receive about what UAW men and women earn in GM assembly plants—but because the new, non-union companies didn't have to bear additional costs for health care and pensions for hundreds of thousands of retirees.

Moreover, the new American manufacturers didn't have to compensate workers for the change from the old mass production methods to the new lean production approach. GM did—which is why GM created the Jobs Bank. The idea was that if UAW workers believed they wouldn't be fired if GM got more efficient, then they might embrace the new methods. Of course, we know how that turned out. The Jobs Bank became little more than a welfare system for people who had nothing more to contribute because GM's dropping market share had made their jobs superfluous.

Health care is a similar story. GM's leaders—and the UAW's—knew by the early 1990s that the combination of rising health care costs and the longevity of GM's retired workers threatened the company. But GM management backed away from a confrontation with the UAW over health care in 1993, and in every national contract cycle afterwards until 2005—when the company's nearness to collapse finally became clear to everyone.

In testimony before Congress this December, GM's CEO Rick Wagoner said that GM has spent $103 billion during the past 15 years funding its pension and retiree health-care obligations. That is nearly $7 billion a year—more than GM's capital spending budget for new models this year. Why wasn't Rick Wagoner making this point in 1998, or 1999, or even 2003? Even now, GM doesn't seem willing to treat the situation like the emergency it is. Under the current contract, the UAW will pay for retiree health-care costs using a fund negotiated in last year's contract—but that won't start until 2010. GM is on the hook to contribute $20 billion to that fund over the next several years—unless it can renegotiate that deal under federal supervision.

Quality is Job One

Rick Wagoner told Congress: "Obviously, if we had the $103 billion and could use it for other things, it would enable us to be even farther ahead on technology or newer equipment in our plants, or whatever." Whatever, indeed.

This is a good place to talk about the Detroit mistake that matters most to most people: quality. By quality, I mean both the absence of defects and the appeal of the materials, design, and workmanship built into a car. I believe most people who buy a car also think of how durable and reliable a car is over time when they think of quality.

The failure of the Detroit automakers to keep pace with the new standards of reliability and defect-free assembly set by Toyota and Honda during the 1980s is well known, and still haunts them today. The really bad Detroit cars of the late 1970s and early to mid-1980s launched a cycle that has proven disastrous for all three companies. Poor design and bad reliability records led to customer dissatisfaction, which led to weaker demand for new Detroit cars as well as used ones. Customers were willing to buy Detroit cars—but only if they received a discount in advance for the mechanical problems they assumed they would have.

During the 1990s and the 2000s, a number of the surveys that industry executives accept as reliable guides to new vehicle quality began to show that the best of GM's and Ford's new models were almost as good—and in some cases better—in terms of being free of defects than comparable Toyotas, Hondas, or Nissans. But the Detroit brands still had a problem: They started $2,000 or more behind the best Japanese brands in terms of per-car costs, mainly because of labor and legacy costs, with a big helping of inefficient management thrown in. To overcome that deficit, GM and Ford (and Chrysler) resorted to aggressive cost-cutting and low-bid purchasing strategies with their materials suppliers.

Unfortunately, customers could see the low-bid approach in the design and materials used for Detroit cars. So even though objective measures of defects and things gone wrong showed new Detroit cars getting better and better, customers still demanded deep discounts for both new and used Detroit models. This drove down the resale value of used Detroit cars, which in turn made it harder for the Detroit brands to charge enough for the new vehicles to overcome their cost gap.

GM, Ford, and Chrysler compounded this problem by trying to generate the cash to cover their health care and pension bills by building more cars than the market demanded, and then "selling" them to rental car fleets. When those fleet cars bounced back to used car lots, where they competed with new vehicles that were essentially indistinguishable except for the higher price tag, they helped drive down resale values even more.

So the billions spent on legacy costs are matched by billions more in revenue that the Detroit automakers never saw because of the way they mismanaged supply and demand. This is why the Detroit brands appear to be lagging behind not just in hybrids—and it remains to be seen how durable that market is—but also in terms of the refinement and technology offered in their conventional cars.

What to Build?

The recent spectacle of the Diminished Three CEOs and the UAW president groveling before Congress has us focused now on how Detroit has mishandled adversity. A more important question is why they did so badly when times were good.

Consider GM. In 2000 Rick Wagoner, his senior executive team, and a flock of auto journalists jetted off to a villa in Italy for a seminar on how the GM of the 21st century was going to look. Wagoner and his team talked a lot about how GM was going to gain sales and profit from a "network" of alliances with automakers such as Subaru, Suzuki, Isuzu, and Fiat—automakers into which GM had invested capital. They talked about how they were going to use the Internet to turbocharge the company's performance. And so on. But five years later, all of this was in tatters. Much of the capital GM invested in its alliance partners was lost when the company was forced to sell out at distressed prices. Fiat was the worst of all. GM had to pay Fiat $2 billion to get out of the deal—never mind getting back the $2 billion it had invested up front to buy 20 percent of Fiat Auto. GM said it saved $1 billion a year thanks to the Fiat partnership. Obviously, whatever those gains were, they didn't help GM become profitable.

At least GM didn't use the cash it rolled up during the 1990s boom to buy junkyards, as Ford did. But GM did see an opportunity in the money to be made from selling mortgages, and plunged its GMAC financing operation aggressively into that market. Of course, GM didn't see the crash in subprime mortgages coming, either, and now GMAC is effectively bankrupt.

GM's many critics argue that what they should have done with the money they spent on UAW legacy costs and bad diversification schemes was to develop electric cars and hybrids, instead of continuing to base their U.S. business on the same large, V8 powered, rear-wheel-drive formula they used in the 60s—except that now these vehicles were sold as SUVs instead of muscle cars. And indeed, Detroit did depend too heavily on pickup trucks and SUVs for profits. But they did so for understandable reasons. These were the vehicles that consumers wanted to buy from them. Also, these were the vehicles that government policy encouraged them to build.

When gas was cheap, big gas-guzzling trucks were exactly what GM customers wanted. Consumers didn't want Detroit's imitation Toyota Camrys. Toyota was building more than enough real Camrys down in Kentucky. GM made profits of as much as $8,000 per truck—and lost money on many of its cars. Federal fuel economy rules introduced in 1975 forced GM to shrink its cars so that they could average 27.5 miles per gallon. GM did this poorly. (Remember the Chevy Citation or the Cadillac Cimarron?) But federal laws allowed "light trucks" to meet a lower mileage standard. This kink in federal law allowed GM, Ford, and Chrysler to design innovative products that Americans clamored to buy when gas was cheap: SUVs. When Ford launched the Explorer, and GM later launched the Tahoe and the upgraded Suburban, it was the Japanese companies that were envious. In fact, one reason why Toyota is on its way to a loss for 2008—its first annual loss in 70 years—is that it built too many factories in the U.S. in order to build more SUVs and pickups.

One irony of the current situation is that the only vehicles likely to generate the cash GM and the others need right now to rebuild are the same gas-guzzlers that Washington no longer wants them to build. Even New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman has now come to realize that you can't ask Detroit to sell tiny, expensive hybrids when gasoline is under $2 a gallon. We have two contradictory energy policies: The first demands cheap gas at all costs. The second demands that Detroit should substantially increase the average mileage of its cars to 35 or even 40 miles per gallon across the board. How the Obama administration will square this circle, I don't know.

Thinking Anew

So now, where are we? GM has become Government Motors. With the U.S. Treasury standing in for the DuPonts of old, GM is going to try to reinvent itself. One challenge among many for GM in this process will be coming to terms with the reality that the U.S. market is too fractured, and has too many volume manufacturers, for any one of them to expect to control the kind of market share and pricing power GM had in its heyday. Today, according to Wardsauto.com, there are ten foreign-owned automakers with U.S. factories that assembled 3.9 million cars, pickups, and SUVs in 2007, before auto demand began to collapse. That's more than Ford's and Chrysler's U.S. production combined.

GM's efforts to cling to its 1950s self—with the old Sloanian ladder brands of Chevy, Pontiac, Buick, and Cadillac, plus Saturn, Saab, Hummer, and GMC—have led its management into one dark wood of error after another. Since 2001, GM's marketing strategy has come down to a single idea: zero percent financing. This was the automotive version of the addictive, easy credit that ultimately destroyed the housing market. Cut-rate loans, offered to decreasingly credit-worthy buyers, propped up sales and delayed the day of reckoning. But it didn't delay it long enough. The house of cards began tumbling in 2005, and I would say it has now collapsed fully.

Between 1995 and 2007, GM managed to earn a cumulative total of $13.5 billion. That's three-tenths of one percent of the total revenues during that period of more than $4 trillion—and those are nominal dollars, not adjusted for inflation. Between 1990 and 2007, GM lost a combined total of about $33 billion. The six unprofitable years wiped out the gains from 12 profitable years, and then some. But old habits die hard. Within hours of clinching a $6 billion government bailout last month, GMAC and GM were back to promoting zero-interest loans.

During the 1980s and 1990s, GM's leaders refused—and I believe some still refuse—to accept the reality of the presence of so many new automakers in the U.S. market, more than at any time since the 1920s. This hard truth means the company's U.S. market share going forward isn't going to return to the 40 percent levels of the mid-1980s, or the 30 percent levels of the 1990s, or even the mid-20 percent levels we have seen more recently. One thing to watch as GM tries to restructure now will be what assumptions the company makes about its share of the U.S. market going forward. If they call for anything higher than 15 percent, I would be suspicious.

Since all of you are now part owners of this enterprise, I would urge all of you to pay close attention, since what's about to unfold has no clear precedent in our nation's economic history. The closest parallels I can see are Renault in France, Volkswagen in Germany, and the various state-controlled Chinese automakers. But none of these companies is as large as GM, and none of these companies is exactly a model for what GM should want to become.

As I have tried to suggest, it's hard enough for professional managers and technicians—who have a clear profit motive—to run an enterprise as complex as a global car company. What will be the fate of a quasi-nationalized enterprise whose "board of directors" will now include 535 members of Congress, plus various agencies of the Executive Branch? As a property owner in suburban Detroit, I can only hope for the best.