Breaking News Thread

[Peelz]

That isn't the cause of the big 3's problems.  That rests on bad planing and the UAW milking them dry. 

100% agree

And I think both of you have your heads up your asses.

Hilarious response....love it. 

[Krandall]

Breaking news!

Eben is at my house..

[Flynbyu]

Breaking news!

Eben is at my house..

You lush.

You don't hold your liquor well do you?



~Brian

[vern burny]

OSHKOSH, Wis. – The leader of a Wisconsin Salvation Army will lose his job if he goes ahead with plans to marry outside the organization.

Capt. Johnny Harsh of Oshkosh is engaged to a woman who's not affiliated with the Salvation Army. They're planning to marry in June.

Harsh says he's well aware of the agency's rule that says an officer may only marry another officer of the organization. But he doesn't think it's fair.

Salvation Army Advisory Board member Helen Lord Burr says the agency's rules are the same all over the world.

Harsh became engaged after losing his wife, Capt. Yalanda Harsh, to complications of a heart attack last June.

  How can an organiazation fire you because of who you marry?

[socalrappy700]

That isn't the cause of the big 3's problems.  That rests on bad planing and the UAW milking them dry. 

100% agree

And I think both of you have your heads up your asses.

Put up a decent argument and we'll listen.  Not the "facts" you put up before.  Your info doesn't even match what the UAW is saying.

[Flynbyu]

That isn't the cause of the big 3's problems.  That rests on bad planing and the UAW milking them dry. 

100% agree

And I think both of you have your heads up your asses.

It's no big secret the Republicans want to destroy unions. I'm not a huge fan of them, but they do protect certain aspect of employee rights. After the depression, unions were created to protect workers from employers engaging in unfair labor practices. In today's society, they negotiate the conditions of employment to ridiculous levels of compensation and benefits for members.

~Brian

[Colorado700R]

I think the government needs to do the Big three bail out diffrently.

I say give them "Some" of the money they need.  Then give ~15K-20K a piece to families in dire need of a new vehicle to use ONLY on one of the US automakers products.  Let the big three compete for there survival and help the people that need it at the same time.  Also, with an amount of cash upfront like that for a car, credit will be established- re-established with a lower risk to the banks.

Aaron

[Flynbyu]

The Detroit Free Press Published this article today and sent it to every member of Congress.


DEAR MEMBERS OF CONGRESS:


You don't want an economic disaster on your hands. Not when you could have prevented it. And not in times that are already the worst in a generation.



Why we're sending this message
The Free Press is sending copies of this edition to members of Congress.

We have chronicled the U.S. auto industry since its birth, as Detroit became the world's Motor City, as cars and trucks changed the American culture and landscape, as assembly line jobs gave rise to the American middle class. Our journalists have reported the automakers' triumphs and exposed their troubles. We know this industry better than anyone.

We also know that while a newspaper needs to inform, there are times when a newspaper needs to speak up for what's right.

We know what automakers and autoworkers mean to this nation. We know what will happen if one of the auto companies is allowed to collapse. We know because this industry has been our story since it started.

And we know that America needs this story to continue.

-- Paul Anger, editor

But that's exactly what you'll have — and more — if one of the three Detroit automakers goes belly-up for lack of a government-backed loan. There will be economic hell to pay — not just in Detroit, but all across America, including in your state, in your district.

The loss of jobs, the devastated retirements, the massive loss of health care coverage, the sharp drop in local tax revenues, the closings of supplier and ancillary businesses — all would be calamitous in the best of times. And these are not that. Just ask the people you represent.

More than 3 million jobs are at stake in the industry. General Motors, Ford and Chrysler are threaded in the fabric of businesses in every state across America.

A failure of one or more of the automakers would deepen the country's worst recession in 27 years, and it could take decades to rebuild the nation's industrial base, which will atrophy like an unused limb without the muscle-flexing of Detroit's automakers.

Who will buy the rubber, plastics, copper and computer chips that Americans make? Who will need all the tool and die shop workers, mold makers or software engineers who help drive the small-business economy in so many states?

You don't want all this blood on your hands. No one could.

Because the losses from an auto industry failure are about more than dry statistics. Every job associated with the industry is a family, a home, a college education, a cancer treatment or a secure retirement. Every one of those jobs is about someone making a living doing work that's vital to the nation's economic interests.

No one knows more than the people of Michigan how precious those jobs are, or how fragile they've become in a cutthroat global economy where so many countries prop up their own auto industries.

Know that the people of Michigan, and especially those who toil for the automakers, are as angry as anyone over the string of misjudgments, failures and bad decisions that contributed to the industry's woes. No one here is enthused about the idea of extending government money to a private industry with so many self-inflicted wounds. But the automakers deserve credit for real gains, including products on par with their world rivals and plants that operate among the best in the business.

Remember, too, that Detroit helped rescue America as the Arsenal of Democracy in World War II and, through GM's no-interest loans, helped jump-start the battered economy after 9/11. Now, when our automakers and autoworkers need a hand up, will America really turn its back?

The Detroit automakers are hemorrhaging cash to stay in business. Two of them are nearly drained, and the third is getting by on a transfusion. They can get well. They have shown how. But first they have to survive. And their survival is in America's best interests.

You can help them. And if you don't, make no mistake: There will be bleeding throughout the land.

~Brian

[Peelz]

Great post Brian. They have to look at the Bigger picture. I can't say what the right plan will be, but it needs to be drastic...but it cannot be a "blank check" sort of plan. 

BTW, Did you type all that? JEEZ!

[Flynbyu]

Great post Brian. They have to look at the Bigger picture. I can't say what the right plan will be, but it needs to be drastic...but it cannot be a "blank check" sort of plan. 

BTW, Did you type all that? JEEZ!

Cut and paste my friend.

~Brian

[Mad Dog]

That isn't the cause of the big 3's problems.  That rests on bad planing and the UAW milking them dry. 

100% agree

And I think both of you have your heads up your asses.

Put up a decent argument and we'll listen.  Not the "facts" you put up before.  Your info doesn't even match what the UAW is saying.

The figures I posted were from legitimate new agencies and backed up by my own additional research, the foreign wages were difficult to find.

I simply think your opinion is garbage based on more garbage.  To place the blame on the UAW is a reactionary response based upon a post hoc ergo propter hoc fallacy, complete with conclusions drawn from the perspective of and in bias towards infallible management.  You're a capitalist, you shouldn't be upset that an entity cornered it's sector and benefited from it's business position.  They offered a service, the auto makers took it and continued to sign contracts.  Even in non-automotive fields unions have been competitive despite the presence of plenty of non-union workers in skilled trades and other areas, though certainly even these unions have seen steep declines in membership in the last two decades.  Sure the UAW has abused their position at times, what powerful entity has not?  Our Presidents and officials do, our corporations do, our corporate employees abuse their expense accounts/perks.  Though none of this makes it morally acceptable it's clearly not out of line or uncommon in the business world.  But to argue that it's the union's fault for the American auto industry turning out poor vehicles, mismanaging product supply and demand, wrongly predicting and preparing for future market and product trends, or that they are the main cause of high product prices (though often cheaper than foreign counterparts) is in my eye a narrow minded opinion.  Your apparent bias makes it difficult for me to make what you would call "a decent argument" though I suppose these aren't easy or simple opinions and should not be easy to overturn.  I understand you have made solid opinions and that's fine, I'm done trying to convince you because frankly I think all it'll do is annoy the both of us and leave us no closer to understanding or accepting the others point of view.

I think a lot of the complaints and criticisms come from jealousy, not yours necessarily but certainly others.  Some people are just sore they weren't given the opportunity to enjoy UAW membership and employment and therefore condemn and ridicule the UAW.  I don't spend too much time contemplating arguments based upon jealousy and hypocrisy.  I know I would have jumped at the chance for such employment and would have worked hard at my job just as most UAW workers do.  As always in everything the few tarnish the reputation of the many, just as that one idiot doing donuts in the gravel parking lot of the riding area makes us all look bad a handful of slothful and worthless UAW workers brings down the image of the entire group.






As for the "bail-out", keep in mind that the gov't isn't giving away money here, they're just guaranteeing a portion of the loans that the automakers want but aren't secure and stable enough to get or get at a reasonable rate.  When Chrysler and Lee Iacocca got 1.5 billion in guarantees the Gov't ended up making money and doing it ahead of schedule.  This didn't save Chrysler but it kept the situation from spiraling to bankruptcy or worse closing their doors.  You don't seem to see the same kind of scrutiny aimed at the financial institutions when they got 800 billion as the automakers are having to jump through to get less than 5% of that.

[Flynbyu]

MINNEAPOLIS —  A Minnesota man has pleaded guilty to answering an online advertisement for baby-sitting work and then using the client's child to make a pornographic video.

Aaron Jay Lemon of Little Canada admitted Wednesday to producing the video in a plea deal with federal prosecutors.

The 23-year-old also admitted to coercing a minor to engage in sexually explicit conduct.

The plea agreement says Lemon filmed the child in St. Paul after seeking the baby-sitting job through Craigslist.

St. Paul police spokesman Peter Panos tells the St. Paul Pioneer Press that the victim was a 2-year-old girl.

The U.S. Attorney's office says the case was part of a project that encourages agencies to investigate the sexual exploitation of children over the Internet.

The office says Lemon potentially faces a maximum of 30 years in prison.


Hey Randy, don't you live in Little Canada?

~Brian

[socalrappy700]

Some times your just funny Mad Dog.  You still have a lot to learn.  

[Mad Dog]

Some times your just funny Mad Dog.  You still have a lot to learn.  

Well Mr. MENSA if I wanted someone to look down their nose at me I'd go visit my some of my ex-girlfriends' parents.  Enjoy your throne upon high oh great beacon of light, I'm perfectly happy to drudge around in the dark with other poor, uneducated masses.

[socalrappy700]

I'm not looking down my nose at anyone.  I think you just need a better understanding of how the UAW affects the industry.  And by the way, I've found more knowledge in people that have never set foot on a college campus.