Quality Weenie

Surgical Advancements In The US

An Israeli doctor said to a medical conference, "Medicine in my
country is so advanced, we can take a kidney out of one person, put
it into another and have him looking for work in six weeks!"

The German doctor stood up and said, "Well medicine in my county is
so advanced, we can take a lung out of one person and put it into
another and have him looking for work in 4 weeks"

The Russian doctor got up and said "My country is even more advanced,
we can remove half a heart from one person, put it into another and
have them both looking for work in just 2 weeks!"

Not to be outdone, the American doctor stood up and addressed the
conference, "Well", he said, "My country is so far advanced in
medicine, we can take an Asshole out of Chicago , put him in the
White House, and have half the country looking for work in 24 hours!"

Nationalizing Food Now

On the surface this actually sounds good ..

To establish the Food Safety Administration within the Department of Health and Human Services to protect the public health by preventing food-borne illness, ensuring the safety of food, improving research on contaminants leading to food-borne illness, and improving security of food from intentional contamination, and for other purposes.

Keeping food (ie peanuts) safe from contamination, I'm down with that.

But it's the "and for other purposes" that is going to make you want to kill yourself now ...

The (formerly) ubiquitous summer roadside vegetable stand appears to be both Category 3 and 5 "food establishments" since they sells "fresh produce in ready-to-eat raw form" and "stores, holds, or transports food products prior to delivery for retail sale".

The explicit exclusions in Section 3 (13)(B) do not exclude roadside vegetable stands.

Section 3 (14) explicitly declares "any farm" (no matter what the size) to be a "FOOD PRODUCTION FACILITY".

Section 406 is a real doozy which places the burden of proof on the small farmer or roadside stand operator to demonstrate that none of their goods were participants in interstate commerce (the basis for this whole thing appears to be the Commerce Clause)

SEC. 406. PRESUMPTION. 1 In any action to enforce the requirements of the food safety law, the connection with interstate commerce required for jurisdiction shall be presumed to exist

They are coming not only for our summer roadside stands and farmers markets, but they are also coming for that pot of tomatos you have growing in your backyard.

Failure for anyone to comply? A cool $1 million fine.

And I bet you can't can guess who not only wrote the bill but who the 39 co-sponsers are?

...The bill’s sponsor is Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), with 39 co-sponsor, all Democrats...

Oh and Ms DeLauro's husband has a client and has received $180,000 in donations, Monsanto a multinational agricultural biotechnology corporation.

Viva la Revolution!

Pupper Pictures

As Pambie calls it, a palate cleanser.

Obama's "Restructuring Plans"

The news stations around here have the "restructuring plans" on their websites, but looking over them they don't really give any specifics on what the Obama administration is really is going to do.

Read for yourself

Alot of people around here are pissed about two things, forcing GM's CEO Rick Wagoner to resign and that they are holding the auto companies to higher standards then they are the banking industry.

I am sure nobody outside the auto industry really knows what Wagoner has done for GM, if you listen to Obama you would think he has done nothing but lead GM down the tubes.

He sold off Hughes Electronics and Direct TV, sold off 51% of GMAC, got Delphi spun off, and got hourly retiree health care removed from GM's books by 2012. Besides buying out tens of thousands of employees and closing plants.

Yep, sure sounds like Wagoner really did a job on GM. A good job.

Also, Chrysler is as good as gone. And to me it looks like something Obama and his administration orchestrated. They are only giving Chrysler and Fiat 30 days to complete a merger deal, a timeline that is impossible to meet.

Mark my words, the auto industry as a whole (domestic, foreign and suppliers) are going to be a horrible mess within 6 months.

Obama Forces CEO To Resign

Obama forced GM's CEO Rick Wagoner to resign, funny I don't see Obama or his administration forcing banking CEO's to resign.

The Obama administration will take a much more hands-on role in the restructuring of General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC, providing both with short-term aid but insisting on and overseeing immediate dramatic changes.

That alone should scare the living hell out of everyone alive, it's the beginning of an attempt to nationalize private busiesses.

Chrysler is good as gone and it looks like the Obama administration is trying to push it that way also.

But it warned that if Chrysler and Fiat cannot come to terms on a partnership, the Auburn Hills automaker would not get any more taxpayer money -- a move that would likely force the company's liquidation.

The Obama administration is also screwing with GM's Board of Directors.

At GM, the Obama auto team forced out CEO Rick Wagoner, and named GM board member Kent Kresa as interim chairman and GM Chief Operating Officer Fritz Henderson interim chief executive officer. The task force also disclosed that the automaker planned to replace a majority of its board of directors in the coming months. The Obama auto team said it would give GM unspecified working capital for 60 days as the automaker continues to restructure.

But most of all, I think the Obama administration is really wanting to restructure the domestic automotive industry into what they feel they should be ..

"And that's going to mean a set of sacrifices from all parties -- management, labor, shareholders, creditors, suppliers, dealers," Obama said. "Everybody's going to have to come to the table."

Guess those that voted for Obama are getting exactly what Obama promised, Hope and Change.

Obama Still Doesn't Know The Auto Industry

Obama needs to learn what is really causing the problems in the automotive sector.

It's not "a model that doesn't work", it's not there not building vehicles that people want to buy, it's not that they don't use technology.

It's the fucking economy stupid.

The president said even as the economy bounces back, Detroit can't focus on building more SUVs and counting on low gas prices.

In other matters, Obama says job-creation in America is difficult in a time of economic hardship and that the work of the future should be in more high-paying, high-skill areas like clean energy technology.

He must also think that people that work in the auto industry are stupid ...

Obama also said many of the lost jobs in recent years involve work that was done by people getting very low wages and those with limited work skills.

Talk about putting people down, but then again he did graduate from Harvard and Columbia.

He said the current school system -- with three months off at midyear -- was designed for an agriculture society centuries ago.

That is a huge all out warning that kids will be going to school all year round if he has his way.

Obama said the only reason he had been elected president was because of the education he received, in large part through scholarships and his family's sacrifice. Obama graduated from Columbia University and Harvard Law School.

Yep his stuper smartness was why he was elected, not the all out lies he told.

California Hates Black

California is just proving again that they hate automobiles and want it's citizens to ride bikes.

In a move that will likely get California's consumers in a huff, impending legislation may soon restrict the paint color options for Golden State residents looking for their next new vehicle. The specific colors that are currently on the chopping block are all dark hues, with the worst offender seemingly the most innocuous color you could think of: Black.

Yes, you read that right.

California wants to outlaw darked hued cars, especially black cars.

And why is that?

Apparently, the California Air Resources Board figures that the climate control systems of dark colored cars need to work harder than their lighter siblings – especially after sitting in the sun for a few hours.

To "save" the environment.

The problem is paint manufacturers are having problems when adding the reflective chemicals to dark hued paint.

Apparently, when the proper pigments and chemicals are added to black paint, the resulting color is currently being referred to as "mud-puddle brown."

According to California's research it will only cost $39-$128 dollars more for vehicle. Bwahahahaha, only in California's dreamland.

And of course how much in greenhouse gases will descriminating against black cars save?

Around 0.3 MMT reduction by 2040

Michigan Sucks

Michigans unemployment rate for February was made public this week.

12%

Michigan posted its third straight month of painful, double-digit unemployment in February, with a nation-leading 12 percent of the state's work force out of a job.

The national unemployment rate, meanwhile, grew to 8.1 percent in February, as economic turmoil deepens beyond the borders of Michigan.

80% of the job losses in Michigan have come from the manufacturing sector.

Sucks to be us.

Michigan Legislature To Take Paycut

Michigans Senate approved a 10% paycut that would also be for the House and Governor, the house votes next but nobody sees it not passing.

It's great seeing the government understand these hard economic times Michigan is going through.

Wait, what?

What do you mean it won't effect them now?

SOCC pay decisions can only take effect after the following general election, which is in 2010. So the pay cut would take effect in 2011, when a new governor assumes office, as well as a newly-elected House and Senate.

Thirty of the current 38 senators cannot run for re-election because of term limits.

House and Senate members' $79,650 salary would drop to $71,685. Leaders in both chambers would have their supplemental pay cut 10% as well (2nd in pay only to California)

Yep, our lovely senators, governor and housepeople are voting paycuts for the people next year that would replace them.

Wasn't that nice of them?

Obama's Auto Team - Help Wanted

The Auto Task Force team is needing help and put a call out to Wall Street.

Harry J. Wilson, a new member of the task force, recently sent an e-mail that circulated on Wall Street, seeking applicants for up to four jobs on the autos team. The task force's findings will help chart the government's role in the future of the U.S. auto industry.

"Our team is quite small," said Wilson, formerly of Silver Point Capital and the Blackstone Group, in the March 13 e-mail obtained by The Detroit News.

"The work is incredibly intense. The amount of work is massive, the timelines are tight and the level of focus is also very high."

Reached by phone Friday, Wilson declined to comment on his e-mail. The White House and Treasury Department also declined to comment, but confirmed Wilson's hiring and didn't dispute the accuracy of the e-mail.

So what are the requirements that they are seeking?

Financial experts for what might be a year-long assignment in Washington, helping restructure the auto industry. Long hours. Government wages. Must not have worked for an auto company in the past 12 months.

Looks like they are looking for people to bring down the auto industry, not get it back on track.

American Vehicles #1 - Says JDPower

The J D Power studies have come out and I wonder how the Southern Senators are going to take this news ...

Buick tied Jaguar as the most dependable vehicle brands in an influential study released today by J.D. Power and Associates.

Lexus, Toyota and Mercury brands also ranked in the top five of the 2009 Vehicle Dependability Study, which measures problems experienced by owners of 2006 model year vehicles.

Yep, Buick topped Toyota in dependablity!

Bwahahahahahahaha

"There's more of a blurring between the quality of imports and the quality of domestics," Sargent said. "Where the domestics have the greatest challenge is in the average consumer's perception of quality and reliability, which is still lagging reality."

Take note Obama Adminstration

Biden Talking Out His Ass

VP Biden gave a talk at the Dumocratic National Committee fundraiser last night and talking out his ass is a nice way to put what came out of his mouth.

"It was clear the problem Roosevelt inherited. This is a more complicated economic [problem]. We’ve never ever been here before – here or in the world. Never ever been here before."

A 25% unemployment rate during the great depression verses a 8% unemployment rate right now, yep 8% sure is a lot higher then 25%.

Then he went on to out right lie ...

Minutes later, he said, “I want to tell you one last thing and this is a political point.” Biden then noted that “Congress’s approval rating doubled since the Democrats are in office – not because they’re very popular right now, but because they took action.”

According to Gallup, congressional approval rating in January 06 was 27%, it is now 31%. I guess in Bidens world 31% is double 27%.

But the numbers he is using, incorrectly, according to Gallup the Dumocrats approval of congress doubled ...

Democrats' average approval ratings of Congress more than doubled from January (18%) to February (43%)

Not Congresses numbers but how dumocrats feel about congress.

I would like to see the numbers from Feb to March, bet it' a downward trend.

A Ford Dealer Speaks Out

The letter below was run as an advertisment in our local paper today, it was run by Varsity Ford but was written by James Jackson of Elkins Fordland in West Virgina.

Thank-you Mr Jackson, nobody else could have said it better!

As I watch the coverage of the fate of the US Auto Industry one alarming and frustrating fact hits me right between the eyes. The fate of our nation’s economic survival is in the hands of some Congressmen who are completely out of touch and act without knowledge of an industry that affects almost every person in our nation. The same lack of knowledge is shared with many journalists who are irresponsible when influencing the opinion of millions of viewers. Senator Shelby of Alabama has doomed the industry, calling it a dinosaur. No Mr. Shelby, you are the dinosaur, with ideas stuck in the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s. You and the uninformed journalist and Senators that hold onto myths that are not relevant in today’s world.

When you say that the Big 3 build vehicles nobody wants to buy you must have over looked that GM out sold Toyota by about 1.2 Million vehicles in the United States and Ford out sold Honda by 850,000 and Nissan by 1.2 Million in the U.S. GM was the world’s #1 automaker beating Toyota by 3,000 units.

When you claim inferior quality comes from the Big 3, did you realize that Chevy makes the Malibu and Ford makes the Fusion that were both rated over the Camry and Accord by J.D. Power independent survey on initial quality? Did you bother to read the Consumer Report that rated Ford on par with good Japanese automakers.

Did you realize Big 3’s gas guzzlers include the 33 mpg Malibu that beats the Accord? And for 09 Ford introduces the Hybrid Fusion whose 39 mpg is the best mid size, beating the Camry Hybrid. Ford’s Focus beats the Corolla and Chevy’s Cobalt beats the Civic.

When you ask how many times are we going to bail them out you must be referring to 1980. The only Big 3 bailout was Chrysler who paid back 1 Billion plus interest. GM and Ford have never received government aid.

When you criticize the Big 3 for building so many pickups surely you’ve noticed the attempts Toyota and Nissan have made spending billions to try to get a piece of that pie. Perhaps it bothers you that for 31 straight years Ford’s F-Series has been the best selling vehicle. Ford and GM have dominated this market and when you see the new 09 F-150 you’ll agree this wont change soon.

Did you realize that both GM and Ford offer more hybrid models than Nissan or Honda? Between 2005 and 2007 Ford alone has invested more than $22 Billion in research and development of technologies such as Eco Boost, flex fuel, clean diesel, hybrids, plug in hybrids and hydrogen cars.

It’s 2008 and the quality of the vehicles coming out of Detroit are once again the best in the world.

Perhaps Senator Shelby isn’t really that blind. Maybe he realizes the quality shift to American. Maybe it’s the fact that his state of Alabama has given so much to land factories from Honda, Hyundai and Mercedes Benz that he is more concerned about their continued growth than he is about the people of our country. Mr. Shelby’s distain for “government subsides” is very hypocritical. In the early 90’s he was the driving force behind a 253 Million incentive package to Mercedes. Plus Alabama agreed to purchase 2,500 vehicles from Mercedes. While the bridge loan the Big 3 is requesting will be paid back, Alabama’s $180,000 plus per job was pure incentive. Mr. Shelby, not only are you out of touch, you are a self-serving hypocrite, who is prepared to ruin our nation because of lack of knowledge and lack of due diligence in making your opinions and decisions.

We live in a world of free trade, world economy and we have not been able to produce products as cost efficiently. While the governments of other auto producing nations subsidize their automakers, our government may be ready to force its demise. While our automakers have paid union wages, benefits and legacy debt our Asian competitors employ cheap labor. We are at an extreme disadvantage in production cost. Although many U.A.W. concessions begin in 2010 many lawmakers think it’s not enough.

Some point the blame to Corporate Management. I would like to speak of Ford Motor Company. The company has streamlined by reducing our workforce by 51,000 since 2005. Closing 17 plants and cutting expenses. Product and future product is excellent and the company is focused on ONE FORD. This is a company poised for success. Ford product quality and corporate management have improved light years since the nightmare of Jacques Nasser. Thank you Alan Mulally and the best auto company management team in the business.

The financial collapse caused by the secondary mortgage fiasco and the greed of Wall Street has led to a $700 Billion bailout of the industry that created the problem. AIG spent nearly 1 Million on 3 company excursions to lavish resorts and hunting destinations. Paulson is saying no to 250 Billion foreclosure relief and the whole thing is a mess. So when the big 3 ask for 4% of that of the 700 Billion, 25 Billion to save the country’s largest industry there is obviously oppositions. But does it make sense to reward the culprits of the problem with 700 Billion unconditionally, and ignore the victims?

As a Ford dealer I feel our portion of the 25 Billion will never be touched and is not necessary. Ford currently has 29 Billion of liquidity. However the effect of a bankruptcy by GM will hurt the suppliers we all do business with. A Chapter 11 bankruptcy by any manufacture would cost retirees their health care and retirements. Chances are GM would recover from Chapter 11 with a better business plan with much less expense. So who foots the bill if GM or all 3 go Chapter 11? All that extra health care, unemployment, loss of tax base and some forgiven debt goes back to the tax payer, us. With no chance of repayment this would be much worse than a loan with the intent of repayment.

So while it is debatable weather a loan or Chapter 11 is better for the Big 3, a 25 Billion loan is definitely better for the tax payers and the economy of our country.

So I’ll end where I began, on the quality of the Products of Detroit. Before you, Mr. or Ms. Journalist continue to misinform the American public and turn them against one of the great industries that helped build this nation, I must ask you one question. Before you, Mr. or Madam Congressman, vote to end health care and retirement benefits for 1,000,000 retirees, eliminate 2.5 million of our nation’s jobs, loose the technology that will lead us in the future and create an economic disaster including 100’s of billions of tax dollars lost. I ask this question not in the rhetorical sense; I ask it in the sincere, literal way. Can you tell me, have YOU driven a Ford lately?
James Jackson
President, Elkins Fordland, Inc.

Ford Hourly Approve Concessions

Ford's hourly workers approved concessions to their contract on monday.

Union concessions ratified Monday by UAW workers will save Ford Motor Co. $500 million a year -- and could save GM double that amount if a similar deal can be worked out. (emphasis mine)

So all you naysayers can now go screw yourself, but I am sure the naysayers will say it's all the unions fault.

The contract changes drop Ford's hourly labor cost to about $55 an hour with wages and benefits and should reach parity with Ford's foreign rivals in about two years, Hinrichs said. He added that labor costs at U.S. plants for Asian automakers are between $48 and $49 an hour and continue to rise. (emphasis mine)

I wonder when all those southern senators are going to call for Toyota to get rid of it's job banks program?

As I keep saying Toyota isn't any different then the Big 3, they just hide their business better.

The Puppers!

California Kisses Obama's Ass

California and 17 other states have been pushing to be able to set their own emission standards, which would also set CAFE requirements for automotive manufacturers.

Bush generally agreed with the automotive manufacturers that it would be a fucking mess to let states set their own standards and everyone should just abide by what the EPA sets.

California sued the government to let them set their own standards but now that Obama agreed to a review of the standards but has come out and basically agreed with Bush, California is now backing down

California's top air regulator said Thursday her state could agree to the nationwide carbon-emissions standards that the auto industry seeks.

The Bush administration denied the request a year ago, but within days of taking office, President Barack Obama ordered a review of that decision. The administration has sent strong signals in recent days that it plans to set nationwide greenhouse gas limits.

So when Bush said it states went crazy, but now that Obama is saying the same exact thing states are awed by his brillant?

Fucking Cock Suckers

Obama Adminstration Knows Autos Better Then Detroit

Rahm Emaunel knows more about running an automotive company then the companies that have been doing for close to 100 year on average.

White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel said Sunday the plight of General Motors Corp. is a wakeup call to America that signals the need to increase energy independence and overhaul the nation's health care system.

He knows the automotive industry so well that he points out what they have done "wrong"

Emanuel, a former Democratic congressman, said GM pursued a strategy over the past 20 to 30 years that left the biggest U.S. automaker in an unfortunate position. The company relied on sales of gas guzzlers

Forcing people to buy vehiclesBuilding vehicles that people wanted to buy ...

never invested in alternative energy cars

Chevy Volt, Ford Escape Hybrid, Ford Fusion Hybrid, Saturn Vue Hybrid, Chevy Malibu Hybrid, Dodge Sprinter (electric van), just to name a few. GM is also the only one to be bringing out a viable electric vehicle (Volt). And all the while paying for it on their own, unlike the Japanese companies who were given money for their hybrid technology (as well as stealing part of it)

instituted an outdated health care program that hurt the company, he said.

Outdated health care program? I guess giving your employees good health care is no longer chic.

The American Auto Industry, Obama adminstration's whipping boy.