Quality Weenie

CHRSYLER FILES FOR CHAPTER 11 - UPDATED

CHRSYLER WILL BE FILLING FOR BANKRUPTCY

As reported on Fox News

This is not good news for Michigan, GM or Ford. When Chrysler goes out of business (which it will, they will not survive bankruptcy) they will take down many suppliers, which will harm GM and Ford.

Oh Christ, this is a black day for Michigan.

Guess I won't be getting a job anytime soon.

Shit

UPDATE:

This doesn't sound good ...

The company's good assets would be auctioned -- likely purchased by the U.S. Treasury -- while the bad assets would be left behind in bankruptcy court to be liquidated.

What does auctioned mean? And what is the Treasury going to do with them once they bought them?

Oh, and it looks like Obama is going to fire another Automotive CEO ...

Chrysler CEO Robert Nardelli is expected to be replaced as part of the deal in the revamped company.

New Look

Was bored today (what else is new) and tired of looking at the green so I updated the look of my site.

Hope ya'll like it!

American Axle To "Adjust" Work Force

And by "adjust" they mean throw out onto the streets.

Last summer American Axle workers walked out on strike because they couldn't come to an agreement with American Axle on a contract.

The strike lastest 3 months and the workers ended up giving in to American Axle management because management told them either you give up 40% of your pay or we will move the plant to Mexico.

Guess what American Axle management announced today ...

Starting in mid-May, when the supplier starts its summer shut down, American Axle told the union that it will start moving axle work from Detroit to Guanajuato, Mexico, said Bill Alford, president of UAW Local 235, which represents workers at American Axle’s local factories.

I heard manageent on the news tonight saying the wage cuts to $14 per hour were not low enough so they have to move production to Mexico.

Although American Axle management insists they are not closing the plant ...

"We're not closing anything," said American Axle spokeswoman Renee Rogers. "Given the current economic conditions and significantly reduced demand for our products by our customers, we are idling significant portions of the manufacturing complex here in Detroit."

Yea, "idling" 85% of your production to Mexico. So technically they are not closing the "whole" plant just most of it.

Instead of calling it permanently laying off workers they are calling it ....

Rogers said adjustments to the work force likely would take place but not immediately and it has not been determined if any moves will be temporary, indefinite or permanent.

Like anything that is moved to Mexico ever come back.

The lesson here kiddies is never to give in to your employer.

New Sweaters

Lance and Maggie got some new sweaters!

I made a barter deal with A and B Originals, I made her puppers some fleece sweaters and she made Lance and Maggie some knitted sweaters.

And they are awesome!

Will GM Really Be GM?

GM has come out with some of it's restructuring plans and what's left after the cuts might not be recognizable as GM.

General Motors Corp. announced plans to phase out its Pontiac brand and cut 21,000 U.S. factory jobs by next year -- as part of a major restructuring effort needed to get billions more in government aid.

In total, GM is cutting more than 7,000 additional jobs than what it announced on Feb. 17 and 500 additional dealers, plus closing another plant -- or 16 of its 47 U.S. manufacturing plants by 2012 -- and 13 of those plants by the end of the next year; GM hasn't named any of those plants yet.

GM said it plans to sell or close Hummer, Saab and Saturn brands by the end of this year -- faster than an earlier schedule.

GM said it would cut its hourly employment by 21,000 to 40,000 in 2010 -- a 34 percent reduction, and level off at about 38,000 starting in 2011. GM plans a further decline in salaried and executive employment -- for 7,000 to 8,000 additional job cuts than what was announced in GM's Feb. 17 viability plan

GM also plans to speed up and increase the number of dealers it sheds. GM said it plans to shrink U.S. dealer count from 6,246 in 2008 to 3,605 by the end of 2010, a reduction of 42 percent -- 500 more than announced on Feb. 17

So there you have it, GM ends up becoming gm.

The One Thing I Hate About Spring

Temperature flucuation in spring is horrible.

Take for instance, yesterday's high was 45 degrees. We had rain, hail and snow flurries.

Just take a look at what this weekend is suppose to be ...

How the hell does one get use to going from 45 degrees to 82 degrees in a matter of days then back to 55 degrees a few days later.

True But Scary

You Find Some Parts of Your Family Frightening

You feel a bit overwhelmed by and resentful of your family right now. This is a good moment for you to take some time away from them. You feel like your family is prone to too many arguments and instability. You never feel like things can be completely peaceful. You believe that one of your relatives is truly evil. You wish to be protected from this person at all costs. You tend to be the rock in your family. You support everyone in their times of need, and they take your advice seriously.

Hattip: Mrs Who

Congratulations!

Congratulations to Smokin on retiring after 20 years in the Marines!

Go and congratulate him!

Skater Dude Lance

Every month Lance goes into the vet for his allergy shots, I dress him up everytime to give the vet techs something to giggle about. This past month they nearly wet themselves when we walked in.

Yes, those are cargo pants with a matching plaid shirt.

Happy Gotcha Day Lance!

4 years ago today we made the treck out to Adrian, Michigan to pick Lance up. He was 14 weeks old and was so small (compared to today). On the drive home he just curled up on my lap and went to sleep. Below are some of the pictures we took once we got home, he made himself at home right away.

Happy Gotcha Day to my big chubby bubbie!

Happy Easter!

Look Mom, No Cavities

Lance and Maggie had dentals yesterday and came through with flying colors and pretty white teeth!

I was worried about Maggie and having her seizure last week, but she was fine. Well except the loose tooth she lost.

Yea!

I use Plaque-off 3 days a week and use Petz life spray 2-3 days a week (not on Plaque-off days) and try to brush their teeth a couple times a week.

The vet techs always mention how protective they are of each other when they are there, the techs said they can feel being given the evil eye by the one thats left in the cage while the other one is being treated.

So healthy puppers and white teeth, yea!

Postive Thoughts Needed

The puppers go in for a dental tomorrow along with their yearly check-up and shots.

Last week I just happened to look at Maggie as she was yawning and noticed one of her little front teeth looked higher then the others, I looked closer and touched it and it moved.

Crap, we were hoping to avoid a dental until November (they usually get their dentals in November but didn't take them this past november hoping to save some money).

In 2007 Maggie had 2 of her bottom front teeth pulled because they were loose (small jaw, too many teeth) and the one that is loose now is next to the empty space where the 2 were pulled.

I usually am worried about them but with Maggie having her seizure last week it makes me a little more worried about her.

It will be very quite in the house tomorrow without them for the day.

Toyota's Mis-step

For those that think the domestic automakers problems are all their own making has some excuse making to give as to why Toyota is quickly falling down the porch steps.

Toyota Motor Corp. is considering a major reorganization of its U.S. operations, bringing sales and manufacturing under one powerful executive, in an effort to keep closer tabs on its American business, which traditionally has been Toyota's biggest source of profit but is now losing money.

Let me reitterate that, Toyota is losing money in the US.

Toyota did not expect the industry to tank as fast as it did either and just a short couple years ago they opened a huge, brand new truck building manufacturing plant in Texas.

By contrast, Toyota's ill-timed assault on the U.S. full-size pickup segment, including the construction of a plant in Texas dedicated to building trucks only, has been very costly. The plant was idled for three months last year. This year, Tundra pickup sales are running about 40 percent of the levels originally forecast.

And the folks back in Japan are pissed about that, finger pointing abounds back and forth across the big pond.

Quibbling turned to finger-pointing as Toyota's results deteriorated dramatically. The company has forecast a $3.5 billion loss for the fiscal year ended on March 31 -- a stunning $20 billion swing from the previous year's record result.

Toyota will announce a first quarter loss and have said that they will be trying to reduce it's dependance on the U.S. market.

My, how the mighty have fallen.

I Know Canadian

You Speak Canadian Slang

Canadian Slang: 50% Aussie Slang: 25% British Slang: 25% Southern Slang: 25% Victorian Slang: 25% New England Slang: 0%

Hattip to Mrs Who

My Fault

This is all my fault, I took the down blanket off the bed last weekend and put my winter boots away.

I should know better ...

This is what it looks like outside right now, we are projected to get 6 inches in our area and just a short 45 minutes north of us they are suppose to get upto 12 inches.

Bully!

Value Pet Supplies was having a huge sale on braided bully sticks with free shipping for bulk orders so the puppers got a huge box of them!

"A package for us mommy?"

"Yum, they smell awesome. Can we have one, huh mom, can we"

Lance enjoying his ...

and Maggie enjoying hers!

Maggie Had A Seizure

It was around 1am and Maggie had come to the top of the bed, layed down and began seizing. A pretty violent seizure too, her body was just out of control but it lasted less then a minute.

Then she tried to stand up but her back legs would not work, that lasted 2-3 minutes then she threw-up.

She was a little bit shaken by it and clung to daddy the rest of the night.

Her last (and only seizure) was completely different, she did seizure violently at first but then went stiff and had spazms. Her seizure lasted a couple minutes then she was fine. It was 22 months ago.

I think I have a clue as to why she might have the seizures. I think they are stress related. The first one was just after I went back to work after a 5 month unemployment period. Last night daddy went out after work and didn't get home until 9:45pm (he'd been gone since 6am) and Maggie was very worried about him not being home (paced, looked at the door, looked outside for him, etc).

We have done nothing differnt, ate no new foods, etc. Although I found it strange when we went to bed she normally will lick me for 5 minutes then settle in for sleep, last night when daddy wasn't home she licked me for 30 minutes and didn't settle and when daddy got home she licked him for quite a bit too. I think she was trying to calm herself with the licking.

It Took One Day

Of the government owning GM to throw it into bankruptcy, they also plan on spliting the company up.

This IS the begininng of the end for GM

The Obama administration is seeking to ease General Motors Corp into a "controlled" bankruptcy by persuading some creditors to agree to a plan that would divide the company into two pieces, the New York Times reported on Wednesday.

And of course which parts do they want to "split" off from GM? Why the most profitable of course.

use a sale authorized under Section 363 of the U.S. bankruptcy code to sell off desirable assets to a new company financed by the government.

These more valuable assets might include Cadillac and Chevrolet, as well as assets the company needs to run its business, the Times said. (emphasis mine)

And it wasn't the "new" CEO of GM that thought the bankruptcy up, it was our "esteemed" Dear Leader.

"Nothing has changed on this," the official said when asked about a Bloomberg report that the president has determined that a prepackaged bankruptcy is the best way for GM to restructure and become competitive. "This report is not accurate."

The White House wants the 60-day period for GM and a 30-day period for Chrysler to play out, as announced by the president on Monday, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Concerning the auto industry, if someone denies a rumor it always turns out to be true. They probably just need those 60 days to get everything in place for their plans, which is now possible since Wagoner is out of the way.

I wonder how they are going to get rid of Ford since they don't have any control over them ....

UPDATE ...

Good God, when one of the domestic auto industry biggest enemys thinks it's a bad idea for the government to be meddling in GM you know your in huge trouble ...

"They have opened Pandora's box -- the U.S. government has decided they know better than the private company," said Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) "There is no question that this country is moving down a very different and foreign path. We have crossed this threshold: We own this company and we are telling it what to do."