Disclosure: I am not overly high on the GOP right now. I'm not on the Democratic party either. But the GOP has been receiving most of my ire lately.
So, in the past week, two prominent members of the GOP have come out admitting to affairs. John Ensign of Nevada and Mark Sanford of S. Carolina have both admitted to being unfaithful.
Why is this a big deal? Well, the issue is that the GOP, and John Ensign for certain, champion "morality." Apparently being "moral" means not being a homosexual. Oh wait, what about Senator Larry Craig? Oh, yes, he isn't homosexual, he merely has a "wide stance."
See, politicians are human. They have failings. But when a party attempts to make one of its platforms as being the party of "conventional morality" this becomes a problem.
Also, in the case of Governor Sanford, he lied to his aids, his security team, and didn't transfer executive control of the state as he headed off to Argentina to break off an affair. He and his wife are apparently pretty much separated and she knew about it.
Still, it was a terribly irresponsible thing to do since his state would've been in chaos if something had happened to him.
Look, I'm not saying people need to be perfect. I'm not saying this is something that is only the problem of the GOP. (John Edwards, Bill Clinton anyone?)
I'm merely saying, if you want to attempt to champion a "moral America" then you'd better live your life that way. I'm not saying perfect. But, its pretty easy NOT to have an affair. Really. It is. Just don't.
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
So it begins
BRIC is coming! Brazil, Russia, India, and China have formed a bloc to "challenge" the US's superpower status.
No no, they aren't warming up the tanks and arming the missles. This is about economic and diplomatic clout. Lots of it is posturing and bluffing. But, they also have some points.
The US has used up much of its power to tell the world what to do in the last 8 years. Heck, the last 12 as I'm not going to let Clinton off the hook.
Our brilliant plan of spend spend spend spend spend all while borrowing from China (they don't LIKE us people, they like our MONEY!) is going to come back to bite us in the butt.
Americans don't seem to realize the rest of the world blames us for the current economic crisis. Was it all our fault? Oh heck no! European banks were up to their eyeballs in it. But, it did start with our housing bubble and low credit.
Just keep this in mind people: The US has been mortgaging its world power status to buy shiny things. We are a paper tiger, or quickly becoming one. Until we clean up our own house more, well, don't expect to be the biggest kid in the school yard all the time anymore.
No no, they aren't warming up the tanks and arming the missles. This is about economic and diplomatic clout. Lots of it is posturing and bluffing. But, they also have some points.
The US has used up much of its power to tell the world what to do in the last 8 years. Heck, the last 12 as I'm not going to let Clinton off the hook.
Our brilliant plan of spend spend spend spend spend all while borrowing from China (they don't LIKE us people, they like our MONEY!) is going to come back to bite us in the butt.
Americans don't seem to realize the rest of the world blames us for the current economic crisis. Was it all our fault? Oh heck no! European banks were up to their eyeballs in it. But, it did start with our housing bubble and low credit.
Just keep this in mind people: The US has been mortgaging its world power status to buy shiny things. We are a paper tiger, or quickly becoming one. Until we clean up our own house more, well, don't expect to be the biggest kid in the school yard all the time anymore.
Saturday, June 13, 2009
I will never claim its fair
Chrysler pulled the plug on almost 800 dealers last week. This was announced about a month ago, but it was finalized last week.
I'm not going to say its fair. It was harsh, sometimes arbitrary, and pretty awful.
I work in parts and our business has gone up about two fold since two other dealers in the area shut down. Its good for us, but I'm not happy about how its happened.
However, it has happened, and let me answer the question that none of the personal interest stories are answering. They are all asking it, but none are answering it.
Why? How is this saving Chrysler money?
Because with less dealers Chrysler doesn't have to make as many cars. Chrysler has been making too many cars for years now and had to sell too many at a loss to clean out last year's inventory. The offered incentives were always so much. Here, let me illustrate it.
Say, for simplicities sake lets say there are 100 dealers. We'll simplify an average of where each dealer sells 1 car a month. 12 cars a year = 1200 cars.
The problem is, many dealers weren't selling 1 car a month. Sure, you had some selling 5, 10 cars a month. But you had a lot selling 1 car every 2 or 3 months. However, Chrysler still had to make cars based on the average (to show a profit) sales of 1 car a month. So, all these extra vehicles are sitting around collecting dust until a dealer needs them.
Also, not every vehicle is as profitable. Trucks/SUVs are WAY more profitable than cars. So if a dealer is selling 1/month most months, but its a car every time rather than a truck, that's honestly not helping Chrysler that much right now.
This is a simplified illustration, but this is WHY Chrysler is doing it. Also, too many dealerships means your dealers are competing with each other to sell the same product. Chrysler doesn't want 2 dealers trying to sell 1 person a car. They want 1 dealer to sell them that car. There are only X amount of people out there that are going to buy a Chrysler. Many areas were completely over saturated with dealerships who competed against other Chrysler dealers as much as they did against other manufacturers.
Like I said, this isn't a good situation. Its sad, and the fallout is bad. However, don't believe for a second all the sob stories where some poor guy is asking "I buy cars from them how is it saving them money?" It is. Trust me.
Oh, and I recently saw a figure where they showed the average wage at dealerships is between 45-55k a year. Just remember, those are national averages and wages in the big cities are WAY different than those elsewhere. I bet we maybe have 1/3 of our people at more than 45k a year.
Ah well. I just felt compelled to write this as "news" outlets are failing us again.
I'm not going to say its fair. It was harsh, sometimes arbitrary, and pretty awful.
I work in parts and our business has gone up about two fold since two other dealers in the area shut down. Its good for us, but I'm not happy about how its happened.
However, it has happened, and let me answer the question that none of the personal interest stories are answering. They are all asking it, but none are answering it.
Why? How is this saving Chrysler money?
Because with less dealers Chrysler doesn't have to make as many cars. Chrysler has been making too many cars for years now and had to sell too many at a loss to clean out last year's inventory. The offered incentives were always so much. Here, let me illustrate it.
Say, for simplicities sake lets say there are 100 dealers. We'll simplify an average of where each dealer sells 1 car a month. 12 cars a year = 1200 cars.
The problem is, many dealers weren't selling 1 car a month. Sure, you had some selling 5, 10 cars a month. But you had a lot selling 1 car every 2 or 3 months. However, Chrysler still had to make cars based on the average (to show a profit) sales of 1 car a month. So, all these extra vehicles are sitting around collecting dust until a dealer needs them.
Also, not every vehicle is as profitable. Trucks/SUVs are WAY more profitable than cars. So if a dealer is selling 1/month most months, but its a car every time rather than a truck, that's honestly not helping Chrysler that much right now.
This is a simplified illustration, but this is WHY Chrysler is doing it. Also, too many dealerships means your dealers are competing with each other to sell the same product. Chrysler doesn't want 2 dealers trying to sell 1 person a car. They want 1 dealer to sell them that car. There are only X amount of people out there that are going to buy a Chrysler. Many areas were completely over saturated with dealerships who competed against other Chrysler dealers as much as they did against other manufacturers.
Like I said, this isn't a good situation. Its sad, and the fallout is bad. However, don't believe for a second all the sob stories where some poor guy is asking "I buy cars from them how is it saving them money?" It is. Trust me.
Oh, and I recently saw a figure where they showed the average wage at dealerships is between 45-55k a year. Just remember, those are national averages and wages in the big cities are WAY different than those elsewhere. I bet we maybe have 1/3 of our people at more than 45k a year.
Ah well. I just felt compelled to write this as "news" outlets are failing us again.
Monday, June 1, 2009
This is love?
Dr. George Tiller, one of the few doctors in the country who would perform late-term abortions was shot and killed over the weekend at the church he attends. Yes, you read all of that correctly.
Abortion is horrible. It is. You can't get around it. It takes a life and far more often then the abortion on demand crowd wants to admit it severely effects the life of the mother. That said, I'm not for 100% bans. Just making it really really really difficult to get one.
However, the words said by the anti-abortion wackjob Randall Terry here show that there is a reason why sensible talk on abortion never gets anywhere.
Now, don't get me wrong, groups like NOW and NARAL are so misguided and single-minded on this you can't negotiate with them.
But, thankfully, they don't make the laws. And when anti-abortion groups like Terry's allow people like him to take a frontal stance, well, that's a problem.
His statements are ludicrous. A recent Gallup poll found Americans are "pro-life" than "pro-choice." So his statements on the the anti-abortion movement are flawed. Why? Because they only look at his extreme end of the movement.
I can be "pro-life" yet I don't make that my only criteria in choosing elected officials. To me, pro-life also means I am against the death penalty as it is a flawed system.
I digress. Getting back to some of the statements Mr. Terry makes. Mr. Terry has lost his "war" on abortion (my term) because he is fighting a war. Jesus didn't wage wars. Wars have a winner and a loser. Following Christ is a different model. Its not an earthly "us against them" battle.
Its a battle against the evil forces and powers that afflict this world, powers of which things like Dr. Tiller and abortion are only symptoms. Honestly, I fear for Mr. Terry's soul as much as Dr. Tiller's because Mr. Terry seems so full of hatred on this issue.
Murder is never ok. Its simply not. I understand it isn't a long logical step from some of Bonhoeffer's ideas to this. But it is a step. And a massive one.
While Terry clearly stated that he does not condone the act, he made it sound like it was justified. That is scary. And wrong. When we say things like that, Christ weeps.
Abortion is horrible. It is. You can't get around it. It takes a life and far more often then the abortion on demand crowd wants to admit it severely effects the life of the mother. That said, I'm not for 100% bans. Just making it really really really difficult to get one.
However, the words said by the anti-abortion wackjob Randall Terry here show that there is a reason why sensible talk on abortion never gets anywhere.
Now, don't get me wrong, groups like NOW and NARAL are so misguided and single-minded on this you can't negotiate with them.
But, thankfully, they don't make the laws. And when anti-abortion groups like Terry's allow people like him to take a frontal stance, well, that's a problem.
His statements are ludicrous. A recent Gallup poll found Americans are "pro-life" than "pro-choice." So his statements on the the anti-abortion movement are flawed. Why? Because they only look at his extreme end of the movement.
I can be "pro-life" yet I don't make that my only criteria in choosing elected officials. To me, pro-life also means I am against the death penalty as it is a flawed system.
I digress. Getting back to some of the statements Mr. Terry makes. Mr. Terry has lost his "war" on abortion (my term) because he is fighting a war. Jesus didn't wage wars. Wars have a winner and a loser. Following Christ is a different model. Its not an earthly "us against them" battle.
Its a battle against the evil forces and powers that afflict this world, powers of which things like Dr. Tiller and abortion are only symptoms. Honestly, I fear for Mr. Terry's soul as much as Dr. Tiller's because Mr. Terry seems so full of hatred on this issue.
Murder is never ok. Its simply not. I understand it isn't a long logical step from some of Bonhoeffer's ideas to this. But it is a step. And a massive one.
While Terry clearly stated that he does not condone the act, he made it sound like it was justified. That is scary. And wrong. When we say things like that, Christ weeps.
Friday, May 29, 2009
"Amateur" Sports
Ok, I will try to keep this non-frothy and non-screechy. However, the farce that is amateur athletics in the US is a problem that won't go away on its own.
A bit of backstory, Derrick Rose, the Bull's star, and ex-Memphis star and ex-Simeon High star, is the center of a minor controversy as it looks like someone took the SAT for him. Oh, and someone doctored a number of Ds on his high school report card to Cs.
Now, for Derrick, this doesn't matter. He's in the NBA making millions. He doesn't NEED an education, he just needs to be smart with his money. However, very VERY VERY few athletes go pro in their sport. The NCAA tells you this ad nauseum in their horrific ad campaign because what they neglect to tell you is that female basketball player, or that water polo player's scholarship is underwritten by the money brought in by some poor basketball player or football player.
Since most athletes won't go pro in their sport, they need to stop getting special treatment from a young age. I can't even tell you how many high school athletes grades are fudged or allowed special treatment to help out their high school teams.
It gets worse in college. The NCAA would like you to believe that these kids are getting an education. Right....cause you have SO much time to go to class and rigorously study during a college basketball or football season. Its well known that coaches will steer kids into "sport friendly" majors that don't require many labs or difficult classes in season.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying there aren't very talented smart kids in the two money making college sports. There are. I am saying programs are built on kids that generally are NOT that type. They are the "throw-away" player. They are in college to play their sport and help the school and coach make money.
Basketball and football make this worse by having no real minor league system. Basketball seriously needs a league where kids can go right after high school to find out if they might have what it takes to play pro ball. If they WANT to go to college, they can, but the joke that is "at least 1 year of college ball" needs to go away for good. It does nobody any good at all.
Football is trickier, but it too needs a system that doesn't rely on educational institutions to give it players. Kids need a third option to find out if they could be pro material or not.
Also, this means fans of "amateur" sports need to stop being insane. High school sports are pretty darn meaningless. Oh, sure, they can make you feel good, but why are kids in high school? To LEARN! This, not football (yeah, that 5'7 160lb running back is going to go a long ways....) or basketball or any sport should be the focus.
And at the college level, think carefully about the school you are rooting for. Is your school building its reputation on the backs of poor kids who aren't getting and education and are quite possibly destroying their bodies for life? The answer is pretty much yes.
Since there is literally hundreds of millions if not billions at stake here, it won't change. But please, feel guilty. You know you should.
A bit of backstory, Derrick Rose, the Bull's star, and ex-Memphis star and ex-Simeon High star, is the center of a minor controversy as it looks like someone took the SAT for him. Oh, and someone doctored a number of Ds on his high school report card to Cs.
Now, for Derrick, this doesn't matter. He's in the NBA making millions. He doesn't NEED an education, he just needs to be smart with his money. However, very VERY VERY few athletes go pro in their sport. The NCAA tells you this ad nauseum in their horrific ad campaign because what they neglect to tell you is that female basketball player, or that water polo player's scholarship is underwritten by the money brought in by some poor basketball player or football player.
Since most athletes won't go pro in their sport, they need to stop getting special treatment from a young age. I can't even tell you how many high school athletes grades are fudged or allowed special treatment to help out their high school teams.
It gets worse in college. The NCAA would like you to believe that these kids are getting an education. Right....cause you have SO much time to go to class and rigorously study during a college basketball or football season. Its well known that coaches will steer kids into "sport friendly" majors that don't require many labs or difficult classes in season.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying there aren't very talented smart kids in the two money making college sports. There are. I am saying programs are built on kids that generally are NOT that type. They are the "throw-away" player. They are in college to play their sport and help the school and coach make money.
Basketball and football make this worse by having no real minor league system. Basketball seriously needs a league where kids can go right after high school to find out if they might have what it takes to play pro ball. If they WANT to go to college, they can, but the joke that is "at least 1 year of college ball" needs to go away for good. It does nobody any good at all.
Football is trickier, but it too needs a system that doesn't rely on educational institutions to give it players. Kids need a third option to find out if they could be pro material or not.
Also, this means fans of "amateur" sports need to stop being insane. High school sports are pretty darn meaningless. Oh, sure, they can make you feel good, but why are kids in high school? To LEARN! This, not football (yeah, that 5'7 160lb running back is going to go a long ways....) or basketball or any sport should be the focus.
And at the college level, think carefully about the school you are rooting for. Is your school building its reputation on the backs of poor kids who aren't getting and education and are quite possibly destroying their bodies for life? The answer is pretty much yes.
Since there is literally hundreds of millions if not billions at stake here, it won't change. But please, feel guilty. You know you should.
Monday, May 25, 2009
Memorial Day
Just wanted to say a "I'm sorry for your loss." to all the families out there that have lost a son or daughter in a war.
Memorial day is a day to recognize those sacrifices. No matter how I may feel about the conflict or the reasons behind them, the pain felt by those families at the loss of loved ones who were doing what their country asked is not something to trifle with.
So, in a weird way, thanks I guess.
Memorial day is a day to recognize those sacrifices. No matter how I may feel about the conflict or the reasons behind them, the pain felt by those families at the loss of loved ones who were doing what their country asked is not something to trifle with.
So, in a weird way, thanks I guess.
Saturday, May 23, 2009
Fighting fire with....
So, Liberty University, founded by the late Jerry Falwell and run by his son, just cancelled their Democratic Party club. Here is a nice little story on it.
That's fine. They are a private institution and can do what they wish. However, if this is the route Christian schools are going to head, then please, don't complain when Christian programs get cut at other universities.
Do I think its wrong that univerisities frequently discriminate against Christians? Yes! Is the answer discriminating against a group at their school? No.
I really find disturbing that the reasons cited are because the group's parent Party stands against the school's "moral principles."
This bothers me because they still have a Republican Party Club. Now, I'm sure they mean the moral principles of abortion is wrong and gay marriage is wrong and that's fine.
However, the Republican leadership in this country lead us into 2 wars that have killed probably over 200,000 people combined (a conservative estimate if you ask me). Helped to foster immense amounts of greed which helped lead the current economic crisis.
Oh, and constantly ignored or put off the poor and down-trodden in favor the the wealthy and privileged.
I don't really see how those are sound moral principles either.
Its Liberty's choice, I merely think it is a pretty darn poor one.
That's fine. They are a private institution and can do what they wish. However, if this is the route Christian schools are going to head, then please, don't complain when Christian programs get cut at other universities.
Do I think its wrong that univerisities frequently discriminate against Christians? Yes! Is the answer discriminating against a group at their school? No.
I really find disturbing that the reasons cited are because the group's parent Party stands against the school's "moral principles."
This bothers me because they still have a Republican Party Club. Now, I'm sure they mean the moral principles of abortion is wrong and gay marriage is wrong and that's fine.
However, the Republican leadership in this country lead us into 2 wars that have killed probably over 200,000 people combined (a conservative estimate if you ask me). Helped to foster immense amounts of greed which helped lead the current economic crisis.
Oh, and constantly ignored or put off the poor and down-trodden in favor the the wealthy and privileged.
I don't really see how those are sound moral principles either.
Its Liberty's choice, I merely think it is a pretty darn poor one.
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