Category: Michigan

Obama supported company gets U.S. Loan and builds cars…. In Finland

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This ought to be a lesson to every last Democrat who voted for Obama and Biden.

The Video:

The Story:

With the approval of the Obama administration, an electric car company that received a $529 million federal government loan guarantee is assembling its first line of cars in Finland, saying it could not find a facility in the United States capable of doing the work.

Vice President Joseph Biden heralded the Energy Department’s $529 million loan to the start-up electric car company called Fisker as a bright new path to thousands of American manufacturing jobs. But two years after the loan was announced, the job of assembling the flashy electric Fisker Karma sports car has been outsourced to Finland.

“There was no contract manufacturer in the U.S. that could actually produce our vehicle,” the car company’s founder and namesake told ABC News. “They don’t exist here.”

Henrik Fisker said the U.S. money so far has been spent on engineering and design work that stayed in the U.S., not on the 500 manufacturing jobs that went to a rural Finnish firm, Valmet Automotive.

“We’re not in the business of failing; we’re in the business of winning. So we make the right decision for the business,” Fisker said. “That’s why we went to Finland.”

via Car Company Gets U.S. Loan, Builds Cars In Finland – ABC News.

Here is the real-world translation to that last line in that story; we did not want to have to deal with the labor unions in this United States, so we moved our manufacturing overseas.

Take note my Democratic Party friends who happen to read this blog, all two of you.  This is what happens to the Democrats and their union counterparts, when they elect internationalist Democrats, who really do not give a care about what happens to American workers.  Internationalist Democrats and their Republican counterparts, the globalists — like Richard Nixon, who do not care about American workers, they are corporatists, who support crony capitalism.

This right here is a perfect example of why the relations between the Democratic Party and the labor unions are frosty at best.  That is because the Democratic Party for the last few instances that they have won elections, have been putting internationalist Democrats into the White House.  This type of a Democrat talks a nice game, and puts out platitudes to the American autoworkers and their representatives in the unions; but when the “Rubber hits the road” so to speak, things change.  They begin showing their true colors and start doing things to kick dirt in the face of the American worker.

I do not write this as a Conservative mocking the left, goodness no.  I write this as someone who has a father, who is a retired General Motors worker, who is a member of the UAW.  If anyone would know how the Democratic Party has treated the American autoworker in the last 30 years, it would be me.  There was a time in this Country, when the Democratic Party used to respect the American autoworker and would literally step in front a train to defend them.  Sadly, that time has passed, as the unions have lost their influence amongst the Democratic Party.

The loss of that influence in the Democratic Party is partially due to the actions of the internationalist Democrats, like Bill Clinton, who signed into law NAFTA and TAFTA.  Some of that loss of influence is also due to the declining membership roles within the UAW and other said unions.  Either way, it is sad transition in America, when our politicians in Washington D.C. put interests abroad before interests here at home.

Some of my readers, all three of you, might be shocked to see that I do not take a more mocking tone on stories like this and here is why I do not; Pat Buchanan said it best once, on one issue that I actually agree with him on — the American worker.  Pat once said, “As goes Detroit, goes the Nation,” and you know what?  Pat Buchanan is right about that, the United States of America used to be a manufacturing marvel.  We produced everything ourselves, and other Countries used to come here to see how we did it all.  Sadly, those times have come and gone, due to many reasons, a list of which is longer than the length of this blog entry will permit.

What is solution you ask, I know what it is; but most of the people who will come here to read, will not agree with it.  However, I will give the solution.  Firstly, the solution is NOT to bust up the unions, as they have as much right to proper representation, as the company owners have a right to make a profit.  The solution to the problem is to get rid of these idiotic so-called “Free Trade” agreements.  Secondly, the solution is to impose strict tariffs on EVERYTHING and I do mean everything that is manufactured overseas and imported into our Country.

These actions would do a couple of things; firstly it would protect the American workers from the globalists who want to undercut the American worker to make a quick dollar on the backs of cheap sweatshop labor in foreign countries like China.  Secondly, it would solve our Nation’s revenue problem by creating a reliable source of income; one of which we did have in this Country for a very long time, before the globalists ripped it out, in favor of trade agreements.

Further, the solution is in whom we elect; Republicans and Democrats alike need to elect those who put America’s interests first, and not the interests who those abroad.  To be fair, Republicans have done this too in this past and we as Americans need to watch what these new crop of Republicans really represent; do they represent the interests of the crony capitalists or do they have the American people’s interests in mind?  Supposedly, the Tea Party movement brought some of this “America First” type of populism to the Conservative movement, but as of late, it seems that the Tea Party was nothing more than a passing fad.  I just hope the people, who went to these protests, use the principles that were promoted at the Tea Party rallies, at the ballot box come November 2012.

Others: Michelle Malkin, New York Times, New York Magazine, The Heritage Foundation, Questions and Observations, Fantastical Andrew Fox, RedState, The Strata-Sphere, Hot Air, Sky Dancing, Conservatives4Palin, americanthinker.com, Big Government, Weasel Zippers, Fire Andrea Mitchell!, JammieWearingFool and Betsy’s Page

Video: Felonious Munk talks about paying child support

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A while back this guy in this video talked about balancing the budget and it was a viral sensation.

Here is his new video that talks about child support. Now, I must warn you, this is some seriously hardcore stuff; straight out the ghetto and all that. So, consider this your official CONTENT WARNING.  This is not safe for work, around children or anyone else who’s easily offended.

Props to Felonious Monk from a white guy from the suburbs, who grew up in Southwest Detroit; for having the gonads to tell it straight, without any sugar coating or anything. Good job!

Enjoy the Video:

Ford caves to White House demand to pull ad ripping on tarp bailouts

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This is unreal:

For the only Detroit automaker that “didn’t take the money” of the federal auto bailouts, Ford Motor Co. keeps paying a price for its comparative success and self-reliant turnaround.

There’s no help from American taxpayers to help lighten its debt load, giving crosstown rivals comparatively better credit ratings and a financial edge Ford is working diligently to erase all on its own.

There’s no clause barring a strike by hourly workers amid this fall’s national contract talks with the United Auto Workers — a by-product of the taxpayer-financed bailout that General Motors Co. and Chrysler Group LLC retain until 2015.

And there’s no assurance the Dearborn automaker can use the commercially advantageous fact that it didn’t “take the money” proffered by the Obama Treasury Department and use it in TV ads angling to sell cars and trucks. Not if the campaign takes a whack at its Detroit rivals and suggests that Ford no longer supports the Obama administration bailouts it backed in public statements and sworn congressional testimony.

As part of a campaign featuring “real people” explaining their decision to buy the Blue Oval, a guy named “Chris” says he “wasn’t going to buy another car that was bailed out by our government,” according the text of the ad, launched in early September.

“I was going to buy from a manufacturer that’s standing on their own: win, lose, or draw. That’s what America is about is taking the chance to succeed and understanding when you fail that you gotta’ pick yourself up and go back to work.”

That’s what some of America is about, evidently. Because Ford pulled the ad after individuals inside the White House questioned whether the copy was publicly denigrating the controversial bailout policy CEO Alan Mulally repeatedly supported in the dark days of late 2008, in early ’09 and again when the ad flap arose. And more.

via Columnists | Ford pulls its ad on bailouts | The Detroit News.

I would and could carp on about this one; but I will simply say this — this here, my friends, is why you do not elect totalitarian Presidential Administrations who are not too fond of criticism.    I know Bush did it too; to a point, but not nearly as bad as this bunch in the White House. This President is much worse. Further more, Bush’s issue was with the liberal media and never, ever with private business.

I also have to wonder; how much of this was the Union’s doing? I wonder if Ford received a threatening phone call from the President of the AFL-CIO and was told, “You either pull that ad or you are going have a huge labor walkout on your hands!” I cannot prove that in a court of law. But I would be willing to bet money that is what happened.

Again, as I am prone to saying here, quite a bit. Remember this dumb nonsense come 2012; because no President or White House should ever, and I do mean EVER be able to pressure any business to pull advertising. We are a free Republic; and not some damned Communist dictatorship; this has to stop and I hope like the dickens that Republicans pick the right guy to beat Obama in 2012.  Because crap like this, has go to go and I mean go quickly.

Others: Hit & Run, Mediaite, Big Government, Ben Smith’s Blog, National Review, Patterico’s Pontifications, Wake up America, LaborUnionReport.com, Hot Air, theblogprof, Weasel Zippers, Weekly Standard, JammieWearingFool and Cold Fury (via Memeorandum)

UPDATED : Woman Detained on flight from Denver to Detroit, whines about it on her blog.

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You know, I hate to be an a-hole about this sort of a thing. But there just some things that I cannot and will not overlook.

Anyhow, some woman of Arab and Jewish decent was detained at Detroit Metro Airport on a flight from Denver. She was strip-searched and now has taken to her blog to whine about it and also use racist imagery. For the record, here is a news article about it.

She starts her blog posting:

Silly me. I thought flying on 9/11 would be easy. I figured most people would choose not to fly that day so lines would be short, planes would be lightly filled and though security might be ratcheted up, we’d all feel safer knowing we had come a long way since that dreadful Tuesday morning 10 years ago.

But then armed officers stormed my plane, threw me in handcuffs and locked me up.

At first, when I started reading the post; I actually felt sorry for the lady. You know, innocent woman being strip-searched and such. But then, as I got further in the article, I started seeing things like this:

They took him to another room, and I heard an officer tell him to remove his clothes. He was going to be searched. I could not fully grasp what was happening. I stared at the yellow walls and listened to a few officers talk about the overtime they were racking up, and I decided that I hated country music. I hated speedboats and shitty beer in coozies and fat bellies and rednecks. I thought about Abu Ghraib and the horror to which those prisoners were exposed. I thought about my dad and his prescience.  I was glad he wasn’t alive to know about what was happening to me. I thought about my kids, and what would have happened if they had been there when I got taken away. I contemplated never flying again. I thought about the incredible waste of taxpayer dollars in conducting an operation like this. I wondered what my rights were, if I had any at all. Mostly, I could not believe I was sitting in some jail cell in some cold, undisclosed building surrounded by “the authorities.”

[…]

Another female officer, this one in jeans and a t-shirt came to visit me. She introduced herself as an agent–Homeland Security. She removed my handcuffs and had me follow her to a different room down a long hall and through a few doors. As we walked, I got a glimpse of the watch-stealer, a chubby middle-aged white guy with a buzz cut. He didn’t look too different from some of the officers.

[…]

After fingerprinting me and asking me about my height/weight/place and date of birth and so on, a middle-aged white cop with a beer belly and a flat top returned me–without handcuffs–to the cell. I waited, wondering if I would be spending the night locked up. I thought about the last words my husband said to me while I was still on the plane waiting on the tarmac, “They must have found out there was a Hebshi on the plane.” We joke about this at times, that because of my ethnicity I am being scrutinized but I had no intention of putting that out to the universe and making it happen.

…and the real humdinger is this one:

I thought about Malcom X and how bravely and fastidiously he studied and wrote while he was in prison, how his solitude enabled him to transform his anger into social change and personal betterment. That’s when I decided to write this post. I needed to explain what had happened–was happening–to me. I was not going to be silent. Still, I wondered what my rights were, and though I felt violated and scared I wasn’t sure that our new laws protected me from this treatment.

There is also this….:

I wondered what my rights were, and though I felt violated and scared I wasn’t sure that our new laws protected me from this treatment. 

If this woman wants any sympathy from me, she needs to get off of the racist stereotypes of white people. If I would have penned this article, ripping on this woman, because she happens to be a Jewish/Arab half breed, I would be called every sort of names, you know, like Anti-Semitic and racist? I found that to be extremely offensive and I told her so, in some very colorful language as to that fact.

Further more, what about the people in the World Trade Center towers, who had to choose between burning alive or being crushed to death or jumping from the building and dying. You do not think those people did not feel violated and scared?

Again, I do not cheer this woman’s misfortune, but this is the era we live in; the post-911 era. Thanks to the action of a group of Arab Muslim terrorists, we now live into a era of hyper-security. If this woman wants to register a complaint; she should try registering it to Al-Qaeda, better yet, let her register a complaint to the Muslim community here in America and abroad and condemn them for not standing up and saying that they are not doing enough to stand up against radical Muslims.

I have to wonder, how much of that story was embellished or as we usually call it — made up?

Remember folks, As Debbie Schlussel says, 9/11 was a MUSLIM Job and we, the American people were the true victims, not Arabs or Muslims.  But then again, this woman sounds like a moronic liberal idiot, who always thinks directly backward of a sane, rational, human being. As Dr. Michael Savage says — Liberalism is a mental disorder. Update: Don’t believe me? Just look right here. How stupid can people be?!? 🙄

Others: The Atlantic Online, Hit & Run  Gothamist  Business Insider, The Atlantic Online and msnbc.com  — via Memeorandum

Update: It appears that my article has hit a nerve. I got one thing to say…:

You see, nobody thought of their rights. No one cared. Liberals, Muslims and Democrats thought we were the “Great Satan” and deserved it. This is why I bitched about this article.

 

Good For Him: Michigan Governor Rick Snyder Signs into law a 4 Year Limit on Welfare

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Good for Governor Rick Snyder for this! (H/T Gateway Pundit)

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Gov. Rick Snyder on Tuesday signed into law a stricter, four-year lifetime limit on cash welfare benefits, prompting advocates for the poor to warn that tens of thousands of residents will find themselves without cash assistance on Oct. 1.

Michigan’s first-year Republican chief executive said the state will offer exemptions to the limit for those with a disability who can’t work, those who care for a disabled spouse or child and those who are 65 or older and don’t qualify for Social Security benefits or receive very low benefits.

Some recipients who are the victims of domestic violence also may be temporarily exempted.

“We are returning cash assistance to its original intent as a transitional program to help families while they work toward self-sufficiency,” Snyder said in a statement. He noted that the state still will help the poor by offering food stamps, health care coverage through Medicaid, child care and emergency services.

via Mich. governor signs 48-month welfare limit – Yahoo! News.

Before any Democrats give Governor Rick Snyder any crap over this, it looks like the previous Democratic Party Governor started the process:

Then-Gov. Jennifer Granholm, a Democrat, signed a bill that created a four-year limit starting in 2007. But that law exempted many welfare recipients, including those whose caseworkers said they were making progress toward finding employment.

The 2010 election of Snyder and the simultaneous Republican takeover of the Michigan House gave the GOP a free hand to set its own course on public assistance.

The change gives Michigan the Midwest’s toughest welfare time limit, according to a survey by The Detroit News. It said there are five-year limits in Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio and Wisconsin. Indiana has a two-year limit for adults — but none for children.

This has long been one of my pet gripes with the State of Michigan; that they tax the hell out of the working man and give that money to people, who do not even work for it. I am glad to see the Governor Granholm saw this as well and worked to do something about it. I am also glad to see Governor Snyder actually fix it where only disabled and the Elderly are kept on it and rest forced to get out and get a damn job.

For the record, I have no issue with those who are actually disabled being on Welfare and Social Security. It is just these one’s who are not handicapped and disabled being on the Government dole. Especially when that dole is coming out my tax dollars; that is what bugs me.

I know it sounds cruel; but the States and the Federal Government just cannot afford to be the nanny anymore. The Country is broke and the States are not far behind it. So, the days of living off the people, are over — finally. 🙄

 

UPDATED: The coming 2012 battle?

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The video is over at Real Clear Politics. (H/T Drudge)

Quotable Quote:

“We got to keep an eye on the battle that we face: The war on workers. And you see it everywhere, it is the Tea Party. And you know, there is only one way to beat and win that war. The one thing about working people is we like a good fight. And you know what? They’ve got a war, they got a war with us and there’s only going to be one winner. It’s going to be the workers of Michigan, and America. We’re going to win that war,” Jimmy Hoffa Jr. said to a heavily union crowd.

I got a bad feeling about this coming 2012 election. It’s going to get ugly on both sides, I am afraid.

Others: Big Government, blogs.telegraph.co.uk, Proof Positive, And So it Goes in Shreveport, Associated Press, Scared Monkeys, Pajamas Media, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Sipsey Street Irregulars, The Lonely Conservative and HotAirPundit

 Update: I’ve posted a follow up to this posting. Please, go check it out! Thanks. 😀

UPDATED: More union vandalism and violence against business owners

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As some of you know, my Father is a retired General Motors worker and a 31 year member of the U.A.W.

Which basically makes me the son of a Union member.

Which is why this story here makes me even the more sick to my stomach.

The Video:

The Story via The Daily Caller:


King Electrical Services owner John King was shot by a person who appears to be from one of the many unions who have targeted his workers, Toledo News Channel 11 WTOL reports. King is the largest non-union electrical contractor company in the area of southeastern Michigan near the Ohio border.

He has a long history of being on the receiving end of union-related violence, and this case doesn’t appear to be any different. Before shooting him, the gunman etched the word “SCAB” into the side of King’s SUV.

The altercation started when King woke up late last Wednesday to find someone in his driveway. He described the intruder as a “silhouette figure” because he didn’t see the person clearly enough to offer a description. The individual was attempting to vandalize his SUV. When King went outside his Lambertville, Mich., home to confront the person, the vandal shot him in the arm.

The Labor Union Report Picks up the rest:

Until Wednesday, the worst of the union attacks on King and his business came in the mid-eighties during the UAW strike at AP Parts. During a lull during the lengthy strike, King’s business was picketed by more than 50 IBEW picketers. This was at a time when he only had eight or nine employees. One of his employees, whose car was trashed by the union picketers, was also beaten up by IBEW thugs.

Unfortunately, the vandalism has never stopped. This year alone, he’s had to report three incidents of damage to police. This doesn’t include the incidents of stalking he and his men have to go through while they’re working.

In one incident earlier this year, rocks were thrown through the front windows of his shop, one of which had the word “kill” written on it.

Last Wednesday, however, the attacks on Mr. King became much more serious when he was awakened late in the evening at his home in Monroe County, Michigan and saw that the motion lights in his driveway had come on. When he looked out his front window, he saw a figure near his SUV and went outside.

As soon as he got outside his front door, King yelled at the individual who was crouched down by King’s vehicle. As soon as King yelled, the suspect stood and, without hesitation, fired a shot at Mr. King.

Luckily for King, as he yelled, he also stumbled. If it weren’t for that, however, John King’s injuries might have been much, much worse. In fact, he might have been killed.

Upon scrambling back into his house, King got to his cell phone and called 911. However, due to the pain in his knees and shoulder from falling, King was unaware that he had been shot in the arm.

At first, King thought that his assailant was merely trying to break into his vehicle. Little did he know, however, that the perpetrator was targeting him–because of his non-union company.

The night of the shooting, police recovered a shell casing from a small caliber handgun. In addition to the shell casing, police also found a Swiss Army knife that police say was likely going to be used to slice the tires on King’s SUV.

While neither the police, nor Mr. King can say which union was behind the attack, it is very clear by the word ‘scab’ scrawled on his SUV that it the attack was union-related.

“The police have been very thorough,” King says. “I cannot praise the Monroe County Sheriff’s department enough.”

The Monroe County Sheriff’s office is encouraging anyone with information to call 734-240-7530.

In addition, Mr. King is offering a $10,000 reward for information that will lead to the arrest and conviction of the suspect.

I seem to remember that Obama said to his union supporters, something about “getting in their faces:”

Now, Do I believe that this is what Obama had in mind? Yes I do. You can expect this sort of violence, as long as Obama is up for reelection. This and the media straight up lying about racism on the right.

As I said last night. We have 14 more months of this to endure — 14 more months. 🙄

Here is hoping, however, that this thug or thugs are caught and hopefully, this business owner arms himself. I mean, because without a gun; this guy is a sitting duck.

Let me also say this; I have been around unions for a very long time. I have never, ever, heard of any of the U.A.W. guys ever taking part in anything like this; ever. At least not in the local that my Dad is in. I have heard of union violence in other locals; but never in the one my daddy is involved with. I also believe that whoever did this; should be publicly exposed. Because stuff like this, makes the labor movement look bad to the rest of the world. Hell, my daddy is not a vile criminal like that, he worked for 31 years at General Motors, played by the rules and made something of himself.

I could go on here and carp on about how the Unions are inherently corrupt and so forth; but, I will not, even I know better than that. I believe this most likely is an isolated incident with a local labor union, who might have some members who are a bit shady. What needs to happen is, that the Government needs to investigate this local and see if they were involved. But, that will not happen under the current Presidential Administration.

Update: Ed Morrissey over at Hotair.com covers this; for which I am very grateful and adds this haunting video:

Tense Verizon Strike Continues: MyFoxNY.com

Ed Also says this:


It’s worth pointing out that “open season” is a hunting term. Remember when crosshairs on a map made Sarah Palin responsible for all political violence regardless of what the facts were? The actual violence that occurred in Michigan seems a lot more connected to unions, and the same will be true if a violent incident occurs in New York in the Verizon dispute. Will the national media shriek about unions being the cause of political violence and demand sanctions against them? Don’t hold your breath.

I also should note, the it is not lost on me where this happened. It happened in the Monroe, Michigan area. Which is about 20 miles to the south of me or so; as the crow flies. This is a new low for the Labor movement in Michigan. I can honestly say, that I am ashamed of being from this state. 🙁

 

My thoughts on the riots in London

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Yes, I know about silly riots in London.  My question is this, what the heck happened to jolly old England? Better yet, what the happened to the mighty Great Britain?

I’ll tell you what happened. Liberal Progressivism and Multiculturalism —- that’s what! 😡

I find myself in agreement with Lew Rockwell and a Gun blogger named “Say Uncle“: (H/T Insty)

What kind of Country sits back and allows knuckle-dragging nimrods trash and burn a great Country like England? Seriously!  I mean, at what point does the police or officials in Great Britain say, “Okay, screw it; this pacifistic bullshit is not cutting it anymore, it is time to bring out the REAL GUNS and the REAL BULLETS!” and start mowing these stupid bastards down? When?!?!?!

I saw those pictures, reminds me of another very famous socialist uprising — here in Detroit!

Let us compare, shall we?

London - 2011

and then here in Detroit — 1967:

 

Detroit - 1967

Detroit - 1967 (better picture...)

and yes….

It was that same old bullshit line of, "Oh woe is us! We're being kept down by them rich, white, capitalists who want to hurt our people!"

The truth is, in 1967, blacks were free to work, live and play where they wanted to. There was no oppression of blacks at all, period, end of damned discussion! 😡 Down south in Alabama, maybe; but not in Detroit.

What happened here was this; a group of far leftists decided that they resented the fact that white people were running the City of Detroit Government and that the police force in Detroit was all white, so, they decided to take it out on the businesses in Detroit. So, they burned them to the ground. All because of the fact that the city of Detroit had a special unit, called the STRESS unit — which stood for Stop the Robberies, Enjoy Safe Streets by the way; that kept blacks from robbing and killing white people and other black people in the city.

The result? This:

This is Detroit 2011 --- A ghost of it's former glory --- This is corktown, looking down towards downtown Detroit. -- This is what progressivism gets you folks! For that it is worth, I can get more photos that look much worse than this one. They readily available on the internet and also, I can take some if need be.

This is what London, England and most likely the rest of Great Britain will look like, if they do not put down that Marxist uprising; and I do mean fast.  That above, is what class warfare and progressivism gets you — ruined cities. Believe me when I tell you, Detroit, Michigan is beyond ruined and this is why, progressivism and class warfare. Not to mention Multiculturalism or what it really should be called, “Punishing White people for things that happened before the majority of them in this day and age were even born.”

I mean, these rioters in England are doing it, why? — because they know damned well that they can get away with it.  I mean, what kind of a message does it send to the rest of the world, when a group of thugs says, “We’re doing this, because we want rich people to know, that we’re gonna rule you by causing fear?” It sends to me a message of cowardice, of the English Government, that’s what! It sends a message that the Government of Great Britain are cowering down to domestic terrorists.

In closing; could this happen in America? Yes. But it is very far off. We still have a second amendment and Conservatives who are still willing to fight. But our media is well on its way.  The good thing is, we here in America, have our own Conservative media, that does push back against the Liberal controlled, owned and financed media.

Cry me a river: Muslim Woman Claims She Was The Victim Of A Hate Crime

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Oh Boo freaking Hoo!

ANN ARBOR (WWJ) – A 21-year-old Muslim woman, claiming that she was the victim of a hate crime as she drove along a street in Ann Arbor over the weekend.

WWJ’s Mike Campbell reports that Ann Arbor police will only say that they are looking into a case of an alleged hate crime. And, the FBI isn’t commenting on a report from the Council on American Islamic Relations that it has asked them to investigate this case.

Reportedly, a woman was driving in Ann Arbor when she saw a black Dodge Ram pickup pull up next to her and the driver started racially taunting her, saying that her people didn’t belong here, that she was a terrorist and her people need to be killed. She said she dialed 911 and when she looked back in her mirror, the guy was actually pointing a gun at her. That’s when she says she actually started to get scared. Otherwise, she said it happens all the time because she often is seen wearing her head scarf out in public.

Nobody was hurt in this incident. Police say they are looking into it; they ran the license plate on the car that she gave them and it doesn’t match that pickup.

via Muslim Woman Claims She Was The Victim Of A Hate Crime « CBS Detroit.

Let’s see here, the Palestinians are doing this, and I am supposed to feel sorry for her? Fat Chance.  🙄

Not only this; have these idiots forgotten about this day here? She ought to be glad the man didn’t shoot her or that our Government under President George W. Bush did not round her and her people up and remove them from the Country! Which is what they should have done. 😡

Victim. My ass. 😡

I wonder if she is even here legally? I doubt that too.

But that’s your liberal media; terrorists are always the victims and we Christian white people are evil.  Same as it ever was…

 

 

 

 

Local Story: DEA Agents Raid wrong house in Detroit area

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This is a sad story and one that might get national attention:

The Video:

Agents Raid Wrong House in Sterling Heights: MyFoxDETROIT.com

The Story:

STERLING HEIGHTS, Mich. (WJBK) – Officers bust into a home in Sterling Heights, armed with a search warrant. The only problem? The guy they were looking for doesn’t live there. Fox 2 talked to the man who opened the door, and was stunned by what happened next.

Ramsey Tossa is a lot of things. He’s a U.S. citizen, a retired military translator and a proud father. But a criminal, he’s not. Still, he says he was treated like one Tuesday morning around 2am when he woke up to find DEA agents banging loudly on the door.

“As soon as I opened the door, somebody grabbed me and took me outside and put me on the grass,” Tossa said. “The first thing I thought was they were terrorists who want to kill me because I served in Iraq.”

via Agents Raid Wrong House in Sterling Heights.

Sad Story isn’t it? Well, there is a catch and believe this could have happened to anyone; not just this man. Here’s the part that will not get quoted on many blogs:

The DEA agents were executing a search warrant. Tossa said he started having what he thought was a heart attack. Paramedics took him to the hospital. When it was finally over, the agents took a few pieces of mail addressed to someone the Tossa’s say they’ve never met. The DEA says the person they were looking for is actually the landlord’s son. He uses that house as his address. The Tossa’s are demanding answers. The DEA tells us they are taking the complaint seriously. They deny anyone was thrown to the ground. They also indicate there was likely cause to search the house.

There is a logical explanation here and I know it is not going to win brownie points with those on the right. What most likely happened here was this; they did not have a photo of the suspect and they assumed, because the suspect was getting his mail there, that he actually lived there. It was a simple mistake and a sad one; that will now end up costing the Government a good deal of money, because if I know the drill, like I do — this man will lawyer up and sue the Government and get a huge settlement out of them.

Again, while I think this a horrible thing to happen to member of the United States Military; it is something that could have happened to almost anyone, who was living in this sort of a situation. My question to Fox 2 Detroit is this; if this man were not Military, would you have honestly cared? What was as Fox 2 Detroit’s motive of getting this news story? Was it to report the facts — or was it to further push the narrative of News Corporation that the United States Government, under President Barack Obama, is the enemy of the people?

The problem I personally have is that these stories, like this one here, are sometimes used to fuel paranoia, which in turn causes people to do things like which Richard Poplawski did to those three police officers. I ranted and raved about that little incident and the way it was covered in the news as well and it did turn out that my suspicion was right on target. My point here is this while I know that Richard Poplawski’s mental status had much to do with that shooting; it was his great paranoia of the Government that caused that incident to happen, which was largely fueled by the media and by what he was reading in White Nationalist forums.

My point is this: I believe Fox News should take greater care in how these stories are presented. What happened here was a simply mistake and it is being presented by this local Fox affiliate as conspiracy against mankind.

Video: This is why we must not fail in the war on terrorism!

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These are the Taliban and the men lined up are Pakistani Policemen: (Warning! Graphic Video!)

The Story via ABC NEWS:

In a new video which recently surfaced online, the Taliban appears to brutally and systematically execute 16 unarmed Pakistani policemen in what the terror group called a revenge killing.

The video of the massacre, which reportedly took place in early June, was posted online last week and confirmed by the Pakistani army today. It shows the policemen — who are not in uniform — standing in a line before a Taliban member who appears to be lecturing them. The man, who appears to act as the militants’ commander, accuses the policemen of executing six children in a previous operation and claims their imminent deaths are revenge, according to a summary posted with the video.

Several Taliban members then open fire on the group until all the policemen have fallen. A wailing cry is heard in the background after the initial volley. After reloading, a single fighter walks over each body and shoots them once more in the head.

But yet, President Barack Obama wants to try and negotiate with these monsters.

My friends, you do not negotiate with criminals and cold blooded killers; these people hate Liberty and Freedom. They hate Israel and Jews; kind of like the liberal left and some of the Paleo-Conservative and libertarian right.  They are not rational, sane, human beings — they are cold blooded killers. We did not negotiate with Charles Manson and his cult — so why the hell would we negotiate with people like this?

My friends, consider this hallow warning from someone who sat through hours of footage on 9/11 and almost ended up in the psych ward because of it:

IF WE DO NOT SUCCEED ON THE WAR ON TERRORISM, THIS COULD BE A SCENE IN AMERICA VERY SOON!

Dismiss me as an alarmist if you wish; I could not care less. But this is coming to America, if we fall down on the war on terrorism!

America must be protected; Israel must be protected, Liberty and Freedom are at stake! Radical Islam is a threat! Do not believe the lie of the Liberal-controlled, financed, and organized media — which is supplanted by the Government! The liberal media is in bed with the radical and no-so-radical Muslims!

Remember 9/11, Remember the Pentagon, Remember Flight 93 —– Remember America.

Remember this Video and Blog Posting come November 2012.

We need a President who will stand tall in the face of these bastards and not blink. Bush did it; and paid for it, with his Presidency — but he did not waver for a second. Mistakes were made, that is very true. However, in the end, we won in Iraq and we can win here too. We just have to not give up.

lan astaslem --- I will not surrender --I will not submit.

This is not a game, this is not fake; Ron Paul and his racist, Anti-Semitic friends, who hate Israel and everything related to it are the ENEMY! They must be kept out of the White House, at all costs! They are friends with these people!  Consider me a soldier in that battle too.

In the Name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth and of in the Name of the Lord GOD Jehovah — Master and Saviour of this World and KING of Kings and LORD of Lords of this World and in the great, wonderful, world to come:

I WILL NEVER SURRENDER!  

 

More Black on White Crime: Blacks attack Whites and Liberal media censors it

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I sit here today with a decision; do I ignore this or do I write about it? After all, I have been called a racist by a jackass, who likes to stalk me.

It appears that our media is trying to censor the fact that black on white crime is happening.

Go read this… Now, go read this.

Watch this video:

After Jail Time for Contempt, Alleged Rape Victim Returns to Testify: MyFoxDETROIT.com

Now, go read this. and now go read this.

This is Obama’s world; and something is seriously wrong with it. I am not a White Nationalist, nor have I ever been. But, something is seriously wrong with America; something dreadfully sickening. It must be stopped.

Remember this come November 2012.

This posting is dedicated to the memory of my late Cousin, Michael Lydon Hill. Who was gunned down by two corrupt black Detroit police officers in 1994.

Detroit’s budget woes

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This first “adult” mayor that Detroit has had in over 30 years or more; and the city still cannot agree on a budget.

The Story via The Detroit Free Press:


Detroit Mayor Dave Bing abruptly ended budget negotiations Tuesday with the City Council, promising to move forward with the elimination of summer festivals, hundreds of police and firefighter layoffs, ending Sunday bus service and closing the People Mover and rec centers. 

Bing said he doesn’t believe the council is earnest about a compromise by the Thursday deadline.

“The time for talk is over,” he said. “It’s going to be painful.”

Earlier in the day, the council voted 7-2 to reject a compromise by the mayor that would have restored $30 million to the 2011-12 spending plan. Last month, the council cut $50 million to pay down the city’s deficit.

Council members expressed shock that Bing wouldn’t agree to a counter-compromise to restore $20 million in cuts to bus service and public safety.

“It’s irresponsible and immature,” Council President Charles Pugh said. “It’s like the mayor is mad and left the marbles at the playground. People in the city are going to be hurt because of these kinds of games. What is so important to the mayor that he can’t get this done?”

Unless the mayor budges or the council gives in to the Bing compromise, Bing will begin making cuts Friday that will affect thousands of Detroiters and many suburban residents.

Popular gatherings at Hart Plaza — the Downtown Hoedown, African World Festival, Ribs ‘n’ Soul and the techno bash Movement — would end. The city would lose homicide investigators and police patrolling the streets; swimming pools wouldn’t open, and park grass would stay uncut, Bing said.

The Detroit Free Press, which is a very liberally biased paper; gives a few son stories of people that will end up moving away, if the council does not get their way. To whom I say, you may as well move anyway, this town’s better days are behind it and it will not get better.

This story here, ought to be a textbook example of full on socialism does not work, at all. In times of economic prosperity, socialism and capitalism can co-exist, when the economy falters, the results are disastrous. In fairness to the City of Detroit, they went through this before; in the late 1970’s, when Coleman A. Young was Mayor of the city. Except, this time, things are much more bleak for the city and our Nation.

That being said even the Detroit Free Press Editors see that the writing is on the proverbial wall in Detroit:

For employees who have already taken pay cuts and seen the city’s workforce pared back, it must seem like the ultimate unfairness: Detroit Mayor Dave Bing says he needs deeper union concessions just to keep the state from imposing an emergency financial manager.

The reality is, both sides are right. Many employees can’t afford to pay more for their health care or contribute to their retirement. In a city (and region) already beaten down by the last decade of recession, these kinds of changes won’t help reverse economic trends.

But the city is also broke, and health care and pension costs are among the biggest drivers. Detroit has 22,000 retirees and 11,000 employees whose pension plans require no contribution. Those pension plans also carry steep requirements from taxpayers to maintain them — including unrealistic growth rates set by contract.

The city also pays more than 80% of health care costs for employees, and up to 90% in most cases.

It seems unlikely that the unions will even bargain, let alone give concessions by the Sept. 1 deadline Bing has set. What’s their incentive?

From their perspective, if Bing is telling the truth and the state will have to take over if concessions aren’t granted, it’s better to have an emergency manager impose the changes than to give them away at the bargaining table.

And if Bing isn’t being truthful, then calling his bluff counts as a union victory.

Union leadership can afford, in this case, to stand firm.

But that also underestimates the city’s dire financial situation. Cooperating with Bing, and negotiating around the margins of his proposal, could help put the city back on good economic footing.

Here is hoping that the city council and the city’s many unions leaders listen to this advice; which, by the way, I suggest you read the rest of that, as it is interesting reading.

This writer is old enough to remember the last major recession, which affected Detroit up till the late 1980’s. The last time this happened, Detroit had a “tough-as-nails” Mayor, who took no guff from people who got in his way and was able to pull Detroit out of a full scale nose dive. Here is hoping that bing has that same toughness in him. Because any way you look at this; it is going to be bad for ALL parties involved.

This Posting was crafted on my Apple iPod using WordPress Mobile Admin (Too Cool!)

Sick: The Rebecca Rose – Jennifer Petkov rift still continues

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This is a sick and very sad situation; and as much as I am tempted to point the finger directly at Petkov — I cannot.

The Story:

Rebecca Rose, the grandmother of a terminally ill child who gained attention after a neighbor harassed her on Facebook last year, told Trenton police on Thursday that she’s still being targeted.

“I’m done. This is my life … this is my dead daughter, my handicapped daughter who can’t even sit outside without (being called) a retard…this is my life,” Rebecca Rose told Trenton Patch on Friday.

Rose, a grandmother of a terminally ill 7-year-old girl, spoke out Friday about what she told police is constant harassment aimed at her and her granddaughter that has been going on for years.

The harassment, she said, is coming from Facebook posts, attributed to a handle that appears to be associated with her former neighbor Jennifer Petkov, 33. Jennifer Petkov made national news last year after she taunted the dying girl on Facebook.

Rose said the most recent incident was Thursday, also via Facebook, and just one day before the anniversary of the girl’s mother’s death.

Both the girl, Kathleen Edward, and her late mother, Laura Edward, were diagnosed with Huntington’s disease. Laura died from the disease on June 17, 2009.

Rose filed the latest complaint with Trenton police Thursday, after she said she received several messages on her Facebook page from a Facebook user claiming to be the Petkovs at about 9:30 p.m.

Rose was “crying and extremely upset,” according to the report, and told police that the constant harassment had been going on for years.

Facebook documents Rose gave to Trenton police showed comments allegedly attributed to the neighbors stating:

“Detroit St. Party, When that kid dies, cause boys and girls it’s to happen.”

“Dead and gone, only a few more hours till party time, I’m going to visit a grave and take a piss.”

Rose told police, who then confirmed, that she has served Personal Protection Orders against Scott and Jennifer Petkov. The Personal Protection Orders stated that there is to be no communication to Rose, according to police.

Police said they tried to obtain a written witness statement from Rose, but while she was writing she stated, “I can’t take it anymore” and ran out of the Trenton Police Department crying.

Police tagged the six Facebook documents they received from Rose as evidence.

Rose told Trenton Patch she wants the harassment to stop for the sake of her dying grandchild. She said she wants her remaining days to be peaceful.

“Doctors say Kathleen might not live another year,” Rose said. “She has seizures and is in a wheelchair.”

She also wants the harassment to stop because she said she is tired of her life consisting of harassing comments and hateful language toward her and her daughter.

via Petkovs’ Neighbor Tells Trenton Police: ‘I Can’t Take It Anymore’ – Trenton, MI Patch.

When I originally covered this story originally in October of 2010, I was very sickened and disgusted by what I read and I am very glad that this woman got justice for what she did do. That was then and this, is now.

As much as I would want to point the finger directly to Jennifer Petkov; I cannot. Allow me to explain why. This could very well be a third party that is doing this to attempt and sir up more trouble, either for the Rose family or for Petkov herself. On Facebook, it is extremely easy to create a bogus account and go on doing what this person or persons are doing to Mrs. Rose.  My heart does break for this woman; and for her granddaughter who is dying of a dreadful disease. However, someone; namely the Trenton police, if that is where Jennifer Petkov is actually still living, need to get to this woman and ask her, if she is the person actually doing this and possibly even pull a warrant to search her computer and see if it is actually her.

If it is found that Jennifer Petkov is actually not involved at all with this incident; then the Trenton Police and the FBI need to get together and work with Facebook to find out just who is behind this sort of demented stupidity.

One thing that really struck me as very unfair is this here:

Jennifer Petkov no longer lives at the house on Detroit Street, but Rose said she has seen her several times since the judge ordered her away from the house.

You see this right here, is a classic case of shoddy journalism. Where has Rose seen the woman? In Trenton? Driving by her house? or what? Because the accusation is here, that Petkov is still coming around her house; and I have yet to see proof of that at all. Just Rose’s word, who is say that Rose is not just lying about this whole thing for attention? Why were not the actual messages released to the media?

Anyhow, Again, this is a very sad situation and I hope that the Trenton police can finally get to the bottom of it quickly and if it is proven to be true, the people involved can be stopped, so this family finally get some peace.

Related:

Jennifer Petkov, the gift that keeps on giving

Local News: The Kathleen Edward saga continues

Local News: Jennifer Petkov apologizes to family that she mocked

UPDATED — Local News: Jennifer Petkov is a damned low-life scumball Facebook Pulls Page, read the update please.

Update January 13 2012: As you all most likely well know. Kathleen Edward lost her battle and has passed away. My tribute to her is here.

May God Bless Governor Jennifer Granholm!

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Before anyone says this to me in the comments section,        I KNOW!

She was a horrible Governor. But for this little piece of clarity on Mitt Romney; she gets a “Atta-Gal!” from me.:

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney is due in Detroit Wednesday and Thursday to fill his presidential campaign war chest. As at recent events, he’s likely to take partial credit for the extraordinary resurgence of the U.S. auto industry – a comeback that has created more than 12,000 jobs in Michigan alone over the past year.

Unfortunately for Romney, we aren’t likely to forget that, when our city most needed help, his response was simple: “Let Detroit Go Bankrupt.”

After the 2008 financial meltdown, America’s auto companies were in dire straits. To survive, they needed a loan to allow them to restructure. But no bank was lending.

Romney vehemently opposed helping the auto industry. But as he advocated a course that would have led to certain liquidation for Chrysler and General Motors, President Barack Obama made the bold decision to extend GM and Chrysler the support needed for the necessary restructuring.

[….]

So for him to claim now that he pointed the way toward the recovery of the auto industry is profoundly disturbing. When asked last week about Romney’s claim that Chrysler didn’t need federal loans, Chrysler chief executive officer Sergio Marchionne answered that he must be “smoking illegal material.”

That Romney is a native son of Michigan only makes his cold shoulder toward the auto industry in 2009, and his attempts to woo Detroit money today, even more shameful. His laissez-faire strategy toward our auto industry during its time of crisis was wrong from the start – and a clear indicator of the misguided leadership he would bring to the White House.

The U.S. is facing enormous economic and global challenges, so we need a leader who isn’t afraid to roll up his sleeves to do what it takes to guarantee U.S. jobs and American success. It’s obvious that Romney is not that leader.

When Romney comes here with his hand out Wednesday, his Michigan supporters should treat him in the same way he treated the auto industry.

She might be a Canadian, and have been an lousy Governor. But she does know her Mitt Romney!  It is much too bad, that many on our side of the fence are not say this more. Not to mention, the jerk is now trying, pathetically to pander to the Sarah Palin crowd!

Hey Moron Mormon Boy! Quit while your ahead! 🙄

 

Video: The Daily RANT! – Special Memorial Day Edition

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Related:

How on this Memorial Day you can help a Soldier

Videos: Memorial Day 2011

Happy Memorial Day 2011

Video: NEW FEATURE! The Daily RANT!

 

Aw: Japan’s recovery not going so hot

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I guess I am supposed to feel sorry for them.

The Video:

Via Fox News:

FUKUSHIMA, Japan — An unexpected rise in pressure inside a troubled reactor set back efforts to bring Japan’s overheating, leaking nuclear complex under control Sunday as concerns grew that as-yet minor contamination of food and water is spreading.

The pressure increase meant plant operators may need to deliberately release radioactive steam, prolonging a nuclear crisis that has consumed government attention even as it responded to the catastrophic earthquake and tsunami that savaged northeast Japan on March 11.

In a rare rescue after so many days, a teenage boy’s cries for help led police to rescue him and an 80-year-old woman at a wrecked house.

Beyond the disaster area, an already shaken public grew uneasy with official reports that traces of radiation first detected in spinach and milk from farms near the nuclear plant are turning up farther away in tap water, rain and even dust. In all cases, the government said the radiation levels were too small to pose an immediate risk to health. Still, Taiwan seized a batch of fava beans from Japan found with faint — and legal — amounts of iodine and cesium.

“I’m worried, really worried,” said Mayumi Mizutani, a 58-year-old Tokyo resident shopping for bottled water at a supermarket to give her visiting 2-year-old grandchild. “We’re afraid because it’s possible our grandchild could get cancer.” Forecasts for rain, she said, were an added worry.

All six of the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear complex’s reactor units saw trouble after the disasters knocked out cooling systems. But officials reported headway this weekend in reconnecting two units to the electric grid and in pumping seawater to cool reactors and replenish bubbling or depleted pools for spent nuclear fuel.

Temperatures in storage pools for Units 5 and 6 continued their several days of decline Sunday to a safe, cool level, the nuclear safety agency said.

But the buildup in pressure inside the vessel holding Unit 3’s reactor renewed the danger, forcing officials to consider venting. The tactic produced explosions during the early days of the crisis.

As I said above; I guess I am supposed to feel sorry for them; But, I can’t. First of all, I am one of the many rare people; who is under the age of 60; who happens to remember what happened on December 7, 1941. Further more, As the son of a American Auto Worker; I cannot help but wonder if this some sort of comical retribution for all of the American Auto Workers put out of a job — because the influx of Japanese auto imports.

I am sure I am not the only person who feels this way. Pat Buchanan even wonders if they can recover. Count me as someone that hopes they never do.

Wow: Two Former Michigan Democrat Leaders charged with election fraud

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Now this is a shock, well, sort of and sort of not.

The Video:

Two Charged in Tea Party Election Fraud: MyFoxDETROIT.com

The Story via Fox 2 Detroit:

PONTIAC, Mich. (WJBK) – Two former leaders of the Oakland County Democratic Party are facing a total of nine felonies for allegedly forging election paperwork to get fake Tea Party candidates on November’s ballot.

“It is not a partisan statement, and we need to make that very clear,” said Oakland County Prosecutor Jessica Cooper.

Former Oakland County Democratic Chair Mike McGuinness and former Democratic Operations Director Jason Bauer face up to 14 years in prison if convicted.

“Some of the people didn’t even know they were on the ballot till they began receiving delinquency notices of filings that were required as a candidate,” said Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard.

The sheriff says 23 statewide races had questionable Tea Party candidates on the ballot and the investigation may go beyond Oakland County.

“It was learned that a scheme was developed by a party leader in Lansing to place on the ballot people pretending to be Tea Party activists and that this was going to be a statewide effort,” Bouchard said.

John Tramontana, a spokesperson for the state Democratic Party, told FOX 2 that this was not a state party issue and it’s not our place to comment.

“What we have here is illegal. It’s forgery. It’s fraud. It’s perjury. It’s those things. Then you cross a different line,” said Bouchard.

It’s not illegal to be a non-serious candidate. That’s not what’s being alleged here. What is being alleged is that the people that were on the ballot were phony candidates and that they got there by fraudulent means. That’s the crime.

InstaPundit, Gateway Pundit and Moe Lane all note, that both of these idiots were liberal bloggers from the Detroit area.

The only thing, as a former left of center blogger, that I can truly say about this one is; this is what happens when you get sucked into the mentality that the Democratic Party is above the law. This is what happened when President Obama was elected. The Democrats and the left in general decided that they could anything they wanted; and the right would not able to stop them. There is only one little problem with that; and that is there is that little pesky thing called rule of law and election laws, and it seems these little crap weasels got caught. Serves ’em right for being that damned stupid to try and pull a fast one.

I hate to be the one to say this; but I believe this is only the beginning of things that are going to come to light here in the new few years. Not only here in the Michigan regional area; but all over the United States. I believe that there are going to be all kinds of these little cases, where Democrats happen to think they can get away with stuff like this. Because it “happens to be their year,” and investigators come along and find the violations and they get nailed. Remember President Obama has stepped on a good number of toes here in the last election. Believe me when it tell you; that stuff always comes back to haunt you. Somewhere, someone is going to find themselves in a tight spot with the law, someday — and when they do, they are going to sing like a canary and that is when this whole grand scheme of getting a black man elected to the White House is going to come unraveled and when it does; it ain’t going to be pretty friends — not at all.

It is just a shame that this little crime had to happen in my State. We have a enough problems here; without two jackasses making us all look crooked here. 😡

Local Story: Oh Brother! Detroit’s Resident No-Talent idiot honored by race-baiting organization

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How absurd.

Via WDIV-TV:

DETROIT — Rock is being honored at the Fight for Freedom Fund Dinner, sponsored by the National Association of the Advancement of Colored People’s Detroit chapter.

Chapter president the Rev. Wendell Anthony said at that Rock will get the group’s Great Expectations Award at the 56th annual dinner at Cobo Center on May 1.

Anthony says Rock is “a champion” for his community and says the Michigan musician has started businesses in the city and “heralds the positive side of Detroit.

Great. An artist who’s much overrated; is being honored by an organization that is lived much past its shelf life.

But, that’s Detroit. 🙄


Video: Quote of the Day

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We’ve been getting the low end of the electric-only range, usually between 23 and 28 miles, undoubtedly due to this winter’s deep freeze. The car’s electric range is very susceptible to cold weather, primarily because the heater runs on electricity. We also found that an extended highway cruise shortens the electric range.

The Volt’s appeal in terms of fuel economy depends largely on your driving pattern. The more often (and farther) you travel beyond the electric range, the closer your overall energy use drops toward 30 mpg. That’s what we’ve been getting when the gasoline engine is running.

Counting just the energy used, not its cost, the Volt has been averaging close to 2 miles per kilowatt-hour, which, according to the Environmental Protection Agency, is the equivalent of 65 mpg. But that’s for the first 25 miles or so, when the car is running on battery power alone.

It is typical to see artificially high mpg numbers on the car’s trip computer. For example, let’s say you make five trips in a week. Four of them are 25 miles without needing the gas engine. On the last trip, 55 miles, the car uses 1 gallon of gas beyond the 25-mile electric range. The trip computer would calculate 155 miles on 1 gallon of gas, or 155 mpg. That might contribute to the feel-good factor, but the figure is misleading because it doesn’t count the electricity used.

GM says that recharge times are about 4 hours with a 240-volt supply and 10 to 12 hours with 120 volts. Our Volt has been taking in almost 13 kWh in about 5 hours every time we charge. We suggest that Volt buyers purchase a 220-volt (or Level 2) charger.

At the national average rate of 11 cents per kWh, the Volt would cost about 5.7 cents per mile in electric mode and then 10 cents a mile beyond that (assuming gas is $3 per gallon). By contrast, a Toyota Prius costs 6.8 cents per mile, and a gas-powered Honda Fit subcompact costs about 10 cents a mile in gas. But its price is less than half of what the Volt costs.

In some regions, such as the Northeast, you might pay a lot more for electricity. In Southern California, where rates increase with higher electrical consumption, there are special plans for EV owners that lower rates to as little as 11 cents per kWh.

There are evident compromises in passenger comfort as a result of the Volt’s battery layout. Because the battery takes up the center rear-seat area, the car can hold only four people. Also, the rear seats are tight and the sloping roofline can make it easy to bump your head while getting in. Our engineers complained that the air from the heater was tepid, leaving them uncomfortably cold. The electric seat heaters help, but not enough. When the temperature dips below 26 degrees, the engine will turn on even during the electric portion of a trip to produce more heat.

The dashboard has a center screen that houses the standard navigation system, and slick graphics display various energy-use information. The center console consists of small, touch-sensitive buttons on the dash that control the climate and the radio. We found them hard to tell apart.

So far, the Volt works as an electric car with a gas backup, but it’s not really much of a money saver in many places. Cheaper electricity or more expensive gas could tip the scales in its favor. For now, it seems that owning a Volt is an expensive way to be green.

****

Let’s see… taxpayer money is being dumped into a car that the public can’t afford and/or doesn’t want. Demand for the expensive product is to be created by high gas prices combined with goading the public into buying one by scaring them with a mythical crisis pushed by an enviro-hypocrite who goes around in a private jet telling everybody the oceans are going to rise and flood the same coastlines where he recently invested millions in a seaside mansion. In a nutshell, the theme park impresarios who proposed “Six Flags Over Chernobyl” had a more solid business plan.

The Volt is in part the brainchild of politicians who expect everyone to believe that we need to spend money to keep from going bankrupt, so was the “economic sense” of the thing ever really in question?

They say it’s called the “Volt” because “Massively Expensive Union Bailout” wouldn’t fit on the hood. If the batteries continue to perform poorly in cold weather, don’t look for the Volt to be scrapped, but rather for several billion taxpayer dollars to be spent on a “Winning the Future” extension cord program.


Gulp: Unemployed finding it harder to find jobs

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This just sucks wet socks man…. 🙁

Via Yahoo’s “The Lookout”:

In 2008, Michelle, a 53-year-old Illinois resident with 19 years experience in information technology, became another casualty of the Great Recession. More than a year later, after a long and fruitless job search, she finally heard from a headhunter who thought she sounded like a great fit for a post he was looking to fill.

But when Michelle told him how long she had been out of work, the headhunter turned apologetic: His client, he said, wouldn’t accept people who had been unemployed for more than six months. Michelle would go on to stay jobless for so long that she ultimately exhausted all her unemployment benefits, and, for the first time in her life, was forced to apply for food stamps and welfare.

Michelle’s tale was recounted at a recent Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) meeting devoted to the issue of hiring discrimination against the unemployed. As the commission found, Michelle’s experience is far from unique. No one officially tracks how many job openings explicitly bar the unemployed, but several news reports since last summer have uncovered numerous online job postings that require candidates be employed during the application process. One such listing was posted by the cellphone giant Sony Ericsson–a move the company later called a “mistake.”

Job-placement professionals say that over the last year, more and more employers have made it clear they won’t consider job candidates who aren’t working. “A lot of our recruiters have had clients who have come across this,” Matt Deutsch of TopEchelon.com, which brings recruiters together to collaborate in finding jobs for candidates, told The Lookout, calling the practice “unfortunate.”

With the number of Americans who have been out of work for six months or longer at a whopping 6.2 million, and with 4.7 unemployed workers for every job opening, advocates for the jobless say this growing form of hiring discrimination creates another hurdle for the increasingly desperate ranks of the unemployed. “At a moment when we all should be doing whatever we can to open up job opportunities to the unemployed, it is profoundly disturbing that the trend of deliberately excluding the jobless from work opportunities is on the rise,” Christine Owens, who runs the National Employment Law Center, told the EEOC.

Some experts say that discrimination against the jobless, as currently practiced, may violate civil rights laws–a question the commission is now considering. In itself, such discrimination isn’t illegal. (New Jersey is exploring legislation that would prohibit job ads telling the unemployed not to apply.) But it is illegal to discriminate on the basis of race or age. And African-Americans and older workers are disproportionately represented among the long-term unemployed–meaning they may be bearing the brunt of discrimination against the jobless.

The EEOC declined to say whether it’s investigating specific cases of potential violations.

Go read the rest of that; it is enough to make a grown man cry. I am now so damned screwed. 🙁  Thank You Democrats, and do nothing Republicans for screwing our economy into the ground! Grrr... 😡

I have not had a job since 2005. I’m screwed. A pauper for damned life. 🙁

If I did not have the hope of Christ in my heart; I would put a gun to my temple and pull the damned trigger. This sucks. I think I am just going to take the rest of the day off. I need to get away from this; too damned depressing. 🙁

(H/T HotAir Headlines)

Gas prices jump to 28 month high

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An alternative title to this could have been, “Another good reason why I am glad that I do not own a car.”

Anyhow, in addition to clothes and everything else, gas prices are rising:

Gasoline pump prices reached a 28-month high today even though oil and gas supplies in the U.S. continue to grow and demand for gas is weak.

The national average for regular gasoline rose to $3.133 a gallon. That’s about $1.20 more than the price at the pump two years ago, according to AAA, Wright Express and the Oil Price Information Service.

Just eight states have average prices less than $3 a gallon. The cheapest is $2.94 a gallon is in Missouri. Hawaii has the highest average of $3.746 a gallon.

Tom Kloza, OPIS chief oil analyst, predicted gas prices will range from $3.50 to $3.75 a gallon this spring and then drift lower, to between $3 and $3.40 a gallon.

“I do believe that this year is front-end loaded,” Kloza said. “I think that perhaps the first third of the year sees higher retail prices for gasoline and diesel than the middle or final thirds.”

Average gas prices have climbed steadily from about $2.80 a gallon in November even though consumer demand has been weak and inventory levels remain high. The Energy Department said today that supplies of crude and gasoline both rose again last week while distillates, which include heating oil and diesel, declined. All three products are at or above the average range for the past five years.

Demand for gasoline remains weak and may be getting weaker. In its weekly survey Mastercard SpendingPulse said gasoline consumption across the country fell 3 percent last week compared to the week before and suggested that higher prices may be discouraging driving and trips to the gas station.

via Gas pump prices hit 28-month high | detnews.com | The Detroit News.

Not one word in that article mentions inflation of our currency. That is why gas prices are going up; plus too, there is a bit of instability in the Arab World right now.  Put that all together and you are paying a nice price at the pump.

To be quite honest, I do not own a car, at the moment. I had to junk mine, it had just too many issues. Honestly? I am kind of glad, that I do not own a car. To me, that means less money spent at the pump. 😀

Local Story: Detroit Police officers shot

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I’ve been meaning to blog about this….

Video:

 

Detroit— The four police officers who were shot inside their precinct are recovering today, as officials take a hard look at security measures.

Police plan to release the surveillance video that captured Sunday’s harrowing shooting. Investigators say 38-year-old Lamar Moore of Detroit entered the 6th Precinct on the city’s northwest side about 4:30 p.m. and shot Cmdr. Brian Davis, who’s in charge of the precinct; Officer David Anderson; Sgt. Ray Saati; and Sgt. Carrie Schulz.

Officers returned fire, killing Moore, Detroit Police Chief Ralph Godbee said today.

“I watched the video, and was impressed with the acts of heroism (by the officers involved),” Godbee said. “In a split second, their lives changed.

Paula Hodges, Moore’s grandmother, declined to comment about the incident. But a woman who identified herself as Moore’s sister said she was “shocked” by what happened.

“He wasn’t like that at all,” the woman said. “This is totally out of character for him.”

Godbee said police were investigating Moore before the shooting at the precinct.

“We were investigating whether he was involved in another crime,” Godbee said, adding that police had been to a home connected with Moore prior to the shooting.

There were reports that Moore had visited the 6th Precinct a few hours before the shooting, but Godbee could not verify those reports. “We’re taking a close look (at video surveillance tape) to see whether he was there earlier,” Godbee said. “I can’t definitively say whether he came in (the precinct) before.”

John Sellers, 55, said Moore used to live with him on Roselawn Street, and still used his address to get mail.

“I’m shocked this happened,” Sellers said. “I never thought he’d do something like this. He always had a smile on his face.” — Gunman’s sister: Shooting was ‘totally out of character for him’ | detnews.com | The Detroit News

I have been meaning to write about this; but have been a bit busy. I saw yesterday on a Conservative site, people carping about what the man’s religion was — to which I say…”Oh Please” 🙄 The man is black and the local Fox Affliate here said that they were hearing from sources that the man might have had a grudge against the police. Plus, now this info above. I really believe that the Conservative Blogging world and World in general needs to chill out about assuming everything is connected to Islam. Anyhow, as someone who had ambitions to be in law enforcement at one point in my young life; I find this news to be absolutely heartbreaking. I used to be a Police Explorer and if things had been different, I most likely would have been a Detroit Police Officer.

My thoughts and Prayers are with the familes and with the guys down at the Sixth. 🙁