A Darwin Award in the Making

Forget my motorcycle - look at this! Tired of cars blowing exhaust in your face, edging you and your bicycle over on the shoulder, showing you no R-E-S-P-E-C-T. Well this is what you need baby! Check it out.

www.oregonlive.com/business/index.ssf/2009/07/jet_power_adds_screeching_spee.html

Ford Turns Corner to Profit, But...

Ford earned a tidy profit for its recently completed quarter and expects to return to profitability if and when car sales turn up. Since the current rate of new car buying is on a 24-year cycle, which cannot last, the odds of this happening are pretty good. The possible hitch is unfair competition from the Government Motor Company (GM). Ford has done this the old-fashioned way by managing its way out of a crunch. GM, on the other hand, became a beggar and recipient of Federal alms from an administration and Congress anxious to placate the auto unions. If GM's sales continue to tank, what are the chances of its dumping cars at below cost prices to keep those same union jobs and thereby imperiling Ford's recovery? Stay tuned on this story.


hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_EARNS_FORD?SITE=KGW&TEMPLATE=BUSINESSHEADS.html&SECTION=HOME

Oregon is #1!

Before you get too excited you need to know that if the Obama health care plan is passed, Oregon will have the highest combined tax rate for top tier taxpayers in the country. We're #1! Yuck! Maybe the Oregon Legislature can come up with even more spending. Do you think any of these high-enders will be moving across the river to Washington which has no income tax and a tax load 10% lower than Oregon? Surely not.

www.taxfoundation.org/publications/show/24863.html

United Throws in the Towel - and Still Loses

Here's a P.S. to the story about United Airlines bashing a poor musician's guitar. United finally offered to replace it after the video pummeled them about the head and shoulders. Unfortunately for United, Taylor Guitars beat them to the punch and offered to repair or replace the guitar. Dave Carroll, the victorious musician, gratefully accepted and United remains a company stuck in the mire of its own making.

www.expertclick.com/NewsReleaseWire/United_Airlines_is_Broken,200927885.aspx

Smart Power? OK - Let's Fund It.

Radio Free Europe was an important tool in the downfall of the Soviet Union. There is a reason that dictators suppress truth and the current tyrants in Iran are now trying to eliminate Radio Farda so that those seeking a freer Iran are kept in the dark. Rich Lowry from National Review asks why the advocates of "smart power" in the Obama administration, as opposed to the supposed militarists of the Bush administration, are letting funding of Radio Farda and other free radio stations drop to less than half of what it was. Good question.

article.nationalreview.com/?q=ZTYxOTFiMDZlNjNjYzVlMjVjYjM1MjlhMDJhOWU1MWQ=

Oxymoron: Airline Customer Service

Airlines occasionally screw up baggage. United did for a musician on his way to play a gig, but then made the mistake of dancing him around. When his claim for demolishing his Taylor guitar was denied, he wrote this little song about the friendly skies of United. And it went viral on the Net. Excedrin headache #1 for United. I'll bet they wish now they had just paid the darn claim. Pennywise and pound foolish fellas.


industry.bnet.com/travel/10002707/united-feels-the-pain-when-complaints-go-viral/

Needed: Poverty Expansion Program to Save Environment

Rarely have I read Mark Steyn in better form than in this piece. Did you know that Prince Charles says we have 96 months left to The End because of rampant consumerism and failed capitalism? Things were much better when peasants just had their hovels, no nasty cars to get around in (actually no need to get around), etc., etc. Then there is Gar Smith of the Earth Island Institute who paints a rosy picture of charming African village life as a substitute for our current society, conveniently leaving out, as Steyn says, its "vibrantly rampant disease and charmingly unspoilt life expectancy in the mid-forties." This is a great read and a great laugh with a serious point about the seriously screwed-up worldviews of these environmental nut cases.

thebulletin.us/articles/2009/07/10/top_stories/doc4a576b0ec9caa441243158.txt

If You Absolutely, Positively Don't Want It There Overnight

Here's a potential gem from the Democratic Congress. The House slipped an amendment into the bill re-authorizing the FAA that would force FedEx - and only FedEx - to handle labor disputes under a different provision of Federal law than all other airline-based cargo businesses. If the change passes the Senate, a strike anywhere in the U.S. against FedEx, even over a local grievance, will allow a nationwide strike to knuckle FedEx into submission. It was sponsored by the Teamsters (and UPS) through one of their House allies. Surprise, surprise, surprise. The Dems want us to look more like Europe, so I guess the British and Italian models of wildcat strikes shutting down vital national services is where we are headed. I hope there is an economy left when the Dems get done with imposing their ideas of "progressive" legislation.

www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/jul/09/the-fate-of-fedex/

My Kingdom is Not of This World

It is always interesting to see how God deals with governments. Nero and other Roman emperors
persecuted the early church, but we know which survived. Stalin said dismissively of the Pope, "How many divisions does the Vatican have?" In Poland, the Catholic Church kept the faith and was directly responsible for the changed social climate that brought down communism there and led to the fall of the USSR itself a few years later. Now we have God at work in Fidel's kingdom - Cuba. Any guess who is going to be the winner here?

www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2009/july/22.20.html

We're the Government and We're Here to Help You! (OK - and us too!)

Here's a gem. Boob jobs and more courtesy of the Oregon taxpayer! Great. They definitely think that we are the boobs. www.kgw.com/news-local/stories/kgw_070809_news_trimet_health_fleece_award.203490d1.html

A Different World

Mark Steyn's book America Alone makes the point that Europe has already lost the demographic war with Muslims and Eurabia will be a reality between 2020-2025. Samuel Huntington, the Harvard professor, makes the same point in The Clash of Civilizations. Here it is in video form for those who don't have the time to read. America was founded on Judeo Christian principles and 2000 years of Western thought and has brought forth a society that is the envy of the world. Ideas have consequences and "It's all about me!" is one that will bring this country to the dust heap of history in favor of more stringent masters.

www.youtube.com:80/watch?v=6-3X5hIFXYU

Who Are These Guys - Take 2

I have been unable to make any sense of why Obama has thrown the weight of the United States behind the effort to force Honduras to knuckle under to Hugo Chavez of Venezuela by allowing deposed president Zelaya back into the country. As the enclosed article from the Wall Street Journal clearly lays out, Chavez has used this same tactic elsewhere to subvert the democratic process and install mini-Hugos beholden to him in several Central and South American countries.
(online.wsj.com/article/SB124640649700876791.html) The Honduran army was acting at the order of the Honduran Supreme Court, which was backed by the Legislature, in hustling Senor Zelaya out of town to prevent this same result. A member of Zelaya's own party was installed as a caretaker president and the country is going to have presidential elections this Fall. So why is Obama in bed with Castro, Chavez and Ortega - great democrats all - on this? Great question. Who is this guy?