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