Congratulations to Cornwall and Plymouth councils for making it to the finals of this year’s Municipal Journals Awards, one of the most glitzy of the local government love-ins, to be hosted at the Park Lane Hilton in June. It’s the sort of event that has The Taxpayers’ Alliance in a rage. The definition of some of the categories (Workforce Transformation, Redefining Quality etc) can be open to interpretation. And the political risks associated with spending too much on black ties, posh frocks and champagne are obvious. Perhaps instead of sending executive suits, the councils might elect to be represented this year by those who toil at the sharp end, in the less glamorous world of emptying bins and pest control?
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/grahamsmith/2012/04/youve_got_to_be_in_it_to_win_i.html
Jack Reed Iraq Frank tweaks to bailout $14 billion Saxby Chambliss Senate Republicans Senate GOP
The vehicle, which debuted as a 2002 model, has offered buyers interior space of an SUV and cargo truck capability and spurred the growing popularity of crew cab, or four-door, pickups. Avalanche sales peaked in 2003 at 93,482, but by last year had fallen to about 20,000.
Wait. 20,000 units last year wasn’t enough to save the it? Why then does General Motors (GM) continue to drag along the carcass of the Chevy Volt? Which last year sold…7,671 units. Or 38% of what doomed the Avalanche.
Here is the monthly side-by-side sales comparison. (The Volt’s first sales month was December 2010.)
|
Month |
||
| Dec 2010 | 2,106 | 326 |
| Jan 2011 | 1,397 | 321 |
| Feb 2011 | 1,414 | 281 |
| Mar 2011 | 1,655 | 608 |
| Apr 2011 | 1,339 | 493 |
| May 2011 | 1,246 | 481 |
| Jun 2011 | 1,667 | 561 |
| Jul 2011 | 1,621 | 125 |
| Aug 2011 | 1,789 | 302 |
| Sep 2011 | 1,861 | 723 |
| Oct 2011 | 1,696 | 1,108 |
| Nov 2011 | 1,857 | 1,139 |
| Dec 2011 | 2,564 | 1,529 |
| Jan 2012 | 1,617 | 603 |
| Feb 2012 | 1,794 | 1,023 |
| Mar 2012 | 2,083 | 2,289 |
| Total | 27,706 | 11,912 |
Nearly 28,000 in sales ends the Avalanche. But less than 12,000 Volts sold gets it even more government subsidies, media hosannas aplenty and Car of the Year awards. The latter being the automotive equivalent of apremature Nobel Peace Prize.
The media incessantly hailed the Volt’s March 2012 number as some sort of huge one-month breakthrough. But it carries a monstrous asterisk, as it was inflated mightily by General Electric fleet purchases. And even with that giant artificial balloning, it only barely surpassed the total of the doomed Avalanche.
The reasons to have the Volt join the Avalanche in automotive oblivion are myriad. The Avalanche was a hybrid truck-utility vehicle, competing with a whole host of similar vehicles–both in the SUV and pickup classes. The Volt–an electric-gasoline hybrid–was nearly alone in the marketplace. Yet the Avalanche outsold the Volt in every month–save, again, for the artificially altered March 2012. Perhaps this is in part because the roomy crossover Avalanche costs less than the diminutive Volt (bereft of the $7,500 in point-of-purchase federal government money).
Avalanche: $36,800 MSRP.
Volt: $39,145 MSRP.
And the technological marvel that is the Volt gets exactly the same battery range as the 1896 Roberts electric car.
Driven by a tiller instead of a wheel, the Roberts car was built seven years before the Wright brothers’ first flight, 12 years before the Ford Model T, 16 years before Chevrolet was founded and 114 years before the first Chevy Volt was delivered to a customer.
We now have Indy cars. Supersonic jets. Space flights. Moon landings. Intergalactic satellites. Computers. Artificial intelligence. The Internet. The telephone. The cell phone. The Internet on the cell phone… And a Chevy Volt that goes no further on a charge than an electric car that could have been driven new by a Civil War veteran.
A Volt which the American people don’t want to own. Made by General Motors, of which the American people are still forced to own 33%. As the result of the $83 billion auto bailout–on which we’re poised to lose more than $30 billion.
secretary of state Citigroup U.S. on wrong track David Vitter Dems win Senate OKs release of remaining bailout funds Jim Inhofe
When Gibson Guitars was raided by Obama’s DOJ last August, it was surreal. After all, the spotlight at that time was on Obama’s DOJ—particularly Attorney General Eric Holder—for the now infamous Operation Fast and Furious. Yet while Holder & Co. sat ensconced comfortably in their DC offices, a message was being sent to others: the Chicago Way is the Obama Way. Scratch that—the Alinsky Way is the Obama Way.
In other words, Obama will “pick, personalize, and polarize” anyone and everyone who does not play along with his charade: who does not tip their hat when Obama passes by the way.
If you think I’m wrong, just ask Rush Limbaugh. Only days after taking office, Obama had already “picked” and “personalized” the king of talk radio by telling members of Congress, “You can’t just listen to Rush Limbaugh and get things done.” And since that time, Obama or members of Obama’s administration have been part of crowd of voices “polarizing” Limbaugh over stands he’s taken, comments he’s made, and the un-budging conservative line he continues to toe. This is very Alinsky like. But Alinksy not only taught Obama to isolate his enemies in this fashion, but also to call them out in order to learn who’s associated with them.
Although scurrilous in its application, it’s a very smart tactic. When Obama calls Limbaugh out and Mark Levin runs to Limbaugh’s defense, or Walter Williams or Sean Hannity or Thomas Sowell, Obama immediately knows who’s for him and who’s against him: he can mark friend and foe for future endeavors.
We’ve seen this same thing with the way Obama has called out Romney contributors. In the past week, the “Obama campaign named and shamed eight private citizens who had donated to” Romney. And while that move was clearly an attempt to intimidate others who were considering donating to the Romney campaign, it was also an Alinsky move whereby Obama “picked, personalized, and polarized” those eight people and then sat back to see which media figures, politicians, journalists, etc., would step in to defend them.
As Alinsky wrote in Rules for Radicals: “As you zero in and freeze your target and carry out your attack, all of the ‘others’ come out of the woodwork very soon. They become visible by their support of the target.” Thereafter, you can know “the face of the enemy” and “the character of [the] opposition.”
This is the Alinsky way, so it’s also the Obama way.
Obama taps Daschle Freedom Opponents dig in against auto bailout Auto CEOs plead Lindsey Graham Borger Mark Pryor
Luke Skywalker is alive and well, but he is trapped in Cindy Sheehan’s body. Sheehan, the vitriolic anti-American who owes the government $105,000 in back taxes, was subpoenaed to appear in court in Sacramento. On her blog, she consistently refers to the government as the “Empire.” Here are some examples from her rant:
For those of you who know me and have been following my story, you know that part of my resistance to the US Empire is my refusal to pay income taxes. This morning (April 19th), a new episode unfolded in my ongoing struggle with the IRS and the Empire the agency is nestled in …
I have an advisor who is an experienced tax attorney who advises the National War Tax Resister’s Coordinating Committee and he feels that the Empire may be targeting me …
When I decided to be a conscientious objector to war tax, I knew that the consequence could be harassment and/or punishment, but I decided to do it long before I became well known as a gadfly to Empire …
I came away feeling very energized and encouraged by today’s proceedings and if the Empire wants to make someone cower before them in fear to intimidate others, they picked the wrong person …
No Empire lasts forever and the terribly destructive nature of ours requires us to help its inevitable collapse. I am doing everything I can in my own small ways with all the courage I can muster and I appreciate all the support and help I get along the way.”
Was Luke targeted by the Empire because he didn’t pay his taxes? Uh, no. But then, he never had Maureen Dowd of the New York Times say of him, as she did of Sheehan, “Her moral authority is absolute.”
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/BigGovernment/~3/yxe0XZKFGlo/Cindy-Sheehan-Back-Taxes
bill dies in Senate auto bailout Republican senators CNN.com How U.S. should respond Claire McCaskill Pat Roberts
Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates will be live on World Have Your Say from 1100 GMT.
We’ll be at a school in London, and joined live by pupils from schools across the world.
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/worldhaveyoursay/2012/01/live_bill_gates_on_world_have.html#303024
Obama should engage Hamas GOP revival Tim Johnson Obama family watches election returns Roy Blunt GOP chief Frank Lautenberg
When Gibson Guitars was raided by Obama’s DOJ last August, it was surreal. After all, the spotlight at that time was on Obama’s DOJ—particularly Attorney General Eric Holder—for the now infamous Operation Fast and Furious. Yet while Holder & Co. sat ensconced comfortably in their DC offices, a message was being sent to others: the Chicago Way is the Obama Way. Scratch that—the Alinsky Way is the Obama Way.
In other words, Obama will “pick, personalize, and polarize” anyone and everyone who does not play along with his charade: who does not tip their hat when Obama passes by the way.
If you think I’m wrong, just ask Rush Limbaugh. Only days after taking office, Obama had already “picked” and “personalized” the king of talk radio by telling members of Congress, “You can’t just listen to Rush Limbaugh and get things done.” And since that time, Obama or members of Obama’s administration have been part of crowd of voices “polarizing” Limbaugh over stands he’s taken, comments he’s made, and the un-budging conservative line he continues to toe. This is very Alinsky like. But Alinksy not only taught Obama to isolate his enemies in this fashion, but also to call them out in order to learn who’s associated with them.
Although scurrilous in its application, it’s a very smart tactic. When Obama calls Limbaugh out and Mark Levin runs to Limbaugh’s defense, or Walter Williams or Sean Hannity or Thomas Sowell, Obama immediately knows who’s for him and who’s against him: he can mark friend and foe for future endeavors.
We’ve seen this same thing with the way Obama has called out Romney contributors. In the past week, the “Obama campaign named and shamed eight private citizens who had donated to” Romney. And while that move was clearly an attempt to intimidate others who were considering donating to the Romney campaign, it was also an Alinsky move whereby Obama “picked, personalized, and polarized” those eight people and then sat back to see which media figures, politicians, journalists, etc., would step in to defend them.
As Alinsky wrote in Rules for Radicals: “As you zero in and freeze your target and carry out your attack, all of the ‘others’ come out of the woodwork very soon. They become visible by their support of the target.” Thereafter, you can know “the face of the enemy” and “the character of [the] opposition.”
This is the Alinsky way, so it’s also the Obama way.
Mitch McConnell secretary of state Citigroup U.S. on wrong track David Vitter Dems win Senate OKs release of remaining bailout funds
BEIJING (Reuters) – Chinese dissident Chen Guangcheng’s escape from house arrest to U.S. diplomatic protection was a “miracle” of planning and endurance but the blind activist hopes to stay in China and campaign for reform, one of his key helpers said on Monday. Chen’s supporters say he is now under U.S. diplomatic protection in Beijing after escaping 19 months of stifling informal detention in his rural home, his future the subject of fraught secret talks between China and the United States. …
Sherrod Brown hunt for bin Laden Mike Lee Health Care Chuck Grassley Jerry Moran Bernie Sanders
YANGON (Reuters) – Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi agreed on Monday to end her party’s boycott of parliament, setting aside her first major dispute with the government since winning by-elections and clearing the way for what could be an acceleration of reforms. Suu Kyi and her party will make their historic debut in the assembly on Wednesday after backing down over the wording of an oath for new members of parliament. She agreed to swear to protect a constitution drafted under military control that she says is undemocratic and needs to be amended. …
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/suu-kyis-party-decides-enter-myanmars-parliament-054448781.html
$14 billion Saxby Chambliss Senate Republicans Senate GOP House to vote Romney to save GOP Jim Risch
And so now we take on the question that has haunted you since the seventh grade: How important is it to be well-liked?
At Shaw Junior High, where I spent my seventh grade, it was pretty important. But in presidential politics? We're about to find out.
This is an unusual race for the White House in many respects. The incumbent came into office on a wave of adulation unlike any in modern times — more so than John F. Kennedy, more so than Ronald Reagan. Even so, as he runs for re-election the polls put him in a dead heat with former Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts.
Romney, by contrast,…
Source: http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2012/04/29/the_likability_factor_113985.html
John Boozman Democrats rule the day Kirsten Gillibrand war in Afghanistan the spirit of change Democrats Election features