Happy New Year....

It's not going to be a very Merry Christmas for the American Autoworkers....

MITCH ALBOM
Hey, you senators: Thanks for nothing
A few parting words for the senators who squashed the auto rescue
By MITCH ALBOM • FREE PRESS COLUMNIST • December 13, 2008

Do you want to watch us drown? Is that it? Do want to see the last gurgle of economic air spit from our lips? If so, senators, know this: You’ll go down with us. America isn’t America without an auto industry. You can argue whether $14 billion would have saved it, but you surely tried to kill it.

We have grease on our hands.


You have blood.


Kill the car, kill the country. History will show that when America was on its knees, a handful of lawmakers tried to cut off its feet. And blame the workers. How suddenly did the workers — a small percentage of a car’s cost — become justification for crushing an industry?


And when did Detroit become the symbol of economic dysfunction? Are you kidding? Have you looked in the mirror lately, Washington?


In a world where banks hemorrhaged trillions in a high-priced gamble called credit derivative swaps that YOU failed to regulate, how on earth do WE need to be punished? In a bailout era where you shoveled billions, with no demands, to banks and financial firms, why do WE need to be schooled on how to run a business?


Who is more dysfunctional in business than YOU? Who blows more money? Who wastes more trillions on favors, payback and pork?


At least in the auto industry, if folks don’t like what you make, they don’t have to buy it. In government, even your worst mistakes, we have to live with.


And now Detroit should die with this?

In bed with the foreign automakers
Kill the car, kill the country. Sen. Richard Shelby, Sen. Bob Corker, Sen. Mitch McConnell, your names will not be forgotten. It’s amazing how you pretend to speak for America when you are only watching out for your political party, which would love to cripple unions, and your states, which house foreign auto plants.


Corker, you’ve got Nissan there and Volkswagen coming. Shelby, you’ve got Hyundai, Honda, Mercedes-Benz and — like McConnell — Toyota. Oh, don’t kid yourself. They didn’t come because you earned their business, a subject on which you enjoy lecturing the Detroit Three. No, they came because you threw billions in state tax breaks to lure them.


And now you want those foreign companies, which you lured, and which get help from their governments, to dictate to American workers how much they should be paid? Tell you what. You’re so fond of the foreign model, why don’t you do what Japanese ministers do when they screw up the country’s finances?


They cut their salaries.


Or they resign in shame.


When was the last time a U.S. senator resigned over a failed policy?


Yet you want to fire Rick Wagoner?


Who are you people?

More money for the lords of Wall Street
There ought to be a law — against the hypocrisy our government has demonstrated. The speed with which wheelbarrows of money were dumped on Wall Street versus the slow noose hung on the auto companies’ necks is reprehensible. Some of those same banks we bailed out are now saying they won’t extend credit to auto dealers. Wasn’t that why we gave them the money? To loosen credit?

Where’s your tight grip on those funds, senators? Where’s your micromanaging of the wages in banking? Or do you just enjoy having your hands around blue-collared throats?

No matter what the president does, history will not forget this: At our nation’s most uncertain hour, you senators stood ready to plunge hundreds of thousands of American families into oblivion. Leave them unemployed, with no health care, on public assistance. And you were willing to put our nation’s security at risk — by squashing the manufacturing base we must have in times of war.

And why? So you could stand on some phony principle? Crush a union? Play to your base? How is our nation better off today now that you kept $14 billion in the treasury? Are you going to balance the budget with that?

Don’t make us laugh.

Kill the car, kill the country. You tried to slam a stake into our chest; you don’t realize how close you are to the nation’s heart. Shame on your pettiness. Shame on your hypocrisy. This is how lawmakers behave two weeks before Christmas? Honestly. What has become of this country?

Contact MITCH ALBOM at 313-223-4581 or malbom@freepress.com. Catch “The Mitch Albom Show” 5-7 p.m. weekdays on WJR-AM (760).

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Keeping the car companies in business is so important to our "Nations Well Being"...

Right now we have millions of people standing on the edge of a cliff, just waiting to see if they are going to be pushed off. We are in serious trouble and no one seems to care. Even the President is dragging his feet.

Heaven help us....

BarnDwellers Site

Well, it's gone. It's gone just like the other General Motors plants in the area.

First it was "Fisher Body". Next came "Buick City". Shortly after was "Chevy in the Hole". And now, this week was the place my husband and I had our working lives.

"AC Spark Plug" is now just a pile of rubble.

http://abclocal.go.com/wjrt/story?section=news/local&id=6501590&rss=rss-wjrt-article-6501590

We don't wonder why this country is in such a mess economically. Those of us in the "Rust Belt" know why. About twenty years ago our jobs started being shipped over seas. That was the beginning of the end.

At one time Flint, Michigan was a very prosperous town, with everyone driving a new car and living in a nice little three bedroom bungalow. If you wanted a good paying job, you moved to this area and hired in to one of the "Shops". It didn't much matter which one - because they all paid the same good wage... You could work for Buick, Chevrolet, Fisher Body, or AC Spark Plug, and when you did you had the world by the ass.

Now Flint is the ghetto of the United States.

I used to resent Dr's, business men, and teachers - that didn't buy American made cars. Didn't they realize that they weren't supporting the people that kept them working? Well, I think they know it now that all of our jobs have been sent overseas, and they are getting laid off too... The non-existent tax base in this area is crippling our schools. People don't have the medical insurance so the Drs aren't getting the patients they once did. Restauraunts are folding like a "House of Cards". Even Circuit City is filing Chapter 11.

The US Economy is finally hitting the bottom.

We don't make things here anymore. The middle class is disappearing. All the good paying union jobs that kept a fair wage going for the rest of the country are gone. If you don't have a college education you will be making minimum wage. That in turn just makes the gap between the "haves and the have nots" that much bigger.

What are our kids going to do if they don't go to college? They are going to be poor. Period.

Well, I guess I'm done rambling. I just felt a little down today when I found the video on the news about AC. Sorry.

We are heading north today to close the Barn for the winter. That isn't helping my mood much.

Hugs to all. Stacie

Woo Hooo... My Office is finished!

It's turned cool and cloudy here in Lower Michigan. I
think Fall has finally decided to make her presence known. Actually I like the
cooler temps, but the clouds I can do without. We see so little of the Sun
during the Winter months that I begrudge not having blue skies during the other
three seasons. We finally had to turn the furnace on this morning. It was a
chilly 65* in here when we got out of bed. It didn't take very long to warm the
up house, (and I don't think the furnace has come on again) but it's always a
little downer to change from Air Conditioning to Heat on the Thermostat. Winter
is definitely on it's way.

Not much has been going on around here. It has been blissfully
boring. I have finally finished my office organizing and I really love it!

For a
while I was looking at buying the specialty organizers made for Crapbooking
supplies, but Jim finally came up with the idea of using my old Kennedy tool
boxes from work.

They are perfect for all the Stamps, Ink Pads, and doodads I
have accumulated over the last few years! So - after he emptied them of all the
tools, and I scrubbed the bejeebers out of them, they have now found a new home
in my office closet. I love it! Everything is in it's new place and it's just a
matter of me remembering where things are... I could use a task chair for the
table we bought, but I figure it would be a good Christmas gift from hubby.

He
always has such a hard time figuring out what to get me, and it's one of those
things that I would like to have but can't justify buying right now. So
hopefully if I drop a few hints I'll have one before the new year rolls around.
Lol.... As you can tell I still have a couple of frames to fill with photos. I'm
hoping this weekend I can get that done. And the scrapbook totes under the table
are going into the basement. I haven't gotten around to hauling those down there
yet. But for the most part I'm done! Yipeeee!!

Well, today is going to be house cleaning day for me. I have
been slacking off lately and it's time to get into gear. Although things don't
look too bad I do need to sweep and dust. I made eight Pasty's yesterday
and the kids stopped over for dinner. I still have enough leftovers for dinner
tonight too so I don't have to cook. Woo Hoooo.... Well, that's about it from
here.... Hugs to all.

More Blather

I was sent a link to Chimera's Blog about "TOU" for using the PSP graphics that I find across the Internet. It got me thinking about what is right and wrong. When I started learning PSP I found it's a wonderful way to spend a few hours being creative and using my poor little pea brain. I'm getting a little older now and I'm of the opinion that if I don't keep my mind functioning that I will be at risk for terminal dumbness. I am a little dumb now, but terminal dumbness isn't something I care to experience. And the creative part is awesome. I don't have an artistic bone in my body, but when I PSP - I become my own little Rembrandt to my family.

So I PSP. The first thing I do after grabbing my first cup of coffee is to boot up the PC. I have learned to love my PC. It's a way to interact with the rest of the world, and I don't even have to shower before noon if I don't want to. Most of the people I interact with are also PSP'ers. And one thing I've learned about these people is that they share everything! I have never found a group a people so willing to offer education, opinions, knowledge or supplies so freely. I think maybe it's because most of us PSP'ers are Mom's and GrandMom's and we are used to sharing everything we have in just that way. It's inbred....

So what should we do about the "Terms of Use"? I have never sold anything I've made so I can't speak to that, but I'm pretty sure I have used things that are originally "Pay to Use"... If I had to pay for everything I snagged, I wouldn't be a PSP'er....

I guess my point is, I will continue to snag graphics I like and if anyone wants to use something I have made - great! I would be tickled to think someone liked what I created. And to those of you charging for your graphics, I'm very sorry if I have used something you made, and if you let me know I will delete it from my PC.

Hugs to all from Michigan.....

Stacie

Sunday

I have a new taste treat sensation!
"Archer Farms"
Butter Toffee Premium Caramel Clusters!
It is the very best Caramel Corn I have ever had! It has big chunks of sweet caramel corn laced with almonds and cashews. Talk about yummy.....
Korey found it at Target and I can't stop nibbling at it! It's just the best.... :)
We went to an Open House today. It was plenty warm but there was a nice breeze blowing and that kept the temperature very bearable as long as you were in the shade. We didn't stay too long but we had a nice time... The other thing we did was buy our Appliances for the house. I chose a double door with the freezer on the bottom refrigerator, and a beautiful electric range with double ovens. A smaller one on the top and larger on the bottom. The bottom is a convention oven too so I'll have to try that out. I've never used one before so it will be a learning process for me.
We also bought a front load washer and dryer. Jim is going to have a Counter top built to fit over them so we will have a folding table in the new laundry room. I have to say I'm really getting excited. This has been so much fun picking out new things to go into our new house but the bank acct is going down fast. And to top everything off, our television stopped working again! It was hit by a power surge a couple of years back and we had to have it repaired but the dern thing has never been right since. Yesterday it finally quit working all together. It's just old enough that it doesn't make any sense to have it repaired again so we are going to buy a new TV too. Ugh.
So, that's all that's going on here. We are becoming poorer every day and we haven't spent one night in the new house...
A little thunder boomer is moving into the area. It sounds pretty intense so I'm going to watch it...
All for now. Hugs to all from rainy Michigan.