One person's ramblings, can be another person's insight.
Posts tagged News
Do We Really Need Car Dealers?
May 15th
Do We Really Need Car Dealers?
While cruising the internet I came across this article. I have seen on the local news, all of the hate articles about the moves from Chrysler and GM to cut down on the number of dealers they have. A couple of points in this article is what is missing from most articles about this subject.
One, and foremost to me, is the restructuring is being done to meet the expectations of Obama’s auto task force. So in other words, it is to comply for the bailout they are trying to get. Which also lost in the shuffle is the fact that so far Ford is not asking for help. More on that later.
The second point I saw, was an interesting spin that relates very closely to my opinion of newspapers. Is the internet changing the way we buy cars? The conclusion in the article is we still need dealers, but I am wondering if that is only a temporary thing.
The internet certainly can make a buyer more aware of trends, and can compare pricing all over the US if they want to. With that information, they can haggle more effectively for that car, thus driving down the profit of the car. So is all these closings just something that would have happened in time anyway? Another bygone era along with 8 tracks?
As for Ford, I must give it to them. They are struggling that is for sure, but the longer they hold out the better it could be for them, especially with all these dealers closing. If I was in the market for a new car I would buy a Ford, not because I love the car, but because the bailout is tainting the other two.
Who would want to buy a car from a company that is closing dealerships, reducing brands, and in general is giving signs of being in severe distress. Ford may be just as strapped, and if they can hold on I think they will benefit greatly as people will feel safer buying a car from a Ford dealer over one of the other guys. Who knows, maybe in the future there will be only one of the big three left.
Rice: Bush wouldn’t approve illegal interrogations
May 4th
Rice: Bush wouldn’t approve illegal interrogations
Is the headline on CNNPolitics.com. I personally believe that to be true. I do not believe any president of the United States would stick their neck out there unless they knew they had some ground to stand on. At least any president in the last few decades.
George Bush, said it was a war on that night shortly after the 9/11 attacks, and unfortunately when at war, ugly things need to get done. Is this “torture” tactics as bad recording beheadings of non military personnel and broadcasting it on TV? Is waterboarding worse than strapping a bomb to a 17 year old boy that has been brainwashed to believe that this act will send him to heaven?
President Bush did seek legal advice, and the advise he received said it was alright. Now I am no expert in Law, or do I even try to say that I understand the pain or stress these tortures can cause, but everything was done right. No one hid the fact, or tried to cover it up.
I guess the question is, did it work? Did it yield enough information to prevent another attack on American soil? We may never know the answer this.
Does that justify the action? Does anything justify the action? More questions we may never get an answer too.
One thing is for sure, you can bet that the terrorists bank on us, and have taken advantage of, our nature to be a free society. This even extends to the enemy combatants. Our freedoms have made us great, and greatest weakness can be our downfall if taken too far. A war cannot be won if we are not in it to win.
Bottom line for me is, I do not know if the torture techniques were successful, it could be they were at the time when our nation was very scared, and it could be time to move on. I think we need to do just that, move on. Nothing evil was done here, maybe it was a mistake, maybe it wasn’t, but so far there is no smoking gun.
Fake-emergency pilot under securities probe
Jan 12th
Fake-emergency pilot under securities probe, wow, I have to say wow to this.
The pilot of a plane, identified as Marcus Schrenker, was under investigation for fraud, and is being sued for 1.4 million dollars according to the Information Week. Well instead of facing the music, he gives a fake distress call and parachutes out of the plane. Leaving it on auto pilot.
I bet he thought it was a great plan to not face the piper. He gives a fake report to the control tower that his window had imploded and that he was injured, then he parachutes out of the plane. When there was no response from the pilot, the military was called and they found the plane flying along with the door open, and a dark cockpit.
Then some 200 miles from where he parachuted out the plane crashed.
Marcus better have a stash of money somewhere, because when he gets caught the security probe and the lawsuit will be the least of his problems. How many laws did he break by jumping out of a plane, knowing it will come down somewhere? What if the plane crashed into a building, or a school yard?
Whatever charges he was facing, will be nothing to what he has now. I am sure when he gets caught he will not see freedom for a long time.