My Fellow Americans, after selling vehicles for GM for almost 13 years and for Honda for 2 I think I might be able to add something to the conversation about the gang-up on Toyota. As some of you might know, Toyota nudged Chrysler out of the number 3 position of the "Big 3" several years ago. When it happened I said, "Well, we're going to see some problems with Toyota's now." I don't have a crystal ball. It's just simple logic. When you make that many cars, there are bound to be problems. Just ask GM. And Ford. And Chrysler. Interestingly, although there have been hundreds of problems with the GM, Ford and Chrysler vehicles the press have chosen to focus on the Toyota fiasco. I may be a bit cynical but don't you find it interesting that this is happening right after the American public bailed out the "Big Boys" because they hadn't done anything new for about 20 years? I'm excluding Ford, by the way, because they are really humming along now. No bail-out money and some incredibly smart, hot and appealing cars.
For crying out loud, has anyone driven behind a Chevrolet Pick-up, Tahoe, Suburban, or any of their GMC counterparts in the last 10 years? Ever since the model change in 98-99 they have had one problem after the other, the most obvious is the constant 'burning out' of the real tailight/turn signal. Seriously, watch for it the next time you are driving. I would imagine the amount of revenue generated by tickets given to drivers for faulty equipment has passed half a million bucks.
Go to any of the American car maker websites and look, not for the recalls but the BULLETINS. This is the sneaky way that GM has of gauging whether or not they will call a recall. They only recall when they weigh the amount they will have to pay to settle law suits versus what they will have to pay their dealers to fix the problem. They have NEVER given a fig about the impact on customers. But, c'mon guys, you can understand that, right? GM sold 46% of all the vehicles in the WORLD when I went to work for them in 1984. Makes me think of Lily Tomlin playing the phone operator, what's her name. "We don't care, we don't have to--we're the phone company." Perfect.
I finally gave up on GM years after I should have. They kept producing ONE car or truck that was worth it's salt. And I'd get all excited. But, year after year, nothing really changed. And they had to be more and more deperate, er, aggressive with their financing campaigns to get folks to buy their vehicles. See, what people don't understand is that when they get a $3000.00 rebate on their car or truck? The value of their vehicle has just dropped by that amount and more. This is how is works: Hertz, Avis etc. buy an enormous amount of vehicles each year. They run the cars from 10k to 30k miles on them. Then they sell them to wholesalers, who have to buy them well so they can make a profit when the sell them back to the dealers. Ok, so, you have let's say, a Chevrolet Malibu whose sticker price is $22,000. Well, since it's not a Honda, you aren't going to pay sticker, are you? You are going to pay, well, close to invoice. So, let's say you pay $20,500. And then you get that fat rebate, right? So now you have paid $17,500 for a car that retails for $22,000. Now 6 months later a whole slew of rental vehicles are dumped on the wholesalers. The wholesalers KNOW that someone can buy a new Malibu for around $17,000-so what should they buy a used Malibu with 10,000 miles on it for? Hmm, maybe $11,000-12,000. Then the dealer buys it and sells it for, hmmm, $13,000-$15,000? Do you NOW understand why the car you bought that retailed for $22,000 is worth $13,000 as soon as you drive off the lot? almost a $10,000 drop, almost 50% of it's 'value.' YAY for rebates. Yeah, right. But, if you make crap, you have to sell it on the cheap. Way to go GM, keep on with those great finance programs that help ruin the value of your vehicles along with those terrific brake pads that last for 12,000 miles, if you are lucky. I had Honda owners that had not had to change the brake pads for 50-60k miles. Interesting.
So, yes, Toyota may have bobbled this politically. But I'm saying it's no surprise that someone said, "We HAVE to get GM and Chrysler back on their feet SOMEHOW, or we aren't going to get elected again." Shame on you. And shame on YOU, my Fellow American, if you fall for their shameful lies.
Sunday, March 7, 2010
Sunday, June 7, 2009
Thanks, but no thanks, Dick
My fellow Americans, Dick Cheney has boldly taken a stand on gay marriage...again. It's nothing new, and he's not saying anything different then he did in 2004. He believes that everyone should enjoy the same rights that living in a free country guarantees, however he doesn't believe it should be federal law. For some reason he doesn't seem to think it's important enough to be the law of the land. Freedom. For everyone. Should be left up to the individual states. Interesting. He's said that the people should express their opinion and that the majority voice should rule. That the courts should stay out of it. Apparently he thinks the Supreme Court should stay out of the Constitutional law business and allow the people to rule, right or wrong, unconstitutional or not. I wonder if this is the pathetic payoff to his gay daughter Mary, for her standing with him while he campaigned. A hideous thank you to a daughter who betrayed millions of gay Americans. If I were her, I'd have asked for a yacht or something instead.
I wonder if Mr. Cheney knows that his daughter can be refused a job or a place to live, can be fired from a job, or be harassed daily at her job and it's not against federal law, or state law in most states. I wonder if he knows that Mary can be barred from her long time partners side at a hospital if the family members of her partner choose to not allow her access-because she has NO legal right to be there under federal law, or state law in most states. Recently, a gay couple, long time companions, only had to spend $19,000 in legal fees to guarantee themselves the same protection under law that a $55 wedding license would allow them. And, all of that laborious legalese could still be challenged, and depending on the judge, overturned in a court of law. So, yeah, kinda Dick, we do have SOME protection, as long as we have $20,000 to shell out to make sure that the person we have loved for 30 years can come see us in the hospital if we are sick or injured, or inherit the communal property that we bought during the course of our life together.
You know what Dick? It cost you NOTHING to say what you said. Absolutely nothing. It was an empty statement. Actually, it was worse than that. It gave the appearance that you supported your daughter and the gay community. Maybe you really believe that it helped. But I doubt that because I think you have spent so many years as a political animal that you no longer know how to make a simple statement without weighing it's political reflection on you. Somehow, some way, this statement benefited you, even if it was the equivalent of throwing a bone to faithful dog.
I wish I could feel sorry for your daughter, Mary. I've tried to understand why she would support you during your campaigns. Don't get me wrong, I can understand a daughter wanting to support her father. But I have to wonder why? Either she has been raised in such privilege that the idea that she could be treated unfairly has never entered her mind. "My dad is Dick Cheney," would probably take care of most roadblocks for her. Or, she so desperately needs your approval. Or, she is a dedicated right wing, conservative Republican. In that case, I hope she lives in one of the many states that does not allow gay Americans the same rights as their fellows. I do hope she's not that hypocritical. That she would live somewhere and stand on the shoulders of other gay men and women who worked relentlessly to guarantee the rights of their brothers and sisters. But I doubt it. I'm not going to look it up, I don't want it to ruin my day.
Whatever the reason, Mary Cheney lives in the tiny percentage of Americans who basically don't answer to the same authority that the rest of us do. She lives in a privileged Utopia. Where her father's business card acts as a platinum-plated get out of jail free card. I just hope that she never experiences the America that the rest of us live in. I truly hope that she never is attacked and beaten for holding hands with her partner in public. I hope she is never fired from her job because the new boss thinks that dykes are sinners. I hope that a landlord, finding that she is gay, decides not renew her lease. But apparently Mary doesn't know, or care about those things, because she stood beside a man who represents a party who believes that gay people are second class citizens who do not deserve the same rights as the rest of America, the same party who's leader decided that AIDS was not worth federal funding, and the same party Oklahoma Representative Sally Kern is a member of, who said, sic, "Homosexuality is a bigger threat to America than terrorism."
Hey Dick? We're not as stupid as you think we are. We know you are trying to balance some of the nut-jobs that are crawling out of the woodwork, after being driven even crazier by the election of an African American Democrat. But you need to check your approval rating; last time I looked it was lower than your ex bosses. So the next time you want to support the gay community? Make a donation to PFLAG instead. It would actually help.
I wonder if Mr. Cheney knows that his daughter can be refused a job or a place to live, can be fired from a job, or be harassed daily at her job and it's not against federal law, or state law in most states. I wonder if he knows that Mary can be barred from her long time partners side at a hospital if the family members of her partner choose to not allow her access-because she has NO legal right to be there under federal law, or state law in most states. Recently, a gay couple, long time companions, only had to spend $19,000 in legal fees to guarantee themselves the same protection under law that a $55 wedding license would allow them. And, all of that laborious legalese could still be challenged, and depending on the judge, overturned in a court of law. So, yeah, kinda Dick, we do have SOME protection, as long as we have $20,000 to shell out to make sure that the person we have loved for 30 years can come see us in the hospital if we are sick or injured, or inherit the communal property that we bought during the course of our life together.
You know what Dick? It cost you NOTHING to say what you said. Absolutely nothing. It was an empty statement. Actually, it was worse than that. It gave the appearance that you supported your daughter and the gay community. Maybe you really believe that it helped. But I doubt that because I think you have spent so many years as a political animal that you no longer know how to make a simple statement without weighing it's political reflection on you. Somehow, some way, this statement benefited you, even if it was the equivalent of throwing a bone to faithful dog.
I wish I could feel sorry for your daughter, Mary. I've tried to understand why she would support you during your campaigns. Don't get me wrong, I can understand a daughter wanting to support her father. But I have to wonder why? Either she has been raised in such privilege that the idea that she could be treated unfairly has never entered her mind. "My dad is Dick Cheney," would probably take care of most roadblocks for her. Or, she so desperately needs your approval. Or, she is a dedicated right wing, conservative Republican. In that case, I hope she lives in one of the many states that does not allow gay Americans the same rights as their fellows. I do hope she's not that hypocritical. That she would live somewhere and stand on the shoulders of other gay men and women who worked relentlessly to guarantee the rights of their brothers and sisters. But I doubt it. I'm not going to look it up, I don't want it to ruin my day.
Whatever the reason, Mary Cheney lives in the tiny percentage of Americans who basically don't answer to the same authority that the rest of us do. She lives in a privileged Utopia. Where her father's business card acts as a platinum-plated get out of jail free card. I just hope that she never experiences the America that the rest of us live in. I truly hope that she never is attacked and beaten for holding hands with her partner in public. I hope she is never fired from her job because the new boss thinks that dykes are sinners. I hope that a landlord, finding that she is gay, decides not renew her lease. But apparently Mary doesn't know, or care about those things, because she stood beside a man who represents a party who believes that gay people are second class citizens who do not deserve the same rights as the rest of America, the same party who's leader decided that AIDS was not worth federal funding, and the same party Oklahoma Representative Sally Kern is a member of, who said, sic, "Homosexuality is a bigger threat to America than terrorism."
Hey Dick? We're not as stupid as you think we are. We know you are trying to balance some of the nut-jobs that are crawling out of the woodwork, after being driven even crazier by the election of an African American Democrat. But you need to check your approval rating; last time I looked it was lower than your ex bosses. So the next time you want to support the gay community? Make a donation to PFLAG instead. It would actually help.
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Tabloid Truths (That's called an oxymoron)
My fellow Americans, why do you buy tabloids? Why do you get your groove on grazing on famous people's unhappiness,flaws and hardships?
I've never been able to figure out why people feel so free to criticize celebrities. I'm not talking about the wannabe celebutantes who feed on the paparazzi frenzy like sharks in a haze of chum. Those waddling bags of fatuousness deserve judgement on a Cecil B. DeMille scale. I'm talking about the folks who, in the course of pursuing their art, become famous simply because they are so damned good at what they do. Is that really a terrific reward for being tops in your field? Not being able to go out for a deck of smokes without being ambushed by a pack of carrion eaters with cameras who hope that you are sporting a hideous under-grounder on your chin, or, even better, expose a pound and a half of less then toned flesh? C'mon, my fellow Americans, think about it for a minute. Does it really make you feel that much better about yourself to buy a magazine with a cover photo featuring a young singer who is so fucked up and is in such great pain and confusion that she has shaved her head? Do you really think she did it, 'just for the attention?' Did it ever occur to you that 'just the attention' might have been what made her shave her head in a crazy sort of S.O.S in hopes of prompting some halfway normal person to take a bat and beat a pathway to sanity through the horrific scrum of human scavengers that surround her? And don't you dare tell me that, well, she's got all this money, and she's just spoiled and drunk and a whore and stupid. How do YOU know what she has? I can tell you one thing she doesn't have, she doesn't have the luxury of going into a public bathroom to change her tampon without worrying about someone sticking their cell phone under the wall of the stall to take a snap of her and then selling it to some rag who will airbrush the tampon to make it look like a syringe. Tell me that's the glamorous life.
And why do you take such sadistic glee in watching two people ending their love affair? Can you imagine walking out of your home after losing the person whose mere presence made your heart swoop and your lips tremble, and being attacked by some asshole who smells like tacos and Axe cologne? Who rushes up to you, sticks a camera in your face and screams, "HEY HEY HEY, what happened? Was it your fault? What did you do? Was there another woman/horse/man/prostitute? Did he think you were getting too old? Was it because your last album bombed? Are you getting fat? Whose car is that in your driveway? Why did you sleep in a hotel two weeks ago? Are you on drugs?" And on and on and on. And then, seeing the true story of your broken heart on a tv 'entertainment' channel trumpeted by a botox ridden host whose soulful commiseration is about as genuine as Iran's statement that they are using their weapons grade plutonium to explore alternate energy sources. To go through that, to have a glutinous mess of half-truth's and innuendos served up as the red hot gospel of your broken heart, to have this swill greedily gobbled by a public high on this heady hit of schadenfreude. To go through that because you can sing so well, so amazingly well that people fall in love listening to you, that people decide to put down the pills and try another day because of you, because of the years of dedication and hard work and persistence and shitty gigs because it's what you're built for and what you have to do or die? And this is how we say thank you? My fellow Americans, you know what? Fuck you if you buy those rags. Fuck you if you watch those jackals who make their living sipping tears and glorying in painful embarassment. Fuck you if you think the only antidote for your miserable life is to read and believe shockingly blatant lies about your fellow human being. Because if you continue to do those things the absolute tragedy is this; what you don't realize is how badly you need that voice that can sing you to a different place, that writer who can open your eyes, that actor who can transport you to a world that can change you. That's the antidote to your unhappy life, that's the magic elixir. And it costs about the same amount as your tabloid.
I've never been able to figure out why people feel so free to criticize celebrities. I'm not talking about the wannabe celebutantes who feed on the paparazzi frenzy like sharks in a haze of chum. Those waddling bags of fatuousness deserve judgement on a Cecil B. DeMille scale. I'm talking about the folks who, in the course of pursuing their art, become famous simply because they are so damned good at what they do. Is that really a terrific reward for being tops in your field? Not being able to go out for a deck of smokes without being ambushed by a pack of carrion eaters with cameras who hope that you are sporting a hideous under-grounder on your chin, or, even better, expose a pound and a half of less then toned flesh? C'mon, my fellow Americans, think about it for a minute. Does it really make you feel that much better about yourself to buy a magazine with a cover photo featuring a young singer who is so fucked up and is in such great pain and confusion that she has shaved her head? Do you really think she did it, 'just for the attention?' Did it ever occur to you that 'just the attention' might have been what made her shave her head in a crazy sort of S.O.S in hopes of prompting some halfway normal person to take a bat and beat a pathway to sanity through the horrific scrum of human scavengers that surround her? And don't you dare tell me that, well, she's got all this money, and she's just spoiled and drunk and a whore and stupid. How do YOU know what she has? I can tell you one thing she doesn't have, she doesn't have the luxury of going into a public bathroom to change her tampon without worrying about someone sticking their cell phone under the wall of the stall to take a snap of her and then selling it to some rag who will airbrush the tampon to make it look like a syringe. Tell me that's the glamorous life.
And why do you take such sadistic glee in watching two people ending their love affair? Can you imagine walking out of your home after losing the person whose mere presence made your heart swoop and your lips tremble, and being attacked by some asshole who smells like tacos and Axe cologne? Who rushes up to you, sticks a camera in your face and screams, "HEY HEY HEY, what happened? Was it your fault? What did you do? Was there another woman/horse/man/prostitute? Did he think you were getting too old? Was it because your last album bombed? Are you getting fat? Whose car is that in your driveway? Why did you sleep in a hotel two weeks ago? Are you on drugs?" And on and on and on. And then, seeing the true story of your broken heart on a tv 'entertainment' channel trumpeted by a botox ridden host whose soulful commiseration is about as genuine as Iran's statement that they are using their weapons grade plutonium to explore alternate energy sources. To go through that, to have a glutinous mess of half-truth's and innuendos served up as the red hot gospel of your broken heart, to have this swill greedily gobbled by a public high on this heady hit of schadenfreude. To go through that because you can sing so well, so amazingly well that people fall in love listening to you, that people decide to put down the pills and try another day because of you, because of the years of dedication and hard work and persistence and shitty gigs because it's what you're built for and what you have to do or die? And this is how we say thank you? My fellow Americans, you know what? Fuck you if you buy those rags. Fuck you if you watch those jackals who make their living sipping tears and glorying in painful embarassment. Fuck you if you think the only antidote for your miserable life is to read and believe shockingly blatant lies about your fellow human being. Because if you continue to do those things the absolute tragedy is this; what you don't realize is how badly you need that voice that can sing you to a different place, that writer who can open your eyes, that actor who can transport you to a world that can change you. That's the antidote to your unhappy life, that's the magic elixir. And it costs about the same amount as your tabloid.
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