Rep. Conyers on ‘Fading Republican Party’: ‘There’s Really Only One Major Party’

March 29, 2013 | Filed Under Democrats/Leftists, Detroit, Ethics, Government, Government, Corruption, Liberals, Michigan, Progressives, Warner Todd Huston | 1 Comment

-By Warner Todd Huston

Michigan’s Democrat Congressman John Conyers has pronounced the Republican Party dead and gone telling a gathering of the Detroit NAACP that, “the Republican party is fading out of sight almost, so there is really only one major political party of any significance.”

Amusingly, Conyers prefaced that line with “actually without being biased…”

It should be pointed out that the “only major political party of any significance” has been locked out of 30 governors mansions across the country. Only 19 states now have Democrats as governors. Additionally, 24 states are completely controlled by the Republican Party while only 13 are controlled by Democrats (the remainder are spilt between parties on power).

A great example of the Democrats’ stewardship of which Conyers is so proud can be seen back in his home state. Detroit, once Michigan’s biggest and most vital city–and wholly controlled by Democrats–is in such poor financial shape that Governor Rick Snyder, a Republican, has had to evoke a “financial state of emergency” for the crumbling city and has imposed an emergency financial manager upon it to bring the city out of its Democrat-initiated financial disaster.
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Mich Dem. Whitmer Shows Unions & Obama More Important Than Her State

December 11, 2012 | Filed Under Business, Capitalism, Democrats/Leftists, Detroit, Economy/Finances, Elections, Ethics, Government, Government, Corruption, Jobs, Liberals, Michigan, Pensions, Progressives, Public Employees Unions, Right To Work, Taxes, Teachers Unions, Unions, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

Michigan’s Gretchen Whitmer, the State’s Senate Democratic Leader, is now pleading for President Obama to trample on Michigan’s state sovereignty and control the state from Washington DC. This is an odd request for someone that thinks she should be Michigan’s next Governor.

During most of American history, state politicians have been keen to safeguard their own power in their state. We even fought a whole civil war in part over the idea of states’ rights, after all. Oh, but not Michigan’s Gretchen Whitmer. No, for Whitmer, allowing unions and President Obama to control Michigan is far more important than allowing the people of Michigan and their representatives to control the state.

Whitmer, you see, is trying to get President Obama to withhold federal funds from Michigan merely because Republicans and worker’s rights advocates have succeeded in passing right-to-work-style legislation in the current lame-duck session.

Whitmer is calling the right-to-work law “petty and vindictive politics.” That’s how losers talk, we all know. So, she wants King Obama to take action.
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GM: The Deadbeat of America

October 25, 2012 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Budget, Business, Capitalism, Crony Capitalism, Democrats/Leftists, Detroit, Economy/Finances, Elections, Ethics, Government, Government, Corruption, Humor, Liberals, President, Progressives, Stimulus, Taxes, Video, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

All ya have to do is fail miserably…

America, land of suckers paying a failed car company to continue pumping out cars no one wants.

Thanks, Barack.

Ha. Ouch.

Chevy Volt Battery Plant Floundering Despite $151 Million from Obama

September 26, 2012 | Filed Under Barack Obama, Budget, Business, Capitalism, Democrats/Leftists, Detroit, Elections, Environment, Ethics, Government, Government, Corruption, Green Energy, Jobs, Liberals, President, Progressives, Regulation, Taxes, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

Another in a long list of Obama-touted and tax-supported “green energy” companies is on the verge of going out of business, this time in Michigan.

Two years ago, President Obama visited the LG Chem battery plant in Holland, Michigan. Obama then hailed the plant saying, “You are leading the way in showing how manufacturing jobs are coming right back here to the United States of America.”

But today, those LG Chem jobs Obama claimed were “coming back” are seeing intermittent layoffs instead of growth.
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Welfare, Not Work: Obama Shuts Down Minority Business Agency

March 20, 2012 | Filed Under Barack Obama, Budget, Business, Capitalism, Chicago, Democrats/Leftists, Detroit, Government, Government, Corruption, Jobs, Liberals, Los Angeles, New York City, President, Stimulus, Taxes, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

Hosannas. Obama has finally cut some federal spending. But noting which agency he shut down is sort of emblematic of his whole welfare/big government-pushing presidency.

On Friday, the Department of Commerce announced that it would be shutting down all five regional offices of the Minority Business Development Agency, an agency that was created by Richard Nixon to help develop minority businesses.

The administration claims that it will be saving around $30 million per year by eliminating the offices in Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco.

Chicago Congressman Bobby Rush is not too happy about the decision.
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After Billions in Federal Bailouts, Now GM Lobbying States for More?

January 30, 2012 | Filed Under Barack Obama, Capitalism, Communism, Crony Capitalism, Democrats/Leftists, Detroit, Economy/Finances, Ethics, GOP, Government, Government, Corruption, Jobs, Liberals, President, Regulation, Socialism, Taxes, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

How much bailing out does one company need? (The correct answer is none, of course) After receiving some $50 billion in tax dollars from us courtesy of Obama’s “cash stash,” GM is claiming success with a “Obama claimed that GM was “back on top as the world’s number one automaker.” But true or not, if all is coming up roses for GM why is the company now lobbying the individual states for mini bailouts?

That is exactly what is happening. The new “big success” automaker is spending millions hiring lobbyists to squeeze more millions out of state legislatures. As Justin Owen notes, GM has “turned to another, smaller government teat,” by putting its hand out to the states. GM, Owen says, “has received another $1.7 billion in taxpayer-funded grants and tax abatements.”

This is no accident of timing, either. GM admitted to the Tennessee Watchdog that begging to the states for tax dollars is a concerted effort.
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CBS This Morning Losing to Fox And Friends?

January 20, 2012 | Filed Under Atlanta, Cable, CBS, Chicago, Detroit, Entertainment, Fox News, Hollywood, Media, TV, Uncategorized, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

Apparently it is not morning in America for CBS. The big network roll out of its revamped morning show, CBS This Morning, is struggling to gain a foothold. It’s so bad that even the Fox News’ morning show, Fox and Friends, is beating the network morning extravaganza. In Chicago, Fox and Friends even beat the debut episode of CBS This Morning despite the fact that Gayle King, a long-time Oprah confidante, was one of the main features of the program.

In fact, CBS This Morning isn’t even beating its own former iteration when it was called The Early Show. The new show is down 10 percent in total viewers and down 13 percent in the key demo of 25-45 year-old viewers. Interestingly, Fox and Friends is beating CBS in four of the top 20 national markets in total viewers (Atlanta, Detroit, Orlando, and Tampa).

Market	Fox And Friends (P2+)	CBS This Morning (P2+)
Atlanta	30,000	17,000
Detroit	19,000	12,000
Tampa	40,000	30,000
Orlando	23,000	19,000

Period	Dates	Program	P2+ AA(000)	% Diff	24-54 AA(000)	% diff
CBS This Morning Launch	1/9/12 to 1/15/12	CBS This Morning	2718		1115
Same Week 2011	1/10/11 to 1/16/11	Early Show	3016	-10%	1287	-13%

(Stats from Nielson)

It should be remembered that Fox News cable channel reaches just over 102 million homes whereas CBS ostensibly gets to 100 percent of the 116 million homes with TVs. Since CBS is one of the “big three” original TV networks, it is interesting that a cable channel has seen such an amazing success rate for its early morning show.
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More Union Workers Caught Blowing Weed on Break Time

November 29, 2011 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Business, Crime, Detroit, Jobs, Michigan, Unions, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

Not long ago a series of Detroit sting-styled TV News reports found autoworkers getting high and drunk during their lunch breaks. Now WJBK has found the same problem with the union workers at an aerospace factory.

Tower Defense and Aerospace Factory Workers Party at Lunch: MyFoxDETROIT.com

The company claims it has “been investigating” the employees. But the fact is, if these workers were not protected by unions they’d have been properly fired the second management realized that they were doing illegal drugs on company property during their break time.

It shouldn’t take a TV expose for a company to be able to fire criminals! But that’s what happens with unions. They protect criminals.
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GM Bailout: Bait And Switch And Drive That Lemon Away

November 18, 2011 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Barack Obama, Budget, Business, Capitalism, Congress, Democrats/Leftists, Detroit, Economy/Finances, GOP, Government, Government, Corruption, Liberals, President, Regulation, Stimulus, Taxes, Warner Todd Huston | 1 Comment

-By Warner Todd Huston

General Motors was too big to fail. This is why President Obama had to ride in on his white steed with billions of taxpayers dollars in hand to bailout GM rechristening it Government Motors. Besides, we were told it would be a great deal, a money maker, right? Well, not so much. The Administration has reported a dramatic increase in the money We The People have lost on the GM bailout.

This week the Treasury Dept. has announced that the estimates of our loss has gone from $14.33 billion tax dollars to $26.6 billion.

To put it in terms easier to understand, for the American people to just break even on the bailout deal the more than 500 million shares owned by the U.S. Treasury must sell at $53 a share. Unfortunately for all of us, GM stock has tumbled to just $22.99 (as of closing on Nov.14). We are waaay off from the break even point, folks!
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The UAW’s Waning Days?

September 25, 2011 | Filed Under Business, Campaign Finance, Capitalism, Democrats/Leftists, Detroit, Economy/Finances, Elections, Government, Government, Corruption, Jobs, Liberals, UAW, Unions, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

Reuters has a very interesting article detailing the fall of the United Auto Workers (UAW) in the modern era. It is a long article, but if you are interested in the way the UAW intends to keep itself relevant to the auto industry on into the future, it is worth the read.

It is also a good article if you want a glimpse of the possible end to the UAW. Its deep financial troubles, its steady loss of members and plants to represent, and its powerlessness to spread its cancer to other auto makers in the south is an ominous warning that the UAW might be headed for the dust bin of history.

Let’s not start popping champagne corks yet, though. We should not count the UAW out, of course, as it is still very powerful. But things are not looking good for the once supremely powerful union.
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Rockford Tea Party Calls for Resignation of Teamsters President

September 6, 2011 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Barack Obama, Budget, Business, Capitalism, Democrats/Leftists, Detroit, Ethics, Government, Government, Corruption, James Hoffa, Liberals, President, Stimulus, Taxes, Teamsters, Unions, Warner Todd Huston | 2 Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

After Teamsters President Jimmy Hoffa incited violence against Republicans as he introduced President Obama at Monday’s rally in Detroit, at least one organization called for Hoffa to resign over his intemperate and violent rhetoric. The Rockford Tea Party of northern Illinois made the call for Hoffa to resign.

Here is what Hoffa’s ignorant rhetoric sounded:

Rockford TEA PARTY calls for Labor Leader Jimmy Hoffa to Resign
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Contrary to Claim, White House Did Control GM’s Daily Business And Cut Workers Pay?

June 24, 2011 | Filed Under Barack Obama, Budget, Business, Capitalism, Democrats/Leftists, Detroit, Economy/Finances, Government, Government, Corruption, Jobs, Liberals, Pensions, Policy, President, Regulation, Taxes, UAW, Unions, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

When Barack Obama threw millions of our tax dollars at General Motors to “save it,” the administration claimed that it would not involve itself in the “day-to-day management” of the venerable car company. New emails obtained by The Daily Caller, however, casts doubt on this claim.

In fact, as Matthew Boyle reports, the emails “reveal that Treasury officials were involved in decision-making that led to more than 20,000 non-union workers losing their pensions.”

It turns out that Treasurer Secretary Timothy Geithner pressured GM, widely derided as Government Motors, to cut the pensions for the salaried, non-union employees at Delphi, a company owned by GM.
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GM Exec: Reporting GM’s Failures Hurts… Republicans?

May 5, 2011 | Filed Under Barack Obama, Budget, Capitalism, Communism, Congress, Democrats/Leftists, Detroit, Economy/Finances, GOP, Government, Government, Corruption, House of Representatives, Liberals, Michigan, President, Regulation, Socialism, Stimulus, Taxes, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

In an odd turn of events, former GM Vice Chairman Bob Lutz thinks that anyone that criticizes GM is not only “mis-informed” but insists that those “foaming ideologues” that criticize the car giant are “damaging the Republican Party.”

It is interesting that an executive in the company derided as “Government Motors” is trying to direct attention away from his minders in the Obama administration and toward the opposing party, and just before a general election at that.

It is also interesting to see Lutz defending GM as the “future” of the car business. Lately GM has not been turning out the sort of products that puts the company at the head of much of anything.
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Geithner’s Spin: Auto Bailout A Success

April 29, 2011 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Barack Obama, Budget, Capitalism, Communism, Congress, Democrats/Leftists, Detroit, Economy/Finances, Free Trade, Government, Government, Corruption, Jobs, Liberals, President, Regulation, Republicans, Socialism, Stimulus, Taxes, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

At the Detroit Economic Club today, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner tried to claim the auto bailout is a success.

It certainly doesn’t seem like a success for the taxpayers. GM stock is about $30 today, and unless it gets up to $54, the taxpayers lose money on the deal. Why would it go up? You want to fight high gas prices by buying a Volt? How does $41 grand a pop sound? And still GM loses money on every one it sells even at that price. Not only that but we are seeing that government subsides for electric cars is good tax money wasted in any case.
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Warrantless Searches By Police of Your Cell Phone

April 25, 2011 | Filed Under 4th Amendment, Constitution, Crime, Democrats/Leftists, Detroit, Ethics, Government, Government, Corruption, Liberals, Michigan, Police, Rights, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

News during this past week a story made the rounds that police in Michigan may be using a device in random traffic stops that instantly copies all the data on your cell phone and stores it for later use by police. It was said that this data copying is going on without consent and without a warrant. Michigan police are denying this claim, but the ACLU posted a letter warning them against this policy regardless. The fear here is, of course, that copying cell phone data without a warrant is a violation of the Fourth Amendment’s proscription against illegal search and seizure.

This device copies everything that is on your phone. Your contacts, your emails, your texts, other instant messages, what aps you use, web bookmarks and usage, GPS location info… every bit of data stored on your phone is instantly copied into the device and into the data base maintained by police.

Famed blogger Glenn Reynolds, a lawyer by trade, seems to think that it is obviously a violation of the Fourth and that current law can even be used as precedent to assure that fact. Others are not so sure.
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Absurdity: Detroit’s Mayor has 48 City Unions to Deal With

April 19, 2011 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Budget, Democrats/Leftists, Detroit, Economy/Finances, Government, Government, Corruption, Liberals, Michigan, Taxes, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

Want to know one of the reasons that Detroit (and every other major US city) is in such trouble? Democrat Mayor Dave Bing is struggling with a black hole of a budget deficit that he is stuck dealing with and one of his biggest stumbling blocks to fiscal sanity is the government unions. Oh, it isn’t just a few city government unions, either. He has 48 of them to deal with. 48 government unions all sucking up the tax payer’s dollars!

Granted Mayor Bing has decided not to take steps that might alleviate the budget long-term (like abolishing certain programs and city departments), but as the Detroit Free Press notes the unions are a major problem causing the city to spend $1.08 in employee benefits for every dollar the city spends on payroll.

As things stand the city has 8,000 active employees but is stuck with a legacy cost of 22,000 retired workers. Because of this, fully 30% of Detroit’s budget is going to retirees’ pension benefits.
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Obama Lackeys Running GM Now Want US to Pay Out for Rebates

March 30, 2011 | Filed Under Barack Obama, Budget, Business, Capitalism, Cities, Democrats/Leftists, Detroit, Economy/Finances, Government, Government, Corruption, Liberals, President, Stimulus, Taxes, Warner Todd Huston | 1 Comment

-By Warner Todd Huston

A few days ago I wrote about how the Obama administration has stuffed the upper echelons of management at General Motors with government lackeys who have no experience in the auto industry and how Obama’s government will lead GM to ultimate failure. Today we see yet one more step toward GMs ruin with government plans for subsidies that the taxpayers will end up paying for.

The Washington Times’ Kerry Picket reports that some Democrats and the geniuses Obama put at the top of GM, much derided as “Government Motors,” are proposing that taxpayers be tapped to foot the bill for tax credits and rebates for customers that buy the failed Chevy Volt.

Michigan Senator Debbie Stabenow has proposed legislation known as the Charging America Forward Act (S.298) that will give federal cash rebates of $7,500 to anyone that buys the Chevy Volt.

The Department of Energy claims that this rebate program idea is somehow just like the Cash For Clunkers program. But this couldn’t be more different.
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Michigan: Teachers Trying to Hide Union Activism in School Email Accounts

March 25, 2011 | Filed Under Budget, Children, Democrats/Leftists, Detroit, Ethics, Government, Government, Corruption, Judges, Labor Law, Liberals, Michigan, Public Employees Unions, Regulation, Supreme Court, Taxes, Teachers Unions, Unions, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

Michigan’s union thugs have found a new way to hide their on-the-job union activism from the prying eyes of public transparency — or at least they think they have. Activist school teachers are using their state-sponsored email accounts to discuss their strike ideas, their union work slow down ideas and other illegal activities but are claiming that these emails are “personal” and therefore should not be open to Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA) requests by the state’s budget hawks, government transparency advocates, and the news media.

Michigan’s Mackinac Center for Public Policy recently reported that the Michigan Education Association has sent out messages to its members that they should exclude any emails sent from school-owned email accounts in FOIA requests because they are “personal” emails and are legally not eligible for FOIA requests.
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Government Motors: The Coming General Motors Failure Will Be At Taxpayer’s Expense

March 24, 2011 | Filed Under Banks, Budget, Business, Capitalism, Cities, Congress, Democrats/Leftists, Detroit, Economy/Finances, Financial Reform, Government, Government, Corruption, Liberals, President, Stimulus, Taxes, Warner Todd Huston | 5 Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

The Obama Administration has proclaimed TARP and the subsequent bailout for General Motors a great success. US Treasury Deputy Timothy Massad recently said, “Where we are today shows that the program, by any reasonably objective measure, was a success.” But is GM, now much derided as “Government Motors” the success that Obama says it is? Facts don’t argue in Obama’s favor.

First of all, we must dispense with the whole idea that a benevolent Obama played sugar daddy to “save” GM and did so without too much meddling with the company. Despite the claims that it is “back” and back in private hands, We The People still own 33% of GM. But government ownership is deeper than the a mere calculated percentage. You see, GM’s Board and its CEO were all placed in their positions by Obama, his czars and advisers. Worse, none of them have any experience at all in the auto industry.

Obama’s GM CEO, Dan Akerson, is not a “car guy” — as he himself admitted. Akerson’s experience is as a Wall Street hedge fund operator not an auto industry exec. He was also a player at the politically connected Carlyle Group and was the firm’s Managing Director.
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Slate Says Detroit ‘Needs’ Anti-Christian, America-Slamming Statue

March 15, 2011 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Budget, Capitalism, Christianity, Crime, Democrats/Leftists, Detroit, Government, Government, Corruption, Hollywood, Jobs, Liberals, Movies, Patriotism, Regulation, Religion, Slate, Taxes, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

For some strange reason the left-wing Internet site Slate.com thinks that the City of Detroit needs a statue erected to an anti-Christian, anti-American pop icon. That’s right, Slate thinks that Detroit needs to diss Jesus, slam capitalism, and attack the United States of America as an evil, violent nation. Strange recommendation for a city that literally drove America’s capitalist success story, isn’t it?

Well that is precisely what Slate is suggesting in an entertainment feature about raising a Motor City statue to the Hollywood sci fi movie character Robocop. After all, the Robocop movie was a purposeful slam on the United States and Christianity, not some celebration of her genius. This is exactly what the film’s director has said numerous times. Strange that Slate wants to use a character that presents what it claims is bad about America as something worthy enough to which to build a memorial.

For Slate Patrick Cassels, a 20-something actor, “Internet enthusiast,” and entertainment writer, announced his support of the statue to the violence-soaked movie icon mostly because it is an attack on “Regonomics” and corporations. But, as if supporting a paean to Marxism isn’t grating enough for building a statue in an American city, he spends no time at all on the anti-Christian theme of the movie.
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