My Hiatus And My Take On Current Events

I have been laid up with a broken ankle, but I have not been out of the loop. I have been following all of the latest events and below is my take:

On BHO’s Cabinet appointments:

• Hillary Clinton: As immoral and corrupt as President and Senator Clinton are, I can sleep well at night knowing that a true American is the head of the State Department. Say what you want about the Clintons, but at the end of the day, they will do anything to secure personal power, but they will NOT do so at the expense of the Country (at least on purpose). Also, Hillary will likely stand up to BHO if his policy ideas will hurt the country. She is not afraid to speak her mind or pursue her own agenda, for better or worse.
• Retired General Shinseki: I have no problem with his appointment to Secretary of Veterans Affairs. He is a wounded warrior himself and therefore has personal experience to help him improve the VA and the lives of our Wounded Warriors.
• Tom Daschle: I really have no opinion, but from what I have seen and heard, both sides of the aisle are happy and comfortable with his appointment. He himself is also very happy with the appointment because that is his “dream post”. My one reservation is that since he is a Democrat, he may want to socialize our health care system. In the near term, that is not feasible due to the current economic situation; but, in the medium and long term, there is a higher risk of Mr. Daschle endorsing or pushing such a program. We shall wait and see.

On the Auto Industry:

• The bottom line is that the Auto Industry is broken and in trouble and if it fails, it may be catastrophic for the workers and the satellite industries and their workers. Either way, the economy will recover, but we shall not let the Auto Industry fail. Granted, this has been coming for a long time, and the Auto Industry should have acted a LONG time ago. I don’t think that Government is the answer, nor have I turned Democrat, but SOMEONE needs to hold these companies’ feet to the fire. Unfortunately, the government seems to be the only group that is willing to do so. This is what I think should be done:
o Give the auto makers a “bridge loan” so that there is still an American Auto Industry to save, but have many strings attached such as:
 Mandatory restructuring
 Limits on executive compensation
 Slash labour costs by cutting or shrinking unsustainable pension and benefit programs and reducing wages to the level of the foreign auto makers who have factories here in America. Unions must be willing to make these concessions.
 Mandatory modernization
 Implement streamlining programs such as AIRSPEED and/or Lean Six Sigma to cut manufacturing costs
 Some kind of oversight and accountability. Unfortunately, that may mean Government oversight unless the BIG 3 are willing to police themselves effectively. If oversight is provided by the Government, it must only be for the purpose of making sure that changes are actually being made and that those changes are effective. The Government MUST NOT take over decision making for the BIG 3.

On the situation in Washington State:

• To the atheists: If Christmas and other displays of religious devotion offend you and give you feelings that we are “pushing our religious beliefs down your throat,” I hate to break it to you but your offensive denouncement of our beliefs makes us Christians feel the same way. You are NOT tolerant and NOT open minded. You are hypocrites. You are guilty of the same crimes of which you accuse Christians. If you truly possessed the reason that you claim to possess, then you would see that, but you do not. This is the last straw. Christians will NOT sit idly by and let the Godless minority silence the Christian majority.
• We must contact Governor Gregoire and tell her that she needs to move that awful display to another part of the State House, away from any Christmas displays. Go to billoreilly.com to get her contact info.