Detroit Looks To DC For Guidance? God Help Us.

Who could screw up Detroit more than Washington, DC? Moscow? Dodd.

Auto bailout could be tied to gov't-run overhaul

The government would order a major restructuring of Detroit's struggling Big Three auto companies in exchange for a multibillion-dollar bailout under a plan circulating in Congress.

Skeptical lawmakers are weighing whether to dole out as much as $34 billion in aid to the automakers as the once-mighty companies make their second round of pleas for government help to keep them from collapsing by year's end and potentially deepening an already painful recession.

With several lawmakers in both parties pressing them to consider a pre-negotiated bankruptcy - something they have consistently shunned - members of Congress and the Big Three both were contemplating a government-run restructuring that would yield similar results, including massive downsizing and labor givebacks.

U.S. auto executives were appearing before the House Financial Services Committee for the second time to outline their plans for staying afloat with a government infusion.

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"We're looking at a death sentence" for the auto companies, Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., the Senate Banking Committee chairman, said Thursday, pledging to try to help the Big Three. He quickly added, "I'm not a miracle worker and no one here is."

Maybe Chris Dodd can do for the auto industry what he has done for the mortgage industry. If so, look for him to be driving a lot of Detroit chrome Moskvich for pennies on the dollar and a monthly payment of about a buck-two-ninety-eight.

Democrats Can Do What Republicans Wouldn't Dare

If a republican had done this the Democrats would be out of the woodwork with ReThuglican, Hitler, sexist pig comments so fast there'd be skid marks in the air, but since it is a disciple of the messiah and a Democrat I doubt there will be much said.

One More Question...
Question No. 58 in the transition team vetting document for the Obama White House asks that applicants: "Please provide the URL address of any websites that feature you in either a personal or professional capacity (e.g. Facebook, My Space, etc.)"

Question No. 63 asks that applicants "please provide any other information ... that could ... be a possible source of embarrassment to you, your family, or the President-Elect."
For a while there this afternoon, President-elect Barack Obama's immensely talented chief speechwriter, 27-year-old Jon Favreau, might have been pondering how to address that question.

That's when some interesting photos of a recent party he attended -- including one where he's dancing with a life-sized cardboard cut-out of secretary of state-designate Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, and another where he's placed his hand on the cardboard former first lady's chest while a friend is offering her lips a beer -- popped up on Facebook for about two hours. The photos were quickly taken down -- along with every other photo Favreau had of himself on the popular social networking site, save for one profile headshot.

Personally, I wouldn't mention the word 'headshot' when discussing a Clinton. It's too dangerous as we have seen in the past.

Leftist Government Out Of Control

Gee, do you think this is a step to tax or eliminate meat completely? How much will the liberal/progressive wing try to hide in federal codes including the tax code to alter the way we live our lives?

The Nanny State now has a serious foot in the door, way past the seat belt and helmet and smoking nonsense they have been putting into place. Now they want to engineer, through government policy, how we live on private property and in our homes.

Proposed fee on smelly cows, hogs angers farmers
For farmers, this stinks: Belching and gaseous cows and hogs could start costing them money if a federal proposal to charge fees for air-polluting animals becomes law.
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It would require farms or ranches with more than 25 dairy cows, 50 beef cattle or 200 hogs to pay an annual fee of about $175 for each dairy cow, $87.50 per head of beef cattle and $20 for each hog.

The executive vice president of the Wyoming Farm Bureau Federation, Ken Hamilton, estimated the fee would cost owners of a modest-sized cattle ranch $30,000 to $40,000 a year. He said he has talked to a number of livestock owners about the proposals, and "all have said if the fees were carried out, it would bankrupt them."

Sparks said Wednesday he's worried the fee could be extended to chickens and other farm animals and cause more meat to be imported.

"We'll let other countries put food on our tables like they are putting gas in our cars. Other countries don't have the health standards we have," Sparks said.

EPA spokesman Nick Butterfield said the fee was proposed for farms with livestock operations that emit more than 100 tons of carbon emissions in a year and fall under federal Clean Air Act provisions.
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The fee would cover the cost of a permit for the livestock operations. While farmers say it would drive them out of business, an organization supporting the proposal hopes it forces the farms and ranches to switch to healthier crops.

"It makes perfect sense if you are looking for ways to cut down on meat consumption and recoup environmental losses," said Bruce Friedrich, a spokesman in Washington for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.

Hell, Mr. Change, aka BO, hasn't even been elected president and these leftist losers are coming out of the woodwork.

If you want real change, root all these losers out of the bureaucracy and then cut what's left of the bureaucracy by half. How long until we can throw these bums out of office and government?