PEACE PRIZE PRESIDENT POUNDS ISIS! Today Obama began the third Iraq war, which of course was completely avoidable had he not failed to keep a deterrent force in place. We were no longer losing soldiers there on a regular basis, the peace was holding, the government was bad, but not as bad as Hussein, it was a nascent democracy that was free to elect new leaders, and it was costing us very little to be there and deter radicals like ISIS. But no, Obama had a campaign promise to keep so we pulled out completely and left a vacuum. In the last week alone, ISIS murdered some 3000 civilians in Iraq. That's in one week.
So now we are bombing from 30,000 feet, which of course is the preferred method for Peace Prize enthusiasts. I'm sure Obama will use the Israeli system of dropping leaflets, making phone calls, and knocking first before bombing. Hey, that's what he did in Libya, right?
In light of this, it's time to revisit the whole series of "Obama is Awesome!" cartoon videos. Here they are in order:
Showing posts with label Obama. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Obama. Show all posts
Friday, August 8, 2014
Friday, June 27, 2014
The Immaculate Recession
Two days ago, on June 25th 2014, the third update to GDP numbers was released for the first quarter of the year, and the latest numbers show a GDP change of -2.9%.
This is pretty amazing since the consensus opinion going into the quarter was for +2.5%,
the advanced estimate in April was for +0.1%, the first revision in May was for -1%, and now the second revision in June is a whopping -2.9%!
Even in a business like economic forecasting and reporting,
which is known for being particularly dodgy, this discrepancy is unusual. But there may be a simple, though not
comforting, explanation for this wild swing.
Consider that the official definition of a recession is two
consecutive quarters of negative GDP growth. Therefore, the lower the first quarter, the easier it will
be to avoid the “R” word when the second quarter is reported. For example: if the first quarter had actually been
-1.5% and the second quarter comes in again at -1.5%, that would ring the
recession bell and the overall 2014 GDP would be -1.5%. But if the GDP really is -1.5% after
two quarters, and the first quarter is reported as -2.9%, then the second
quarter can be reported as +1.4%, and no recession will have officially
occurred! Call it the immaculate
recession.
Now you might be saying, “that’s ridiculous , the Bureau of
Economic Analysis (BEA) is a highly respected non-partisan government agency
which would never manipulate official numbers to benefit incumbents during an
election year!” Yeah, tell that to
the victims of the IRS, FDA, FBI, INS, DOJ, NLRB, NTSB, Fish and Wildlife, etc,
etc, etc.
Update: Oh, and remember this? Census "faked" election 2012 jobs report.
Update: Oh, and remember this? Census "faked" election 2012 jobs report.
Wednesday, June 18, 2014
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Tuesday, June 10, 2014
Thursday, June 5, 2014
FLASHBACK: My Labradoodle would not have traded five key terrorists for a likely traitor...
Hey, don't blame me, you were warned...
Saturday, May 17, 2014
Why The VA Is So Screwed Up, And Why It’s Obama’s Fault
Unless you get your news from NBC, CNN, ABC, New York Times,
Comedy Central, CBS, Washington Post, LA Times, MSNBC, or al Jazeera, you
probably know that the Veterans Administration has death panels and secret
waiting lists which are killing veterans, or more accurately, letting them die
rather than doing the hard expensive work of treating them, healing them, and
prolonging their lives. In other
words, the VA is performing exactly as designed. Come to think of it, the entire federal bureaucracy is
performing exactly as designed.
The IRS, Fannie and Freddie, The State Department, Obamacare (HHS), The
Obama Administration, and all the rest in this “mismanaged carnival of
stupidity” (to repurpose Alec Baldwin’s words) are all performing exactly as
designed. What’s more, it’s all
Obama’s fault.
No, I’m not suggesting that President Barack Obama himself
is making the day to day decisions at the VA, HHS, IRS, or any one of the
alphabet soup exemplars of tragic dysfunction which we call government. He is far too busy watching college
hoops, fundraising, partying with Jay Z, golfing, and dishing one-liners from behind a
teleprompter to be involved in running anything. Running stuff is icky and hard. Besides, Obama doesn’t ever want to risk having his
fingerprints on any part of this travesty. Yet despite his attempts to float above the mess, his
signature is everywhere, for he is the modern ideological leader of totalitarian
big government and has been it’s most ardent champion since coming on the
national scene.
Barack Obama is a perversion of King
Midas: everything he touches gets
nationalized. Got a problem
with student loans? Nationalize
it. Got a problem with health
insurance? Nationalize it. Got a problem with housing? Nationalize it. (Don’t forget: as Senator, Barack Obama
was known as the “Senator from Fannie and Freddie”.) Got a problem with curriculum? Nationalize it.
Got a problem with anything, the answer is always the same: nationalize
it. And when you nationalize it,
you politicize it. Hence,
everything becomes political.
You would think the VA is a healthcare system for
veterans. You would be wrong. The VA is first and foremost a jobs
program for political constituents that was originally set-up to treat veterans
but now does so as an afterthought.
You might think Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were mortgage companies for the
poor. You would be wrong. Fannie and Freddie are first and
foremost political operations that originally were set-up to provide
mortgages for the poor but now do so as an afterthought. This goes for Obamacare, student loans, the IRS, and every other agency, policy, statute, and corner of the federal government
under this President and those before him who shared his philosophy.
The framers of our constitution knew this could happen. They knew totalitarianism and
all-powerful government would politicize everything and turn it into a horror
show. That’s why they gave us a
“charter of negative liberties” which says “what the federal government can’t do to you…” (to borrow Barack Obama’s own derisive words.). The constitution
specifically limited federal power.
It was a check on totalitarianism and a wall against nationalizing and
politicizing everything. Well, it
used to do that anyway. Not so
much anymore.
No president in our history has openly denigrated the
concept of limited government and done more to deliberately undermine it than
this president. Dead veterans,
dead ambassadors, more than a doubling of dead soldiers in Afghanistan, death
panels, a government weaponized for political purposes, and a mismanaged
carnival of stupidity from top to bottom are the inevitable result.
Wednesday, May 7, 2014
Dude, Benghazi Still Matters
According to the “Obama-Is-Awesome” crowd, Benghazi doesn’t
matter. It’s old news, the
election’s over, Fox is the only network that cares, nothing can bring back
those who died, it’s all about politics, what difference does it make, move on
dot org, let’s focus on jobs, look, the Koch brothers, and go Hillary
2016!
Dude, Benghazi still matters. Some are calling the Ben Rhodes email a smoking gun. Yes it is, but not just for what it
says. The Ben Rhodes email proves
illegal activity on the part of the Obama Administration. Remember, this email was part of a
previous subpoena but was withheld by the administration. A judge forced its release as part of
another subpoena from a private lawsuit.
At this rate there could be hundreds of such documents. This renders all previous hearings and investigations null and
void. It is abundantly clear that
there has been a twenty-month campaign by the Obama administration to stonewall
and cover-up the truth. Innocent
parties don’t behave this way. And
it is illegal to ignore a subpoena.
The content of the withheld email along with recent
testimony contradicts everything the administration has been telling us. They were involved in pushing
the YouTube video story. They did
edit the talking points. They did
know an al Qaeda affiliate called Ansar al-Sharia was responsible. They knew there was no demonstration
about a video in Benghazi.
Moreover, they have never revealed why requested security
was denied and who was responsible.
They have never told us why Chris Stevens and the CIA were in
Benghazi. They have never
explained Barack Obama’s whereabouts during the attack and involvement in the
decision not to attempt a rescue.
They still have not brought justice to the murderers - no one has been captured or punished - despite several journalists being able to locate and interview the
perpetrators. A filmmaker was
jailed for a full year as a result of this alleged deception. $70,000 in taxpayer funds was spent on
ads in Muslim countries to apologize for a YouTube video.
The Presidential oath of office begins with the line “I do
solemnly swear to faithfully execute the
Office of The President…” The
definition of faithfully is “in a
manner that is true to the facts…” Just in recent history Richard Nixon lost his job because he did not
act in a manner true to the facts.
Bill Clinton was impeached for the same offense. No one died in either case. Did Barack Obama know the truth about
Benghazi and then lie to the American people to cover-up his incompetence in
the face of a re-election campaign?
This matters, and Presidents have lost their jobs over it.
The second line of the Presidential oath regards the
obligation to “preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution…” If the YouTube video was a deception to
cover-up incompetence, then jailing a filmmaker to support the deception
clearly violates the Constitution.
If the video was a deception, then the $70,000 spent on running ads in
Muslim countries was a theft of taxpayer funds for purposes of winning an
election.
Hillary Clinton aspires to swearing the same oath as Barack
Obama. She swore a similar oath as
Secretary of State.
Dude, Benghazi still matters, and learning the truth is the right thing to do.
Dude, Benghazi still matters, and learning the truth is the right thing to do.
Friday, April 18, 2014
Not A Smidgen Of Corruption. Period.
We keep
hearing how there is no evidence that “The White House” (like the building
itself is the perp!) is involved in any scandals. Not surprising, since they have stonewalled every attempt to
provide information, and key figures have refused to testify. Meanwhile, with few exceptions, the media is in on the cover-up. So, since they refuse to cooperate and exonerate themselves,
(because everyone knows that innocent parties always obstruct investigations!)
we are left with a circumstantial trail of clues that, well, speaks for itself:
From
yesterday’s Investor’s Business Daily:
Corruption: New emails show that both the IRS and Justice Department were involved in a probe of Tea Party and other conservative groups. This is no mere scandal — it's a major breach of the law.
At this
point it’s clear that the disenfranchisement of conservatives during an
election cycle was a coordinated attempt by ruling Democrats, including the
President, to win an election at any cost. It all fits with the lying about doctors and insurance, the
fudging of numbers, and the auditing and intimidation of any and all opponents. But these recent email disclosures go beyond denying non-profit status. They sought to criminalize opposing political speech!
IBD
concludes:
President Obama told Fox News in February that there wasn't "even a smidgen of corruption" in what the IRS did. The corruption is there, Mr. President, and it demands a prosecution. The only remaining question is whether the rot extends to your office, too.
Yes it does. Next question. Here’s just a partial list of amazing
circumstantial coincidences, which tie Barack Obama, yes President Barack
Obama, directly to thuggishly targeting his political opponents and weaponizing the federal government:
- Recently we learned that immediately after Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner met with Barack Obama, he made a verbal threat to Standard & Poors, who had just lowered the credit rating of US bonds. S&P subsequently got sued for $5 billion by the DOJ.
- Ever hear of the Barack H. Obama Foundation? It’s a non-profit based in Kenya run by Barack Obama’s half brother Malik Obama, best man at the Obama wedding. It allegedly raises money for Muslim terror organizations among other shady things. Yet, in the midst of disenfranchising conservative groups, Lois Lerner found time to grant it retroactive tax-exempt status going back 4 years, mere days after receiving its application. So conservatives get denied after a 4 year delay, while Barack Obama’s Kenyan, Muslim, shady half brother gets approved instantly and 4 years retroactively. Not a smidgen here.
- Union chiefs and union lobbyists are the most frequent visitors to the Obama white house. Here is a partial list of union thuggery carried out by government agencies as diverse as Fish and Wildlife, NHTSA, FBI, FDA and others in support of Obama’s labor union agenda:
Read this for details on the above.
- Gibson guitars, which relocated to a right-to-work state was raided twice by Obama’s armed federal agents, harassed, property seized and destroyed.
- Non-union Toyota was targeted by Obama, fined, sued, humiliated, bullied.
- Johnson & Johnson, scourge of unions, was targeted by Obama, fined, sued, harassed, and had plants shut down.
- Boeing tried to open a new plant in a right-to-work state, got sued by Obama’s NRLB, and the plant opening was delayed until Boeing capitulated to its machinists union.
Nope,
not a smidgen of corruption here.
Period.
Thursday, February 20, 2014
Access of Evil
Re: FCC to Monitor Newsrooms
Is there a more dangerous word in the statist’s lexicon than “access”? OK, maybe you could make a case for “fairness” or “right”, but I’d wager that lurking not far from either of those words would be a plethora of accesses too.
Is there a more dangerous word in the statist’s lexicon than “access”? OK, maybe you could make a case for “fairness” or “right”, but I’d wager that lurking not far from either of those words would be a plethora of accesses too.
The subprime boom that crashed financial markets in 2008 was
built on a mountain of access.
Access to affordable housing, access to affordable mortgages, access to
credit, access to the McMansion of your dreams, etc. In short, access to stuff you could not possibly afford. Ergo, access to other people’s stuff.
Obamacare is built on a mountain of access too: access to healthcare, access to
affordable insurance, access to top hospitals, access to contraception, and on
and on. This is working out so
well that now it is providing - access to unemployment lines, access to a lame website, access to a doctor shortage, access to higher
premiums, access to higher deductibles, access to higher copays, access to fewer drugs, etc.
Today we learned about a new threat from the “access of
evil”. The FCC is planning on
placing monitors in TV, radio, and print newsrooms to insure that their audiences have “Access to Critical Information”. Gee, this sounds an awful lot like what the East German
Stasi and the Soviet KGB did. I wonder which broadcasters and networks will be found lacking in providing this "critical information" access? Would this not be a great way to provide access to a monopoly state-controlled media?
From the first page of the FCC plan: “the purpose of this Study of Critical Information Needs (CINs) is
to provide a comprehensive analysis of access/barriers to CINs in diverse
American communities.” If
this sounds a bit too Orwellian and unbelievable, here is the link to the actual document (assuming they haven’t taken it down yet).
The word “access” appears 21 times
in the document.
(Update: Apparently the daughter of Democrat Congressman James Clyburn is a key player in all this.)
(Update: Apparently the daughter of Democrat Congressman James Clyburn is a key player in all this.)
Monday, September 16, 2013
Best Photoshop Ever!
This is just too perfect not to share! I have no idea who did this, but it made the rounds on Twitter today. (I even lifted the title from Twitter)
(Update: I believe this is the guy who did this: https://twitter.com/b_keyser job well done!)
Saturday, September 7, 2013
Wednesday, September 4, 2013
About Those International Norms...
Barack Obama says military intervention is justified in
Syria in order to enforce “international norms”. He then argues it is in the US’ direct interest to enforce
these norms in order to send the right message to other bad guys. Finally he says the US’ credibility is
on the line because it is important that we “mean what we say”. I agree with all of these arguments,
however Barack Obama does not.
For the moment let's pretend that all the hypocritical things
Barack Obama said before he became President were the innocent musings of an
amateur. Things like: he would never go to war unless the US
was attacked or one was imminent, he would never go to war without the world by our side, he would
negotiate with any dictator before starting a war, he would never go to war
without congress, Iraq was a "war of choice" and he would never take military action by choice, etc., etc., etc. Let's
separate all that from the context of Syrian intervention and just look
at the pure merits of the current arguments. They still make no sense coming from this commander in chief.
All we need to do is look back less than a year. Recall, the Libya operation was based
on similar arguments about "international norms" and "meaning what we say": here was
another bad dictator, another case to prevent horrific casualties, another
promise it would be a “matter of days”, another “responsibility to
protect”. So off we went, without
congress of course, to maintain a UN no-fly zone over Libya. (Only that was a ruse. In reality, it was regime change, and
that’s what we eventually got after 8 months.) If that’s where it ended, we could say “mission
accomplished”, albeit late and under false pretense. But that’s not where it ended.
Any positive message which might have come from following
through on our promise to enforce international norms in Libya, and showing
that we mean what we say, was squandered in whole on September 11th 2012 in Benghazi.
Is not the murder of an Ambassador against international
norms? Didn’t Obama say he’d
“find those responsible and hold them accountable”? Isn’t it vital to hold them accountable to send a message to
others who would do us harm? Isn’t
it important to mean what we say? We have the murderers on video for God's sake, yet there has been no attempt to bring them to justice!
It's not like they are hard to find. CNN had no trouble locating the leader of the attack and interviewed him for hours in a café in Benghazi!!! What message did Obama send by failing to respond to Benghazi, other than jailing a Christian videomaker, critical of Islam, who had nothing to do with the attack? What message did this send to Assad, Iran, and the other bad guys?
Barack Obama’s arguments make no sense in the context of his
actions in just the last year.
Forget his mind-blowing hypocrisy before that. It would be a travesty of historical proportions to grant
this commander in chief authority to shoot missiles into Syria. The only thing he is qualified to shoot... is hoops.
Friday, August 30, 2013
This Is So Convenient! (Xtranormal's Demise)
(updated 4/17/14)
The last time Barack Obama wanted to go to war without congress in support of al Qaeda and others, I made a cartoon video which got nearly a million hits. The software I used was called Xtranormal, and if you've seen funny cartoons about Quantitative Easing (The Bernank), buying an iPhone, and countless others, you've seen what it can do. Unfortunately, Xtranormal is no more. They mysteriously shut their doors on July 31st, 2013. All you see if you go there now is a big "pause" button: Xtranormal.com (Now even that's gone!)
Xtranormal was one of the few places where the first amendment could be leveraged with the latest entertainment technology. It was truly the most powerful democratization of freedom of the press since Gutenberg and the blogosphere. Xtranormal "blogtooning", as I called it, was a way for any schnook with a computer and some patience to create the kind of engaging entertainment content previously available only to those with a huge budget, manpower, and time.
Xtranormal has said nothing about why it closed down, when it may re-emerge, or what the future holds. All we can do is speculate. As for me, I find it disturbing that one of the most powerful and innovative tools ever devised for democratizing free speech is currently unavailable.
(UPDATE:
I have since learned that Xtranormal ceased operations due to a lack of profitability. The assets and intellectual property of Xtranormal have been bought, as of April 2014, and there may be a second act after all. The new owner is at nawmal.com, where you can get the latest news.)
Since I cannot make a new Xtranormal video about Syria and the mind-blowing hypocrisy which is Obama's MO, here is the one I made about Libya which went viral. (Just exchange the word Libya with Syria and it should suffice!)
Below that is one I made right before Xtranormal shut down in July 2013, which anticipates a Syria intervention!
The last time Barack Obama wanted to go to war without congress in support of al Qaeda and others, I made a cartoon video which got nearly a million hits. The software I used was called Xtranormal, and if you've seen funny cartoons about Quantitative Easing (The Bernank), buying an iPhone, and countless others, you've seen what it can do. Unfortunately, Xtranormal is no more. They mysteriously shut their doors on July 31st, 2013. All you see if you go there now is a big "pause" button: Xtranormal.com (Now even that's gone!)
Xtranormal was one of the few places where the first amendment could be leveraged with the latest entertainment technology. It was truly the most powerful democratization of freedom of the press since Gutenberg and the blogosphere. Xtranormal "blogtooning", as I called it, was a way for any schnook with a computer and some patience to create the kind of engaging entertainment content previously available only to those with a huge budget, manpower, and time.
Xtranormal has said nothing about why it closed down, when it may re-emerge, or what the future holds. All we can do is speculate. As for me, I find it disturbing that one of the most powerful and innovative tools ever devised for democratizing free speech is currently unavailable.
(UPDATE:
I have since learned that Xtranormal ceased operations due to a lack of profitability. The assets and intellectual property of Xtranormal have been bought, as of April 2014, and there may be a second act after all. The new owner is at nawmal.com, where you can get the latest news.)
Since I cannot make a new Xtranormal video about Syria and the mind-blowing hypocrisy which is Obama's MO, here is the one I made about Libya which went viral. (Just exchange the word Libya with Syria and it should suffice!)
Below that is one I made right before Xtranormal shut down in July 2013, which anticipates a Syria intervention!
Thursday, August 1, 2013
Another Phony Scandal
The unfolding IRS scandal is chilling, historically so. As is the Justice Department’s spying on journalists. But, we are likely only seeing the tip of two icebergs, and there are other entire icebergs. One such iceberg concerns Barack Obama's use of myriad federal agencies to persecute, bully, and harass corporate symbols of non-union success. Federal agencies as diverse as The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, The Food and Drug Administration, The National Labor Relations Board, the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration, and The FBI, have been thuggishly targeting corporations in support of Obama's big labor union agenda. President Obama has redefined the “bully pulpit” and marshaled every tentacle of federal power to do his bullying.
Labor unions are Obama’s largest support system. Unions supplied billions in the last three election cycles, practically all of it to Democrats. More importantly, unions supplied the boots-on-the-ground and the muscle for Obama’s vaunted ground-game (1). The labor union agenda is Obama’s agenda according to Obama himself (2). The most frequent visitors to the oval office are labor union bosses and labor union lobbyists. Government is unionized five times more than the private sector: 36% vs 7% and growing rapidly (3). In essence, when government agents knock down your door, union members are knocking down your door. When the IRS audits you or demands to know the "content of your prayers", those are union members doing that. The IRS’s own labor union boss, Colleen Kelly, was at the White House the day before the IRS abuses started. (This is particularly worth noting in the context of the cases below.)
These corporate/union bullying cases are similar to the IRS scandal in that government agencies were selectively targeting opponents of Obama’s political agenda. But, there are significant differences too. The IRS scandals broke because the targeted parties, non-profits and individuals, made a big stink. In these corporate cases, the targets are for-profit corporations who will never make a stink. Unlike individuals and non-profit groups, corporations have a huge incentive to keep quiet when being targeted by their government. Corporations answer to their shareholders, and shareholders care about one thing only - share value. Confronting abusive government is never a shareholder priority. Corporations are also easily painted as villains. When corporations get unjustly targeted by governments, they usually suck it up, pay their fines, settle the lawsuits, and quietly get back to work.
Moreover, these corporations were occasionally bi-partisan targets. That’s not surprising; The Code of Laws of the United States runs over 200,000 pages making virtually every corporation, individual, or group in violation of something and probably many things at any given time. According to author Harvey Silverglate, who wrote a book on the subject, everyone in the US likely commits “Three Felonies A Day” (4). What makes these corporate cases conspicuous is the over-the-top way they were handled, the timing, and the symbolic existential threat they posed to Obama’s labor union agenda. Taken one at a time, each case is curious, puzzling; however, taken together and in the light of the IRS cases, the picture becomes clear.
The curious case of Tylenol and Johnson & Johnson:
In 2011, the FDA took over three J&J/McNeil/Tylenol plants, shut one of them down, recalled a bunch of products, and started a criminal investigation claiming poor quality on several fronts (5). The infractions cited were various: musty odors, poor quality, bacteria, imperfect doses, and dangerous containers. Headlines were written, criminal violations alleged, reputations shot, management shuffled, mea culpas issued, fines paid, and tons of money lost to J&J. How many people did these deficient products kill? How many were maimed? In all cases…none. Yet, to this day, it is difficult to find brand named Tylenol and many other J&J products in a store.
This is not to say J&J products are perfect. No company, much less a pharmaceutical company, can make that claim. Every drug has side-effects, is prone to misuse, and has impurities. But, J&J was severely punished for routine issues. This all has the distinct air of a witch hunt. Why the harsh treatment?
J&J is one of the countries largest pharmaceutical companies and one of its most revered workplaces. What makes J&J so successful, or any great company for that matter, is its people. If you want a great company, you need great people. If you want great people, you need a great workplace. On that score, J&J consistently gets awards for being one of the best workplaces in the country (6). One reason J&J is such a great place to work is its founding ideology, and that is precisely why Obama and the unions have singled it out.
Robert Wood Johnson, a founding member of the company, immortalized J&J’s ideology in 1943 in a document he called “Our Credo” (7). Line two, paragraph two, of the J&J Credo states:
“Everyone must be considered as an individual.”
This is anathema, inimical, to the concept of a labor union. A synonym for labor union is “collective bargaining agreement”. Unions seek to be considered as a collective, not as individuals. The J&J Credo is a symbolic existential threat to the very idea of labor unions. Considering J&J’s perch at the top of the prestigious pharmaceutical industry and their reputation as one of the best places to work, it is easy to see how they were a symbolic threat to unions.
The Credo also made J&J vulnerable when the federal government decided to bully them. The Credo states:
“…everything we do must be of high quality.”
Barack Obama’s tactical bible, “Rules for Radicals” by Saul Alinsky, teaches:
“Make the enemy live up to its own book of rules.”
No company could endure the scrutiny of the FDA when determined to find things like bacteria (which is everywhere), and odors (which are everywhere). Whole J&J plants have been shuttered for such nebulous infractions.
Today, J&J does employ union workers. Unionization at J&J runs about 5% compared to 7% for the entire private sector (8). Public sector unionization is seven times higher averaging 36% (3). Not only was J&J a possible target due to their prominence and Credo, they were also unionized at below average rates.
Side bar: In the 1980s, seven people died after ingesting cyanide tainted Tylenol. The case was never solved, but the investigation did narrow the source of the cyanide to the Tylenol distribution network around Chicago. Chicago in the 1980s would have been the perfect place if a union had wanted to frame a corporate enemy with poisonings and get away with it. Organized crime and organized labor controlled everything including local law enforcement and politicians. (Not sure much has changed.) Moreover, unions in Chicago had control of the packaging and distribution of Tylenol. Tylenol was shipped from J&J’s plants in bulk containers to independently owned distribution centers where it was put into capsules, then into jars, and finally boxed and shipped to retailers. The cyanide was introduced somewhere in that union distribution network (9).
One person, James Lewis, was convicted for extortion related to the Tylenol case and is still considered a suspect, but he has never been charged. Following the murders, J&J took their packaging away from the independent contractors and the unions and began doing it in-house. Unions may have had nothing to do with those murders, but they did have the means, the motive, and the opportunity.
The curious case of Toyota and unintended acceleration:
On August 28, 2009, four people were tragically killed in a Lexus with a stuck accelerator. The tragedy properly led to further inquiry, and at the end of it all:
· NHTSA had taken several Toyota models off the market (an unprecedented move)
· Obama’s Transportation Secretary, Ray LaHood, instructed Americans to not drive Toyotas (also unprecedented)
· Toyota’s top leadership, including President Akio Toyoda, was compelled to testify before congress
· There were numerous congressional hearings
· There was a 1.1 billion dollar lawsuit settlement
· Toyota was ordered to pay about $15 million in fines to the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration
· Millions of cars were ordered recalled
· Toyota lost its spot as the number one autmaker in the world
· Billions were lost in value and profit.
· Toyota’s reputation was seriously damaged.
What caused the unintended acceleration and what was the fix? In the case of the tragic Lexus accident that triggered it all, it turned out to be errant floor mats installed by a dealer. No other cause was ever definitively found (10). Toyota did eventually recall millions of cars and replace some parts, but the whole issue faded with a whimper.
Unanticipated acceleration is a ubiquitous charge against all automakers. It is nearly impossible to prove or disprove. In short, the case against Toyota was a giant witch-hunt which seriously hurt Toyota and helped GM. Why would the government want to hurt Toyota and help GM?
Not only is Toyota non-union while its rival GM is unionized, the UAW union owns GM along with the federal government who is the majority shareholder. That makes Barack Obama the overlord of GM, Toyota’s main competitor.
Consider the following timeline:
2008 - Union support of Barack Obama helps him win the Presidency of the US
Non-union Toyota surpassed unionized GM as the world’s largest automaker
2009 - GM and Chrysler go bankrupt and get bailed out by the US government, which hands a huge chunk of GM to the UAW union
Toyota is accused of unanticipated acceleration
Toyota cites floor mats and issues warning.
2010 – The ubiquitous complaints persist and the US government insists on recalls
Toyota is forced by the US government to cease selling several models, unprecedented in automotive history.
GM offers $1,000 checks to Toyota owners who switch to GM cars
Toyota sales are flat for the year.
GM sales rise 21% for the year.
But there’s more. The unions had other reasons to have Toyota in the crosshairs. While Toyota is non-union, they did have one plant in California that was a joint venture with GM staffed by UAW workers. The partnership was called NUMMI, New United Motor Manufacturing, Inc. GM pulled out of that partnership in 2009 after the government take-over. Obama and the unions apparently had no interest in a partnership with non-union Toyota now that they owned GM. Toyota was then stuck with UAW workers who had an inherent conflict of interest; while they worked for Toyota, they were also part owners of its largest competitor. Toyota chose to close the plant and the unions responded with a fatwa:
"You are going to see an attack on Toyota that is unprecedented." said Rome Aloise, a top Teamsters official.
"We will take this fight to every Toyota dealership in California." Richard Trumka, president of the AFL-CIO, said via a videoconference link. "Our message is that Toyota kills American jobs. This comes at a time when Toyota can ill afford another black eye."
"If they close the NUMMI plant, we union people will not buy another Toyota." said Bob King, UAW vice president.
The source of the above quotes is a definitive piece on the subject, “Firestone Revisited: Was Toyota a takedown target in the name of NUMMI?” by Mandy Nagy (11)
Despite all that and the tsunami in Japan, Toyota recently regained their position as world’s largest automaker surpassing GM in global sales. Their cars still do not accelerate unexpectedly.
Side bar: If you were around in the ‘80s when Audi was practically forced out of the US based on a similar charge of unintended acceleration, this may all sound familiar. In the Audi case, like the Toyota case, the whole thing turned out to be nebulous at best, and at worst, a coordinated attempt to take-down Audi complete with a scary "60 Minutes" story. At the time, Audi of Germany was having unprecedented success in the US with its Audi 5000 model and eating into the lucrative UAW made Cadillac and Lincoln markets.
The curious case of Gibson Guitar Corp:
On August 2nd, 2011, armed federal agents from The US Fish and Wildlife Service raided Gibson Guitar Corp. in Nashville Tennessee. They stormed-in like a swat team, frightening workers, shutting down production, and confiscating computers, raw materials, documents. This was the second time Gibson had been raided since Obama took office, the first having occurred in 2009. At the time, the reasons given had to do with some alleged violation of an obscure statute having to do with foreign laws and exotic wood. This made no sense. Other guitar makers were using the exact same wood, but they weren’t raided. Why Gibson?
Some suggested Gibson was targeted because CEO and owner, Henry Juskiewicz, gave donations to Republicans while Martin Guitars, Gibsons rival in the acoustic guitar market, donated to Democrats. This suggestion has re-emerged in the wake of the IRS scandal, but this also makes no sense. Lots of CEOs give to Republicans and don’t get raided by armed federal swat teams.
No, Gibson, like J&J and Toyota, symbolized an existential threat to Obama’s union agenda: Gibson had relocated from a forced-union state to a right-to-work state.
Gibson was founded in Kalamazoo, Michigan, right smack in-between union strongholds Chicago and Detroit. But, Gibson moved production to Tennessee in the 80’s, fleeing a forced-union state for a right-to-work state. This is a cardinal sin for Obama and the unions. Obama has called the right-to-work “the right to work for less money” (12). Unions hate right-to-work laws because it makes future unionization less likely and less lucrative for them.
Side bar: Gibson’s two major competitors in the domestic-made guitar market, Martin and Fender, both manufacture primarily in forced-union blue states, Pennsylvania and California respectively. Fender Musical Instruments, Gibson’s rival in the electric guitar market has historical ties to media giant CBS, which owned the company until the mid ‘80s. (Meanwhile, Michigan became a right-to-work state in 2012, and the conversion did not please Obama or the unions (13).)
The curious case of Boeing:
Another curious case which relates to Gibson is the case of Boeing’s South Carolina plant. When Boeing tried to relocate some production to right-to-work South Carolina, Obama and his NLRB tried to block Boeing from operating the plant which had already been built at the cost of a billion dollars. The whole thing was an outrageous and obvious attempt to both intimidate others from relocating to right-to-work states, and blackmail to get Boeing to reach agreement with its machinists union in Washington State. It likely succeeded on both fronts (14). In light of the Gibson case and the question of motive, the Boeing case highlights the extent to which Obama will go towards bullying corporations to achieve his ends.
Whenever Barack Obama acts in a puzzling way, it is best to consult his tactical mentor, Saul Alinsky, for therein usually lies the answer:
“The Radical may resort to the sword but when he does he is not filled with hatred against those individuals whom he attacks. He hates these individuals not as persons but as symbols representing ideas or interests which he believes to be inimical to the welfare of the people.” Saul Alinsky, 1946 (emphasis added)
The unifying theme in all the above cases is that the targets are all “symbols representing ideas or interests” which Obama believes to be inimical to his political agenda. All four companies are leaders in their industry and they threaten unions in symbolic ways: J&J because it is so successful and has a Credo to treat employees as individuals, Toyota because it is non-union and is UAW/GM/Obama’s top rival, Gibson because it fled Michigan’s forced-unionism to relocate in a right-to-work state, and Boeing because it was a twofer: leverage for the machinists and a message about right-to-work.
Unfortunately, these are not the only cases. Unions have a long history of playing dirty and dangerous when threatened. What makes all this so remarkable and chilling is that, in Barack Obama, the unions have a new thuggish partner capable and willing to use the full force of the federal government to harass their mutual enemies. Individually, each case could be dismissed as plausibly due to some overzealous agency, but when taken as a whole, there can be no benefit-of-the-doubt.
(8) According to sources at J&J. J&J declined to comment on their labor relations or union relations.
This is a repost of "The Next Big Scandal" 5/20/13
Sunday, July 21, 2013
Monday, June 10, 2013
Thursday, May 30, 2013
The Next Big Scandal
The unfolding IRS scandal is chilling, historically so. As is the Justice Department’s spying
on journalists. But, we are likely
only seeing the tip of two icebergs, and there are other entire icebergs. One such iceberg concerns Barack Obama's use of myriad federal agencies to persecute, bully, and harass corporate symbols of non-union success. Federal government agencies as diverse
as The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, The Food and Drug Administration, The
National Labor Relations Board, the National Highway Traffic and Safety
Administration, and The FBI, have been thuggishly targeting corporations in support of Obama's big labor union agenda.
President Obama has redefined the “bully pulpit” and marshaled every
tentacle of federal power to do his bullying.
Labor unions are Obama’s largest support system. Unions supplied billions in the last three election cycles, practically all of it to Democrats. More importantly, unions supplied the boots-on-the-ground and the muscle for Obama’s vaunted ground-game (1). The labor union agenda is Obama’s agenda according to Obama himself (2). The most frequent visitors to the oval office are labor union bosses and labor union lobbyists. Government is unionized five times more than the private sector: 36% vs 7% and growing rapidly (3). In essence, when government agents knock down your door, union members are knocking down your door. When the IRS audits you or demands to know the "content of your prayers", those are union members doing that. The IRS’s own labor union boss, Colleen Kelly, was at the White House the day before the IRS abuses started. (This is particularly worth noting in the context of the cases below.)
These corporate/union bullying cases are similar to the IRS scandal in that government agencies were selectively targeting opponents of
Obama’s political agenda. But,
there are significant differences too.
The IRS scandals broke because the targeted parties,
non-profits and individuals, made a big stink. In these corporate cases, the targets are for-profit
corporations who will never make a stink.
Unlike individuals and non-profit groups, corporations have a huge
incentive to keep quiet when being targeted by their government. Corporations answer to their
shareholders, and shareholders care about one thing only - share value. Confronting abusive government is never
a shareholder priority. Corporations are also easily painted as villains. When corporations get unjustly targeted by governments, they
usually suck it up, pay their fines, settle the lawsuits, and quietly get
back to work.
Moreover, these corporations were occasionally bi-partisan targets. That’s
not surprising; The Code of Laws of the United States runs over 200,000 pages
making virtually every corporation, individual, or group in violation of
something and probably many things at any given time. According to author Harvey Silverglate, who wrote a book on
the subject, everyone in the US likely commits “Three Felonies A Day” (4). What
makes these corporate cases conspicuous is the over-the-top way they were
handled, the timing, and the symbolic existential threat they posed to Obama’s
labor union agenda. Taken
one at a time, each case is curious, puzzling; however, taken together and in
the light of the IRS cases, the picture becomes clear.
The
curious case of Tylenol and Johnson & Johnson:
In 2011, the FDA took over three J&J/McNeil/Tylenol plants, shut one of them down, recalled a bunch of products, and started a criminal investigation claiming poor quality on several fronts (5). The infractions cited were various: musty odors, poor quality, bacteria, imperfect doses, and dangerous containers. Headlines were written, criminal violations alleged, reputations shot, management shuffled, mea culpas issued, fines paid, and tons of money lost to J&J. How many people did these deficient products kill? How many were maimed? In all cases…none. Yet, to this day, it is difficult to find brand named Tylenol and many other J&J products in a store.
In 2011, the FDA took over three J&J/McNeil/Tylenol plants, shut one of them down, recalled a bunch of products, and started a criminal investigation claiming poor quality on several fronts (5). The infractions cited were various: musty odors, poor quality, bacteria, imperfect doses, and dangerous containers. Headlines were written, criminal violations alleged, reputations shot, management shuffled, mea culpas issued, fines paid, and tons of money lost to J&J. How many people did these deficient products kill? How many were maimed? In all cases…none. Yet, to this day, it is difficult to find brand named Tylenol and many other J&J products in a store.
This is not to say J&J products are perfect. No company, much less a pharmaceutical
company, can make that claim.
Every drug has side-effects, is prone to misuse, and has
impurities. But, J&J was
severely punished for routine issues. This all has the distinct air of a witch hunt. Why the harsh treatment?
J&J is one of the countries largest pharmaceutical
companies and one of its most revered workplaces. What makes J&J so successful, or any great company for
that matter, is its people. If you
want a great company, you need great people. If you want great people, you need a great workplace. On that score, J&J consistently gets
awards for being one of the best workplaces in the country (6). One reason J&J is such a great
place to work is its founding ideology, and that is precisely why Obama and the
unions have singled it out.
Robert Wood Johnson, a founding member of the company,
immortalized J&J’s ideology in 1943 in a document he called “Our
Credo” (7). Line two, paragraph
two, of the J&J Credo states:
“Everyone must be
considered as an individual.”
This is anathema, inimical, to the concept of a labor
union. A synonym for labor union
is “collective bargaining agreement”.
Unions seek to be considered as a collective, not as individuals. The J&J Credo is a symbolic
existential threat to the very idea of labor unions. Considering J&J’s perch at the top of the prestigious
pharmaceutical industry and their reputation as one of the best places to work,
it is easy to see how they were a symbolic threat to unions.
The Credo also made J&J vulnerable when the federal
government decided to bully them. The Credo states:
“…everything we do
must be of high quality.”
Barack Obama’s tactical bible, “Rules for Radicals” by Saul
Alinsky, teaches:
“Make the enemy
live up to its own book of rules.”
No company could endure the scrutiny of the FDA when
determined to find things like bacteria (which is everywhere), and odors (which
are everywhere). Whole J&J
plants have been shuttered for such nebulous infractions.
Today, J&J does employ union workers. Unionization at J&J runs about 5%
compared to 7% for the entire private sector (8). Public sector unionization is seven times higher averaging 36% (3). Not only was J&J a possible
target due to their prominence and Credo, they were also unionized at below
average rates.
Side bar: In
the 1980s, seven people died after ingesting cyanide tainted Tylenol. The case was never solved, but the
investigation did narrow the source of the cyanide to the Tylenol distribution
network around Chicago. Chicago in
the 1980s would have been the perfect place if a union had wanted to frame a
corporate enemy with poisonings and get away with it. Organized crime and organized labor controlled everything
including local law enforcement and politicians. (Not sure much has changed.) Moreover, unions in Chicago had control of the packaging and
distribution of Tylenol. Tylenol
was shipped from J&J’s plants in bulk containers to independently owned
distribution centers where it was put into capsules, then into jars, and
finally boxed and shipped to retailers.
The cyanide was introduced somewhere in that union distribution network (9).
One person, James Lewis, was convicted for extortion related
to the Tylenol case and is still considered a suspect, but he has never been
charged. Following the murders,
J&J took their packaging away from the independent contractors and the
unions and began doing it in-house.
Unions may have had nothing to do with those murders, but they did have
the means, the motive, and the opportunity.
The
curious case of Toyota and unintended acceleration:
On August 28, 2009, four people were tragically killed in a Lexus with a stuck accelerator. The tragedy properly led to further inquiry, and at the end of it all:
On August 28, 2009, four people were tragically killed in a Lexus with a stuck accelerator. The tragedy properly led to further inquiry, and at the end of it all:
· NHTSA
had taken several Toyota models off the market (an unprecedented move)
· Obama’s
Transportation Secretary, Ray LaHood, instructed Americans to not drive Toyotas
(also unprecedented)
· Toyota’s
top leadership, including President Akio Toyoda, was compelled to testify
before congress
· There
were numerous congressional hearings
· There
was a 1.1 billion dollar lawsuit settlement
· Toyota
was ordered to pay about $15 million in fines to the National Highway Traffic
and Safety Administration
· Millions
of cars were ordered recalled
· Toyota
lost its spot as the number one autmaker in the world
· Billions
were lost in value and profit.
· Toyota’s
reputation was seriously damaged.
What caused the unintended acceleration and what was the
fix? In the case of the tragic
Lexus accident that triggered it all, it turned out to be errant floor mats
installed by a dealer. No other
cause was ever definitively found (10). Toyota did eventually recall millions of cars and replace some
parts, but the whole issue faded with a whimper.
Unanticipated acceleration is a ubiquitous charge against
all automakers. It is nearly
impossible to prove or disprove.
In short, the case against Toyota was a giant witch-hunt which seriously
hurt Toyota and helped GM. Why
would the government want to hurt Toyota and help GM?
Not only is Toyota non-union while its rival GM is
unionized, the UAW union owns GM along with the federal government who is the
majority shareholder. That makes
Barack Obama the overlord of GM, Toyota’s main competitor.
Consider the following timeline:
2008 - Union support of Barack Obama helps him win the
Presidency of the US
Non-union Toyota surpassed
unionized GM as the world’s largest automaker
2009 - GM and
Chrysler go bankrupt and get bailed out by the US government, which hands a
huge chunk of GM to the UAW union
Toyota is accused of unanticipated
acceleration
Toyota cites floor mats and issues
warning.
2010 – The ubiquitous complaints persist and the US
government insists on recalls
Toyota is forced by the US
government to cease selling several models, unprecedented in automotive
history.
GM offers $1,000 checks to Toyota
owners who switch to GM cars
Toyota sales are flat for the year.
GM sales rise 21% for the year.
But there’s more. The unions had other reasons to have Toyota in the
crosshairs. While Toyota is
non-union, they did have one plant in California that was a joint venture with
GM staffed by UAW workers. The
partnership was called NUMMI, New United Motor Manufacturing, Inc. GM pulled out of that partnership in
2009 after the government take-over.
Obama and the unions apparently had no interest in a partnership with
non-union Toyota now that they owned GM.
Toyota was then stuck with UAW workers who had an inherent conflict of
interest; while they worked for Toyota, they were also part owners of its
largest competitor. Toyota chose
to close the plant and the unions responded with a fatwa:
"You are going to see an attack on Toyota that is
unprecedented." said Rome Aloise, a
top Teamsters official.
"We will take
this fight to every Toyota dealership in California." Richard
Trumka, president of the AFL-CIO, said via a videoconference link. "Our
message is that Toyota kills American jobs. This comes at a time when Toyota
can ill afford another black eye."
"If they close
the NUMMI plant, we union people will not buy another Toyota." said Bob King, UAW vice president.
The source of the above quotes is a definitive piece on the
subject, “Firestone Revisited: Was Toyota a takedown target in the name of
NUMMI?” by Mandy Nagy (11)
Despite all that and the tsunami in Japan, Toyota recently
regained their position as world’s largest automaker surpassing GM in global
sales. Their cars still do not
accelerate unexpectedly.
Side bar: If
you were around in the ‘80s when Audi was practically forced out of the US
based on a similar charge of unintended acceleration, this may all sound
familiar. In the Audi case, like the Toyota case, the whole thing turned out to
be nebulous at best, and at worst, a coordinated attempt to take-down
Audi complete with a scary "60 Minutes" story. At the time, Audi of Germany was having
unprecedented success in the US with its Audi 5000 model and eating into the
lucrative UAW made Cadillac and Lincoln markets.
The curious case of Gibson Guitar Corp:
On August 2nd, 2011, armed federal agents from The US Fish and Wildlife Service raided Gibson Guitar Corp. in Nashville Tennessee. They stormed-in like a swat team, frightening workers, shutting down production, and confiscating computers, raw materials, documents. This was the second time Gibson had been raided since Obama took office, the first having occurred in 2009. At the time, the reasons given had to do with some alleged violation of an obscure statute having to do with foreign laws and exotic wood. This made no sense. Other guitar makers were using the exact same wood, but they weren’t raided. Why Gibson?
On August 2nd, 2011, armed federal agents from The US Fish and Wildlife Service raided Gibson Guitar Corp. in Nashville Tennessee. They stormed-in like a swat team, frightening workers, shutting down production, and confiscating computers, raw materials, documents. This was the second time Gibson had been raided since Obama took office, the first having occurred in 2009. At the time, the reasons given had to do with some alleged violation of an obscure statute having to do with foreign laws and exotic wood. This made no sense. Other guitar makers were using the exact same wood, but they weren’t raided. Why Gibson?
Some suggested Gibson was targeted because CEO and owner,
Henry Juskiewicz, gave donations
to Republicans while Martin Guitars, Gibsons rival in the acoustic guitar
market, donated to Democrats. This
suggestion has re-emerged in the wake of the IRS scandal, but this also makes
no sense. Lots of CEOs give to
Republicans and don’t get raided by armed federal swat teams.
No, Gibson, like J&J and Toyota, symbolized an
existential threat to Obama’s union agenda: Gibson had relocated from a forced-union state to a
right-to-work state.
Gibson was founded in Kalamazoo, Michigan, right smack
in-between union strongholds Chicago and Detroit. But, Gibson moved production to Tennessee in the 80’s,
fleeing a forced-union state for a right-to-work state. This is a cardinal sin for Obama and
the unions. Obama has called the
right-to-work “the right to work for less money” (12). Unions hate right-to-work laws because
it makes future unionization less likely and less lucrative for them.
Side bar: Gibson’s two major competitors in the
domestic-made guitar market, Martin and Fender, both manufacture primarily in
forced-union blue states, Pennsylvania and California respectively. Fender Musical Instruments, Gibson’s
rival in the electric guitar market has historical ties to media giant CBS,
which owned the company until the mid ‘80s. (Meanwhile, Michigan became a right-to-work state in 2012,
and the conversion did not please Obama or the unions (13).)
The curious case of Boeing:
The curious case of Boeing:
Another curious case which relates to Gibson is the case
of Boeing’s South Carolina plant.
When Boeing tried to relocate some production to right-to-work South
Carolina, Obama and his NLRB tried to block Boeing from operating the plant
which had already been built at the cost of a billion dollars. The whole thing was an outrageous and
obvious attempt to both intimidate others from relocating to right-to-work
states, and blackmail to get Boeing to reach agreement with its machinists
union in Washington State. It
likely succeeded on both fronts (14). In light of the Gibson case and the question of motive, the Boeing case highlights the extent
to which Obama will go towards bullying corporations to achieve his ends.
Whenever Barack Obama acts in a puzzling way, it is best to
consult his tactical mentor, Saul Alinsky, for therein usually lies the
answer:
“The Radical may resort to the sword but when he does he is not filled with hatred against those individuals whom he attacks. He hates these individuals not as persons but as symbols representing ideas or interests which he believes to be inimical to the welfare of the people.” Saul Alinsky, 1946 (emphasis added)
The unifying theme in all the above cases is that
the targets are all “symbols representing ideas or interests” which Obama
believes to be inimical to his political agenda. All four companies are leaders in their industry and they
threaten unions in symbolic ways:
J&J because it is so successful and has a Credo to treat employees
as individuals, Toyota because it is non-union and is UAW/GM/Obama’s top rival,
Gibson because it fled Michigan’s forced-unionism to relocate in a
right-to-work state, and Boeing because it was a twofer: leverage for the machinists and a message about right-to-work.
Unfortunately, these are not the only cases. Unions have a long history of playing dirty and dangerous
when threatened. What makes all
this so remarkable and chilling is that, in Barack Obama, the unions have a new
thuggish partner capable and willing to use the full force of the federal
government to harass their mutual enemies.
Individually, each case could be dismissed as plausibly due to some
overzealous agency, but when taken as a whole, there can be no
benefit-of-the-doubt.
(8) According to sources at J&J. J&J declined to comment on their
labor relations or union relations.
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