kpete
kpete's JournalDetroit automakers race to keep up with sales
Detroit automakers race to keep up with sales
TOM KRISHER
Published: 25 minutes ago
DETROIT (AP) - Auto sales are growing so fast that Detroit can barely keep up.
Three years after the U.S. auto industry nearly collapsed, sales of cars and trucks are surging. Sales could exceed 14 million this year, above last year's 12.8 million.
The result: Carmakers are adding shifts and hiring thousands of workers around the country. Carmakers and parts companies added more than 38,000 jobs last year, reaching a total of 717,000. And automakers have announced plans to add another 13,000 this year, mostly on night shifts.
But there's a downside. The newfound success is straining the factory network of the Detroit automakers, as well as the companies that make the thousands of parts that go into each vehicle. This could lead to shortages that drive up prices.
MORE:
http://m.apnews.com/ap/db_16037/contentdetail.htm?contentguid=5rri6dKr
I am a federal bureaucrat. A professional government employee. And guess what? I’m damn proud of it.
I am a federal bureaucrat. A professional government employee. And guess what? I’m damn proud of it....................
Like many federal workers, I have sacrificed: a high-paying job in the private sector; a year of my life (and the first six months of my daughter’s life) spent in Iraq; long hours; high stress; pay freezes. I’m not complaining; in fact, I quite enjoy my career and my life in the Foreign Service. Yet when I hear our politicians talking about “fixing” Washington, I often wonder to myself: whom would they like to “fix?” Is it the guy I see on the Metro every day, heading to work at the Food and Drug Administration to ensure that our food is safe? Is it the woman going into Commerce Department headquarters to support U.S. companies abroad? Or do they mean the thousands of people who support our troops overseas? How about my fellow Foreign Service officers, who put themselves in harm’s way in Baghdad, Kabul, Damascus and hundreds of other places around the world?
I have no doubt that some within the federal bureaucracy simply show up each day to collect a paycheck. I also have no doubt that this happens within any number of multinational corporations, small businesses and law firms. But I know for a fact that most of us do this job not because we want to make a lot of money but because, simply put, we want to serve our country.
There was a time, not long ago, when government service was seen as a higher calling. That’s the reason I decided to join the State Department in 2005 — not because I wanted job security or good health benefits, but because I wanted to devote my life to making this country stronger, to making the world a better, safer place and to have a career I was proud of. Seven years later, I still get excited to come to work every morning. I still get a thrill when I enter the State Department and see the flags of every nation with which we have diplomatic relations. And I certainly get chills each and every time I see the U.S. flag on one of our embassies. I’m fairly sure I am not the only federal employee who feels this way.
So to all our politicians, I implore you: Stop using the government workforce as a political football. Just stop. It demeans you, it demoralizes us, and it is counterproductive to drive away the best and brightest from working for the betterment of this country.
.....................................
the rest:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/i-work-for-uncle-sam-and-im-proud-of-it/2012/02/14/gIQAVDcdcR_story.html
End of Republican Party? Party Of Nixon/Reagan/Bushes Staring Down Its Own Demographic Extinction
The End of the Republican Party?
Jonathan Chait: "The modern GOP -- the party of Nixon, Reagan, and both Bushes -- is staring down its own demographic extinction. Right-wing warnings of impending tyranny express, in hyperbolic form, well-grounded dread: that conservative America will soon come to be dominated, in a semi-permanent fashion, by an ascendant Democratic coalition hostile to its outlook and interests. And this impending doom has colored the party's frantic, fearful response to the Obama presidency."
the rest:
http://nymag.com/news/features/gop-primary-chait-2012-3/
Gingrich to Afghanistan: ‘Figure Out How to Live Your Own Miserable Life’
Gingrich to Afghanistan: ‘Figure Out How to Live Your Own Miserable Life’
NASHVILLE — Newt Gingrich said it is impossible to “fix” Afghanistan and suggested the U.S. should to tell Afghan citizens to “figure out how to live your own miserable life.”
Speaking at a business luncheon here on Monday, Mr. Gingrich amped up his criticism of U.S. involvement in Afghanistan after a string of attacks by Afghan soldiers on American troops. ”We’re not going to fix Afghanistan,” the former House speaker said. “It’s not possible.”
His prescription:”What you have to do is say, ‘You know, you’re going to have to figure out how to live your own miserable life… Because you clearly don’t want to learn from me how to be unmiserable.’”
http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2012/02/27/gingrich-to-afghanistan-figure-out-how-to-live-your-own-miserable-life/?mod=e2tw
White House gives blessing to partial Keystone XL construction
White House gives blessing to partial Keystone XL construction
By Andrew Restuccia - 02/27/12 02:27 PM ET
The White House backed TransCanada Corp.’s bid to build a major portion of the Keystone XL oil pipeline Monday, a move that could shield President Obama from growing GOP attacks over the project.
Obama's support for the southern portion of the pipeline gave the White House another chance to blunt GOP attacks by touting support for U.S. oil development. But it quickly re-opened a rift with the president’s environmental base, which condemned the project.
TransCanada, which has been working for years to win federal approval of Keystone XL, said Monday that it will begin construction on a section of the pipeline that runs from Cushing, Okla., to Texas.
The White House quickly reiterated its support for the pipeline segment, which would carry crude oil pumped from land in the Midwest and surrounding areas to refineries in Texas. The pipeline can't be extended to carry oil sands crude from Canada until the company receives a cross-border permit from the State Department, a permit the president rejected in January.
the rest:
http://thehill.com/blogs/e2-wire/e2-wire/212785-white-house-backs-major-segment-of-keystone-pipeline
(SHIT!, kpete)
Priest Denies Lesbian Communion...At Her Mother's Funeral
Priest Walks Out Of Woman’s Funeral Because Of Her Gay Daughter
February 26, 2012
My friend Barbara, the daughter of the deceased woman, was denied communion at her mother’s funeral. She was the first in line and Fr. Guarnizo covered the bowl containing the host and said to her, “I cannot give you communion because you live with a woman and that is a sin according to the church.” To add insult to injury, Fr. Guarnizo left the altar when she delivered her eulogy to her mother. When the funeral was finished he informed the funeral director that he could not go to the gravesite to deliver the final blessing because he was sick.
I will tell you a little about the woman who drove that priest from the altar. She is kind, she is smart, she is funny and she works hard promoting the arts. She pays her bills, she cares deeply for her family and she loved her mother and her mother loved her right back. And now she will never set foot in a Catholic church again and who can blame her?
http://www.addictinginfo.org/2012/02/26/priest-walks-out-of-womans-funeral-because-of-her-gay-daughter/
Word Clouds---GOP Defined
The GOP Candidates Defined? A Word Cloud From Daily Beast Readers
by Sam Schlinkert Feb 24, 2012 7:15 PM EST
Inspired by Wednesday’s debate, when CNN’s John King asked all four Republican candidates to define themselves in one word, we asked Daily Beast readers to do the same.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/02/24/word-clouds-readers-describe-romney-paul-santorum-and-gingrich.html
The GOP’s Panic Over Rick Santorum
The GOP’s Panic Over Rick Santorum
by Michael Medved Feb 27, 2012 4:45 AM EST
On the eve of major primaries, party leaders are convinced that a Santorum victory would doom their entire ticket in the fall. Michael Medved on why Mitt suddenly looks much more appealing.
For Republicans, the key question is no longer whether they’ll overcome their reluctance and skepticism to accept Romney for the nomination. The bigger dilemma now is whether they can overcome their panic and outright dread and embrace Righteous Rick as their standard bearer. Despite his lead in Gallup’s preference poll, less than a third (32 percent) of GOP voters see Santorum as the strongest challenger to Obama; a big majority (58 percent) agrees that Mitt has the best shot.
Why, then, Santorum’s continued strength in national surveys and his strongly competitive numbers in Michigan and Arizona?
For those who hold elective office, their own careers are at stake if a polarizing, unpopular candidate drags down the entire Republican cause.
In part, this willingness to support Santorum while still viewing Romney as vastly more electable relates to the spreading gloom over Republican prospects in general. With an apparently improving economy and rising approval ratings for the president, a plurality of Americans now believes that Obama will “definitely” win the race. For some conservatives, the mounting sense that any champion they select will inevitably lose in November encourages the idea that the Republicans might as well send a passionate, politically incorrect, in-your-face message with bomb-thrower Santorum rather than making a safe, dull, practical choice for Romney.
more:
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/02/24/gop-fears-burial-beneath-obama-landslide-against-rick-santorum.html
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