Nightly Ramble:The Keep On Ramblin’ Edition

Welcome one and all to the most intense nightly read anywhere on the ‘sphere the ever more popular BitsBlog Nightly Ramble, the “Keep on Ramblin'” edition.

• The hound the Wold and the Sheep deciding what to ahve for lunch: By way of Glenn, I note Reason TV asking:
  

  “Why does the United Auto Workers union and President Obama want taxpayers to reward Detroit—and punish her competitors—for making unprofitable cars?”

  

  Come on, you knew I was going to do this graphic someday, right?

  That, of course, miscasts the situation. The cars and trucks Detroit wants to build are in fact profitable… witness… people are bying them… the trouble is government and the unions are making them unprofitable with wildly unrealistic regulations and taxes, along with wildly unrealistic wage and benefit demands. The trouble is, neither is about to admit they’re the problem. Since the government interventionists and the unions now ahve the power of government on their side… when the power of government is exactly the problem, you can pretty much figure the big three are toast.

• Meanwhile back in the real world: If you want an example pointing out that sans Unions, companies can be profitable, watch Walmart.
• If it worked for THEM…. The State of Kansas has suspended income tax refunds. Does that mean the Citizens of Kansas should start charging the state penalties and interest? After all, when the citizens of Kansas don’t meet their ‘obligations’, taht’s what the state does to them.  I’d like to see the tables turned around on this one.
• Hoping we don’t see it:  Here in New York, the Vampire State,  Gov. David Paterson took the pay increases of 130,000 state workers away because, he said, of the budget crisis He then turned around and gave raises of as much as 46% to his staffers. He must figure everyone’s as blind as he is. Needless to say, Patterson’s a Democrat.
• Bottom looks like up: The approval rating of Congress is up… all the way to 31%. What a joke.
• Betrayal?  No, Camille. (Audio) It’s only betrayal if you believed them in the first place. If you did, you’re not as smart as I thought you might be. Frankly, what they’re leaning toward.. IE; Overt control over speech is part and parcel of what the Democrats have become the last few decades. We’ve been saying that here, all along.
• Losing one’s head: That beheading south of Buffalo that I wrote about on Friday, is still getting attention.  Odd, though, how we don’t hear much about the beheadings on the Mexican border. I keep hearing 30 people… well, heads, anyway.. last month alone. Can you imagine why nobody’s paying any attention to this one? I know I can.
• Let’s (Not) face it:I’ve never gotten into Facebook, for reasons of trust, mostly. As it turns out that mistrust is justified.
• The verdict is in, apparently:  Michelle points out:
  

  On Nov. 4, after Barack Obama clinched the White House, the market closed at 9,625.28. — In mid-morning trading today, the day President Obama signs his massive Generational Theft Act into law and a day before he unveils a massive new mortgage entitlement, the Dow dropped to to 7,606.53.

  Can we take this as a verdict on Obama, yet?  I think so. Gateway Pundit notes this link and grumbles:

  The Democrats are driving the economy off a Cliff to Nowhere.
  …But, at least they got their pet pork projects funded.

  Liberal Values complains:

  Anyone have any doubt that they will try to blame the current economic crisis on Obama if they run out of ways to blame it on Clinton? One example comes from Michelle Malkin who points to the stock market declines since Obama was elected (not even when he took office) as if the problem occurred under his watch as opposed to under Bush.

  Of course, this reveals not only overt denial of the facts as established, but also a total lack of understanding how the market works. Investors by the nature of the action are about assessing risks in the near and distant future. They looked at the election and the anti-business rethoric Obama’s been spewing for years, and labeled him a disaster, they’re backing off and they’re taking their money with them.  They don’t like what they see.  As it turns out that “disaster’ label has been more than justified. That’s a point Liberal Values will never admit.

•  John Hawkins has a great bit up at Pajamas Media  on how to turn the GOP around. A must read.
• Oops: I forgot:  The Roland Burris revelations, admissions and retrenchments continue apace.  As I say in an upcoming column, it strikes me as one of the many optical issues Obama is dealing with. (Meaning, it doesn’t look good for anyone attached to it, including Obama)
• Well? Cheney pushed Bush to Pardon Libby? I’d think less of him if he didn’t frankly.  And yes, that means Libby should have been pardoned.
• Flight 3407: By the way, the Flight 3407 Memorial services being listed now… Buffalo’s Channel 2 has the best list of them I’ve seen so far..  Other than my initial post I’ve not commented much on the subject, essentially because with all the traffic on it, there was little to add. I was interested, though to note that it was the first casualty accident in a couple years, in the entire country. Odd thing; Until a buddy mentioned that today, I’d forgotten hearing it’d been that long since the last accident, just a couple days before the crash. Perhaps that’s why such incidents generate the shock they do; Loss of life aside, They’re unusual.
• Parting comment on 3407: I complain loud long and bitterly about most government. At the same time, I’ve long said that there  is a proper role for government to play, and good people attached to government, who are too seldom recognized because of all the poor excuses for human beings attached to government, and who misuse it. I do have to give the ME’s offices around western NY, the FAA, NTSB and so on a verbal (Written?) pat on the back, here. Deconstructing that kind of scene, dealing with trying to figure out what happened, dealing with body ID’s and such… dealing with remaining family members, and the emotional impact that comes with all of that…. It must be said that’s a thankless job that nobody, I think, can walk away unscarred from.  In a sense, those folks are  injuring themselves in the service of their fellow man, and here’s one blogger who doesn’t mind acknoledging that service. A special nod of respect, too, goes to the first responders on that scene. I can think of very little that’s more heart-wrenching than hauling butt to get to a scene like that and recognizing, as quickly as they apparenty did, that there was nothing for the people on that plane. Buddy of mine works at one of the local hopsitals, and he tells me they held his shift for a while thinking they’d need the extra manpower. As it turned out of course, they didn’t, and sent the extras home before midnight that night. His reaction, inside was a dejected sadness that he wasn’t able to do more for the problem.  And he wasn’t even at the scene, with all the wreckage in his face, all the fire, the noise, and the cold.  The frantic attemtps to save life, for naught.  Imagine the midset of those who were there,and who are even now, there, sifting through the wreck.  Despite having known this kind of person, and working with them, nearly all my life,  I’m still amazed and thankful that such people exist.  As should we all be.