Labor Day

I am one of those who grew up with the Jerry Lewis telethon as the mainstay of the Labor Day holiday. It was one of those things that we watched every Labor Day just to see who was going to be on. We always waited patiently for the tote board to roll over to the next million. Jerry has got to be thinking about all the fun he had when he and Moses were doing the circuit is the Sinai Desert. That must be why he spent so much time in Vegas.

So now I have a family and they have no clue who Jerry Lewis is. We have not maintained the Labor Day ritual of enjoying the entertainers on the telethon stage or waiting for the tote board to roll over to the next big number. We have adjusted our Labor Day to be a day with friends and family. Poor Jerry has taken a back seat to the whole event. Of course Dino is no longer available to sign autographs so the Martin and Lewis are kaput.

But Labor Day is about celebrating the working man. It is about taking the time to realize that we are all part of the wheels that have made this nation great. All of us contributing to the largest economic engine in the world and making sure that America stays great. It is perplexing that labor would be so anxious to create a world where we are no longer the economic engine for the world. Forcing companies to pay for benefits that only benefit the union creates increased costs for the rest of the country. When profit becomes a liability instead of an asset we are in trouble. Just look at how the liberals are focusing on the profits of the oil companies. They were made legitimately but the greedy, psycho, whacked out liberals are trying to scavenge them and redistribute the wealth to the non-producers. Talk about Obama Hood, I mean Robin hood and his approach to leading through change. I think that means that is all you will have left in your pocket once he is elected. I think it goes, "A pot to piss in or a window to throw it out of."

Icool

Cobb

Christianity and The Honest Communist

For years, America has had one major foe; communists. First there was the Soviet Union and Joseph Stalin. We heard all about how under the communist system, everyone was equal and it was share the wealth. Everyone was to live in peace and harmony with no one being better than anyone else and utopia was to reign over all the land. Something must have been wrong with the Soviet system because people starved to death by the millions and the government had to have special police to monitor the people to ensure that everyone behaved properly. By properly, I mean in the true communist fashion; dirt poor and oppressed. Communism was nothing more than a way to institute a dictatorship using an unworkable form of government as a facade. You had several nations follow the Soviet lead, the most notable being China. China still claims to be communist but their economy no longer seems planned, except maybe the pollution.

Communism in its base form appears to be a very workable system. Everyone contributes and shares alike. Unfortunately, for those who do not have the propensity to work and share it becomes more of a expect and take system. This is much like the socialist system the American liberals are trying to institute in our country today. Take from those who are producing and give to those who have come to expect something for nothing. Thank you FDR.

Now, Jesus teaches the ultimate form of communism. Christ's system actually works. I all revolves around realizing that it is not all about you. That loving other's so much that their happiness comes before yours. This concept is almost completely foreign to the post World War II generation. We look at giving all we have and think, "No frickin way. Then I will have nothing and they'll have everything." Only Christ seems to be able to see beyond that issue. Give everything and continue to give your all. If everyone walked that line and gave all that they had, then everyone would be able to share and no one would feel cheated. Christ's words that we love one another as he loved us would create a world where all would glorify the Lord through every act that we do. Unfortunately, we have the seven deadly sins running rampant through the threads of our daily lives. As Mick Jagger so aptly says, "Please allow me to introduce myself, I'm a man of wealth and taste. I've been around for a long, long year. Stole many a man's soul and faith."

Icool

Cobb

Plotting A New Course

After six years at my current employer, I have decided to make a career change. I have been looking at the ravaged landscape that is the automotive manufacturing world and seeing too many craters and mine fields. The number of bankruptcy and plant consolidations is staggering. The company I work for (at least for 2 more days) has consolidated at least 20% of its North American plants in the last two years. The plant I work at has been headed for that list at least five times in the last six years. They are currently creating a monster by putting the remnants of three different plants into the current product mix. Most of those processes are either brand new or different enough to cause serious doubt about the plant talent base. I see a plant being set up to fail. Maybe I am too close to the heart of the matter.

I am heading for the world of non-automotive manufacturing after 20 years of making parts for cars. Not having to deal with the automotive assembly plants changing their minds at the drop of a hat and expecting you to respond (at your own expense) to their failure. No more TS16949 which is the universal accepted evaluation method which you pay a company to come in and evaluate whether you are doing what you way you do. They also make sure that you are following all of the rules imposed by the auto makers. What makes the whole thing worse is that the auto companies force you to spend the money to have yourself evaluated. So you have your operations disrupted for a week, entertain someone who is basically trying to find fault with how you do your job and then pay for the privilege to be a supplier. On top of that you are forced to give back typically 5% of your current sales price every year to the auto makers, just to deepen the amount of money you are currently losing on what you ship. As Oliver says, "Can I have some more?"

I do not know what the new company will bring. They make electrical items for both commercial and industrial applications. I know they are looking for someone to come in and put some systems in place to improve their competitive edge. I have managed to glean that from 20 years in automotive. When you are continuously fighting for your survival, you learn how to do more with less and make sure things are streamlined as possible. Unfortunately, you can get too lean and when the energy reserve is gone, you tend to get a sick patient. You only have to look at the current state of North American auto suppliers. Can anyone say CLEAR? Recharge the paddles.

Icool

Cobb

Between The Devil and The Deep Blue Abyss

Up, up and away in my beautiful balloon. What a wonderful sentiment. Welcome to who we have as the convention candidates for election 2008. Talk about a lack of opportunities. It is like choosing between Mussolini and Stalin. One is willing to sell out America to win votes and the other is just willing to turn America over to anyone who will listen. At least McCain has managed to portray Obama as the tax and spend liberal we know he is. Who else would go on a world tour and promise the negotiate away every American advantage but a one term senator with no leadership experience?

Unfortunately, all those years being integrated by Charlie have left McCain with a serious hole in his portfolio. He wants to open up and let the hoards from the south enter America without following the rule of the land. Speak English and assimilate. I am not talking Borg assimilation. We are the cultural melting pot so everyone provides a slice of uniqueness to America. We do not need pockets of hablas espanol en los estados unidos. We need America to be the land where we all are for the common good of our free citizens. We do not need slaves to the government. President Lincoln freed the slaves over 100 years ago. Our current regime seems intent on reversing that hard fraught freedom.

Who to choose? Obama offers a fresh approach in naivete. Change, change, change but to what? If you do not have the depth, then change is little more than a 6 letter word. McCain is like a broken record. Someone must have scratched the album because it keeps skipping to the same old tired message of I have been here longer, vote for me. Ho Hum. I still want to be woken up and told that there is someone else. To sleep, perchance to dream.

Icool

Cobb

Gorillas, Hurricanes, and Moss Oh My

A recent discovery of 125,000 gorillas in the jungles of Africa have created a major uptick in the known population of these majestic creatures. A creature that was once on the verge of extinction due to the excesses of humanity is once more safe from joining the dodo. So, how did our scientific community that is so sure of their facts (can you say man made climate change) miss the existence of so many gorillas? Let's call it not bothering to get all the facts before jumping to conclusions. At least they preached saving the species and practiced conservation. When was the last time Al Gore took mass transit or practiced energy conservation? Can you say Nobel Prize for best fiction documentary? I'm sorry, that would be Oscar.

The next big flip flop (or should I say thong) is that the increase in global temperatures will cause less hurricanes not more. Huh? After the destruction of New Orleans, we were inundated with the certainty that man made global warming was going to increase the number of destructive hurricanes to the Americas. Since then, we have had few if any that caused more than driving rain and flooding. Well since the evidence points in the opposite direction, the global kooks are doing what any politician does when popular opinion changes; head in the direction that all of the other fish are swimming. Damn the facts. After all, it is what I feel that matters, not the facts.

So now I find out that their is evidence that Antarctica was once a flourishing land filled with both plant and animal life. The current absence of anything but penguins and glaciers leads me to believe that a major climate change occurred in Antarctica causing the extinction of all then existing life. Why is there no outcry for that lost eco-system? Entire populations are lost forever and yet the liberals do not morn. I guess if it cannot make a splash in the media, it is not worth reporting. Sorry woolly mammoth. You'll just have to wait until the next ice age before you get your 15 seconds.

Icool

Cobb