Shocking Headline of the Year

by Ben DeGrow | 10:19 pm, April 8, 2009

“Kim Jong Il Re-Elected as Leader of North Korea” …You know, I thought for sure the people would vote him out … Oh, wait, never mind … Only one thing: the article doesn’t tell us if he got 100% of the “vote” like Saddam Hussein did … Hmmm ….

People’s Press Collective Gets Noticed by Washington Post

by T.L. James | 8:59 pm, April 8, 2009

My other blogging project (the one that’s been taking all my time lately, hence the infrequent MarsBloggage) was named today as one of the best state political blogs by the Washington Post.
People’s Press Collective and our friends at Complete Colorado and Face the State took three of the five spots on the Colorado list [...]

Thanks to What?: Posing a Clear Litmus Test Between Left and Right

by Ben DeGrow | 6:10 pm, April 8, 2009

Blogging for the Heritage Foundation, Conn Carroll points readers to a clear litmus test between the Left and the Right.
If you followed that link and said, “Hey, that’s not a bad idea, why didn’t I think of that?” — it’s pretty safe to say you’re on the Left. On the other hand, if you laughed [...]

Is It Time to Step Up Advertising on Colorado Conservative Blogs?

by Ben DeGrow | 5:53 pm, April 8, 2009

Over at RedState, Erick Erickson makes a great point about rebuilding the conservative movement that can be applied to Colorado:

In the past few years, SEIU, AFL-CIO, NEA, DCCC, and a host of other left-wing organizations have been buying ads on left of center blogs keeping those blogs going — allowing the bloggers on the left [...]

Washington Post Recognition

by David K. Williams, Jr. | 5:01 pm, April 8, 2009

The Washington Post has listed its “Best State Political Blogs.”

Coloradopols.com
Face the State
Squarestate.net
Peoples Press Collective
Complete Colorado

Meet the new boss…

by David K. Williams, Jr. | 4:54 pm, April 8, 2009

Ah, my Obama supporting friends. Keith Olberman (yes, KEITH OLBERMAN) points out why Obama and the Democrats are just another group of power hungry thugs. Reject the two party duopoly. Do not be complicit in your own robbery or enslavement. Fight the power. Fight it now.

The Liberal Plan Exposed

by Mr. Bob | 1:44 pm, April 8, 2009

#tcot #gop #hhrs
Classic explanation of the march leftward and how the left is doing it from Pajama’s Media.

The Debt in Pictures

by Mr. Bob | 12:44 pm, April 8, 2009

#tcot #gop #stimulus
Stolen from; The Yankee Sailor

Pirates Seize US Ship *update Crew takes it back!!

by Mr. Bob | 8:57 am, April 8, 2009

#tcot #gop #military First time ever. Perhaps the pirates expect weakness from this administration? Hopefully they will show them wrong and use SOF to put them down.

Pirates commandeered a United States-flagged container ship with 20 American crew members off the coast of Somalia on Wednesday, the first time an American-crewed ship was seized by pirates in the area.

The container ship, the Maersk Alabama, was carrying thousands of tons of relief aid to the Kenyan port of Mombasa, the company that owns the ship said.

The ship was taken by pirates at about 7:30 a.m. local time, 280 miles southeast of the Somali city of Eyl, a known haven for pirates, a spokesman for the United States Navy said. It is owned and operated by Maersk Line Limited, a United States subsidiary of A.P. Moller – Maersk Group, the Danish shipping giant.

The Maersk Alabama was at least the sixth commercial ship commandeered by pirates this week off the Horn of Africa, one of the most notoriously lawless zones on the high seas, where pirates have been operating with near impunity despite efforts by many nations, including the United States, to intimidate them with naval warship patrols.

Read the rest at Redstate

****** UPDATE The official said the status of the other pirates was unknown but they were reported to “be in the water.” The official spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter.

Another U.S. official, citing a readout from an interagency conference call, said: “Multiple reliable sources are now reporting that the Maersk Alabama is now under control of the U.S. crew. The crew reportedly has one pirate in custody. The status of others is unclear, they are believed to be in the water.”

The ship was carrying emergency relief to Mombasa, Kenya, when it was hijacked, said Peter Beck-Bang, spokesman for the Copenhagen-based container shipping group A.P. Moller-Maersk.

READ THE REST CREW TAKES BACK SHIP

RMA Blog Talk Radio Solo Hosting Stint: Helpful and Humorous Links

by Ben DeGrow | 7:58 am, April 8, 2009

Last night I was honored to host Rocky Mountain Alliance Blog Talk Radio by myself. I was blessed to have three great conversations – including an update on the Fort Collins city council elections with Randy Ketner, a discussion on a range of fiscal issues with prospective state treasurer candidate J.J. Ament, and 12 minutes [...]

Colorado HB 1273: “Our responsibility” that Coloradans get medical care?

by Brian Schwartz | 1:30 am, April 8, 2009

Defending the proposal for a politically-controlled monopolistic government insurance plan in Colorado, Rep. Daniel Kagan (D-Cherry Hills Village) said:

“I think it is our responsibility that every single Coloradan, regardless of their wealth or position in society, get the health care they need … It is our obligation.”
Let’s say this is true:

Then why is it government’s [...]

Will even energy taxes “soak the rich”?

by Rossputin | 12:39 am, April 8, 2009

I realize that Republicans need to work in the realm of what’s possible, but just how spineless is Senator Lindsey Graham to offer (and get passed) an amendment to the Senate budget bill which says that the Senate will not consider any bill which has a national energy tax “on middle income taxpayers”?

In other words, if you make more than $200,000 (filing singly) or $250,000 (filing jointly), the Senate can consider a bill that would hit you with a national energy tax.

(You can read the amendment at the bottom of the center column of THIS page.)

The amendment passed 65-33. Don’t you think it would have passed by a similar margin if it had not had the liberal-pleasing potential to raise energy taxes on “rich” people, particularly given that Senator John Thune’s amendment which is intended to prevent the implementation of cap and trade if the implementation would raise energy or gasoline prices passed by a vote of 89-8? Well, maybe it wouldn’t have…because “they” know that the deepest desire of Barack Obama and the cult of Algore is to raise energy prices…if they can do so primarily by attacking the “rich”, so much the better, right? In truth, there are probably some radical environmentalists who would prefer to raise energy costs for everyone even more than just on rich people because their first goal is to destroy the economy; destroying just the rich is a nice start but not really their holy grail.

Lindsey Graham is spineless. His “moderate” position on something so fundamental represents much of what’s wrong with the GOP.

I should note that an amendment by Senator Barbara Boxer which passed the Senate by a 54-43 vote may sidestep Thune’s amendment if the government says that it’s sending the money back to consumers. Doesn’t that sound like fun? Have government raise the price of gasoline by a buck or two per gallon and then decide, in some way that I’m sure will be just as rational and fair as all other government spending decisions, how to send that money back to us. Any guess as to what percentage of the dollar you’ll get back?

Obama wants to maintain the Bush tax cuts except for upper-income earners. He wants to keep the estate tax. And now even Republicans are giving him a way to increase other taxes on the most productive members of society (if you’re willing to accept income as a proxy for productivity, which it may not always be…)

It’s just another little step toward Atlas’ final shrug.

And it’s just another little reason to throw out RINOs like Lindsey Graham.

[In these days of extreme political shenanigans, I realize that I may be mis-analyzing Graham’s amendment. If any Senators are reading this – or anyone else who thinks there’s something so “inside baseball” going on here that I totally missed it – please let me know!]

In Which the Washington Bureau Chief Feels the Burn

by Eileen McGuire-Mahony | 11:34 pm, April 7, 2009

The afternoon found me toiling away in the ivory walls of academe.  In strict accordance with a rule little known outside the aforementioned ivory walls, schools must have a certain number of closets and shelves full of yester-semester’s accumulated randomness. Standard examples include partial term papers from students who graduated in 1991, out-of-print Javanese anthropology [...]

Appleseed Project: Colorado

by wesley | 5:31 pm, April 7, 2009

Got a rifle?  Know how to shoot it?  Can you hit a 20″ target at 500 yards on the first shot?  Would you like to learn to? Appleseed has come to Colorado.  What is Appleseed you ask? Appleseed is a project initiated by the Revolutionary War Veterans Association, a 501.c3 nonprofit, that describes the program [...]

Scumbags Kill Marcus Luttrel’s Dog in TX

by Mr. Bob | 4:17 pm, April 7, 2009

#tcot #gop #hhrs
If you are a dog lover, sit down before you watch this. If you honor true American Hero’s, sit down as well. Marcus Luttrel, Navy SEAL, lost his buddies in combat. His dog helped him recover.

Alfonso Hernandez was charged with Cruelty to Animals and is facing up to two years in prison, and #$%hole #2, Michael Edmonds, is currently on the run.

If you have any information on Edmonds, please contact Sgt. Steven Jeter at the Huntsville, TX Ranger station at 936-435-0152. Please see my blog post for their pictures and if you’re in Texas, keep an eye out for these brutal bastards who executed this hero’s dog.

RMA 2.0: Rocky Mtn Blogs Radio Show #21

by elpresidente | 10:59 am, April 7, 2009

**Every Tuesday–next show April 7, 8:30 pm.

The Blog Talk Radio version of the Rocky Mountain Alliance. A weekly discussion about politics–national, state, and local–featuring RMA members bloggers led by featured host and producer Joshua Sharf, with rotating co-host duties from Ben DeGrow of Mount Virtus, Randy Ketner of Night Twister, and Michael Alcorn of Best Destiny.

April 7 lineup–In an excellent solo hosting gig, Ben DeGrow reviewed the heated Fort Collins City Council race with co-host Randy Ketner, spoke with J.J. Ament, who is considering a run for state treasurer, and discussed parental rights and homeschooling with Marya DeGrow of the Independence Institute.

March 31 lineup–Nancy Doty talks about a potential run for Secretary of State, and DU law professor Robert Hardaway on HB1299, the bill to replace the Electoral College with a National Popular Vote.

March 24 lineup–we review of the recent state GOP organizational meeting, where Dick Wadhams was reelected as state chair, and Leondray Gholston was elected vice chair after three rounds of voting with Boulder County GOP chair Scott Starin, and David K. Williams, co-founder of the Gadsden Society of Colorado.

Next week–TBD.

March 17 lineup–State Senate Minority Leader Josh Penry was our first guest, followed by Nathan Chambers, candidate for Colorado Republican Party state vice chair.

March 10 lineup–From 8:45 to 9:15, Colorado Republican Party Chair Dick Wadhams and at 9:30 Hassan Daioleslam.

March 3 lineup–two candidates for Fort Collins City Council, Aislinn Kottwitz (District 3) and Andrew Boucher (District 5), and Tom Stone, who is challenging Dick Wadhams for state party chairmanship.

February 24 lineup–Evan Coyne Maloney of Indoctrinate U, whose film of the same name was shown at the inaugural Liberty on Film last Thursday, and Nadeem Esmail of the Fraser Institute, discussing the dangers of single-payer (socialized) medicine from first hand experience.

Indoctrinate U trailer:

Plus two special editions of RMA Radio–the Pork Roast/anti-stimulus rally edition from the steps of the state capitol, as well as extensive coverage of the Larimer County Lincoln Day dinner.

February 17 lineup–Denver-based political activist Chris Maj, also an affiliate of Ron Paul’s Campaign for Liberty, and a look back to today’s anti-stimulus/pig roast rally at the state capitol.

February 10 lineup–State Rep. Cory Gardner (R-63), probable candidate in the CD-4 GOP primary, and Leondray Gholston, Republican activist and candidate for state GOP vice-chair.

February 3 lineup–Daveed Gartenstein-Ross from the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and Mike Saccone of the Grand Junction Sentinel.

January 27–Guests included elections expert Jan Tyler and State Sen. Greg Brophy.

January 20–Guests included Todd Shepherd, Independence Institute, and Mark Hillman, Colorado Republican National Committeeman.

January 13–State Rep. Ellen Roberts, R-Durango (HD 59) and State Senator Mike Kopp, SD 22, R-Littleton.

January 6–CU Regent Tom Lucero, chairman of the successful Amendment 54 campaign and a candidate for CD 4 in 2010.

December 30–RMA took a look back at a dismal year in their 2008 year-in-review.

December 23–Joshua and fellow commentators (including yours truly) hosted Jim Pfaff of Americans for Prosperity Foundation and Opinion Times. Pfaff discussed the AFP Colorado report “Keeping Colorado Competitive” and bridging the Christian/libertarian gap.

On December 16 we hosted State Rep. Kevin Lundberg (District 49), and discussed the Salazar appointment as the Secretary of the Interior in the Obama cabinet.

The December 12 edition featured Aurora City Councilman Ryan Frazier.

**Bookmark the new RMA Radio home page, with embedded player and calendar of upcoming shows and featured guests.

Stream the show live, or play/download the podcast at your convenience.

I’ll update co-host and guest info for each episode as it becomes available. Stay tuned . . .

RMA’s shows are archived–if you missed any of them, be sure to check out the archive page to stream or download, or scroll down this page a bit, for the embedded archive player.

NRA Firearm Salesman of the Year

by Mr. Bob | 9:24 am, April 7, 2009

RMA Blog Talk Radio Tonight at 8:30: State Treasurer Candidate J.J. Ament

by Ben DeGrow | 7:27 am, April 7, 2009

Tune in tonight at 8:30 PM local Mountain time for the 21st edition of Rocky Mountain Alliance Blog Talk Radio, go check it out. Our confirmed guest for this week is J.J. Ament, to discuss a potential run for state treasurer. We also may have someone else to discuss goings-on at the State Capitol. [...]

Colorado Senate defeats in-state tuition for illegal aliens

by Rossputin | 1:56 am, April 7, 2009

I offer my sincere thanks and congratulations to Democratic State Senators Morgan Carroll, Jim Isgar, Moe Keller, Linda Newell, and Lois Tochtrop. With their 5 votes and the unanimous vote of all the senate Republicans, SB170 was defeated by a vote of 18-16, saving the state from having to spend millions of dollars defending a certain lawsuit which would accurately have charged the state with violating federal law by offering in-state tuition to illegal aliens.

(You can read the details of the federal laws which SB170 would likely have violated in THIS note from several days ago in which I detail how the Democrats used a family emergency of a Republican Senator to sneak the bill out of committee.)

A Denver Post article on the defeat of SB170 offered this remarkable bit of information:

Sen. Joyce Foster, a Denver Democrat who is the descendant of Jewish immigrants, invoked the Holocaust and appealed to senators’ compassion.

“I understand rules, and I understand laws, but sometimes we have to think with our hearts,” Foster said, “and I beg you today to think with our hearts.”

I don’t know whether Senator Foster was saying that she understood the bill violated federal law or that it rewarded those who broke the law to enter the country, or both, but she voted for it anyway and encouraged others to do so.

Making legislation “with our hearts” rather than our minds, looking for a pleasing outcome rather than recognizing the rule of law, is a giant leap toward the end of our Republic. It is the stuff of revolution, and not the American Revolution but rather the French. Statements like that should immediately disqualify a person from serving in public office.

Of course, the Democrats remain masters of Orwellian rhetoric, calling this bill a measure for “tuition equity”. Equity for whom? The resident of Colorado who loses her spot at a state university to an illegal alien? The American resident of New Mexico who would love to come to the University of Colorado if he could get as good a deal as was just offered to illegal aliens by Senator Chris Romer?

I had a chance to ask Chris Romer whether he believed this bill would be used to great effect against Democrats in the next election. His response was essentially that he wasn’t concerned and that he was carrying this bill because he believes in it. I am always skeptical when I hear politicians (and especially Democrats) saying that politics isn’t the primary factor in their political decisions. But in this case, I’m tempted to believe Romer. After all, no legislator could possibly think a vote for this bill could do anything but hurt him or her in the next election. It’s actually remarkable to me that as many Democrats voted for it as did (16). My guess is that many of them were contacted by the Governor who himself was probably contacted by one or more major donors, probably including the two Republicans named in the Denver Post article, Alex Cranberg and Dick Monfort.

I’ve spoken to Mr. Cranberg a few times and hold him in high regard. I think I’m accurate in saying that he’s a libertarian, not a conservative. And while I consider myself mostly libertarian, I do believe in borders and the rule of law, and I think Mr. Cranberg made a serious mistake. (I also believe the mistake will, unfortunately, hurt him when it comes to trying to help future candidates for office.)

I’d also note the ironic turn of events described in the Post article wherein Democrats held up the debate so one of their most leftist members could participate. That took a lot of cojones, given the Democrats’ cheating to get the bill out of committee.

If there’s anything good to come out of this whole sordid affair, it is that the Democrats have, almost certainly to the benefit of Republicans, shown the entire state that they care about illegal aliens more than citizens and that they have absolutely no ethics. For today’s Democratic Colorado legislators, the end justifies the means. They have no principles other than doing whatever it takes to enact their far-left agenda. I can only hope that the public’s memory isn’t so short that these lessons are lost by the next election.

Sign the Do No Harm petition on health care policy

by Brian Schwartz | 1:30 am, April 7, 2009

If you care about affordable, accessible, and quality health care in the United States, please read and sign the Do No Harm Petition from the Galen Institute:
The Hippocratic Oath Taken by All Doctors: “First, do no harm”
Politicians, policymakers and public officials should take the same oath:
DO NO HARM TO AMERICA’S HEALTH CARE SYSTEM.
Many of the [...]

I was too generous to Obama

by Rossputin | 1:07 am, April 7, 2009

A few days ago, I suggested that Obama had done a fairly good job in Europe, particularly because early on it appeared that he had talked France and Germany into sending some measurable number of their troops to help shoulder the war-fighting burden in Afghanistan.

Unfortunately, my estimation of the value of Obama’s visit to the G-20 summit was overly optimistic.

Europe, through NATO, is only planning on sending 5,000 troops, of which 3,000 will be on temporary assignment to provide security for elections in August and the rest will be there to train Afghan troops, not to do any fighting themselves.

One could hardly imagine a more “French” outcome. It seems NATO believes they can “taunt” the Taliban into surrendering, maybe lobbing the occasional farm animal from behind the wall of their fortification, as predicted in the famous futurist film, “Monty Python and the Holy Grail”

And while I’m not ashamed to admit that “Monty Python and the Holy Grail” is my favorite movie of all time, that doesn’t mean I’m pleased to see President Obama “run away” from what was essentially a slightly-more-pleasant European taunting. I can just hear Sarkozy saying “So, we French fellows outwit you a second time.”

Being a successful leader isn’t just about saying pretty words. It’s about getting things done. Unfortunately for our nation, Obama isn’t getting important national security goals accomplished even when he has the right idea. And just as unfortunately, in the area of domestic policy, where his ideas have been repeatedly disproven by history, he’s getting a substantial part of his agenda through. If there’s anything we can be thankful for, it’s that Obama, while charismatic, is clearly not a great leader, and therefor some of the worst parts of his agenda, namely “card check” and “cap and trade” seem to be having a very difficult time progressing through Congress.

Back to the main point of this note: While Obama’s trip was probably good for his ego, it did precious little for the nation. I should not have been so quick to believe that our still-wet-behind-the-ears junior senator from Illinois would be able to out-maneuver experienced European politicians. I won’t make that mistake again.

Liberty Activist Ari Armstrong: A Modern-Day Sam Adams

by elpresidente | 10:59 pm, April 6, 2009

Ari Armstrong, the author of FreeColorado.com, has brought home the Sam Adams Alliance’s “Modern-day Sam Adams Award” for excellence in the cause of liberty:

Ari Armstrong of Westminster, Colorado

Armstrong wins the $10,000 prize for his relentless—and ubiquitous—defense of free markets and individual liberty in the state of Colorado. He is author of FreeColorado.com and a columnist for the Grand Junction Free Press. In the last year, Ari’s work has been published in the Rocky Mountain News, Colorado Springs Gazette, Denver Post Online, and featured on numerous radio and television news programs.

Ari has been an eloquent and tireless advocate of liberty, and I echo Ben DeGrow’s sentiment that this award is well-deserved. Congratulations!

W.R. Grace Deficit Commercial – Prescient, and Delightfully Creepy

by T.L. James | 10:57 pm, April 6, 2009

I don’t remember seeing this commericial when it was originally on… …but I was surprised to discover that it had been made in 1986. By Ridley Scott. It looks newly-made, and it certainly fits the current situation. And it has a catchy retro feel to it, as if it had been made on the set [...]

Big props to Larry Pozner and his law firm

by David K. Williams, Jr. | 2:00 pm, April 6, 2009

In today’s edition of the Denver Post, Larry Pozner asks companies to hire someone, even if they don’t really need someone.

Clear The Bench Colorado Launches Judicial Non-Retainment Initiative

by elpresidente | 11:23 am, April 6, 2009

A followup to BlueCarp’s earlier post–Clear the Bench Colorado launches anti-retainment campaign targeting Colorado Supreme Court justices who value partisanship above the rule of law:

The Colorado Supreme Court has trampled our Constitution one too many times…

This is a rogue court, populated with partisan “justices” with no respect for justice or the rule of law.

This partisan court violated accepted legal practice in ignoring the “findings of fact” of the trial court which heard the case and ruled (correctly) on the unconstitionality of the mill levy tax rate freeze.

The majority on the court is apparently incapable of interpreting the plain language of the Colorado Constitution (including TABOR) which “specifically says voters must approve ‘any new tax, tax rate increase, mill levy above that for the prior year … or a tax policy change directly causing a net tax revenue gain to any district.‘”

The court’s majority is also apparently incapable of interpreting the plainly expressed will of the people, who previously “crushed a ballot amendment [32] in 2003 that would have frozen property tax rates.”

It is time to remind the court’s majorityof their responsibility to the rule of law, the state Constitution, and the will of the people.

John Andrews has more:

“We are a nation that has a government, not the other way around.” Reagan’s words speak defiance to statism, but they are only as true as we make them. The 2010 election is Coloradans’ chance.

Supreme Court justices Mary Mullarkey, Michael Bender, Alex Martinez and Nancy Rice will be up for another 10-year term. Poor stewards of the law since they last faced voters in 2000, all four deserve dismissal. Whether they’re retained or bounced will signal how much we cherish liberty.

Voting judges into office ended here in the 1960s. Gubernatorial appointments replaced the unseemly spectacle of jurists soliciting campaign funds. No court can overrule us, nor need we explain why. In this, at least, we’re still sovereign.

Capriciousness isn’t justified. “Prudence will dictate” avoidance of political changes “for light and transient causes,” the Declaration of Independence cautions. But terminating a dishonest judge is warranted, and so is termination for breach of trust. Mullarkey, Bender, Martinez and Rice have failed their constitutional trust.

The justices up for renewal are poster kids for the “living constitution” racket of legislating from the bench in disregard of the written text. Under Chief Justice Mullarkey, as The Denver Post’s Vincent Carroll wrote after last month’s TABOR ruling, “the Colorado Supreme Court seems to think that it is . . . free to redefine words however it likes.” Let’s answer their abuse of judicial review with electoral review and retire them.

Clear the Bench Colorado–bookmark it.

How Much is a Trillion?

by Ryan | 6:25 am, April 6, 2009

To put a trillion dollars into perspective, I decided to do a little imagining.  Just suppose that you could use a 53-foot semi-trailer to represent 1 million dollars.  One million dollars won’t fill a trailer, but every time you see one, you know it stands for a million dollars.
Now, imagine driving 12 hours per day [...]

New GM CEO makes good impression on “Meet the Press”

by Rossputin | 12:53 am, April 6, 2009

Fritz Henderson, the acting CEO of GM, spent 15 minutes talking to David Gregory on “Meet the Press” yesterday. (The link contains the show’s transcript.) I was fairly impressed, particularly by answers to two questions.

Before I get to those, I’d like to mention a couple things about Henderson for people who don’t know who he is. (I hadn’t heard of him until he moved up to replace Rick Wagoner, whom Barack Obama fired.)

Henderson has been with GM for 25 years, essentially his entire professional career. It is certainly justifiable to ask him whether it’s reasonable to expect someone so entrenched in GM culture to be able to bring massive, disruptive change to the company.

In 1997, he took over GM operations for several South American companies. He was successful enough to then be moved to run operations on 4 continents over the next several years. In 2006, he became GM’s Chief Financial officer, then Chief Operating Officer in 2008 – clearly a promotion signaling that he was supposed to succeed Rick Wagoner, which he did in a way that I’m sure nobody ever expected.

I felt sort of bad for Mr. Henderson when David Gregory insisted on spending so much time talking about GM’s past, sort of like talking about the business equivalent of a horror film might be better for ratings than the relatively dry discussion about the future. But Henderson handled himself well, essentially saying that he’s made mistakes just like everyone else has, but that he’s well aware of the importance of learning from them.

Henderson also made clear that he would like to avoid bankruptcy but that the company will be making preparations so that if that route becomes necessary, it can be done efficiently. (Personally, I think that bankruptcy will happen and that the stock is worthless.)

The first of Mr. Henderson’s answers which really impressed me was this:

MR. GREGORY: Do you expect and would you like to see President Obama encourage the country to buy American cars?

MR. HENDERSON: No, actually. I think the consumer should buy exactly what kind of car they think meets their needs and that excites them. And as I look at it, it’s our job to make sure we provide that, not necessarily have it mandated or otherwise encouraged. I think we have fantastic cars and trucks. We’re going to win in the marketplace and not necessarily because–just because we’re a U.S. company.

I have never bought an American car. And during the show, Mr. Gregory noted that the government’s report on GM’s first proposed restructuring said “Fundamentally, the lingering consumer perception is that GM makes lower-quality cars.” I represent part of that lingering consumer perception…but even my perception is improving, especially after seeing things like Buick (tied with Jaguar) unseating Lexus at the top of J.D. Power’s reliability survey for 2009 vehicles:
http://www.jdpower.com/corporate/news/releases/pressrelease.aspx?ID=2009043

Unfortunately for GM, Cadillac, which came in 9th in the survey, was the only other “nameplate” which did better than the national average, with GMC, Chevrolet, Saturn, Pontiac, Hummer, and Saab all in the bottom half. Nevertheless, the Buick achievement is notable for the company as a whole, as I’m sure even GM is smart enough to take some lessons from what Buick is doing right and apply them to other brands. The good news is that at least 3 of the bottom 4 GM brands are likely to be sold or closed. GM has already announced plans to somehow deal with Saab, Saturn, and Hummer, and it’s unclear what will happen with Pontiac. (It may remain as a specialty brand with a more limited number of offerings.)

As someone whose tax dollars have gone to save GM, and despite my rather deep pessimism about that money ever being repaid at more than 10 cents on the dollar, I want GM to succeed. I particularly want them to succeed if they void all their current union contracts and start over with operating overhead that will leave them competitive with their competition. If GM is no longer dominated by unions, I may consider buying a GM vehicle when I need my next car. The same goes for Ford and Chrysler, both of which place in the top half of the J.D. Power survey: I could consider one if their quality keeps going up and they are either not highly unionized or else they have beaten the unions back to contracts which are not much different than those received by non-union workers at other companies.

I applaud Mr. Henderson’s strong statement of commitment to the brands’ quality and his belief that his company can win in fair competition against other nameplates.

And here’s the other answer I liked a lot:

MR. GREGORY: Your predecessor, Rick Wagoner, agreed to work for a dollar, given the taxpayers were putting so much money into General Motors. You didn’t make that agreement. You’re going to be working for considerably more than that. Why?

MR. HENDERSON: David, at the beginning of this year, as part of the series of sacrifices, my salary was cut 30 percent, and basically it stayed where it is. My, my salary today is the same it was two weeks ago. We’ve asked all of the parties of General Motors, including myself and others, to make sacrifices, and it’s going to stay that way.

MR. GREGORY: But how much will you make?

MR. HENDERSON: My salary is $1.3 million.

It’s about time an experienced, valuable executive stands up for himself. Sure, I understand the “I feel your pain” symbolism of working for a salary of $1. But Mr. Henderson probably has (had) a lot of his net worth tied up in GM stock, which is now around $2 a share and, in my view, worth around $2 less than that. He could probably move to any non-Big Three automaker and earn more than his current salary which, as he noted, was already cut something like $500,000.

If we, the aggregation of taxpayers, who have involuntarily given billions of dollars of our money to GM to “save” it, isn’t it incredibly stupid for someone to try to talk an executive out of $1.3 million in salary if he’s really the right guy for the job? If he’s worth $1, then he’s the wrong guy. If he’s the right guy, he’s worth a lot more than $1.3 million to try to protect and save 1,000 or 10,000 times that much.

I shudder to imagine how much money the taxpayers have likely lost due to the brain drain from AIG, which we’ve put nearly $100 billion into and stand at the ready to put in more, after the insane “AIG bonus attack” by Congress. No, it hasn’t come into force because it seems to have died in the Senate, but the spectacle was enough to cause people to leave, such as this rather high-profile resignation for all to see in the New York Times.

Now that all the other bailed-out institutions are confirming their intent to pay “retention bonuses”, Barney Frank is strangely silent. Maybe he realizes that he overplayed his hand before. Maybe he realizes that his actions regarding the AIG bonus tax were based on a complete lack of understanding of the industry. And maybe Geithner/Obama told him to shut the hell up. My guess is that it’s all three and that we’ll never know for sure about any of them.

Back to the main point of this note: If Mr. Henderson can execute as well as he seems to have in the past, if he’s as willing to learn from GM’s mistakes as in the past, and if he’s willing to take on incredibly difficult battles with the unions (which may put him in some opposition with the union-owned Obama administration), GM may yet survive though, as I’ve said twice already, probably not without current shareholders losing everything and current bondholders losing something.

Dissent Is Seditious – If It Comes From The Right

by T.L. James | 9:18 pm, April 5, 2009

At RedState, writer Caleb describes succinctly the tendency of the left to pin every tragedy on the center-right commentariat: This wing of Democrats, Kos and those who follow him, they want only one thing from conservatives: Silence. And convincing people that being conservative is enough to warrant cop killing is just one example of how they [...]

Strange But True: Bernie Buescher Lectures Protesters on “Good Policy”

by Ben DeGrow | 8:15 pm, April 5, 2009

Update, 4/6: A Rocky Mountain Right diarist from Ouray isn’t too happy with the Governor’s cancellation.
What a bummer when you show up to protest someone, and they aren’t able to make it in person. Such apparently was the case this weekend in Grand Junction, when inclement weather prevented Governor Bill Ritter from being welcomed [...]

Clear the Bench Colorado

by David K. Williams, Jr. | 10:36 am, April 5, 2009

BlueCarp strongly supports this movement:

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