TOYOTA RECALL

Let me preface this rant with the statement, “I do not own a Toyota and I do not own any Toyota stock” (though now may be the time to buy).  I have no dog in this fight.

Toyota has some programming and mechanical problems and is being made out to be “The Killer Car Company”.  Is it really as bad as we are being told, or are the problems being amplified to make them sound as bad as possible?  Let’s examine that potential from an angle not yet presented.

1.  Our federal government owns controlling interest and is managing two of the Big Three automakers.

2.  The two American car companies owned by Obama & Clan are union shops.  Toyota is not.

3.  Almost all of the negative commentary is coming from the left slanted, union ooh-rah media.

4.  Toyota sold more cars and made more money in the Cash for Clunkers program than did any American car company.

I’ve got to think that perhaps the problem is not as great as we are being led to believe.

Unless you own or did own one of the following vehicles, you probably didn’t hear of the recall.  Below is a random sampling from autorecalls.org.  *2005 is the latest listing on this site.

2005 Chevrolet Avalanche, Express, Silverado, Suburban

Defect Summary: CERTAIN TRUCKS, SPORT UTILITY VEHICLES, AND VANS EQUIPPED WITH BOSCH HYDRO-BOOST BRAKE ASSEMBLIES, THE HYDRAULIC BRAKE BOOSTER PRESSURE ACCUMULATOR MAY CRACK AND SEPARATE FROM THE HYDRO-BOOST ASSEMBLY DURING NORMAL OPERATING CONDITIONS.  Consequence Summary: IF A SEPARATION OCCURRED AND THE HOOD OF THE VEHICLE WERE OPEN, FRAGMENTS FROM THE ACCUMULATOR COULD CAUSE INJURY TO PEOPLE IN THE IMMEDIATE AREA. THE PRESENCE OF THIS CRACK OR FRACTURED SURFACE COULD ALLOW THE HYDRAULIC FLUID TO LEAK FROM THE ACCUMULATOR CIRCUIT OF THE BOOSTER ASSEMBLY. THE LOSS OF FLUID WOULD CAUSE INCREASED STEERING AND BRAKING EFFORT AND A CRASH MAY OCCUR WITHOUT PRIOR WARNING.

2005 Chrysler PT Cruiser

Defect Summary: CERTAIN PASSENGER VEHICLES EQUIPPED WITH 4-WHEEL ANTILOCK BRAKING SYSTEM (ABS), 2.4L HIGH OUTPUT TURBOCHARGED ENGINE, AND 5-SPEED MANUAL TRANSAXLE, MAY EXHIBIT INADEQUATE CLEARANCE BETWEEN THE LEFT FRONT BRAKE TUBE AND THE TRANSAXLE HOUSING. Consequence Summary: CONTACT BETWEEN THE BRAKE TUBE AND THE TRANSAXLE HOUSING OVER AN EXTENDED PERIOD OF TIME MAY EVENTUALLY LEAD TO PERFORATION OF THE BRAKE TUBE, WHICH COULD LEAD TO A LOSS OF BRAKING FORCE IN THE LEFT FRONT/RIGHT REAR CIRCUIT OF VEHICLE.

2005 Dodge Stratus

Defect Summary: ON CERTAIN SEDANS AND CONVERTIBLE MODEL VEHICLES, THE RIGHT STEERING KNUCKLE MAY HAVE BEEN DAMAGED DURING THE COMPONENT MANUFACTURING PROCESS. Consequence Summary: THIS COULD CAUSE THE STEERING KNUCKLE TO CRACK AND SEPARATE FROM THE UPPER CONTROL ARM, WHICH COULD RESULT IN A CRASH.

2005 Ford GT

Defect Summary: ON CERTAIN PASSENGER VEHICLES, THE UPPER AND LOWER CONTROL ARMS MAY HAVE CASTING IMPERFECTIONS AT THE END OF EACH ARM THAT MAY RESULT IN THE ARM FRACTURING. Consequence Summary: UNDER CERTAIN CIRCUMSTANCES THE FRACTURE MAY AFFECT VEHICLE HANDLING CHARACTERISTICS, WHICH COULD RESULT IN A CRASH.

If I owned one, I don’t think I would dump one of the most reliable and efficient automobiles on the road just because the company is getting a lot of negative press right now.  It could be just another gubmint ploy.

FREEDOM

There is only so much freedom to be had in this country.  Either the people have it or it is held by the government.

This year there will be an increase of over 150,000 workers on the government payroll.  (That’s in addition to the 80,000 new hires last year.)  Extremely conservative figures put the average annual wage for a federal government worker at $75,400. That is over eleven billion dollars ($11,000,000,000) in new payroll this year alone.  The eleven billion dollar figure does not even include the wage and salary increases received by the ongoing federal government employees including congress.  This takes place at a time when private sector employers are cutting back on worker hours and pay to save money…if the jobs still exist.

And if you think that you’re getting a free ride because you’re among the 95% who has received or will receive a tax credit or lower taxes, think again.  That is nothing but teleprompter imaged rhetoric.  There is no plan, and there never was a plan, to relieve the burden on the middle class or poverty level classes.  In fact, it’s just the opposite.  It’s just another “Keep an eye on the curtain”.

“I can make a firm pledge. Under my plan, no family making less than $250,000 a year will see any form of tax increase. Not your income tax, not your payroll tax, not your capital gains taxes, not any of your taxes.” Barack Obama – Dover NH, Sept 12, 2008

Again, I use the most blatant slap to the faces of the middle and lower income earners as an example.  Of all the people who can least afford to watch their dollars go up in smoke as they puff on cigarettes, these are the two socio-economic groups.  And yet, the target demographic for tobacco companies encompasses teens, undereducated, middle and lower income individuals including welfare recipients.   Obama had hardly put away the shoes worn at his inaugural ball when he signed a bill increasing the federal tax on a pack of cigarettes by $0.615.  The lie read off the teleprompter at that time was that the increase was necessary to expand and fund health insurance subsidies for children of “lower income” families.  He took from the poor to fund a program for the poor which has not been expanded or funded almost a year later!  He stole the brownies from their lunch sacks when nobody was looking!

Obama and his administration are giddily awaiting the sunset dates for the tax cuts signed into law by George W. Bush.  They include the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001, Job Creation and Worker Assistance Act of 2002 and the Jobs and Growth Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2003.  By allowing these tax cuts to expire, Obama is effectively reinstituting substantive tax increases at a time when the nation requires a significant reduction.  Each of us will help pay for them.

Every time a new government program is generated or expanded and each time hundreds of employees are hired to run them “We the People” lose freedom.  Every time taxes are increased to pay for these new programs, “We the People” are sent deeper into involuntary servitude to the government.

In order for this country to survive these times, government spending must be curtailed, let private businesses succeed or fail on their own and make sure that our representatives on Capitol Hill are representing us, not themselves.

We have only nine months left to get to know the candidates and vote to make the changes required.  This includes local, state and federal elections.  No more “lesser of two evils”.  Let’s prove that we want only the best nominees and candidates not just the most electable.  We need to regain some of our freedom.

BROWNIE ALERT!

Obama is now on a tour to identify how he can fool the American public into thinking he really has a heart and wants to do something for the country.  WATCH OUT FOR YOUR BROWNIE!

He says he is going to concentrate on the job market and the economy.  Where was the concern a year ago?  Why didn’t he do something about jobs when he first took office so that we would have money to pay the taxes he and congress have instituted?  It’s because he’s using Munchausen by Proxy syndrome to get his way.  He has made the job market so bad that only HE can help.  He has destroyed the economy to the point that it is necessary for HIM to miraculously reverse the damage.  Nobody will look at how we got to where we are (if they do, he will again point to his predecessor), they will only give praise and accolades to the SAVIOR for his care, concern and unparalleled ability to reverse the ills.

Once the extreme anger of the country subsides and complacency sets in again; when nobody is looking, the health care issue will be reintroduced.  His goal is, always has been and will continue to be to ram an unnecessary, unwanted, costly and restrictive health plan down our throats.  He will appease the masses only as long as he must to achieve his goal.  His string handlers are working behind the curtain right now. They’re writing the new bill while trying to identify how much show this marionette must provide before congress can safely introduce the modified scheme.

Be aware!  Don’t let him reach into your lunch sack and steal your brownie when you glance away.  Clean “House” on Nov. 2 so we can start fresh and perhaps it won’t be necessary to impeach, recall and prosecute this dictator wannabe before 2012.

ARROGANCE AND VIOLENCE

The progressives are so self involved that the people of this nation no longer have meaning in their lives.  That is, if we ever did.  I’m not talking about all Democrats, or even some Republicans for that matter.  The term is Progressives.  Their goal is to make radical socialism work…at any cost.

With the Health Scare Bill alone they have openly and insolently bought the necessary votes for incremental passage.  That we know of:  Louisiana received – $300 million, Connecticut – (Chris Dodd’s vote didn’t even have to be bought) $100 million, Nebraska – incalculable sum in perpetual Medicaid assistance, Vermont – the construction of two community health centers; Florida, Pennsylvania and New York – protections for Medicare Advantage beneficiaries, and the list goes on and on.  There could be as many dollars spent on bribes (payoffs, buyoffs, graft, enticements, perks – you choose the term) as what are being spent on any medical program for we peons.

Nancy Pelosi, talking about the outcome of the Massachusetts Senatorial race and how it might affect Health Scare said, “Let’s remove all doubt, we will have health care — one way or another.”  To my ears that means the opinions, wants, wills and desires of the citizens count for nothing as we will be saddled with whatever the elites choose for us.  Remember, they are not participating in any program that comes out of this debacle.  They are covered by their own untaxed and untouchable ‘Cadillac’ plan that is not available to us, yet we are paying for it out of our taxes.

It’s not just Congress acting as our overlord with their aggressively destructive commandeering of our lives and liberties.  It goes to the top of the dung heap.  It goes to (or comes from) the Oval Office.  In an interview with George Stephanopoulos on Feb. 20, the day after Brown’s election and the first anniversary of his Presidency, President Obama said, “If there’s one thing that I regret this year it is that we were so busy just getting stuff done and dealing with the immediate crises that were in front of us that I think we lost some of that sense of speaking directly to the American people about what their core values are and why we have to make sure those institutions are matching up with those values.”

A quick rephrase and analysis of that statement for clarity:  “If there’s one thing that I regret this year it is that we were so busy just getting stuff done (read: crippling the economy and the American Public) and dealing with the immediate crises that were in front of us (because we either created them or identified them as crises to promote our personal agendas) that I think we lost some of that sense of speaking directly to the American people about what their core values are and why we have to make sure those institutions are matching up with those values,”  Note:  He wanted to speak to us, not dialogue with us.  He wanted to tell us what our core beliefs and values should be.  He wants to be sure that we adjust our core values to coincide with his plans.  Now that’s arrogant!

The power that has been inadvertently and mistakenly granted to the “Progressives” has allowed them to abduct our personal choices.  They have taken our liberties, adjusted them to meet their own goals, and then used them against us.   They will continue to do more and more to remove our freedoms until enough people decide they want their country back.  I’m convinced that it will happen.

Such a radical takeover of an entire nation’s people, our freedoms, our rights and our livelihoods can only be met with reactionary resistance.  (Note to FBI, INTERPOL and other intelligence agencies:  I am not suggesting or advocating violent resistance.)  I would like this to be a peaceful re-taking by the populace of our own lives and restraint of our governing bodies as prescribed in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.  But the universal ire being created among the masses by one small group (536 including the House, Senate and President) of people lording unfettered omnipotence over this country must be moderated.  If not peacefully through the voting booth, then we can expect an uprising or uprisings similar to Iran or China.  This is why they fear our guns – we might use them to protect ourselves against the tyranny.

It is not about a black man being President or a woman being Speaker of the House.  They would tell us that is the case, just as they have created so many unwarranted divisions amongst us.  It is about any person or persons showing such disdain for their constituents in order to affect their personal ideals.

As indicated in MA, a vote can count.  Brown is as unknown by this nation as was Obama when he was elected to the Senate.  He could still be a poor choice, we’ll have to wait and see.  However, the fact remains that the Senate seat has been liberated from Progressive Democrat control and it was done at the ballot box.

From this point on, let us learn about the candidates before enthusiastically endorsing them on one or two principles or ideas they profess.  We must know, going in, if the candidate has mouth and charisma or ethics and morals.  A big opportunity exists for the “We the People” to regain some of rights and our dignity in November of this year.  Let’s use our votes wisely.

SAFETY AND SECURITY

Back in the 60s and 70s, I read quite a bit of science fiction.  I read books like “1984” and “Fahrenheit 451” and thought such things could never happen.  For the past fifteen to twenty years, though, I have recognized the naiveté and ignorance of my youth.

We are, as a society, allowing a few people to command our lives.  Different groups, sects and affiliations are changing what the founding fathers had in mind for the United States of America.  They are demanding that we cater to their individual and specific wants and desires without regard for the total or “GLOBAL” effect.  Others are causing us to look the other way as they steal the brownies from our lunch sacks.

“Never let a serious crisis go to waste…it’s an opportunity to do things you couldn’t do before.”  Rahm Emanuel – 2009

That quote was a follow-up, an enhancement, to President Obama’s own words referencing the financial industry situation.  Barack had referred to the banking and Wall Street melt downs as a crisis.  The word crisis was repeatedly used to move TARP legislation ($700 billion) through Congress at lightening speed before anyone was aware.  Crisis was used to justify the immediacy of the Stimulus (American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009) that has worked out so well.  There was no crisis that couldn’t have been overcome through the free market system for either spending excuse.  Those situations were identified as a crises for, and only for, the purpose of generating the financial collapse of America.  Control baby, control!

For decades the government has been taking more and more of our freedoms, liberties and dollars away to retain and augment control over our lives.  I believe that in an effort to continue this masquerade and the near future enslavement of the entire population, many other crises will be developed.  It was once a small worry that someone might burglarize your empty home or shop.  Then the criminals became bolder and moved from unoccupied spaces to home invasions, street-side robberies and car jackings.  Now the reasoned alerts, expectations and fears include identity theft, phishing, and computer information loss.

These potential personal and business privacy invasions have allowed entrepreneurs to start flourishing businesses in security, safety and personal comfort.  Not long ago there was no need for such businesses as Life Lock, I.D. Watchdog, Identity Theft Labs, Trusted I.D. or Identity Guard that assure the safety of your personal credit information.  Likewise, companies like Carbonite, E Vault, I Drive, Barracuda Networks and Mozy guaranty the safety of your electronic files and documents.

I am probably one of the biggest proponents of small business.  I appreciate entrepreneurship and ingenuity.  I applaud the pioneering of the businesses listed above.  The forward thinking minds have recognized needs of today and acted to fill the voids.  They deserve the opportunity to flourish and make money.  But…

But what if the information is accessed and used by criminals or the government (redundancy acknowledged) or other persons under service contract to a clandestine federal department?  How safe and secure would you be then?  We know that the federal government has asked Yahoo and Google for selected individuals’ personal internet surfing information, which was somewhat reluctantly forwarded.  We know that hackers have accessed accounts, and suspect it has even been at the behest of the Executive branch, both current and past, either covertly or directly or through one of the alphabet monikered agencies under the Department of Homeland Security.   Much of the info sought and gathered is questionably of any interest to national security other than deemed so by those persons concerned or fearful about their own positions or re-election potential.  The data and information garnered is however, for the most part, available to the public under the Freedom of Information Act.  It is either readily available or made available after a reasonable period.

One of Obama’s most recent Executive Orders amends (read: reverses) the intent of Executive Order #12425, signed by Ronald Regan in 1983.  E.O. #12425 awarded Interpol the ability to conduct investigations of individuals and international crime organizations on American soil.  It allowed the international organization many of the privileges granted to diplomats, but intentionally and specifically excluded the wording:

“Property and assets of international organizations, wherever located and by whomsoever held, shall be immune from search, unless such immunity be expressly waived, and from confiscation. The archives of international organizations shall be inviolable.”

President Obama has now included the above passage for Interpol giving them powers that exceed our own home grown FBI.  He has eliminated any sovereignty vested in citizens and the United States of America.  Interpol may now conduct investigations within the United States and is accountable only to Interpol.  The organization does not have to respond to requests or subpoenas for information under the Freedom of Information Act as do our own investigatory agencies.  They can even extract information from subjects in ways that Congress deems “torture” without having to answer to any American body.

As an aside, Interpol can now harbor and secure any and all documents relating to the birth and/or citizenship of our current president and any future president and his/her appointees from the prying eyes of the public.

With the inclusion of those two sentences, President Obama has jeopardized the integrity of the previously listed private companies.  They have instantly and unwittingly become data and information repositories with easy and legal access by Interpol.  Using the words of Al Gore in his failed attempt to justify his own immoral and ethically bereft behavior, there is no longer a “controlling legal authority”.

Once it was only possible to obtain all this information by accessing your home or work P.C., Blackberry etc., the credit reporting bureaus (Experian, TransUnion and Equifax) and multiple other and varied sources.  Interpol can now access your (and thousands of others’) social security number(s), personal information and purchase history from a single source. They can also go to a second repository and gather your Internet surfing history, email and any and all documents you might have created or stored on your computer if you are using any of these “information protection” or off site data backup warehouses.  It’s just a click away and they don’t have to tell you or anybody that it has been done or for what purpose.

The identity theft companies guaranty your losses up to $1 million.  At the rate this president is bankrupting our country and the small businesses within via his and Congress’ insane taxes and policies, it could well mean ruin for these entrepreneurs when they attempt to make good on their guarantees as the financial information of millions of people is leaked, or sold to the highest bidder.  Obama has, with a few strokes of his pen, eliminated any accountability for Interpol.  It will be considered another ‘crisis’ when it happens, but somehow George W. Bush will be blamed because Obama accepts no responsibility.

“There is no controlling legal authority that says this was in violation of law”.  Al Gore March 7, 1997

Feel safe and secure now?