political.....please post nicely

[jserio]

found this on another site. thought i'd post it here and see what kinda reactions and comments i get. 




Remember Lee Iacocca, the man who rescued Chrysler
Corporation from its death throes? He has a new
book, and here are some excerpts.


Lee Iacocca Says:

'Am I the only guy in this country who's fed up
with what's happening? Where the hell is our
outrage? We should be screaming bloody murder.

We've
got a gang of clueless bozos steering our ship of
state right over a cliff, we've got corporate
gangsters stealing us blind, and we can't even clean
up after a hurricane much less build a hybrid car.


But instead of getting mad, everyone sits around and
nods their heads when the politicians say, 'Stay the
course'

Stay the course? You've got to be kidding.

This
is America not the damned 'Titanic'.

I'll give you
a sound bite: 'Throw all the bums out!'


You might think I'm getting senile, that I've
gone off my rocker, and maybe I have.

But someone
has to speak up.

I hardly recognize this country
anymore.



The most famous business leaders are not the
innovators but the guys in handcuffs.

While we're
fiddling in Iraq , the Middle East is burning and
nobody seems to know what to do.

And the press is
waving 'pom-poms' instead of asking hard
questions.

That's not the promise of the ' America '
my parents and yours traveled across the ocean for.


I've had enough.

How about you?

I'll go a step further.

You can't call yourself a
patriot if you're not outraged.

This is a fight I'm
ready and willing to have.


The Biggest 'C' is Crisis!

Leaders are made, not born.

Leadership is forged
in times of crisis.

It's easy to sit there with your
feet up on the desk and talk theory.

Or send someone
else's kids off to war when you've never seen a
battlefield yourself.

It's another thing to lead
when your world comes tumbling down

On September 11, 2001, we needed a strong leader
more than any other time in our history.

We needed a
steady hand to guide us out of the ashes.

A Hell of
a Mess

So here's where we stand.

We're immersed in a
bloody war with no plan for winning and no plan for
leaving.

We're running the biggest deficit in the
history of the country.. We're losing the
manufacturing edge to Asia , while our once-great
companies are getting slaughtered by health care
costs Gas prices are skyrocketing, and nobody in
power has a coherent energy policy.

Our schools are
in trouble. Our borders are like sieves.

The middle
class is being squeezed every which way.

These are
times that cry out for leadership.




But when you look around, you've got to ask:
'Where have all the leaders gone?' Where are the
curious, creative communicators? Where are the
people of character, courage, conviction,
omnipotence, and common sense? I may be a sucker
for alliteration, but I think you get the point.



Name me a leader who has a better idea for
homeland security than making us take off our shoes
in airports and throw away our shampoo? We've spent
billions of dollars building a huge new bureaucracy,
and all we know how to do is react to things that
have already happened.



Name me one leader who emerged from the crisis of
Hurricane Katrina.

Congress has yet to spend a
single day evaluating the response to the hurricane,
or demanding accountability for the decisions that
were made in the crucial hours after the storm.



Everyone's hunkering down, fingers crossed,
hoping it doesn't happen again.

Now, that's just
crazy. Storms happen. Deal with it. Make a plan.


Figure out what you're going to do the next time.




Name me an industry leader who is thinking
creatively about how we can restore our competitive
edge in manufacturing.

Who would have believed that
there could ever be a time when 'The Big Three'
referred to Japanese car companies? How did this
happen, and more important, what are we going to do
about it?

Name me a government leader who can articulate a
plan for paying down the debit, or solving the
energy crisis, or managing the health care problem.


The silence is deafening.

But these are the crises
that are eating away at our country and milking the
middle class dry

I have news for the gang in Congress.

We didn't
elect you to sit on your asses and do nothing and
remain silent while our democracy is being hijacked
and our greatness is being replaced with mediocrity.


What is everybody so afraid of? That some bonehead
on Fox News will call them a name? Give me a break.


Why don't you guys show some spine for a change?

Had Enough?
Hey, I'm not trying to be the voice of gloom and
doom here. I'm trying to light a fire.

I'm speaking
out because I have hope I believe in America .

In my
lifetime I've had the privilege of living through
some of America 's greatest moments.. I've also
experienced some of our worst crises: the 'Great
Depression', 'World War II', the 'Korean War', the
'Kennedy Assassination', the 'Vietnam War', the
1970s oil crisis, and the struggles of recent years
culminating with 9/11.

If I've learned one thing,
it's this: 'You don't get anywhere by standing on the
sidelines waiting for somebody else to take action.


Whether it's building a better car or building a
better future for our children, we all have a role
to play.

That's the challenge I'm raising in this
book.

It's a call to 'Action' for people who, like
me, believe in America .

It's not too late, but it's
getting pretty close.

So let's shake off the crap
and go to work.

Let's tell 'em all we've had
'enough.

'

Make a 'real contribution' by sending this to
everyone you know and care about......our future is at stake.

[trumpetguy]

That's all from Lee Iacocca's new book.

My favorite three paragraphs:


On September 11, 2001, we needed a strong leader more than any other time in our history. We needed a steady hand to guide us out of the ashes. Where was George Bush? He was reading a story about a pet goat to kids in Florida when he heard about the attacks. He kept sitting there for twenty minutes with a baffled look on his face. It's all on tape. You can see it for yourself. Then, instead of taking the quickest route back to Washington and immediately going on the air to reassure the panicked people of this country, he decided it wasn't safe to return to the White House. He basically went into hiding for the day—and he told Vice President duck Cheney to stay put in his bunker. We were all frozen in front of our TVs, scared out of our wits, waiting for our leaders to tell us that we were going to be okay, and there was nobody home. It took Bush a couple of days to get his bearings and devise the right photo op at Ground Zero.

That was George Bush's moment of truth, and he was paralyzed. And what did he do when he'd regained his composure? He led us down the road to Iraq—a road his own father had considered disastrous when he was President. But Bush didn't listen to Daddy. He listened to a higher father. He prides himself on being faith based, not reality based. If that doesn't scare the crap out of you, I don't know what will....

I have news for the gang in Congress. We didn't elect you to sit on your asses and do nothing and remain silent while our democracy is being hijacked and our greatness is being replaced with mediocrity. What is everybody so afraid of? That some bobblehead on Fox News will call them a name? Give me a break. Why don't you guys show some spine for a change?

[yamahonkawazuki]

agreed TG. some have done what their heart told them to do, some did what tehir "friends" tolf them to do. and SOME did NOTHING  as far as our dependance on foreign oil, we can solve this in 2 ways. short and long term
short term: drill in anwar

lonng term: get off fossil fuels, more nuclear power etc , alternative sources of energy. or far more stingy fossil fuel using vehicels, ( aka gs500's or whatnot  ) i dont see a happy outcome no matter who ends up in charge. it is going to be a long and sometimes nasty road to navigate.

[spc]

OMFG!!!!!!!!!!  THERE IS NO OIL SHORTAGE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  The next time you hear someone yapping about an oil shortage, ask them where they got their degree in Geology.  The best estimates indicate that we have TENS of THOUSANDS of years worth of oil at current usage rates, if not more.

Capitalism is a good thing until someone else uses it against us, that is all that is occurring with current oil prices.  We have a huge demand, they have the READY supply and thus make the price.  Note the key word, ready.

[yamahonkawazuki]

i never said there was a shortage. but i did say ( in context. ) that we get our oil from mostly foreign sources . we are at their pricing mercy. we drill in anwar. we get our own oil. we drill in multitudes of other places we can eventually set our own prices

[bucks1605]

OMFG!!!!!!!!!!  THERE IS NO OIL SHORTAGE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  The next time you hear someone yapping about an oil shortage, ask them where they got their degree in Geology.  The best estimates indicate that we have TENS of THOUSANDS of years worth of oil at current usage rates, if not more.

That's what my dad keeps telling me, I hope it's true.

And if it is, those dumb f*cks better lower the price of gas!

[spc]

That's what my dad keeps telling me, I hope it's true.

And if it is, those dumb f*cks better lower the price of gas!

Honestly, why should the UAE lower the price of oil??  They are the only one's with a sizeable ready supply and are doing what anyone with half a brain and a little ambition would do.  Bending us over and shoving it up our asses because they know we'll keep on buying their product.

[jserio]

i personally think this damn "war" we are in is helping to fuel the oil prices too. the folks who do the pricing, these so called, "risk evaluators" or whatever the hell they call themselves. they say prices of things such as oil goes up in times of war because of the "risks involved". losses or some shaZam!. OPEC is apparently saying, no, you can't produce more oil. everyone involved is just pointing the finger at someone else. i pray to God that our next President has some f%$king balls (real or not) and gets our economy back on track. if gas prices continue to rise, sales everywhere will fall. even eventually the fast food places. cuz someone has to deliver their shaZam! to em and if they can't afford the shipping well then....damn......some things just piss me off. f%$king $3.60 a gallon here in town. f%$king pirate bastards! damn....i'll be back in a minute to post more...i need a beer......

[jserio]

sooooo.....let's discuss "alternative fuel sources" now shall we? man, i've been dying to post this all weekend!  anyways. i read an article that Jay Leno wrote bout his new toy. apparently he's got a 2006 corvette c-6 that runs on ethanol. now, according to this article, jay basically says ethanol is the shits. all the things he said were pros, i heard no cons. it burns cleaner, and at a lower temp. thus reducing emissions and actually improving mileage, can have vast improvements on power and performance also. just simply because it burns cleaner and at a lower temp the engine runs colder so it lasts a bit longer. you can use smaller and lighter cooling systems for your car. which in turn improve performance etc. so by the end of this article, i'm going, damn, why aren't we using this more often?  i mean seriously, if it's that much better than gasoline, why not right? there's gotta be something i'm missing. someone with more info on this please clue me in man! 

[spc]

He didn't mention the part about Ethanol requiring more energy to create than it can produce did he?  Or how the massive increase in production of corn necessary would devastate aquifers? and facilitate soil erosion in an area very ecologically sensitive to erosive forces?

Let's talk about blended Gas with 10% ethanol.  Like how lower compression cars just won't burn that portion of the fuel and end up getting poor gas mileage as a result.  Or the build up of carbon that occurs around valve seats on higher compression vehicles like motorcycles and sports cars.

[jserio]

you're saying the only way we can grow corn is in farmer johnsons field down the road?  no seriously, would producing ethanol really be that much of a hassle to outweigh the proposed benefits? 

[spc]

Where do you propose we grow the corn??  In Saudi Arabia??   

What benefits??  It's more difficult to produce, vehicles that would run on it would be more difficult to produce and thus more expensive and it smells like f%$king shaZam! when burned.

[jserio]

uhhhh....ok.....wanna beer???  anyhow....next form of "alternative fuel". hydrogen. i don't know much at all bout it except it seems to be in it's infancy still. cars are still being tested. anyone know more? 

[spc]

The major problem is the huge amount of energy necessary to compress it into a liquid form for storage.  'Production' of hydrogen will, also,  need to undergo much refining before it is an efficient alternative as hydrogen gas does not occur naturally.  Hydrogen has potential but is a long way off from being a real alternative.

[bombadillo]

I don't understand the whole fuel issue in the first place.  Its all a game between big oil, corporate greedy america and the guys at the top of the steel business making money on the cars, and us idiots paying 3.99+ a gallon where i'm at not doing a thing about it.  Europe got it right the first time around.  They made very very fuel efficient cars to begin with.  Our suburban with a 454 in it isn't doing so hot now that 8mpg isn't very good.  We need to learn to adapt.  Its not getting better anytime soon, so lets deal with it.

[jserio]

i find it funny to read about "electric" cars. i'm like, uhhh...the electric don't just pop outta the air does it? i mean, you gotta make it some hows. how bout coal? it's a bit messy but i hear it burns good.  

[jserio]

i don't think we're as close to running out of oil as they're trying to tell us either. 

[yamahonkawazuki]

id have to find the link, but it takes roughly $2 to produce $1 of ethanol and the same in gallons, cause the farmer has to run his equipment to harvest the corn, deal wiht the cows, etc, all of the related expenses of the farm. and if we get our own oil from our own shores, ( which weve got plenty of. but some dont want it to happen) we do not need UAE  or opec to dictate shaZam! to us

[jserio]

i hear alaska has a good bit of oil....but we are worried about the caribou.....

[yamahonkawazuki]

and so are teh errm certain divisions of certain political parties ( i am trying to keep this thread form degenerating) ahem ANWAR. as far as the caribou, there doing jsut fine along the pipeline so, i dont see a problem. and if it is properly managed, and barring a terrorist attack, foreign or domestic, there wont be a problem.