Chip's Blog

Finally I've heard language from Washington that begins to make sense to me.  In a conversation today, President Bush hinted he was going to roll out a plan tomorrow where the Federal government would orchestrate an "orderly" bankruptcy for our beleagered automakers.

Citing the foolishness of "throwing good money after bad', President Bush pointed out that he felt, since government would be the receivers in a Chapter 11 action that happened in a "disorderly" fashion, that he felt government could assist the automakers in filing bankruptcy in an orderly fashion, forcing sensible reorganization and THEN and ONLY THEN would government guaranteed loans be made available.

Some of the possible plans that may arise out of bankruptcy include a merger between GM and chrysler and/or the purchase of Chrysler (a large part of) by the Untied Auto Workers, creating enormous new motivation by labor to have "management" succeed.

Is this putting a smile on anyone elses face?

As many of you know, I live in "New Orleans, Massachusetts".  The town forgotten in the emergency response to the state of emergency created by the horrific ice storm last Thursday night.  I am giving a heart warming update to my blog post yesterday.  I refer anyone who has not read it back, but to summarize, the National Guard was sent to our town, as part of the emergency response, and part of their duties was to make video for the Governor...

At any rate, I was made one happy camper last evening.  As I drove down my street, darkened by houses without power, I came across a squad of National Guardmen.  As is my custom, I stopped.  The soldier in charge approached me and I asked him for a favor.  "Sorry Sir, I can't get you lights.  We don't do that..."

"No, Sergeant, I'd like you to pay a visit for me.  There is a disabled veteran on Ward Hill, who was awarded a Bronze Star....your guys filmed him on Sunday morning." 

"Yes, Sir, I was involved in that.  He's a great guy.  I've gone to his house personally each day to check up on him."

"Sergeant, you had your orders right?"  "Yes Sir, I'm sorry..."  "Don't be sorry Sergeant.  The fact that you had orders, and the fact that you went back...I want to thank you.  Ya done good."

"Thank you, Sir.  I'll keep looking in on him.  That's a real Bronze Star, isn't it?"  "Yes Sergeant, it is..."

Ya see folks...they went back.  Your Army didn't leave him behind.  As I went to bed last night...I realized..I don't need my damned lights.  There is beauty even in the darkness.

I'm back from the Ice Age.  Well, I'm at work where there is power...

I have to tell a story.  It's a story of mismanagement and ineptitude, a story of insenstivity and indecency.  It occurred in my home town.  We are still without power in most of the areas of town.  Power has been restored to the "State Road" and to the location where fire and police radios are broadcast from.  It is nowhere else basically.

But I'm not whining.  I'm OK with it.  It's a disaster.  It happens.  What I am upset about I will tell you.  On Sunday late morning,  over two days since the trees ahd crashed the the power knocked out, I went out to see what was being done.  I was interested, as retired Fire Chief, in the efforts.  I was pretty sure I'd see "old guys" ad get to buy a few coffees...as is my custom.  As I drove the streets, I only saw destruction.  Route 101 on the south end of town was a disaster.  Trees down in the road, wires down, poles snapped or pulled over.  Wires blocking the street...It was awful...the worst I'd ever seen...ever.  Private people were running private chain saws and loading wood in private vehicles.  No "offical" vehicles were to be found.

I was a bit more than shocked.  On Satruday the "Yankee Division" had landed.  Athol Ford (in my town, not Athol) was the staging area for three "low boy" flatbeds with the biggest front end loader kown otoGod or man, six dump trucks (the military equivalent of "monster trucks"....10 wheel drive Freightliners), a handful of Humvees and a plaltoon of men anyway.  The Army National Guard had been called out, and I assume to help clear roads...since there was no civil unrest...

I drove every major road in the community.  No official vehicles.  Not trucks from National Grid, not trucks from teh "tree crews" contracted to National Grid (Aslpundh usually).  No National Guard units or equipment.  I passed both town sanders sanding the continuing ice problems, and the highway superindentant in his pickup truck cutting wood himself...he had not slept.  He refused my offer of coffee and said, "I'm good, I had breakfast...thank you, Chip."  A pull and the Stihl saw fired..more trees to clear....alone with is saw and his pickup truck and his hearing protection....alone.

Alarmed, I went to Blakes Corner Road, where my secretary from the "fire days" lived.  She'd been rushed twice that week, most recently Friday by four wheel drive fire department vehicle and fire department ambulance to the hospital where she had heart cathetarization.  I worried deeply for her safety.  People die...

When I got to her road, I looked down and the first thing I saw was a powerline down from a pole snaped in half, the line on the ground directly across the road...bit of a hazard...usually not..sometimes yes...as I drove past.under it, I came upon a vehicle coming the other way.  It had a Veteran's plate (I notice those things...) and the emblem of the Bronze Star on it.  I don't know if he knew me but he flagged me down.  We spoke.  He'd been decorated for valor (fourth highest award given, and not many of them handed out to "non-West Point" guys in our era...) for fighting in 1968.  We spoke briefly of old times.  He received that medal and the largest disability given by the VA ("That's why I can live up there in that house...").

But he told me a story from earlier that morning.  He had headed out and been stopped by an army unit on his street (Blakes Corner Road).  The, I assume, had seen his plate too.  The soldier in charge (I'm purposley not mentioning rank for his protection) asked ot interview him...while his men fired up a chain saw behind and cut saplings.  This interview was videotaped by a military crew that came from the Humvee....  My new friend said he asked why it was being taped.

He was informed that the taping of their efforts was a direct order from the Governor.  From the Governor....

Our Governor deployed videographers.....to an area needing chain saws....

There still was no power on Blakes Corner Road last night...a disabled national hero and a woman who dedicated her adult life to the public safety business...with a heart problem...live up there...

But rest easy tonight, folks....your Governor has a movie.

I heard this morning, on Fox25, that a new video game is being released on January 20, called "Commander in Chief".  In this video game, ”gamers" are required to pick a Cabinet, and then they compete to solve world problems like the war, the economy and jobs, etc.

 Here are the questions I'm left with, and the fear that is behind it.  Who wrote this game?  Who funded the writing of this game?  Who had approval on segments of this game?  What is defined as winning and who has decided on this definition?  What are the successful strategies that one employs, and who has made the decision on what defines success?

 Does "bailing out every troubled industry" improve the overall economy?  Or does letting certain companies go Chapter 11 win?  Is an immediate pullout from the Middle East (who knows if that is the game scenario, but work with me on this) the "correct winning strategy?  Or does one win by sending more troops and increasing hostile activity?

 Shall I go on?  Here's what I fear.  Kids, more and more, are learning about life from the internet.  They are learning social lessons from games, not from parents.  What is this new game teaching?  And who designed it?  Who paid for it, and who had approval over it?

 Are we teaching a political philosophy through a video game?  Of course we are.  Is it being done purposely?  I bet it is.

 Fear this, folks.  Fear this.

It's time to throw out another Patriots question.  Is Josh McDaniel the premier up and coming coaching star of the NFL?  Will he take the route of Eric Mangini and bolt?

Bill Belechik has a nack for finding and developing good young coaches, and McDaniel is definitely an excellent example of this.

Here's the question/questions:

1.  How much of Cassells success is directly attribuatable to the coaching of Josh McDaniel?

2.  How much of Josh's success is attributable to the play of Matt Cassell?

3.Where does the genius of Bill factor into all this?

Any way you cut it....we got some serious genius happenin' here....

OK, I'm going to do it.  I'm going to ask the obvious, but locally, "sporrtually", politically incorrect, question.  Has anyone thought the sensible thing for the Patriots to do is to trade Tom Brady to the NFC, and "franchise"  Matt Cassell?

Brady never threw for 415 yds and 3 touchdowns....Let's go.  Let's debate!!!

I think everyone has their panties in a bunch abut the proposed bailout of the auto industry, and the ripple effect that is being caused by
Congressional gamesmanship and indecision.  Yesterday, you saw a bunch of frustrated angry Representatives lashing out at a group of beleagered, yet well coiffed auto industry CEO's.

I think it's pretty much a consensus that folks think arriving seperately at these hearing in corporate jets was a mistake.  I, for one, don't think so.  I think they did it on purpose.  I think it was their press offices who leaked that story to the press, and I think they thought it up amoungst themselves.  I also thing that these guys are purposely submarining their own bailout.  Here are some of the reasons why:

1.  The multi-billion dollar bailout does nothing to solve the structural problems they have in their companies.

2.  The bailout sells not a single car or truck, and they need sales to be profitable.  It also doesn't raise long term revenues in any fashion/has no positive effect on "the bottom line" in the future.

3.  The bailout does nothing to reduce costs, a necesary component of fiscal health and future solvency in this climate of consumer frugality.

What are their real long term structural financial problems:

1.  They have, each, outmoded and non/under-performing car lines that need ot be cut/consolidated.  This is the only thing they might do alone.

2.  The are "swaybacked" under the weight of contracts negotiated, in better times, with the UAW (United Auto Workers) that have created huge salaries for simple factory work, coupled with engorged pensions and insurance costs.  These are now contractually mandated.

3.  They are saddled with working under the second most repressive corpore tax structure in the world.  In short, their profits have been redistributed by th egovernment, causing them to have limited cash reserves, or worse, it has dissuaded them from even developing cash reserves that could be called profits and taxed.

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to understand that a bailout will do noting to correct any of these issues.  It prolongs and delays an inevitable reality....that reality being called insolvency.

Now within the bailout rhetoric, they are laboring under the weight of publically fed and publically swallowed misinformation:

1.  If no bailout is effectuated, there will be massive layoffs and landslide unemployment.  Ummm...most GM, Ford and Chrysler cars are assembled in Mexico and Canada.  The layoffs will effect them (foriegn workers), not our workers.  The joke here being that OUR auto workers are assembling Toyotas and Hondas....and these companies are not part of the plan.

2.  Without the bailouts, the "Big 3" will immediately go out of business.  There will be a snowballing economic and employment effect from them closing their doors.  Dealerships, repair shops...so on ...so on.  Unh Unh, they would, instead, file for Chapter 11 protection (from their creditors) and be forced to restructure.  As part of that restructuring, union contracts would be opened to renegotiation by law, the only way they can legaly be opened for renegotiation.

So, who really profits from the bailout?

1  Not the "Big 3".  It does nothing to solve their structural problems.  It simply delays a demise preordained now, yet makes them look more the culprit for having taken the taxpayers money.

2.  Not the American worker.  He's already got his job, and will keep it or lose it either way.

3.  Not the CEO's.  No one is going to tolerate them getting big severences or big payouts from a "bailed out" company.  The jets prove that.

So who profits from the bailout?

The Union leadereship profits from the bailout, folks.  Plain and simple.  If you look behind the scenes at who funded all those "anti-Bush" ads, those ads that had no "And I Approved This Message" at the end, you will see it was private Democratic organizations that were not subject to Campaign Finance Laws.  They were heavily funded by the unions, folks, just as they were here in THIS state when "ThePatriotMajority.com" ran all the filthy anti-Healey ads.

Your tax dollars were about to be spent paying back the Union officials and the union coffers from which the election was bought..

I'm so sorry...you drank the koolaid...lie down now and sleep... 

Ok.  Here we go again.  Just when I think my beloved HDTV is safe, out comes the windex..I spit my coffee again this morning.

Today, I see Keba Arnold reporting on the Mass Turnpike Authority's plan to raise the tolls a buck east of 128, and look at the Ted Williams Tunnel.  All this as Duh-val Patrick is eyeing the dissolution of the Authority and assigning functions to Mass Highway and MassPort.

I wrote elsewhere that I wanted to see where the hacks were hidden.  No plan of this nature will fly in Massachusetts unless there is adequate provision to employ the less than brilliant and/or less than motivated neices and nephews of Beacon Hill.  Period.  I mean where else will Uncle Fred get a cushy job with the equivalent skill set of the night clerk at Christy's Market (chosen because Christy Mihos was on the Turnpike Authority Board, was fired by then Gov. romney, and reinstated by court order after suing to get his job back), yet paying 4 times what Mihos pays HIS cashiers.

Now I get it.  Thanks Keba.  It wasn't part of your report, but even  a senile old geezer like me from Podunk, MA is sophisticated enough to see through this.  The fix is in.

I just knew it.  Duh-val had to be playing "Hide the Hack".  I knew it!!!  You theiving little hack-magnet.

On the day that Sal DiMasi said they might even act on Patrick's plan, the Turnpike Authority Board will vote a toll increase, for that section of the Pike that is being turned over to MassPort.

And Uncle Buttface, and Aunt Ain'tBright will have their cashier's jobs that pay 75 large to MassPort.  And it will be funded by the toll increase....

Hide the Hack.....

Well, Lavanchy, you've done it again.  Thursday morning and I was washing coffee off the screen of my beloved HDTV....I spit out my french vanilla coffee.  I don't think by the way you said it that you understood the import of what you reported, but it hit me like a ton of bricks.

Remember reporting about the plan coming out of Barney Frank's office to give billions to GM (et al)?  That is the "white bread" part of the report.  That is what evenyone is expecting and hearing out of Washington.  Bail out this...Bail out that...

But did you listen carefully the words you read off the teleprompter after that?

"and the government would receive back equity in the companies"....."and the government would receive back equity in the companies".....  I ask you this, rhetorically:  What form of government begins by the acquisition of industry by government?

And in response, I offer a "copy and pasted" definition from "The Random House Dictionary":

2...(often initial capital letter) a system of social organization in which all economic and social activity is controlled by a totalitarian state dominated by a single and self-perpetuating political party.

Any one else feel the shiver?

Well, it's been 7 days since Barack Obama was elected President of the Untied States.  He ran on a campaign, one of the central platforms being, tax cuts for the middle and lower classes, funded by tax increases for businesses.  Everyone jumped on that bandwagon.  What a wonderful idea, rob the rich and give to the poor.  An American Robin Hood....

Yesterday, President-elect Obama met with President Bush.  Jennifer Loven, Associated Press White House Correspondent is reporting today that President-elect Obama has made clear in that meeting his support for an immediate bailout of the US auto industry.

For details: http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/081111/bush_obama.html>

How does this sit with you?  First off, I've never agreed with any bailout plan.  It is, and has been, my belief that we need to allow the free market to regulate industry and business.  It has also been my belief that our government has no business giving my money to a company.  If I wanted GM to have it, I'd buy a damned car from them....

But what is most troubling is that, at face value, it appears our President-elect has gone back on his central campaign promise a mere 7 days after being elected based, in large part, on it.

Opinions?

Contrary to popular belief, all votes were not cast by 8 PM Tuesday when polls closed.  Other votes began at that time.  In the last 48 hours, we have seen voting of a different kind.

You see...Wall Street votes after Main Street.  And vote they did in the last two days...landslide defeat for investor confidence in our new President.  Now, as most of you know, I was not an Obama guy.  But frankly, I was watching the market the week before the election, as polls showed up to a double digit Obama lead, gain significantly and consistently.  I began to question my assumptions.

I began to think that maybe the financial world was looking for the sort of policies Obama promised.  I began to ask myself why and what new forces were operating.

Then the "bell rang" on Wednesday, and as of last night, the Market had fallen a1,000 points or 10% in two days.  Major companies were predicting layoffs, or warning of upcoming poor earnings.  The votes were cast, losers lead gainers by a score of about three to one. 

Now, there are alot of possible factors here.  In fact, we have been in an economic downturn, caused by inflationary trends most arguably caused by the dramatic increase in petrochemicals we experienced.  But even the most grim of analysts would argue that with fuel prices dramatically down (under two bucks a gallon for regular unleaded in places), consumer prices will follow.  The historical decrease in consumer purchases in October pales by comparison to the outlook for the next few months.

But layoffs by major corporations are the bellweather for their belief things will not get better in the immediate future.  It is naive to think that a corporation the size of Fidelity, as an example, just decided on a single plan for layoffs, impulsively, yesterday.  Their board had a series of proposed plans in front of them for consideration.  That is the way business works.

Guess what, folks...they had a plan for a McCain Presidency, based on his economic policies, and a plan for an Obama Presidency, based on his economic policies.  You have seen the Obama plan unveiled.

Yesterday, my son was called into a "shop meeting" where all employees of his company were warned of impending tightening of belts.  They were informed that their predictions for the immediate future were not good, and that they were immediately suspending all overtime, and instituting more rigid policies of oversight.

And most importantly, the executives made clear that they were not hopeful for the immediate future, because the business climate was expected to be hostile under the new President.

Batten down the hatches, Mateys...the sea is rough in front of us.

I arrived at the polls this morning bright and early, 7:10 to be exact.  As I exited my vehicle, our Police Chief was walking toward his parked on the Common.  He's an old friend who has been with me at some of the most wonderful, and the most trying times of my recent adult life.  I know him; I like him: I respect him.  He is every bit what the common man would want in his or her police chief.  He is tough when you need tough, and full of compassion when the situation dictates.  That fact that his political beliefs mirror mine doesn't hurt!!!

He was shaking his head and we chatted a bit.  Expressed our joint and mutual distain for candiates who promise the opposite of what they've done, and our even greater disrespect for people who fall for it.

He knew who he was voting for, and I'm sure he knew where the "X's" would fall on my ballot.  At the end of our conversation, I asked him for his thoughts on Question 2, the referendum vote to essentially decriminalize the possession of marijuana.  He looked and me and simultaneously we walked away from Town Hall and the polling place.  When we had reached 150 feet, the legal limit for campaigning, he began, but not without a sly smile.  Two old war horses had just obeyed the letter of the law.... 

He said, "Chip, I voted against it.  It does nothing but change the rules for the drug dealers, and make our jobs more complicated.  No one gets busted for a small amount of pot anymore; you know that.  If the average police officer catches a kid with a small amount of pot, it is dropped to the ground, squashed with a booted foot, and a call is made to a set of parents.  NOW, if I catch a guy with ten little baggies of marijuana, it becomes a different story  That's not personal use.  You don't have to be J. Edgar Hoover to know he's dealing.  And I land on him like a ton of bricks.  This referendum will just change dealers packaging...."

It was a short 150 foot walk back to Town Hall.  I carried with me a diffferent opinion on Question 2, and my vote changed virtually on the doorstep of the polls.

Thanks, Richie...for being Chief and for being so damned smart!!!

I wrote on this concept during the Patrick/Healey race for Governor.  It's time to write it again.

I feel so deeply abandoned today, but the decision by General Powell to endorse Barack Obama over Senator McCain.  When you listen carefully, General Powell says the fulcrum on which his decision was made was on McCain's choice of a Vice Presidential running mate.  It is the choice of Sarah Palin that made his decision.  He stated that he feels she was unready to lead.

Now, what is the real difference in qualifications between Governor Palin and Senator Obama.  They each have two years in their present job...they are each of the same age.  Governor Palin has a history of balancing budgets and turning a profit.  She has a history of returning tax money to her constituents, and negotiating with "Big Oil".  She has a history of holding an executive level job as well as a couple of public offices.

Senator Obama has authored NO legislation, lead no campaigns to reduce taxation, held no executive jobs and negotiated with no one.  In fact he voted consistently to maintain present tax levels or raise them.  His only other job was as lawyer to a community organization headed by an admitted and unrepentant domestic terrorist.

One has to ask oneself, how can this be the pivotal issue?  I think I know why:

Sexism grows in the fields left fallow from racism.  The only other explanation is that General Powell made his choice based on race, and I can't make myself believe that.  I have respected him for years.  It's hard enough admitting to myself he's that sexist....

America is more sexist than racist.  And 51% of our population is female..

Every now and then my sleep is interrupted by intriguing thoughts.  Last night was one of those nights.  I think "Sunday Night" (in this instance it was deferred to Monday night due to the holiday...) is frequented more often (is that redundant?) because I get more sleep over the weekend....but I digress....

I was thinking of two issues last night.  Those were "earmarks" and Question 1.  I was thinking mostly about Question 1 and what it would mean if it passed.   I really don't think folks would get the satisfaction they expect.  I think people are expressing their umbrage at the waste in government and our elected officials penchant for spending in ways we never would in our private lives.  Our representatives don't use the same economic rules on Beacon Street that we do on Main Street.....

And we've been listening, during the Presidential fiasco, to talk about who votes for earmarks.  You know, who has the political ability to bring home the money that should have stayed at home in the first place?  By buying BLEEP stuff no private citizen would ever consider funding if he were spending his own money...

Then a solution hit me:

Reverse the earmarks!!!

What would it be like if we were given just one more page on our income tax form?  What if that page allowed us to set the priorities for spending?  What if those priorities carried with them the force of law?  How cool would that be?

Here's how it would work.  We would be allowed to dictate how much of our tax dollars would be allocated for each of a few general areas of government.  (I assume a certain percentage would have ot be set for debt service on pre-existing government debts but...)  Let's say we could allocate a percentage of our money to national defense, domestic security, foriegn aid, education, welfare, medicaid, research into illnesses, roads and bridges, etc..

Then, the exact dollar amount in each category would be set, and our elected officials couldn't spend above that level...ever...ever...without a declaration of war.  Even natural emergencies would require a new vote by us or cuts elsewhere...the development of a "rainy day fund"....

What if a similar plan were put in place in Massachusetts, doing away with national security and foriegn aid, and adding in housing the homeless, and caring for our mentally ill?

I'm thinking I'd be alot happier on April 15th....ya,,that's the ticket!!

Earmark the mothers....

OK, NOW I'm p*ssed!!!  They've finally done it.  I have to clean half drank coffee off my dashboard and my windshield.  Here I am, sitting at the mailbox as I am every morning at 7:00 AM, retrieving the mail from the day before.  Nothing of consequence...usual junk mail.  I admit it, my only friends are direct marketers...I get love letters from banks.  If credit card offers were lovers, I'd be Bill Clinton.  "Aaahhh did not have sex with that financial institution!"

Now, I've been acutely aware for a week or so that there is a "disconnect" between what I hear on the news, and what I experience in real life.  Everyone on TV is telling me there is a credit crunch.  Because of the subprime mortgage issue, credit money has dried up.  Yet I can't go to my mailbox without an offer for a credit card or a loan.  Now, I'm here to tell you that, although Okie Dokie and I are comfortable, we are anything but the "Gates Family".  (In fact, our house would be more likely called the "Bates Motel" than the "Gates Motel", but that is a story for a Halloween blog!!).  SO...what do I believe?  TV or my mailbox?

So, this morning I have the usual...Chase wants to give me a credit card...I can transfer my balances with no interest for 6 months...I'll pass.  we don't have balances.  At my age, I can barely keep my balance so I don't need a bank  to take it!!!

Then there is CountryWide (remember them...the FIRST to get in trouble?) who wants to re-mortgage my home.  No thanks...I'll stick with doing "it" with my wife.  I'm good...

Then....THEN....I open this envelope from "Third Financial".  It's an offer for a freakin' sub-prime second mortgage.  Holy WeeWee, Batman...That ain't "bank sex"....these guys are out to rape a whole new group of citizens!!!!  Thanks but no thanks...

So...when I get home...out comes the Armor-All...I have coffee to clean up....