i love that. There was good news though! They werent beat in every single demographic!
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PoliGAF 2012 Community Thread
- Thread starter AlteredBeast
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i love that. There was good news though! They werent beat in every single demographic!
Obama hits the airwaves in Michigan. Romney's op-ed makes the expected cameo.
you know, i dont know the timing of designs, or what happened, but the american car makers had a pretty fantastic turn around in design, features and reliability. Not sure if the bailouts and structured settlements allowed them to move quicker on it or not. I never really bought US before because i didn't like the cars. Right now i'm torn between 2-3 cars i want this fall and all are american companies.
AlteredBeast
Fork 'em, Sparky!
I think this is more true than the fact that they are better managed companies.
American automobiles (especially cars) are so much better now than at any time in the last 30 years.
mckmas8808
Mckmaster uses MasterCard to buy Slave drives
All he had to do was shut up for 5 days and he couldn't freaking do it.
Global design, so instead of having each of their divisions make different cars for that individual division (one Focus for Ford in North America and a completely different one for Europe), they're pooling their resources to make "global cars" where it makes sense.
A lot of the European cars in particular they made were really good and we're getting more of those when it makes sense.
The Librarian
Banned
They usually gloss over if it worked or not and just talk about the principal. 'The principal' being: using tax payer money to save select companies, instead of letting the usual bankruptcy process do the work.
They wouldn't dare admit that something Obama did worked.
How do these candidates feel about the financial system bailout?
Romney was for it and Santorum and Gingrich were against it. Romney stating that the problem was so large and expansive that only the government could correct it.
They addressed it in the debate last night. Santorum took a shot at Romney for his support of it because of his Wall St. ties.
PhoenixDark
Banned
I bet Romney promised him an RNC speaking slot
Libertarians and far right evangelical conservative types were against it.
The GOP was for it.
Most of the democratic party was for it, begrudgingly, with the belief that the government should have done more to prevent such a situation from coming to fruition in the first place.
So... in 2012 terms....
The GOP opposed it.
Everyone else supported it either fully or with reservations.
maximum360
Member
Nah, not meant for you. Accidentally quoted you. Just making a general observation.
Have the US car companies adopted any of the Japanese style of car manufacturing or have they just focused on talent in design? This is what I would like to know. The only business class I took in college had a great portion dealing with why the big US car manufactures got lazy and how Japan kicked their asses by changing the way cars were put together and how efficiency was improved from the bottom up.
AlteredBeast
Fork 'em, Sparky!
union. contracts.
I don't buy that. It was the management style that created the us vs them problem.
AlteredBeast
Fork 'em, Sparky!
definitely had a part of it, but I think it is also hard to tell thousands of workers "we are going to replace you with machines/people making 20 bucks per hour." and get them to agree with it.
mckmas8808
Mckmaster uses MasterCard to buy Slave drives
Well actually I'd say that getting alot of that fat off their backs with the managed/paid-for bankruptcy, it has opened the door to them profiting. Also a better world economy has helped too.
But without that bankruptcy I think one could argue that it would be harder for them to make better looking cars that are more reliable like they are now.
AlteredBeast
Fork 'em, Sparky!
right, but I think bankruptcy and design changes are more to credit than simple management changes. Alot of the world car things were going down before the shit hit the fan in 08.
I think that is were having a much better relationship with your employees during a time of true crisis helps. I defiantly agree that given the climate it was at the extreme it had to get to in order for changes to be made.
Arrowgigantic
Member
Japanese auto workers are unionized too.
AlteredBeast
Fork 'em, Sparky!
fortunately for them, their American counterparts are not.
There's no doubt by the mid to late 80's US manufacturers were studying and stealing ideas from the Japanese. (Saturn was GM's marketing answer to this) Then the past decade has been about co-opting design from the European makers.
So, it's kind of a convergence of both these focuses on durability and design that has seen the resurgence of American car companies as a first option, rather than a second or third option as they have been the past few decades.
Basically everybody adapted SOME of their principles and companies continue to do so today no matter the industry. If you've ever heard of "lean manufacturing," "lean management," "lean production," etc. that's more or less directly based on Toyota principles.
RustyNails
Member
I think every American car manufacturer has adopted Toyota's lean manufacturing process.
They are even more fortunate that they don't have the fat cat top management requiring ridiculous salaries in Japan.
I didn't imply otherwise. Saturn was just an obvious example of it.
AlteredBeast
Fork 'em, Sparky!
Also true. Japanese corporations are smart about clamping down on failure and not creating abnormally huge CEO pay even while a company is in bankruptcy or flailing entirely. American CEO pay is a strange beast.
But, CEO pay isn't the reason that companies were failing. Unless the top 100 people were all making exorbitant amounts of money.
CEO pay isn't the only pay that is signicantly higher. It goes across the board for upper management at american companies. Why is it the average workers fault that people making millions of dollars didn't properly save for pensions or healthcare.
MrGame&Watch
Member
I don't know if this has been posted, but I expect it to make the news cycle
Marco Rubio was a Mormon
http://www.buzzfeed.com/mckaycoppins/exclusive-marco-rubios-mormon-roots
Before Marco Rubio received his first communion in the Catholic Church, he was a Mormon. The Florida senator, considered the top choice for GOP presidential candidate's running mate, was baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints when he was 8 years old, a recent revelation that could potentially hinder the popular Senate freshman's political career. "Mitt Romney's Mormonism and Rubio's Catholic faith would already mean the first two members of minority traditions on a Republican ticket in American history," BuzzFeed points out. "Rubio's Mormon roots could further complicate that calculation."
Marco Rubio was a Mormon
http://www.buzzfeed.com/mckaycoppins/exclusive-marco-rubios-mormon-roots
Before Marco Rubio received his first communion in the Catholic Church, he was a Mormon. The Florida senator, considered the top choice for GOP presidential candidate's running mate, was baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints when he was 8 years old, a recent revelation that could potentially hinder the popular Senate freshman's political career. "Mitt Romney's Mormonism and Rubio's Catholic faith would already mean the first two members of minority traditions on a Republican ticket in American history," BuzzFeed points out. "Rubio's Mormon roots could further complicate that calculation."
AlteredBeast
Fork 'em, Sparky!
wow. Now that is funny.
yeah, you end up with literally billions and billions of dollars being spent on a handful of executives over the course of a decade or two.
Take Viacom's CEO, who was paid 84.9 million in 2010.
That is $2.31 billion dollars over a 30 year period, on just one position.
Edit:
Okay, just checked Viacom's proxy statement:
Sumner Redstone (Executive Chairman and Founder)
Philippe Dauman (President and CEO)
Thomas Dooley (Senior Executive Vice President and COO)
Michael Fricklas (Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary)
These four executives received total compensation of $170,537,534 in fiscal year 2010.
Net income for Viacom in 2010 was 854,000,000
ClovingWestbrook
Banned
lol
LOL Rand Paul would do absolutely NOTHING for the ticket. The poor Libertarian nominee would lose half of their 1% of the national vote.
Manmademan
Member
That's insane
AlteredBeast
Fork 'em, Sparky!
absolutely asinine.
mckmas8808
Mckmaster uses MasterCard to buy Slave drives
Obama apologizes to Afghanistan for Quran burning
From Masoud Popalzai and Nick Paton Walsh, CNN
updated 2:04 PM EST, Thu February 23, 2012
Afghan rage over the burning of Qurans by NATO troops showed little signs of subsiding Thursday even after a President Barak Obama apologized for the "error."
In a letter delivered to Afghan President Hamid Karzai, Obama called the act "inadvertent," Karzai's office and National Security Council spokesman Tommy Vietor said Thursday.
"We will take the appropriate steps to avoid any recurrence, including holding accountable those responsible," Obama said in the letter delivered by Ryan Crocker, the U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan.
Afghanistan erupted in violent demonstrations since the troops' burning of the Islamic religious material at the beginning of the week. Many feared further unrest Friday, the Islamic holy day.
Two American troops were killed Thursday by a man wearing an Afghan National Army uniform, a U.S. official said, asking not to be named discussing casualties.
The gunman is thought to have been acting in conjunction with a protest taking place outside the base, the official said.
The protest and shootings came as the Taliban called on Muslims to attack NATO military bases and convoys and kill soldiers following the admission that NATO troops had incinerated the religious material at Bagram Airfield.
Afghan officials investigating urged Afghans to "exercise self-restraint" and "avoid resorting to protests and demonstrations that may provide ground for the enemy to take advantage of the situation."
The investigators called the burning of religious material "insulting and shameful," saying NATO officials had promised to bring the "perpetrators of the crime ... to justice as soon as possible." Muslims believe the Quran is the word of God, so holy that people should wash their hands before even touching the sacred book. Desecrating the Quran is seen as an affront -- an act of intolerance and bigotry.
At least two demonstrators also were killed in the exchange of gunfire near the base where the two Americans died, said Haji Mohammad Hassan, chief of Khugyani district in eastern Nangarhar province. Two U.S. soldiers and seven demonstrators were injured in the clash, too, he said. "We don't know who started the shooting first and what kind of guns were used, but we have started our investigation to find out the details of the incident," Hassan told CNN.
He said there were 200 to 300 demonstrators but the protest was now under control.
There was also a larger demonstration near a Norwegian-run Provincial Reconstruction Team compound in Maimana, the provincial capital of Faryab province, a regional police spokesman said.
Afghan security forces prevented the 700 to 800 demonstrators from getting into the compound, said police spokesman Lal Mohammad Ahmadzai said.
They burned a few civilian vehicles parked near the compound, he said.
American diplomats in Kabul and the north and south of Afghanistan are on lockdown for a second day in the face of protests, U.S. Embassy spokesman Mark Thornburg said.
At least five people were killed in demonstrations Wednesday.
The commander of NATO's International Security Assistance Force, Gen. John Allen, apologized Tuesday for the incineration of the materials and said it was a mistake. The materials were gathered for disposal and were inadvertently given to troops for burning, Allen said. He said: "It was not a decision that was made with respect to the faith of Islam. It was a mistake. It was an error. The moment we found out about it, we immediately stopped and we intervened."
The Taliban on Thursday rejected the apology.
In an e-mail message, the Islamist militia accused "the invading infidel authorities" of trying to calm the situation with two "so-called show(s) of apologies, but in reality they let their inhuman soldiers insult our holy book." They called on Afghans to take revenge "until the doers of such inhumane actions are prosecuted and punished." "We should attack their military bases, their military convoys, we should kill their soldiers, arrest their invading soldiers, beat them up and give a kind of lesson to them that they never dare to insult the holy Quran," the message said.
Afghan religious scholar Anayatullah Baligh said it can be appropriate to burn a damaged Quran to dispose of it, but that it should be done by a Muslim performing the act respectfully. "I can't tell you whether Americans intentionally burned the copies of the holy Quran to make Muslims angry or if they did it mistakenly," he said, but said their "carelessness" was "a crime they have committed against the holiest book of 2 billion Muslims around the world."
A military official told CNN on Thursday that it was unclear at this point how many Qurans were involved in the improper disposal and accepted that some had been partially burned.
American troops at the base would not have been able to read the texts and that would have contributed to the mistake, the official said, asking not to be named discussing an ongoing investigation.
A second military official said earlier the materials were removed from a detainee center's library because they had "extremist inscriptions" on them and there was "an appearance that these documents were being used to facilitate extremist communications."
But U.S. apologies have not been enough to appease angry Afghans, who massed outside the Bagram base Tuesday, chanting "Death to America! Death to the Afghan government! Long live Islam!"
######################
Oh great, now conservatives all over will be pointing to this incident and saying, "See we told you Obama goes around apologizing all the time and this time to Muslim extremist!" I think he had to do it though.
But it brings up a good question. WHY THE HELL ARE WE STILL THERE?!
From Masoud Popalzai and Nick Paton Walsh, CNN
updated 2:04 PM EST, Thu February 23, 2012
Afghan rage over the burning of Qurans by NATO troops showed little signs of subsiding Thursday even after a President Barak Obama apologized for the "error."
In a letter delivered to Afghan President Hamid Karzai, Obama called the act "inadvertent," Karzai's office and National Security Council spokesman Tommy Vietor said Thursday.
"We will take the appropriate steps to avoid any recurrence, including holding accountable those responsible," Obama said in the letter delivered by Ryan Crocker, the U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan.
Afghanistan erupted in violent demonstrations since the troops' burning of the Islamic religious material at the beginning of the week. Many feared further unrest Friday, the Islamic holy day.
Two American troops were killed Thursday by a man wearing an Afghan National Army uniform, a U.S. official said, asking not to be named discussing casualties.
The gunman is thought to have been acting in conjunction with a protest taking place outside the base, the official said.
The protest and shootings came as the Taliban called on Muslims to attack NATO military bases and convoys and kill soldiers following the admission that NATO troops had incinerated the religious material at Bagram Airfield.
Afghan officials investigating urged Afghans to "exercise self-restraint" and "avoid resorting to protests and demonstrations that may provide ground for the enemy to take advantage of the situation."
The investigators called the burning of religious material "insulting and shameful," saying NATO officials had promised to bring the "perpetrators of the crime ... to justice as soon as possible." Muslims believe the Quran is the word of God, so holy that people should wash their hands before even touching the sacred book. Desecrating the Quran is seen as an affront -- an act of intolerance and bigotry.
At least two demonstrators also were killed in the exchange of gunfire near the base where the two Americans died, said Haji Mohammad Hassan, chief of Khugyani district in eastern Nangarhar province. Two U.S. soldiers and seven demonstrators were injured in the clash, too, he said. "We don't know who started the shooting first and what kind of guns were used, but we have started our investigation to find out the details of the incident," Hassan told CNN.
He said there were 200 to 300 demonstrators but the protest was now under control.
There was also a larger demonstration near a Norwegian-run Provincial Reconstruction Team compound in Maimana, the provincial capital of Faryab province, a regional police spokesman said.
Afghan security forces prevented the 700 to 800 demonstrators from getting into the compound, said police spokesman Lal Mohammad Ahmadzai said.
They burned a few civilian vehicles parked near the compound, he said.
American diplomats in Kabul and the north and south of Afghanistan are on lockdown for a second day in the face of protests, U.S. Embassy spokesman Mark Thornburg said.
At least five people were killed in demonstrations Wednesday.
The commander of NATO's International Security Assistance Force, Gen. John Allen, apologized Tuesday for the incineration of the materials and said it was a mistake. The materials were gathered for disposal and were inadvertently given to troops for burning, Allen said. He said: "It was not a decision that was made with respect to the faith of Islam. It was a mistake. It was an error. The moment we found out about it, we immediately stopped and we intervened."
The Taliban on Thursday rejected the apology.
In an e-mail message, the Islamist militia accused "the invading infidel authorities" of trying to calm the situation with two "so-called show(s) of apologies, but in reality they let their inhuman soldiers insult our holy book." They called on Afghans to take revenge "until the doers of such inhumane actions are prosecuted and punished." "We should attack their military bases, their military convoys, we should kill their soldiers, arrest their invading soldiers, beat them up and give a kind of lesson to them that they never dare to insult the holy Quran," the message said.
Afghan religious scholar Anayatullah Baligh said it can be appropriate to burn a damaged Quran to dispose of it, but that it should be done by a Muslim performing the act respectfully. "I can't tell you whether Americans intentionally burned the copies of the holy Quran to make Muslims angry or if they did it mistakenly," he said, but said their "carelessness" was "a crime they have committed against the holiest book of 2 billion Muslims around the world."
A military official told CNN on Thursday that it was unclear at this point how many Qurans were involved in the improper disposal and accepted that some had been partially burned.
American troops at the base would not have been able to read the texts and that would have contributed to the mistake, the official said, asking not to be named discussing an ongoing investigation.
A second military official said earlier the materials were removed from a detainee center's library because they had "extremist inscriptions" on them and there was "an appearance that these documents were being used to facilitate extremist communications."
But U.S. apologies have not been enough to appease angry Afghans, who massed outside the Bagram base Tuesday, chanting "Death to America! Death to the Afghan government! Long live Islam!"
######################
Oh great, now conservatives all over will be pointing to this incident and saying, "See we told you Obama goes around apologizing all the time and this time to Muslim extremist!" I think he had to do it though.
But it brings up a good question. WHY THE HELL ARE WE STILL THERE?!
there Obama goes on his apology tour again! Always bowing to these terrorists and their Islamic extremism. We need to start a war with every Middle Eastern country ever except Israel in order to be secure in America, and Obama just doesn't understand this. Never before has this country been in more danger of complete destruction, and these camel riding desert dwellers represent the epitome of evil. It's all because of Obama.
/republican debate
/republican debate
cartoon_soldier
Member
Are we all prepared for the pesudo Obama is a Muslim attacks to rear its head with new vengeance again from the Republican right-wing machine?
Zero Hero
Member
What TA said and I'll add lithium.
Flying_Phoenix
Banned
Well my show should start not this Monday.
Currently I have to:
Get a name for the show
Promote the show
Find out the setting
Any suggestions would be recommended.
Currently I have to:
Get a name for the show
Promote the show
Find out the setting
Any suggestions would be recommended.
BotoxAgent
Member
http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/obama_administration/daily_presidential_tracking_poll
Rass National Poll, President Obama beating Romney 49% to 39% now
Holy shit, Santorum is doing better than Mitt, lulz
Rass National Poll, President Obama beating Romney 49% to 39% now
Holy shit, Santorum is doing better than Mitt, lulz
AlteredBeast
Fork 'em, Sparky!
1.Call it: The Political Gaffes
2. What campus is it on? Get on with the local NPR and get some free promo air time.
3. The year is 1941, the Japanese have just bombed Pearl Harbor. You are home alone with your naturalized Japanese wife and are not sure if she is either a spy. Nevertheless, in a short while, she will be sent to an internment camp. This is your story.
AlteredBeast
Fork 'em, Sparky!
It will swing back to Mitt's favor. Not against Obama, mind you.
I don't trust Rass polls, even if it shows numbers that I like.
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