Author: KlatooBaradaNikto

In thinking about the extraordinary leniency shown to Miller despite her many transgressions, it occurred to me that the NYT itself might have been implicated in promoting the lies Judy Miller had written about.If that collusion between Miller and the Times management was voluntary, Miller may now hold the axe over Sulzberger and Keller and that may make them lenient for fear of exposure of their own roles in Cheney’s orchestrated effort to discredit Ambassador Wilson.

Just a theory of mine.Throw bouquets or brickbats at it.

Out of all the odious characters in the Bush administration, the man who has always impressed me as one who would not shy away from any word or deed to advance his agenda was Cheney.He epitomizes this administration in many ways.His arrogance is, of course, obvious.He is convinced of his own magnificence as when he makes inane utterances like “Ronald Reagan proved that deficits don’t matter” as though his stating it should end discussion.His arrogance was in full display when he took on the pitiable Joe Lieberman in the vice presidential debates in 2000.He claimed that his wealth was not derived from governement largesse but was a product of his hard work and risk taking in the private sector,i.e. Halliburton.That he thinks others would swallow that nonsense knowing the nature of Halliburton’s business is another instance of his arrogance.

It should come as no surprise that he is a vengeful man intolerant of other people’s opinions.When Ambassador Wilson upset his nice little apple cart of WMD’s in Iraq as a prelude to war, he drew out his sword against the Ambassador and ordered everyone to fall in line.The result is now plainly visible.

That he is a ruthless man bent on accumulating power with his evil twin Rumsfeld has been obvious to any discerning observer.These two men have navigated the revolving door between government and industry with deft skill, accumulationg IOU’s along the way and, in their latest incarnations as Bush’s Rasputins,have arrived at their Nirvana.They have gone on killing sprees in Iraq,intimidation of our supplicant Press at home and very likely created the conditions that led to the disaster in New Orleans.In that context, it was revealing to me that Cheney played a huge part in voting down Martin Luther King’s birthday as a national holiday and also kept up the canard that Nelson Mandela should not be released because he was a Communist.

More than Bush,it is Cheney and his twin Rumsfeld that have subverted our Constitution.Their contempt for democratic processes shines through in every word they speak and every act they undertake.

effort by Rumsfeld for what he has called Total Information Dominance? This was John Poindexter’s area of expertise even during the Iran-Contra scandals and his departure from this administration before the War on Iraq may have been to coordinate this effort from outside using PR firms like Ketchum.

As Miller’s role becomes clearer, one gets the sense that she was a virtual one woman assault team popping up at opportune times doing the bidding of the Bush administration.Her being a NYT reporter and, a well concealed mole inside that organization, virtually guaranteed favorable coverage for the Bush Administrations’ point of view.And because the NYT had been held up as a paragon of the Liberal establishment,such favorable treatment from one of the enemies of the Bush Administration could be cited by Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld and Condi endlessly to buttress their claims.

I think Judy had it down to a science.

I remember in the early 70’s, even during the Arab oil embargo, GM strutted around the automotive world like a colossus commanding nearly 50% of the automotive market and looked down on all the upstarts from Japan like Nissan(Datsun), Toyota and others.Its business model was working very well in the absence of true competition.That model said make as many lookalike cars as possible.To go from one model to another, simply change hood ornaments, grilles, head and tail lights.Forget technology, research and other time consuming things.Cash is the only thing that matters and that requires the dealers to get the cars out the door.

The results from the first two weeks of October are now in. GM has reported a whopping $1.6 billion dollar loss which comes on the heels of another monster loss last quarter. GM may have cannibalized its own sales for this year by offering deep discounts on the leftovers from last year’s models.The October sales are off by a whopping 57% over last year’s. The prognosis doesn’t look good either because GM has bet the house on its gas guzzling SUV’s and big trucks and has been caught with its pants down as gas price has raced past the $3 a gallon mark. GM’s choices are limited.Because of its legacy costs( retirement and health) it is simply unable to make any money on any cars other than its gas guzzlers.First of all, nobody wants their cars.Second, they have acquired an image of low quality and technology, partly as a result of the disdain they have shown for such things in the past and aggravated that problem by their arrogance and poor service over the years. And true to their tradition, they have belittled the hybrid car technolgy that is now all the rage and in which the Japanese have established an insurmountable lead.

If current trends continue, GM may well be headed for the scrap heap following its big parts division, Delphi.And that would be a shame for all Americans.

Now for the lessons for a hubris soaked ignoramus like Bush on what GM teaches us.At the end of WWII, this country was revered as the savior of all peoples from Nazi tyranny and Japanese Imperialism.Over the next fifty odd years, that image of a humanitarian giant has been slowly transformed into an ogre that grinds down poor peoples all over the world, supports tyrants and launches wars at the slightest pretext in pursuit of real or imagined threats.The War on Vietnam, launched with a manufactured incident has pretty well demolished the myth of America the benign giant.Now comes Iraq and the myriad violations of international norms that the U.S. was instrumental in developing and enforcing.This pretty well nails the door on our image.

It is apt that an ignoramus and coward like Bush is presiding over the liquidation of American hegemony.He, like GM, has no clue why other people do whatever it is they do.He has only to convince himself that he is better than the people who are at the receiving end of his imperial swagger.His contempt seems to know no boundaries.It is likely to be directed at hapless Iraqis just as much as at the people of New Orleans.

As his Iraqi venture breaks apart in disarray, he keeps clinging to his belief that he is still the colossus and a change of scenery like he is so eager to put himself in would change his fortunes. Like the hood ornaments at GM, the public is no longer buying his wares.

In the meantime, countries that Bush used to deride are stealing a march over us by devoting their meager resources for the betterment of their people’s lives rather than be swallowed by pride and wasteful expenditures on futile wars.In this way, GM’s demise, brought on by its hubris may well be a warning to our Caesar.But then this Caesar is incapable of understanding anything that is not written on his teleprompter.

The end of George’s excellent adventure need not be mourned.It may well mean  a chance for the rebirth of this country and its true values.

So says Robert “Steve” miller, CEO of Delphi as it filed for bankruptcy in an interview with the WSJ. He argues that almost every one of the ills that has brought down Delphi can be found in other U.S. automakers, airlines and other industrial corporations.
He says that companies like Delphi have become noncompetitive in the relentless globally competitive environment mainly because of the legacy costs that GM and other automakers have piled up during their sunny days of monopoly in the 60’s and 70’s.

Miller knows whereof he speaks. He joined Lee Iacocca in the rescue of Chrysler.He presided over the bankruptcy of Betlehem Steel before turning that dead hulk over to his friend and mentor, W.L.Ross.He was also present at the bankruptcy of Federal Mogul, another automotive supplier. He is now on the board that oversees the bankruptcy of United Airlines.He is also on the board of several corporations.He has earned his stripes as a remorseless cost cutter.Lest we think he is one heartless SOB, he begs to differ.He says he has to do this to make our corporations competitive and save the jobs worth saving.

In his drive to save Delphi, he has asked the workers to accept wages from $9-10 per hour a steep decline from their current $27-30 per hour wages and generous benefits.He plans to close many of Delphi’s North American plants and have the work performed overseas, mainly in India and China and we know what that means.This will go on until Miller gets rid of all the pension and health costs for past and present employees.That will make the company attractive to people like W.L.Ross, a vulture hovering over the near dead carcass of Delphi.W.L.Ross was an admirer, needless to say, of Miller and has expressed an interest in picking up Delphi after its legacy costs, pensions and benefits are stripped and the corporation is made more “valuable”.And, the Indian billionaire, Laxmi Mittal, who bought a portfolio of bankrupt steel companies from W.L.Ross, is said to be interested in picking up a similar portfolio of auto parts companies from his old friend, W.L.Ross.The world has indeed become a small place, may be even flatter, as Tom Friedman would say.Everything that stands in the way of these men is being flattened.