Another company, another mass lay-off

From Yahoo! News:

NEW YORK - The embattled drugmaker Merck & Co. said Monday that it will cut about 7,000 jobs, or 11 percent of its work force, and will close or sell five of its 31 manufacturing plants by the end of 2008 in moves that it says will save up to $4 billion.

The announcement comes as the company, based in Whitehouse Station, N.J., faces the loss of patent protection for its top-selling cholesterol drug Zocor in 2006 and is facing thousands of liability lawsuits from its recalled painkiller Vioxx.

[...]

Merck said the cuts are intended to reduce the company's cost structure, increase efficiency, and enhance competitiveness.

click here for all of it

I completely understand that sometimes, the only way to keep your company afloat is to downsize, but do Merk or GM or Ford plan on giving their laid-off workers their jobs back when the company is ready to hire again? These articles never mention any such promises. Since it is not the workers' fault that the company is in trouble, why should they just be left in the cold, can't these companies re-hire former employees when its time to expand? To me, that seems the only ethical way to lay-off your employees in a situation like this. At least plan on undoing what you did to them. But of course, they don't give a damn about their employees. They're businessmen, they must turn a profit, right?

My best argument so far

The following is a response I made on a forum to someone who said that our military presence in Iraq stops terrorists from fighting us on our own soil:

Our whole 200+ year history shows that we don't take shit, we didn't need to start another war to prove that, plus, they didn't attack us because they thought we wouldn't do anything about it. They're religion doesn't tell them to just be bullies for the hell of it, not even their screwed up version of their own religion says that.

How to decrease Middle Eastern hatred of the US:

1) Stop supporting Israel. Playing favorites in a violent religious argument is a bad idea. Either support both Israel and Palestine or support neither of them.

2) Stop attacking countries that weren't a threat to you and weren't even feared by it's neighboring countries.

How to decrease hatred of the US from any point of view:

1) Don't overthrow democratically elected tyrants and install other tyrants, let oppressed people deal with it how they see fit.

2) Don't claim to be ridding a country of an evil-doer while you're in bed with a country whose leaders are just as evil.

3) Don't tell people to destroy their nukes while you have thousands of nukes. This displays that you think you are more intelligent than them, it isn't taken well.

I'm not saying we deserved 9/11, please spare me that nonsense, I'm just saying that violence can not be stopped by violence. If our goal in Iraq is to stop terrorism, war is the perfect anti-strategy.

(yes, violence stopped the Nazi regime, but the Nazis were an elite group, they were visible, they were aware of each other, there was a limited number of them because they only appeased Aryans and persecuted everyone else. They could be stopped because of their exclusive principles. Anyone can be a terrorist, it doesn't matter what you believe in, thats the difference between Iraq and World War II, only Germans/Aryans WHO AGREED WITH THE NAZI PRINIPLES could be given the title. You can destroy a title, but never an idea. Naziism was an institution, but terrorism is not so tangible)

My friend, the Welder

My brother and I caught up with an old friend the other day. We used to be in a Christian rock band with him, we even recorded a full-length album.

Before we left our friend's house, we got around to talking about how his job was going. Last time we saw him, he was a welder for GE, but something unfortunate happened there recently.

He got fired.

He was laid off, branded a "terrorist threat" after getting in a strictly verbal argument with his supervisor. All my friend was telling the man was that he had become a slave driver of sorts, and that the workers wanted to work with him, not for him. My friend was explaining to his supervisor that the workers were uncomfortable with the way he addressed the employees; he never greeted or said "good morning".

My friend was labelled a terrorst threat because his supervisor, whom my friend had known for many years, knew that he sometimes came into contact with Bandidos, an outlaw biker organization (my friend, the welder, is in the Soldiers for Jesus Biker Club, and they sometimes administer to Bandidos). My friend also made the mistake of pointing out that, hypothetically, firing someone who you think is a terrorist is only putting yourself at more risk. (The irony in that hypothetical situation is quite obvious).

"Terrorist threat" was a harsh allegation, and its hard to find a job when you've got that hanging over you, because GE is part of a conglomerate of hundreds of other companies, he's been virtually blacklisted. He's been lucky enough to find another job, but its in Texas City, he lives a thirty mile drive away in Baytown. (the only way he's been able to find a new job is because he had hundreds of friends who worked at GE who were heartbroken about what happened, they've been putting in a good word for him in the industry)

He told us that if he'd been in the union (as he is now), he could have gotten his supervisor fired instead of himself, but who really knows? At GE he had a health insurance plan for himself and his wife, now at his new job he only has insurance for himself, he has to pay for his wife's medicine out of his pocket. Right now he has his resumé at a company thats closer to his home, he'll have insurance coverage for his wife if he gets this job.

I just wanted to share this story with anyone who happens to stop by the blog, because I think its a textbook example of how screwy the big American corporation is run. I recently posted an article about GM's new job-cutting plan, plus we all know how screwed up Walmart is, now that you've heard this story, what say you about corporate America?

ThanksFighting

Gee Native Americans, thanks for giving us all this land for absolutely nothing, you didn't even fight us for it, you wanted us here, we're the bestest friends ever!

Hah, treaties? You knew we were joking, and you didn't mind, hey, you GAVE us this land!

So now lets celebrate the giving of America to the White Man, with no conflicts or grievances to speak of, God Bless America!

Protestors Arrested Near Bush's Ranch

From AP via Yahoo!

CRAWFORD, Texas - A dozen war protesters were arrested Wednesday for setting up camp near President Bush's ranch in defiance of new local bans on roadside camping and parking.

[...]

In August, hundreds of demonstrators camped off the road during a 26-day protest...But a month later, county commissioners banned camping in any county ditch and parking within 7 miles of the ranch, citing safety and traffic congestion issues.

click here for all of it

Hm, "safety and traffic congestion issues", eh McLennan County? That was certaintly some fast legislation that got passed, conveniently keeping protestors away from Bush's ranch, I wonder how all that work got done so quickly.

Bushies like to talk about how George is "like one of us", a "common man". Such bullshit, he's the president, he can get legislation passed in three months that perfectly serves his interest alone, how "common man" is that?

GM to cut jobs and close facories AGAIN

Remember this post that I made almost one year ago? Its about Michael Moore's first documentary, Roger & Me. Moore made the film after GM had announced a cut in 30,000 jobs and closing of about 11 factories, to try to boost profit that they hadn't been making.

Well now its happening again.

From AP via Yahoo!:

DETROIT - General Motors Corp. will eliminate 30,000 jobs and close nine North American assembly, stamping and powertrain plants by 2008 as part of an effort to get production in line with demand and position the world's biggest automaker to start making money again after absorbing nearly $4 billion in losses so far this year.

[...]

"But these actions are necessary for GM to get its costs in line with our major global competitors. In short, they are an essential part of our plan to return our North American operations to profitability as soon as possible." [said GM's chairman, Rick Wagoner]

Its not just a problem that GM is dealing with, another American company is about to cut jobs.

Last week, Ford Motor Co. told employees it plans to eliminate about 4,000 white-collar jobs in North America early next year as part of a restructuring plan. Ford said the cuts will be made in part through attrition and elimination of some agency and contract positions.

[...]

The cuts will be in addition to 2,750 North American salaried jobs that Ford earlier said it wanted to cut by the end of 2005. Ford started the year with about 35,000 salaried workers in North America.

click here for all of it

Once again, blue collar employees are being laid off for problems that aren't their fault. Where are all these people going to go? 30,000 will be out of work. There's a big sand pit out in the middle east where I'm sure our president would be happy to see them put to work, but now I'm just rambling.

American companies suck.

This is happening in Houston?

From AP via Yahoo!

Jewish Leader Blasts 'Religious Right'

HOUSTON - The leader of the largest branch of American Judaism blasted conservative religious activists in a speech Saturday, calling them "zealots" who claim a "monopoly on God" while promoting anti-gay policies akin to Adolf Hitler's.

Rabbi Eric Yoffie, president of the liberal Union for Reform Judaism, said "religious right" leaders believe "unless you attend my church, accept my God and study my sacred text you cannot be a moral person."

"What could be more bigoted than to claim that you have a monopoly on God?" he said during the movement's national assembly in Houston, which runs through Sunday.

The audience of 5,000 responded to the speech with enthusiastic applause.

He used particularly strong language to condemn conservative attitudes toward homosexuals.

[...]

"We cannot forget that when Hitler came to power in 1933, one of the first things that he did was ban gay organizations," Yoffie said. "Yes, we can disagree about gay marriage. But there is no excuse for hateful rhetoric that fuels the hellfires of anti-gay bigotry."

click here for all of it

I can't believe this kind of thing is happening in Houston. A "liberal" movement's national assembly is being held in Houston? I'd fear for their safety, but they're 5,000 strong, so I think they'll be safe from the assholes around here that might actually do something.

It may be a religious assembly but at least they know what they're talking about, thats rare in Houston.

Senior Research Paper

Yes, its finally time for the notorious Senior Research Paper. Being in a regular class, our teacher made it quite easy for us. We got to choose whatever topic we wanted! So I'm doing my senior reasearch paper on Punk Rock. I think its going to be titled "Punk Rock: A Steadfast Legacy".

Maybe I'll post it when I'm done.

Maybe I'll use this blog to practice writing it.

Bush Takes Fresh Shot at Iraq War Critics

From AP via Yahoo! News

ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE - President Bush hurled new criticism at Iraq war critics on Monday as he headed for Asia, accusing some Democrats of "sending mixed signals to our troops and the enemy."

[...]

"Reasonable people can disagree about the conduct of the war, but it is irresponsible for Democrats to now claim that we misled them and the American people," Bush said in his prepared remarks.

click here for all of it

Yeah, he didn't mislead us, he just gave us misleading information. He told us Saddam had/had access to/planned on getting weapons of mass destruction, which was false, therefore he mislead us. Whether it was intentional is anyone's bet. Some Democrats are saying that Bush manipulated the intelligence to fit his agenda. Unfortunately, there's really no way to prove that, so Bush can safely call them irresponsible, but there's no question about who mislead who.

Oil Company Execs Defend Profits to Senate

From Yahoo! News:

WASHINGTON - Oil executives sought to justify their huge profits under tough questioning Wednesday, but they found little sympathy from senators who said their constituents are suffering from high energy prices.

[...]

There is a "growing suspicion that oil companies are taking unfair advantage," said Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M. "The oil companies owe the American people an explanation."

[...]

The head of the Federal Trade Commission said a federal price-gouging law "likely will do more harm than good."

"While no consumers like price increases, in fact, price increases lower demand and help make the shortage shorter-lived than it otherwise would have been," FTC Chairman Deborah Platt Majoras told the hearing.

[...]

Shell earned $9 billion in the third quarter, said John Hofmeister, president of Shell Oil Co., but he said the company's investment in U.S. operations over the last five years was equal to its income from U.S. sales.

"We respectfully request that Congress do no harm by distorting markets or seeking punitive taxes on an industry working hard to respond to high prices and supply shortfalls," said Hofmeister.

click here for all of it

I want to comment on what FTC chairman Deborah Platt Majoras said.

She said that price increases lower demand, which is true, if the demand is elastic, and the demand for gasoline is most certainly inelastic, meaning that because of gasoline's vitality to our daily life, consumers will buy it no matter how high the price gets.

Of course she knows this good and well. It is the inelasticity of the demand of gasoline that causes these companies to profit even during a supply shortage.

Enough is never enough for these fat cats and its no suprise to me that they feel the need to set their prices in a manner that profits them, while everyone else struggles.

Mark These Words

In response to a question from Ralph Nader:

Freedom, virtue - these two were practically synonymous in the minds of our revolutionary forbears. To them it was not inconceivable that an individual would be granted freedom merely for the satisfaction of instinct and whims. Freedom was not the freedom to do as you please but rather, if you will, the freedom to do as you ought! Freedom, virtue - they were practically synonymous a hundred years later in the mind of Abraham Lincoln when, in his second inaugural address, he called for "a new birth of freedom." But today, because we have so cruelly separated freedom from virtue, because we define freedom in a morally inferior way, our country is stalled in what Herman Melville call the "Dark Ages of Democracy," a time when as he predicted, the New Jerusalem would turn into Babylon, and Americans would feel "the arrest of hope's advance."

-Rev. William Sloane Coffin

click here for all of it

I kick ass

Okay, so my dad is back from his long ass business trip and short story shorter, our internet works.

Anyway, I think its time to comment on how much ass I kick.

In my English class, we were broken up into small groups and given a Canterbury Tale to read. We had to write a script for that tale (ours was "The Pardoner's Tale"), and perform it for the class.

The skits were supposed to be 6-12 minutes long, and after a few readings and run-throughs out in the hall, we knew ours was too short. We knew what we had to do, and we weren't sure if we could, but we went for it. We had to improve.

I had already planned my own solo ad-lib to kill some time after my character stabs one of the others. I was going for a Family Guy-esque type drag-on, something my band director calls "milking the bit". I was going on about how I had been working out ("squat thrusts", "raw eggs every morning").

I basically had the class rolling, and I did it with style, I was like a freaking comedian up there! I got the first laugh and I just couldn't stop, I was an effing god! The class was in my hands.

And then a few seconds later, my character and another character had to die from poisoning, and we dragged that out pretty well too, and I taq'd on a few more big laughs.

The next day my teacher was sort of joking around before we took this test and she nomiated me for "Playa of the Week". We had a vote, I kicked ass. "Who votes for Adam?", *crowd goes wild.

Okay I'm done.

Dod Gamn computer

I can't get on the net at my house, I'm posting this in my web mastering class, as I did with the Chris Walken post.

So just for a general comment on current political events: HA!

I've never been so content while reading the news as I have lately (aside from Rosa Parks and Pakistan, those things are sad). Approval ratings are low, the war is being more loudly questioned by politicians, and Its not looking good for any of the top Bush Administration big whigs as far as staying in power in 2008.

Is America waking up? It'll be about damn time, but the bigger question is, if the Dems take over the Senate in 2008, will anything change?

Walken for president?

Check this out. Its a campaign website for the 2008 presidential race, the candidate being Christopher Walken!

This could easily be a fan-started website that Christopher Walken doesn't even know about yet, but check out some quotes from the platform:

"Private schools have long been the standard for quality education in this country, while public schools have been regarded as prison-like institutions to house children until they reach adulthood and are unleashed into society... We need to teach our children of the value and importance of a good education, and not threaten them with punishment for failure."

"Border crackdowns and stricter controls don’t work. Our focus needs to be on employers who hire undocumented workers under-the-table. These employers not only cheat social security by avoiding taxes, but more importantly minimize the demand for
wage-earning citizens."

"Abortion is one of the issues tearing our Union apart. The answer lies not in forcing one side to follow the other, but in solving the underlying problems. If we focus on practical education and teaching responsibility, rather than debate over ethics, we’ll have no more need for abortion."

"Nobody will argue that Saddam Hussein was not a tyrannical dictator, or that he shouldn’t have been unseated, but to take our nation to war under false pretenses, against the will of the democratic world we claim to defend, is not a decision I support... I will seek the aid of the world community we once scorned, to form a special peacekeeping coalition to assist with the consolidation of power in Iraq. My top priority will be to stabilize Iraq under this international force and end our occupation."

If he really does run in '08, I'll definately vote for him. Its time to overthrough this bipartisan consensus thats getting us nowhere.