Biden: "Bin Laden is Dead and GM is alive!" GM alive?

As of this writing and since the beginning of the year, GM has recalled 15.4 million vehicles.  To put it into perspective, that's the equivalent of recalling every single vehicle it sold in the U.S. in the last 5-1/2 years; or, just about as long as Obama has been in office.  I heard this sarcastic comment on television the other day: "Are there any cars left to recall?" 

Throughout the 2012 election cycle, we heard this slogan from Joe Biden while hyping Obama's first term in office: "Bin Laden is dead and GM is Alive!"  Well, that was long before years of hidden, widespread defective production and its related deaths and injuries all came to light.

Today, GM 's bottom line is being heavily impacted by the cost of repairing all these trucks and cars.  Yet to come are the settling of hundreds of potential lawsuits.  But, more importantly, all the recalls are painting GM vehicles as both defective and unsafe.  That kind of bad publicity could very easily hurt sales and, potentially, drive the company towards bankruptcy once again.  To say GM is alive might be quite a stretch.

Maybe Biden's new slogan should be: "Bin Laden is dead and so are some GM owners!" And, well...  While Bin Laden might be dead, his legacy -- Al Qaeda -- continues to grow.

Yes, Joe Biden's uber-intelligence just proves he should (?) be our next President!  Please, Joe, run!  You're every conservative's dream.

References:

U.S. safety watchdog says 303 deaths linked to recalled GM cars: http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/03/14/us-gm-recall-casualties-idUSBREA2D02U20140314

Al Qaeda controls more territory than ever in Middle East: http://www.cnn.com/2014/01/07/opinion/bergen-al-qaeda-terrority-gains/

GM recalls another 2.6 million vehicles, doubles second-quarter charge: https://news.yahoo.com/gm-recalls-another-2-42-million-vehicles-doubles-154144232--sector.html

GM Auto Sales Numbers: http://www.zacks.com/stock/news/119647/Record-2013-Sales-for-GMs-Chevrolet

Obama Compares Al Qaeda of Today to a Junior Varsity Team

We once had a Democrat President, Bill Clinton, who ignored the rise of Al Qaeda and it cost us thousands of lives in the World Trade Center attack.  He even had a chance to kill Bin Laden but, instead, he allowed "advice of counsel" from a White House attorney, Jamie Gorelick, to supersede any national security concerns.

Once again, we have another Democrat President, Barack Obama, who is, like Clinton, ignoring the rise of Al Qaeda so he can simply maintain a political posturing that "he" has them on the run. Nothing could be more proof of that when, in a recent interview with New Yorker Magazine, he declared that the Al Qaeda of today is a junior varsity team when compared to the Al Qaeda under Bin Laden. Well, as reported by Peter Bergen at CNN, that supposed junior varsity team controls more of the Middle East than ever.

The problem with the President is that he is either lying or covering up whenever it comes to Al Qaeda. The Fort Hood massacre and Benghazi are the two best examples.

In the case of the Fort Hood massacre, Obama has avoided calling it the first terrorist attack on U.S. soil since 9/11,  by categorizing and trying it in court as,  just another case of workplace violence with no connection to Al Qaeda.  This ignores the fact that, in the months prior, the shooter, Maj. Hassan, had back and forth email communications with Al Qaeda mastermind, Anwar al-Awlaki. 

The same is true with Benghazi.  The trumped-up "story" that the killing of 4 Americans was just about a video, was merely another attempt to hide Al Qaeda's involvement in this obvious terrorist attack.  In doing so, Obama, just prior to the election, could continue the well worn lie that Al Qaeda is on the run.  It also was done to hide incompetence on the part of  the President and his Administration by failing to recognize a potential threat on the anniversary of the original 9/11.

We should all be afraid of Obama's obvious failure to recognize Al Qaeda as a growing threat.  If he is being politically delusional in doing so, we could very well witness another major attack on the this country.

References:

Al Qaeda "JayVee": http://www.truthrevolt.org/news/obama-al-qaeda-jayvee

CNN: Bergen: Al Qaeda controls more territory than ever in Middle East: http://www.cnn.com/2014/01/07/opinion/bergen-al-qaeda-terrority-gains/

Ashcroft Faults Clinton Era at 9/11 Panel: http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/13/politics/13CND-ASHC.html

CNN: Nadal Hassan Trial: http://www.cnn.com/2013/08/19/justice/nidal-hasan-court-martial-monday/

Senate report: Benghazi attackers tied to Al Qaeda groups: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/01/15/senate-intelligence-committee-releases-comprehensive-benghazi-report/

Pakistan: Friend Or Enemy?

There's an old proverb which states: "The enemy of my enemy is my friend."  But, conversely, one could also say: "The friend of my enemy is no friend of mine."  And, when it comes to our relationship with Pakistan, the latter is surely true.

They proved this when they decided to convict a Pakistani surgeon of treason for his help in allowing us to locate and kill Osama Bin Laden.   This conviction speaks volumes to the fact that Pakistan never wanted us to find him.  Pakistan is not our friend.  The Pakistanis are simply the friends of our enemies: Osama Bin Laden, Al Qaeda, and the Taliban; all of which have found refuge and cover in their country.  The enemy of Pakistan is India.  Just maybe we should hold true to the old "enemy of my enemy" proverb by befriending India.  We could easily do this by rewarding India with the billions in foreign aid that was originally destined for Pakistan.  Maybe, then, Pakistan would stop taking us for granted.

Liking and Voting For Obama Are Too Different Things

Last Thursday's Gallup daily tracking poll gave Obama a 51% approval rating; the highest in weeks and probably due to all the Bin Laden "kill" hype during that week But, on that same day, in a head-to-head election match-up against Romney, the same Gallup polling only gave Obama a single point advantage: 46% to Romney's 45%. Between the job approval rate and Obama's reelection polling, there was a 6 percentage point differential. This just proves that some voters are confusing job approval with likeability. As a result, when it comes to actually reelecting Obama, those same voters appear to be siding with Romney. A fact that should make Obama very, very nervous.

Would Obama Have Even Gone To War In Afghanistan Over Bin Laden?

This week, the big political flap is over Barack Obama's campaign ad which implies that Mitt Romney would "not" have taken the shot to kill Osama Bin Laden if he had the chance.  But, I pose a different question.  Would Obama, if he were in George Bush's place, gone after Bin Laden and Al Qaeda by going to war with Afghanistan? Or, would the obvious anti-war Democrat and constitutional lawyer, consider the attack on the World Trade Center a civil problem?  A civil problem and a police problem because Osama Bin Laden and Al Qaeda had no true "alliances" to any one country.  In my mind, I think the latter is true.  As a consequence, I think they would still be flourishing in Afghanistan today.  At best, Bin Laden, thanks to Obama's timidity, might only have wound up on the FBI's Most Wanted list with a bounty on his head.

But, for me to think that would be "pure and unwarranted" speculation.  Just as it is "pure and unwarranted" speculation to think that Mitt Romney would "not" have taken the opportunity to kill Osama Bin Laden.  I think this is why so many, including Democrats, are being critical of the President over the assumption made in that campaign commercial.  Further, I think people are turned off when they see a sitting President try to take singular credit for something that took more than 10 years to  accomplish with hundreds, if not thousands, of people involved in giving Obama a chance to take that historic shot. That, to me, only diminishes this Presidency.

Biden: Bin Laden Is Dead, GM Is Alive

Ahead of the one-year anniversary of the Bin Laden raid, Vice President Joe Biden proudly declared: "Bin Laden is dead, GM is alive."

Now, I'll buy Obama/Biden taking credit for the Bin Laden killing.  But, as far as GM being alive, the qualifier should be "just barely".   While the company looks profitable on paper, let's not forget that this profitability came at a very high cost to the taxpayer's with a $56 billion bailout.  At the same time, prior stockholders and creditors were literally thrown under the bus with Obama handing ownership over to the unions and the U.S. Treasury. And, with the stock price floundering, it looks like it will be a very long time before the taxpayer will get any of its money back.

However, lurking just below the surface, GM has a major problem that could, again, put that company into serious financial trouble. That problem is underfunded pension funds.  As of the end of last year, it was estimated that GM's pension funds were short $31 billion dollars; growing from a $22 billion deficit at the end of 2010.  That was a net deficit increase of $9 billion in just one year and far greater than the $7.6 billion in GM's profits for that same year.  What's more disturbing is the fact that, based on stock price, the total value of the company barely exceeds its pension deficit at the end of 2011.

Unless GM can get some concessions on existing pension liabilities, that company will be right back facing bankruptcy in as little as two years.  That's because the pension fund payouts are rising much faster than GM's profits and its contributions to pension funding.   This pension problem is one of the reasons that GM's stock price is floundering.   A problem that will only get worse with time.

Bin Laden's Failed 9/11 Plot

On this day, ten years ago, 19 hijackers killed nearly 3000 Americans in what, I am quite sure, Osama Bin Laden thought to be his crowning victory for Al Qaeda. But, did the United States cower as a result of that attack? Did we crumble as an economy? No. We strengthened against Al Qaeda and for that reason Bin Laden's 911 attack was a tactical failure.

Osama Bin Laden's attack on America has resulted in more than one million Muslim deaths in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iraq; and, in Bin Laden's own death as the feeble-looking disheveled rat that he really was. Bin Laden did his faith and his people no favors on 9/11. Instead, he inflicted more damage to millions of Muslims; along with their homes, their businesses, and their homelands.

I would hope and pray that this very costly lesson will keep Al Qaeda, or anyone else, from ever again committing an act of mass terrorism on U.S. soil.

A Possible Terrorist Smack-Down!

Sounding a little like our Presidential nomination activities, here, in the United States, Al Qaeda (a Sunni organization) is fighting for the hearts and minds of every Muslim terrorist in the world over their chief Shiite rival in the Middle East: Iran. Osama Bin Laden's number two henchman or cub-reporter, Ayman al-Zawahri, has issued a communique that claimed Iran was trying to discredit one of Al Qaeda's chief accomplishments: 9/11 and the destruction of the World Trade Center. (See Full Story)

There is no word if Bin Laden or al-Zawahri will challenge Iran's President, Ahmadinejad, to a series of debates so that all would-be terrorists in the world can make up their minds as to whether or not Al Qaeda or Iran is the better terrorist organization to belong too. We'll keep you posted.