What’s interesting out there today?
Open Thread.
First some good news, but only for your taste buds, not your diet. 😦
From GMA/Yahoo
“The bankrupt assets of Hostess Brands, Inc., the company responsible for Twinkies, Ho Ho’s, Sno Balls and Ding Dongs, are being put back to work by a buyout firm. What’s not being put back to work are the former Hostess unionized employees.”
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The idea of the US military being used to aid Al-Qaeda in Syria really bothers me. But that’s the idea being pushed. From RT.com
“The White House says that United States President Barack Obama may approve of using military force against the Syrian government.
Early afternoon on Friday, White House press secretary Jay Carney said that the administration has a number of options in regards to handling reports that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has used chemical weapons, and those routes include but are not exclusive to using military force.”
Pelosi is pushing it too. From TheHill
“House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Friday that it was time for the United States to “take it to the next step” in Syria in response to possible chemical weapons use, although she said that did not include putting “troops on the ground.”
“I myself think that we have tolerated for too long all of the assaults on the Syrian people made by its own government,” Pelosi told reporters. “I think we have to take it to the next step. That does not mean troops on the ground.””
Syria has become the go to place for jihadists looking to fight. From RT.com
“War-torn Syria is now “number one” destination for jihadists who could then return to Europe experienced “in weapons and explosives” to carry out terror attacks, Britain’s Foreign Secretary William Hague warns.
As the violent military conflict rages on, the threat to Western countries from Syria-grown extremists is rising; and the risk that it may breed a new generation of battle-hardened militants is “growing the longer the fighting in Syria continues,” Hague said in his speech Thursday at the Royal United Services Institute.”
Here’s 4 of the bad arguments being used to argue the case for arming them. From RealClearWorld
“Slowly but steadily, the United States (scratch that, Washington, DC) is talking itself into a deeper involvement in Syria’s civil war. There are already reports indicating that the U.S. is taking an active hand in determining which Syrian rebel groups will receive shipments of weapons purchased by Gulf allies. The CIA has reportedly been training “secular” fighters in Jordan to send into the fray.
All the while, the Obama administration has been goaded ever-deeper by a series of dubious arguments about U.S. involvement in Syria’s civil war. Four, in particular, have surfaced frequently.”
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Meanwhile, Obama’s speech to Planned Parenthood was a first. It was also quite disgusting to watch. He’d like Planned Parenthood to help him push ObamaCare. From Politico
“President Obama asked Planned Parenthood and its supporters to play a key role in informing Americans of the details of the Affordable Care Act as he addressed the group Friday.
“I’m here to … ask for your help, because we need to get the word out,” he said in Washington during a speech rescheduled from Thursday night, when he chose to spend extra time with victims of the West, Texas, explosion. “We need you to tell your patients, your friends, your neighbors, your family members what the health care law means for them.”
It was about as controversial as Obama got in the speech — the first to the group by a sitting U.S. president — as he avoided talking about the Kermit Gosnell trial or a recent ruling on the morning-after pill.”
Gee, I wonder why? 🙄
From TheDailyCaller
“President Obama became the first sitting U.S. president to deliver a speech to Planned Parenthood on Friday.
The organization is America’s leading abortion provider.
During a speech at the Planned Parenthood National Conference in Washington, Obama told the room of about 1,000 attendees that the organization is here to stay, despite efforts by Republicans to strip the group of federal funding.”
He ended the speech with “God Bless Planned Parenthood.” He also told the adoring crowd at the start that they were “making him blush.” Classless and clueless. He should be embarrassed. If he’s gonna blush, it should be from shame.
And yes, there’s video, from WeaselZippers
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The NY Times has done something I’d never thought I would see. They said Andrew Breitbart was right about the Pigford Settlement to minority farmers all along. From HotAir
“It’s rare to get this kind of vindication, so let’s enjoy it in memory of Andrew Breitbart for as long as possible. For more than two years, Andrew and Lee Stranahan have investigated the Pigford settlement and the fraudulent claims that not only have cost taxpayers billions, but have left the original black farmers who sued the USDA over discrimination in the lurch. Today the New York Times reports what Andrew and Lee have been saying all along — that the Pigford settlement was a political hack job by Tom Vilsack’s Department of Agriculture, and that it’s a magnet for fraud (via Twitchy):”
“Career litigators, who had successfully defended the Agriculture Department all the way to the Supreme Court, were aghast:
The payouts pitted Mr. Vilsack and other political appointees against career lawyers and agency officials, who argued that the legal risks did not justify the costs.
Beyond that, they said it was legally questionable to sidestep Congress and compensate the Hispanic and female farmers out of a special Treasury Department account, known as the Judgment Fund. The fund is restricted to payments of court-approved judgments and settlements, as well as to out-of-court settlements in cases where the government faces imminent litigation that it could lose. Some officials argued that tapping the fund for the farmers set a bad precedent, since most had arguably never contemplated suing and might not have won if they had.”
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And lastly, an interesting read from Pat Buchanan over at CNS News called “The Dark Side of Diversity”
“”I do not know the method of drawing up an indictment against a whole people,” said Edmund Burke of the rebellious Americans.
The same holds true of Islam, the majority faith of 49 nations from Morocco to Indonesia, a religion that 1.6 billion people profess.
Yet, some assertions appear true.
Islam is growing in militancy and intolerance, evolving again into a fighting faith, and spreading not only through proselytizing, but violence.”
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Wandering Views 
We ought to stay out of Syria. We have nothing to choose between. Just as Libya and Egypt are turning radical, so will Syria. It’s a sad situation for the Christians there, but there isn’t much we can do. We should help Jordan as much as possible.
Someone on Fox suggested posting troops in Jordan. Jordan may not want US troops.
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The problem is, Obama spoke of “crossing the red line”. Now, if we do nothing because of using gas, we’re not credible in other threats.
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Historically, Islam has spread only through violence.
Someone, forgot who, mentioned the “bloody borders of Islam”. Very true. Muslims are challenged to war against their neighbors who aren’t Muslim. the dae al Harb.
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To quote from To Kill a Mockingbird “I got something to say and then I ain’t gonna say no more.”
I read the Buchanan piece and it sounded eerily familiar. You see, I’m reading a book called the Merchants of Death written by a conservative writer, recommended by World. It documents the enormous population control that the West, led by the US, has perpetrated in the developing world. I say perpetrated. What else would you call the refusal to give famine relief unless a country had a sterilization and birth-control program operating other than coercion and blackmail?
Millions of forcible sterilizations, abortions and the insertions permanent birth control devices were perpetrated upon the least of the human race, paid for by the generous donations of such institutions as USAID and the World Bank. These measures were supported on both sides of the political spectrum – the liberals for reasons of conservation of resources, the conservatives because they viewed impoverished countries with large populations as havens for communism.
To see Buchanan complain about the growing population of Islamic countries and thus the growing threat sickened me. He sounded exactly like his contemporaries that complained about India and China in the Cold War era. It is supremely ironic that his site should contain an advertisement against the silence on the Gosnell case. Investigations into Gosnell have shown that he was among the many involved in the Cold War population control campaign. It is little wonder that he thought he could butcher the babies of poor and immigrant women in the US, he did so to the women’s counterparts in less privileged countries, with the blessing of the US government (oh yes, those reports only mentioned the IPPF, but the US worked hand in glove with them).
Yes, Christians have been killed by Muslims. They have also been killed by Hindus, Buddhists, atheists, animists, Jews, Catholics and Protestants. We were told to expect to be hated of all men for the name of Jesus Christ. We were also told to love our enemies, do good to them that hate us and pray for them that despitefully use us and persecute us.
As Christians, we cannot foment a movement of ill-feeling towards another group of humans, no matter what they do to us, without deliberately dishonouring our Lord, who when He was reviled, reviled not again. He died to save the very people who murdered Him. The only proper response His followers could make is to lay down their lives for those who threaten them.
I recently stood by a beside of a woman whom Buchanan would deem a threat, as a Muslim in a Muslim country, who delivered a stillborn child in a difficult delivery that could have been prevented in a Western hospital. As I looked at the tiny form, so limp and still, I couldn’t help thinking of the Gosnell case and wonder how we humans could dare to kill our precious young. I reached two conclusions: the first was that when we humans interfere with God’s gift of life in the form of children, of whatever ethnic or cultural origin, we do so at our extreme peril and will draw His wrath upon ourselves; the second was that whenever I have the opportunity to speak against those who choose to arbitrate on what populations should grow or shrink, I would do so.
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Thanks, Phos.
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phos — you did something I no longer can do — read Buchanan. He’s long lost his relevance or should have and now could be an extra in Gran Trarino, unfortunately some people take him seriously. Furthermore you’re right on population control, the best means to establish lower population and birth rates is through better health care, wealth, and maternal care not dictatorial policies from a gov’t.
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Syria is a damned if you and damned if you don’t proposition. The longer this conflict goes on, the greater influence “jihad” types will have but if the West steps in and ends the conflict, it will have to allow the Islamic influence in the government. The US probably should have involved itself right away in order to maximize its influence but it was preoccupied elsewhere with regimes and areas that contained oil and hence Syria was lower on the priority list.
Twinkies — once again workers pay for the mistakes of management. Hostess mismanaged itself but continually rescued itself from the abyss by demanding concessions from workers. The workers gave until they drew a line and then Hostess went bankrupt …. the only solution management schools teach is to cut labour cost and when thats not available its bankruptcy. The modern managerial class are horrible capitalist (which is why tax cuts are a dumb idea)
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oopps that should’ve been corporate tax cuts are a bad idea.
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Thank you for posting your thoughts on it Phos.
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HRW,
While it’s true managment at Hostess bears responsibility too, the union caused the closure by refusing to negotiate. Management can’t keep giving when running at a loss. They were in bankruptcy before, for the same mismanagement and excessive union demands. Eventually the gravy train runs out of track. When the product is too expensive to produce, and people won’t buy because of price, you’re at the last stop. They’re not govt who can run deficits endlessly.
Even other unions pleaded with the Bakers union to accept. They refused. Now they’re paying for it. Those workers can re-apply, and possibly be hired at the wages the job should be payed, not the inflated, and unrealistic union wages.
You won’t get much argument from me on corporate tax cuts. I mostly agree, but I don’t mind breaks for companies to encourage them to hire additional workers.
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And also, don’t forget, the union insisted on mediation. The company agreed. It didn’t work.
Now don’t get me wrong, in MHO the managment acted like scumbags too. They jacked their pay by an extreme amount because they knew what was coming and wanted their’s first.
Hopefully the new owners can get back to running a successful business.
Here’s a piece you might like that does a good job of sorting out the who did what that led to the closure.
http://reason.com/blog/2012/11/19/who-killed-hostess
“Hostess Brands cited its enormous pension debts and labor costs for its bankruptcy and stated the Bakery, Confectionary, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers (BCTGM) Union’s refusal to negotiate reductions as culprit. Courthouse News Service looked over the latest bankruptcy filings and noted that eight of Hostess’ top 10 creditors are pension funds. It owes almost $1 billion to the Bakery & Confectionary Union & Industry International Pension Fund alone.
The Teamsters even turned against the bakers union, putting out a statement encouraging them to hold a secret ballot vote as total company meltdown approached to see if people really wanted to risk everybody’s livelihoods:”
“BCTGM members are well aware that as the company was preparing to file for bankruptcy earlier this year, the then CEO of Hostess was awarded a 300 percent raise (from approximately $750,000 to $2,550,000) and at least nine other top executives of the company received massive pay raises. One such executive received a pay increase from $500,000 to $900,000 and another received one taking his salary from $375,000 to $656,256.”
But thankfully most of the raises didn’t happen. Some got extreme cuts as punishment when the new CEO took over.
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HRW & AJ – My husband, Lee, worked for Hostess for 10 years, until about 6 months before they folded. He was a Teamster during that time. Some random observations…
Hostess sold “cake” products & bread products. The unions demanded that bread & cake be delivered separately, so that they’d have 2 different trucks (& 2 different drivers) delivering product to the same store.
Union protection of employees was ridiculous at times. One driver told a manager of a store to “eat sh__”. He was moved to a different route, where sometime later he said the same to another store manager. Moved to a different route again. (I’m pretty sure the company lost the business of at least one of those stores.)
Because of “seniority”, there was a time that man’s job was safe but my husband, who goes out of his way to help a customer, was worried about anticipated (at the time) lay-offs.
When some route consolidation was done at one point, one driver complained that he had too much business on his route. So he said he would purposely lose some of it so he could get back earlier. No consequences.
I know the company definitely had its own problems (giving millions of dollars of executive bonuses when the company is facing bankruptcy comes to mind), but the unions, & their intransigence, were a big problem, too.
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Unions exist as a collective agent of the workers. Their “rasion d’entre” is the worker’s interest not the corporate interest. Thus, rules concerning job descriptions (routes in the Teamsters case) often result in conflicts.
Complaints about pensions are a failure of company management. Companies should put aside pension funds at the time they are committed not when pensions are activated by workers. In other words each pay day the company should put aside money promised that week for pensions they are liable for in the future. Some do, some don’t — hostess obviously didn’t. In my area, two school boards both promised a sick leave gratuity to teachers that would be payed out at retirement. One board set aside money each year based on how much they were liable whereas the other just paid as they went along. In the short term, the latter strategy looks good in the long term its a disaster. Similarly most corporations are run for shareholders quarterly earnings and thus pension cost are deferred. When pensions are due, suddenly corporations are whining about excessive pensions created by greedy unions. Bad management not greedy unions — they set aside money when costs occur, then money will be available when costs are due. If they can’t set aside money, then don’t make the promise.
The Bakers had given concessions in the past based on the idea that the savings would be reinvested in the corporation but they weren’t. The Bakers then had a reasonable assumption that this wouldn’t occurred in the future. The company then had negotiated in bad faith and despite the Teamsters pleas, the Bakers weren’t unreasonable to distrust Hostess.
I would be interested in the actual mediation results or why it failed.
The real failure of Hostess is not its labor relations but its failure to adapt to a changing marketplace. With in-store bakeries and healthier choices, many families aren’t interested in high processed baked goods. Thus for reason.org to conclude its the unions fault, ignore their own article and reality… who in their right mind still buys that junk?
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Corporate tax rates are too low for any cuts to have any effect. Diminishing returns.
To tie tax cuts to job creation would create a monitoring bureaucracy not worth the cost. Just increase corporate tax rate to a reasonable rate and the flexibility in budgeting would allow for more infrastructure spending which would increase job creation far more than corporations themselves …. whose profits are tied to outsourced labour.
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Why not get rid of all corporate income taxes? The owners could pay the income tax on the income they receive from the corporations they own part of. (I know, never end a sentence with a preposition.) The only exception should be if the money paid to an owner leaves the country.
I am a firm believer that complicated tax rules only allow some people to get out of paying taxes.
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Phos, it is one of my deep dark secrets that when I was younger and in college and knew it all I signed up and donated money to one of those organizations that was working on “population control” in third world countries. They sent me information for years.
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Bob — my Friedmanite economist friend makes the same argument.He argues that to tax both the corporation and then the shareholder personally amounts to double taxation, However, the tax applied to the corporation and the tax applied to the shareholder tax two separate entities. If we were to remove the legal fiction of corporate personhood he would have a better argument. Capital controls as you propose are impossible to enforce and go against freedom of movement and have been difficult to craft so they remain legally valid.
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Two interesting NYT articles
The first neatly illustrates the Catch 22 that is the Syrian civil war;
And the second is a bit of a biographical blurb on the Boston bomber
I’ve stated before than immigration alienation which turns an individual bitter and makes him/her willing to embrace extreme ideas was part of the problem and this article hints toward this.
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Hurrah for Russia! Down with Western Europe and the US!
http://www.catholicismusa.com/russia-wants-powerful-treaty-monitoring-bodies-reigned-in-un-bureacracy-says-no-wants-more-money/
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