Ford announced that the Flat Rock, MI plant will add 1,616 new jobs. This is good news since the word has been that the plant might even close. Instead, we have another hoipful sign that the automotive industry is really rebounding. Some rebound though. When did this depression begin for us in Michigan? My memory is foggy, still I believe it was back in 2003. But, we'll take this rebound even if it's a bit tardy. Thank you Mr. Ford & family, Mr. Mulally, the U.A.W. and President Robert King and Ford workers worldwide!
Here's how Chrissie Thompson, wrote it in today's FREEP:
"Under the UAW agreement, the next generation midsize Fusion sedan, currently built in Hermosillo, Mexico, will be built both there and in Flat Rock, alongside a redesigned Ford Mustang. The new product, which comes with a $555-million investment for tooling and equipment, provides job security for Flat Rock's workers. The plant's future has been uncertain since Mazda said it would end production of the Mazda6 sedan in a few months." more
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
Good News!
The U.A.W. and Ford appear to have agreed to a new four-year contract. Ford said it plans to add 12,000 jobs and invest $6.2 billion in its United States plants. See: New York Times "Ford Reaches Contract Deal with the U.A.W."
Couple this with the recent GM deal, which calls for creating or retaining 6,400 jobs in the United States,and raising pay for entry-level workers, we have some really good news today!
Couple this with the recent GM deal, which calls for creating or retaining 6,400 jobs in the United States,and raising pay for entry-level workers, we have some really good news today!
Monday, October 3, 2011
"We are the 99%" Solidarity March with #OccupyWallStreet at 3 PM
The Great Middle Class Awakening... Once again... Our Youth, Take the Risks and Blaze the Path!
From www.occupywallst.org Posted Oct. 1, 2011, 9:09 a.m. EST by OccupyWallSt
"We the 99% will not be silent and we will not be intimidated. This Saturday thousands more of us will march together as one to show that it is time that the 99% are heard. Join us on the 2nd week anniversary of your new movement."
"This is a call for individuals, families and community and advocacy groups to march in solidarity with the #occupywallstreet movement on Saturday, October 1st at 3 p.m.
"We are unions, students, teachers, veterans, first responders, families, the unemployed and underemployed. We are all races, sexes and creeds. We are the majority. We are the 99 percent. And we will no longer be silent.
"As members of the 99 percent, we occupy Wall Street as a symbolic gesture of our discontent with the current economic and political climate and as an example of a better world to come. Therefore we invite the public, our fellow 99 percent, to join us in a march on SATURDAY AT THREE, starting from LIBERTY PLAZA (ZUCCOTTI PARK) at LIBERTY & BROADWAY.
"March will end with a gathering and some eating at Brooklyn Bridge Park 5:30 pm.
"Special Guests include Amiri Baraka and others! Food provided."
Tweet #occupywallstreet
Friday, September 30, 2011
The Neo-regressives
Let’s take a look.
Here’s what I see from the Republican debates and Republican Congressional leadership’s recent declarations: In the name of reducing debt, they are calling for the elimination of every US social advancement and establishment of “every man for himself” simplicity. (A view of human social structure which I would argue has never existed.)
I sincerely believe they favor plunging us into a New Dark Age.
The New York Times summed it up in today’s (30 Sept 2011) editorial:
“(The Tea Party / Republican) program (is) to wind down the government’s longstanding guarantee of health care to the elderly and the poor and incinerate the Democrats’ new promise to cover the uninsured; to abolish the Department of Education and its effort to raise national standards; to stop virtually all regulation of the environment and the financial industry; to reimpose military discrimination against gays and lesbians, deport immigrants, cut unemployment insurance and nutrition programs, raise taxes on the poor and lower them for the rich.”
In my book, the Tea Party people and the Republican Party leadership have earned a new name: Neo-regressive. It’s more than obvious these people are looking backwards to undoing when we need leaders to look forward and doing.
Here’s what I see from the Republican debates and Republican Congressional leadership’s recent declarations: In the name of reducing debt, they are calling for the elimination of every US social advancement and establishment of “every man for himself” simplicity. (A view of human social structure which I would argue has never existed.)
I sincerely believe they favor plunging us into a New Dark Age.
The New York Times summed it up in today’s (30 Sept 2011) editorial:
“(The Tea Party / Republican) program (is) to wind down the government’s longstanding guarantee of health care to the elderly and the poor and incinerate the Democrats’ new promise to cover the uninsured; to abolish the Department of Education and its effort to raise national standards; to stop virtually all regulation of the environment and the financial industry; to reimpose military discrimination against gays and lesbians, deport immigrants, cut unemployment insurance and nutrition programs, raise taxes on the poor and lower them for the rich.”
In my book, the Tea Party people and the Republican Party leadership have earned a new name: Neo-regressive. It’s more than obvious these people are looking backwards to undoing when we need leaders to look forward and doing.
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Blowin' In The Wind
Joan Baez will perform at the Michigan Theater, Ann Arbor, 7:30pm, 1 Nov 2011. I read this on the Ann Arbor Ark's website and memories flooded my mind.
A long time ago I was working nights at the University of Akron radio station. We played several versions of this song as well as other "protest" songs. I remember Joan Baez's beautiful voice and that I prayed we'd stop killing in Vietnam. My cousin was a POW, shot down over Hanoi. Some of my friends who had enlisted because they were going to be drafted anyway or out of misplaced patriotism or out of a desire to prove themselves, to ... who... themselves, I guess... never came home.
It was a time of active discontent. Students and many others protested the war in Vietnam, the draft and racial injustice. I remember during one final exam the building next door, the university’s main administration building, erupted into flames and the Ohio National Guard was called in to take back the campus from the BUS protesters. I failed t he exam. I couldn’t concentrate. However, it wasn’t all the fault of the fire or the fact that the professor wouldn’t let us leave the building when the fire alarms went off. The previous weeks I didn’t study as much as I should have for the exam. I was too busy becoming a broadcaster.
We student broadcasters did manage to get into trouble though. Someone protested our playing Jose Feliciano’s version of the National Anthem before a U of A football game. We were threatened with suspension if we didn’t stop playing it. Looking back, we just liked the way he sang. We weren't participating in the times nor were we trying to make the world a better place. Little did we know that the song would become the center of controversy. (See below.)
Today, Joan is still singing the same song and I am still praying we will find a way to stop killing. Go here for a portion of Joan's bio: http://www.joanbaez.com/chronology.html
From Feliciano's website:
"Puerto Rican blind singer/guitarist Jose Feliciano stunned the crowd at Tiger Stadium in Detroit, and the rest of America, when he strummed a slow, bluesy rendition of the national anthem before Game 5 of the World Series between Detroit and St. Louis. The 23-year-old's performance was the first nontraditional version seen by mainstream America, and it is generally considered the Lexington and Concord of Star-Spangled Banner controversies. The fiery response from Vietnam-weary America was not surprising, considering the tumultuous year for American patriotism. Good or bad, however, Feliciano's performance opened the door for the countless interpretations of the Star-Spangled Banner we hear today."
U.S. Health Insurance Cost Rises Sharply
From today's New York Times: "The cost of health insurance for many Americans this year climbed more sharply than in previous years, outstripping any growth in workers’ wages and adding more uncertainty about the pace of rising medical costs. Go here for the rest of the story >>>
"And, God bless everyone!" said Tiny Tim. "Even the Tea Party (Pot) Republicans who aim to deny me healthcare because I am too poor. (The last portion Tim's quote can be attributed to RB. )
Scientists discover virus that kills all grades of breast cancer‘within seven days’
I have lost friends due to breast cancer. Have you?
"Scientists at the Penn State College of Medicine said this week they have discovered a virus that is capable of killing all grades of breast cancer "within seven days" of first introduction in a laboratory setting. The virus, known as adeno-associated virus type 2 (AAV2), is naturally occurring and carried by up to 80 percent of humans, but it does not cause any disease.
more... Go here for online story >>>
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