Well, on the plus side, the fact that GM is already run like an inefficient government bureaucracy means that it won’t be difficult for it to adapt to being owned by the government.

Well, insofar as Ford is paying corporate taxes now, the government already is taxing it to keep GM alive. And taxing Honda and Toyota and Volkswagen and Hyundai and every other automobile company that’s not on the dole to prop up GM and Chrysler.

James D (#13): I don’t see how things could possibly be this bad had McCain won.

I saw this socialist hell coming long before anyone started voting in the primaries. As the election drew near , there was an ever-increasing cacophony of vitriol towards Bush from Democrats and the like–so much so that many individualists not on the phony “left-right” spectrum (here and elsewhere), who should have known better, seemed to find it necessary to bash Republicans in proportion to the noise from the “left” to avoid being dismissed as crypto-Republicans. I tried to tell them to stick to principles, not go with the prevailing wind, but the proximity of the election apparently made me a suspect.

Anyone who read history, paid attention to current events throughout their lifetimes, and looked at the facts about The Lightworker that the media downplayed or dismissed as right-wing hyperbole, could see that this Chicago gangland boss was going to plunder the productivity of Americans and massacre individual liberties on a scale never dreamed of in the “Common Wisdom” chats. Even I have been taken aback at the pace of the ruination.

‘Fine,’ I thought. ‘Once the election is over and people are less paranoid about “crypto-Republicans” or whatnot, they’ll wake up and realize their mistake.’ I’ve seen a few glimmers, but mostly the same blindness and anti-Republican mindlessness.

Decades from now, our children and grandchildren, if they ever come across all of the articles and comments flying around these days, will curse those of us alive today as cowards who allowed their lives to be plundered before they were born.

The Endarkenment proceeds apace, as Billy Beck would say.

Invisible Sun, The Police

Since we’re quoting lyrics, punk rockers have been getting it right for many years:

Judgement’s not tomorrow
It’s today, yes now it’s here
But no it isn’t Jesus
Take a look at all your peers
They’re all looking down on you
Inside they know what’s best for you
Everybody knows what’s best for you
Greg Graffin (Bad Religion), Best for You

The going get tough, the tough get debt
Don’t pay attention, pay the rent
Next of kins pay for your sins
A little faith should keep us safe
Fat Mike (NoFX) The Decline

nonsense. the government would never do something like that.

I expect that within 2 years there will be a surcharge on Ford cars to protect the taxpayers who have invested so much money into GM will be repaid, but it won’t be a tax to keep GM alive, it will be for the taxpayers.

And I’m sure they can be trusted not to abuse the ability to remotely track the movements of all the cars which have it installed.

#15 | Mattocracy | May 28th, 2009 at 8:38 pm

Will the government take over the Oakland Raiders next, cause I gotta be honest, they are the GM of the NFL.

Would that make the Detroit Lions the Chrysler of the NFL?

Like the Pontiac Aztek. A 6 cylinder version of the Impala that sucked ass compared to 12 cylinder they made that was hugely popular. The Chevy Uplander. The Buick Lacrosse. Pontiac Sunfire. And my personally most hated, the Cadillac Cimarron.

And GM will be forced to make nothing buy hybrids and compact cars designed by government busy bodies, which once again, no one will want to buy.

Hmmm.

If it is self-defense, I agree. Lying down for conquerors is simply not a valid strategy.

But for the various imperia over history, victory in one war has almost invariably lead to another war with someone else. Until, of course, some other imperium takes you out or the bureaucracy of war leads to collapse of the state.

It’s a sad statement about human nature.

I realize that the analogy isn’t exact. (I can think of a couple of dozen examples of massacres that settled things pretty good – cf Sri Lanka this month.)

I was thinking more along the lines of the old one liner “Fighting for peace is like fucking for chastity”.

Invisible Sun, The Police

Occasionally. Ever heard of Waterloo?

Not a proper analogy to bureaucratic hell.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/05/28/michigan.taser.death/index.html

Police said the teen was resisting arrest after bolting from his cousin’s car during a traffic stop, and the use of the Taser was justified.

Police followed Mitchell into an abandoned house about two blocks away. Officers tried to apprehend him once he was inside, but he resisted, Warren Police Commissioner William Dwyer told CNN.

“They ordered him several times not to resist, and he continued to resist,” Dwyer said. “They had no alternative to use what they felt at the time was non-lethal force.”

The commissioner called Mitchell’s death “a tragedy,” but said police who watch someone run from them “can only assume he committed a crime or is wanted for a crime.” The officers had been trained to use Tasers on people resisting arrest, “so there was nothing wrong with using that Taser,” Dwyer said.

So, someone who runs from the police is presumed guilty of something, and at that point, they simply have no choice but to use whatever force necessary to subdue that person.

Got it.