Newspaper Page Text
OpEd
Don ’t be distracted
by all the noise
this season
When we brought our
babies home from the hospital
we immediately took the
advice of all well-meaning
parents before us. We started
the new baby off with varying
degrees of noise. The purpose
of the noise was to teach the
babies to sleep even when
there were distractions in the
house.
It worked very well. Our
children could sleep through
vacuuming, yelling for them to
get up, the radio or television
blasting away, and even
through the loud dinging of an
old fashion alarm clock.
Of course, over the years I
have come to believe it is an
inherited trait because their
father can sleep through the
same amount of loudness in
our house. The television
blares away into the evening
hours as he sleeps in his
recliner. The only thing that
can rouse him is to flip the
channel to another station.
Immediately he wakes up to
tell the perpetrator of the
infraction: “I was watching
that!
We have become accus
tomed to noise on all levels,
We hear music in stores and
restaurants and ignore it, or
some people do. There are oth
ers who wish the music was
not determined by the young
employees but was instead a
soothing and quiet melody that
didn’t hurt the ears. There is
probably a method to this
madness of rock music in
restaurants. You may eat more
and drink more because of the
music.
Noise is programmed into
our house beginning at 5
‘Major’ speeches on Iraq
are of minor
WASHINGTON, D.C. — I
don’t know how many times
President Bush can announce
a “major” speech on the Iraq
war that turns out not to be
major, but he seems to be
going for a record.
Wednesday’s major
speech at the Naval Academy
was so un-major, only CBS
carried it live among the
broadcast networks.
ABC decided that “Live
With Regis and Kelly” was
more important than live with
George Bush. ABC may have
been right.
The president spoke yet
again in front of an all-mili¬
tary audience, which the
White House believes guaran¬
tees him a sympathetic crowd.
But he does this so often, it is
beginning to look as if the
president is afraid to present
his views to anybody but sol¬
diers in uni¬
form and fat
cats at fund
raisers.
Since the
president is
trying to win
over the Ame¬
rican people,
what would be
so with
allowing a broader cross-sec¬
tion of the American people
into one of his speeches?
Would, they not clap loudly
enough every time the presi¬
dent pauses?
In any case, it doesn’t mat¬
ter how much applause
President Bush gets during his
speech, when the analysis both
before and after he speaks
resembles nothing so much as
a yawn.
After the speech
Wednesday, The Associated
Press ran a story that said,
“Bush’s speech did not break
new ground or present a new
strategy.”
And NBC News White
House correspondent David
Gregory was exquisitely frank
on MSNBC when, moments
after the speech ended, he
4-
m , Julianne
' • 4h Boling
■sgfj
COLUMNIST
o’clock. Even though our sons
are in other houses, two televi
sions are on just in case the
man of the house moves from
one room to another. How
anyone can watch two news
programs and read the paper is
quite a feat to say the least,
The main reason for the
multiple televisions is for the
specific purpose of not miss
ing one moment of a John
Wayne movie although it has
been watched at least twice
this week. Program into the
other distractions of a dog
barking at squirrels in the
yard, John Wayne shooting all
the outlaws, and you guessed
it, noise!
Distractions can cause us
to miss the really important
aspects of life. We could miss
the doorbell with the
Publishers Clearing House
prize. We could miss the
phone call that tells us we
have won the lottery, or some
other prize.
However, as this month
begins, I hope you will pro
gram into your minds and
hearts the true meaning of
Christmas. Do not be distract
ed by noise, complications,
schedules, gift buying and the
chores of December. And lis
ten to this song, “Silent Night,
Holy Night.
Cumming resident Julianne
Boling’s column appears each
Sunday.
Roger
Simon
COLUMNIST
said: “In many ways, this was
a spin job by the president, a
repackaging. Not a lot new
here. He is trying to regain
control of a debate that has
gotten away from him and the
White House. It’s difficult for
him because his popularity has
fallen with the American peo¬
ple. A presidency once defined
by 9-11 has now been taken
over by Iraq.... It’s a mess.”
To supplement the speech,
the White House even released
a 35-page document titled,
“National Strategy for Victory
in Iraq,” but there was nothing
much new in that, either.
66
In many ways;
this was a spin
president job by the
a
repackaging ...99
police.
But MSNBC’s Chris
Matthews sneered at that
amount, pronouncing it a
“Filene’s Basement price tag.”
Unfortunately, he is cor¬
rect. Nearly $4 billion just
isn’t what it used to be, when,
according to The New York
Times, “the Pentagon now
spends $6 billion a month to
sustain the American military
presence in Iraq.”
The Times went on: “A
senior administration official
said Mr. Bush’s ultimate goal,
to which he assigned no
schedule, is to move to a
‘smaller, more lethal’
American force that ‘can be
just as successful. ,,,
Just as successful as what?
The insurgency (which now,
according to Defense Sec
' t
GM to consumers first
By Stephen Greenhut
Orange County Register
I was driving down the road, cranking
up the new CD from country-rock singer
songwriter James McMurtry when I was
struck by the relevance of the words of
his angst-ridden song about closing facto¬
ries, depleted Middle America factory
towns and encroaching foreign comped-’
tion.
“That big old building was the textile
mill /It fed our kids and it paid our bills /
But they turned us out and they closed the
doors. / We can’t make it here anymore.”
The last line, echoing the name of the
song, could just as easily be sung about
the American automobile industry, espe¬
cially after General Motors announced
that it was shuttering a dozen North
American manufacturing, assembly and
stamping plants and eliminating about
30,000 jobs.
“But analysts immediately questioned
whether the plan was enough, saying it
lacked the speed and breadth that had
helped rivals make comebacks,” reported
a front-page New York Times article,
which later raised the specter of bank
ruptcy for what is still the world’s largest
car company,
Although not for long. Toyota, news
papers report, is poised to take that honor
early next year,
GM, which in the 1960s made more
than one of every two cars sold in the
United States, now has market share of
only one in four vehicles, and it’s falling,
The company already has lost $4 billion
this year, and many of its cars and light
trucks are widely panned as outdated.
Sure, GM got the sales jump-started
over the summer when it announced its
employee-discount pricing for all con
sumers, but it actually lost about $1,200 a
car during that sales spree. Now that the
incentives are gone, so are the lines of
consumers.
“As GM tries to win customers with
deep discounts, Toyota is raising prices
on some models,” according to the Los
Angeles Times. “Unlike GM, the
Japanese automaker is winning market
share by making quality vehicles that
people want to buy.”
Fancy that — increasing market share
by offering better products! General
Motors blames, in part, gas prices and
economic woes for the problem, but the
Japanese and Korean automakers —
operating in the same economic climate
— are rapidly gaining ground. China is
The media
usually like
hard numbers
in speeches,
and President
Bush obliged:
$3.9 billion
more next
year to train
and equip the
and
retary Donald Rumsfeld, who
apparently has never read
“1984,” must not be called that
anymore) has grown stronger,
not weaker. The daily attacks
against U.S. troops, Iraqi
troops and civilians have
increased over the last year.
And the number of Iraqi
forces actually able to fight for
their country without U.S.
support seems to be a shell
game.
Nothing has really changed
since October, when U.S. sen¬
ators bristled after being told
that the number of Iraqi battal¬
ions ready to fight on their
own had shrunk from three to
one. Which would mean about
750 men were ready to defend
the country.
Sen. John McCain, R
Ariz., told Air Force Gen.
Richard B. Myers, then chair¬
man of the joint chiefs of staff,
that “things have not gone as
we had planned or expected
nor as we were told by you,
Gen. Myers.”
Myers, who retired a few
weeks ago, replied, “I don’t
think this committee or the
American public has ever
heard me say that things are
going very well in Iraq.”
But we’ye heard President
Bush say it several times. He
said it again Wednesday: “As
the Iraqi forces gain experi¬
ence and the political process
advances, we will be able to
decrease our troop levels, in
Iraq without losing our capa¬
bility to defeat the terrorists.”
He also said: Most
Americans want two things in
Iraq: They want to see our
troops win, and they want to
see our troops come home as
soon as possible. And those
are my goals, as well.”
I don’t doubt it. I just want
to know how he intends to do
it.
But maybe he finally will
tell us. In his next speech.
Which I am sure will be
major.
Rogef Simon is a national¬
ly syndicated columnist.
v
FORSYTH COUNTY NEWS — Sunday, December 4, 2005
quietly ramping up its auto industry with
its eyes on the lucrative U.S. market.
Can’t we make it here anymore?
Well, it might be significant that I was
listening to that song as I drove down the
road in my wife’s new Honda, albeit one
that was assembled somewhere in
Canada.
We looked at a GM product. It wasn’t
bad at first glance. But it did worse in
crash tests than its main Japanese com¬
petitors, per the Insurance Institute for
Highway Safety. It did worse in reliabili¬
ty than its main Japanese competitors, per
Consumer Reports. It didn’t hold its
value like its main Japanese competitors,
per Kelly Blue Book. It seemed chintzy
and unsophisticated compared to the
offerings from Honda, Toyota, Nissan
and others.
By the way, the GM vehicle would
have cost more than the Honda. And you
wonder why GM is shuttering factories,
thinking about bankruptcy, facing losses
and falling stock prices?
It’s not that GM and the other domes¬
tic manufacturers aren’t savvy enough to
make highly appealing and successful
cars. GM dramatically revamped its
Cadillac division a few years ago, so that
now Caddies such as the CTS are a gen¬
uine rival of BMW, Mercedes-Benz and
Lexus. The car magazines have been
gaga over them, which is something,
given how particular car reviewers can
be.
But GM scuttled a plan to upgrade the
company’s loud and outdated push-rod
engines for the lesser divisions. Why? It
couldn’t afford the investment. For years
company executives have been so afraid
of the labor unions that they have bought
labor peace with exorbitant pension pro¬
grams, health-care benefits and salaries
for union workers.
Even when GM downsizes, it keeps
paying. As the Detroit News reported in
October, GM, Chrysler and Ford set up a
job bank program in the 1980s as a sop to
the unions, which were resisting restruc¬
turing programs that were designed to
increase productivity through more
automation.
The companies were allowed to elimi¬
nate the jobs, but they had to keep paying
wages and benefits to thousands of work¬
ers who no longer had anything to do.
The Big Three now pay 12,000 workers
to do nada.
GM now pays $1,500 per vehicle in
retiree-related benefit costs vs. $300 for
Toyota. GM has 2.5 retirees for every
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PAGE 19A
current worker. Union leaders are whin¬
ing about the impact of the GM cuts on
families and communities, but they refuse
to recognize the degree to which their
outlandish demands have set up this
unsustainable situation.
The McMurtry song continues with
this refrain:
“Should I hate a people for the shade
of their skin, / Or the shape of their eyes
or the shape I’m in? / Should I hate ‘em
for having our jobs today? /No, I hate the
men who sent the jobs away.”
Well, those who think this way — and
the song reflects common protectionist
sentiments — forget that there’s no get¬
ting around immutable the laws of economics. They
are as as the law of gravity.
Evil men didn’t send the jobs away.
Consumers simply refused to pay more
for less and chose to buy products
designed by foreign manufacturers.
GM is failing because it failed to put
customers first. Toyota is succeeding
because it is doing just the opposite. In a
world of protectionism, American con¬
sumers would be forbidden from buying
better imported products or forced to pay
significantly higher prices because of tar¬
iffs designed to protect incompetent
CEOs, greedy union leaders and overpaid
pensioners.
Without competition, we’d be like
consumers in the old Eastern Bloc coun¬
tries, forced to wait years for the opportu¬
nity to buy a Yugo or a Trebant. Without
competition, the consumer obviously suf¬
fers. But so do the workers and commu¬
nities, which get obliterated once the bill
comes due, and companies such as GM
have no other choice but to shut down
factories because they aren’t turning a
profit. You can’t give out more in benefits
more than you take in — at least not in
the private sector.
GM needs to cut, cut, cut and then,
perhaps, it will start making better and
more cost-efficient products. That’s the
key to reviving its market share and the
futures of the workers and towns that
depend on General Motors for their long¬
term well-being.
Yes, we can still make it here, but
only if GM and other U.S. manufacturers
and their unions respond to the competi¬
tion.
Steven Greenhut is senior editorial
writer and columnist at the Orange
County Register. Readers may write to
him at the Orange County Register, 625
N. Grand Ave., Santa Ana, CA 92701, or
via e-mail at sgreenhut@ocregister.com.