Sunday, May 31, 2009

Last Call

Tomorrow will indeed be GM's deadline day for declaring bankruptcy.

Heralding a new and uncertain era for the No. 1 U.S. automaker, GM will file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection at the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in the Southern District of New York before the start of trading, according to sources with direct knowledge of the preparations.

Government support for GM is expected to total up to $60 billion. Nearly half of that money has already been extended this year in emergency aid.

President Barack Obama plans to speak on the auto industry at 11:55 a.m EDT (1555 GMT) on Monday, according to his official schedule, as the federal government prepares to take a majority stake in the once-mighty company.

After Obama's remarks, GM Chief Executive Fritz Henderson is due to hold a news conference at the offices of the New York law firm that handled the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy.

The bankruptcy is the most carefully orchestrated Chapter 11 filing in the history of American business.

So now the blame game begins...what killed GM? Was it run into the ground? Did they make cars Americans didn't want? Were they forced out of business by competitors?

Pay attention to the reasons given. I'm betting few, if any, are the full story.

Will Anyone Rid Me Of This Troublesome Abortion Doctor?

...the Wingers said about Kansas physician and late-term abortion specialist George Tiller.

Today, we saw the results of the seeds of hate sewn by the Right.
George Tiller, a Wichita doctor who was one of the few doctors in the nation to perform late-term abortions, was shot to death on Sunday as he attended church, city officials in Wichita said.

Dr. Tiller, who had performed abortions since the 1970s, had long been a lightning rod for controversy over the issue of abortion, particularly in Kansas, where abortion opponents regularly protested outside his clinic and sometimes his home and church. In 1993, he was shot in both arms by an abortion opponent but recovered.

He had also been the subject of many efforts at prosecution, including a citizen-initiated grand jury investigation. In the latest such effort, in March, Dr. Tiller was acquitted of charges that he had performed late-term abortions that violated state law.

The shooting occurred at around 10 a.m. (Central time) at Reformation Lutheran Church on the city’s East Side, Dr. Tiller’s regular church.
To many people, the man that killed George Tiller is a honest to God American hero. It was just a few weeks ago that the President spoke at Notre Dame about a new dialogue and direction on the abortion debate.

The Wingers have responded with "It sure is a shame that filthy baby killer was gunned down in church."

[UPDATE] Salon has more on Bill-O's crusade against George Tiller...a man he has featured on "The O'Reilly Factor" 28 times as "Tiller the Baby Killer."

This is where it gets most troubling. O'Reilly's language describing Tiller, and accusing the state and its elites of complicity in his actions, could become extremely vivid. On June 12, 2007, he said, "Yes, I think we all know what this is. And if the state of Kansas doesn't stop this man, then anybody who prevents that from happening has blood on their hands as the governor does right now, Governor Sebelius."

Three days later, he added, "No question Dr. Tiller has blood on his hands. But now so does Governor Sebelius. She is not fit to serve. Nor is any Kansas politician who supports Tiller's business of destruction. I wouldn't want to be these people if there is a Judgment Day. I just -- you know ... Kansas is a great state, but this is a disgrace upon everyone who lives in Kansas. Is it not?"

This characterization of Tiller fits exactly into ancient conservative, paranoid stories: a decadent, permissive and callous elite tolerates moral monstrosities that every common-sense citizen just knows to be awful. Conspiring against our folk wisdom, O'Reilly says, the sophisticates have shielded Tiller from the appropriate, legal consequences for his deeds. It's left to "judgment day" to give him what's coming.

And indeed, somebody took it into their own hands to judge George Tiller.

Paging Dr. Galt

Hugh Hewitt's argument against Obamacare is that thousands of doctors will simply retire or leave practice if it passes, causing such a critical shortage of physicians that America's life expectancy will decrease precipitously, and that Blue Dog Dems must be made to understand that they have to rise up and kill the bill before it reaches the Senate in order to save America.

Whatever happened to "First, do no harm?" Thousands upon thousands of docs will "Go Galt" if Obamacare passes? I understand and sympathize that being a doctor is arguably the most important job out there, with life and death hanging in the balance on a daily basis.

But I'm supposed to believe doctors will simply quit being doctors because Americans without insurance options are given insurance options?

If it really is all about the money, then retiring early seems rather stupid, doesn't it?

It's illogical GOP fearmongering, like everything else they do.
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