Big Three auto CEOs flew private jets to ask for taxpayer money

By Josh Levs
CNN

(CNN) -- Some lawmakers lashed out at the CEOs of the Big Three auto companies Wednesday for flying private jets to Washington to request taxpayer bailout money.

"There is a delicious irony in seeing private luxury jets flying into Washington, D.C., and people coming off of them with tin cups in their hand, saying that they're going to be trimming down and streamlining their businesses," Rep. Gary Ackerman, D-New York, told the chief executive officers of Ford, Chrysler and General Motors at a hearing of the House Financial Services Committee.

"It's almost like seeing a guy show up at the soup kitchen in high hat and tuxedo. It kind of makes you a little bit suspicious."

He added, "couldn't you all have downgraded to first class or jet-pooled or something to get here? It would have at least sent a message that you do get it."

Rep. Brad Sherman, D-California, asked the three CEOs to "raise their hand if they flew here commercial. Let the record show, no hands went up. Second, I'm going to ask you to raise your hand if you are planning to sell your jet in place now and fly back commercial. Let the record show, no hands went up."

The executives -- Alan Mulally of Ford, Robert Nardelli of Chrysler and Richard Wagoner of GM -- did not specifically respond to those remarks. In their testimony, they said they are streamlining business operations in general. 

When contacted by CNN, the three auto companies defended the CEOs' travel as standard procedure.

Like many other major corporations, all three have policies requiring their CEOs to travel in private jets for safety reasons.

"Making a big to-do about this when issues vital to the jobs of millions of Americans are being discussed in Washington is diverting attention away from a critical debate that will determine the future health of the auto industry and the American economy," GM spokesman Tom Wilkinson said in a statement.

Chrysler spokeswoman Lori McTavish said in a statement, "while always being mindful of company costs, all business travel requires the highest standard of safety for all employees."

Ford spokeswoman Kelli Felker pointed to the company's travel policy and did not provide a statement elaborating.

But those statements did little to mollify the critics.

"If it is simply the company's money at stake, then only the shareholders can be upset or feel as it it might be excessive," said Thomas Schatz, president of the watchdog group Citizens Against Government Waste.

But in this case, he said, "it's outrageous."

"They're coming to Washington to beg the taxpayers to help them. It's unseemly to be running around on a $20,000 flight versus a $500 round trip," Schatz added.

The companies did not disclose how much the flights cost.

Analysts contacted by CNN noted that the prices vary with the size of the plane and the crew, and whether the aircraft is leased or owned by the company.

Analyst Richard Aboulafia of the Teal Group said that $20,000 is a legitimate ballpark figure for a round trip corporate jet flight between Detroit, Michigan, and Washington.

When asked whether they plan to change their travel policies as part of the restructuring needed to shore up their finances, none of the companies answered directly. But they said they have cut back on travel in general as revenues have fallen.

No No No No No No No No NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. My God. 

No.

Listen, while it doesn't sit well with me, I at least understand the reasoning behind saving our financial institutions (which looks as if it's turning into  a huge clusterfuck anyway) , seeing as how their failure would have serious global repurcussions. But the automakers? I'm sorry, no fuggin way. Absolutely not.

Declare bankruptcy and restructure, like every other business that has been run into the ground by poor business decisions and/or hard times. The bottom line here, in my mind, is that you should reap what you sow. The Big Three have leaned on "the American brand" too long, and now they simply cannot compete with foreign competition. Compete, motherfucker, compete! Strive to excel, or find another fucking line of work! 

And the UAW is equally culpable, bleeding the stone dry by demanding ridiculously high salaries and unsustainable benefit packages for its members. By god, as difficult as it is to find affordable benefits for my *own* family, I'll be damned if a single tax dollar of mine is going into the retirement fund of a union worker who is already making $80/hr for plugging in tail lights, or into the gas tank of some CEO's private jet as he flies to Washington to beg for a bailout. Fuck that! 

And do you know what's even worse? The Democratic leadership in congress are going to bat for them! What the fuck is WRONG with people?!?! 

I don't often post in serious outrage, but I can feal my blood boiling as I type. I'd better quick before I throw my mouse out the window. 

Please wait, your request is processed... Jon Stewart Hits Karl Rove, Bill O'Reilly, Dick Morris On Sarah Palin Hypocrisy

Wednesday night on "The Daily Show," Jon Stewart hit Karl Rove and Bill O'Reilly with damning evidence of their hypocrisy regarding Vice Presidential nominee Sarah Palin.

While Rove recently praised Palin's experience as the mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, Stewart showed video of Rove trashing Virginia Governor — and former Richmond Mayor — Tim Kaine's executive experience, listing all the cities that are bigger than Richmond and calling such a pick "political."

Then, after recent video of O'Reilly describing Bristol Palin's pregnancy as a family issue, Stewart showed a clip of the Fox News host blaming Jamie Lynn Spears' parents for her teenage pregnancy.

Finally, after showing video of Dick Morris complaining about the rampant sexism in the media coverage of Sarah Palin, Stewart unveiled a clip of Morris saying that Hillary hides behind the sexism defense, and that anytime "the big boys" pick on Hillary, "she retreats behind the apron strings."

"In Dick Morris' defense," Stewart said, "he is a lying sack of sh*t."

Watch:

From: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/09/04/jon-stewart-hits-karl-rov_n_123852.html

I wonder if Karl Rove, Bill O'Reilly, and Dick Morris see any hypocrisy in their conflicting statements? I would bet not since all too often they act as thought the ends justify the means.

Photos on social networking sites come back to bite defendants

Photos on social networking sites come back to bite defendants

By Eric Tucker

The Associated Press

updated 1:37 p.m. ET, Fri., July. 18, 2008

PROVIDENCE, R.I. - Two weeks after Joshua Lipton was charged in a drunken driving crash that seriously injured a woman, the 20-year-old college junior attended a Halloween party dressed as a prisoner. Pictures from the party showed him in a black-and-white striped shirt and an orange jumpsuit labeled "Jail Bird."

In the age of the Internet, it might not be hard to guess what happened to those pictures: Someone posted them on the social networking site Facebook. And that offered remarkable evidence for Jay Sullivan, the prosecutor handling Lipton's drunken-driving case.

Sullivan used the pictures to paint Lipton as an unrepentant partier who lived it up while his victim recovered in the hospital. A judge agreed, calling the pictures depraved when sentencing Lipton to two years in prison.

Online hangouts like Facebook and MySpace have offered crime-solving help to detectives and become a resource for employers vetting job applicants. Now the sites are proving fruitful for prosecutors, who have used damaging Internet photos of defendants to cast doubt on their character during sentencing hearings and argue for harsher punishment.

Just a reminder. I am not saying that I agree that prosecuters and police and employers are right to use info taken from social networking sites to make decisions about individuals, but it seems they do. So we all might want to be a little careful.--don't be a jackass and post it online.

I recall in my second year one of the students in one of my review sections totally disappeared for half the semester. I emailed him repeatedly to tell him his absenses could cause him to get an F. Nothing. Then he shows up in the last two weeks of class. I tell the professor about it, and she says "fail him. The absence policy is clearly stated in the syllabus." He shows up to appeal, and says he has lupus and had gone back to his parents' house because he got sick in the middle of the semester. So the prof checks him out little on Facebook. Not surprising, his page is full of pictures of him drunk and frat parties and posted throughout the semester. And what's worse, he even bosts about how good he is about lying to profs and getting around paper deadlines and missed classes--his recommendation: "claim to have a chronich disease." So he failed the class.