’Heroes’, Cheetah Girl Photo controversy, and Auto Industry meltdown

Happy Turkey Day – Hopefully everyone had a nice Weekend spent with family, friends, and loved ones though for us was hardly restful with two children under the age of 2. Luckily, my large extended family got together for Thanksgiving dinner and amazingly everyone made it out alive with no arrests to report and my in-laws house remaining relatively intact.


Blog Correction or Blogga' Please! – In my last blog, I compared recently convicted Senator Ted Stevens to infamous Louisiana Governor Huey Long. Evidently it's Earl K. Long not Huey my bad. Thanks to all of you have so much time and so much minute information stored in your brains that you were able to instantly correct me.

I should have known better especially since here in New Jersey we specialize in political corruption with a kleptocracy in place of a working State government.

Hot new feud: Disney Pop Stars versus Their Clothes – Another month, another Disney star nude photo controversey. This time Adrienne Bailon of the pop group Cheetah Girls now known as the 'The one with the interesting tattoo placement' as a result of nude photos leaked over the Internet that qualify her for a job as a real 'Cheetah Girl' of the Cheetah Gentleman's Club.

Apparently, there seems to be a rash of intimate photos starring Disney Pop princesses wandering from laptops and cellphones and finding a home on the World Wide Web. First, Vanessa Hudgens, then Miley Cyrus, and now poor old Adrienne. I guess we should expect those lingerie shots of Minnie Mouse taken by Mickey being leaked on TMZ any day now.

Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition – Gun sales have reportedly skyrocketed in response to Obama's election for fear of a new crackdown on firearms proving never underestimate the power of marketing to separate idiots from their money. I'll I can say is the Gun Industry marketing exec who dreamed up the idea of Gun Control Conspiracy theories to jack up sales equals unheralded genius.

At this point the only need for me to have a firearm is when my daughters begin dating. When potential suitors come to the house, I'll have my 12-gauge shotgun out for show starting the conversation 'Hey Son, you know the difference between Assault with a Deadly Weapon and Attempted Murder?...A few inches, Blu HAHAHAHA!!!!' Ahh, puberty..can't wait!

Donnie Osmond fears backlash for supporting Prop 8 – Apparently former child star of the 70's family variety show Whiter than Vanilla Ice Cream The Osmonds and alleged 'singer' Donnie Osmond fears a backlash from Hollywood for supporting the California Gay Marriage ban along with being a Mormon. Actually, Donnie I don't think the backlash against your alleged 'career' is not so much the result of you being Mormon more as it is your music has always sucked in addition to being the XY Chromosome answer to Celine Dion.

Heroes fans fear the TV series is ruined – I'm no genius like the TV execs at NBC but I find Science Fiction stories tend to work when there is a believable plot, an organized story arc that required more than five minutes of thought, and some minimal amount of character development. But then again I don't inhibit the exalted, rareified air of intelligentsia that NBC resides in so what would I know. You can find more of my opinion over at www.if_its_a_smoking_pile_of_crap_it_must_be_NBC.com

American Lexicon Update – new entry 'He outkicked his coverage'
Literal meaning – In American Football when the punter kicks the ball too far in front of his coverage unit thereby allowing opposing team greater opportunity to run it back for a touchdown.
Euphemistic Meaning – When man of 'average' to 'below average' looks scores an unbeleivably hot girlfriend of supermodel quality creating a visual (sometimes stunning) mismatch between the couple leading tabloid writers to quip that guy 'outkicked his coverage'

Example – Beyonce' with Jay-Z; Victoria Secret supermodel Adriana Lima with LA Lakers benchwarmer/water boy Marko Jaric; Megan Fox with 99.9% of male species;

Alternate Phrases – The Reverse Brad Pitt, The Woody Allen Effect, 'Evidently she wasn't kidding about guys with a sense of humor'

The American Auto Maker Crisis explained in quotes –
"Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it" – George Santayana (1943)
This crisis is similar to Oil Crisis of the 1970's when American auto makers got whacked by Foreign imports which had better fuel efficiency over their oversized gas-guzzlers. That experience left such a lasting impression on the 'Big Three' that they made the exact same mistake 20-years later marketing gas-guzzling SUV's and trucks while the Foreign Manufacturers foresaw an impending Global Gas crunch and focused on developing fuel efficient vehicles.

"Our customers are not the type of people who worry about rising gas prices" – General Motors CEO Rick Wagoner (2006)
Proving the current brain-trust of the Auto Industry was a marriage of absolute arrogance and complete incompetence. Had the execs of any Big Three bothered to drive their company's own cars rather than drive in limos and fly in private jets perhaps they could have learned something about their own product.

"Global Warming is a crock of s**t" – GM vice-chairman is Bob Lutz (2008)
GM could have had the first electric car back in the 90's but shelved it with encouragement (allegedly) from the Oil Industry. So while the Big Three were spending millions lobbying Congress to fight Fuel efficiency standards, Toyota was spending millions developing the Hybrid that could go up to 90 miles per gallon, and Honda was spending millions developing the Hydrogen Cell Engine that will make Gasoline obsolete discharging water instead of carbon dioxide. Not sure if Toyota and Honda would consider the Billions that both will make off this new technology a crock of s**t.

"If you can find a better car, buy it." – Chrysler CEO Lee Iaccoca (1982)
And judging by Chrysler shrinking sales over the past decade looks like many Americans took up Mr.Iaccoca on his offer. One reason is that while Foreign Imports were revamping their cars every year, the Big Three allowed their models to lanquish year after year, creating a gulf in both real and perceived quality by consumers.

"The worker is not the problem. The problem is at the top; management is the problem." - William Deming (1983)
The ultimate irony is that the man responsible for Japanese automobile success was an American named William Deming who after World War II was hired by Japan to help rebuild their Auto Industry. Overall his philosophy was always listen to your customer and place quality above all else with the example set by management at the top. Should the Auto Industry get a bailout, my recommendation to them is to actually read what Deming had to say instead of ignoring him like they did over the past 60 years.