GM Extends Employee Discount to Everybody
From June 1 to July 5.
TheIndyChannel.com - Automotive - General Motors Offers Employee Discounts To All Buyers
Wednesday, June 01, 2005
Fight Bush - Buy your gas at Citgo?
The progressive website commondreams.org has a campaign "Buy your gas at Citgo: Join the BUY-cott!" What's that all about? The argument is that our foreign policy has been geared more to the interests of big oil companies and less to the needs of people. The main beneficiaries have been the ruling parties of Saudi Arabia & the like.
Now here's what I didn't know: Citgo is 100% owned by the Venezuelan government. According to commondream.org, by buying at Citgo, you keep your petroleum dollars here in the western hemisphere at least.
Buy Your Gas at Citgo: Join the BUY-cott!
I googled to check if what they said was true, that Venezuela owned Citgo. Yep, it checks out, BUT according to Forbes.com, Venezuela is planning on selling its US refining operations within two years. (http://www.forbes.com/home/feeds/ap/2005/02/01/ap1797688.html.
COMING SOON - THE BANKRUPTCY DIVORCE
The interconnections between bankruptcy law and divorce law have always made my head spin. Financial problems are a big cause of divorce, and divorce is a big cause of financial problems.
I was reading about the new law (which has become known as BARF for Bankruptcy Abuse Reform Fiasco) issue of NCLC Reports. as you know, most of our UAW members make over the average income for their families. If so, to determine what if anything you have to pay to creditors, you need to go through a complex means test.
In Truckland, how many of our clients have vehicles with ownership costs (that's not just payments, that's total ownership costs) below $475 for the first car and $338 for the second? That's it, that's the allowed transportation expense.
Now, here's the biggie that I think could lead to a small but significant number of bankruptcy planned divorces: Education expenses.
IV) In addition, the debtorÂ?s monthly expenses may
include the actual expenses for each dependent child less
than 18 years of age, not to exceed $1,500 per year per
child, to attend a private or public elementary or sec-
ondary school if the debtor provides documentation of such
expenses and a detailed explanation of why such expenses
are reasonable and necessary, and why such expenses are
not already accounted for in the National Standards,
Local Standards, or Other Necessary Expenses . . .
(Section 707(b)(2)(A)(ii)(IV))
How many private schools have tuition etc. of less than $1,500? Note, also this is elementary or secondary school only and IF the child is UNDER 18. If you have an 18 year old high school seniro, sorry Charlie. Pay money towards Junior's college expenses? Not when Citibank has its hand out.
On the other hand, court ordered child support and alimony claims are deducted as priority claims, so if you are ORDERED to pay 1/3 or 1/2 of Junior's college, you get to deduct it. sectionn 707(b)(2)(A)(IV).
Now, let's look at the spouse's income: Income of a non-filing spouse is considered in determining whether you are over the local mean and for the amount you need to pay for your debts. You can exclude the income of the spouse if you are legally separated, you live apart, and if you verify that you haven't separated just for the purposes of disassociating your income.
If you are divorced - what the ex-spouse does with his/her income is her business.
The bottom line: the "family-friendly" law that the God-fearing,heterosexuall Republicans rammed through gives couples lots of reasons to split up, and not much reason to keep a marriage together.
The progressive website commondreams.org has a campaign "Buy your gas at Citgo: Join the BUY-cott!" What's that all about? The argument is that our foreign policy has been geared more to the interests of big oil companies and less to the needs of people. The main beneficiaries have been the ruling parties of Saudi Arabia & the like.
Now here's what I didn't know: Citgo is 100% owned by the Venezuelan government. According to commondream.org, by buying at Citgo, you keep your petroleum dollars here in the western hemisphere at least.
Buy Your Gas at Citgo: Join the BUY-cott!
I googled to check if what they said was true, that Venezuela owned Citgo. Yep, it checks out, BUT according to Forbes.com, Venezuela is planning on selling its US refining operations within two years. (http://www.forbes.com/home/feeds/ap/2005/02/01/ap1797688.html.
COMING SOON - THE BANKRUPTCY DIVORCE
The interconnections between bankruptcy law and divorce law have always made my head spin. Financial problems are a big cause of divorce, and divorce is a big cause of financial problems.
I was reading about the new law (which has become known as BARF for Bankruptcy Abuse Reform Fiasco) issue of NCLC Reports. as you know, most of our UAW members make over the average income for their families. If so, to determine what if anything you have to pay to creditors, you need to go through a complex means test.
In Truckland, how many of our clients have vehicles with ownership costs (that's not just payments, that's total ownership costs) below $475 for the first car and $338 for the second? That's it, that's the allowed transportation expense.
Now, here's the biggie that I think could lead to a small but significant number of bankruptcy planned divorces: Education expenses.
IV) In addition, the debtorÂ?s monthly expenses may
include the actual expenses for each dependent child less
than 18 years of age, not to exceed $1,500 per year per
child, to attend a private or public elementary or sec-
ondary school if the debtor provides documentation of such
expenses and a detailed explanation of why such expenses
are reasonable and necessary, and why such expenses are
not already accounted for in the National Standards,
Local Standards, or Other Necessary Expenses . . .
(Section 707(b)(2)(A)(ii)(IV))
How many private schools have tuition etc. of less than $1,500? Note, also this is elementary or secondary school only and IF the child is UNDER 18. If you have an 18 year old high school seniro, sorry Charlie. Pay money towards Junior's college expenses? Not when Citibank has its hand out.
On the other hand, court ordered child support and alimony claims are deducted as priority claims, so if you are ORDERED to pay 1/3 or 1/2 of Junior's college, you get to deduct it. sectionn 707(b)(2)(A)(IV).
Now, let's look at the spouse's income: Income of a non-filing spouse is considered in determining whether you are over the local mean and for the amount you need to pay for your debts. You can exclude the income of the spouse if you are legally separated, you live apart, and if you verify that you haven't separated just for the purposes of disassociating your income.
If you are divorced - what the ex-spouse does with his/her income is her business.
The bottom line: the "family-friendly" law that the God-fearing,heterosexuall Republicans rammed through gives couples lots of reasons to split up, and not much reason to keep a marriage together.
Tuesday, May 31, 2005
The Dan & Danica Show
Yesterday's Indianapolis 500 was the most exciting in years. Englishman Dan Wheldon won the race, continuing an almost Schumacher-like dominance of the IRL this season (4 wins out of 5 races), but Danica Patrick stole the show.
Patrick killed the engine in the pits, she touched wheels with one racer, and on another case was involved in a three-car accident, and lost part of her front wing. Despite all this, she came within eight laps of winning the race.
She was fast throughout the race, handling slower traffic like a seasoned veteran. Despite all of her mishaps, she stayed on the lead lap, and at about lap 180, she found herself in the lead due to pit timing. As is often the case in Indianapolis, good luck in timing your pitstops plus yellow lights at fortuitous times can often bring victory, or at least the chance at victory.
After taking the lead, Patrick had to battle a hard-charging Wheldon and at the same time, manage her fuel consumption to avoid running out of fuel. As it turned out, that was an impossible task, and Danica ended up a respectable fourth. In the process, she had the crowd on its feet most of the race, and television ratings improved 40 percent.
This was the first time that I listened to the Indianapolis 500 on XM radio. I was expecting something special, like 5.1 surroundsound, or even a commercial free race. The XM feed was the ordinary Indianapolis 500 Radio Network feed, commercials and all. While nothing special, the announcers did a very good job of communicating what was going on in the race, and the commercials were spaced well so you didn't miss any of the important events.
USATODAY.com - Wheldon overtakes Patrick to win Indy 500
Yesterday's Indianapolis 500 was the most exciting in years. Englishman Dan Wheldon won the race, continuing an almost Schumacher-like dominance of the IRL this season (4 wins out of 5 races), but Danica Patrick stole the show.
Patrick killed the engine in the pits, she touched wheels with one racer, and on another case was involved in a three-car accident, and lost part of her front wing. Despite all this, she came within eight laps of winning the race.
She was fast throughout the race, handling slower traffic like a seasoned veteran. Despite all of her mishaps, she stayed on the lead lap, and at about lap 180, she found herself in the lead due to pit timing. As is often the case in Indianapolis, good luck in timing your pitstops plus yellow lights at fortuitous times can often bring victory, or at least the chance at victory.
After taking the lead, Patrick had to battle a hard-charging Wheldon and at the same time, manage her fuel consumption to avoid running out of fuel. As it turned out, that was an impossible task, and Danica ended up a respectable fourth. In the process, she had the crowd on its feet most of the race, and television ratings improved 40 percent.
This was the first time that I listened to the Indianapolis 500 on XM radio. I was expecting something special, like 5.1 surroundsound, or even a commercial free race. The XM feed was the ordinary Indianapolis 500 Radio Network feed, commercials and all. While nothing special, the announcers did a very good job of communicating what was going on in the race, and the commercials were spaced well so you didn't miss any of the important events.
USATODAY.com - Wheldon overtakes Patrick to win Indy 500
Sunday, May 29, 2005
GM Shifts Brand Strategy - Buick, Pontiac & GMC Trucks to be marketed together.
For some time, General Motors has been quietly consolidating Buick, Pontiac and GMC Trucks into dealerships that sell all three brands, still there are quite a few stand alone dealerships with one or two of these brands. GM recently announced that it was going to consolidate these brands and turn each into narrower niches, eliminating duplicate products. The Detroit News article below is interesting because it lists the number of units sold for each brand. I'll revisit this later.
GM shifts strategy for brands - 05/19/05
For some time, General Motors has been quietly consolidating Buick, Pontiac and GMC Trucks into dealerships that sell all three brands, still there are quite a few stand alone dealerships with one or two of these brands. GM recently announced that it was going to consolidate these brands and turn each into narrower niches, eliminating duplicate products. The Detroit News article below is interesting because it lists the number of units sold for each brand. I'll revisit this later.
GM shifts strategy for brands - 05/19/05
Thursday, May 26, 2005
Rutter beats Jennings: Rutter is now top Jeopardy money winner.
Yesterday I made a posting about Brad Rutter. Today he's officially the Ultimate Jeoparty Champ. It wasn't even close, friends. Rutter was so fast on the buzzer that Jennings never had a chance.
Newsday.com: Jennings fumbles on 'Jeopardy!'
Yesterday I made a posting about Brad Rutter. Today he's officially the Ultimate Jeoparty Champ. It wasn't even close, friends. Rutter was so fast on the buzzer that Jennings never had a chance.
Newsday.com: Jennings fumbles on 'Jeopardy!'
Visteon & Ford renegotiate deal
Several years ago, Ford split of most of its component operations into a new company called Visteon. To make the deal work, Ford cut a deal with the UAW that UAW workers in the Visteon plants would continue to be Ford employees covered by the Ford collective bargaining agreement. New hires at Visteon, would have a lower wage rate more in line with independent component manufactures.
How did it work? Not that well. At least, not well enough. (Yes, those are sentence fragments, deal with it.) Visteon lost $1.2 Billion in 2003, $1.5 Billion in 2004, and is on track for another whopper loss this year. With the threat of insolvency of a major component maker, Ford has to cut a deal. The deal in process is for Ford to take back a dozen or so plants that it rolled into Visteon. Ford plans to roll the plants into a separate operation and sell them to other companies. To get UAW approval, Ford will offer buyouts and early retirement to a good portion of the UAW workers.
What does that mean for our AFSCME 3357 members? It means that the membership base supporting many of our offices will have a much lower UAW membership base to support. In other words, it is likely that we will lose attorneys either through attrition, layoffs or both. Up to 17,000 UAW members are affected.
The Car Connection - UAW Eyes Visteon Deal - Ford hopes to sell off some plants, radically downsizing its former supplier.
Several years ago, Ford split of most of its component operations into a new company called Visteon. To make the deal work, Ford cut a deal with the UAW that UAW workers in the Visteon plants would continue to be Ford employees covered by the Ford collective bargaining agreement. New hires at Visteon, would have a lower wage rate more in line with independent component manufactures.
How did it work? Not that well. At least, not well enough. (Yes, those are sentence fragments, deal with it.) Visteon lost $1.2 Billion in 2003, $1.5 Billion in 2004, and is on track for another whopper loss this year. With the threat of insolvency of a major component maker, Ford has to cut a deal. The deal in process is for Ford to take back a dozen or so plants that it rolled into Visteon. Ford plans to roll the plants into a separate operation and sell them to other companies. To get UAW approval, Ford will offer buyouts and early retirement to a good portion of the UAW workers.
What does that mean for our AFSCME 3357 members? It means that the membership base supporting many of our offices will have a much lower UAW membership base to support. In other words, it is likely that we will lose attorneys either through attrition, layoffs or both. Up to 17,000 UAW members are affected.
The Car Connection - UAW Eyes Visteon Deal - Ford hopes to sell off some plants, radically downsizing its former supplier.
Wednesday, May 25, 2005
Don't feel sorry for Ken Jennings . . .
He may not win the Ultimate Tournament of Champions, but Ken is doing alright. Besids shilling for Allstate Insurance., (Yeech!) he has a book, a DVD-game, and a board game coming out. He's guaranteed at least $250,000 from the Ultimate Jeopardy Tournament, and last but not least, it was just announced that he will host his own game show on the Comedy Channel.
1010wins.com
He may not win the Ultimate Tournament of Champions, but Ken is doing alright. Besids shilling for Allstate Insurance., (Yeech!) he has a book, a DVD-game, and a board game coming out. He's guaranteed at least $250,000 from the Ultimate Jeopardy Tournament, and last but not least, it was just announced that he will host his own game show on the Comedy Channel.
1010wins.com
Who is Brad Rutter?
Last week I posted about Jerome Vered, the first of two challengers to Ken Jennings in the Jeopardy Ultimate Tournament of Champions. Pennsylvanian Brad Rutter won the second slot with a convincing victory last Friday.
Since then Ken, Jerome and Brad have played 2 out of three games. Brad Rutter holds a fairly commanding $12,400 lead over Jennings going into the final game.
A recap can be found on tvgameshows.net
TVgameshows.net
Brad Rutter is the winner of the $1,000,000 Tournament of Champions in 2002. Rutter is host of a high school quiz show in Pennsylvania titled Inquizitive (www.inquizitive.com). Until Jennings came along, Brad was the all time dollar winnings record holder for Jeopardy. Brad does have one claim that Jennings can't match. He's never lost a game of Jeopardy. As it stands now, it looks like his record will continue.
Last week I posted about Jerome Vered, the first of two challengers to Ken Jennings in the Jeopardy Ultimate Tournament of Champions. Pennsylvanian Brad Rutter won the second slot with a convincing victory last Friday.
Since then Ken, Jerome and Brad have played 2 out of three games. Brad Rutter holds a fairly commanding $12,400 lead over Jennings going into the final game.
A recap can be found on tvgameshows.net
TVgameshows.net
Brad Rutter is the winner of the $1,000,000 Tournament of Champions in 2002. Rutter is host of a high school quiz show in Pennsylvania titled Inquizitive (www.inquizitive.com). Until Jennings came along, Brad was the all time dollar winnings record holder for Jeopardy. Brad does have one claim that Jennings can't match. He's never lost a game of Jeopardy. As it stands now, it looks like his record will continue.
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