What I Learned as a Car Czar

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History shows government and automobile manufacturing don’t mix.

By ION MIHAI PACEPA

They say history repeats itself. If you are like me and have lived two lives, you have a good chance of seeing the re-enactment with your own eyes. The current takeover of General Motors by the U.S. government and United Auto Workers makes me think back to Romania’s catastrophic mismanagement of the car factories it built jointly with the French companies Renault and Citroen. I was Romania’s car czar.

When the Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu decided in the mid-1960s that he wanted to have a car industry, he chose me to start the project rolling. In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king. I knew nothing about manufacturing cars, but neither did anyone else among Ceausescu’s top men. However, my father had spent most of his life running the service department of the General Motors affiliate in Bucharest.

My job at the time was as head of the Romanian industrial espionage program. Ceausescu tasked me to mediate the purchase of a minimum, basic license for a small car from a major Western manufacturer, and then to steal everything else needed to produce the car.

more via Transylvania Phoenix

I don’t know why I have tears in my eyes. Maybe because I laughed my ass watching the video?
Or maybe because the truth in the video is so sad?

A newspaper from Seattle reports:

“Anti gay attack in Seattle. Attacker claimed homosexuality “against his religion”

By LEVI PULKKINEN

Prosecutors have filed hate crime charges against an 18-year-old Seattle man accused of accosting another man on a Metro bus while yelling anti-gay slurs.

Abiazzizi I. Idris has been charged with second-degree attempted robbery and malicious harassment, the state’s hate crime statute, in the March 10 attack.

In court documents, police claim Idris was riding on a Metro coach near the 9000 block of Rainier Avenue South when he slapped the man in the back of the head. He then allegedly asked, using a slur, if he was homosexual.

The man disembarked the bus moments later, followed by Idris and an associate. Police say Idris again approached him, telling the man that homosexuality violates his religion.

Confronted by Idris, the man again said he was not gay. Idris then, police assert, “grabbed the victim around his neck and said ‘Give me $10 and your cell phone and I’ll let you go.’”

The owner of a nearby grocery store spotted the altercation and phoned 911. Police arrived and arrested Idris, who was later identified as the assailant, according to prosecutor’s statements.

Idris remains in King County Jail on $50,000 bail. He has not entered a plea in the case.

The victim’s sexual orientation is not noted in court documents. Under state law, malicious harassment occurs when a defendant threatens someone based on their perception of their sexual orientation or other factor.”

Let’s see…You have a Muslim man (according to liberals, Islam is a peaceful and tolerant religion) attacking a homosexual. Why? Because he claims his religion is feeling violated by the victims sexual preferences.
Now what’s the politically correct approach a liberal should take on this issue?

On one side, equal rights and non-discrimination against gay people is a favorite cause of the left. A poor gay guy beaten and robbed because he is gay is a sure case of outrage and condemnation, and not only for the left but for every civilized individual.

On the other side, how can a leftist say a Muslim beat a homosexual? We all know Islam is a religion of tolerance, pink bunnies, etc and it is grossly misunderstood by evil people (mostly conservatives of course). Even if the agressor admitted he did it because of the teachings of his religion, it still must be a cultural thing, nothing to do with Islam whatsoever. And anyway who are we Americans to judge other peoples cultures?

So you see, here is the dilemma: are the leftists gonna side with the homosexual victim or with the Muslim aggressor? Because both causes are dear to the liberals, the rights of the homosexuals and the claim that Islam is a peaceful, non violent religion. What are they gonna do? Gee, I wouldn’t want to be in their shoes.