FUTURE_OF_GM

Probably... But who cares?!?!?! The "rust belt" doesn't employ many people an the people are ignorant anyway. Remember, it's only New York and California that count. (Or at least that's what the media told me)

True that. And that's where it gets really interesting (To me, at least)

Make me a believer Mr. Obama. I think you have excellent potential, but I've been burned too many times before. If you can save our automakers and help turn this country around, then I (the person that hasn't even bother to vote for 8 years now) will be the first to volunteer for your re-election campaign.

Isn't Roush supposed to be in on the Camaro project as well?

Car of the year will be either the Fit (Because these douchebags will want to convey the big green image) or The Mazda 6 (Because, even though it's the same car with uglier sheet metal, everyone seems to be enthralled with it) or the GT-R (Because apparently all of the added weight and electronic nannies that they bitch about on american and european cars are ALL THE RAGE on Japanese cars) The WILD CARD is the Genesis though... If the media is serious about pushing Hyundai past Detroit on the ladder, then this will be the likely choice. For that and to kill enthusiasm about the Camaro. But the Genesis still seems too half baked to REALLY gain ground with their yuppie readers. Truck of the year will be either the Forester (Again, the green image, even though Subaru exploited CAFE using the Forester. Apparently no one cares about CAFE unless it's one of the "Detroit 3") or the Honda Pilot (It's a natural, after all. Honda can do no wrong) or The Infiniti alphabet soup (Since everyone seems to think that "melted down looking plastic cars" are cool) The WILD CARD would be the VW if they're looking to be trendy.

Of course he does... That's 1) Money to be made by the street and 2) GOAL ACCOMPLISHED!!! by the media. And BTW, the fact that he refers to the automakers as the "Detroit 3" shows where his loyalty and mindset lies. He and his colleagues on the street certainly didn't think the automakers were "zombie-like" in the 90s when they were making billions on big SUV sales. Nah, he and his colleagues were probably milking them for cash then. But now, they're not making he and his colleagues any money, so he wants to dispose of them like an old dog. Being, the 3 largest automakers in the world, and still the largest for GM, is "zombie-like"?!?! So, he wants to kill GM, sell off Chrysler and do what with Ford? I mean, the anti-Detroit has already slaughtered Ford to the point of bankruptcy and the only thing keeping the automaker from takeover is the Ford family. So now, I guess Wall Street will try and pry the hands of the Ford family off of their own company (through devastating "predictions" and "forecasts") so they can sell that company off too and make a little more money? The greed on the street knows no bounds. These people would sell their souls to me if I were the devil. They sold out the little man, now they're selling, divesting and breaking up all of our manufacturing and the classes continue to divide into a 2 tier society. MARK MY WORDS: reports like this will POUR from Wall Street as they try to influence the voters and lawmakers to allow them to make "a little more money" at the expense of 300 years of history and hundreds of thousands of jobs.

Well, it looks as if the anti-GM, anti-Detroit people may have actually won the war. Hopefully, what's BAD for GM will be BAD for this country as well.

Not necessarily. The unemployment rate only identifies people who are ACTIVELY SEKING JOBS. People who give up on looking or stop being very active in looking are not accounted for. Normally, that wouldn't be a big deal, but since the economic crisis has been going on for quite a while now (The recession started WAY before the fuel crisis, by all intents and purposes) I'd be willing to bet that 6.5% is off quite a bit. That doesn't factor in all of the R&D jobs that would be affected. I'd say 4-5 million directly affected with peripherals that affect pretty much everyone. I'd love to see a meltdown, personally. It would push GM's debt onto the taxpayer and probably make some of these people who wished ill will on the industry pretty sorry. And on top of it all, I'll still be driving nice, new american cars. What more could a GM fan want? Toyota buyers to finance his next purchase. They've been restructuring since 2005.

It's a screenshot from the Megadeth video for the song I thought it appropriate for the way I view the times. The burning flag represents the downfall of our country (through the financial crisis, the war, cynicism, etc) "For The People" represents the fact that the little people built the country that is falling. The man in the business suit represents the 'elite' (politicians and big business men) that have turned their back on us and in a sense are oblivious the fact that the country is falling. (Although, not so much now that the economic bubble has burst) And the baby represents future generations whose fate is in the hands of the greedy and naive business man/politician.

I know Camino... You and I go way back and you're a good friend to me. You do a great job for this place. Not a problem man, you did exactly what I wanted and gave me a passionate yet civil response about how you feel. But like I said, I do care about what you guys think and I didn't want you to think badly of me. That's all.

Good thing the lounge isn't open to the public. (a.k.a I thought about that) Not to stray into the topic but, that's pretty judgmental IMO. Like the topic said, had I voted for McCain under the circumstances, I wouldn't have done anything wrong by our societies standards. Just like people who voted for Obama based on race wouldn't have done anything wrong. We're all adults here and we all know each other. Let's face it, only the regulars come into the lounge anyway. Re: Dodgefan, I tried to message you to tell you that I did not vote and that the post was BS (I wasn't sure if you saw that or not) but your inbox was full. I just think it's pretty sad that we're not viewed as mature enough to carry out a conversation such as this (especially after the non-stop b*tching about politics that occurred here not even 2 weeks ago, much of it perpetuated by admins themselves -- that caused a lot of hurt feelings) and then to top it off I'm not given an explanation as to why the topic was closed. This is real life, folks... Many media outlets are claiming that racism is over. It's characteristic of people to NOT be accepting of other peoples opinions and the topic in question was designed to (and did IMO) prove that. What the topic failed to do, because it was locked, is illustrate and educate people as to why the opinion or scenario wasn't accepted. It's a simple experiment, nothing more, nothing less. I even explained the premises of the experiment and basically asked politely that if anyone wanted to participate, to keep it civil. I could've been an ass and played it off like I actually *DID* what I described in the post. I mean, after all, what do I care? I'm probably never going to meet anyone here face to face, so full speed ahead. But I care about what you guys think of me, so I didn't do it that way. Once again, I would be fine IF I had gotten a reason for the topic to be closed.

This topic: http://www.cheersandgears.com/forums/index...showtopic=26359 was closed at some point in my 3 day absence. And I'm a little pissed off about it. I mean, if you're going to close my topic, that was WAAAAAY more civil than 99% of the political bullsh*t that went on around here the last 2 months, at least you could send me a message that provides a reason. Had I received a reason, I wouldn't be mad at all. So, instead of taking care of this in private, I decided to air out my concerns in the lounge and allow people to maybe provide an explanation and/or comments as to why the thread was closed. I'm willing to bet that maybe an anti-conservative admin read the title and didn't even read the post to see that the title was pure and that the discussion was for a reason. (This board is slanted in nature anyway) And THAT, if it's true, is the kind of GUT REACTION that I wanted the topic to provoke in an attempt for me (and anyone else that is interested) to gain a better understanding of people and why they react the way they do. P.S. Better get your comments in quick as I'm sure this topic is destined to be locked for no reason as well, if it offends the wrong people.

I'll +1 on the Eva Mendes and Scarlet Johansson comments But for my money, it doesn't get much better than Kate Beckinsale. If she looks that good in leather (in Underworld) I can only imagine how good she looks bare assed. An equally good would be Jessica Simpson. I don't care if she's 'dumb' or not.

So... When does she get her first 'slightly used' GM car?

Still hovering in the $2.20 range.

If that's the case; Maybe it'll give you super strength like Fry in that episode of Futurama where he eats the truck stop sandwich.

Agreed. Our bar is in the middle of the arts district that we live in. A lot of people with a lot of money frequent the place and the neighborhood (especially on gallery crawl and concert nights) But two of our biggest sellers are: $1.00 PBR on tap and $3.00 PBR tallboys. It's especially bad up in the mountains where I was raised. A friend of mine delivers beer for one of the big distributors up there and he said that PBR is one of (if not the) biggest seller. On a funny related note, he drove the truck with the PBR ad painted on the trailer and he used to always complain about college kids and rednecks coming up to him asking for free PBR.

Jose is awesome! A lot of people around here tend to think Patron is a lot better, but I can't really tell much of a difference. I mean the Patron is a little smoother but not by much. Then again, maybe I'm just cheap.

+1 I'd probably have a longer list of "likes" but my job at the bar only affords me one free drink per night, lol. No way would I pay some of those prices! The starry night drink that I love is $8.00/shot alone. I can't imagine how much it would take to get me "drunk"

I HATE Beer with a passion, so I mainly stick to liquor. My six favorites in order: (drumroll please) 1) Starry Night: This is a little shot (or drink, if you're me) that I stumbled upon this year. It's 50% Goldschlager (chilled) and 50% Jagermeister (room temp) mixed together for a little piece of heaven. 2) Tequila: of any kind. I can do the 'rot gut' cheap stuff all the way up to the high dollar stuff. I don't like it mixed with anything. I don't even like it with salt and a lime. I want it straight and preferably room temperature. 3) Killer Kool-aid: It's a drink that one of the ex-bartenders at my bar used to make me. Basically consists of 7 different types of liquor (All of the house liquors -- Aristocrat, sadly) some grenadine and a splash of Sprite. After about 4-5 pints of that, I was feeling REAL good one night. 4) Patron XO: It's basically tequila that has a hint of coffee taste to it. That's funny, because I hate coffee but love this drink. Served chilled BTW. 5) Firefly Sweet Tea Vodka: It's local thing that the distillery is trying to push across the south. It's Vodka that tastes just like lightly sweetened tea. Basically, you pour a glass 75% full of this stuff and then add water for the other 25%. Best if served on the rocks. 6) Southern Comfort: Good 'ole SoCo. Mix it with the soda of your choice (Dr. Pepper, Ginger Ale or Sprite in my case) and away you go! Funny thing is though, I really don't like the SoCo and Lime thing. EDIT: There is also an african amaretto that I'm quite fond of. (I have the name written down, but can't remember it) I tried it at a party once but couldn't find it here anywhere. Recently a friend of mine took a trip to Africa for 2 weeks and in the process managed to bring me a bottle back. The area I grew up in has a lot of local breweries. My GF is a beer drinker and could tell you a lot about those, but I can't. Yuengling is HUGE around here (She loves it) as is PBR, (No, she doesn't drink PBR -- We're classy rednecks, lol)

So sorry to hear of your loss. I know we disagree a lot here, but your father raised a smart man and you should be proud. He'll always be with you in spirit, and I'm a firm believer that we'll all meet our loved ones again when our time here is over.

Wow... How easy was that? Too bad americans are so stupid

That is S-I-C-K!!!!! I love it! Everything! All the way down to the sexy wheels. Extra KUDOS for the shaker hood!

Love the blacktop.

VERY NICE!!!