From the Edmunds Inside Line on Thursday, a rumor that Pontiac is getting the axe:

According to a source at General Motors, the company will announce next Monday its new “faster, deeper” reorganization plan, which will likely include a death sentence for the Pontiac brand.

I’m sure friends and family tired of my grumbling each time a Pontiac commercial came on during March Madness. I’ve been saying for months that GM would have to be insane to drop Saturn and keep Pontiac. Rebadge the Solstice, G6, and G8 as Chevys, and call it a day. Is there anything else remotely interesting in the Pontiac line that isn’t already sold as a Chevrolet?

Seriously though, not a rhetorical question; I tried to check Chevrolet.com to refresh my memory and the site is throwing a “Generic failure in middleware” error. Maybe when GM gets that fixed they can come to their senses and instead of killing Saturn stop selling GMC as anything but fleet vehicles. I’ve never understood the GM “strategy” of so many identical models under multiple brands.

I feel obliged to mention that  the first car I bought was a ’99 Grand Am GT coupe. Black. Sunroof. Felt like climbing into an F-14 compared to the ’84 Tempo I had driven in high school. I bought it with around 30,000 miles on it, and loved it for the ~30,000 miles before things started breaking right and left.

That’s what we should put on GM’s tombstone if the billions upon billions in taxpayer bailouts aren’t enough to save the company: “We loved it, before things started breaking right and left.”

Hooray! I only now read about the Navy’s rescue, having spent much less time than usual staring at pixels this weekend:

Acting with President Obama’s authorization and in the belief that the hostage, Capt. Richard Phillips, was in imminent danger of being killed by captors armed with pistols and AK-47s, snipers on the fantail of the destroyer Bainbridge, which was towing the lifeboat on a 100-foot line, opened fire and picked off the three captors.

Two of the captors had poked their heads out of a rear hatch of the lifeboat, exposing themselves to clear shots, and the third could be seen through a window in the bow, pointing an automatic rifle at the captain, who was tied up inside the 18-foot lifeboat, senior Navy officials said.

Thanks to President Obama and the various muckety-mucks who settled on this course of action. Another job well done by American forces. Happy Easter to the Captain, and to all!

…Except the pirates. Not sure what God will do with you, but we couldn’t have you hijacking boats and threatening lives. Whatever the shipping companies decide about arming their employees or hiring guns, I can only guess this will reduce attempts against crews flying the stars & stripes.

Exurban League made up a funny potential Obama response to the captive standoff with pirates off the coast of Somalia:

For too long, America has been too dismissive of the proud culture and invaluable contributions of the Pirate Community. Whether it is their pioneering work with prosthetics, husbandry of tropical birds or fanciful fashion sense, America owes a deep debt to Pirates.

The past eight years have shown a failure to appreciate the historic role of these noble seafarers. Instead of celebrating their entreprenuerial spirit and seeking to partner with them to meet common challenges, there have been times where America has shown arrogance and been dismissive, even derisive.

I laugh because I’d prefer not to cry; the parody works so well because it strikes familiar chords from the Obama songbook.

Meanwhile, why are the pirates still breathing? Their captive Captain Richard Phillips made a break for it, but didn’t get very far:

Around midnight local time, Phillips jumped off the lifeboat and began swimming, but was recaptured, according to Defense Department officials speaking on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to talk about unfolding operations.

Sailors on the USS Bainbridge, which is patrolling nearby, were able to see Phillips moving around and talking after his return to the lifeboat, and the Defense Department officials think he is unharmed.

I would hope that if American troops are afforded any opportunity to neutralize the pirates without harming Captain Phillips, they’ll do so. Then again, we bankroll Palestine… so why not warm-and-fuzzify our response to piracy and throw these poor Somalis a bone, too?

[Update: added the link for the second quote.]

Nancy Pelosi exhibits deft leadership skills and is a master of political maneuvering when it really counts:

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Thursday would not commit to holding a vote on a bill to do away with the annual cost-of-living increases. She pointed out that Congress recognized the economic crisis by voting this week to skip next year’s raise.

Everyone needs to buckle down and make sacrifices, but don’t expect Congress to make very many. The past two weeks I’ve been struck by how deeply unserious a place Washington is. Take last week’s fuss over Michael Steele’s comments about – and rapid apology to – Rush Limbaugh… Politico’s story from March 4th says all we need to know in the first paragraph.

Top Democrats believe they have struck political gold by depicting Rush Limbaugh as the new face of the Republican Party, a full-scale effort first hatched by some of the most familiar names in politics and now being guided in part from inside the White House.

Millions of people listen to Rush every week. I am not one of them because politics annoys me enough when I’m barely paying attention, but I agree with just about all of Rush’s opinions I’m familiar with. Most of them line up with what should be the core of the GOP: lower taxes, minimal government intervention, vigorous national defense. I wish there were more elected officials who could communicate like Rush at his best! Sadly, the DNC only wants to talk about how offensive Limbaugh can be. Um… he’s a talk show host , right?

Does it matter that Treasury Secretary Geithner still has provided few specifics on the Obama Administration’s bank rescue plan? That Barney Frank and Chris Dodd continue to influence American lending policy? That when President Obama brags of spending cuts, he means tax increases and fudged Iraq projections? That instead of correcting unrealistic accounting rules and terrible lending regulations, we’re “stimulating” the economy with more entitlement debt? The list goes on, but the answer is always: No. It does not matter.

Currently, the focus is on Michael Steele and how he’s not ready for primetime. Tomorrow maybe the story will revert to “If it’s broken, Bush broke it,” or talk of how Republicans are the party of “the wealthiest 2%,” or promises of lifelong employment in green energy and lollipop manufacturing. Bottom line, it’s all messaging, and the billions wasted are simply one more talking point for the opposing sides to spin. And we elected them.

Talk about throwing good money after bad. The International Herald Tribune reports that Team Obama plans to send $900 million to Gaza:

In an early sign of how the administration plans to deal with Hamas, the militant Islamist group that controls Gaza, an official said that the aid would not go to Hamas but would be funneled through nongovernmental organizations.

Being unreasonably optimistic, let’s presume all of this money goes to “the citizens” and not a dime lines the pockets of Hamas leaders and “security forces.” Would that in any way address the underlying issue that Hamas still enjoys broad support throughout Palestine? We know that civilians are used as shields, willingly or no, and that the line between who’s a soldier and who’s not often depends on whether Western cameras are around. Will the lives of Palestinians be improved by our tax dollars?

Doubt it. Best case scenario, the millions we send to Gaza will go where they are needed… and Hamas will be free to go about their business of tunneling, smuggling, and rocket attacks, little inconvenienced over the suffering they’ve caused their fellow citizens. Palestinians will go right on hating Israel and her allies, and President Obama will be another billion dollars away from this balanced budget we’re going to be taxed out the wazoo for.

This makes me wonder what I’d have to do for a few million bucks. If I trashed my house, terrorized my neighbors, and whined non-stop about how cruelly victimized I am, think that’d do it? Maybe I should start an unsustainable business, or make lots of awful investment decisions. Yes indeed, things are looking up here in the land of opportunity! Until someone has to pay for it…

On the small Australian island of Macquarie, environmentalists took harsh measures with… upleasant results. In order to rescue sea birds nesting there, the island’s nonnative feral cat population was killed. Which led to a surge in the population of invasive rabbits. Which, in turn, has destroyed much of the plant life that serves as habitat for… you guessed it… Macquarie’s sea birds. Caught this story on Yahoo! News, from the AP:

“Our study shows that between 2000 and 2007, there has been widespread ecosystem devastation and decades of conservation effort compromised,” Bergstrom said in a statement.

The unintended consequences of the cat-removal project show the dangers of meddling with an ecosystem — even with the best of intentions — without thinking long and hard, the study said.

These environmentalists who no doubt fought long and hard to Save the Birds are cut from the same cloth as American and international groups who insist they be given oversight of American industries to fight global warming. Admittedly, concerned parties in this case are aware of where they fell short:

“What was wrong was that the rabbits were not eradicated at the same time as the cats,” University of Auckland Prof. Mick Clout, who also is a member of the Union’s invasive species specialist group. “It would have been ideal if the cats and rabbits were eradicated at the same time, or the rabbits first and the cats subsequently.”

Maybe, when a 2010 initiative to remove the invasive rabbit species is complete, all will be well on Macquarie. Nonetheless, the story scares me a bit. Wiping out one population of critters goes horribly wrong, and the environmentalist’s response is to brush himself off and plan another critter’s removal. What happens if the Obama administration takes similarly desperate measures to stop “climate change,” and cripples American businesses in the process? America will be blamed for the horrible global effects that somehow were not predicted, and Presidential advisors will go to work tweaking their formulas and carbon pricing charts.

An excerpt from President-elect Obama’s comments on the Gaza situation, from CNN:

But what I am doing right now is putting together the team so that on January 20, starting on day one, we have the best possible people who are going to be immediately engaged in the Middle East peace process as a whole, that are going to be engaging with all of the actors there, that will work to create a strategic approach that ensures that both Israelis and Palestinians can meet their aspirations

Emphasis mine. Itty bitty, teeny-tiny problem: the Palestinians want the Israelis to die. That’s their “aspiration” – the Palestinian people, in a relatively free election, chose as their leaders a group whose stated purpose is the destruction of Israel. So unless Barack and State Department 2009 can diplomacize the Palestinians away from their bloodlust, or convince Israel that existence is overrated, it’s going to be more American time and money wasted on the same old “strategic approach”es.

And what a euphemism, “Middle East peace process” – it’d be interesting if we could quantify peace in any meaningful way. I suppose life under Saddam was peaceful enough, if you didn’t mind the risk of Ba’athists grabbing you in the night and torturing you until you died. Same for Afghanistan, if you’re down with sharia – which, in the case of women, means you don’t mind being property. It’s a little silly that we have this big responsibility to keep Israel’s hands tied when it comes to Palestine, while whatever terrorist-breeding basket case we kick the doors in on retroactively becomes none of our business.

When it comes to our relations with Palestine, no news is good news – especially while Israel is bombing ‘em. For as long as I can remember, when America steps in to “encourage dialogue” or “build a roadmap” it’s a boon to Hamas, the Palestinian Authority, or whatever rabid creatures are running the Palestinian territories at the time.

Over the weekend, it seemed like Dubya and the State Department were content to sit back and let Israel defend herself. No more:

At a briefing for reporters in Crawford, Texas, where President Bush is spending the holidays, White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe said U.S. diplomacy is aimed not at a cease-fire in name only that could break down in days or weeks – but one that is lasting:

“We have got to get a commitment from Hamas that they would respect any cease-fire and make it lasting and durable,” said Johndroe. “And, so, until we can get that assurance – not the United states, but until Israel can get that assurance from Hamas -then we’re not going to have a cease-fire that is worth the paper it’s written on.”

When has any agreement with Hamas been worth the paper it’s written on? When has any Palestinian group respected a cease-fire for longer than it takes to replenish their rocket supply?

It’s no surprise that CNN downplays the random rocket fire endured by Israelis month after month, while lamenting the plight of ravaged Palestine. It’s no surprise that the UN and European Union rush to tut-tut Israel’s “disproportionate” response to ongoing terrorism. And sadly, it’s no surprise that the President and the State Department can at best be relied on for a few days of silence before pitching in another $85 million and pleas for useless diplomacy.

I finally scheduled an appointment to have new tires put on my car, having talked myself into and back out of looking for a 2008 BMW to finance at 0.9% several times over. Since the lobby of Discount Tire is clearly not designed for “hanging out” – they have space for a display of racing slicks, but the waiting area consists of half a dozen chairs crammed in a corner – I went to Starbucks in hopes of finding free wi-fi. Surely an hour at Starbucks couldn’t kill me… right?

I have never once entered a Starbucks without being made to feel like an idiot. I asked about wi-fi, which apparently takes a registered Starbucks card. I didn’t even ask if that cost anything. I’m carrying around a MacBook these days and certainly don’t need my name in a Starbucks database, too. After I paid the guy who took my order and he wandered off, I realized I was supposed to wait near the little round thing at the end of the counter. I was disappointed but not surprised to see that $2.50 at Starbucks gets you a hot chocolate that’s roughly the size of a children’s Frosty. Then again, if you know what size a children’s Frosty is you’re probably not Starbucks’s target demographic.

In Europe are all the tables extremely tiny? Is Europe where Starbucks picked that up from? I am sitting at a table with three chairs around it, and it’s like a TV tray. It’s as if all the furniture in this place was designed by Lilliputians. +10 points to Mac for their dictionary’s simple and shiny confirmation of the spelling of Lilliputian. -100 points from EA for blocking me from playing Spore Creature Creator without an internet connection.

[Update: Typos, begone. Who misspells "Frosty" - seriously!]

Congressman Boehner,

Congratulations on your election to a 10th term in the United States House of Representatives. As a current resident of Hilliard who was born and raised in Miami County, it’s reassuring to see another Boehner victory approaching 70% when the GOP in central Ohio has been on its heels for the last three elections. I can only imagine how discouraging it must be to watch the conservative ranks thin around you because of losses both in conviction and at the polls.

It’s a sad state of affairs when, after being routed in the Presidential election by the most liberal member of the Senate, we’re stuck rooting for Ted Stevens and waiting for a recount to keep Al Franken out of Washington. It’s ridiculous that we can scarcely hope the national media will do anything the next four years besides provide continuous in-kind assistance to the cause of Barack Obama’s re-election. With the Democrats so close to a filibuster-proof majority and the media moving ever more shamelessly to the left, there is little room for error in either house of Congress.

I hope and pray that you’ll continue your role as a happy warrior for lower taxes, individual freedom, and traditional American values. While it’s obvious that an inability to present and promote conservative ideals is a weakness that extends far beyond President Bush himself, you’ve been one of few exceptions in the short time I’ve followed politics. The cause of conservatism needs you now, as it did in 1994. Remind those who would forget that bigger government is not better government.

Keep your nose clean and your message clear, as the Democrats in Washington – so quick to decry divisiveness and negative politics – leave no stone unturned and no words untwisted when it comes to silencing dissent. Keep your head up as President Obama pushes ever more dependence-producing entitlements, citing a mandate for “Change” that would knock our founding fathers right out of their powdered wigs. Continue to be an example by your faith in God and the Constitution; continue to be a thorn in the side of Nancy Pelosi, for whom bipartisanship means cooperation with the progressive agenda.

I realize you’re well aware of the portions of this that make sense, but this is mostly a therapeutic exercise anyway. A lot has changed since I was a student in Mr. Worth’s class at Miami East High School, helping cover George W. Bush’s first inauguration for the Troy Daily News. There is much good work to be done. Thank you, Congressman, for all your efforts to date — America needs your principled leadership and consistent conservatism.

Godspeed,

Jason A. Hart