Chrysler and GM Filing For Chapter 11?

Both Chrysler and General Motors are on the verge of possibly filing for Chapter 11.

A bankruptcy judge said that he will make a ruling by Monday, June 1st, if Chrysler can go forward with its plan to sell most of the company to a group headed by Italy's Fiat And even if approved, more than likely three Indiana state pension and construction fund attorneys will appeal the decision and delay the sale.

General Motors has yet to confirm it will seek bankruptcy protection but has a news conference scheduled for Monday in New York. GM has made more dramatic changes in just a few days than it has in decades with the government's backing and nearly $20 billion in U.S. loans.

I ask why does it take such a dramatic economic situation to do something that should have been done or been in the process of being done for so many years. How many people have to lose their jobs? How many companies or parts of companies have to be shut down? How does the government just idly sit by and let these things happen to its people? Is it partly our fault for not asking to be better informed? And even if we did try to find out what was going on with these large corporations would we even get an honest and truthful answer?

There are a lot of questions needed to be answered so that this does not happen again. It is said that history repeats itself. We had the depression and now we have this crisis. Other countries have had their economic crises also. When do we learn how to keep this from happening again, or do we?

I would love to hear any answers or comments you have.

A Stranger Than Fiction Story

Hi and thanks for taking the time to stop by. Even though this is not a breaking story when I cam across this article I thought as one of those stranger than fiction type of stories that really do happen.

Came across a story about a Michigan woman who has graduated from college in Indiana. Though graduating is not anything new or strange, what is strange is that in 2006 she had been declared dead when four Taylor University students and a staff member were killed when a semi trailer crashed into the van they were in on April 26, 2006,Whitney E. Cerak was misidentified by the County Coroner at that time.

Five weeks after the crash, and after her family had already held a funeral for her, the family of another student realized the hospitalized young woman they thought was their daughter, Laura Van Ryn of Caledonia, MI., was actually Cerak. Not sure why it took that long to find out exactly who she was.

What we do know about the crash is that the driver had fallen asleep at the wheel, but as usually happens he was still alive. He plead guilty to reckless homicide and criminal recklessness and was given an eight-year prison sentence with four years suspended. I will never understand how these drivers who are responsible for the death of innocent lives because of their carelessness end up with so small of a sentence.

Needless to say, I am glad that Whitney's story is still ongoing. And it seems she is going to do something good with her life as she plans to travel to Kenya in July and remain there through February. So for some there is a happy ending.

Popular Diet Supplement Recalled

One of the most popular and most advertised over-the-counter dietary supplement, Hydroxycut, is being recalled by government health officials. Once again a product that is supposed to be safe has been found to be the cause of liver damage, including jaundice, or yellowing of the skin, to liver failure. One person received a transplant and another has been place on a waiting list to receive a new liver. There has been one death also attributed to Hydroxycut.

Did you know there are 14 Hydroxycut products available out there? I did not realize that there were that many different products with that name. And at least 9 million packages were sold last year as they are readily available all over in grocery stores and pharmacies.

The product has been advertised as being made from natural ingredients. Even so, one of the problems is that, according to health officials, the formulation been changed several times and so it has been difficult to determine which Hydroxycut ingredients are potentially toxic.

Once again we see how our culture is so into how we look we put our health in jeopardy by not really knowing what we are putting in our bodies. How many of us really read the labels? And even if we do, do we really know what any of the ingredients on there are? And don't forget,
we are buying into what the big corporations are telling us forgetting possibly that their goal is to mainly make money. The FDA doesn't come in until after a problem has been found.

The big question again - Who do we put our faith and trust in to rely on keeping us informed and safe?

Swine Flu Pandemic

Every year thousands of people all over the world contract the flu. And every year its seems to get worse. No matter what is done to keep it under control people keep getting fatally ill and many will die. And once again there are concerns of a global flu epidemic from this new and unique strain of swine flu which combines genetic material from pigs, birds and humans.

Mexico has already seen its share of death this year from this flu and it is spreading quickly. It has already hit Texas and California and is now becoming pandemic. And the World Health Organization spokesman say it might be too late to contain the outbreak.

I just hope that one day we will find some way to prevent all the sickness and disease, or at least as
much of it as possible.

Feds Need Computer Hackers' Help

Interesting that the federal government is looking for hackers to help secure the nation’s computers. David Powner, director of technology issues for the Government Accountability Office, told Congress last month that the U.S. has no recovery plan for a digital disaster saying "We're clearly not as prepared as we should be" .

Every day there are millions of digital scans and attacks each day on the government’s networks.

Even General Dynamics put an ad out for Homeland Security to find those who could “think like the bad guy”. They want applicants who understand hackers' tools and tactics and be able to analyze Internet traffic and identify vulnerabilities in the federal systems.

So all you hackers and computer geniuses out there have a chance to play the role of the "good guy", depending on how you feel about the government.