ice road trucks, err mini-vans?
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7/30/2019 Ice Road Trucks, Err Mini-Vans?
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Y
es, Ice Road Mini Vans. I ts a
musical featuring moms driv-
ing mini vans full of Gleestudents to arctic outposts in northern
Canada. Small towns like Moose Glow,
Bea r Claw, I ce Rid ge Canyon and
Froz en Sti ff will ge t to ex pe rie nce
Broadway musicals for the first time.
Be with the moms and Glee kids
when they have to chain up their mini-
vans to climb Snarky Bones mountain
pass during an evening snow storm.
Hear them sing the Snarky Bones song
in a fantast ic falsetto as they climb to
the peak. Dangerous curves, ice cov-
ered tundra, temperatures at 40 below
doesnt mean a th ing to the Glee kids
as they sing their way north. Other
songs wri tten for the t rip include Im
Freezing My Vibrato Off Just For You,
Ice, Ice Baby, (hey, thats not origi-nal) and my favorite besides the Snarky
Bones song is Hot, Hot, Hot For
Teacher. (A Buster Poindexter, Van
Halen mix) Its drama, love, comedy
and lots of snow and icicles all snuggly
kni t in song. Ive also heard that Lady
Gaga has signed on to play the female
lead in Phantom of the Opera when it
opens wi th the Glee kids in Frozen
Stiff later this year.
Some people are concerned that the
Mayans a drug crazed rap group from
the third century picked 12/21/12 to be
the endof the world. Its actually gonna
be the first day of winter this year and
the longest night of the year. Cause the
next day the days start get ting longer.
When I was a youngster around six , I
remember asking my grandmother and
grandfather that raised my brother and
I about a headline in the Detroit Times
that read World Will End on Friday. I
didnt believe it but just wanted to
know what it was all about. Depending
on who you talk to,* therehave been 46major end of the world decrees by dif-
ferent rel igious groups and hundreds
by others. Heres a weak synop sis from
me why the end of the world could be
approaching in the next 100 years:
H ug h H efne rs g et tin g m ar rie d
aga in (Probably the end of the world
for h im but not the res tof us. )
L indsay Lohans movie Liz and
Dick is horribl e and shes probably
going to ja il for her l at es t run in wi th
the law from a bar f ight she s tar ted.
(Hey, thats a goodthing. Lets keep her
out of the news for a couple decades ,
please.)
Carrie Underwood is the new
Maria Von Tr app in th e Br oadwayMusical The Sound of Music (so the
new version will be country style while
I was hoping for Gangnam Style) Im
rea lly OK with anybody playing the
Von Trapp girl except Niki Minaj.
Brad Pit ts new movie is the pit ts,
l iteral ly (Real ly, Brad Pit t playing a
bad guy?)
Just in case it snows this season,
heres some tips to make sure you dont
hire the wrong kid to clean your walks
and driveway. Pay attention, please.
The kid reeks of Jim Beam and
Taco Bell takeout.
He looks like one of them heavy
metal dudes with multiple tattoos and
pierc ings.
Hes got your car keys hangingfrom his nose ring.
Shes wear ing a bik in i and keeps
complaining how cold itis and wants to
know if youre home alone.
Hesays your wife looks as good in
person as she does throug h his binocu -
lars.
From the funny side of the s tree t, I
leave you with this note from Jay Leno.
The reason there are two senators for
each state is so that one can be the des-
ignated driver.
C U on the 13 th.
Merge Wrights email address is:
Ice Road Trucks, err mini-vans?MERGE WRIGHT
B
y Do
n Wright
Times
Columnist
One of the greatest
aspects of the
United States and
what made our economy the
top in the world is capital-
ism.
The theory of business
being privately owned cre-
ates goods or provides a
service at profit. A system
allows individuals to risk
their money into ownership
of business for the prospect
of earning money.
The reward for someone
who starts or owns a busi-
ness is the hope for them tomake a profit. Profit is
derived from all revenue
minus expenses such as
labor, cost of business, and
paying the tax man. If there
are more expenses than rev-
enue, then you have a
deficit. In almost all circum-
stances, no one goes into
business or owns a busine ss
to not make money.
Typically, the largest
expenses in any business
and in government are costs
for labor or those associated
such as health care or retire-
ment.
For the system to work,both bus ine ss and labor
must work together.
A perfect example of cap-
italism at work is when Sam
Walton started the Waltons
Five and Dime in
Bentonville, Arkansas, now
known as Walmart. His pri-
mary purpose for starting
his own business was for
him to make money.
Waltons goal was to provide
a grocery store with prod-
ucts within it that were very
competitive against other
grocery stores. Obviously,
he became very successful
at doing just that by using
free market principles. Now,
Walmart is one of the
nations largest employers
and third most valuable.
Walmart employs hundreds
of thousands providing a
steady income for thousands
of families.
The Hostess Brand, Inc.debacle is a perfect example
of the demise of capitalism
underway in the United
States. Hostess, who makes
Twinkies and Ding Dongs,
has been struggling for close
to a decade for a number of
reasons.
The Irving, Texas-based
company employs 18,500,
most of who belong to
unions. Earlier this year,
Hostess had filed Chapter
11 bankruptcy attempting to
restructure its debt.
A new CEO was named in
order to reorganize the com-
pany. Hostess has been deal-ing with a rise in fuel costs,
ingredient costs, demands
for healthier snacks and the
U.S. recession hit the com-
pany hard leading to bank-
ruptcy.
Hostess executives said
work rules from existing
labor agreements made it
impossible to improve pro-
ductivity and spend funds
efficiently.
An example cited in news
reports is how rules required
different Hostess workers to
deliver bread, cakes, and
other products, essentially
doubling delivery costs. To
make matters worse, the
company had massive debt
obligations totaling $700
million due to a 2004 bank-
ruptcy and an unfunded
employee pension plan.
As part of the restructur-
ing and turning Hostess
around, the new CEO,
Gregory Rayburn, asked the
employee unions to compro-
mise on their wages and
employee benefits packages.
To show good faith,
Rayburn cut top level execu-
tives pay at Hostess to $1
per year.During and after the 2008
financial crisis, union auto
workers and other unions
readily agreed to conces-
sions deemed crucial for
survival of their respective
companies.
Those companies in
return kept their doors open
and the employees with jobs.
A strike is one of the most
poten t weapons a union has
in a dispute with manage-
ment.
Through the negotiations
bet ween manage ment and
the unions, the unions decid-
ed to strike.Rayburn warned the
unions if they did strike, it
would cause the 82-year old
company to close its doors
for good. After a court-
imposed labor contract that
cut wages, health care bene-
fits, and retirement benefits,
the unions at Hostess went
on strike and now the com-
pany is shutting their doors
permanently.
The union leadership
seemed to have decided to
cut off their nose despite
their face. Though the union
may have viewed Hostess
executives threat of closingas a negotiating tactic, they
now have to contend with a
tragic situation. Instead of
negotiating about the terms
of their memberships
employment, there now is no
employment to even negoti-
ate. But as the Hostess situa-
tion clearly shows, the risks
that a strike will backfire are
high especially when
employers can hit their ejec-
tion seat, such as bankruptcy
or shuttering unionized
operations.
Hostess executives put the
blame on the intran sigenc e
of the Bakery,
Confectionery, Tobacco
Workers and Grain Millers
Union. One union, the
Teamsters, didnt vote to
strike Hostess and begged
the other unions to find away out of its confrontation.
Unions and their representa-
tives claim the executives
bear subst antial responsibi l-
ity for the Hostess woes.
They claim the company
failed to invest in new prod-
ucts, bungled pricing strate-
gy, and didnt reduce
expenses. Ultimately, nei-
ther party truly has clean
hands in this situation. The
Hostess executive, including
their CEO, needed to do a
better job at selling to the
employees the benefits of a
strong and renewed compa-
ny. In return, the employeesneeded to realize that
Hostess is not in the busi-
ness of employing individu-
als but rather at making a
prof it. In order f or the com-
pany to make a prof it, the
executives are required to
cut expenses which include
labor costs and maximizing
revenue through sales.
Due to either side not
coming to their senses, no
one wins. Maybe it was from
all the sugary snacks.
u u u u u
Rob Scott is a practicing
attorney at Oldham &
Deitering, LLC.Scott is the Chairman of
the Montgomery County
Repu blica n Party and the
founder of the Dayton Tea
Party. He can be contac ted
a t
No Twinkie defense for Hostess execs, unionBy Rob
Scott
Times
Columnist
The sky is falling!
The sky is falling!
Maybe the years of observing and evaluating the world ofpolitics has worn me down. Perhaps its our morphing
societal norms. Or maybe Id just like some time where
I can kick back and enjoy life instead of constantly having to prepare
the lifeboats. Now that this tumultuous election year is in the bag,
were facing our newest crisis that could crush mankind; the FISCAL
CLIFF.
Now the thought of
going over any kind of cliff
has me more than a bit
nervous, but then Im sure
thats why this handle was
attached to it. The deadline
of the end of 2012 was set
when the Budget Control
Act of 2011 was enacted to
bring our out of control
budget deficit back into the black, or close to it. Among the things
set to change at midnight on December 31, 2012 are the end of lastyears temporary payroll tax cuts, meaning a jump of 2% in taxes for
workers. Itll bring the end of certain tax breaks for businesses. Well
see shifts in the alternative minimum tax. It will usher in the end of
the so-called Bush tax cuts from 2001-2003 and the beginning of
taxes related to Obamas job-killer Obamacare. At the same time, the
spending cuts agreed upon as part of the debt ceiling deal of 2011
will begin to go into effect. Over 1,000 government programs includ-
ing the defense budget and Medicare will experience deep and auto-
matic cuts.
The only way to avoid heading over the cliff is to reach a com-
promise on the budget. Both sides of the aisle believe the people have
spoken. They both say theres room for compromise BUT not in the
most crucial areas of difference. Republicans want to cut spending
and avoid raising taxes, while Obama is looking for a combination
of spending cuts and tax increases especially on the so-called rich.
In other words, nothing has changed.
Theres always the possibility that a stop-gap temporary fix could
be enacted to keep us from going over. But then weve been livingon those Band-Aid cures for several years now. Is that any way to
run a country?
I guess well all have to wait and see. My guess is as we watch the
2013 ball drop on Times Square, the resulting explosion at the bot-
tom of the impact could be a bit more metaphorical than celebra-
tional. After the confetti is cleaned up we could be more like Greece
in the good old USA. But fear not! Regardless of the outcome of this
crisis, therell be another in the wings posing a threat to life as we
know it on this planet. Its apparently the new normal.
Mike Scinto is a 35 year veteran talk show host serving locally,
statewide and nationally behind the microphone. For the past dozen
years he has authored this award-winning column. You may have
also seen him offering his unique insights of Fox News Channel.
Friend Mike at http://www.facebook.com/mikescintoshow or visit
http://mikescintocolumns.blogspot.com and with your morning Java
or evening reading check out, comment on and subscribe to the best
60 seconds of your day http://www.youtube.com/InaScintoMinute
STEM, Air Camp andsuch: todays promise
for our tomorrow
This countrys educational deficits of some 50 years have
been talked about a lot (to not much avail) but only rela-
tively recently has the talk given birth to the STEM
school movement. If you took a sidewalk survey perhaps one in 10
could tell you that STEM
stands for science, technol-
ogy, engineering and
mathematics. But, no mat-
ter.Daytons proximity to
Wright Patterson AFB and
its history of engineering
and technological innova-
tion simply highlighted the local shortcomings in getting young
people ready for a world very different than that faced by their par-
ents and grandparents. Now the Dayton area has several initiatives
that include stand-alone institutions such as the Dayton Regional
STEM School on Woodman Drive, STEM curricula in area
schools such as Centerville, the Learn to Earn program under for-
mer UD dean Thomas Lasley, and the Air Camp.
That probably leaves out a bunch of endeavors and people
deserving notice and appreciation, but whats important is that
thoughtful leadership and extraordinary dedication have turned talk
into action. The STEM at 1724 Woodman Drive reached out to the
community in October for volunteers to let 9th graders do job
shadowing. In early November it held a power lunch for high
school students and on January 16 will have one for middle schoolstudents. Then theres an all-day Career Fair for all students on
March 5, another power lunch for high schools students April 17
and more job shadowing for 9th and 10th grade students on May 3.
All of this involves volunteers giving time (and even money) to
the effort so that a school population drawn from throughout the
region and as diverse as political correctness can make it is exposed
to reality and the opportunities that real education offers.
A lot of people can get credit for the three-year-old Air Camp,
but special mention has to go to retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Richard
V. Reynolds whose tireless campaign brought to life a vision of a
summer experience for middle schoolers to see career opportunities
in aeronautics. The other services, especially the Navy, have long
offered similar programs for young people. They are older and larg-
er, but Gen. Reynolds and powerful allies expect to catch up.
The Air Camp board is headed by Dr. Lasley, now also well
known as the executive director of the Learn to Earn non-profit. Air
Camp fits right in to the Learn to Earn agenda. In an interview this
summer Dr. Lasley said that People are beginning to see Dayton
as a hub for aviation, aeronautics and STEM programming for
young people. It shows the power of what is happening regionally.
Learn to Earn, formally launched just this month, aims at a far
larger contingent of young people than middle or high schoolers. It
is termed a cradle-to-career initiative and has to deal with perhaps
the knottiest problem in education: How to get the youngest not just
educated, but READY to be educated. It was observed at the kick-
off that 62 percent of Montgomery County children are not even
prepared for kindergarten so that, in effect, they are prepared to fail
in school.
Putting a firm foundation for learning under so many children
who come from extraordinarily disfunctional families surely will be
a labor intensive effort, so it will require a lot of community atten-
tion, participation and volunteer work. We can pray that it succeeds.
But at least we can be happy that all the talk has finally turned into
action.
By William H.
Wild
Times
Columnist
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COMMENTARYBy Mike
Scinto
Times
Columnist