Car Talk Guys to GM: "Why Do You Make Such Shit"

I was catching up on old podcasts of NPR's Car Talk and heard the Magliozzi brothers mention a recent appearance on PBS. The program NOVA sent Click and Clack in search of the Car of the Future. The whole show is worth checking out, especially if you're new to phenomenal concepts like plug-in hybrids and questionable concepts like biofuels and hydrogen cars.

But this exchange in segment 6 really sums up the program. A GM rep is walking the guys through a car show, trying to show off the Chevy Volt:

RAY MAGLIOZZI: It's right next to the Ford Mustang with 550 horsepower.

BETH LOWERY: Yes. And the Camaro convertible. Isn't that great?

RAY MAGLIOZZI: Yeah.

BETH LOWERY: America is all about choice. If you want a Camaro, buy a Camaro.

RAY MAGLIOZZI: But if we're about hugging trees ...

TOM MAGLIOZZI: With 500 horsepower? Who the hell needs 500 horsepower?

BETH LOWERY: Obviously not you.

TOM MAGLIOZZI: Why do you make such shit? I mean it's ridiculous!

BETH LOWERY: You mean these popular vehicles that are on the floor?

TOM MAGLIOZZI: Yeah, these popular vehicles. Five hundred horsepower ... jeez!

BETH LOWERY: It creates a little excitement, doesn't it?

RAY MAGLIOZZI: You're good, Beth.

TOM MAGLIOZZI: Thanks a million.

RAY MAGLIOZZI: Thanks for your time.

BETH LOWERY: Thanks.

RAY MAGLIOZZI: Sorry for giving you a hard time.

BETH LOWERY: That's okay. I'm used to it.

Despite all their commercials with green trees and blue skies and cheery kids, GM makes clear that all that good corporate citizenship stuff is just greenwashing. They have only one goal -- making as much money as possible.

So the Tappett Brothers come to the conclusion that if we want to cut our gas bills, increase our energy security, and curb the worst effects of global warming, we need government incentives. All the futuristic cars in the world won't matter unless we have the right carrots and sticks to prompt the car industry to make them and consumers to buy them.

Read The Full Article:
http://thegreenmiles.blogspot.com/2008/07/car-talk-guys-to-gm-why-do-you-make.htm
l

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Is Suicide a Personal Choice or a Moral and
Religious Sin

The suicide rate has doubled among Black people in the United States, challenging each of us to confront this as a personal issue in our families and communities, as well as a public health and public policy and a "moral" and religious issue. When we look at what's happening in this area overseas, we see that other countries are perceiving and dealing with the issue in ways that would be unthinkable for many USA's.

Last year, the Supreme Court of Switzerland (decision available in French or Italian or German) ruled that people with extreme and irremediable mental suffering have the same right to commit suicide as people with extreme and irremediable physical suffering. According to the Associated Press:

LAUSANNE, Switzerland: A ruling by Switzerland's highest court has opened the possibility that people with serious mental illnesses could be helped by doctors to take their own lives.

Switzerland already allows physician-assisted suicide for terminally ill patients under certain circumstances but the Federal Tribunal's decision, which was released on Friday, puts mental illnesses on the same level as physical ones.

"It must be recognized that an incurable, permanent, serious mental disorder can cause similar suffering as a physical (disorder), making life appear unbearable to the patient in the long term," the ruling says. International Herald Tribune

( . . . )

The case was brought by a 53-year old man with serious bipolar affective disorder, who asked the tribunal to allow him to acquire a lethal dose of pentobarbital without a doctor's prescription.

The tribunal ruled against his request, confirming the need for a thorough medical assessment of the patient's condition, which a prescription would confirm.

Here in the United States, as well as in Great Britain and France, suicide is still a taboo subject, and those who commit suicide are called the worst names, including "cowardly", "selfish" and "weak." Those who desire to commit suicide are warned that they will burn in hell if they die "before their time", which time will inevitably come sooner or later anyway. They are cautioned that God will be offended if they take into their own hands the job of ending life because God sees fit to end their suffering.

So, which is it? Should Americans have a right to end their lives when their lives become intolerable to them, due to physical or mental illnesses, or should we be obliged to live on at the mercy of our own bodies' and/or minds' capacities to torment us, for so long as the body and the beating heart can continue to do so? Here's a paper (in French) that considers many aspects of considerations and attitudes toward the question. It's a good conversation starter.

www.ethikrat.org/_francais/publications/pdf/Avis_Autodetermination_et_assistance_en_fin_de_vie.pdf

It seems to me that, just as we have found ways to extend life in manners that "God" would never have imagined or perhaps condoned, we have also found ways to shorten intolerable life, and "God" (if s/he exists at all) will not object unless s/he simply wants to see us suffer.

Just as notions of "God" often consign women to backroom abortions that kill them and their babies, such beliefs also also consign many humans to unsuccessful but maiming or extremely inhumane suicide attempts. "In Brazil, for example, the high suicide rates in tobacco growing regions may be owing to the wide use and availability of pesticides (Csillag, 1996). Furthermore, pesticides accounted for 18% of male and 7% of female hospital admissions for self-harm in Campinas, Brazil, in 2002-2004 (Fleischmann et al, 2005). " Deaths from Pesticide Poisoning: A Global Response

I suspected for a moment that perhaps the Swiss Supreme Court could make such a determination because the Swiss simply don't believe in God as much as Americans do. But apparently this is not the case at all. Various websites, both of atheists and of theists, concur that atheism does not predominate in Switzerland, with between 17 and 27% of Swiss identifying as atheist, (as compared to 3-4.5% of USA's telling pollsters that they are atheists.

So, why is there such a great difference between USA public policy and thinking (and individual counsel) with respect to this issue, and that which has become public policy and at least somewhat more socially acceptable in Switzerland? Why do people in the United States and Brazil kill themselves by gunshot wounds and hanging, and even by drinking lethal doses of crop insecticides, while people Switzerland have access of guaranteed-lethal doctor-prescribed doses of "natrium pentobarbital"?

Read The Full Article:
http://francislholland.blogspot.com/2008/07/is-suicide-choice-or-sin.html

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Is Suicide a Choice or a Sin

Last year, the Supreme Court of Switzerland (decision available in French or Italian or German) ruled that people with extreme and irremediable mental suffering have the same right to commit suicide as people with extreme and irremediable physical suffering. According to the Associated Press:

LAUSANNE, Switzerland: A ruling by Switzerland's highest court has opened the possibility that people with serious mental illnesses could be helped by doctors to take their own lives.

Switzerland already allows physician-assisted suicide for terminally ill patients under certain circumstances but the Federal Tribunal's decision, which was released on Friday, puts mental illnesses on the same level as physical ones.

"It must be recognized that an incurable, permanent, serious mental disorder can cause similar suffering as a physical (disorder), making life appear unbearable to the patient in the long term," the ruling says. International Herald Tribune

( . . . )

The case was brought by a 53-year old man with serious bipolar affective disorder, who asked the tribunal to allow him to acquire a lethal dose of pentobarbital without a doctor's prescription.

The tribunal ruled against his request, confirming the need for a thorough medical assessment of the patient's condition, which a prescription would confirm.

Here in the United States, as well as in Great Britain and France, suicide is still a taboo subject, and those who commit suicide are called the worst names, including "cowardly", "selfish" and "weak." Those who desire to commit suicide are warned that they will burn in hell if they die "before their time", which time will inevitably come sooner or later anyway. They are cautioned that God will be offended if they take into their own hands the job of ending life because God sees fit to end their suffering.

So, which is it? Should Americans have a right to end their lives when their lives become intolerable to them, due to physical or mental illnesses, or should we be obliged to live on at the mercy of our own bodies' and/or minds' capacities to torment us, for so long as the body and the beating heart can continue to do so? Here's a paper (in French) that considers many aspects of considerations and attitudes toward the question. It's a good conversation starter.

www.ethikrat.org/_francais/publications/pdf/Avis_Autodetermination_et_assistance_en_fin_de_vie.pdf

It seems to me that, just as we have found ways to extend life in manners that "God" would never have imagined or perhaps condoned, we have also found ways to shorten intolerable life, and "God" (if s/he exists at all) will not object unless s/he simply wants to see us suffer.

Just as notions of "God" often consign women to backroom abortions that kill them and their babies, such beliefs also also consign many humans to unsuccessful but maiming or extremely inhumane suicide attempts. "In Brazil, for example, the high suicide rates in tobacco growing regions may be owing to the wide use and availability of pesticides (Csillag, 1996). Furthermore, pesticides accounted for 18% of male and 7% of female hospital admissions for self-harm in Campinas, Brazil, in 2002-2004 (Fleischmann et al, 2005). " Deaths from Pesticide Poisoning: A Global Response

I suspected for a moment that perhaps the Swiss Supreme Court could make such a determination because the Swiss simply don't believe in God as much as Americans do. But apparently this is not the case at all. Various websites, both of atheists and of theists, concur that atheism does not predominate in Switzerland, with between 17 and 27% of Swiss identifying as atheist, (as compared to 3-4.5% of USA's telling pollsters that they are atheists.

So, why is there such a great difference between USA public policy and thinking (and individual counsel) with respect to this issue, and that which has become public policy and at least somewhat more socially acceptable in Switzerland? Why do people in the United States and Brazil kill themselves by gunshot wounds and hanging, and even by drinking lethal doses of crop insecticides, while people Switzerland have access of guaranteed-lethal doctor-prescribed doses of "natrium pentobarbital"?

Read The Full Article:
http://francislholland.blogspot.com/2008/07/is-suicide-choice-or-sin.html

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McCain Will Save US! He’s Pro-Crocs!

I go to the beach every weekend, and the kids are wearing these shoes. Molded plastic, they are about as fashion-forward as those big rimless sunglasses you see on really old people. They’re Crocs. But they’re made in the USA, and in a speech in Colorado John McCain says he’s all for Crocs and making sure we can sell them all over the world! Here it is from ABCNews:

“Five years ago, the outdoor footwear company, Crocs, was started by a couple of entrepreneurs with a great idea, ingenuity and drive,” McCain said. “This former small business now employs 600 people in Colorado alone, and sells over 50 percent of its products in 90 countries around the world. Building barriers to Crocs or any American company’s access to foreign markets will have a devastating effect on our economy and jobs, and the prosperity of American families.”

John McCain may not know anything about economics, but he sure knows his Crocs.

Read The Full Article:
http://allspinzone.com/wp/2008/07/08/mccain-will-save-us-hes-pro-crocs/

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LA Times writer calls Obama "the black
presidential candidate," says he want to bring back "slavery"

This is what passes for legitimate journalism in the corporate media nowadays. The Los Angeles Times, like the New York Times, decided to hire a far-right activist writer in the hopes that this might stop conservatives from being mean to them. How's that working for you? The LA Times' conservative just called Obama "the black presidential candidate" and accused him of trying to bring back "slavery." Funny, but I'm guessing that an African-American doesn't need a lecture on slavery from some guy named Jonah Goldberg. How many times does the Los Angeles Times and New York Times need to cringe at something these conservatives have written before they realize that these guys don't practice journalism, they practice Limbaughism. They're literary shock jocks. Their "columns" are nothing more than political performance art. It's all about being vulgar and getting attention, all at the expense of their victim, their newspaper, and their own credibility.

Read The Full Article:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Americablog/~3/329891587/la-times-writer-calls-oba
ma-black.html

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Was 20 Million Dollars Paid to Free Betancourt
and 3 American Hostages in Colombia

THE BUZZFLASH EDITOR'S BLOG

Mark Karlin

Editor and Publisher

July 8, 2008

A report from Swiss public radio that $20 million was paid to release three American hostages, Ingrid Betancourt, and 11 Colombian soldiers and police officers is being pretty much roundly ignored in the United States.

Not so the case in the UK, where the Times reported the allegation on July 4th:

Bookmark/Search this post with: buzzflash | delicious | digg | technorati Technorati Tags: EditorBlog Colombia Rescue Ransom

read more

Read The Full Article:
http://www.buzzflash.com/articles/editorblog/102

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Clinton's Wolfson To Fox News (Joins Lanny Davis)

Howard Wolfson, Hillary Clinton's spokesperson since her first Senate race, is moving over to Fox, following the appalling Lanny Davis.

Definitely a good move for Fox as it tries to appear not to be a non-stop Obama bashing machine during the fall. Davis, who makes Alan Dershowitz seem appealing, in no way enhances its creds. But Wolfson is solid.

So why would he do this. "I thought that Fox's coverage during the primary was comprehensive and fair and evenhanded," he said. Karl Rove is delighted. "The guy is very smart. [Wolfson] strikes me as a very able guy and surprisingly pleasant and amiable."

Oh well. Everybody has to make a buck. But tell me. Had the nomination fight ended with a Clinton win, would Bill Burton (Wolfson's counterpart) have ended up at Fox? Would any Obama lieutenants?

Not a chance. MSNBC maybe. Fox never.

Congratulations go to Roger Ailes and Rupert Murdoch. And to Karl Rove too.

The silver lining. Howard will make a strong case for Obama on Fox which can only be good for Democrats. Lanny Davis couldn't do that because he comes off purely as an operator while Wolfson is a Democrat with Democratic convictions. So although this is a win for Fox, it's not a loss for Democrats.

Read The Full Article:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/tpmcafe-main/~3/329721005/

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"O" man, you might want to consider Greyhound.

I have been getting on and off planes since I was a little kid, and unlike some folks, I have never had a fear of flying. Still, I can understand how some folks might have some issues with flying. Putting your life in the hands of some pilot who is hauling tons of metal at 30,000 feet, at speeds of over 500 miles an hour can boggle the mind. Mrs. Field flies all the time; for work, and for pleasure, and she still gets squeamish about flying when the weather is bad. But I always have to remind her that flying is 500 times safer than driving.

All this leads me to my reason for this post: I bet everyone of you black folks in A-merry-ca had Ron Brown flash backs yesterday. (And for some of you liberal white folks, Paul Wellstone flashbacks)  Because unless you live on Mars, (or watch FOX NEWS) I am sure that you all heard by now that the "O" man's plane had to make an emergency landing in the "Lou". And please don't tell me that everyone of you black folks weren't thinking what I am thinking right now...yeah you thought it.

Here is the thing: Us black folks just don't trust the government. We remember too much uncool shit that they did to us in the past, and now that we are this close to painting the White House black, we are thinking to ourselves that there is just no way in hell that they are going to just give us that shit. Nope, too much at stake. Then there is the whole "military industrial complex" thing. I mean isn't the "O" man against the war? There are a lot of folks with a lot of money tied up in this war. I am just saying.

So dude piloting the "O" man's plane said he had some "control ability" issues in the "pitch" of the plane. Translated; he could not control that bad boy. "Control ability" issues? Look, I am no pilot, but I know one thing, if you are having control issues when you are trying to "pitch", then you have a freaking problem. Pitching is turning folks. "There was no need to assume the brace position.... he[the pilot] had full 'authority' of the plane". Yeah that "full authority" you talk about is a relative term Mr. Pilot man, but I hear ya. Oh, and while we are on the subject of pilots. "O" man, you might want to look over the want- ads to see if there are any brothers out there in need of a pilot gig. I am just saying.

Did anybody, anybody at all reading this blog from the "Lou", see a flash of light heading to the sky at anytime yesterday? If you did, please holla at your boy, and tell me all about it.

Poor "O" man, he said he had never been on a plane that had to make an emergency landing for mechanical reasons before. Sorry "O" man, but you have never run for President of these divided states either, so I bet there are going to be a lot more firsts for you in the future.

Here is hoping that they will be good ones. Just keep your safety belt buckled.  

Read The Full Article:
http://www.myleftwing.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=22201

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"O" Man, You Might Want to Consider Greyhound

I have been getting on and off planes since I was a little kid, and unlike some folks, I have never had a fear of flying. Still, I can understand how some folks might have some issues with flying. Putting your life in the hands of some pilot who is hauling tons of metal at 30,000 feet, at speeds of over 500 miles an hour can boggle the mind. Mrs. Field flies all the time; for work, and for pleasure, and she still gets squeamish about flying when the weather is bad. But I always have to remind her that flying is 500 times safer than driving.






All this leads me to my reason for this post: I bet everyone of you black folks in A-merry-ca had Ron Brown flash backs yesterday. (And for some of you liberal white folks, Paul Wellstone flashbacks)  Because unless you live on Mars, (or watch FOX NEWS) I am sure that you all heard by now that the "O" man's plane had to make an emergency landing in the "Lou". And please don't tell me that everyone of you black folks weren't thinking what I am thinking right now...yeah you thought it.

Here is the thing: Us black folks just don't trust the government. We remember too much uncool shit that they did to us in the past, and now that we are this close to painting the White House black, we are thinking to ourselves that there is just no way in hell that they are going to just give us that shit. Nope, too much at stake. Then there is the whole "military industrial complex" thing. I mean isn't the "O" man against the war? There are a lot of folks with a lot of money tied up in this war. I am just saying.

So dude piloting the "O" man's plane said he had some "control ability" issues in the "pitch" of the plane. Translated; he could not control that bad boy. "Control ability" issues? Look, I am no pilot, but I know one thing, if you are having control issues when you are trying to "pitch", then you have a freaking problem. Pitching is turning folks. "There was no need to assume the brace position.... he[the pilot] had full 'authority' of the plane". Yeah that "full authority" you talk about is a relative term Mr. Pilot man, but I hear ya. Oh, and while we are on the subject of pilots. "O" man, you might want to look over the want- ads to see if there are any brothers out there in need of a pilot gig. I am just saying.

Did anybody, anybody at all reading this blog from the "Lou", see a flash of light heading to the sky at anytime yesterday? If you did, please holla at your boy, and tell me all about it.

Poor "O" man, he said he had never been on a plane that had to make an emergency landing for mechanical reasons before. Sorry "O" man, but you have never run for President of these divided states either, so I bet there are going to be a lot more firsts for you in the future.

Here is hoping that they will be good ones. Just keep your safety belt buckled.



Read The Full Article:
http://www.myleftwing.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=22201

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Cheney deleted inconvenient truths from climate
report

The truth has no place in the Republican party.

Vice President Dick Cheney's office pushed for major deletions in congressional testimony on the public health consequences of climate change, fearing the presentation by a leading health official might make it harder to avoid regulating greenhouse gases, a former EPA officials maintains.

When six pages were cut from testimony on climate change and public health by the head of the Centers for Disease Control last October, the White House insisted the changes were made because of reservations raised by White House advisers about the accuracy of the science.

But Jason K. Burnett, until last month the senior adviser on climate change to Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Stephen Johnson, says that Cheney's office was deeply involved in getting nearly half of the CDC's original draft testimony removed.

Read The Full Article:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Americablog/~3/329843838/cheney-deleted-inconvenie
nt-truths-from.html

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