Financing also comes from Silicon Valley venture capitalists Ray Lane and John Doerr of Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, said The News-Star newspaper in Monroe. Louisiana businessman James Davison, who owns the former plant, told the newspaper he is also an investor.

The plant most recently was operated by Guide Corp. The company was formed in 1906 as an automotive lamp-repair company. It later became GM's Delphi Lighting unit and was spun off in 1998, a year before GM and Delphi Corp. separated.

The collapse occurred Sunday in the congested city center of Zhuzhou during rush hour, and crushed cars trucks and one bus under the massive superstructure. The bridge had been condemned by government officials and an attempt to level it with explosives had earlier failed, though traffic was allowed to continue underneath even as the bridge stood in a significantly weakened condition. Nine people died in the incident and sixteen were sent to area hospitals with one man in intensive care. The provincial government has promised to compensate the families of the dead to the tune of 400,000 yuan ($59,000 USD) and investigate the contractor and officials involved in the fiasco. [CRI English, Izismile]

Unfortunately, the officer hit a gravel patch at high-speed and swerved into a minivan. No one was hurt, but the driver of the unidentified Ferrari got away. Sounds like they need a Cabon Motors E7. Police are on the lookout of a red Ferrari driven by a person who can't stop laughing. Thanks to Mike for the tip! [News1130]

The program puts Audi engineers together with students to imagine the future of the brand as a sporty, premium brand with unique technology and eye-catching designs. The result is a selection of design concepts for Audi to draw from, but more importantly an engaged student base interested in working for Audi in the future. That's all well and good, but we want to get our hands on that S1 Quattro inspired race-car concept. Is it getting hot in here?

This isn't the last time we'll see the E7 on the news, as they tell us it's coming to a disaster near you in 2012. But, they do make mention of some of the neat trick equipment on-board and show why we really hope (or maybe don't hope, depending on how we look at it), this police cruiser makes it into production.

LeRoy was arrested back in October when witnesses observed him, er, making love to a car wash vacuum cleaner in the wee hours of the morning. Caught red-handed by police called to the scene by the horrified witnesses, he admitted to the lewd act and got tossed in the slammer. Yesterday in Saginaw County Circuit Court, the 29-year-old was sentenced to 90 days in jail along with mandatory drug testing after pleading no contest. You can't make this kind of thing up folks. [DetNews]

Ford tells me in choosing entries, they're looking for an ability to draw both comments and YouTube views on the entry. So, here's your chance to shine as Jalopnik commenters. Go crazy! Let's get some serious comment traffic going here and some serious view traffic going over on YouTube to show FoMoCo what JalopMoCo is made of!

Be sure to hit the HD button if you're rocking a broadband connection — now you'll get me swaying in full digital glory.

The new law would make texting or playing video games while driving a secondary offense, which means that a driver could receive a ticket if pulled over for something else, but not be rolled for simply texting. The fine would be set at a non-negotiable $100. Senator Buzz Thomas had attempted passing an identical piece of legislation earlier that didn't make the cut. Buzz stated texting "is one of the most dangerous things a driver can do."

Although our official response is one of happiness for getting drivers-who-text off the roads, we did ask Jalopnik's resident "txtng xprt," Ben Wertigree, for his opinion. He replied,

"LOL OMG suk my blz"

There you have it.

[Freep]

Show organizer Paul Everitt explains:

"We didn't want the situation of planning a show against a background of uncertainty, so we crystallised debate very quickly: could manufacturers commit to the show for 2010? The manufacturers are all in the process of making redundancies, cutting salaries, cutting working hours and trying to save money. It would have been foolhardy for them to come to us and commit to spending very significant amounts of money at such a time. Unsurprisingly, the people we asked all said they couldn't commit, so we have canceled."

Sounds reasonable, but where will the myriad cottage-industry British automakers introduce their latest wares? Given the recent history of British brands, the Mumbai Auto Show might be a good call. [Autocar]

The decision was made in-part due to a 10-year, $7.5 million tax break awarded by the state government, but there are other reasons behind the decision as well. Mercedes has been part of a long term hybrid transmission research and development partnership with BMW and General Motors, which has seen commonized designs go to production for GM in things like the Tahoe Hybrid. Daimler is also working closely with system integrator Cobasys on hybrid programs, which also has a local facility in the area. The new research and development facility will directly employ about 223 people, with a total of about 454 total jobs created directly and indirectly. News like this indicates the Detroit area's future isn't completely dead. [Edmunds]

The Concept: Film a two-minute or less short about why you're the most Jalopnik of them all. We'll be running a few of these contests as we've got a sizable stockpile of goodies to go around, so we'll keep this one hugely open-ended. Do whatever you like: Show us your car. Show us your pile of vintage. Keep it light, keep it interesting. Hoonage is highly regarded, but we're not responsible for any pain or damage you bring upon yourself.

The Judging: In the same vein of many of the college film contests, this is a very short deadline project. You've got 'til Sunday, March 22nd at Midnight to submit your video. Videos need to be submitted to YouTube.com with the tag "JalopnikContest1". Videos not conforming to this policy won't be accepted as we won't be able to find them. Optional: If you think you're really hot shit, you can submit your video link and a short blurb explaining why your clip is especially good to Didorosi@Jalopnik.com with precisely the subject line: "Jalopnik Video Submission: I'm In With You Like Brown On A Cow" We'll nominate our favorite videos and post five clips for one stage of voting. The winner of the voting earns the prize! What's the prize, you ask? Well...

The Prize: One quart of official Roush Full Synthetic engine oil signed by Jack Roush! Winners will get their choice of tasty 5W-20 or 5W-30 weight oil, Sharpie-signed by the short, hatted racer himself. You can't buy this kind of merch, folks. Sit this shiny silver quart on your speedshop's shelf in pride as it unleashes the fury and precision of American craftsmanship onto all that you build under it's watchful eye. We'll also publicly declare the winner with an article featuring their video, so fame and glory is definitely on the table. After we run three video contests, we're likely to have a championship competition between the three winners; so think of this as edging your way into the semi-finals.

The Rules: Standard contest rules apply. If you're posting straight to YouTube, make sure to include your Jalopnik username in the description, or we won't know who we're giving the prize. We reserve the right to use your likeness in all posted videos and may post them to our site at anytime. After we announce a winner, the prize will be shipped cheapest possible option straight to a continental address of your choosing. Don't discount the carrier pigeon choice - those guys work cheap.

Get out there, have at it. Happy filming!

According to Crane VP Steve Leva, the company is having the same financial troubles befouling the common automotive waters as any other supplier, but they're working to restructure and open as soon as possible. The management team is hoping to resume operations in as little as a week, but are targeting sometime this month. This is great news for the for grease monkeys everywhere, as the horror of stock V8 idle and terrifying valve float need not befoul your Saturday night special. Take that Carpocalypse. [AutoWeek]

In case you've never turned a wrench in anger or popped off a valve cover, Crane Cams is one of the original hot rodding companies and has been supplying the world with wonderful go-fast parts for 56 years. This week they closed up their New Jersey plant and laid off their remaining employees. No longer will a their high-lift cams or stiff titanium valve springs cause thunderous stop light intimidation. The world will be a colder, slower, less awesome place.
[News Journal Online]

The boy zipped through Sunday morning traffic in the Chaoyang district, eventually crashing into more than a dozen cars, trucks and minibuses. He also downed two power lines and completely mangled the city bus. Following the hijinks, the authorities were not terribly amused and took the kid into custody, calling his guardians who were probably not amused either. One man, identified as Liu, said the bus was bearing down on him like a "dancing dragon, I threw my canteen and ran for my life." Coincidentally, the "Dancing Dragons" is also the name of the Jalopnik-sponsored breakdancing team. [CBC]

We understand your frustration Mr. Bernero, but jeez-o-pete, lay off the campaign tactics and Red Bull for a minute and answer the kind Fox News anchor's questions. Of course, we've also heard he's a bit of a hot-head — Wert knows him from his days working for Michigan Governor Granholm in Lansing, and here's what he had to say:

My favorite Virg story is from back in 2003 when he was still in the State Senate. Virg cornered me next to one of the stairwells in the Capitol building in Lansing at some lobbyist luncheon. Virg knew I worked for the Governor, knew I was a senior staff member and decided I was a great target to bitch about some funding measure the Governor was pushing — despite the fact I wasn't in legislative affairs, nor was I going to lobby on his behalf to them. Regardless, he decided he wanted to play "hardball" with me, so he got in my face, blustering, gesturing wildly and bitching about the funding decision. The only problem is that I'm like a foot taller than him. So in order to get in my face, he needed to stand on the tips of his toes. So there we were, him bitching and yelling, pointing his finger in my face, me trying not to laugh at this little guy trying to intimidate me, when I realized that I could help him out. I stopped him in mid-sentence saying "Hold on a second," grabbed him, spun him around and stepped down one step so that I was now eye-to-eye with him, finishing with a "There, that's better — you looked like you were going to topple over. Please, continue your bitching." His face red with anger, Virg started to say something, then spun around and stalked off. I only smiled, put on my jacket and walked back over to my office in the Romney Building across the street."

[via dailykos]

DailyMail reports an unnamed Austrian farmer has been using a beloved Golf to transport some beloved calves. He even took steps to modify said hatchback to make it comfortable and accessible for their trips around the countryside.

Quoting the original article, "The unidentified farmer, from Kufstein district in Tyrol, insisted he 'acted out of love for his animals' as they would have been 'too cold' in an open-air trailer." Animal rights activists are raging over the prospect that someone would transport livestock in anything other than a government-approved animal trailer.

To calm the foaming mouths of the fur-happy lunatics, he agreed to "only transport young animals in the car that did not weigh more than 80 kilos." Happy now, Pamela?

[DailyMail]

We're actually not quite sure what's going on here, but this photo posted on GrandPrix.com is both creepy and awesome enough to warrant a captioning contest. Maybe McD's is sponsoring the team? Maybe Ronald was just hanging out. Maybe he really did get an audition. Either way, caption away.

[via GrandPrix.com]

Officials in Pinal County, Arizona have recently terminated their contract with Redflex, the company currently providing speed camera coverage for the rural area. Reasons for the termination include negligible income from the program and a doubling of accident-related deaths on the applicable roadways.

The two camera vans shuttered 11,416 times during the period between September 2007 and last month. Of those snaps, 7,290 resulted in tickets, but only 3,711 were paid. Those paid tickets resulted in $134,199.43 of gross profit, but the county only saw a net profit of $12,391.58. After running the numbers through a very complex series of algorithms, we arrive at the total cost of the speed camera program, which is a whopping $121,807.85.

Instead of the failed camera program, county officials hope to reinstall actual police officers to do the ticketing, thereby upholding the motorist's constitutional rights to face their accusers.

Constitutional Rights 1. Speed Cameras 0. Booyah.

(Hat tip to Jeff!)

[AZCentral]

The news comes just two weeks after we reported GM's unable to find a buyer for its quirky Swedish brand. Both companies are said to be excited about the deal, GM because it wants rid of the brand as it moves towards a more slimmed-down, government-sanctioned product portfolio and Saab because it’ll finally be able to develop its own new products free of GM’s badge engineering.

Those new products are still a ways off, however. The first step towards independence would see Saab moving production of the forthcoming 2010 Saab 9-5 from the Opel factory in Russelsheim, Germany to its headquarters in Trollhattan. While excessively expensive — requiring $100 million, some of which would come from the Swedish Government — the move is seen as key to reestablishing Saab as a Swedish brand made in Sweden. The Trollhattan facility is also currently operating at only around half its 170,000 cars-per-year capacity, so the move would be an economic stimulus for the Swedish economy.

9-3 Convertible production would also return to Sweden from Magna Steyr in Austria, but the upcoming Saab 9-4X SUV will still be produced in Mexico. A sensible move given its US-biased sales.

So what? You’re probably asking yourself. GM-based Saab’s are hardly the stuff of a reborn from jets brand. We agree with you, but a return to domestic ownership and the ability to conduct its own R&D and design future products like the long overdue 9-3 replacement are exactly what the brand needs. Whether or not it can spin an injection of capitol from the government together with a partially refreshed product portfolio to survive long enough to actually develop all-new products remains to be seen.
[via Autocar and Trollhattan Saab]

The smooth-voiced Mexican actor and director, who knew what he wanted in an automobile, died of natural causes today at his home in Los Angeles. Known for a variety of A legend leaves us, but we hereby declare January to be National Corinthian Leather Month in his honor!
[Radar Online, NYT, thanks to Cazart for the tip]

Miss Relic was out at a St. Vincent De Paul back in September when she managed to smash into an unsuspecting Honda Civic. The trouble was she didn't have a license, as it had been revoked because of medical reasons. Turns out that was only one of 78 times she'd been in court, whether due to traffic incidents or tangling with neighbors. Yeah, that's a bit much.

Seems the court system finally got tired of dealing with Luba and leveled a ban on her driving until the year 2999. On that news, Miss Relic got testy with the Magistrate, who added on another year for her back talk, bringing the final date up to the year 3000. We expect this salty old lady to stick around until then just to spite the system.

[via News.co.au]

Here's the press release:

GM Reports 221,983 Deliveries in December; 2,980,688 Vehicles Sold in 2008

* December deliveries up 30 percent compared with October and up 43 percent compared with November
* Market share in December expected around 24 percent, up about 4 ppts compared with November, reflecting renewed APR rate support through GMAC
* Second half 2008 share up nearly 2 ppts compared with first half
* 2008 market share position anticipated to hold steady at just above 22 percent

DETROIT – General Motors dealers in the United States delivered 221,983 vehicles in December, down 31 percent compared with a year ago. However, total deliveries were 67,000 vehicles more than November’s result, up more than 43 percent month over month. GM December car sales of 87,506 were off 25 percent and truck sales of 134,477 were down 35 percent compared with a year ago.

For the year, GM delivered 2,980,688 vehicles while maintaining an expected market share just above 22 percent. Annual deliveries were down 23 percent compared with 2007, largely due to building weakness in the marketplace throughout the year spurred by economic headwinds such as the dramatic reduction in credit availability experienced in the fourth quarter, coupled with historically low levels of consumer confidence. Additionally, the American Axle strike and several supply disruptions impacted GM’s performance in the first half of the year.

“Given the ongoing challenges and the difficult market environment, we were very encouraged to see a volume rebound for GM in December compared with both October and November,” said Mark LaNeve, vice president, GM North America Vehicle Sales, Service and Marketing. “We are building more vehicles than ever that provide great value and Americans enjoy owning. That is why, for the year, we are seeing our market share holding steady at just above 22 percent. That’s 5 percentage points more and 760,000 vehicles more than our nearest competitor.

“Our outstanding cars, trucks and crossovers are enabling us to hold the leadership position in a very difficult market. Our Red Tag Event was well-received, and the ability to offer some 0% financing through our partner GMAC in the last week of the month also helped,” LaNeve added.

Despite the weak market in December, Chevrolet Malibu continued its solid performance with total sales up 43 percent compared with last December. For 2008, Malibu sales of more than 178,000 vehicles were up 39 percent, making it the highest percentage gainer in the top 20 vehicles sold in America with a volume increase compared with 2007. With its six-speed transmission and four-cylinder engine combination, the Malibu delivers an EPA-estimated 33 mpg highway – tops in the industry’s mid-car segment. The Malibu Hybrid also offers the lowest-priced hybrid in the segment. Additionally, with 4,500 retail vehicles delivered, the Chevrolet Traverse crossover nearly doubled its retail volume compared with November.

“We’re really pleased about the strength of our Chevrolet brand, with the Malibu continuing to perform very well, and the Traverse crossover off to a strong start,” LaNeve added. “Also, with a harsh winter and lower gas prices, our trucks and SUVs are continuing to perform well in their segments. With GMAC now able to provide more financing capacity, and with all the exciting new car and crossover launches including the Cadillac CTS Sportwagon and SRX, Chevy Camaro and Equinox, and Buick LaCrosse in 2009, we are optimistic that with an overall market recovery we can begin to capitalize on the well-recognized product renaissance of all our brands.”

A total of 2,555 GM hybrid vehicles were delivered in the month. Hybrid sales included: 981 Chevrolet Tahoe, 442 GMC Yukon and 306 Cadillac Escalade 2-mode hybrid SUVs delivered. There were 454 Chevrolet Malibu, 34 Saturn Aura and 338 Vue hybrids sold in December. In 2008, GM sold a total of 14,439 hybrid vehicles.

GM inventories dropped compared with a year ago. In December, only about 872,000 vehicles were in stock, down about 36,000 vehicles (or 4 percent) compared with last year. There were about 397,000 cars and 475,000 trucks (including crossovers) in inventory at the end of December.

Certified Used Vehicles

December 2008 sales for all certified GM brands, including GM Certified Used Vehicles, Cadillac Certified Pre-Owned Vehicles, Saturn Certified Pre-Owned Vehicles, Saab Certified Pre-Owned Vehicles, and HUMMER Certified Pre-Owned Vehicles, were 43,070 vehicles, up 21 percent from December 2007.

GM Certified Used Vehicles, the industry’s top-selling certified brand, posted December sales of 37,632 vehicles, up 24 percent from December 2007. Saturn Certified Pre-Owned Vehicles sold 888 vehicles, down 24 percent. Cadillac Certified Pre-Owned Vehicles sold 3,740 vehicles, up 11 percent. Saab Certified Pre-Owned Vehicles sold 548 vehicles, up 14 percent, and HUMMER Certified Pre-Owned Vehicles sold 262 vehicles, up 85 percent.

Total 2008 sales for all certified GM brands were 485,279 vehicles, down 5 percent from 2007. Annual sales for GM Certified Used Vehicles were 422,114 vehicles, down 6 percent. Saturn Certified Pre-Owned Vehicles sold 11,573 vehicles in 2008, down 9 percent. Cadillac Certified Pre-Owned Vehicles finished 2008 with sales of 41,598 vehicles, up 7 percent from 2007, while Saab Certified Pre-Owned Vehicles posted sales of 7,705 vehicles, up 6 percent, and HUMMER Certified Pre-Owned Vehicles sold 2,289 vehicles, up 71 percent.

“December sales for certified GM programs were strong, with GM Certified Used Vehicles up 24 percent over last December, as shoppers continue to seek value and peace of mind in a challenging economy,” said LaNeve. “GM Certified finished 2008 as the sales leader among all manufacturer-certified pre-owned brands for the seventh consecutive year, and our Cadillac, Saab and HUMMER luxury certified brands each posted strong year-to-year sales increases.”

GM North America Reports December, 2008 Production; Q1 2009 Production Forecast at 420,000 Vehicles

In December, GM North America produced 249,000 vehicles (105,000 cars and 144,000 trucks). This is down 3,000 vehicles or 1 percent compared with December 2007 when the region produced 252,000 vehicles (71,000 cars and 181,000 trucks). (Production totals include joint venture production of 10,000 vehicles in December 2008 and 15,000 vehicles in December 2007.)

GM North America built 823,000 vehicles (371,000 cars and 452,000 trucks) in the fourth-quarter of 2008. This is down 219,000 vehicles or 21 percent compared to fourth-quarter of 2007 when the region produced 1.042 million vehicles (358,000 cars and 684,000 trucks). Additionally, the region’s 2009 first-quarter production forecast is now 420,000 vehicles (143,000 cars and 277,000 trucks),which is down about 53 percent compared with a year ago, and about 180,000 fewer than the previous forecast. GM North America built 885,000 vehicles (360,000 cars and 525,000 trucks) in the first-quarter of 2008. First quarter 2008 production was reduced nearly 100,000 vehicles due to the strike at American Axle.

General Motors Corp. (NYSE: GM), the world’s largest automaker, has been the annual global industry sales leader for 77 years. Founded in 1908, GM today employs about 252,000 people around the world. With global headquarters in Detroit, GM manufactures its cars and trucks in 34 countries. In 2007, nearly 9.37 million GM cars and trucks were sold globally under the following brands: Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, GMC, GM Daewoo, Holden, HUMMER, Opel, Pontiac, Saab, Saturn, Vauxhall and Wuling. GM’s OnStar subsidiary is the industry leader in vehicle safety, security and information services. More information on GM can be found at www.gm.com.

Note: In this press release and related comments by General Motors management, we use words like "expect," "anticipate," "estimate," "forecast," "objective," "plan," "goal" and similar expressions to identify forward-looking statements, representing our current judgment about possible future events. We believe these judgments are reasonable, but actual results may differ materially due to a variety of important factors. Among other items, such factors might include: market acceptance of our products; shortages of and price increases for fuel; significant changes in the competitive environment and the effect of competition on our markets, including on our pricing policies; our ability to maintain adequate liquidity and financing sources and an appropriate level of debt; and changes in general economic conditions. GM’s most recent annual report on Form 10-K and quarterly report on Form 10-Q provide information about these factors, which may be revised or supplemented in future reports to the SEC on Form 10-Q or 8-K.

# # #

Take home city cars have long been seen as a sweet, sweet perk of working for the Gov, but with tax revenues falling and pressure to improve government efficiency rising, the cars will get the axe. In addition to benefiting the budget, those missing cars will no longer litter city streets parked on sidewalks, in front of fire hydrants and in handicapped spots. If you live in New York, expect an entire new line of jokes from night club comedians about how much worse city services are about to get due to grumpy employees riding public transit.
[New York Times]

Police arrested 288 people during the "festivities," a number also up from last year's 259 arrests. As a result of his 35,000-strong nationwide police force being incapable of maintaining order, model-marrying French President Nicolas Sarkozy is suggesting those minors convicted of setting cars on fire be stripped of their licenses until they pay back the damages caused by their actions. Since most of these people are youths and France has a pretty strong public transit system, we're assuming this plan will have a huge impact on next year's shenanigans. [International Herald Tribune]

We first heard it on CNBC a few minutes ago and we'll bring updates when we know more. Or if it's true or not. We also saw the following update on Twitter for whatever it's worth:

UPDATE: The Detroit News has more on what happened here.

While New York Slept

By FRIEDMAN L. THOMAS
Published: December 11, 2008

As I think about our bailing out New York, I can’t help but reflect on what, in my view, is the most important rule of markets in today’s integrated and digitized global market, where knowledge and innovation tools are so widely distributed. It’s this: Whatever can be sold in markets, will be sold in markets. The only question is will it be sold by you or sold to you. Just don’t think it won’t be sold. If you have an innovative market derivative in New York or Tennessee, promise me that you’ll market it, because someone in Nigeria or Somalia will do so a second later.

Why do I bring this up? Because someone in the money business in Nigeria and Somalia is already developing a real-world alternative to New York's business model. I don’t know if this alternative to lackadaisically regulated markets will work, but I do know that it can be done — and New York isn’t doing it. And therefore it will be done, and eventually, I bet, it will be done profitably.

And when it is, our bailout of New York will be remembered as the equivalent of pouring billions of dollars of taxpayer money into the acetaminophen business on the eve of the birth of HeadOn. It will be remembered as pouring billions of dollars into the fishing rod business on the eve of the birth of the Ron Popeil Pocket Fisherman. It will be remembered as pouring billions of dollars into copy machine manufacturers on the eve of the birth of the scanner. It will be remembered as pouring billions of dollars into long-term real estate purchases on the eve of the birth of the mortgage-backed derivative.

What business model am I talking about? It is Prince Mfume's plan to turn $5,000 into millions for those are willing to act quickly and transfer his father's frozen funds to the United States. Just last week, Prince Mfume announced by email a partnership with me to road test his business plan there after already inking similar deals with my elderly grandmother, members of her bridge team, and three homemakers in Hoboken.

The Prince's plan involves using your private investment as much advance fees to pay various taxes, attorney fees, transaction fees or bribes into clearing his father's good name and unfreezing his considerable seized assets then feeding those dollars into a new economy of trust and honor. The whole system is then coordinated by the Prince's brother, that integrates and does all the billing so investors are rewarded handsomely.

Under the Prince model, partners can either send money directly through trusted channels or send the Prince your personal banking information, where he and his economic advisers will use them to collect the funds by wire. That way the Prince, or any of his partners, benefits from your trust and good will and you will be rewarded handsomely. Wall Street sells mortgage-backed derivatives needing hundreds of billions of dollars of cash granted to them. Prince Mfume sells investments guaranteed by the Prince's adopted nation of Nigeria and blessed by God.

The first checks from the Royal Bank of Central Somalia are scheduled to hit my bank account in 2011, when the whole sum of seized monies should be freed and collected. On Tuesday, the Boca Raton Sewing, Travel, Bridge and Investment Club invited Prince Mfume to join the first alternative investment strategy project along with clubs from Fort Lauderdale, Miami Beach, and Clearwater. Prince Mfume was the only foreign national invited to participate, working with Florida’s leading investment clubs, to build a collective investment fund for banks in Mogadishu, the New York of Somalia.

What I find exciting about Prince Mfume is that it is building an investment concept off the new thinking of the 21st century, not the one from the 20th — the exact same way that Carlos the Jackel did to overturn the narcotics business. What did Carlos understand first? One, that today’s distribution networks would allow anyone with bribe money to sell narco. Two, that secondary sellers and cutting substances would allow anyone to transfer product to anyone else. You wouldn’t need pure product or cartel access anymore. The Jackel simply took all those innovations and integrated them into a single processing, purchasing and distribution system that completely disrupted the narco business.

What Mfume, the founder of Prince's Monetary Export, is saying is that there is a new way to become wealthy, not just live comfortably, using the same currency. It just takes the right kind of investment vehicle — the narcotics in this story — and the right kind of investment product — the distribution network — to make the business model work for everyone without the savings and the responsibility to invest into stocks, bond and commodities markets to speculate on home prices. The average American is paying $7 a Scott trade for worthless mortgage backed derivatives, which also adds to the encouragement of under-regulated markets and strengthens robber baron bank accounts.

Do not expect this innovation to come out of New York. Remember, in 1997, the Ford Motor Company Employees Credit Union got better rates on savings — by around $0.03 — than many New York-based banks in 2008. But don’t be surprised when the next better mortgage-backed derivative comes out of somewhere else. It can be done. It will be done. If we miss the chance to win the race for Mortgage Boom-and-Bust 2.0 because we keep mindlessly bailing out financial institutions who made the nation broke in Mortgage Boom-and-Bust 1.0, there will be no one to blame more than New York’s new shareholders: we the taxpayers.

Read the original breathtakingly uninformed Op-Ed here at the New York Times website. Then try your own below!

The fog rolled over California Highway 99 Wednesday morning limiting visibility to around 200 feet, which, at highway speed, can only mean massive pileups. A ten car tangle involving a big rig led to additional accidents for a grand total of 49 cars and four semi trucks.

California Highway Patrol shut down the highway to clean up the mess which resulted in only two people needing hospitalization. This pile up marks the first fog-related incident on California's roads during what is considered foggy-crash season. Remember folks, slow down, and give yourself a couple of Mississippi's of distance between you and the car you're following. Of course, if you can't see the car in front of you, that might be tough. [CBS47]

These are some great tracks; the Bay Area contingent is already foaming at the mouth just thinking about that Fernley course. And hey, didja notice that the Buttonwillow race is going head-to-head with the Monterey Historics? You know where I'm gonna be! Get your most gullible friends and a piece-o-crap car together, head over to the application page, and join the racing chaos fun!

1: HOUSTON GATOR-O-RAMA
Date: 28 Feb-1 March '09
Track: MSR Houston, Angleton TX
Entry Deadline: Ten weeks before the race (20 December 2008)

2: LeMONS SOUTH SPRING
Date: 4-5 April '09
Track: Carolina Motorsports Park, Kershaw SC
Entry Deadline: Ten weeks before the race (24 January 2009)

3: GOIN' FOR BROKEN
Date: 23-24 May '09
Track: Reno-Fernley Raceway, Reno NV
Entry Deadline: Ten weeks before the race (14 March 2009)

4: LAISSEZ LES CRAPHEAPS ROULEZ NEW ORLEANS
Date: 6-7 June '09
Track: No Problem Raceway, Belle Rose LA
Entry Deadline: Ten weeks before the race (28 March 2009)

5: LeMONS NEW ENGLAND
Date: 11-12 July '09
Track: Stafford Motor Speedway, Stafford Springs CT
Entry Deadline: Ten weeks before the race (2 May 2009)

6: THE BUTTONWILLOW HISTRIONICS
Date: 15-16 August '09
Track: Buttonwillow Raceway Park, Buttonwillow CA
Entry Deadline: Ten weeks before the race (6 June 2009)

7: LeMONS SOUTH FALL
Date: 12-13 September '09
Track: Carolina Motorsports Park, Kershaw SC
Entry Deadline: Ten weeks before the race (4 July 2009)

8: THE LAMEST DAY (full 24-hour enduro)
Date: 3-4 October '09
Track: Nelson Ledges Road Course, Nelson Ledges OH
Entry Deadline: Ten weeks before the race (25 July 2009)

9: YEE-HAW IT'S LeMONS TEXAS
Date: 24-25 October '09
Track: MSR Houston, Angleton TX
Entry Deadline: Ten weeks before the race (15 August 2009)

10: LeMONS ARSE-FREEZE-APALOOZA
Date: 21-22 November '09
Track: Thunderhill Raceway Park, Willows CA
Entry Deadline: Ten weeks before the race (12 September 2009)

[via Autofiends]

Ford spokesman Wes Sherwood told the Detroit News that Ford's research showed parents would be more likely to let teens use their vehicles with My Key. If it gets them the car more often, the number of teens objecting drops by nearly half. Of course, since a My Key crack will be available on the web about three minutes after the first one hits the showroom floor, we're pretty sure most teens aren't sweating the idea too much. In the meantime, the new feature seems like a smart way for Ford to score sales consideration points with the parents actually doing the car buying. Press release follows.

DEARBORN, Mich., Oct. 6, 2008 – Ford Motor Company is introducing an innovative new technology – called MyKey – designed to help parents encourage their teen-agers to drive safer and more fuel efficiently, and increase safety-belt usage.

Ford's MyKey feature – which debuts next year as standard equipment on the 2010 Focus coupe and will quickly become standard on many other Ford, Lincoln and Mercury models – allows owners to program a key that can limit the vehicle's top speed and audio volume. MyKey also encourages safety-belt usage, provides earlier low-fuel warnings and can be programmed to sound chimes at 45, 55 and 65 miles per hour.

"Ford not only offers industry-leading crash protection and crash avoidance systems, we also are committed to developing new technologies such as MyKey that encourage safer driving behavior," said Susan Cischke, Ford group vice president of Sustainability, Environment and Safety Engineering. "MyKey can help promote safer driving, particularly among teens, by encouraging seat belt use, limiting speed and reducing distractions."

MyKey is appealing to parents of teen drivers, including 75 percent who like the speed-limiting feature, 72 percent who like the more insistent safety-belt reminder, and 63 percent who like the audio limit feature, according to a recent Harris Interactive Survey conducted for Ford.

About 50 percent of those who would consider purchasing MyKey also said they would allow their children to use the family vehicle more often if it were equipped with the new technology. The added seat time can help teens build their driving skills in a more controlled setting, complementing graduated licensing laws that give young drivers more driving freedom as they get older.

More than half of parents surveyed worry that their teen-age children are driving at unsafe speeds, talking on hand-held cell phones or texting while driving, or otherwise driving distracted. More than a third of parents also are concerned that their teens do not always buckle their safety belts when driving.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), teens are more likely to take risks such as speeding – a contributing factor in 30 percent of all fatal crashes. Teens also are less likely to wear safety belts than older drivers.

Teens surveyed by Harris said they are largely open to MyKey if it means they will have more freedom to drive. Initially, 67 percent of teens polled said they wouldn't want MyKey features. However, if using MyKey would lead to greater driving privileges, only 36 percent would object to the technology.

"We've upgraded an existing, proven technology – the SecuriLock passive anti-theft system – with some simple software upgrades to develop a new unique feature that we believe will resonate with customers," said Jim Buczkowski, director, Electrical and Electronic Systems Engineering – the same team that developed SYNC in partnership with Microsoft. "We also developed MyKey's functions in such a way to quickly spread it across multiple vehicle lines, giving us the ability to go mass market in the spirit of other Ford innovations such as safety belts, stability control and SYNC."

Holding the key

The MyKey system allows the parent to program any key through the vehicle message center, which updates the SecuriLock™ passive anti-theft system. When the MyKey is inserted into the ignition, the system reads the transponder chip in the key and immediately identifies the MyKey code, which enables certain default driving modes, including:

* Persistent Ford Beltminder™ with audio mute. Ford's Beltminder system typically provides a six-second reminder chime every minute for five minutes. With MyKey, the Beltminder chime continues at the regular interval and the audio system is muted until the safety belt is buckled. A message center display "Buckle Up to Unmute Radio" also appears on the instrument cluster.

* Earlier low-fuel warning. Rather than a warning at 50 miles to empty, MyKey provides a warning at 75 miles to empty.

* If MyKey is in the ignition, features such as Park Aid and BLISTM (Blind Spot Information System) with Cross Traffic Alert cannot be deactivated.

Additional MyKey features that can be programmed through the vehicle's message center setup menu:

* Limited top speed of 80 mph
* Traction control system, that limits tire spin, cannot be deactivated
* Limited audio volume to 44 percent of total volume
* A speed alert chime at 45, 55 or 65 mph

Using MyKey to teach teens to avoid speeding can provide an added benefit – improved fuel economy. Ford research shows that driving 55 mph instead of 65 mph consumes 15 percent less fuel, and mastering other eco-driving habits such as avoiding jackrabbit starts and excessive idling can help improve fuel economy by more than 50 percent.

Safety is the key

MyKey is just one way that Ford is helping teens drive more safely. Ford Motor Company Fund's Driving Skills for Life (DSFL) program helps young motorists master four critical driving skills – hazard recognition, vehicle handling, space management, and speed management – that help address the majority of dangerous driving conditions. More than 3,000 teens have participated in DSFL ride-and-drive events. And more than 500,000 people have used the training course since 2003 on www.drivingskillsforlife.com.

[Ford via Detroit News]

Quite a few DOTS cars were bought new at Good, including this '65 Impala.


Über-dealerships located in unincorporated county areas don't have to pay city sales taxes, so the older car dealerships located in urban centers- such as Alameda's Park Street and Oakland's Auto Row- have been feeling the squeeze.


The old Ford dealership next door was built back in the early 1920s, one of the first purpose-built automotive showroom buildings in the area and a really cool piece of architecture. After Winner Ford bailed a decade or so back, the building was converted into a sort of indoor farmer's market, which has done pretty well.


There's a scooter dealership across the street now. Is that the future of motorized transportation?

[San Jose Mercury News]

First, let's watch Captain Slow's take on the £5,000 Kelisa:


Jeremy Clarkson, however, didn't like the little Malaysian car quite as much:

[Malaysia Star]

The story reads like the secret behind a brilliant magician's sleight-of-hand trick, with Thomas Boone pulling the strings of government, politics, environmental activists, and public relations. Mr. Pickens has been a busy boy lately — over the last few years, he's purchased large tracts of land in northern Texas, planned for his massive wind farm. As that purchase was underway, Pickens allegedly used about 1.2 million dollars worth of 2006 campaign contributions to motivate the wheels of government to allow his little investment to become a town; a town with two employees as residents.

Those two employees voted unanimously to create a fresh water district within the town limits, a district which is perched above the United States' largest fresh water aquifer, the Ogallala. In Texas, if you can drill it, you can pump it, and water is no exception. Using the power of eminent domain (with his little town) Pickens is attempting to leverage land enough to build a water pipeline all the way to Dallas, and following that, the power lines from his wind farm. It's a hard proposition to stand on when you're a rancher refusing the allow an ambitious green project to move forward. Even the Sierra Club is backing Pickens' project.

Nobody here is saying this is somehow unethical or an example of corporate dirty tricks; actually, it's quite the opposite. We don't know which is worth more, the wind above Roberts County, Texas, or the water below it, but you have to give Pickens credit for a brilliant plan. Sell 'em on one project and make two out of it. So you may be filling up your electric car on Pickens-power eventually, but you might also be sipping his water too. [DC Examiner]

Photo credit here