However, some critics are charging that U.S. calls for renegotiation are an attempt to artificially adjust its market share. U.S. Trade Representatives responded by saying "Yes." [hani.co.kr, The Korea Herald]

Photo Credit: Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images

We figure South Carolinians hadn't heard enough about Governor Mark Sanford's "Appalachian Trail Hike" disappearance to be with his Argentinean mistress, so we created the Cry For Me Argentina penalty with Gov. Sanford in mind. First, the team must mount a flagpole flying the flag of Argentina on the trunklid. Yes, the members of the Greyman Motor Club BMW 320i team are flying the flag upside down; we'll refer all outraged calls from the Argentinean Consulate right to them.

Then the miscreant driver had to write a long love letter to his Argentinean mistress on the car's roof. This dude seemed suspiciously skilled at writing letters to mistresses.

South Carolina was one of the states that more or less prohibited children from watching General Secretary Of The Communist Party Barack Obama's address to American schools, so we decided we'd do our duty as good gay-marriage-enforcing, tax-hiking, SUV-hating Californians by forcing miscreants to read Obama's speech. Because the secret socialist messages in the speech were hidden so effectively, LeMons Justice Lieberman mixed it up with lines from Trotsky, Lenin, Marx, and Stalin- you know, just in case folks didn't pick up on its call to revolutionary action. Judging by the "YOU LIE!" catcalls, we're pretty sure they got it.

So, the miscreant had to gather up all the children he or she could find; they'd serve as future guerilla fighters against the running-dog forces of counterrevolution. Here's a video of the Grayman Motor Club (which ran an E21 and and E30, both painted like Neapolitan ice cream bars and both frequent visitors to the Penalty Box) driver reading Great Helmsman Obama's call to arms:


While that was going on, we decorated the car in much the same manner as Obama plans to paint Air Force One. All hail Comrades Marx and Lenin! Oh, they hated this penalty in Kershaw!

New for LeMons South Fall was the Cone Of Shame penalty. The team currently running the highest black-flag count has to bolt the Black Cone Of Shame to the roof of their car. When another car surpasses their black flag total, we have the corner workers flag the car with the COS back in so they can hand it off to the new honoree.
The USS Enterprise Ford LTD looked especially good with the Cone Of Shame, which they so richly deserved after racking up seven black flags by Sunday afternoon. It brought back memories of the time the real USS Enterprise- which was ported in the Island That Time Forgot while I was growing up; its island was the tallest building in town- ran aground in San Francisco Bay. Badly done, guys!

Another new penalty was the West Virginia Homesteader. For this one, the miscreant's team must put the car up on four jack stands, then set up lawn furniture in front of the car and have high-calories snacks. This one inspired the telling a lot of good West Virginia jokes, most of which we can't repeat here.

The Fiat Of Tomorrow guys were very, very unhappy about getting the West Virginia Homesteader penalty; we wanted to find them a harmonica so they could play some mournful blues. Wouldn't you know, the Alfa Romeo Spider beat them by a half-lap!

We resurrected the Chronic Search, in which the miscreants have 30 seconds to hide their "dope stash" in the car and the judges have 30 seconds to find it, but we replaced the dime bag of oregano with a huge brick of lawn trimmings. These BMW pilots tried to hide the "reefer" in the glove box- clearly we're not dealing with guys who grew up driving Camaros and listening to Black Sabbath here- and ended up donning the orange vests and picking up trash.

Sometimes a team gets punished for something that doesn't even take place on the track! This gentleman had built himself a high-speed, kart-engined beer cooler and was roaring around the paddock at not-so-safe speeds. For that, we made him eat a can of pork brains, using king-sized chicharrones as a utensil, while the team's race car sat and waited. OK, here's a gallery for yez:


And here's another penalty video, courtesy of those Amazon-drivin' Tunachuckers:

The concept is basically cap-and-trade, which means creators of carbon emissions above a certain amount would have to buy or trade emissions credits from someone below a certain amount. This would create a new market for carbon that could reach into the trillions within a few years of implementation. The hope is this will reduce carbon emissions by 17% by 2020 (compared to 2005 levels) and 80% by 2050. In theory, the economic incentive to reduce emissions will create a new green energy business boom.

For the consumer, this could mean in increase in prices of energy, food, and manufactured products (like cars). On the other hand, a decrease in pollution could have net health and economic benefits. The bill still has to make it through Congress and, we expect, many compromises will be made. As it stands, the net impact on the average household is supposed to be $175 a year by 2020, with rebates available for poorer families. Those on the right say it's a tax on turning your lights on, those on the left say it's a weak bill. We'll see. [San Jose Mercury News]

Photo Credit: MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images

The Hamilton portrait, which was paid for by McLaren’s fuel partner ExxonMobil, is far from being the only such piece in Macaluso’s extensive portfolio. While most of his motor oil paintings are abstractions, there are two portraits of another man of African ancestry who has gone where no man of his lineage has gone before: President Barack Obama.

Macaluso is clearly a fan of dead dinosaurs, as evidenced by this quote from the ExxonMobil press release:

Painting with the Mobil 1 used motor oil offered a wide range of tones and was obviously a very refined product from its texture. It was extremely smooth and very particle-rich, with all the engine dirt in perpetual suspension, making for a great painting medium.

If he ever decides to branch off into rock music, “Engine Dirt in Perpetual Suspension” would be one hell of a band name.

The depictee himself was rather pleased, saying he was “very impressed with the oil painting.”

The painting will have its first public outing at a VIP event at the British Grand Prix, where Hamilton will arrive as the defending champion. Although given the pace of his McLaren this season, he will need nothing short of divine intervention to retain that distinction at the very last Grand Prix race held at Silverstone.

Where another Brit will arrive as the clear favorite—Brawn GP driver Jenson Button.

Image Credit: David Macaluso, ExxonMobil

The Obama administration's 2011 model year standard will require the nation's cars and trucks to meet a fleet average Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) of 27.3 MPG — that's 8 percent above the 2010 model year requirement of 25.3 MPG, an administration official confirmed Thursday night. The regulations for the 2011 model year are final.

But wait, there's more.

The Obama administration opted to finalize only the 2011 model year standards partly due to a requirement under a 2007 energy law to wrap up those regulations by Tuesday. Administration officials will spend the next year reviewing the 2012-15 model years as they seek a comprehensive emissions policy.

So what does this mean — can automakers reach those targets? In a word, yes. We'll let David Shepardson from The Detroit News explain:

The increase in fuel economy requirements for passenger cars is the first since Congress created the CAFE program in 1975. In the wake of the Arab oil embargo, it ordered automakers to boost fuel efficiency from 13 mpg to 27.5 mpg over a decade

Automakers have outstripped the federal requirements, making it easier in the short run for them to meet the new requirements. In the 2007 model year, automakers averaged 31.3 mpg for passenger cars, and 23.1 mpg for light trucks, above the 22.2 mpg mandate.

But the next two model years are not where this story ends — the Obama administration's expected to decide before May whether to give California and 13 other states permission from the EPA to impose a requirement of a 30% decrease in tailpipe emissions by 2016. If that regulation goes through, it would have the effect of a fleetwide fuel economy of 34.5 MPG by 2015. Yay! We all get to drive econoboxes! [Detroit News]

Photo Credit: Justin Sullivan / Getty Images News

The majority of the task force, tasked with saving the auto industry, drives Hondas, Mazdas or Volvos. Many of the Honda vehicles are actually built in the US and both Mazda and Volvo are, technically, owned by Ford. Despite the rather bland choices, there are two revelations we couldn't help but appreciate as car fans:

1. Our Vice President owns a 1967 Corvette, which he probably puts few miles on given his love of Amtrak.

2. Diana Farrell, the deputy National Economic Council director, is currently without a car but her husband has a 1985 Peugeot 505 S, which we take to mean a Peugeot 505 Turbo S and not the crappy gas/diesel 505 S. If it's the S Turbo we're talking about a crazy gearhead. If it's an S we're talking about someone who doesn't want to part with an old car. Or maybe it is a base S with an SR20DET swap (we look for hope where we can find it).

Those with high-level cabinet positions don't drive themselves around, typically, so the cars they own are rather old. What this list tells us about the group is they're mostly like the rest of us in their car ownership.

As shown above, Hillary still loves America. Thanks to everyone for the tip!

[Photo: Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images, Source: Detroit News]

Despite initially being very excited about the prospect of having a President with a Transformer phone, sadly, it's just not the case. It's just been so long since we've had a sarcastic President — basically, the last one we remember willing to drop a snark-bomb to the media was George H.W. Bush — we were easily duped by the President's comments that his new super-secure blackberry was able to turn into a car. Of course, who knows, maybe it's just the next plot twist in Michael Bay's upcoming Transformers sequel. Probably not.

It's not quite as bad as Chrysler Europe electrocuting a dog with a Dodge Nitro, but it's definitely not good. Australia's Chrysler sale is called the "Yes We Can" sale and it features an Obama-imitating voice-over shilling to potential buyers down under:

"When people ask, can we drive away in the luxury of a Chrysler 300C for under $50,000? I say, yes we can."

"Or how about this legendary Jeep Cherokee for less than $38,000? I say, yes we can."

"When people ask can we buy a Dodge Nitro with 20" rims for under $35,000? I say, yes we can."

"If you want change, see your Chrysler Jeep Dodge dealer today."

For starters, if you're buying a Chrysler 300C for "luxury" — you're probably making the wrong decision. Also, if you think the new Jeep Cherokee is "legendary" — you're also probably making the wrong decision. President Obama found both those things out the hard way. But come on Australia — 20" rims, Chrysler 300C? Can't you find your own zeitgeist to use to shill without stealing ours? Fercrissakes, we even stopped doing it. By "we," we mean advertisers — not necessarily us. Of course, we think that probably has more to do with Paul Hogan being like almost 70.

Oh yes, the ad campaign's also got a website. [via AdFreak]

According to the New York Times, President Obama will announce later today a series of environmental initiatives, the cornerstone of which would grant waivers to states seeking to enforce their own emissions laws.

California passed a law in 2005 requiring automakers to meet stricter auto emissions standards, only to be denied a waiver from the EPA and forced to sue the government along with approximately a dozen other states to enforce the states' guidelines.

This move by the Obama administration will force some automakers to make adjustments to their lineup sooner than required by federal laws passed in 2007. They've argued vehemently against the bills saying they'd be forced to make their cars meet different standards for different states. This is partially true, though most states follow California's lead. However, the potential for a patchwork quilt of emissions standards across the country becomes an even greater possibility with this precedent-setting decision on the part of the nascent administration.

President Obama will also likely have the Department of Transportation draft guidelines to get automakers to comply with enhanced mileage requirements laid out in the federal law enacted more than a year ago.

Given the timing of these actions, Obama is trying to show he's strongly committed to moving forward on environmental issues and win support among his green-focused constituency. Additionally, Obama avoids having to spend any political capital on this while in the middle of his fight for a stimulus package because both of those moves are purely executive, requiring no significant action on the part of Congress. However, by also not writing the guidelines first, the Obama administration has put political expediency ahead of good policy and working with Congress to create and reveal a more holistic energy package from the start.

Allowing CARB to set the emissions standards for the country takes the ball away from the federal government, makes the possibility of a patchwork quilt of emissions standards an actual possibility and fails to provide the necessary monies to automakers to help make the shift. That's not good business and it makes it difficult for automakers to build for the future with constantly shifting goals.

Lastly, whether it's CAFE or CARB's regulation of emissions, the issue isn't fixing supply of vehicles with better fuel economy, it's changing demand. Remember, CAFE does not directly offer incentives for customers to choose fuel efficient vehicles, nor does it directly affect fuel prices. Rather, it attempts to accomplish these goals indirectly by making it more expensive for automakers to build inefficient vehicles by introducing penalties. CAFE advocates assert most of the gains in fuel economy over the past 30 years can be attributed to the standard itself, while opponents assert economic forces are responsible for fuel economy gains, where higher fuel prices drove customers to seek more fuel efficient vehicles. The truth is probably somewhere in the middle. The truth is, the best policy for increasing overall fuel economy is to change consumer habits, and that means increasing the costs of low fuel economy vehicles. Countless automotive experts have claimed the best way to do that is not through mandating automakers make more efficient cars, it's to increase, artificially, the price of gas. But that would require more political capital than Obama — or any politician — appears willing to spend.

So, in a world of half measures, President Obama's decision may make sense. But in a utopia, it's nowhere close.

[NY Times]