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offbeat news
offbeat news
Louisana Traffic Official Fights The Law And The Law's Him
From the department of "do what I say, not what I do" comes this awesome story out of Lafayette, Louisiana playing perfectly into our dislike and mistrust of government nanny bureaucracy. Tony Tramel, the Director of Transportation for Lafayette Consolidated Government, is the chap tasked with monitoring and approving tickets issued by speed cameras. Mr. Tramel was recently caught with a radar detector mounted in the windshield of his personal car. Huh? We're confused. We thought the only reason to install a radar detector is to speed and flaunt the law, which doesn't really make any sense. Couldn't he just trash the camera images of him speeding and be off the hook? Fox guarding the hen house indeed. (Hat tip to Richard!) [TheNewspaper (these guys might want to consider a better marketing department)]
industry news
Today the super number-one best automaker from the land of the rising sun provided us the automotive industry equivalent of yelling "Liar, liar, pants on fire!" at their former President of Toyota USA, Jim Press. Press, now President of Chrysler, claimed last week in an article in BusinessWeek that 100% of development of the battery and hybrid engine for the automaker's happy little hybrid, the Prius, occurred via a fat injection of government dollars. This claim had been widely speculated at in the past, but much like the existence of the Yeti, "Nessie" and the affordable lightweight mid-size performance coupe, proof was in short supply. However, Press's comments to Newsweek last week were akin to pulling out the tail of a giant Icyosauropodasaurthing from the depths of a Scottish Loch. Now, Toyota's fightin' back. Here's what spokesman Paul Nolasco now claims:
More »
Toyota Claims Jim Press Is A Liar, Pants Are On Fire: Prius Development Didn't Use Government Dollars
Today the super number-one best automaker from the land of the rising sun provided us the automotive industry equivalent of yelling "Liar, liar, pants on fire!" at their former President of Toyota USA, Jim Press. Press, now President of Chrysler, claimed last week in an article in BusinessWeek that 100% of development of the battery and hybrid engine for the automaker's happy little hybrid, the Prius, occurred via a fat injection of government dollars. This claim had been widely speculated at in the past, but much like the existence of the Yeti, "Nessie" and the affordable lightweight mid-size performance coupe, proof was in short supply. However, Press's comments to Newsweek last week were akin to pulling out the tail of a giant Icyosauropodasaurthing from the depths of a Scottish Loch. Now, Toyota's fightin' back. Here's what spokesman Paul Nolasco now claims:
More »
news
Red Light Cameras Not Generating Enough Money, Turned Off In Dallas
We've been debating the validity of red light cameras for quite some time now, but if you need some more evidence for or against them, take a look at what my glorious home city has done. Dallas has decided to "idle" (or shut off) a quarter of the 62 red light cameras scattered around the city because they do not generate enough money to pay for themselves thereby leaving non-functional cameras still up and hopefully still deterring red-runners. More »
offbeat news
Reckless Driver Lane Coming Soon
The Onion has scooped the latest details coming out of Washington regarding reckless drivers. Secretary of Transportation Mary Peters has reportedly approved a ridiculously large $270 billion project that would build lanes all across the U.S. for drivers identified as reckless. Peters told The OnionThese new lanes are for the millions of drivers who can't be bothered with speed limits, turn signal use, or not careening madly out into oncoming traffic. Whether hell-bent on putting themselves and everyone around them in danger or just drunk off their gourds and out for a simple joyride, America's reckless will no longer be forced to putter along with careful, conscientious, considerate citizens.More »
industry news
State Of The Union: Bush Pays Weak Lip Service To Automotive Technological Innovation
As opposed to previous years, the president used only a small part of his State of the Union address to talk about the importance of reducing our dependence on foreign oil. We've read and reread the portion of the speech dedicated to energy and... well... there isn't much there. Mostly, he talked about funding the American Competitiveness Initiative, which is a holdover from the 2006 SOTU. He also alluded to the need to sign an international greenhouse gas agreement, which is the Kyoto Protocol, but said: "This agreement will be effective only if it includes commitments by every major economy and gives none a free ride." In case you didn't get that, he's talking about China and India, which have exemptions as economies that are still developing. The full text of his section about hybrids and batteries below the jump: More »
government
REAL ID, Really: Secure Driver's License Rule Changes Proposed
It's called the REAL ID Act, and supporters claim it's a law designed to make it harder and more frustrating for terrorists and con artists to get government-issued ID. The Feds have spent the past couple of years working on all the deets, and now they've got 'em some rules which apparently they'll be looking to unveil today. As we'd expect, the ACLU's got some issues with it, declaring "REAL ID amounts to the "first-ever national identity card system," which "would irreparably damage the fabric of American life..." But yesterday DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff strangely responded to reporters:"We worked very closely with the states in terms of developing a plan that I think will be inexpensive, reasonable to implement and produce the results," he said. "This is a win-win. As long as people use driver's licenses to identify themselves for whatever reason there's no reason for those licenses to be easily counterfeited or tampered with."Yeah, well some people don't use driver's licenses to just identify themselves — sometimes they use them to identify themselves as other people for nefarious purposes — isn't that why the Feds were proposing a new ID system? We're big fans of civil liberties and state's rights 'round these here parts in case you haven't noticed — and a couple of the provisions stick in our craw a bit. The details of how DHS wants to stop pretending and start getting REAL are below the jump. More »
government
Chicago's ban on cellphone usage in cars is under attack from a grubby lawyer, and surprisingly, the grubby lawyer has a bit of a point. A 2005 city ordinance banned the use of cellphones while driving. Since then, police have been illegally ticketing drivers talking on cellphones, or so says Blake Horwitz, the attorney who has sued the city of Chicago more than 100 times.
More »
Chicago Cellphone Ban Under Attack
Chicago's ban on cellphone usage in cars is under attack from a grubby lawyer, and surprisingly, the grubby lawyer has a bit of a point. A 2005 city ordinance banned the use of cellphones while driving. Since then, police have been illegally ticketing drivers talking on cellphones, or so says Blake Horwitz, the attorney who has sued the city of Chicago more than 100 times.
More »
industry news
Hyundai Ex-CEO Wins South Korean Presidential Election
And we thought it was only here in 'merica where folks are willing to set aside allegations of fraud and wrongdoing against our choices for high political office. The same's true in South Korea, where the people have just elected former Hyundai CEO Lee Myung-bak as the new President-Elect of Korea's better half. This despite the parliament voting to authorize an independent counsel's investigation into Lee just days before the election in a stock manipulation case where prosecutors had already cleared him of wrongdoing. The counsel is set to complete the probe before the Feb. 25 inauguration, and Lee claims he's willing to step aside from the presidency if found at fault. Our bet is considering he won the presidency by a landslide 47.6% to 27.1% we're thinking that won't happen so much. At least if they ever want to get those Genesis sedans they've been promised. [via breitbart]
government waste
Border Patrol Exhibits Poor Understanding of Border and Patrol
What you see above is an International MXT. It is a vehicle that the United States Border Patrol, no doubt through grants from the Department of Homeland Security, has deemed a reasonable vehicle to patrol the highest traffic border crossing between the United States and Canada, the Detroit-Windsor crossing. There are, shall we say, a couple of things wrong here. First, this particular unit was caught outside of Mexican Fiesta in Dearborn during the lunch hour feeding frenzy. To help visualize the distance between said establishment and the nearest border crossing, we've employed the services of Google Earth after the leap. More »
government
Click n' Clack Endorse Higher Fuel Economy Standards For Automakers
Tom and Ray Magliozzi , better known as the co-hosts of NPR's Car Talk Click n' Clack, dropped a letter to the US House Select Committee on Global Warming that they endorse 35 mpg standards. The pair claimed"When we're facing a future of global oil wars and economy-killing gasoline prices, perhaps having single commuters drive 5,000-pound SUVs is something we'll just have to learn to live without."More »
government
Michelle Obama, the wife of Democratic Presidential candidte Barack Obama, was involved in a car accident yesterday when a motorcycle rammed into the side of a van she was traveling in. The van was being driven by a staff person from her husband's campaign. Neither the van or the motorcycle were believed to have a Hemi. More importantly will be which one of you will name the year and brand of the van first. [via MSNBC]
Michelle Obama Involved In Car Accident, Unhurt
Michelle Obama, the wife of Democratic Presidential candidte Barack Obama, was involved in a car accident yesterday when a motorcycle rammed into the side of a van she was traveling in. The van was being driven by a staff person from her husband's campaign. Neither the van or the motorcycle were believed to have a Hemi. More importantly will be which one of you will name the year and brand of the van first. [via MSNBC]
industry news
Volkswagen Likely Leaving Detroit For Herndon, Virgina
It looks like things have gone from bad to worse for the Metro Detroit economy — Volkswagen's moving their US headquarters out from Auburn Hills, MI and in to the wilds of Herndon, VA. We hear not even Governor Granholm (full disclosure: she used to be my boss) was able to dissuade them from moving all of their jobs out of the current HQ (although we're now hearing she may have helped to save about one-third of them). What's with the Germans these days — first you've got Daimler severing it's 'merican half, then Porsche thumbed it's nose at the Detroit Auto Show and now VW moving it's HQ out to Virginia. Why all the hate, Germany? [via WSJ]
fuel economy
John Edwards Needs To Get Rid Of His Cadillac SRX, Pot-Black Paint
Y'all remember John Edwards railing against SUV's earlier this week? Yeah — we do too. Somehow as we were reading his comments, we kinda knew this was coming. Really, we were just waiting for someone to dig up something like this on the former Senator, Presidential contender and man who wants to kill all trucks and SUV's: More »
New rules for Monroney stickers go into effect on Saturday. [Detroit News]
presidential politickin'
John Edwards, candidate for President and owner of an impenetrable hair shell, wants us bad 'mericans to stop driving those gas-guzzlin' SUV's. He told a group of machinist union members today in Disney World that he wants 'mericans to start sacrificing, and getting rid of SUV's is the way to start. So trade yours in today and pick up one of them new-fangled hybrids or even just a small car that gets higher gas mileage. Wait — did he just ask us to do something. We tell ya — the world's gone all topsy-turvy on us. We mean, what's up with Democrats these days — "asking" instead of "legislating?" It's a brave new world out there. [via MSNBC]
John Edwards Wants You To Take SUV's Away From Yourself
John Edwards, candidate for President and owner of an impenetrable hair shell, wants us bad 'mericans to stop driving those gas-guzzlin' SUV's. He told a group of machinist union members today in Disney World that he wants 'mericans to start sacrificing, and getting rid of SUV's is the way to start. So trade yours in today and pick up one of them new-fangled hybrids or even just a small car that gets higher gas mileage. Wait — did he just ask us to do something. We tell ya — the world's gone all topsy-turvy on us. We mean, what's up with Democrats these days — "asking" instead of "legislating?" It's a brave new world out there. [via MSNBC]
For his last day at the White House, Karl Rove's staff covered his Jaguar S-Type in saran wrap. The fun and games continued up until the point Cheney's staff took a shotgun filled with bird shot to it. [Fox News]
nhtsa's press nazi
