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POPSIn defense of jaywalking More: today the word jaywalking is often used as a sort of blanket justification for the dominating presence of cars on city streets. It also reflects a social bias against those people not in cars. (Note this comment in a Federal Highway Administration report: "Still, almost no one can avoid occasional pedestrian status," as if they were discussing exposure to a venereal disease.) …the Netherlands, which has essentially legalized jaywalking, has an enviable pedestrian safety record. …Finally, read newspapers very carefully. A number of studies have documented that media coverage of traffic crashes is selective, framed in certain predictable ways, and often misrepresents the true frequency or nature of actual risk. Jaywalking makes better copy for columnists than actually probing the complex nature of traffic safety.
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POPS50 Ugliest Cars Of All Time According To Business Week Start talking about your favorite car or truck and chances are you will be get a visceral reaction out of many Americans. Where I grew up in the Midwest, for example, saying that Toyota made a better truck than, say, Ford or GM...well, them'z was fightin' words to some. In other parts of the country, the same might be said for debates such as, "Which sports car is the fastest of all time?" We do love our cars. But, then, there are those "ugly ducklings" that should never have made it off the assembly line, and which, sadly, never blossomed into swans. This week, Businessweek assembles a slide show of the 50, all-time ugliest ducklings on four wheels...If you are passionate about autos, or just want a few laughs before heading off to nighty-nighty land, then check out this slide show. Yeesh!
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POPS Charles Krauthammer :: Fox Wars only disburses more than $3 trillion every year but is extending its reach ever deeper into private industry -- finance, autos, soon health care and energy. Think twice before you run an ad on Fox. At first, there was little reaction from other media. Then on Thursday, the administration tried to make them complicit in an actual boycott of Fox. The Treasury Department made available Ken Feinberg, the executive pay czar, for interviews with the White House "pool" news organizations -- except Fox. The other networks admirably refused, saying they would not interview Feinberg unless Fox was permitted to as well. The administration backed down. This was an important defeat because there's a principle at stake here. While government can and should debate and criticize opposition voices, the current White House goes beyond that. It wants to delegitimize any significant dissent. The objective is no secret.
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POPS"Chrysler is Going Out of Business. The Company Just Hasn’t Made It Official." 
Taxpayers are likely to lose most of the $81 billion that Congress and the administration sunk into the two companies, according to the Congressional Oversight Panel. Chrysler is expected to lose all $14.3 billion of the taxpayers' money. The daily management of Chrysler is controlled by Fiat which owns 20% of the U.S. company with options which could take that amount to 35%. Fiat has not put any money into Chrysler, so if the American firm becomes a significant operational or management burden there are very few reason for the Italian company, which has sales troubles of its own in Europe, to stay long term. Fiat lost $254 million in the second quarter, so its board may eventually believe that Chrysler is a distraction and one without a future. What Chrysler needs most from Fiat is money. If Fiat's own bleed continues, there will remain only one choice for management. In the mean time, the traditional competitors like Toyota, Honda and Nissan aren't Chrysler's . . .
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POPSIn President Barack Obama Backyard, 10,000 Patriots Unhappy About Unstainable Government Spending New Lenox Tea Party Express draws 10,000 YouTube (1:58) On tax day, the tea party movement began in earnest. Until now the movement has remained at the local levels. No longer will that be the case. The movement is coming to Washington on September 12, 2009 for a march and rally at the US Capitol. From autos to banking, the government is crowding out the private sector of our economy. Where Bush bailed out the private sector, Obama is making hostile government takeovers. Ignoring our multi trillion dollar deficit, Washington is considering a massive new energy tax and a takeover of health care. On Saturday, September 12th FreedomWorks will be joined by over ten thousands of liberty-loving activists to take a stand against politicians who are bankrupting our future. National co-sponsors include Tea Party Patriots, ResistNet, National Taxpayers Union, Americans For Tax Reform, Young Americans for Liberty, Ayn Rand Center, Campaign for Liberty, Free Republic .
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POPSObama Administration to Supremes: We are Above the Law ~ Supremes to Obama: Go Pound Sand Fortunately, the high court ruled this afternoon that the administration is full of s*** and that indeed it does have the authority to delay the Chrsyler sale. Ahead of the decision, Chrysler LLC and the federal government warned such an intervention might lead to the liquidation of the automaker. But Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, in a brief order, said the court will extend a temporary stay put in place by an appeals court "pending further order of the undersigned or of the court." The administration -- who always seems to be in a hurry, whether it's spending trillions of dollars on useless government pork, destroying the health care system, or simply nationalizing automakers -- argued that the delay would scuttle the deal. But dissenters were equally clear-cut on reasons to oppose the deal. The bankruptcy laws were written so that companies could dramatically overhaul themselves, becoming leaner and more efficient enterprises.
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POPS Dear Barack: Does Your Chrysler 300C Get 35.5 MPG? ...The Obama administration claims the new measures will save 1.8 billion barrels of oil over seven years. But that claim assumes new-car buying habits continue unabated and that people will want to buy expensive, tiny cars. If people instead elect to purchase bigger, cheaper used vehicles, there will be no reduction in consumption; those used vehicles are the same "guzzlers" we're driving today. The fuel economy gains we might have seen with reasonable mileage targets for new vehicles won't be realized if fewer new vehicles are sold. Worse, the auto industry will continue to shrink because of the decrease in new-vehicle sales.
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POPSThe Dems Will Screw Up As to human rights, in the quest for revenge against the Bush administration under the guise of obtaining justice for three high-level al-Qaeda operatives who were waterboarded, we will ensure that al-Qaeda lives on to spread true torture throughout the world. As to the national debt, in a year or two the nation will wake up to the fact that Democrats have mortgaged our future to the hilt, beyond what anyone could have comprehended a year ago. When the younger generations, currently smitten with the cool President, realize that they will pay this bill, there will be a backlash. As to foreign affairs, China, Venezuela and Iran will rise in power and influence as Democrats fulfill their dream of returning the United States to its isolationist roots.
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POPSHigh-speed rail: Can it work in the US? I am all for ditching vehicles and going with rail, especially high-speed rail. Turn the roadways into bike paths, put trainis in the mix and those that want cars, use the ZipCar or carsharing model. Low-cost rentals are another option. Raise taxes very high on autos that are not electric or other renewable energy. Not only can new jobs be created across the contry, but a whole different style of living. Greener earth as we drop all the carbon emmissons from vehicles, vehicle building, etc. This will of course never work totally, since you will have all the car manufacturerer, car insurance companies and the list of others who's lively hoods depend on the vehicle.
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POPSOn Global Warming: Follow The Money Indeed! (UNEP), a division of the U.N. that has grown into a bureaucratic monstrosity with an annual budget of $136 million. Mr. Strong left his post at UNEP in the 1970s but kept his ecological credentials and helped organize a 1992 environmental summit in Rio de Janeiro, which become the forerunner of the Kyoto Accords. While Strong has spent a lifetime parlaying his UN contacts into business associations, nowhere has he done so more successfully than with his ecological “credentials.” Recently Strong has been spending most of his time in China, where he’s been linked, among other things, to planned attempts to market Chinese-made automobiles in North America. But his presence there raises some awkward questions for Russell and Rosett: “For one thing, China, while one of the world’s biggest producers of industrial pollution, has been profiting from the trading of carbon emissions credits – thanks to heavily politicized U.N.-backed environmental deals engineered by Strong in the 1990s.”
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POPS$25 billion in electric vehicle loans still waiting Don't even get me started in politics and the current economy! This sounds like Murphy's Law in action. The taxpayers pay, the government gives it away! The only saving grace is that this (electric autos) will eventually (way down the road) save us money and help the environment!?
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