Obama v Cheney in 100 Seconds

Let The Big Three Fail

For the last forty years the big three American auto makers have been fighting any and all regulation of their industry, spending billions of dollars to successfully lobby lawmakers so they wouldn't have to improve fuel efficiency and safety. I guess it shines a tiny beam of good light on Congress that we have airbags and anti-lock brakes (are those required yet?) but the number one reason Chrysler, Ford, and GM are on the verge of collapse is because of fuel efficiency. We don't even require the average mileage of American cars to be better than the Model T Ford! All these stupid Hummers, Yukons, Expeditions, and Durangos with their whirlpool-in-the-tank V8's and V10's were only competitive in this country because of subsidized oil (didn't Exxon break their record for profits yet again?), lack of regulation, and SUV sized loopholes in mileage standards (as if a fucking chrome plated hummer is ever used as a work vehicle). If we had improved efficiency and emmissions steadily as we originally planned back in the 70's, U.S. automakers would be competitive in the world market now, but these behemoths fought regulation at every turn and now that their house of cards has collapsed they feel entitled to a massive handout to save their sorry asses. I say let 'em die like the pea brained dinosaurs they are. Why should we help these idiots pump out a bunch more crappy cars when we can buy Toyotas and Nissans? Even as Detroit was pumping out 5000 pound living rooms on wheels the best selling car was the fuel efficient and safe Camry. Shouldn't they have noticed this?

Car makers will argue that pensions and health care for their employees is one of the chief causes of their malaise since every other civilized country in the world provides its citizens with health care, removing this burden on their competition, and most other civilized countries have a strong welfare state, keeping the impoverished elderly from starvation and bankruptcy at the end of their lives. Again, this is largely their own fault. In their war against regulation the people they have bought into office (i.e. Republicans) have also been the kind of people that are allergic to universal and affordable health care. They have hoisted themselves onto their own pitards and I say we leave them their to twist in the wind.

Hang Up and Drive

Steve Greenberg:
Confirmation of what everyone dreaded: the engineer of the Metrolink train in the Chatsworth head-on collision was text-messaging just seconds before the fatal crash. This has implications beyond trains -- a British study found the impairment in driving a car was much worse during texting than it was under alcohol, with younger drivers vastly more likely to engage in that dangerous behavior.

We really need national laws to deal with cell phones in cars. I've seen one major accident caused by someone yacking on his phone several years ago and have seen so many near misses I couldn't begin to guess the number. Here in Kentucky a woman had a cell phone related wreck and her severed arm was found near the accident with the phone still in the hand.

Safety? First?

"Always wear eye protection" it said on a sticker on a hammer I bought. It says this on spray foam containers, drill bits, chisel packages, etc. There are also constant warnings to wear gloves and protective clothing. You see children riding their bicycles with almost as much padding, gloves and helmets as an NFL linebacker. I've wondered for a while how long it would be until Americans spent their entire lives wearing knee pads, gloves, safety glasses and helmets. Well, the Japanese have now added high tech safety wear to the end of our lives:

Japanese firm unveils wearable airbag for elderly
Electronic Devices / Consumer & Gadgets
A Japanese company on Wednesday unveiled a wearable airbag for the elderly that pops out when they fall.

The 1.1 kilogramme (2.4 pound) airbag looks like a traveller's waist pouch but inflates in one-tenth of a second when sensors detect the wearer has taken a tumble.

The Tokyo-based company, Prop, unveiled the 148,000 yen (1,400 dollars) device at a fair of products for the elderly and people with disabilities.

It protects the back of the head and the buttocks with two inflated bags that contain 15 litres (3.9 gallons) of gas each.

Elderly people are more prone to injury when they fall due to their brittle bones.

Japan has one of the world's highest life expectancy rates, which is attributed to a mix of factors including a traditional healthy diet with plenty of vegetables.

People aged 65 or older accounted for 21.5 percent of the total population of 127 million last year, according to the government. More than 36,000 people are aged over 100.

But Japan is facing growing costs of caring for its elderly since fewer young people are having children.

Typical Bush Administration Behavior

"Deregulate! Deregulate!" come the cries from the right. In their opinion regulation stifles business and the ability of business to make giant profits. Under this administration deregulation has been undertaken from the executive rather than by the legislature. By violating laws, defunding regulatory agencies, or installing toadies that will suck the cock of any business leader they should be regulating, these criminals have worked against the interests of the majority to enrich their crooked, wealthy buddies.

The Huffington Post has posted this article about this administration's corruption. Harper's Magazine printed a very disturbing piece on the Attorney firings that really churned my stomach. But what made me want to point this out was a piece on NPR this morning about the corruption at the FAA concerning Southwest Airlines aircraft inspections. Apparently it's so bad that many of the 737's that were contemporaries of Aloha Airlines Flight 243 are still flying and have not been properly inspected.

In March 2007, the airline reported to the FAA that it had not done the required fuselage inspections on 47 jets. The checks are crucial because some versions of the Boeing 737 are vulnerable to cracks just above and below the windows. In 1988, an Aloha Airlines 737 decompressed and blew out 18 feet of its roof, killing a flight attendant. Instead of grounding the 47 aircraft and inspecting them, Southwest quietly continued to fly the jets. Gawadzinski, who was aware of Southwest's alleged deception, is accused of helping the airline cover it up.

How much you wanna bet that those responsible will simply resign and move on to other shockingly overpaid positions elsewhere? At this point I wonder if there is a single regulatory agency that hasn't either been corrupted or eliminated via budget.

UPDATE: Goshes I forgot to mention the most recent This American Life which was dedicated entirely to the Bush administration's bullheaded refusal to do anything without a legal battle. Really amazing stuff. What's more amazing is our "representative government" doesn't have the balls to put these sorry bastards in prison.