The votes are in, the tally set, Mitt Romney is our President, inaugurated a week or so ago. Have to give him credit, he sure hit the ground running. With the House and Senate all locked up in GOP hands, it has been easy to make the changes the right wing has been wanting and fighting for years.
As a recap, what has happened in the last week.
The Ryan budget finally became law, austerity and lower taxes on business, a voucher plan for Medicare to mention a few things.
A 20% increase in the defense budget.
The biggest changes coming the regulatory environment. EPA, FDA, Department of Education all defunded. New laws rescinding Federal mandates in virtually all areas of regulation, replacing them with recommendations or suggestions to the states. States now will be responsible for their own environment, education, food safety and immigration.
Virtually all Federal education, social programs, education programs, loan guarantees are abolished, leaving it up to the states to fund their own social programs, if they choose to have them at all. Medicaid and Food Stamps are eliminated on the Federal level.
The NLRB too was defunded and the question of labor relations to be answered by the states, the national minimum wage being rescinded, also left up to the states. Revenue sharing is being phased out so as not to share the wealth between the states.
Each state will be losing about 1/3rd of their budgets due to Federal cutbacks, leaving the states to replace that funding from other sources.
As promised, the entire Affordable Care Act was revoked and the Federal mandate that any hospital MUST treat a person on an emergency basis, insured or not, is also repealed.
Congress is now considering repealing the American with Disabilities Act, all laws regarding discrimination, workplace safety and equal pay and protections.
To reduce the liability of Social Security, Social Security Disability program is terminated.
The military will no longer allow gay's to serve, gay right's are being purged and national laws are under study to remove state responsibilities and authorities on this issue.
There is also a new cabinet post, the Department of Moral Responsibility. This department will provide moral guidance to all areas of Federal responsibility, to provide litmus tests for appointees.
The first week was not without controversy too. Vice President Jindal had to step down a few days after taking the oath of office. The Congress passed a law making a person a person at the moment of conception. Mr. Jindal's mother was 6 months pregnant when she emigrated to the US which disqualified Mr. Jindal since he was a 'person' created in India. Mr. Jindal was replaced by Paul Ryan as Vice President.
And this is just the beginning.......
Showing posts with label NHTSA. Show all posts
Showing posts with label NHTSA. Show all posts
Monday, June 11, 2012
Monday, February 1, 2010
Want to read a load of crap?
Regarding the Toyota recall and 'faulty' gas pedal mechanism, from AP.
"That was not enough for Dennis Dukes of Stony Point, N.C., and his wife, who said they wouldn't drive their 2010 Camry again, even with the repair. His wife ran into the back of a truck in August in their first Camry, a crash Dukes said happened after she hit the brakes and the car kept going."
This statement so bogus that I have to respond. As we learned from the infamous Audi 100 incident, this statement cannot possibly be true. The Audi 100 problems were first blasted over the airwaves by CBS' 60 Minutes. Unintended acceleration was the exclamation. Audi's sales dropped 95% in the USA and has never really quite recovered. As it turned out CBS was completely wrong with their assertions, claims and conclusions. The damage was done. As it turned out, every accident with the Audi were women drivers who had traded UP from a GM vehicle. There should have been red flags all over the place from the video 'evidence' alone. I saw the 60 Minutes report and one thing was missing and was so obvious to me and no one it seems paid any attention to it. In every case the drivers claimed 2 things, one that they had their foot on the brake, not the gas pedal and they also claimed they looked to be sure, more on this later. Now, the one thing missing from ALL the video and photographic evidence was the lack of skid marks. The Audi 100 was a front wheel drive car and the rear brakes would have locked and skid marks evident. There were none. The second issue of actually looking to verify the foot being on the brakes is an out and out lie. A few years later I bought an Audi 100, they were quite cheap for some reason. One thing that stood out to me, remembering the claim; I chose to see if I could tell if my foot was on the brake or gas. Seemingly a simple exercise, right. Not with the Audi 100. You see, the Audi 100 came equipped with a parcel shelf/knee bolster under the dash. You would have to be at eye level with the seat bottom to see where your foot was. Oh, did I mention that brake systems on cars will ALWAYS override the engine? Kinda the way they are designed.
Well, if all I said was true, then what happened? The accidents were real enough.
The answer is simple. Remember what I said about women and GM cars? Well, that was what was the problem. You see, the pedal placement on GM cars is wider than the Audi. It's like anything, you do something long enough, it becomes second nature. When something changes, well you keep doing as you always have until something happens to make you change. This was not a design defect. It was the lack of standards between manufacturers. The solution was to install an interlock system so that you cannot engage a gear now without putting your foot on the brakes first.
Ok, you don't believe this as being plausible or truthful? Let me give you some light with an experience of mine. On day my wife came home from work and told me how she darted into an intersection with her foot on the brakes. The VERY first thing she said to me was, "don't you dare try to blame me". Knowing she had just traded up to a Dodge Raider (Montero) from a GM car and me knowing that the pedal placement on the Raider was indeed narrower than the Calais was not enough evidence for me to say anything to her but this. If it happens the next time, just look at your foot. The Raider is wide open and easy to see. Sure enough a couple of weeks later it happened again. She came to me and apologized, she was now convinced it was driver error. She said she looked down and while her foot was on the brake pedal, the right side of her foot was dead on the gas pedal.
Anyway, I suspect we have a driver there who is looking for a lawsuit and deep pockets to sue.
But of course that is silly, we are Americans, we would not sue just to make a buck.
"That was not enough for Dennis Dukes of Stony Point, N.C., and his wife, who said they wouldn't drive their 2010 Camry again, even with the repair. His wife ran into the back of a truck in August in their first Camry, a crash Dukes said happened after she hit the brakes and the car kept going."
This statement so bogus that I have to respond. As we learned from the infamous Audi 100 incident, this statement cannot possibly be true. The Audi 100 problems were first blasted over the airwaves by CBS' 60 Minutes. Unintended acceleration was the exclamation. Audi's sales dropped 95% in the USA and has never really quite recovered. As it turned out CBS was completely wrong with their assertions, claims and conclusions. The damage was done. As it turned out, every accident with the Audi were women drivers who had traded UP from a GM vehicle. There should have been red flags all over the place from the video 'evidence' alone. I saw the 60 Minutes report and one thing was missing and was so obvious to me and no one it seems paid any attention to it. In every case the drivers claimed 2 things, one that they had their foot on the brake, not the gas pedal and they also claimed they looked to be sure, more on this later. Now, the one thing missing from ALL the video and photographic evidence was the lack of skid marks. The Audi 100 was a front wheel drive car and the rear brakes would have locked and skid marks evident. There were none. The second issue of actually looking to verify the foot being on the brakes is an out and out lie. A few years later I bought an Audi 100, they were quite cheap for some reason. One thing that stood out to me, remembering the claim; I chose to see if I could tell if my foot was on the brake or gas. Seemingly a simple exercise, right. Not with the Audi 100. You see, the Audi 100 came equipped with a parcel shelf/knee bolster under the dash. You would have to be at eye level with the seat bottom to see where your foot was. Oh, did I mention that brake systems on cars will ALWAYS override the engine? Kinda the way they are designed.
Well, if all I said was true, then what happened? The accidents were real enough.
The answer is simple. Remember what I said about women and GM cars? Well, that was what was the problem. You see, the pedal placement on GM cars is wider than the Audi. It's like anything, you do something long enough, it becomes second nature. When something changes, well you keep doing as you always have until something happens to make you change. This was not a design defect. It was the lack of standards between manufacturers. The solution was to install an interlock system so that you cannot engage a gear now without putting your foot on the brakes first.
Ok, you don't believe this as being plausible or truthful? Let me give you some light with an experience of mine. On day my wife came home from work and told me how she darted into an intersection with her foot on the brakes. The VERY first thing she said to me was, "don't you dare try to blame me". Knowing she had just traded up to a Dodge Raider (Montero) from a GM car and me knowing that the pedal placement on the Raider was indeed narrower than the Calais was not enough evidence for me to say anything to her but this. If it happens the next time, just look at your foot. The Raider is wide open and easy to see. Sure enough a couple of weeks later it happened again. She came to me and apologized, she was now convinced it was driver error. She said she looked down and while her foot was on the brake pedal, the right side of her foot was dead on the gas pedal.
Anyway, I suspect we have a driver there who is looking for a lawsuit and deep pockets to sue.
But of course that is silly, we are Americans, we would not sue just to make a buck.
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