Cartoons
Wednesday, May 7th, 2008
Archive for May 7th, 2008
Americans are switching to smaller cars from SUVs
Wednesday, May 7th, 2008[Quote:]
Sales of large SUVs plummeted 28% in the first quarter this year, while subcompact sales rose 32%, according to Autodata Corp. Thriftier four-cylinder engines, once despised by Americans for their perceived lack of power, are selling in record numbers.
April sales results to be released on May 1 are likely to show an even more pronounced shift, predicted Jesse Toprak, chief industry analyst for the auto information site Edmunds.com. “That’s simply a function of the dramatic increase in oil prices that we’ve seen in the last few weeks.”
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Now owners of SUVs and other gas guzzlers who’ve seen the price of a fill-up climb sharply are getting a second shock when they try to trade in their behemoths. Used car dealers don’t want the big vehicles on their lots anymore because hardly anyone is buying them. Some won’t take them at any price.
Small cars are now the largest segment of the U.S. auto market, accounting for 18% of new car sales. Last year, U.S. consumers bought a record 2.8 million of them, and with sales up 4% in the first quarter this year, the record almost surely will be shattered.
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Menicocci, a resident of the upscale Miami suburb of Palmetto Bay, recently placed his 2003 Chevrolet Tahoe with leather seats and 39,000 miles for sale on Craigslist for $16,000 — roughly $2,000 less than what his research determined was the Kelley Blue Book value.
He bought a 2003 Kia Spectra for $5,000 because he was tired of paying so much for gas with his heavy Tahoe. “I was wasting $30 a day compared to $10 a day,” he said.
“Everybody is like, `What is that? Is that the maid’s car?”‘ said Menicocci, who sells marble and granite for a living. “But I don’t care. At this point, I’m way past looks and appearances.”
Bread Line during the Louisville flood, Kentucky 1937
Wednesday, May 7th, 2008
RAID explained
Wednesday, May 7th, 2008
Meanwhile in his spare time, Obama seems to have brought peace to the Niger delta
Wednesday, May 7th, 2008[Quote:]
Rebels who have stepped up attacks on Nigeria’s oil industry in the last month said on Sunday they were considering a ceasefire appeal by U.S. presidential hopeful Barack Obama.
The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) has launched five attacks on oil facilities in the Niger Delta since it resumed a campaign of violence in April, forcing Royal Dutch Shell to shut more than 164,000 barrels of oil per day (bpd).
“The MEND command is seriously considering a temporary ceasefire appeal by Senator Barack Obama. Obama is someone we respect and hold in high esteem,” the militant group said in an e-mailed statement.
MEND did not say when or where Obama, the leading candidate for the Democratic ticket for November’s U.S. presidential election, made the appeal. It said it hoped the government would use any ceasefire to improve conditions for its detained leader, Henry Okah.
Banks: Law Can’t Bother Us
Wednesday, May 7th, 2008[Quote:]
With the mortgage crisis smeared across the headlines every morning, you would think that the mortgage holders would keep their heads down. You would be wrong. The national banks are floating a new idea: they shouldn’t have to obey state law when they foreclose on someone’s home.
Pre-emption has been a gravy train for the national banks, insulating their credit card business from state consumer protection laws. Some banks now want another ride on the pre-emption train, claiming that they shouldn’t have to follow local foreclosure laws when they take people’s homes.
Tomorrow Congressmen Brad Miller (D, NC) and Steve LaTourette (R, OH) will introduce HR 5380 to make it clear that the banks have to follow the state law foreclosure laws that they have always followed. Here is the scary part: this is expected to be a close vote.
Hillary Reportedly Will Hold No Public Events Tomorrow
Wednesday, May 7th, 2008[Quote:]
On MSNBC, Tim Russert just reported that Hillary was scheduled to appear on the morning shows tomorrow.
But, says Russert, she canceled all her appearances.
I bet she doesn’t know how to defend staying in the race…
Woman Gains Silver Star — And Removal From Combat
Wednesday, May 7th, 2008[Quote:]
Pfc. Monica Brown cracked open the door of her Humvee outside a remote village in eastern Afghanistan to the soft pop of bullets shot by Taliban fighters. But instead of taking cover, the 18-year-old medic grabbed her bag and ran through gunfire toward fellow soldiers in a crippled and burning vehicle.
Vice President Cheney pinned Brown, of Lake Jackson, Tex., with a Silver Star in March for repeatedly risking her life on April 25, 2007, to shield and treat her wounded comrades, displaying bravery and grit. She is the second woman since World War II to receive the nation’s third-highest combat medal.
Within a few days of her heroic acts, however, the Army pulled Brown out of the remote camp in Paktika province where she was serving with a cavalry unit — because, her platoon commander said, Army restrictions on women in combat barred her from such missions.
Having soldiers die is not as important as keeping women in their place, apparently.
