Taxes subsidizing GM foreign-made gas-guzzlers
gas-guzzlers made by its Opel unit in Germany, a foreign car. In addition, the subsidies to GMAC, its former finance arm, are secured only by past ...
Open the pod bay doors, HAL…
This is one those 1960s events you may actually remember: In Stanley Kubrick’s science fiction classic, “ 2001: A Space Odyssey ,” a mainframe computer decides its space ship’s mission to Jupiter is too critical to remain in the hands of the ship’s human crew. The renegade computer, named HAL, takes things into its own hands, quietly squelching off life support for the sleeping humans. It’s a machine with a mind of its own. The remaining human (played by Keir Dullea) seizes control of the spaceship, violently, pulling out HAL’s computer memory banks.
A guest editorial in this morning’s (Feb 28) Los Angeles Times by muckraker Ralph Nader says that claims about “unintended acceleration” have been mounting since the 2002 the introduction of the Electronic Throttle-Control System (ETCS) on certain Toyota and Lexus models. He blames the problem on a lax and underfunded National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). “NHTSA's motor vehicle safety budget is a mere $140 million,” Nader says. “Taxpayers will pay more than four times as much — about $675 million — to guard the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad.” The NHTSA opened several investigations, Nader says, but closed them without action.
In interests of full disclosure, I’ve owned two Toyotas and I believe these cars — even the recall models — are safe. By the same token, I believe air travel is safe. It’s as statistically close to 100% as any piece of machinery can get. But that doesn’t mean a plane doesn’t fall out of the sky from time-to-time, for seemingly inexplicable reasons. Every time that happens, the airlines devote a ton resources to finding out how this occurred, and how it could be prevented from reoccurring in the future. It seems that Toyota is guilty of not acknowledging the acceleration problem sooner and is being pillared in public.
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