(SomaliNet) Mauritanias government has charged five of its natives for allegedly trying to take over Mauritanias current government. Their crime was interfering in a bid to impose term limits for Mauritanias presidents. The five are comrades of former Mauritanias president, Maaoya Sid'Ahmed Ould Taya. The five accused were charged with plotting to reverse the constitutional order," said Mauritanias prosecutor, Ben Amar Ould Veta.
The five were sentenced to different sentences with some sentenced to spending their remaining lifetimes behind bars in a Mauritania prison. Among the accused is a former advisor attached to Mauritanias Defense ministry. He is said to be a close pal of ex Mauritanias president. Mauritania has been under the leadership of Colonel Ely Ould Mohamed Vall, who saved the natives of Mauritania from the oppressive rule of Taya. Taya served as Mauritanias president for 21 years.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/20/2006 00:00 ||
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Colonel Ely Ould Mohamed Vall, who saved the natives of Mauritania from the oppressive rule of Taya. Taya served as Mauritanias president for 21 years
(SomaliNet) Zimbabwean state doctors will not return to work till their demands are met. This is the fifth day since Zimbabwes doctors decided to put their tools down and vow not to return to work unless there is an increase in their pay. Zimbabwe's Hospital Doctors Association revealed that as many as 270 doctors are currently on strike in Zimbabwes four major hospitals. The doctors fraternity in Zimbabwe is displeased about their salary structure of ZIM$57-million (about R4 000). They are also displeased about the additional one year that they are to serve as internship in rural Zimbabwe.
"Now the government wants us to do another year in a district before we get our certificates of good standing. We are saying that is unfair and it is unacceptable," said Kuda Nyamutukwa, head of Zimbabwes association. Doctors in Zimbabwe serve Zimbabwes government for two years before they are free to form their own practices. "The minister (Zimbabwes health minister) has remained adamant that he does not talk to people who are on strike but, as long he maintains that stance, what he is simply doing is prolonging the strike," Kuda added.
"We are not against working in the district hospitals as such, but we want to be given a choice rather than be forced - and we also want incentives, including vehicles, to allow us to be mobile. We are prepared to continue striking for as long as it takes," commented a Zimbabwean doctor. Zimbabwe has suffered a heavy brain drain of doctors who cannot stand the working conditions in Zimbabwe. Many have left Zimbabwe for areas as far as Britain.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/20/2006 00:00 ||
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$57,000,000 Zimbabwe dolars converted to U.S. dollars using a currency calculator on Yahoo finance, that is $563.26 a month. ( I assume a month)
No wonder they are pissed off.
#3
When the 12th Iman re occulates up the well on Aug 22, the raises won't be worth the payroll checks they are printed on.
Azeribaijan is also maxing out his American Express card.
#4
Remember that the Azeris are a very large country with a very small population, and a very belligerent neighbor who doesn't like them hobnobbing with the Americans and has threatened them in past.
It would serve our mutual interests if the Azeri forces were kept extra loyal. There is a good chance that someday they may play host to at least an entire US division with a lot of extra ADA along for the ride.
China's Top General Visits The Pentagon
Washington (AFP): China's top military official met with US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld Tuesday to discuss closer military relations in the highest level visit of its kind in more than five years, officials said.
Rumsfeld welcomed General Guo Boxiong with military honors at the Pentagon where they discussed North Korea and bilateral military issues in a private meeting and at a working lunch.
Boxiong, vice chairman of the central military commission of the Peoples Republic of China, also was scheduled to meet with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice at the State Department, officials said.
A senior US defense official said the visit was symbolically important because it showed that both countries were interested in improving often strained military relations.
US-Chinese military relations "are very stable, very steady and they are expanding and they have high political impetus from both sides," said the official, who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity.
"As I say, this is the top military man in China. He's never been here before. I don't think any of his predecessors have been here," he said.
The official said the two sides reached no formal agreements but Guo indicated China's willingness to take part in a joint search and rescue exercise later this year.
The US side also hopes to deepen discussion about China's strategic nuclear doctrine with a visit this year by the commander of China's nuclear forces to the US Strategic Command in Omaha, Nebraska.
Peter Rodman, assistant secretary of defense for International Security Affairs, opened the dialogue during a visit to China in June in which he gave Chinese military leaders a classified briefing on changes in US nuclear doctrine, the official said.
An annual Pentagon report on Chinese military power earlier this year highlighted US concerns about the pace and scope of the modernization of China's strategic forces.
The report also said internal debate over China's policy of "no first use" of nuclear appeared to be broader than previously known, citing comments by a Chinese general who suggested the possible pre-emptive use of nuclear weapons against the United States in a conflict.
The defense official said Chinese military leaders assured the US side as recently as Rodman's visit last month that China still adheres to a policy of "no first use" of nuclear weapons and insist that there is no internal debate.
"That's why this exchange of visits of the nuclear people is important. Because we want to have this channel, we want to draw them out and tell us more about what their strategic doctrine is," the official said.
Rumsfeld and Guo also exchanged information on North Korea's recent Taepodong 2 missile launch, according to the official.
"They were saying a lot of their information came from us about what is going on," the official said.
Guo also provided some archival information on the case of a US Navy aviator, Lieutenant Junior Grade James Deane, a friend of Rumsfeld whose aircraft went down off China in 1956, the official said.
Military relations between the United States and China have been slow to mend since the April 1, 2001 collision of a US navy surveillance plane and a Chinese fighter over the South China Sea.
Visits to Beijing by Rumsfeld in October 2005 and by President George W. Bush in April, as well as efforts by the US Pacific Command to actively engage their Chinese counterparts, have helped produce a thaw.
Guo on Monday stopped in San Diego, California, where he toured the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan and the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing.
He was scheduled to address students and faculty at the National Defense University in Washington on Wednesday.
His itinerary ends Thursday with a visit to the US Military Academy at West Point in New York.
SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea, constantly battling food shortages, could be tipped into famine after heavy flooding this month in key farming regions hit its potato and rice crops, experts said on Thursday.
Two major storms over the past 10 days have hit the impoverished country with some of the heaviest rainfalls in years just as it faces greater international isolation over missile tests this month and the prospect of less food aid from its major donor, South Korea.
"Conditions have never been that good in North Korea and this could push them over the edge again," said Peter Beck, an expert in Korean affairs for the International Crisis Group.
"This has increased the probability of a famine returning to North Korea," he said.
Up to 2.5 million North Koreans, or about 10 percent of its population, died in the 1990s due to famines caused by droughts, flooding and mismanagement of the agriculture sector, the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) said studies have indicated. Kimmies "on the spot field guidance" at work...
Anthony Banbury, director of the WFP's Regional Bureau for Asia said the floods hurt the potato crop, which is used as a filler until the rice crop comes in.
The floods will also likely hurt rice production and come with the North already short of fertilizer.
"There is a real risk that this combination of factors is going to have a very negative impact on the food security situation in the coming months," Banbury said by telephone from Bangkok.
He said Pyongyang's main benefactor China probably shipped North Korea far less food in the first quarter of this year than it did in the same period of last year. Might wanna give them their trains back, maybe?
South Korea has sent huge amounts of rice and fertilizer aid to North Korea over the past several years. But it has rejected the North's latest request for 500,000 tons for rice for this year, unless Pyongyang returns to stalled talks on ending its nuclear weapons programs. Let 'em eat yellowcake.
Beck said if North Korea faces a real humanitarian crisis, it would be difficult for South Korea and other countries not to donate food. Really? Let's find out.
Even in a good year, North Korea's harvest falls about 1 million tons short of its needs, experts have said.
The Red Cross said floods struck North Korea's South Pyongan province and Hwanghae province. Both surround the capital Pyongyang and are part of the country's rice basket.
"Extensive areas of arable fields have been inundated, wiping out much of the anticipated harvest," the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said this week.
South Korean Unification Minister Lee Jong-seok told reporters on Thursday that Seoul is sticking by its decision to suspend food aid for now. He added South Korea will still push for peaceful engagement with its neighbor.
Ties between the two Koreas, which have warmed considerably in recent years, have been severely tested by the missile tests. North Korea stormed out of a cabinet-level meeting last week after Seoul pressed Pyongyang to explain why it defied international warnings by firing seven missiles on July 5.
Severe winters keep North Korea to a single food producing season that runs from June to October.
Even then, it has a difficult time raising food because of outdated and dilapidated farm equipment, energy shortages and a lack of fertilizer and pesticide. Well, it's a Worker's Paradise, not a farmer's...
#3
The really sad part is that Kimmie doesn't give a rat's ass how many people starve to death. He's just pissed that he isn't getting the freebies to hand out to his political supporters and Military types.
The average peon wouldn't get a grain of that free rice anyway.
Posted by: Destro in Indiana ||
07/20/2006 05:21 ||
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Microsoft, Yahoo, Google. On CNBC this morning they were saying that one of the companies (I didn't notice which, sorry) had actually told the Chinese government where two dissidents were posting from, directly leading to their arrests.
#6
I looked on Amnesty's web site, under Countries --> China --> Latest News. I'm too lazy to hunt down the link again.
That page contains the last twenty news items pertaining to China, which go back to last September or thereabouts. Of those twenty items, five are about Amnesty pressuring US companies not to help China censor the web, two are about nagging Bush to do something about China, and one is about nagging the EU to do something about China.
Therefore, 40% of Amnesty's China effort is going into criticizing someone else for not doing something about it.
Reading the news releases is a hoot, too. They are always "concerned" or "disquieted" upon hearing that Chinese police have opened fire on unarmed peasant protestors.
July 18, 2006 -- The European Union today condemned the jailing of a prominent Belarusian opposition leader to five and a half years in prison. In a statement, the EU described the sentence passed on Alyaksandr Kazulin as "politically motivated" and called for the immediate release of Kazulin and "all other political prisoners" in the country.
There. That should do it. Lunch?
Kazulin was jailed for leading antigovernment demonstrations against the official results of the country's controversial presidential election this March.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/20/2006 00:00 ||
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Haha! You stoopid Americans are condom everything!
Posted by: Tony The Turban ||
07/20/2006 2:57 Comments ||
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International efforts were underway on Wednesday to resolve a stand-off between Spain and Malta which has left 51 African migrants stranded at sea for six days. Malta is refusing to allow a Spanish trawler which picked up the migrants to dock, despite criticism from the United Nations. European Union Justice Commissioner Franco Frattini said he had spoken with Spanish, Italian and Maltese ministers. He said the trawler had done a "fantastic" job but that Malta needed help to deal with migration pressures. The Maltese government insists the Eritrean men, women and children on board are Spain's or Libya's concern. It claims the boat is Spanish and the rescue was made in Libya's search-and-rescue zone. A Spanish junior foreign minister, Bernardino Leon, said that two Spanish inspectors said the condition of the immigrants was deteriorating. A pregnant woman and mother and child were temporarily taken off the trawler to receive medical treatment, but were taken back later.
"Back on the boat, Toots."
The United Nations refugee agency, UNHCR, has told the Maltese authorities to let the migrants disembark urgently. But Malta says it cannot deal with any more illegal immigrants and needs the EU to help. Almost 1,000 immigrants have landed on Malta, which has a total population of 400,000, since January.
The refugee numbers are fairly staggering, and aren't really reported all that well. I don't envy the Euro authorities these problems. But I won't hesitate to deplore them (with the good stationery) if they dare to act in the interest of the citizens of their own nations.
Frattini said the European Union was about to launch a mission to patrol the Mediterranean near Malta. He also announced plans to set up a system for sending rapid reaction border guard teams to countries facing a migration crisis. He added that the Spanish minister of foreign affairs had proposed a solution to the current standoff, but he said he did not want to predict what the final outcome would be. Spain has seen 11,000 African immigrants arrive in the Canary Islands this year, provoking a crisis as resources have been stretched.
#3
I'm with Malta. WTF does this have to do with them?
Piss off Spain, Italy, UNHCR, EU, Eritrea. You wanna play rescue games? Fine, go for it.
Got nothing to do with Malta. And you sure as hell can't demand that a country take in people it doesn't want to.
You fucking socialists aren't running the world quite yet. The real problem, of course, lies in places like Eritrea. You halfwits want to do some good? Impose Capitalism and property rights and rule of law and uniform legal redress for grievances and... well, just get yourselves a copy of the US Constitution and Bill of Rights. It's all in there.
Airbus denied Wednesday a French newspaper report that development of its military transport plane A400M had been delayed by between 18 months and three years. "The programme is on schedule," said a spokesman for Airbus parent company EADS at the Farnborough airshow in Britain. The French newspaper La Tribune had said delays to the A400M project, which has a budget estimated at EUR 6.0 billion (7.5 billion dollars), were public knowledge and would be announced in due course by Airbus. Citing several industry sources, La Tribune paper said the delays were estimated at between 18 and 24 months but could be as much as three years. Under the original timetable for the A400M project, the first flight should take place at the beginning of 2008 with 192 deliveries scheduled from October 2009, La Tribune said. The A400M has been ordered as a military transport plane by a number of European governments. Germany is the biggest client with 60 orders, followed by France with 50 orders, Spain with 27 and Britain with 25, La Tribune said, citing figures from EADS.
its military transport plane A400M had been delayed by between 18 months and three years. "The programme is on schedule,"
Posted by: Captain America ||
07/20/2006 6:23 Comments ||
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The old saying is that you can have it on time, on budget, or done right. You get two of the three. So if its on time, that means its way over budget or its going to have the reliability of a Yugo.
The deputy Prime Minister of the Northern Iraqi Kurdistan Regional authority, Omer Fetah, has signed an agreement with the Saudi Arabian firm AZIB-INTEGRAPH to buy 16 US-built "Schweizer 33" helicopters. The Iraqi Kurdish authority will reportedly pay more than 35 million dollars for the 16 helicopters.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/20/2006 00:00 ||
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I think they have the model number wrong - Scwiezer 33's are gliders (I've flown one of those).
I think what they are looking for are probably the 2+ place multi-role helicopter, the 333. Very capable bird. Those are mainly utility and patrol aircraft, but with imagination and ingenuity they could be rigged with some lash-up ATGMs, or a machinegun. The ones I know of fly as police helicopters, so that measn they have cruise speed in excess of 100 knots, bust above 110 kts and at least 3 hours endurance at cruise speed.
Think OH-6 or LittleBird in terms of shape and size and manuverability, except no room for a back seat in the main cabin.
The high body carriage and long length of the undercarriage means there is plenty of room for lash-up weapons like a pair of ATGM launchers, or rocket pods, or even medium machine guns.
Once they get these flying any tank the Turks or Iranians send over stands a good chance of being thumped hard.
#2
This is not going to make for a happy Turkey. They seem to have a problem with Kurds coming across their border and killing people. They even react militarily from time to time.
They are extreme Turkish nationalists. Fascists, really, in the classic sense of the term. There's nothing they hate more than Kurds. Turkish commandos ("Special Teams"--Özel Timler/Özel Hareket Timler) are always Gray Wolves.
And there's nothing a Kurd hates more than them.
Posted by: Azad ||
07/20/2006 17:08 Comments ||
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#6
Azad, all you had to say was MHP, the racist Nazi bastards. The same ones that wanted to nuke Armenia to complete the Tukish genocide there.
Now mostly Azerbiajani ops from what I recall.
As for the article and its truthfulness, they didnt get the model correct (they gave the model number for a glider, as I pointed out), so there is plenty of room for doubt in terms of competence, much less bias. So far it sounds like a Turkish right-extreme version of the DEBKA rumor factory.
Still a probable source for what a certain segment of Turks wants people to beleive as true. Another datum for the analysts.
Right now though, I'd bet there are more pressing needs for Kurds to spend thier money on than funds for medium/light patrol helicopters.
#1
Long range autonomous bombers will be a killerapp military technology, not least because it's not a big deal if they don't make it back.
IMO they should be designed as expendable. After they have completed their bombing, they become big cruise missiles cleaning up any targets not destroyed by the bombing.
#2
Waitaminute! There's no smoke! Couldn't have been missle hits. There must be a Rovian hidden agenda.........
Posted by: Bobby ||
07/20/2006 6:19 Comments ||
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Where's the kaboom? There was supposed to be an earth-shattering kaboom!
If you're going to use a decommissioned ship as a target and sink it, at least be good enough to share the actually interesting photographs, and not just the bloop-bloop-bloop part of the day's entertainment.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
07/20/2006 8:12 Comments ||
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#6
I'm sure we cold have transferred this ship to an ally or kept it in reserve, but I suspect they were using it to test the effect of anti-ship missiles on a supercarrier, which will undoubtedly yield valuable data on both the missiles and the ships.
Posted by: Tibor ||
07/20/2006 10:40 Comments ||
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#7
Sorry, the "boom" is probably classified. We really don't want pics of how our ships can be sunk with anti-ship weapons.
It helps to remind yourself that when such a ship in sunk in the right place, it creates an instant reef, that in turn creates of profusion of fish and sea creatures. In time, this boosts fishing and scuba diving, which in turn draws men into the Navy.
So even in retirement, the Belleau Wood will help in recruiting the next generation of sailors.
#9
Re #7: the USS America was intentionally sunk awhile back just to test the effects of the current anti-ship technology. the location and photos have not, to my knowledge, made it to the Web. anybody have any pics?
I've always been deeply suspicious of the whole hybrid technology "revolution." If something seems too good to be true, it probably is.
A similar thing happened when turbochargers were first introduced into passenger vehicles in the U.S. during the late '50s -early '60's (one of the models was called the "Starfire", IIRC). The idea of turbochargers is a good one, but the technonolgy was rushed into production before it was ready. Those early turbocharged vehicles were unreliable and didn't work out, andit was many years before decent and reliable turbochargers became widely available.
Another example of emotion trumping reason and science. It feeeeeeels good to own a hybrid if you are a leftist, and you can wear your ownership as a badge of pride, proving to everyone else that you're so much more caring and gaia-friendly than all those nasty other people.
Like so much of what those types believe, it's all a self-serving, preening lie.
Posted by: no mo uro ||
07/20/2006 6:16 Comments ||
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One of the most perverse things about U.S. consumers buying hybrids is that while this might reduce air pollution in their own cities, they increase pollution and energy consumption -- in Japan and other Asian countries where these cars are predominantly manufactured. "In effect, they are exporting pollution and energy consumption," Spinella says.
Who says that perverse? Irnonic, maybe. Intentional? Possibly.
The faster/farther you drive a hybrid, the more it's fuel economy goes down. It soars in bumper-to-bumper, stop-and-go traffic because the gas engine shuts off (as long as the battery is charged).
So there still isn't a silver bullet.
Lighter , smaller cars cost less to make, and less to drive. Physics.
Posted by: Bobby ||
07/20/2006 6:28 Comments ||
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Correction - not Starfire, Jetfire.
Posted by: no mo uro ||
07/20/2006 6:49 Comments ||
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#5
While I find this amusing, it's a bunch of hooey. Dust to dust cost? Come one. Of course new technology is more expensive at first.
He makes some good points through out the article that can't be argued with, but by comparing it to the Hummer, he took it over the top and his point is buried in hype.
#6
The more I think about this article, the more absurd it becomes.
What is his point exactly? That the hybrid is less cost effective for the consumer than a hybrid. Um no, that's not it.
That the *snort* "dust to dust" cost for a hybrid is worse than that inexpensive chevy? Um, no that's not it either.
Now this does makes sense:
This means that when gas prices go up, these people don't rush out to buy more hybrids. "They buy a Chevy Aveo," says Spinella. "It delivers the same fuel economy as a Prius, but at half the price."
Can't argue with that. That's why the consumers aren't buying the hybrids. But what about his point that it is more cost effective overall to not buy a hybrid? Apparently that's not his point. Otherwise he would have stuck with the analogy of the Chevy types when making the *snort* "dust to dust" comparison. But instead he brings in the gas guzzling Hummer at this point in time, which has the very unusual (and very expensive) lifespan of 300,000 miles, something our analyst couldn't get with any other car; certainly not the inexpensive Chevy. I'm guessing the fact that he brought the Hummer into the argument here is because the "dust to dust" comparison of the hybrid v/s to the chevy didn't work out the way he wanted.
And the fact that taxi drivers, who do lots of start and stop driving, are willing to buy says to me that they are more fuel efficient for that type of driving.
What I'm getting out of this article is that this guy was paid by the auto industry. They are being forced to retool their production lines and they don't make as much money on a hybrid as they do on the chevy. It's a valid point - but far from the one that a Hummer is more energy efficient than a hybrid.
#8
I think that the article makes some really good points. Despite all of the whining about recycling household waste, we are already incredibly efficient at recycling stuff that makes economic sense like cars, ships, steel frame and reinforced concrete buildings. I had the opportunity to participate in the demolition of a steel frame and reinforced concrete structure once and I estimate that by volume, 99% of it was recycled -- we're talking biological scales of efficiency. As the writer points out, when you start throwing composite materials into the mix, you trash the recycling efficiencies and overall costs skyrocket. In fact, when we were taking down that building, the only thing that we couldn't recycle/reuse was the "composite" roofing materials.
The other thing that is going to bite you is all the damn lead acid batteries. The customer cost is about $3000 to replace them. Link. As I pointed out a few days ago in a comment about electric cars, those costs can easily double or triple for those vehicles, which is why you see them disappearing off the streets as they hit the 3-5 year mark.
2b you are right about costs going down as experiential effects, scale economies and network effects kick in. I do think that the battery and the break in the recycling chain are going to continue to be major cost issues.
#9
2b - The reason for bringing the Hummer in is precisely to make the point dramatically. Its a form of jiu-jitsu, using your opponent's weight against them in a fight. The hybrid-lovers loudly, rudely, and publicly scorn people who drive Hummers and SUVs. Spiniella turns their own anti-SUV momentum against them by showing that in the long run simple, long-lasting cars built in large numbers are better for the consumer and the environment. Complex, short-lived cars transported around the world before entering service are bad for the consumer and the environment. In other words, the dimension that matters is not the one the lefties have focused on. Point made empirically and, for public relations purposes, dramatically.
Posted by: Patrick ||
07/20/2006 8:15 Comments ||
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#10
I will get 300,000 miles out of my Toyota product and I suspect most others can if they maintain their vehicles properly. Figuring out vehicle ownership cost on a cost per mile basis makes it clear that keeping that antique running one more year provides tremendous economic benefit. I'll even get 200,000+ out of a Chrysler mini-van.
#11
The other thing that is going to bite you is all the damn lead acid batteries. The customer cost is about $3000 to replace them.
And a true hazardous waste. So how about a recycling deposit on the little buggers just like soda bottles. Just to drive home [heh] the real cost for the appearance of 'caring'. Classic lefty auto, its about feelings, not about facts.
#12
And the cost of replacing/recycling all those little batteries are almost as much as a third of the car. The fact is, hybrids don't save money in the long run with a life of only 100,000 miles. A decent gas car with regular mantaince can get 300,000 and the secondary, thridary, fourthary markets still can pass on used cars just fine. The hybrid won't even come close to living that long. I guess if you lease one and turn it in quickly before the depriciation goes to hell it might be worth it, but I'll stick to my Civic.
#14
I read this article earlier this morning with no comments and was curious to see what people thought of it. I had my suspicions then, and it's pretty interesting to see that they're shared by most of you here.
It seems fair that hybrid technology and production aren't as cost effective as those of regular cars (and yes, those red herring Hummers, too). But all of that should change when automakers invest more into streamlining and localizing hybrid technology and production lines, which the writer claims isn't worth the energy, money and polution. He comes right out and says that it's the auto-industry that's losing money on each hybrid it makes ($6K per vehicle, if I remember correctly) - not the consumer. So you have to wonder who he's arguing this point for - the industry, or the consumer. Seemed fairly obvious to me then, as it does to most of you now. If the auto-industry would shift production away from large SUVs and towards hybrids, they'd eventually streamline the technology to the point where it's much more cost effective, eco-friendly and financially attainable than it is today. But the writer spelled it out for us already - current production methods are too lucrative for the auto-industry, and changing to adapt to a changing auto and energy market would cost the poor companies money. God forbid, right? So they make bogus, dismall claims about how the old way, as inefficient as it seems, is still more efficient than the new way, which by the way, is pretty damned smug (those smug lib-er-als). It's a perverted, self-serving circular argument.
Now, I'm not saying hybrids are the silver bullet to our energy and environmental problems - they're not. I happen to be on the market for a used car now, and I'm not looking at hybrids - their sticker prices are prohibitively high, they're much more intricate and require more service, and in the case of the Insight and Prius, they're pretty fugly, too. So I'll be buying a Civic, or a Corolla. It's certainly the more sensible thing to do vis-a-vis high gas prices.
But to suggest that buying up full-size SUVs, including the Hummer, makes more economic and environmental sense, both in the short and long term, is pretty damned ridiculous. The answer to our problems may not lie in hybrid technology for the average consumer, but it doesn't lie in your local Hummer dealership, either. I smell an auto-lobbyist in disguise.
#15
The battery issue will remain a killer for some time. If they remade the Graduate, the old dad would have to say "Batteries" instead of "Plastics".
#16
You laid it out perfectly Rugger. Just for the record, I don't own and wouldn't buy a hybrid right now. They aren't there yet. But I know lots of people who have them and they were aware that they were spending the extra money. They bought either because they want to move hybrid technology along, or they bought for a status thing among their liberal buddies - they willing pay the extra to make a statement - like someone pays extra to drive a mercedes or any other statement car.
My heads not "exploding" on the hybrid issue, I think it's a funny article. But I don't like being fed high spun BS by the auto industry or anyone else. And that's what this is as Rugger spelled out so nicely.
Phil - you should go back and read my article before you say I don't know shit from shinola. It may be true for the hummer but my point was that he used the hummer because its one of the very few cars that lasts that long.
Like I said, the guy makes good points in his article. I agree with Patrick that it's good for effect perhaps to get attention - but it's not very meaningful in terms of getting us off foreign oil or ridding the middle east from controlling us with our oil. Heck - maybe the Suadis paid for that study. Might as well have.
#19
At some point someone will create a two-seater hybrid built of recycled plastic (like kids toys, I've seen a car built of the stuff). It'll be light and cheap and get good gas mileage. It'll be perfect for cites, bumper-to-bumper and if it has a reasonable suspension it'll be good for the third world. It'll suck for highway driving but there are always trade-offs.
High school and college kids will buy the disposable car because it fits their needs and scratches and such are unimportant on this type of plastic. Then they'll buy up when they graduate and the third world will be awash in the things just as they are with old school busses and Michael Jackson "Thriller" shirts.
It basically will take one of the small car companies, or a foreign one, to build such a beast. Possibly Japan, Korea or China as it will undercut sales of existing lines.
I have seen the future, I have spoken, I will now shut up.
#20
He's actually a she. Click on her name and it brings up a bio and list of articles. She seems to like writing contrarian articles.
Posted by: Cowboy is a compliment ||
07/20/2006 12:09 Comments ||
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#21
rjs, Europe made cars like that 30/40 years ago, one was called the Reliant. Fibre glass body as I recall. You could fix damaged body work yourself, Pics here.
And VW makes a 2 seater mini-car, quite popular in Germany.
#22
Rugger, you appear to concede the authors main point that hybrids are very energy inneficient by claiming that in time they can be made more (suffiiciently) efficient. That may or may not be true, but it's immaterial to the situation today. And the Hummer comparison is made to point out how ludicrous the 'hybrids save energy' claim is.
Far and away the biggest problem in the whole energy debate is the rampant wishful thinking by those who like to think of themselves as Green.
#23
at least the hybrids can clog the carpool lane at 45 mph...wait. that's not a plus, is it? I ran over one yesterday with my truck....seemed like it took forever to clear it from my treads
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/20/2006 21:05 Comments ||
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#24
lol, Frank. Don't shoot, but I actually work for the EPA. You'd be surprised how many people there can't stand/make fun of the extreme greenie groups. Much like the ELF (Earth Lib. Front) who set fire to all those Hummer dealerships out west, not thinking about the irony of releasing TONS more toxins through burning plastics, tires, oils, etc. than what the Hummer itself produces.
Me? I drive a REGULAR Civic. My dad knew someone who bought one of the first Prius's. After 60k miles, the battery started showing signs of a lot of wear, she took it in and was quoted something like $10k to replace it! I thought to myself, just go buy a regular Civic, which can (also) get 300k miles, if you maintain for another $3k, and you won't be buying a new car every 60k miles. Heck, if you get a 5 year loan (and drive the nat'l average of 12k miles/year), you'd never loose paying that rascally car note.
And, by the way, quite the snarky comment on EPA's testing, which was recently exposed by Consumer Reports or something like them. Basically, the testing rules were set up in the 70's and they test under OPTIMAL conditions (like 60 mph, indoors, etc.). Of course, it no where comes close to representing what our current day traffic conditions are like. Someone here quoted the article, and if I'm remembering correctly, they said ACTUAL milage is anywhere betweeen 10 and 35% worse than the EPA estimates. Of course, I don't work in the Air Division at EPA, really have no clue about the rules/regs, but I wouldn't doubt if all that is true.
As an engineer, I've always thought "big picture," and a lot of the points she's making are true. Doesn't mean we shouldn't pursue hybrids/alternatives, just not that they're even close to being there yet.
Posted by: BA ||
07/20/2006 22:01 Comments ||
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#25
By "big picture," I mean: You must add up all the energy INPUTS for manufacturing/transporting/selling, as well as the energy INPUTS during driving (and also the energy inputs to discard of the car once done with it), and I wouldn't doubt that the Hummer isn't that far a stretch to being more "efficient" than the hybrids, at least right now.
Posted by: BA ||
07/20/2006 22:04 Comments ||
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#26
no offense meant BA. We all have jobs to do - I, for one, never lie, except to beautiful women about the dimensions of ...ahem....certain bodily parts. One reason why I compensate with a 4X4 Ford F150 truck Crewcab...sadly :-)
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/20/2006 22:36 Comments ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
(SomaliNet) Mauritanias government has charged five of its natives for allegedly trying to take over Mauritanias current government. Their crime was interfering in a bid to impose term limits for Mauritanias presidents. The five are comrades of former Mauritanias president, Maaoya Sid'Ahmed Ould Taya. The five accused were charged with plotting to reverse the constitutional order," said Mauritanias prosecutor, Ben Amar Ould Veta. 
(SomaliNet) Zimbabwean state doctors will not return to work till their demands are met. This is the fifth day since Zimbabwes doctors decided to put their tools down and vow not to return to work unless there is an increase in their pay. Zimbabwe's Hospital Doctors Association revealed that as many as 270 doctors are currently on strike in Zimbabwes four major hospitals. The doctors fraternity in Zimbabwe is displeased about their salary structure of ZIM$57-million (about R4 000). They are also displeased about the additional one year that they are to serve as internship in rural Zimbabwe. 
Airbus denied Wednesday a French newspaper report that development of its military transport plane A400M had been delayed by between 18 months and three years. "The programme is on schedule," said a spokesman for Airbus parent company EADS at the Farnborough airshow in Britain. The French newspaper La Tribune had said delays to the A400M project, which has a budget estimated at EUR 6.0 billion (7.5 billion dollars), were public knowledge and would be announced in due course by Airbus. Citing several industry sources, La Tribune paper said the delays were estimated at between 18 and 24 months but could be as much as three years. Under the original timetable for the A400M project, the first flight should take place at the beginning of 2008 with 192 deliveries scheduled from October 2009, La Tribune said. The A400M has been ordered as a military transport plane by a number of European governments. Germany is the biggest client with 60 orders, followed by France with 50 orders, Spain with 27 and Britain with 25, La Tribune said, citing figures from EADS.
