angrystan's Comments (30)

“Dig deeper.

"where the US goes, the drug trade soon follows"

You have it exactly backwards. What was happening in Afghanistan when the US finally started addressing the Taliban?”

“1. If i was a cute, young anything, I'd be intimidated by Paedobear.

2. They make Paedobear dolls? Oh, what a world.”

“Corrections and clarifications: 352 Saturn dealers. The allegedly unnamed automaker was Renault-Samsung Motors of Korea. Penske Automotive is the exclusive distributor for Smart in the United States. They also run many, but by no means all, "smart centers". One need not append “car” to every reference to Smart. Saturn was created as a company 07 January 1985. The first cars shipped for the 1990 model year in August 1989. “winding down operations” is not a euphemism. Saturn has ended. They will have no 2010 model year.

The extent to which the original Saturn was successful was due to the “no-haggle” policy, and the boring, simple cars which people found familiar and reasonably priced. If you wanted some “made in the USA”, they had that, too. These cars were not what GM wanted to build and absolutely not what dealerships wanted to sell. Abandoning the one-model policy guaranteed the demise of the division. When Saturn dealers began to hustle and haggle and sold the same cars you could get at the now similar Chevy dealer with a notable markup. It has no reason to exist.

I still don’t understand why the S-series wasn’t a Chevrolet and Oldsmobile to begin with.”

“Wow. The headline is so phenomenally misleading this may set something for a record even for Murdoch's companies. Fisker Automotive has signed a deal to produce a car with Vamet, a contract manufacturer in Finland best known for stamping out and screwing together Porsches. Details are not public, but as Fisker is showing up in economically desperate parts of the US looking to either build or take possession of a factory, presumably it is not long term (under two years).

Gore's investment is that he put down the full purchase price of a Karma, which may prove an environmentally conscious (read: high MPG, low emissions) competitor to the E-class, 7-series and Ghost.

This loan(read: loan) is the same as that given to Ford last month to promote high MPG, low emissions vehicles. The money can only be used in the event two dollars of private capital or private loans are spent for every dollar from the loan. Uncle Sam is merely underwriting the loan, not unlike a college loan. If you think your bank is bad, you should have to file reports to Uncle Sam's army of accountants.

The folks who feared for WSJ under News Corporation have proved prescient.”

“The age of television is ending. Not so much because some superior medium emerged, but because the practitioners have forfeited the faith. Yes, one could always find lousy television, but only in this decade did the medium become entirely crap. I dust my television more frequently than I turn it on. The only case in which I gave up an addiction because of the quality of the drug.

Both radio and television are salvageable; the persons in ultimate control of the transmitters will make certain this cannot happen. As prominent as television was, it is difficult to parse its ungainly end. Although footnotes in history, Hewitt, Cronkite, Friendly et al have shaped our world more than the literature of the last half of the 20th C., and for the better.

I tuned into Studio 60 every week just to see the commentary about the state of our society and the medium which defined it. Even in a world of TV, I miss TV.”

“Liberal? To balance Alito and Roberts he may need to find an outright communist.”

“Oddly, the most successful evenings of my life were spent without anything which could be confused with pants, or trousers for readers in the Commonwealth. None of this could be confused with general success.

Therefore, I endorse pants. Overall. Of course, if you're at a really good party ...”

“Doc, I wear the most ridiculous looking shoes imaginable. The recently out-of-production Dunham work boots with the rollbar, cushions, grippy soles, width-sizing and mesh-encrusted body of their cousin New Balance sneakers.

For decades I hobbled about in the cheapest shoes I could find because they would wear so very quickly. Finally someone talked some sense into me, then all but pushed me through the door of a real shoe store with people who know what they're doing and a very wide variety of uncomfortably spendy shoes. I went from a 9.5-D to a 11-4E (in an afternoon) and discovered what my problem was all along.

Because of my Fred-Flintstone feet, the work boots are actually the most comfortable shoes I own. I walk even more easily due to appropriate sizing, including width, and some of the little features which premium-priced shoes tend to offer. Indeed, upon the news my favorite boots were going the way of all things I scoured the Internet eventually finding only three pair remaining in my size. These will last about six years, at current wear rates. A statistically common pair of shoes used to last me about two months of daily wear.

Yes, the shoe is the thing. Every voice which shouts the importance of a quality foundation is welcome. If you wanna start a movement or something sign me up.”

“As a printer and tuned to, among other things, the paper industry ...

Perhaps we could go back to unbleached paper bags since Americans, at large, are too opaque to carry "green bags" with them. That, and the fact that my favorite grocery chain has recently suspended their green-bag program because of shrinkage issues.

I know the printing industry is going the way of blacksmiths, but perhaps the mills can somehow survive.”

“I may have grown up in a bad part of the country, but I am reading between the lines on this one.
Neither guns nor publicly-available bullets are the problem.

May those involved rest in a much deserved peace.”

“The key to this is the I-65 corridor, where the majority of the population lies, and Jefferson and Warren Counties. These are traditional hard working, help your neighbor, why can't you pave the road type Democratic strongholds ... well, traditionally. Hail, Jerry Abramson. No, really.

Just look at the election results along i-65 and compare that with the rest of the state. Of course, there is always the danger the Jefferson County would join Indiana and Bowling Green and points south could join Tennessee.”

“I experience dismay at HuffPo's puerile and evidently new fascination with shmozobs.

Like most American men I certainly have an unhealthy and irrational fascination with the topic, but this isn't why I come to HuffPo. Yes, I've looked at every picture.”

“This is the first sign, so to speak, in many years that Austin has not dried up completely. I was so fortunate to drive home in the wee hours, and being averse to the cluster f*** that is Interregional Highway actually saw it and considered going back to take pictures or something.

To the hacker: You give us (in Austin) hope.”

“Some papers in the UK have better contacts in Washington than American papers do. Of course, some other UK papers feel free to publish random speculation as fact. We'll see.”

“Golly, If Palestine is such a problem perhaps they should be cut loose.”

“After what we have seen the last forty years, the only moral reply would be an absolute embargo upon "the occupation government of Palestine." Anything less is coddling a tiny voting block in the U.S.”

“Ms. Lane has linked to one of those 90's-style link harvesting sites.

If you would like a refresher about getting or renewing your passport or review the often disturbing, often laughable travel warnings issued by the United States Department of State visit their site:

state.gov

Of course, only if you are among the dwindling number of Americans with the disposable income to travel. These days I have to think twice about going across town.”

“Please provide evidence for "9. Can dance."

I'm not entirely kidding.”

“Gasoline engines in automotive applications are not as efficient as you assume. With revving losses peak efficiency is estimated to be in the 15-20% of the energy consumed getting to the rear wheels.

A well-tuned Wankel, as in the Lincvolt, operating consistently at an optimum RPM may only be 45-60% (sources vary) efficient, but with the very high efficiency of the electrical back end (around 90% by the time you extract energy from the batteries) a very rough estimate would double the efficiency of a series hybrid like the Lincvolt, the GM Volt, or F. Porsche's first automobile.

If Mr. Young's team is to be believed, the Lincoln now operates at seven times the efficiency of it's original design while being both heavier and faster. I have high hopes once this system is perfected in a modern state a vehicle not unlike the Chevy Cruze could achieve 200 MPG, gasoline equivalent, even on some kind of hippie fuel.”

“The Lincvolt, specifically, is equipped with a Mazda rotary engine operating a dynamo which charges the batteries and supplies more than enough electrical power to run the electric motor and charge the batteries at the same time.

The Mazda rotary, literally salvaged from an RX-7 found on Craigslist, has been adapted to run on compressed natural gas. If a vehicle of the size and weight of a '59 Lincoln can get 65 MPG (gasoline equivalent) using such a system, rationally sized vehicles should do very well.

And, yes, we do have plenty of natural gas. We may also convert coal into functionally similar coal gas which natural gas replaced earlier this century. Using coal as feedstock for clean technology is much better than burning it directly. After all these years, coal remains our "ace in the hole".”

“The more years I waste in Texas, the more proud I become of my humble Kentucky origins.”

“Heavens, Mr. W.:

Where has this McCain been hiding. Bob Dole left his whipping in 1996 a beloved national figure. This yellow-dog democrat walked away from that election with great fondness for the man. The McCain we have seen in recent months is wholly exempt from such warmth.

Perhaps President Santos can find a place for Sen. Vinick in his administration after all.”

“The Daimler logo presented here is that of the British company now part of Tata Motors via Jaguar. Daimler AG, and its proceeding companies, have always used the three-pointed star typically considered the logo of their Mercedes-Benz division.

Mazda is responsible for all of Ford's C or smaller chassis designed since MY 1994. They are also responsible for Ford's engines under three-liters. Volvo designs are used for larger cars, excepting the late-70's-designed Crown Victoria. The Mazda brand can also sell American-built vehicles to people who are suspicious of American cars. Saturn serves the same purpose for GM.

The only people whose judgment is tolerated in Detroit lean heavily toward intense mediocrity. This is why the big 2.8 shave pennies on so many parts drivers are forced across the street to automakers whose headquarters just happen to be off continent.”

“Mr. Weber, I envy your skill with communicating unfettered vitriol. The events of recent nights merely served to move this unfortunate resident in the belly of the beast to put another inappropriately generous donation to Sen. Obama on his credit card.

I think of it as a kind of investment. The question remains; will the word "tribunal" be in our president's inaugural address.”

“The problem with the American motor industry isn't "The Unions" as the only problem with UAW is that there isn't enough money to go around. The Big 2.8 don't have any money because of Ford and GM's buying spree of the 90s, and Chrysler is just getting restarted. They also don't have any money because they are not moving product and what they do sell is on a razor-thin margin. Often American cars are sold at a loss simply to get them out of inventory.

In lieu of watching trends in the industry and in consumer tastes, our automotive industry builds what the directors want to build. They aspire to con people into taking home a miserably designed, inefficient and fundamentally unpleasant vehicle with implausible financing. GM and Ford have the talent and other resources to build the vehicles Americans and the world wants to buy. They will not do so because the board room believes, even today, we buy automobiles exclusively because of emotional appeal. Hence the Charger and Camaro.

We are seeing the first steps of Chrysler becoming, primarily, a contractor to other automakers (see Fiat) and eventually becoming the next member of the Renault-Nissan alliance. Frankly, with European-designed chassis, Korean-designed engines and Japanese-designed electrics we might start actually making good, dependable, drivable cars on this continent. Toyota and Honda proved long ago that American workers, including American union workers, can build excellent cars if they are given excellent designs to assemble.”