The House Republicans today made news (here) with a letter sent to President Obama asking the latter not to sign the Freedom of Choice Act – a bill that has not been passed yet. The letter is signed b
y 80 anti-abortion GOP House members, but newly installed Rep. Anh Joseph Cao of Louisiana (pictured) is not among the signers.
The Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA) is a proposal made in the Senate by Sen. Barbara Boxer, a California Democrat, and in the House by Rep. Jerrold Nadler, a New York Democrat. It has never been passed and is still unlikely to pass any time soon.
The letter (full text here) was sent by House GOP leader John Boehner of Ohio to the President, and is signed by 80+ of his colleagues, asking the President not to sign FOCA.
However, because the bill has never passed, there’s really nothing to not sign. (Even though, if and when it does pass, the President has said he’d sign it.) At this time, the letter is seen as mostly a symbolic statement to mark the January 22 anniversary of the landmark case Roe v. Wade in which the U.S. Supreme Court established a woman’s constitutional right to choose an abortion.
Ánh Joseph Cao, a former Jesuit seminarian and the first Vietnamese-American member of Congress, was not among the signers. Maybe Boehner didn’t ask.
Cao once told InsideCatholic.com here that he’s “very anti-abortion” and would love for Roe to be overturned.
Thin Nguyen….do you little spanking too?
*More signs of trouble ahead : The rise in delinquencies on auto loans.
* For the past 10 years, US Auto markers have shift focus to more profitable market of trucks and SUVs. Foreign auto markers just so happy to dominate the family sedan market.
* with the rising energy costs with the past 4 years, consumers wanted more fuel efficient cars, Detroit had nothing to offer.
* Now that we are in recession, consumers want more low-priced car. Once again, Detroit has nothing but concept, futuristic models which could take 3 years to develop. Go to Chrysler.com website and look at their 2009 line-up
Who would want to buy any of those BIG cars.
* Only 22 months were required to bring Toyota’s U.S.-developed Tundra pickup truck from styling freeze to start of production, says Yuichiro Obu, executive chief engineer at Toyota’s Technical Center in Ann Arbor, Mich. That contrasts with the 30 to 40 months that were commonplace in the U.S.
2008 The worst cars are as follows:
• Jeep Wrangler Unlimited
The Wrangler Unlimited was characterised by its poor ride and handling as well as its subpar fuel-economy, fit and finish.
• Hummer H3 five-cylinder
Poor performance and fuel-economy as well as a low rating for handling and reliability ensured the Hummer H3 was at the bottom.
• Jeep Liberty Sport
Rated poorly for fuel-economy, NVH levels and fit and finish.
• Chevrolet Aveo5
The Aveo5 only suffered from poor acceleration and handling but compared to its rivals the South Korean hatch was the worst performer.
• Dodge Nitro SLT
One of the worst cars in the field, the Dodge Nitro SLT was rated as having poor ride, handling, braking, NVH levels and fuel-economy.
• Toyota FJ Cruiser
A work horse SUV that requires premium fuel and suffers from poor fit and finish and subpar ride and handling.
• Toyota Yaris
The Yaris is one of the most popular subcompacts in the world but its poor acceleration and vague steering meant it was one of the worst cars in this year’s compare.
• Suzuki Forenza
The Suzuki Forenza was rated poorly because of its inadequate acceleration, fuel economy, ride, and low results in the IIHS sidecrash result.
• Jeep Patriot Limited
Another Jeep model made the list of worst performance, once again for poor acceleration, engine noise, driving position, visibility, front-seat comfort and fit and finish.
• Chevrolet TrailBlazer LT
Poor handling, braking and fuel-economy ensure the Chevrolet TrailBlazer is at the bottom of the list.
• Mercury Grand Marquis
The ageing Grand Marquis rounds out the list of the 11 worst cars of 2008, and was picked because of its rough sounding engine, poor ride and fuel-economy and low IIHS side-crash result.
http://www.motorauthority.com/consumer-reports-11-worst-cars-of-2008.html
Country First, good info.
AutoWeek magazine had this one article on the success of Toyota. The author asked an executive from a counter domestic manufacturer on his opinion of Toyota. His reply was to the effect that he is waiting for Toyota to get so large like his company that it too will succumb to internal strife and kill itself.
What kind of sickos are we allowing to lead large corporations? Rather than compete on excellence, they would rather see politics and self destruction to save the day. I hope this people like him find their solution out on the street unemployed!
Hmm, that one executive sounds like JK, weak!
Remove wasteful out dated CEOs and corrupted selfish Union reps today.
Yeah JK!
Everything said, the engineering provided by Ford and GM are first rate and very affordable. Current domestic muscle cars offer performance on par with European vehicles (Italian and German) costing at least 2 or 3 times as much.
When it comes to high performance engines propelling production vehicles up to and beyond 200 MPH, GM and Ford are the only two manufacturers outside of Europe. They provide underpinning powerplants for supercars such as Koenigsegg, SSC Aero, Saleen, and many more.
GM line-ups for 2009 SUVs & Trucks market :
Acacia
Canyon
Envoy
Savana
Sierra
Yukon
All are big guzzlers with steep price tags. This market is shrinking fast
It looks like GM still does not know we are in a recession.
http://www.autoshowny.com/galleries/cars
On January 14, 2009 on the House bill “Children’S Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2009″ Mr. Cao voted YES for the re-authorization, against republican party line.
Which banks are on the verge of insolvency ( no liquidity ) :
** CITY GROUP, because of its purchase on WAMU
** BANK OF AMERICA, because of its purchase of Merryll Lynch.
The problem now is these banks are too big for FDIC to take over.
** President Bush tried to play with accounting gimmicks with TART, and President Obama is trying a shell game of bad bank-good bank. Neither approaches will yield significant result.
** At the end of 2009, US economy will be -4%
** The US financial crisis has spread worldwide and destroyed 40% of World Wealth.
** Have you lost your home yet ?
** Have you lost your job yet ?
** Have you lost 40% on your pension plan ?
Jung Kim,
Do you support incestuous births? Or is abortion ok there?
I don’t support incestuous pregnancy but innocent baby has right to live.
The style of writing is quite familiar . Did you write guest posts for other bloggers?
p.s. Year One is already on the Internet and you can watch it for free.