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February 9, 2010
Toyota Acceleration Complaints as early as 2003
State Farm says it warned NHTSA on Toyota in 2007
By KEN THOMAS,
State Farm insurance said it noticed an uptick in reports of unwanted acceleration in Toyotas from its large customer database and warned the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in late 2007. NHTSA officials said the report was reviewed and the agency issued a recall later that month.
NHTSA received complaints about acceleration problems in Toyota vehicles as early as 2003, and congressional investigators are looking into whether the government missed warning signs of the problems. A House committee is scheduled to hold a hearing on Wednesday into the
Japanese automaker’s recall of about 8.5 million vehicles globally over floor mats which can trap gas pedals, sticking gas pedals and brake problems.
Toyota announced early Tuesday it would recall about 437,000 Prius and other hybrid vehicles to fix brake problems. There have been about 200 complaints in Japan and the U.S. about a delay when the brakes in the Prius were pressed in cold conditions and on some bumpy roads.
MORE…..news.yahoo.com
February 9, 2010
Is Charles Schumer Vulnerable?
by Mark Impomeni HUMAN EVENTS
The stunning and convincing victory by Sen. Scott Brown last month signaled to Republicans nationwide that any Democrat was potentially vulnerable in the upcoming 2010 mid-term congressional elections. If Brown could capture the Senate seat held by the Kennedy family for most of the last fifty years in deep-blue Massachusetts, the theory goes, then every seat is in play. But only the most optimistic of partisans would have applied that theory to the Senate seat held by New York’s Charles Schumer.
That is, until this week.
Marist College released a poll on Monday showing Schumer’s approval rating slipping below 50 percent for the first time in nine years. Forty-seven percent of New Yorkers now approve of Schumer’s job performance, a drop of eleven points since last September and off four points in just the last two weeks, according to the poll.
As the Senate’s number three ranking Democrat, and the architect of the Democrats’ current 59-41 majority as head of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee for the 2008 cycle, Schumer is enormously influential in Washington. And with a campaign war chest of close to $20 million, Schumer’s seat should be among the safest of incumbent Democrats. But that is not deterring one prominent Republican from giving serious consideration to taking on Schumer, calling a potential campaign against one of the most liberal members of the Senate, “a noble cause.”
Larry Kudlow, economist, columnist, television and radio personality, and former staffer in the Reagan White House, is reported to be mulling a challenge. The New York Daily News reported this week that New York Conservative Party Chairman Mike Long, a personal friend of Kudlow’s, has discussed a potential run with him and considers Kudlow to be “dead serious” about a campaign.
MORE…...humanevents.com/
February 9, 2010
Prof. Obama offers a remedial health care class
By: Chris Stirewalt THE EXAMINER
Is it pride or fear that is preventing President Obama from changing course in the face of a strong headwind from the American electorate?
The president is calling his fellow Democrats to the battlements in the name of global warming fees, a big expansion of the public education system, and the classification of terrorists as criminal defendants, not enemy combatants
But he is also willing to delay implementation on all of those initiatives in the face of public and legislative opposition
Consider health care.
The president is not commanding his allies in the House to pass the shoddy Senate health bill. He instead wants congressional Democrats to produce yet another reiteration of his plan and then have a national dialogue on the subject for “several weeks.”
Obama acknowledges that the insecurities of the American people are even greater than he expected. He also admits to underestimating the villainy of Republicans in spreading “misinformation” about his plan.
He has proposed having public forums in which he defends the bill from Republican attacks, with “independent” experts on hand to score the debate.
MORE…...washingtonexaminer.com
February 9, 2010
Obama’s Carp problem
Feds Commit $78.5 Million to Fight Asian Carp in Midwest Waterways
AP,FOXNews
Obama administration launches plan to limit Chicago-area locks and gates from opening to prevent the giant carp from dominating the Great Lakes
Navigational locks and gates in Chicago-area waterways crucial for shipping may be opened less frequently than usual under a $78.5 million campaign to prevent Asian carp from overrunning the Great Lakes, federal officials said Monday.The plan falls short of closing the navigational structures entirely, as demanded by Michigan and five other Great Lakes states. They fear the locks will provide an opening to the lakes for the giant carp, which some scientists say could devastate the region’s $7 billion fishing industry.
But the Obama administration described the plan as part of an effective strategy for keeping the invasive fish at bay while long-term biological controls are developed. The government said it would take 25 actions to slow the advance of the carp, which can reach 4 feet long and 100 pounds.Nancy Sutley, head of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, called the plan “an unparalleled effort on the part of the federal government.”
But Michigan officials said nothing short of closing the locks would give the lakes adequate protection. State Attorney General Mike Cox, a Republican running for governor, accused President Barack Obama of letting politics dictate policy.
Obama “proved today that he’ll do anything to protect the narrow interests of his home state of Illinois, even if it means destroying Michigan’s economy,” Cox said.
Bighead and silver carp, Asian species imported to cleanse fish farms and sewage plants in the Deep South, have been migrating up the Mississippi and Illinois rivers for decades. They have infested rivers and canals near Chicago, and their DNA has been detected in Lake Michigan itself, although no actual carp have been found there.
MORE….. .foxnews.com/
February 8, 2010
Army Betting Big on Laser Weapons
Ray Guns Real: Army Betting Big on Laser Weapons
By Gene J. Koprowski FOXNews.com
The U.S. Army is betting big on laser warfare — designing, testing and perfecting ultra-precise weapons based on devastatingly powerful beams of light. And given recent developments, it’s only a matter of time until the military has in its arsenal a weapon that until now has been the staple of science fiction — the ray gun.
Boeing, one of the Pentagon’s top contractors, already has a laser weapon that will improve the military’s ability to counter artillery, mortar, drone aircraft and even rockets, a spokesman tells FoxNews.com.
Boeing’s is the highest-profile program of all of the projects under development for the Department of Defense, and last week it took a step closer to reality. At its facility in Huntsville, Ala., Boeing accepted a military truck built by Oshkosh Defense that will carry its laser beam control system into battle.
The device is the cornerstone of a high-priority U.S. Army project, called the High Energy Laser Technology Demonstrator (HEL-TD), touted as the future of American war, which will enable the military to fight at the speed of light.
“Boeing is building only a demonstrator now … in this case, a test unit.”
That means the project is moving out of the design phase and, with the Oshkosh Heavy Expanded Military Tactical Truck, into production. The eight-wheel, 500-horsepower HEMTT A4, a widely used military tactical vehicle, is being tightly integrated with the Boeing rugged beam control system. Suppliers are already shipping related components to Boeing for assembly.
The weapon will eventually include high-speed processors, optical sensors, and an array of mirrors. Testing of the device’s lethal capacity will begin next fiscal year at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. In addition to the U.S. Army, Boeing is developing its laser technologies for the Air Force and Navy.
MORE…...foxnews.com/
February 8, 2010
75% Are Angry At Government’s Current Policies-Rasmussen Poll
A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey shows that 75% of likely voters now say they are at least somewhat angry at the government’s current policies, up four points from late November and up nine points since September. The overall figures include 45% who are Very Angry, also a nine-point increase since September.
Just 19% now say they’re not very or not at all angry at the government’s policies, down eight points from the previous survey and down 11 from September. That 19% includes only eight percent (8%) who say they’re not angry at all and 11% who are not very angry.
Part of the frustration is likely due to the belief of 60% of voters that neither Republican political leaders nor Democratic political leaders have a good understanding of what is needed today. That finding is identical to the view last September, just after the tumultuous congressional town hall meetings the month before. But only 52% felt this way in November.
Democratic Senate candidates are struggling in a number of states in part because of unhappiness with the government’s policies, including the controversial national health care plan. Opposition to that plan played a key part in the GOP upset Senate win last month in Massachusetts.
Most voters oppose the now-seemingly-derailed health care plan proposed by President Obama and congressional Democrats for months. They continue to have very mixed feelings about the $787-billion economic stimulus plan approved by Congress last February.
MORE RASMUSSEN…...rasmussenreports.com/
February 8, 2010
Public-sector Unions Bleed Taxpayers to Help Dems
Micheal Barone TOWNHALL
Growing up in Michigan in the heyday of the United Auto Workers, I long assumed that labor unions were part of the natural order of things.
That’s no longer clear. Last month, the Labor Department reported that private-sector unions lost 834,000 members last year and now represent only 7.2 percent of private-sector employees. That’s down from the all-time peak of 36 percent in 1953-54.
But union membership is still growing in the public sector. Last year, 37.4 percent of public sector employees were union members. That percentage was down near zero in the 1950s. For the first time in history, a majority of union members are government employees.
In my view, the outlook for both private- and public-sector unionism is problematic.
Private-sector unionism is adversarial. Economic studies show that such unions do extract premium wages and benefits from employers. But that puts employers at a competitive disadvantage
MORE…..townhall.com/
February 8, 2010
What is Obama’s Council of Governors? Who’s on it?
Gov. who linked Christians, violence latest Obama pick
By Bob Unruh WorldNet Daily
President Obama has picked to advise him on military actions inside the U.S. the Missouri governor whose state “Information Analysis Center” last year linked conservative organizations to domestic terrorism and said law enforcement officers should watch for suspicious individuals who may have bumper stickers from Ron Paul or Chuck Baldwin.
Missouri Gov. Jeremiah Nixon, a Democrat, is being joined on the Obama’s special advisory panel by the governor of Puerto Rico, Luis Fortuno, and Arizona Gov. Janice Brewer, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano’s replacement when she moved to Washington.
They are among Obama’s nominations for the 10 positions on Obama’s new “Council of Governors” that he will use for advice on “military activities in the United States.”
A subsequent WND report confirmed when a rebellion developed to the order, and a new push was launched for states to adopt laws limiting the use of their National Guard units unless there is an invasion, insurrection or other limited circumstance.
The original announcement said the new council is to include governors and administration officials to review “such matters as involving the National Guard of the various states; homeland defense, civil support; synchronization and integration of state and federal military activities in the United States; and other matters of mutual interest pertaining to National Guard, homeland defense, and civil support activities.”
However, there was no definition of the group’s authority. Can the council recommend “military activities” and can the governors, who already are in command of their own state guard units, mandate activities outside of their areas of jurisdiction? The White House did not respond to WND questions on the issue
MORE…...wnd.com
February 7, 2010
What Would Reagan Do to Restore America’s Greatness?
What Would Reagan Do?
By James Pinkerton FOXNews.com
On what would have been his 99th birthday, here are the Gipper’s lessons for restoring American greatness–and the keys to winning the next election
What Would Reagan Do?
Because we know we don’t want Barack Obama in the Oval Office for more than a single term.
For conservatives and libertarians–and, after the recent elections, independents and independent Democrats–there’s not much more to be said about the incumbent. From the audacity of hope to the reality of deep disappointment, his decline and fall compressed itself into just a year.
We know that Obama and his liberal-left policies have damaged our economy, degraded our national finances, and insulted traditional values.
Reagan was vastly more than a scene-setter and speechmaker. He was a great president, one of America’s greatest. During his eight years in office, inflation and interest rates fell from their double-digit levels, even as the nation’s economic output grew by a third. He appointed center-right judges who helped restore order and sanity to our legal system, initiating a process that reduced crime and ended egregious legal insults to common sense.
So if he were with us today, what would Reagan do? We can answer that question by recalling the Reagan agenda. Anyone even passingly familiar with American politics knows the Reagan policies: He wanted to cut tax rates to spur economic growth. He wanted to control spending and get government off our backs, so that entrepreneurs could once again grow small payrolls into big payrolls. And so what would Reagan say about “cap-and-trade” legislation? In private, he’d rail against the stupidity of such a scheme, but in public, he would just chuckle and encourage others to laugh such foolishness off the national stage.
Yet a neo-Reaganite economic policy would not shy away from delivering stern news: We are going to have to tighten our belts and cut spending–even as we invest in much-needed scientific projects, laying the groundwork for future growth. So yes, he would say, we are going to feel some pain, but we must stay the course, because the alternative is infinitely more painful. But our Reagan would always offer hope. He would remind us that America has always been, and must continue to be, a shining city on a hill–the last best hope for mankind.
MORE…...foxnews.com//
