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Politics : Just the Facts, Ma'am: A Compendium of Liberal Fiction -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Sully- who wrote (77873)	2/24/2010 10:26:54 PM
From: Sully-	1 Recommendation Respond to of 90947

The Auto Prophet doubts Toyota defect is in electronic throttle control By: Mark Tapscott Editorial Page Editor 02/24/10 11:26 AM EST Lost in much of the media coverage of the Toyota safety recall controversy is objective technical analysis by credible automotive engineers. Until now, anyway, thanks to The Auto Prophet. The Auto Prophet is a respected blogger who describes himself as "an engineer working in product development for an American automotive company. I am a member of the SAE." I've relied on The Auto Prophet for years as a credible source for technical analyses on a variety of issues. As two separate congressional panels hear testimony this week from such notables as Transportation Secretary Ray Lahood and Toyota CEO Akio Toyoda, the grand son of the company founder, The Auto Prophet has weighed in with a technical assessment of electronic throttle control technology. He notes that "ETC systems engineers know that complex systems are designed, tested, and validated over many years before being released into production, and are tested for every conceivable failure. ETC systems must be qualified under a range of temperatures and wide band electromagnetic interference testing. "Failure modes, such as cut wires, broken sensors, damaged actuators, etc. are all tested using a process called FMEA (failure mode effects analysis). FMEA was designed by NASA as a way to think through a system's reliabilty to pin down possible ways it could break; then tests are designed to validate the system under those conditions." Given all that, is it still possible that Toyota's problems stem from a flaw in its ETC? The Auto Prophet says its possible, but unlikely. To read the rest of his assessment, which is written for non-techies, go here. Read more at the Washington Examiner: washingtonexaminer.com

To: Sully- who wrote (77873)	2/24/2010 10:35:57 PM
From: Sully-	1 Recommendation Respond to of 90947

None of these committee Democrats has recused themselves from the hearing going on as this is written. UAW's invisible hand behind the Toyota hearing going on right now By: Mark Tapscott Editorial Page Editor 02/24/10 12:06 PM EST There are 25 Democrats on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, 12 of whom have received campaign contributions of as much as $10,000 towards their 2010 re-election campaigns from the United Auto Workers union, which is a co-owner of General Motors, Toyota's main rival for U.S. sales. Among the dozen recipients of UAW money are: Representatives Elijah Cummings of Maryland ($1,000), John F. Tierney of Massachusetts ($1,000), William Clay, Jr. of Missouri ($1,000), Gerry Connolly of Virginia ($3,000), Michael Quigley of Illinois ($10,000), Patrick Kennedy of Rhode Island ($1,000), Danny Davis of Illinois ($1,000), Chris Van Hollen of Maryland ($1,000), Paul Hodes of New Hampshire ($2,500), Chris Murphy of Connecticut ($5,000), Peter Welch of Vermont ($1,000), and Judy Chu of California ($500). None of these committee Democrats has recused themselves from the hearing going on as this is written. You can view the hearing on the committee's web site. Democrats have been telling us for decades that special interest money corrupts politics, and that is why we must have the federal government regulating campaign finance through the Federal Election Commission. I guess money corrupts politics, unless its Democratic recipients of the money from special interests like the UAW. Read more at the Washington Examiner: washingtonexaminer.com

To: Sully- who wrote (77873)	2/24/2010 11:58:09 PM
From: Sully-	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 90947

Interfering in GM? Who, Us? By: Henry Payne Planet Gore Detroit -- The White House is responding sharply to Mitt Romney’s new book, No Apology: The Case for American Greatness, in which the 2008 presidential candidate claims that “government is calling the shots on every major decision at GM, including which plants to expand and which to close." White House spokesman Matt Lehrich told the Detroit News: “While the president will continue to monitor the taxpayers' investment in these companies, he has enough on his plate to have no interest in running them. Decisions and management are handled by the company alone." A short list of the ways in which Washington isn’t running GM: -- The Obama administration forced GM into Chapter 11 last March and rejected its first restructuring plan as inadequate. -- The Obama administration fired GM CEO Rick Wagoner. --The Obama administration appointed new GM board chairman, Ed Whitacre. -- The Obama administration forced GM to reverse a decision to build its new small car in Asia. To satisfy UAW demands, the car will be built in Orion Township, north of Detroit. -- Rep. Barney Frank (D., Mass.) strong-armed GM into keeping open a facility slated for closure in his district. -- Congress has balked at GM’s dealer streamlining plans, passing a law requiring dealer arbitration. -- And just today, the Obama administration GM announced that it would discontinue the gas-hungry Hummer. planetgore.nationalreview.com