- Still trying to beat high gas prices? Well, Robert Lutz, vice-chairman of General Motors, may be the man with the answer for you, the answer being a wall outlet and an extension cord. Lutz promised back in January of 2007 that the Chevrolet Volt plug-in electric car would be ready for mass production and on the road, by the end of 2010. He made the announcement at the 2007 North American International Auto Show in Detroit, Michigan, in conjunction with the unveiling of the Volt concept car, so everyone thought he was just blowing sunshine up their butts and wasn’t being truthful. However, based on recent developments, it seems that reliable long-term and cost effective lithium-ion batteries required to power a plug-in electric car may be on track for that 2010 release date. On September 16, GM celebrated its 100-year anniversary celebration at the Renaissance Center in downtown Detroit, Michigan, by unveiling the production version of the Volt.
That very same day, the company began driving test models at its Milford Proving Grounds. So while 2010 is still a ways off, so far it appears that Lutz and his company have been able to stick to their projected timeline and that come 2010, you may actually be able to buy an electric car, albeit for an exorbitant price. Plus, GM isn't the only auto maker with plug-in electric cars on the way. So far this year, Ford has delivered the first two of what should be a fleet of 20 Escape Plug-In Hybrid "research" vehicles to Southern California Edison, the utility company. With the ever-shrinking supply of oil in the world and a need for alternative fuels, all of this is most definitely good news, to be sure……
- No good can come of this. In an unprecedented meeting of evil, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez arrived in Beijing Tuesday to meet with top Chinese officials and to discuss the possibility of buying weapons, state-run media reported. Chavez has traveled to China for meetings with President Hu Jintao, along with other “relevant state leaders.” On the agenda are discussions about “bilateral relations and issues of mutual concern,” according to sources in China. Decoding that, I’m going to assume that Venezuela is indeed working on a deal to purchase Chinese K-8 military training planes, as has been alleged. To that end, the two oppressive, dictatorially run nations are also expected to sign cooperation agreements in the areas of “justice, sports, and quality supervision and inspection.” Great, so you can both agree to deprive citizens of their rights, play each other in soccer and hate the United States together. Chavez seems to be hitting up a lot of this type of nation, having made a similar visit to Russia two months ago to meet with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and President Dmitry Medvedev. During that July visit, my boy Hugo negotiated for the purchase of Russian military equipment. Two Russian strategic bombers have been deployed to Venezuela and three Russian warships have sailed for Venezuela for joint maneuvers with the Venezuelan military.
So in other words, it looks like someone is itching to form their own Axis of Evil for real, y’all……
- Who knew farting was a criminal weapon? Clearly not a West Virginia man who police said passed gas and fanned it toward a patrol officer, because I’m guessing Jose A. Cruz of Clarksburg wouldn’t have let rip with a smelly one if he knew he would be charged with battery on a police officer. Cruz was pulled over early Tuesday for driving without headlights, and according to a police report, he smelled of alcohol. Police became even more suspicious of his possible drunkenness when Cruz exhibited slurred speech and then failed three field sobriety tests. For some reason, this led them to handcuff him and take him to a police station for a Breathalyzer test. That’s where the fun really started, assuming that a cop getting farted on is fun, or at least funny, to you. As Patrolman T.E. Parsons prepared the machine, Cruz scooted his chair toward Parsons, lifted his leg and “passed gas loudly.” But Cruz didn’t stop there; according to the police report, he then fanned the gas toward the officer. “The gas was very odorous and created contact of an insulting or provoking nature with Patrolman Parsons,” the report alleged. So not silent-but-violent, a loud-and-smelly one for Cruz. Officer Parsons then exhibited typical no-humor-having cop behavior by turning this into a criminal offense and adding it to the other charges against Cruz, which now include under the influence, driving without headlights and two counts of obstruction. For his part, Cruz acknowledged passing gas but said he didn't move his chair toward the officer nor aim his stink bomb at the officer. He actually claimed he had an upset stomach at the time, but police denied his request to use the restroom when he arrived at the station. “I couldn't hold it no more,” he said. “This is ridiculous,” he said. “I could be facing time.” Yes, but I’m sure that if other inmates heard about what you did (allegedly), you’d be a jailhouse hero. That is, of course, unless flatulence directed at a cop is a capital offense and eligible for the death penalty…..
- Tuesday night’s episode of Greek was titled “Pledge Allegiance” and of course, the focus was on the pledges of Kappa Tau and Zeta Beta Zeta. The KT pledges, namely Rusty and Ben Bennett, were feeling like they were being burdened with the bulk of the pledge duties and met with their fellow pledges to express their concerns. Their fellow pledges scoffed at the charges and they all decided to band together to fight the unfair treatment from the actives. However, Cappie and Wade overheard the griping and declared it was time for “Old Folks Home Night” at the KT house. This consisted of the actives sitting around, being doted upon like elderly people at a rest home. Rusty was the human remote control, with the sole job of changing the channel, while other pledges had to make crème brule, hot dogs and other assorted tasks. That inspired a pledge revolt, which Rusty and Ben started by using smoke to fake a fire in the house (completed with smoke alarms), then locking the actives out as the pledges stayed in. The pledges even mooned the actives, who then tried to break back in. When that failed, they pulled their cars up on the front lawn, blasted some gawd-awful Hawaiian music on their stereos (where were the campus police enforcing the noise ordinances this time? No clue) while shining their headlights into the house. The psychological warfare eventually wore down the pledges, who came out to seek a truce. The actives stormed the house and sat on (literally) the pledges for a while before Cappie spoke to the pledges, told them that their poor treatment was supposed to spark a revolt and that he was proud of them. The pledges were invited upstairs to watch some action movies, but as they left, Cappie told Wade that Hell Week was coming up and would be the time that payback was coming. Tensions were equally high at Zeta Beta, where scheming, conniving Frannie was hard at work weaseling her way back into the leadership mix. She inserted herself back into the pledge educator role and won over the pledges so they’d support her being officially installed in the role. Casey reluctantly agreed, but when Frannie started stealing her parking spot in front of the house, Casey began to get concerned. Those concerns distracted her on her first date with new guy Max, with the problem compounded by the fact that Max is still trying to work past the death of his last girlfriend, who was a save-the-world type with much bigger concerns than a sorority house parking spot. As Frannie schedules a lock-in night at the house with the pledges, Casey has another date with Max to see the campus drama club’s Shakespeare in the Park, a date she is late for because she walks to avoid having Frannie steal her parking spot and a date she cuts short when she realizes what Frannie is up to. Back at the ZBZ house, the two try to one-up each other to impress the pledges, then tensions boil over during a game of “I never,” ending with Casey throwing water in Frannie’s face. Max, who came back to make sure Casey was okay, tells her he likes this side of her because of her energy and passion, along with the fact that she does everything 100 percent, all the way. The other story on this night was Evan Chambers, living it up with his new trust fund money and taking Omega Chi little brother Calvin and Calvin’s boyfriend Michael out for an expensive dinner, completed with $400-a-bottle wine. Michael and Evan actually get along well, but the connection doesn’t appear genuine when Evan offers to help Michael get an interview for a professorship at Princeton - if Michael will change the grade of an Omega Chi who is failing one of his classes. Evan tops that off by sending a gift of a bottle of the $400 wine to Michael, then arranging the Princeton interview. Calvin doesn’t know about all of this - yet - and it’ll be interesting to see what happens when he does. Thankfully AWOL from this episode was Dale, the one-note wet blanket. Nearly AWOL was Casey’s BFF Ashleigh, who was on screen briefly as she started her new gig giving campus tours. Overall, a funny episode, so tune back in next week to see where all of this leads…..
- Is it too much to ask that foreign heads of state not hit on our vice presidential candidates while visiting our country? I’m looking at you, Pakistani president Asif Ali Zardari, after you called GOP vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin "gorgeous" when you two met in New York today. Palin has been in New York, doing just as running mate John McCain and Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama have been doing, pretending that they are already in power and meeting international leaders as if they were already president or vice president. With those foreign leaders in town this week for United Nations meetings, Zaradi entered a room where Palin as, and when she rose to shake his hand, saying she was "honored" to meet him, Zardari called her "gorgeous" and said: “Now I know why the whole of America is crazy about you.” Hey Asif, stop hitting on our politicians, if you don’t mind. Palin took it in stride, saying, “You are so nice.” Remarkably, she didn’t look to turn the situation into a chance to rip Obama, but give her time. In the meantime, can we institute a rule that if foreign heads of state are going to hit on a candidate, it has to be John McCain? Thanks…..
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