- At some point, enviro-lovers are going to have to be happy
with what is being done to save the planet…right? News from the Environmental
Protection Agency that model year 2012 cars and trucks will have the highest
ever real-world average fuel economy at about 23.8 miles per gallon should be
reason for celebration…but of course, not everyone is happy. That number would
be 1.2 mpg higher than the previous peak set in 2010 and a nice rebound from
2011, when U.S. gasoline prices averaged a then-record $3.53 for a gallon of
regular and the mpg numbers fell. The EPA attributed the one-year, 0.2 mpg
decline partially to the effects of the March 2011 earthquake, tsunami and
nuclear power disasters in Japan. Those disasters cut production by Honda and
Toyota, leaving fewer gas-saving models on the market. In light of the good
news about the 2012 model year, the whiners of the Safe Climate Campaign at the
Center for Auto Safety are choosing not to be happy, but to demand more improvement.
"Because American car makers weren’t doing their share, when natural
disaster curtailed Japan’s auto production, our overall fuel efficiency
faltered," said Dan Becker, the campaign’s director. "This is a stark
demonstration that despite GM’s and Chrysler’s claims, they still are not
pulling their weight. They need better aerodynamics, better transmissions,
better engines. This is not rocket science. It's auto mechanics." A rocket
science blast? Really? How clichéd of you, Safe Climate Campaign at the Center
for Auto Safety. Americans aren’t likely to complain about a continued push for
higher-mileage vehicles, what with 2012’s average gallon of gasoline costing
$3.63, according to the Energy Department. In fact, complaining seems to be the
one part of this equation that remains remarkably consistent and reliable………
- The sh*t is getting real in the City of Brotherly Love and
Mayor Michael Nutter is at the center of it. Nutter is locked in a pitched
battle with union workers who are angry that the mayor has not given them the
new contract they want and their battle went very public Thursday as Nutter finished
his budget address. Union members assembled outside and carried signs that read
“Mayor Bozo,” chanting as they marched. They should have bought some red, foam
clown noses and brightly colored wigs to complete the Mayor Bozo gag, but their
rage was still palpable. Hundreds of workers marched as police blocked off
traffic around City Hall, with the rallying cry for the gathering being five
years without a new contract is too long. Union members alleged that the mayor
has never attended a negotiating session, a charge the mayor’s spokesman, Mark
McDonald, refuted by saying, “The union says ‘No’ to any of the critical
reforms that city taxpayers need to help create a sustainable city budget in
the future. Consequently, we are asking the court to give us the authority to
impose our final offer.” The scene inside the building wasn’t any more relaxed,
as Nutter
was forced to stop his budget address after protestors drowned out his words. "If
you have a guest and I was a guest, if you have a guest in your house, then you
need to make sure that your guest is treated in an appropriate fashion,"
Nutter complained afterward. With some of the protestors inside the city
council chambers making their voices heard, Nutter had to shout to be heard
over the din. He left the podium twice because of the noise and after his
second departure, council president Darrell Clarke quickly adjourned the
meeting, to Nutter’s dismay. "If the council had stayed in session, I
would have given my budget address," Nutter said. After leaving the
chambers, Nutter had to fight his way through the overflow crowd in the hallway
as the taunts flew from protestors and he retreated to the president's office
as the angry crowd followed him. Half an hour later, he finally delivered his
full speech in his second floor reception room with only media members allowed
inside……..
- Heavy metal and alcohol have been good friends for a long
time. Going to a metal show, drinking heavily and slamming into other similarly
intoxicated fans in the mosh pit is a staple of the metal scene and for
successful (and not so successful) metal bands, downing a beer or eight after a
show and finding a groupie to, um, hang out with is a popular activity. Iron
Maiden have had plenty of chances to drink heavily and hook up with ladies of
questionable morality over the past four decades and the British rockers are
paying fitting tribute to those good times by launching their own brand of
beer. A cask
ale to be sold initially in pubs around Stockport, near the Robinson’s brewery
where the beer will be made, is named Trooper after the band’s hit 1983 single.
Singer Bruce Dickinson, made famous as the producer in Will Ferrell and
Christopher Walken’s classic “Saturday Night Live” skit about Blue Oyster Cult,
said the band also plans to sell bottles of the 4.7 percent strength beer at
gigs and eventually roll it out across the United Kingdom before taking it
worldwide. “Iron Maiden is something quintessentially British — so we said we
should be doing a real ale. We have to satisfy the thirst of Iron Maiden fans
around the world, and there are a lot of them,” Dickinson said. If nothing
else, Iron Maiden deserves credit for a much more macho effort to release their
own brand of alcohol than fellow rockers AC/DC, who launched a wine range last
year. Motorhead is still the king with its wn line of vodka and Pearl Jam also
have their Faithfull Ale, proving that bands still rock out for a list of
reasons that include, in some order, making a lot of money, pulling plenty of
chicks, becoming as famous as possible, partying as often as possible and
getting drunk……..
- Does anyone reading this a) have a first baseman’s glove,
b) have some free time on their hands and c) want to make seven figures a year
to play for the most storied franchise in the history of Major League Baseball?
If so, the New York Yankees may want to speak with you. Yankees general manager
Brian Cashman, dealing with a banged-up roster that features its three best
power hitters in various states of injury recovery and unable to start the
season on the active roster, needs a first baseman. Cashman, himself dealing
with a dislocated ankle and broken leg courtesy of a skydiving accident, needs
someone to man first base in light of Mark Teixeira‘s right wrist injury that
will sideline him for 8 to 10 weeks. Teixiera didn’t even injure himself
playing for the Yankees or in a game at all, instead straining his wrist
working out in the batting cage while playing for Team USA in the World
Baseball Championship. The Yankees’ current roster has some potentially viable
short-term options at first base in veterans Dan Johnson, Juan Rivera and Kevin
Youkilis, but those three players don’t seem to have Cashman or manager Joe
Girardi convinced because if that were the case, Cashman would not have called
retired, 37-year-old former Chicago Cubs, Florida Marlins and Baltimore Orioles
slugger Derrek Lee. Cashman asked Lee if he would be interested in coming out
of retirement to fill in at first base and Lee turned him down, offering the
same response as former Atlanta Braves third baseman Chipper Jones and former Philadelphia
Phillies third baseman when Cashman called to weigh their interest. The fact
that Lee wasn’t interested in coming back suggests that he is either very happy
in retirement or that the Yankees don’t have quite the allure they once did to
baseball players……….
- Is life getting better in Italy? That’s a ridiculous
question as long as the country’s government is paralyzed in a state of chaos
and its economy is among Europe’s most troubled. Anyone searching for signs of
hope should not look to Italy’s new parliament, which met on Friday for the first time since last
month's inconclusive election and displayed no reason for hope of a deal to end
the stalemate and yield a government able to address the ongoing problems in the
euro zone's third-largest economy. The impasse created by the election is
deeply entrenched and an arrangement in which the center-left has a majority in the lower
house but with insufficient numbers to control the Senate and form a government
could drag any potential progress down into the mud. Unless a minor miracle occurs,
an early return to the polls is the most viable option and even that is no
guarantee of a solution to the dilemma. While their government wars with
itself, Italians still must cope with the lingering fiscal turmoil that helped
topple Silvio Berlusconi's government in 2011. A coalition government seems
unlikely after attempts by center-left leader Pier Luigi Bersani to reach an
accord with Beppe Grillo's anti-establishment 5-Star Movement have yielded
nothing and Bersani is steadfastly against any deal with ex-premier Berlusconi’s
center-right bloc. "We are ready for anything," said Roberta
Lombardi, the 5-Star Movement's parliamentary leader in the lower house. Neither
the 630 lower house deputies nor the 315 senators sitting on Friday could
successfully execute something as simple as electing the speakers, who hold two
of the highest offices of state and play a central role in managing the
parliamentary agenda. A complicated, multi-round process viewed as the first
direct test of the parties' ability to work together after the bitter election
is expected to last as least three rounds and continue into the weekend. Once
the speakers are elected, President Giorgio Napolitano will be able to begin
formal consultations with party leaders and determine if there is any hope for an
agreement over a government. There are plenty of interested parties in the
business, finance and political arenas who are hopeful that a government can be
formed to help lift Italy’s stunted economy. Grillo threatens to derail the
process because of his promise to support any government not led by his own
movement in a confidence vote. If there is no agreement, Napolitano could also ask
an outsider to try to form a technocrat government. With all of the drama going
on inside parliament, there is also the matter of Berlusconi facing two trials
this month, one in which he is charged with paying for sex with former
nightclub dancer Karima El Mahroug when she was still a minor and a separate
trial in which he is appealing a four-year sentence for tax fraud……..
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