Items: The Toyota recall, Moon funding cancelled, Mid-Atlantic snowstorm
In school we were told to not be Indian givers. This term is now offensive, in the same way that “cotton-picking,” “Druid-baiting,” and “Krautsploding” are now offensive. But back then, on the rez, we all laughed.
Toyota has recalled more than Ronald Reagan could, and soon will have taken back so many cars that it will demand the 1998-2001 series of Ford Explorers to feed the monkey.
“You get a taste for it,” one Toyota exec didn’t tell me.
At issue is the unintended acceleration or overintended but ultimately fruitless deceleration of Toyota products, including the Prius. Many stateside Toyota dealers are staying open 24 hours to deal with the recalls, which have provided an unintentional acceleration to the sales pitches of Toyota’s competitors.
My favorite: This Dodge Charger crashes when you want it to.
But, unlike that embankment, the moon is not a place Americans will be visiting anytime soon. At least with federal funding.
President Obama’s 2010 budget cuts the cash for NASA’s Ares I booster and its Orion capsule, and scuttles the Constellation program, already $9 billion into its mission to replace the Space Shuttle.
The plan does call for a commercial taxi service to the moon, the International Space Station (ISS), and points beyond, but Boy are people scratching their heads about what happened to the audacity of hope. Who knew that moon was a four-letter word? It’s even a four-letter word in Spanish, but that’s understandable.
Antonio Banderas has never been to the moon.
“We believe that NASA can inspire Americans and lead to scientific advances,” said Office of Management and Budget director Peter Orszag, pointing out NASA’s new Try Reaching Laterally for Now program with troubled teens in the Kissimmee/St. Cloud area.
In Washington, we sit in the snowbank, front wheels spinning lazily, and stare at the moon. The tow truck will not be here for a while. Our 2005-2010 Avalon slides in and out of view of three lanes of oncoming traffic here on the inner loop, and we recall the final resting place of King Arthur, that other presence-challenged Avalon. So that’s what happened to the Hyundai Brigadoon.
See also: Toyota Recall info; White House briefing on Constellation program; DC Snowmageddon; Avalon in HTML history
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