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Thursday, February 10, 2011
[1868 - William Allen White, newspaper publisher, writer, born in Emporia, Kansas]
[1890 - Boris Leonidovich Pasternak, poet, writer, born in Moscow, Russia]
[1892 - Alan Hale (Rufus Edward Mackahan), actor, born in Washington, D.C.]
[1893 - Jimmy (James Francis) Durante, actor, comedian, born in Brooklyn]
[1898 - Dame Judith (Frances Margaret) Anderson, actress, born in Adelaide, South Australia]
[1905 - Walter A. Brown, Basketball Hall of Famer, founder NBA, Boston Celtics, born in Hopkinton, Massachusetts]
[1906 - Lon (Creighton Tull) Chaney Jr., actor, born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma]
[1914 - Lawrence 'Larry' Cecil Adler, composer, musician, born in Baltimore, Maryland]
[1920 - Alexander Comfort, medical researcher, pacifist, author, born in London]
[1960 - USS Sargo (SSN-583) surfaces at the North Pole]
[1962 - American U-2 pilot Francis Gary Powers exchanged for Soviet Colonel Rudolf Abel]
[1966 - Ralph Nader testifies to Senate on US automobile industry social irresponsibility]
Uneconomical At Any Speed
More than four decades ago a youthful Ralph Nader appeared before Congress to expose the shameful safety practices of the Detroit automakers. Now that Mr. Nader has become an old curmudgeon, and a perennially unsuccessful candidate for high office, note that the Detroit automakers have marched in lockstep with him. Having resisted most safety advances in the intervening years, it was only government regulation and consumer oversight plus some healthy competition from the foreign manufacturers that made the US-produced cars now on our highway more protective of human life. Detroit built safer cars when they had no other choice.
A decade prior to Mr. Nader's appearance before Congress, William bought as his first car, a used 1955 VW Beetle. It got 25-27 mpg around town, and 29-30 mpg on the highway. Today, over half a century later, the Detroit automakers are beginning to produce vehicles with comparable mileage and economy. They continue to resist the mandatory mileage requirements that government seeks to impose in order to reduce the USA dependence on foreign oil.
1955 VW Beetle
1955 Cadillac Coupe DeVille
William's Whimsical Words:
Is it any wonder that two of the surviving Detroit Three came to Congress, hats in hand, seeking multi-billion-dollar bailouts?
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