From WORLD NEWS NOW, around 3:15 AM today

“Coming up on Good Morning America, the often forgotten victims of 9/11, babies born after the attack, growing up without their fathers and mothers.”

I know, it’s late/early and not everyone’s awake, but I’ll bet any amount of money there weren’t any kids born after 9/11 whose mothers died in the attacks.

Ford Tough– with other people’s money

DEPT. OF DESPERATE MEASURES:

Does this sound like the right time to be entering the subprime market? Ford thinks so. Bernard Simon reports in the Financial Times:

Ford will target consumers with an impaired credit history in a renewed drive to bring down swollen inventories of 2006 cars and trucks.

Ford said yesterday that “sub-prime” borrowers would be eligible for a new promotion offering interest-free financing for up to six years. “Our programme is going to be quite a bit more accessible,” Ford said, describing the scheme as “something customers will see as great value, and dealers will be able to rally around”.

Ford justified extending financing to buyers previously not considered creditworthy on the grounds that it was making its vehicles more affordable.

“It’s not that [the buyers] are not creditworthy, it’s that they don’t have quite as high a credit score,” it said. Bad debts will be treated as a marketing cost.

Okay, let me see if I’ve got this right. You already have problems covering your regular payments. And you’re being given incentives to buy cars that get poor gas mileage, at a time when gas is only going to get more expensive.

Ford is saying “Take these albatrosses from our necks and place them around your own, suckers.”

Related: this piece from the Freakanomics guys: Freakonomics at Work in Rental Cars:

I recently reserved an intermediate Hertz rental car in Tucson for a week. Intermediate is usually a Taurus or similar model.

When I got to the counter I was advised that I had been upgraded to a brand new Ford Explorer with free Sirius radio. I gladly took the upgrade. When I picked the car up there were a row of brand new Explorers being rented by Hertz.

Prior to returning the car, I filled up the tank for a charge of about $ 60. My gas mileage was about 10 miles to the gallon.

When I analyzed it, it all made sense using your reasoning approach.

Ford has a ton of Explorers that people will not buy because the mileage is so poor. Their response is to offer huge discounts to sell them.

Hertz rents the cars so they have no consequence of buying a car with poor mileage, since they do not have any gas costs. The gas costs are all picked up by the renter. Hertz reaps a great price advantage in purchasing discounted explorers without suffering the consequences of having to pay high gas usage expenses.

Most renters are probably business renters who are reimbursed for their car costs by their employer. They accept the luxury of a big rental car without having to worry about the gas prices being paid by them.

The only loser appears to be the employer whos reimbursement is based on high gas costs or an individual renter who pays his own car rental expenses.

Does that all seem to make sense?

(Via Daniel Gross.)

Anti-abortion question

Brandy makes an interesting observation: all the anti-abortion activists seem to be Christian. No Jews, no Muslims, no atheists. Any idea why?

In fact, are there any non-Christian anti-abortion groups?

Edit: it was pointed out that the original phrasing “pro-life” was a bit silly– all religions are pro life, some are not pro-choice.

Think about Bush

Lifted in full from the comments section of Nothing Able To Stop Bush’s Sinking Poll Numbers… | The Huffington Post:

PRETTY LADY WITH A “W” STICKER
On the way to work this morning, I saw a mini Toyota pickup truck with a camper shell on the back. On the back window of the camper it had a bunch of “W” stickers pasted. There must have been 12 oval “W” stickers on the back of that truck. I smiled and thought, “Wow, this guy really loves bush”. I then switched lanes and accelerated my powerful F-350 so that I could get a glimpse of this bush lover. Then the stop light in front of us turned red and we both glided to a stop. As I pulled even with the little truck, I could see that it wasn’t a guy after all, but the most beautiful young lady I have ever seen. My heart started beating faster.

I rolled down my window and gave her the “thumbs up” signal. She rolled down her passenger side window and said, “Can I help you?” I then shouted, “I LOVE YOUR W STICKERS!” She smiled. I shouted again, “CALL ME” as I pointed down to the magnetic sign posted to my truck door which has my cell phone listed. She shrugged. I shouted again, “PLEASE CALL ME, I WANT TO ASK YOU A QUESTION”. She nodded this time, but with a confused expression on her face.

After the light changed she drove off very fast and disappeared into the long street. I have to drive slow these days to save gas. I’m being tailgated and honked at, but when I drive this slowly I can improve my gas mileage to nearly 14 miles per gallon, so honk all you want. Then about a minute later my cell phone rings. I answer, “Hello?” and it’s the pretty lady with all the “W” stickers.

PRETTY LADY: Yeah, you wanted to ask me a question.

STILLGOT: Yeah, I noticed that you have quite a few “W” stickers on your camper shell. I was pretty impressed. I mean most people with “W” stickers are old men and old ladies. Your “W” stickers really made me feel good, but my question is why so many? You must have at least 12 stickers.

PRETTY LADY: Oh my gosh… Do you really think I’m a bush lover? No, no you’ve got it all wrong. Haven’t you heard about the new bush protest campaign called “think about bush”? Some guy at my college decided to post a bunch of “W” stickers all over his car. His theory is that most people don’t think enough about bush. He believes that bush’s track record is so bad that the best way to sway public opinion against him is to force people to think about him more often and even when they are waiting at stop lights. Most people now know that a bunch of “W” stickers mean that you’re not happy with bush’s performance as president. I thought everyone knew about that.

STILL GOT: Oh shit. I thought you were one of us. (Long Pause) Ummm… So where did you get all the “W” stickers?

PRETTY LADY: Oh, I found the little “W” ovals on the Internet and I printed them, cut them out with scissors, and then scotch taped them to my back window.

STILL GOT: Hey, that’s pretty creative. You’re a pretty smart girl. How would you like to go to lunch with me? I’ve got coupons for all the fast food places.

PRETTY LADY: No thanks. I don’t eat junk food. I can’t believe you still have your original “W” sticker. The only other original “W” sticker I saw this morning was on a big Lincoln Town car with a little old lady behind the wheel. And that truck you drive is so gigantic. It must cost a fortune to fill it up. You poor silly little man… No wonder you collect coupons for McDonalds. Well, Ok, I’ve got to go…. (CLICK)