Toontime: When the Wheels Come Off

Update: VW's US executive was told in 2014 that there was "possible non-compliance" with emission standards after a West Virginia University study was published. However, in testimony to Congress he stated it was not until September 3rd this year that Volkswagen told regulators about the testing "defeat device". The scandal affects about half-million cars in the US. Michael Horn also said that the responsible parties will be identified and held accountable. The company announced a massive recall of diesel powered cars to begin in January and completed by the end of 2016. The fix will be approved by the German government. A software update will be sufficient for most cars, but other vehicles will require new fuel injection and catalytic converters. The EA189 engine was used widely in several models with country-specific variations. The effort will be hugely expensive for VW. The new CEO Matthais Müller warned workers in Wolfburg, the company would try to avoid layoffs, but that its entire 86 billion expansion plans were under review. The company will take a charge-off of $7.33 billion to pay for repairs. The damage done to the VW brand is incalculable.

{2.09.15}A corporate brand that stands for reliability and value got a rude shock this week when it was revealed Volkswagen cheated on emissions test to get its popular diesel engine models accepted by regulators. The company's CEO, Martin Winterkorn has already resigned and more resignations by company executives are expected. The cheating is international in scale with as many as 11 million diesel vehicles containing software that allowed the company to evade pollution standards in the United States. An independent investigation by CAFEE, Center for Alternative Fuels, Engines and Emission detected the software "fix" when it was asked to study US models of European diesels under US conditions since these vehicles were emitting 4-7 more pollution than permitted under less stringent European standards. The US Justice Department is now beginning a criminal investigation.

The New York Times reports that VW diesel engine models as well as Audi models made by VW contained programs for detecting when the engine was undergoing emissions testing. The programming turned on all of the vehicles exhaust scrubbing mechanisms to insure a passing score and then turned them off when testing was completed, allowing significantly more pollution to enter the atmosphere than detected. The standard at issue is the NOx, or nitrous oxide emissions that is noticeably more stringent in the US than Europe (0.04g/km compared to 25g/km). Nitrous oxides are responsible for creating smog and depleting the ozone layer.

credit: Jeff Stahler
Wackydoodle sez: An' a bad case of dirty oil too!

COTW: The Increasing Frenzy

It is a testament to the extent of mental illness in this society that it has become more enamored with the grotesque rituals that surround each mass shooting in America than actually formulating political will to do something to reduce the number of guns at large. The emotionally unstable and guns do not mix as US Person has written before {21.07.12, The Joker Comes Down}. The United States is plagued by both. There was no legitimate reason for the Roseburg killer to amass thirteen rifles, many semi-automatic, other than to eventually use them against his fellow human beings. Roseburg is rabid gun country.   But no hunter worth the name needs that many weapons to kill an occasional deer or elk for sport. As Pope Francis has said publicly, arms manufacture is a international big business, so the supply will not stop anytime soon. Only the United States has done very little in comparison to other developed nations to keep them out of the hands of the deranged and criminal. The nation hides behind a historical anachronism that has little relevance in modern society while the cash registers keep ringing up gun sales. The frequency of mass shootings is higher in the US than anywhere else in the world and increasing; mass shootings do happen in other countries but only the US has such a permissive culture when it comes to using deadly force. Even when accounting for disparity in population, the US still makes the upper half of the list surpassing China, Canada, Australia, England, France, Germany and Mexico. Finland, Switzerland and Norway have higher rates of mass shootings than the US, but only because each small country suffered a horrific mass slaughter since 2000. In Norway, a gunman killed 67 people in one rampage. Perhaps the easy sentiment so publicly on display and parsing of homicide statistics will finally wear thin and the 'Merican people will say enough is enough.

Kunduz War Crime

ISIS is not the only group committing war crimes these days. ISIS toppled its third ancient ruin in Palmyra, a roman arch that stood for 2000 years. But contrary to Obama's often repeated promise to remove US combat troops from Afghanistan by 2014, US advisors are still fighting on the ground against a resilient Tailban. In an effort to retake Kunduz, largely in the hands of insurgents, US advisors called in an airstrike by a Spectre gunship [photo] against a hospital manned by Médicines Sans Frontières, one of the few still operating in the country. The strike killed 22 people including 12 members of staff. Some were burned alive in their beds by the cannon rounds. At first the American military said the hospital was occupied by Taliban firing on US soldiers. That cover story did not live long. An American general testifying before Congress yesterday about the incident called it "a mistake". MSF officials also flatly reject that explanation, saying the hospital was identified by GPS coordinates which were given to all sides. It also had a signal repeater on its roof; everyone in the area knew it was a working hospital. The gunship attack continued for thirty minutes after the hospital was again identified to American and Afghan military officials. A deliberate attack on a hospital would qualify as a war crime under international law. Médicines Sans Frontières is demanding a full, transparent (international) investigation of the incident.

The charity organization ran afoul of the Afghan military in July. Afghan special forces raided the hospital when they learned a terrorist operative was being treated there. MSF says no Taliban were on the hospital grounds when the attack occurred; even if a protected facility is being abused by the enemy, a retaliatory attack must be proportional. The AC-130 gunship employed 40 and 120mm automatic cannon rounds to completely destroy the hospital. This latest outrage epitomizes the unqualified failure of the American expedition in Afghanistan, one that could have been predicted at the outset. After killing Osama Bin Laden, the American purpose there was fulfilled and troop withdrawn. In an effort to prop-up a failed state, the United States has only become more deeply embroiled in a region that is historically ungovernable. The pressure for results in the longest war of America's war strew history is immense. Incredibly, Pentagon generals are now calling for a reintroduction of American soldiers to fend off the Taliban. Troop levels are now scheduled to decline to 1000 by 2017. Here is what former President Jimmy Carter said about US foreign policy in the last half of the 20th century, "...it's generally accepted that the most intense warmonger for the last 35 or 40 years has been the United States of America. We're the country in the forefront of almost every war that has started....eager to go to war to resolve differences. We have proven that, as you know, in a number of cases for a long time. When we went into Korea, when we went into Vietnam, when we went in to Iraq both times. I think all those wars were unnecessary."

California Bans All Ivory

California under Governor Jerry Brown has taken decisive action to ban virtually all trade in ivory and rhino horn in the state. The Governor signed AB96 into law on Sunday. Owners can sell ivory and rhino horn up until the deadline of July 1, 2016 After that penalties for violations reach up to $50,000 fine and a year in prison, a felony crime. The legislation was hailed by elephant conservationist working desperately to save the planets remaining pachyderms from the ruthless onslaught of poachers. California was among the world's major consumer markets for ivory. California joins New York and New Jersey as states that have passed a comprehensive trade ban. Washington state may be next as Microsoft founder Paul Allen has funded an initiative to ban ivory, horn and body parts from trade. These bans need to be extended nationwide so the United States can take the lead in eradicating this despicable predation without moral justification. The recent African Elephant Summit in Botswanna issued a statement saying that African elephants may go extinct in the next ten years if draconian measure are not taken to save Earth's most majestic and wise land animal. People who want the elephant to survive can help by touring those dwindling areas of the world that are wild. US Person tells you it will be beautiful experience, and well worth the expense. Safaris pay the bills that keep game parks and their wild inhabitants secure. Kenyan wildlife expert Jonathan Scott says, "if we abandon tourism, we abandon conservation."

US Wastes Seafood

Fishing stocks are plummeting around the globe leaving the seas empty, but the United States wastes around 40-47% of the seafood it harvests annually according to recent calculations. That is enough protein to feed about 10 million men. Researchers published in Global Environmental Change concluded about 2.3 billion pounds of seafood go to waste in the supply change from fishing boat to table between 2009 and 2013. Total annual supply was estimated at 4.7 billion pounds.  Consumers throw away the most--51 to 63%--while bycatch counted for 16-32%. The size of the loss concerns the study's authors because of the impact on ecological systems and treating aquatic systems as though they were limitless is detrimental to public health and the environment. They recommend stricter bycatch reduction programs, more consumption of parts not typically eaten, and marketing seafood in smaller packages.

Toontime: The Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy Redux

credit: Robert Ariail
Wackydoodle sez: Y'al never knows when ya need a good ploy!

One could call it the death by a thousand e-mails: the death of Hillary Clinton's presidential bid. Right wing activists are making sure this story does not go away anytime soon. According to Bloomberg there are 30 FOIA suits pending against Ms. Clinton because of her ill-advised use of a private internet server for official government business while she headed the State Department She really has her self to blame for this persistent torment by giving her adversaries such as easy target. Requested records concern the Benghazi attack. potential conflicts of interest between her husband's foundation seeking donations from foreign leaders, and her aide's employment for the Clinton foundation and the federal government. The dispute has become a daily distraction for the campaign and has allowed her socialist rival to gain ground as well as entice more competition from Vice President Joe Biden. A federal judge has ordered Clinton to turn overs some 30,000 work-related correspondence on a rolling basis by the end of January. The right-wing Scaife Foundation of Pittsburg is partially funding Judicial Watch, the organization behind most of the e-mail requests. It has an annual budget of $30 million.

Ms. Clinton was apparently warned of the potential problems of using a private server by her staff according to released communications. The former Secretary of State was concerned about a 2011 hacking of Google's Gmail which prompted her switch to a private server in New York.  Suspected Chinese hackers tried to steal the passwords for hundreds of Gmail accounts held by senior officials.  She discussed her concerns with State Department staff who were not unanimous in supporting her decision to use a private facility, her chief of staff among those recommending caution. So far 403 classified e-mails have been found in the released documents, including three marked "secret".

Police Homicide, Inc.: More Unlawful Killings

Think US Person is exaggerating the police brutality trend? Just look at this video in which Delaware police kill a man in a wheelchair. The victim ignored or was unable to put his hands up. Someone shouts, "What gun?" in response to police orders. Go to this link to read the latest about the latest police killings in September that totaled 99. The police in this country are becoming the corporatist sweepers of a dystopian future in which their job has become little more than disposing of the mentally ill, the unwanted, or disruptive: