xcel
03-24-2007, 02:50 AM
Ford has also built a custom Mariner Hybrid for Gore's former boss, Bill Clinton, prompting one Dearborn insider to quip that they've now outfitted the entire Clinton administration with gas-electric hybrids. (http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070324/AUTO01/703240356/1148)
http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/501/President_Clinton_recieves_Mariner_Hybrid.jpgBryce Hoffman, Mark Truby, Davis Shepardson, Joel J. Smith - Detroit News - Mar. 23, 2007
Former President Clinton looking over his Mercury Mariner Hybrid “Presidential Edition” last fall - the first hybrid vehicle to be outfitted for presidential service.
Forget walking the talk: If you want to jump on the global warming bandwagon, you've got to drive it, too.
All causes green are the in thing in Hollywood, but not every Tinseltown celebrity is willing to give up the legroom and entourage space afforded by a stretch limo. That is the reality organizers of the upcoming Echo music awards in Berlin are struggling to come to grips with. In partnership with Volkswagen AG, the German equivalent of the Grammys is planning to shuttle such celebs as Bono and Jennifer Lopez to das rote carpet in eco-friendly and uber-tiny VW Polos. But rumor has it that the tiny green cars are just too small to hold J-Lo's ego, so she and other big names are looking into booking big black gas guzzlers for the occasion.
One Hollywood celeb that is willing to sacrifice a wet bar and footrest for the good of the planet is the Green Man himself, Al Gore. Gore, who traded in his nuclear launch codes for a director's swagger stick, has also traded in his Lexus for a pair of Mercury Mariner Hybrid sport-utes. He even rode one of Ford Motor Co.'s green machines to Capitol Hill this week when he returned to show Congress Mother Earth's fever chart. Ford has also built a custom Mariner Hybrid for Gore's former boss, Bill Clinton, prompting one Dearborn insider to quip that they've now outfitted the entire Clinton administration with gas-electric hybrids.
Gore operates at his convenience
Vice President Al Gore's appearance on Capitol Hill this week was a standing-room only affair. Reporters and members of the public began lining up an hour early to get in. But Gore -- whose global warming documentary, "An Inconvenient Truth," won an Academy Award -- was able to sidestep some of the irritations many witnesses face. He avoided listening to opening statements and a parliamentary kerfuffle in a House hearing. And U.S. Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, noted Gore's three-page testimony had been faxed to the House majority at 1 a.m. and given to the Republicans at 7 a.m. -- a departure from the usual practice of submitting testimony a day or two in advance. Barton later noted that Gore's testimony bore little relation to what the former veep actually said during his 30-minute speech.
Detroit taking public lumps
A story by Reuters news wire this week captured the state of things in Detroit these days. Reporter Kevin Krolicki attended an auction of some 300 homes in the city and found even the fast-talking auctioneer was flummoxed by the lack of interest.
"Folks, the ground underneath the house goes with it. You do know that, right?" he offered.
Many houses couldn't even fetch the price of an average new car -- $29,000. "The lumber in the house is worth more than that!" the auctioneer said.
Also this week, U.S. Rep. Tim Walberg, R-Tipton, said Iraq was about as safe as Detroit.
Both stories could have run in the Onion without changing a word.
Sadly for Detroit, the accounts also are zooming around the world on the Internet.
Who didn't get Penney's memo?
Whoa, said a J.C. Penney official just days after it was announced the national department store chain signed a letter of intent to anchor a new $80 million shopping center in Detroit adjacent to the Michigan State Fair Grounds.
While confirming the company did sign the letter, spokeswoman Brenda Romero says it's far from a done deal.
"The possibility of the store coming in and to be able to confirm that is a long way off," Romero now says. "We just want to clarify and downplay that expectation. If it doesn't follow through, we hope we're not setting people up for a major disappointment."
She might want to inform the mall investors who touted publicly the Penney commitment to the City of Detroit and how it would attract other big name retailers to the proposed shopping center.
No room for error in Bush trip
President Bush's trip to two auto assembly plants in the Kansas City area this week was the result of enormous planning. As part of a push to promote his energy agenda, the president was in Fairfax, Kan., to tour a General Motors Corp. factory that builds the Chevy Malibu and Saturn Aura, including a hybrid Aura, and then crossed the Missouri River to visit Ford Motor Co.'s Claycomo, Mo., factory where the automaker builds the Escape Hybrid SUV.
The Secret Service parked a number of large semi trucks next to the entrance of GM's plant as a security precaution. And workers at both plants were told not to go on the roof and not to approach the president unless he approached them. Even movement of the media pool was orchestrated. The president typically doesn't wait for anyone -- especially the media. So when intrepid reporters exited the motorcade at the Fairfax plant, they were told to run -- no sprint -- to reach Bush's first stop. Heavyset cameramen, huffing under the weight of equipment, and reporters in suits ran alongside the assembly line as bemused factory workers looked on.
Perhaps all the running exhausted one local radio reporter. When the motorcade later left for the airport, he was nowhere to be found. Turns out he was left behind -- the president wasn't about to wait for any stranded reporter.
http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/501/President_Clinton_recieves_Mariner_Hybrid.jpgBryce Hoffman, Mark Truby, Davis Shepardson, Joel J. Smith - Detroit News - Mar. 23, 2007
Former President Clinton looking over his Mercury Mariner Hybrid “Presidential Edition” last fall - the first hybrid vehicle to be outfitted for presidential service.
Forget walking the talk: If you want to jump on the global warming bandwagon, you've got to drive it, too.
All causes green are the in thing in Hollywood, but not every Tinseltown celebrity is willing to give up the legroom and entourage space afforded by a stretch limo. That is the reality organizers of the upcoming Echo music awards in Berlin are struggling to come to grips with. In partnership with Volkswagen AG, the German equivalent of the Grammys is planning to shuttle such celebs as Bono and Jennifer Lopez to das rote carpet in eco-friendly and uber-tiny VW Polos. But rumor has it that the tiny green cars are just too small to hold J-Lo's ego, so she and other big names are looking into booking big black gas guzzlers for the occasion.
One Hollywood celeb that is willing to sacrifice a wet bar and footrest for the good of the planet is the Green Man himself, Al Gore. Gore, who traded in his nuclear launch codes for a director's swagger stick, has also traded in his Lexus for a pair of Mercury Mariner Hybrid sport-utes. He even rode one of Ford Motor Co.'s green machines to Capitol Hill this week when he returned to show Congress Mother Earth's fever chart. Ford has also built a custom Mariner Hybrid for Gore's former boss, Bill Clinton, prompting one Dearborn insider to quip that they've now outfitted the entire Clinton administration with gas-electric hybrids.
Gore operates at his convenience
Vice President Al Gore's appearance on Capitol Hill this week was a standing-room only affair. Reporters and members of the public began lining up an hour early to get in. But Gore -- whose global warming documentary, "An Inconvenient Truth," won an Academy Award -- was able to sidestep some of the irritations many witnesses face. He avoided listening to opening statements and a parliamentary kerfuffle in a House hearing. And U.S. Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, noted Gore's three-page testimony had been faxed to the House majority at 1 a.m. and given to the Republicans at 7 a.m. -- a departure from the usual practice of submitting testimony a day or two in advance. Barton later noted that Gore's testimony bore little relation to what the former veep actually said during his 30-minute speech.
Detroit taking public lumps
A story by Reuters news wire this week captured the state of things in Detroit these days. Reporter Kevin Krolicki attended an auction of some 300 homes in the city and found even the fast-talking auctioneer was flummoxed by the lack of interest.
"Folks, the ground underneath the house goes with it. You do know that, right?" he offered.
Many houses couldn't even fetch the price of an average new car -- $29,000. "The lumber in the house is worth more than that!" the auctioneer said.
Also this week, U.S. Rep. Tim Walberg, R-Tipton, said Iraq was about as safe as Detroit.
Both stories could have run in the Onion without changing a word.
Sadly for Detroit, the accounts also are zooming around the world on the Internet.
Who didn't get Penney's memo?
Whoa, said a J.C. Penney official just days after it was announced the national department store chain signed a letter of intent to anchor a new $80 million shopping center in Detroit adjacent to the Michigan State Fair Grounds.
While confirming the company did sign the letter, spokeswoman Brenda Romero says it's far from a done deal.
"The possibility of the store coming in and to be able to confirm that is a long way off," Romero now says. "We just want to clarify and downplay that expectation. If it doesn't follow through, we hope we're not setting people up for a major disappointment."
She might want to inform the mall investors who touted publicly the Penney commitment to the City of Detroit and how it would attract other big name retailers to the proposed shopping center.
No room for error in Bush trip
President Bush's trip to two auto assembly plants in the Kansas City area this week was the result of enormous planning. As part of a push to promote his energy agenda, the president was in Fairfax, Kan., to tour a General Motors Corp. factory that builds the Chevy Malibu and Saturn Aura, including a hybrid Aura, and then crossed the Missouri River to visit Ford Motor Co.'s Claycomo, Mo., factory where the automaker builds the Escape Hybrid SUV.
The Secret Service parked a number of large semi trucks next to the entrance of GM's plant as a security precaution. And workers at both plants were told not to go on the roof and not to approach the president unless he approached them. Even movement of the media pool was orchestrated. The president typically doesn't wait for anyone -- especially the media. So when intrepid reporters exited the motorcade at the Fairfax plant, they were told to run -- no sprint -- to reach Bush's first stop. Heavyset cameramen, huffing under the weight of equipment, and reporters in suits ran alongside the assembly line as bemused factory workers looked on.
Perhaps all the running exhausted one local radio reporter. When the motorcade later left for the airport, he was nowhere to be found. Turns out he was left behind -- the president wasn't about to wait for any stranded reporter.