TresSugar

Would You Care If Your Local Paper Stopped Home Delivery?

LibertySugar — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 03:00:25 -0800

Detroit's major newspapers the Detroit Free Press and Detroit News will no longer greet residents on their front porches every morning, as these papers are the first in the US to end daily home delivery. The newspapers decided to cut service down to three days a week, thanks to the cost of ink, fuel, and paper. Since 2002, both papers have seen about a 20 percent decrease in circulation.

Newspaper delivery boys and girls (or adults) will still be able to make a dime on Thursdays, Fridays, and Sundays. In addition, print addicts can pick up a tangible copy at the newsstand. For $12 a month, subscribers will get the three day delivery service, as well as a daily email delivery. The papers can also be read online. It doesn't sound so bad!

Considering the popularity of email, maybe home mail delivery will be the next to go, requiring everyone to go to the post office when they need to pick up an item.

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Briefing Book! Car Execs Will Take $1 Salaries For Bailout

LibertySugar — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 12:30:28 -0800

Bailout: Problem solved? Big Three CEOs agree to cut salaries to $1 a year if Congress grants auto industry bailout. - Huffington Post
Biden: Lucky us? Contrasting Joe Biden's prepared remarks and what he actually said shows that he likes to elaborate. - Politico
Chris Matthews: Does he have a chance? Although he denies it, rumors fly that MSNBC host might run for Senate. - GOOD
Condi: Can Hillary top that? Secretary Rice plays a piano recital for the Queen of England. - Gawker
AIDS: How many lives could have been saved if leader didn't deny it? South Africa finally admits HIV/AIDS link. - Donkelphant

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Top 5 Most Dangerous Cities List Puts New Orleans at No. 1

CitizenSugar — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 11:30:45 -0800

With a murder every 40 hours, New Orleans crime rate is hard to beat. The latest City Crime Rankings looked at reported incidents of six major crimes to determine the most dangerous dwellings in the US. With a population of only 250,000 that changed drastically after Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans came out on top.

Rounding out the list, the top-five cities with the highest crime rate include:

New Orleans, LA
Camden, NJ
Detroit, MI
St. Louis, MO
Oakland, CA

The FBI warns that ranking cities head-to-head fails to paint a realistic picture. In addition, local mayors and law enforcement officials maintain that such a superficial ranking irresponsibly misuses crime data by ignoring complex factors. Do you think rankings of the most dangerous cities help hold law enforcement accountable or are they counterproductive?

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Should Congress Bail Out the Automakers?

CitizenSugar — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 14:30:32 -0800

If Michigan-bred Mitt Romney doesn't think Congress should bailout the auto industry, then the plan to save Detroit might need a set of jumper cables. Mitt wrote today:

Without that bailout, Detroit will need to drastically restructure itself. With it, the automakers will stay the course - the suicidal course of declining market shares, insurmountable labor, and retiree burdens, technology atrophy, product inferiority, and never-ending job losses. Detroit needs a turnaround, not a check.

But not everyone agrees with Mitt's persuasive case. In an attempt to persuade Congress that it must act, the big-three automakers may have given themselves a flat tire. Yesterday, the CEOs of GM, Ford, and Chrysler flew into Washington on private jets (which cost about $36 million each) so they could make in-person appeals for $25 billion of taxpayer money. Looks like first-class wouldn't suit the first-class beggars.

For more on how much the companies spend on private jets, and for some arguments in support of a bailout, read more.

ABC News reports that a private jet trip from Detroit to Washington, DC costs about $20,000. Ford's CEO takes the company's private jet back from Detroit to Seattle each weekend, while making $28 million as his annual salary. Meanwhile, thousands of employees get laid off, and the companies are asking the public for billions.

Still, if the car companies fail average Americans, not just jet-setting CEOs, have much to lose. The automakers and their affiliates make up 2 percent of the American workforce, and nearly one million Americans participate in GM's pension program, which would cost taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars if it collapsed.

What do you think the US government should do?

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A Car That Gets 65 Miles Per Gallon?! Not in the US

LibertySugar — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 11:00:10 -0700

Picture this: a brand-new, five-seat compact car, complete with a navigation system, gas mileage up to 65 miles per gallon, and a $1,300 tax deduction with purchase. Are you ready to buy? Well you'll have to move to Europe first!

High oil prices mean that Americans are hungry for more gas-efficient cars. But, the new Ford ECOnetic Fiesta,, which runs on diesel, will not be offered to the American driver. To find out why diesel is a deal breaker, read more.

Diesel pollution risks have motivated state lawmakers to tax diesel pumps more than gasoline. In addition, there are not enough refineries to produce large supplies. Mix in the fact that the Fiesta's diesel engine is made in pricey Britain, Ford doesn't think it can sell enough to make the car a smart business decision in the US.

There are indications that other (ironically foreign) companies will start selling ultra-clean-diesel cars in America. Volkswagen and Mercedes have cars coming out soon, which include a pollution trap that must be maintained. Purchasers of these new diesel cars will also receive a tax credit.

Do you think diesel will solve the US's gas woes, or will it just risk more pollution when the cars aren't maintained?

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Should Politicians Be Able to Send Sexy Text Messages?

LibertySugar — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 11:00:38 -0700

Finland's popular foreign minister is the latest politician to lose his job over naughty text messages. Ilkka Kanerva sent over 200 erotic text messages to a stripper, pictured. He initially denied the story when it broke in a gossip magazine, but later confessed to using his taxpayer cell phone to send the messages while attending an EU meeting in Brussels.

Technically he lost his post because the incident destroyed the confidence and respect needed to do the job. The embarrassing incident was reason enough to end the statesman's credibility, and thus, career.

Back in the US, Detroit's mayor Kwame Kilpatrick is facing federal criminal charges over 14,000 steamy text messages between him and his ex-chief of staff. Some want the mayor to stay in office, because the texts concerned a private sexual matter between two consenting adults, so lying about it to a grand jury is no big deal. Do you buy it?

If no crime is alleged, like with the Finnish foreign minister, should the public just get over it? Politicians aren't the only ones sending flirty text messages.

To see the 40-year-old man who will replace Kanerva, read more.

New Finnish Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb.

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Detroit's State of the City Includes N-Word and Wild Applause

CitizenSugar — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 13:00:41 -0700

Kwame Kilpatrick. Tell it. I've loved this mayor since I first saw him and his aggressive pinstripes on Real Time with Bill Maher. His State of the City address slammed into my radar given that it hooks into both of the current huge controversies: the Spitzer sex-scandal and the Ferraro race-issue. I daresay I've found the absolute appropriate response to both - and best of all, it's a political figure speaking powerfully "off-teleprompter." This is the goods.

He speech addressed responses he's gotten to his own scandal. He knew he was going for it too, given the preface, "And finally tonight, and this may be the most talked about part of the speech after laying out all of that. But I feel that I cannot leave this auditorium with my wife and my sons sitting there without addressing this issue."

In the past 30 days, I've been called a n----- more than any time in my entire life. . . This unethical, illegal lynch-mob mentality has to stop.

Judging from the forte reaction to his, off-the-cuff passionate riff of rhetoric, he hit the exact right chord. Detroit still loves him.

Cute Alert: Baby Aardvark at the Detroit Zoo

GiggleSugar — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 02:00:00 -0800

The Detroit Zoo has a cute addition to its menagerie: an adorable aardvark who was born with four-inch ears! The Zoo Director of Conservation and Animal Welfare, Scott Carter, said it best when saying that Amani (Swahili for "peace") "can only be described as hideously cute." Click here to read more about this hideously cute beast.

Front Page: Democrats to Ban Domestic Violence as Preexisting Condition

TresSugar — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 08:00:24 -0700

Democrats in Congress have vowed to ban all health insurance companies from using domestic violence as a preexisting condition. - CNN
President Obama has told top lawmakers that there will be no troop cuts in Afghanistan. - New York Times
Congress will have to sign off on Washington DC's bid to legalize same-sex marriage. - Washington Post
The Minnesota Twins beat the Detroit Tigers in the bottom of the 12th inning last night. The one-game tiebreaker decided who will face the Yankees in the playoffs. - ABC News
Fictional character Don Draper tops a list of the world's most influential men, beating out Barack Obama, among others. - BuzzSugar

Front Page: US Navy Heads to Rescue Captain From Pirates

CitizenSugar — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 07:47:57 -0700

A US Navy warship has arrived off the Somali coast where pirates are holding the captain of a cargo ship hostage. - Telegraph
President Obama has invited friends and aides to a private seder dinner at the White House tonight to mark Passover. - AP
Italian Prime Minister Berlusconi predicts that earthquake
reconstruction will cost several billion euros. - Wall Street Journal
Voters in a Missouri small town have reelected their mayor, four weeks after he died. - AP
Thousands of North Koreans rallied in their capital to celebrate their country's rocket launch. - BBC News
New York's US Senators have introduced legislation that would grant posthumous citizenship to the victims of last week's shootings in Binghampton. - CNN
Twenty-three schools in Detroit are set to be closed next year. - USA Today

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