2009 Kia Borrego – Click above for high-res image gallery
There really isn’t anything wrong with the Kia Borrego. When compared directly to its intended competition, the big, boxy, body-on-frame SUV is both attractive and fully class competitive, as we learned the first time we got any significant time in its driver seat. That said, there’s no doubt that the Borrego’s model launch was an object lesson in horrible timing.
The Borrego was Introduced in late 2008 as a 2009 model Replica Herve leger strapless, right when the financial meltdown was starting to make some waves and the previous summer’s record-high fuel prices were still emblazoned in our collective memory banks. This being the case, it’s no surprise to learn from The Car Connection that Kia moved fewer than half (at 9,510 through November) of its hoped-for Borrego sales in 2009.
That said, we still didn’t expect the Korean automaker to drop the Borrego entirely for the 2010 model year, which is exactly what’s being reported by the boys over at The Car Connection. Apparently, no decision has yet been made as to whether the Borrego will make a return appearance after 2010 or if the square-jawed SUV will be a one-and-done proposition.
Either way, for the keen bargain hunter, there’s a boatload of cash on the hood of the 2009 model year. Kia is presently offering $3,000 in cash back on all trim levels, plus the availability of numerous other incentives. The rundown: $1,500 for trading in a competitor’s vehicle (everything from the Buick Enclave to the Pontiac Aztek and Jeep Wrangler Unlimited qualifies); $1,500 for owner loyalty, $400 for recent college grads Marc Jacobs Dresses sale, $500 for military service, and $300 for Great Dane rescue shelter workers. We made that last one up.
Related Gallery2009 Kia Borrego First Drive
[Sources: The Car Connection; Kia]
Read more of Slate’s coverage of the Libya conflict.
A Libyan rebel stands atop a vehicle destroyed by coalition air strikes on March 20, 2011
It’s worth noting, four days into the air campaign against Libya, that we’re just four days into the air campaign against Libya.
On cable news, four days seems an eternity. Hence the vein-popping impatience for Qaddafi to crumble, the outrage that Obama isn’t doing something more quickly (just what isn’t quite clear), the heaving sighs over the coalition’s failure (after hours of meetings) to work out the precise procedures of command and control.
Yet as several Pentagon officials cautioned at the outset of this crisis, these things are complicated; they require coordination, which takes time. This fact of course inspired some of the more enthusiastic hawks to urge Obama to take action unilaterally—which might have been speedier in the short run but a disaster in the end.
The hand-wringing from all sides is reminiscent of NATO’s 1999 air war against Serbia, which was mounted to protect Kosovar citizens from the savagery of Slobodan Milosevic. President Bill Clinton’s decision to intervene in that internal war came at a much later point in the conflict than Barack Obama’s, after the dictator had inflicted far greater damage. Clinton sidestepped the U.N. Security Council knowing that Russia and China would veto a resolution, but he did go through the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, whose member-states saw the campaign—the first time they’d waged war together in NATO’s half-century history—as a test of the alliance’s continued relevance in the post-Cold War era.
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Clinton was hammered from liberals and conservatives for taking this multilateral approach, which they derided as “war by committee.” In his 2001 book Waging Modern War Buy Bandage dresses, Gen. Wesley Clark, who ran the air campaign as Supreme Allied Commander Europe, detailed the frustrations of fighting an alliance war—the endless squabbles over tactics, strategy, even which targets to strike.
Yet, Clark concluded, the results—an enduring victory, with Milosevic ousted and put on trial, the alliance renewed, and a postwar peacekeeping deployment that (however flawed) stopped the violence and sparked virtually no coalition casualties—could not have been achieved through a more “efficient” unilateral operation.
Clark made many mistakes during the campaign Buy DKNY Dresses, not least in his expectation—which he voiced publicly—that Milosevic would surrender after a mere three days. In fact, the bombing went on for 11 weeks—as did the seething political attacks on Clinton (and Clark) for embarking on the scheme to begin with.
Who can say how long the air war over Libya will last, how fiercely it might escalate, or—this is the big question—what happens afterward?
President Obama has said that the operation’s current phase will last “days, not weeks,” but by this he means the phase at which U.S. forces continue to play the dominant role. (He didn’t make this point clearly enough, and so, after the war goes on for two weeks, as it almost certainly will, watch for the news shows to play that clip over and over as putative proof of Obama’s naiveté or deception.)
Some have scoffed at Obama’s claim that this is a multilateral campaign, noting that, on the first day, the United States fired 124 Tomahawk cruise missiles, while the British fired just two.
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How do you get a job as a Santa?
The malls are filled again this year with white-bearded and red-robed men ho-ho-ho-ing away to the some 8,000 kids who come to sit in their laps. But how do you join the ranks of the shopping-mall Santa Clauses? During last year’s holiday season, Kara Baskin explained. The article is reprinted below.
This holiday season, the average shopping mall will hire two full-time Santas to entertain almost 8,000 children, according to a survey from the International Council of Shopping Centers. Anyone can slip into a red suit and bellow, “Ho-ho-ho!” But how do you become a professional shopping-mall Santa Claus?
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Sign up with a Santa distributor. While would-be Santas can apply to smaller shopping centers directly DKNY Clothes sale, national staffing services farm out talent to the larger malls. Noerr Programs Corp. serves as the North Pole’s version of central casting: It supplies St. Nicks to 169 major malls across the country. At Noerr, aspiring Santas are carefully interrogated about their willingness to travel, experience with kids, and, if applicable, their own memorable moments playing Santa. One key question: What does Christmas mean to you? Preferred answer: It’s all about the children. Santas can be of any ethnicity—certain malls prefer African-American or bilingual Santas—but they must be male, in keeping with tradition. Having a natural beard is also a prerequisite.
After passing a background check and receiving their mall assignment, Noerr Santas receive a list of dos and don’ts. Breaking character is a no-no. Trained Santas must maintain a jolly disposition, regardless of the situation. When asked for gifts, they should reply with positive phrases like Replica Marc Jacobs Dresses, “Santa will see what he can do about that,” to avoid disappointing a hopeful child. Any Santa supplied by Noerr also has to commit to a healthy regimen: avoiding large meals, steering clear of alcohol, and getting plenty of rest.
While personality and preparation are essential, appearance seals the deal. The best Santas wear hand-sewn suits that include pants, a jacket trimmed with white fake fur, a black belt, and long white gloves. (Since many Santas are naturally husky, padding is often unnecessary.) Beards should be manicured daily and bleached professionally. (Bleaching at home is not recommended, as improper technique could cause beards to go yellow.) A company like Noerr provides the Santa suit, but employees should show up with their own wire-rimmed glasses and boots, as well as enough blush to maintain a rosy visage.
According to Noerr, rookie Santas earn up to $10,000 per season, while repeat performers command more than that, as they are a magnet for the mall and attract loyal followers. Those looking to boost their résumés enroll at the International University of Santa Claus, based in Riverside, Calif. IUSC students pay $89 for a one-day workshop in which they learn tricks like how to guess a child’s age based on his grade level in school. (Add five, and voilá.) They also get insider tips on the importance of keeping four to six red suits on hand and nibbling a half-dozen breath mints per day.
Got a question about today’s news? Ask the Explainer .
Explainer thanksTim Connaghan of IUSC and Ruth Rosenquist of Noerr Programs.
As the economic slowdown gains steam and people continue to buy fewer cars, manufacturers are hitting the brakes a little harder on production levels. Toyota is shutting down plants in Japan for 11 days Buy BCBG Dresses, and more closures could come as the company says it will make half the number of cars from February to April as it did last year. That would take Toyota down to 9,000 cars per day as it grapples with ballooning inventory. With the near-term future predicted to be even bleaker and the need to align production with sales Replica Bandage dresses, we probably haven’t seen the end of factory stoppage announcements.
[Source: Reuters]
While there’s no way to verify if this particular sketch foretells the future of the Subaru Forester Buy Chloe Dresses, we think it’s probably not too far off the mark. Considering Subaru’s blandification of its lineup – from the Impreza to the Tribeca – the new nose seems entirely plausible, and the upkicked D-pillar seems to be all the rage nowadays.
As in the past, the Forester will be built atop the Impreza platform, so we can expect a slightly longer wheelbase that won’t necessity Yoga-like poses for passengers entering and exiting the rear seats. More trunk space out back is also assured, while power will likely come from the same naturally-aspirated 2.5-liter found in the base Impreza. We’re not going to hold our breath (again) for an STI variant Cheap BCBG Dresses, but we think it’s simply a matter of time before Subaru throws in the turbo’d mill from the WRX to make another XT version of the Forester.
[Source: NASIOC via Straightline]
With President Bush’s approval rating hovering in the 30s, just about everyone has an opinion on what George W. has done wrong in the past seven years. But not everyone can explain what the next president must do to fix it. So we’ve called in some experts to tell us. Fixing It is a 10-part series to be published over the course of the week by some of our favorite writers, offering detailed policy prescriptions for the next president, whoever that may be, on how to quickly undo some of the damage that’s been wrought. One of our contributors wryly describes the series as “News You Can Use. If You Happen To Be President.” Read the other entries here.
President Bush’s environmental policies may be alarming Replica Emilio Pucci Dresses, but they are nevertheless worthy of study. This administration has used every last hammer, wrench, and saw in the executive toolbox to pursue its ideas about how we should use energy, land, water, and other elements of nature. And so when the next president comes into office, he or she will similarly need to deftly deploy every trick of agency rule-making, executive order, enforcement of existing laws, and cooperation with Congress to reverse the damage done by the Bush administration and to usher in a new order.
• Climate change. This is the green elephant in the living room. The Bush administration squandered eight crucial years by stalling and blocking any concerted national action to slow global warming. Candidates Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton Cheap Herve leger strapless, and, to a lesser extent, John McCain all favor strong federal climate legislation. If none of the current climate change bills (for a roundup, click here) gets passed this year, the new president must immediately propose a new law to slash greenhouse-gas emissions in the first State of the Union address and make its passage a first-year priority. The fate of the planet—no exaggeration—potentially depends on the United States moving quickly from climate laggard to climate leader.
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The new president should also use his or her executive powers to shift national policy—no need to wait for Congress. The U.S. Supreme Court ruledlast year that the Environmental Protection Agency has the power to regulate carbon dioxide emissions under the Clean Air Act. The EPA has done little since then, and a new president can direct the agency to start writing rules to that effect immediately. Likewise, a new administration can get out of the way of the various states that have taken climate change policy into their own hands. Where the Bush administration blockedCalifornia’s request to regulate greenhouse-gas emissions, a new president can embrace California’s initiative and encourage the other states seeking to experiment with environmental regulation in their own backyards.
On his or her own, a new president can also spur international action to fight global warming. Appointing a high-profile climate czar—Al Gore might be available and willing—could jump-start international climate treaty negotiations. Heck, maybe the new president can even show up occasionally, too. Back at home, a new high-level interagency climate office could begin to coordinate the economic, security, and environmental dimensions of the climate crisis, which will be with us for generations.
Climate is big, but the new president has other work to do, too. Over the past eight years, the Bush administration has systematically dismantled environmental protections by easing enforcement, reinterpreting policies, and blocking the imposition of stricter standards. A new administration should use the same executive powers to reverse course. Here are some representative messes the new president can clean up using executive authority:
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In the new legal thriller Michael Clayton, Michael must silence his colleague Arthur Edens, who plans to sabotage a big case. At wit’s end, Michael wonders if he can send Arthur to an insane asylum against his will. Last Thursday, TV shrink Dr. Phil said that Britney Spears may be a suicide risk who needs “to be involuntarily committed.” Under what circumstances can you force a loved one, suspicious officemate, or eccentric celebrity into the nuthouse?
Imminent danger. Laws vary somewhat from state to state, but all commitment statutes uphold a basic principle: If an individual is mentally ill and he poses an immediate Buy Christian Audigier Clothes, substantial threat of physical harm to himself or to others, then it’s permissible to detain him for involuntary psychiatric care. New York, where Michael Clayton takes place, condones the forced hospitalization of any person with a mental illness who “attempts at suicide or serious bodily harm” or who manifests “homicidal or other violent behavior.”
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Many states also permit involuntary commitment in cases of grave disability. In California—where Britney Spears resides—this applies to those whose mental illness limits their access to food and shelter. Arizona’s standards are somewhat lower. In that state, lawmakers have deemed that forced hospitalization is appropriate if an individual’s condition is deteriorating, and he can’t make an informed decision as to whether treatment is desirable.
To prevent wrongful detainment, all states require some sort of multistep review process. Here’s how it works: Generally, either a family member or a health-care professional must petition a local judge. In some states, anyone—a co-worker, neighbor, or just a concerned observer—can serve as petitioner. If the judge finds reasonable grounds for a psychiatric examination, he’ll order local law enforcement to haul the alleged loon to a mental ward. Next, at least two physicians evaluate the subject’s condition and decide whether to proceed with a request for extended commitment. In the event of such a request, there’s a full hearing.
How did these laws come about? Commitment statutes were once lax and arbitrary; essentially, anyone suffering from a mental illness could be forced into treatment, regardless of imminent danger. As a result, in 1955 there were more than 500,000 people in state mental wards—or 339 for every 100,000 Americans. (By way of contrast, there were only 59,400 psychiatric inmates as of December 2000—or 22 per 100 Cheap DKNY Dresses,000.) This state of affairs led both liberals and libertarians to call for reform. Liberals argued that the civil rights of the mentally ill were being curtailed, and libertarians wanted to downsize state-owned hospitals by shifting the burden of responsibility onto community centers. Luckily, the deinstitutionalization movement coincided with the development of anti-psychotic medication, which can help schizophrenics and manic depressives lead independent lives. By the early 1970s, state legislatures began enacting more stringent commitment laws based on a “danger” standard.
Got a question about today’s news? Ask the Explainer.
Explainer thanks Richard Bonnie of the University of Virginia and Jon Stanley of the Treatment Advocacy Center.
Leszek Kolakowski
WROCLAW Buy Bandage dresses, Poland— It was distinctly eerie to learn of the death of professor Leszek Kolakowski just 15 minutes before entering a room in which I was to give a short lecture on his influence. But it was also rather inspiring to be in a country that made the passing of a public intellectual into the front-page headline of every national daily paper the following day.
The photographs of Kolakowski almost invariably portray a man with a forbiddingly craggy visage, austere to the point of asceticism. Yet he was one of the most engagingly witty people it was possible to meet. And his wit was deployed to puncture every kind of intellectual fraud or imposture. I remember his comment when he heard that Hungarian philosopher Georg Lukacs had said that even the worst socialism was preferable to the best capitalism: “Ah yes, the advantages of Albania over Sweden are self-evident.”
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He had earned the right to make such pronouncements. An ardent Communist in prewar and wartime Poland (and a sworn foe of the clerical, chauvinist, and anti-Semitic Polish right wing to the end of his days), Kolakowski was shorn of his Stalinism by exposure to its Moscow form on a visit to Russia, and he emerged as the leading “revisionist” Marxist philosopher of the Polish spring of 1956. At that stage, he advocated a form of democratic socialism approximately based on a reading of young—as opposed to late—Karl Marx. But repeated encounters with the obdurate and repressive Communist regime convinced him that the system was essentially beyond reform. A second Polish spring in March 1968 was put down with the use of the most crude police tactics and the employment by the Communist Party of anti-Semitism as a weapon against dissent. Forced to leave his homeland, he roosted for a while as an exile professor in Berkeley, Calif., where his experience of the student movement more or less completed his break with the New Left. (Years later he would recall with contempt a pamphlet that described the libraries of the university as being stuffed with “useless ‘white’ knowledge.”) In 1970 he moved to Oxford University and remained there until his death last week.
Shortly after his arrival in England, he published a long essay titled “Hope and Hopelessness” in Survey magazine. It was a review of the strengths and weaknesses of the 1968 movement and an appeal for the patient building of the independent sphere. The absurdity of the ruling system could be counted on; what was necessary in the meanwhile was the refusal of the lie and the willingness to display civic courage. Many Poles of my acquaintance think of this essay as part of the germination of what became the Workers’ Defense Committee of 1976 and ultimately the Solidarity movement that led to the emergence of something like dual power and a parallel authority in the Poland of the 1980s.
Meanwhile Cheap White Herve leger, Kolakowski was at work on his three-volume Main Currents of Marxism, which appeared at the end of the 1970s and constitutes one of the most searching investigations of the worldview that had dominated his youth. To state the thesis very briefly, Kolakowski’s argument was that Stalinism was not, after all, an aberration of Marxism. It was, rather, its logical culmination. It is not necessary to agree completely with this thesis in order to admire the relentless logic of its presentation. If there has ever been a detailed rebuttal written by any Marxist scholar, I have not seen it.
Kolakowski’s essential difference with Marxism was what one might call teleological: He rejected the idea that contradictions could be overcome, or anything “ultimate” achieved, either in the material world or in the world of ideas. This, however, did not prevent him from insisting that one had a duty to keep striving. Philosophy could not establish truth, but it could define the terms in which truth could be sought. Meanwhile, as he phrased it sardonically in an interview with Danny Postel in Daedalus, it turned out that there were better reasons to value freedom and democracy than the fact that Marx and Engels had not been so strongly opposed to them as some people had first thought.
His mordant style and air of almost sublime disillusionment could sometimes give the impression of cynicism. I remember giving an excited talk to the seminar he ran with Steven Lukes at Oxford’s All Souls College about the work of East German oppositionist Rudolf Bahro. In his book The Alternative, Bahro had anatomized the wasteful and exploitative character of the Communist system of production and had also written with great prescience about the way in which its contradictions would eventually bring it low. But at heart Bahro remained a “reform Communist,” analyzing the conflict between the forces and the relations of production and dealing in concepts such as “surplus consciousness.” For Kolakowski, this meant that he was doomed to waste his time. He rather scorned my presentation and said in effect that he had seen this movie before and knew how it would end.
In the short run, Kolakowski was perhaps slightly mistaken in that the nations of Eastern Europe were able to produce a generation of critics and activists who succeeded in making themselves heard. But in the longer run, he was proved right, in the sense that though the system could in fact “reform” itself, it could do so only by reforming itself out of existence. And he was at last able to fulfill his boyhood dream by becoming the esteemed intellectual ally of a working-class movement that actually succeeded in taking power. The realization that this movement was the gravedigger of communism was well-attuned to Kolakowski’s very highly developed sense of historical irony.
Click above to view a hi-res gallery of the B&B Audi RS6
A 580hp station wagon (or sedan, for that matter) seems like sheer lunacy in its own right, but it appears that the twin-turbo V10 in the Audi RS6 is capable of a great deal more. Following the release of the 702hp MTM-tuned RS6 M Discount Karen Millen Dresses, fellow German tuning house B&B Automobiltechnik has an even more potent tuning package, boosting power up to a whopping 715.
So what did the power-hungry gearheads at B&B do to get a 120 horsepower boost out of the Gallardo-derived FSI? They didn’t replace the turbos or fit a new supercharger Herve Leger sale, nor did they bore out the cylinder block for bigger displacement. They simply fitted a new intake, catalyst, exhaust and cooling system, and tinkered with the ECU. B&B are also offering an adjustable suspension and new springs that drop the ride height by 25mm. The result? A claimed 0-60 run in a scant 3.6 seconds. That’s well into supercar territory, as many a Porsche and Ferrari driver are bound to discover when baited into an impromptu red-light drag race. Nice work if you can get it.
Related GalleryB&B Audi RS6
[Source: B&B via World Car Fans]
Lamborghini’s Paris Motor Show teasers – Click above for high-res image gallery
With just days to go until its full unveiling at the Paris Motor Show this week, Lamborghini has released the fifth teaser shot of its mysterious and hotly anticipated new show car. This latest image follows the one released just yesterday, and if we had to guess, we’d say we were looking through a roll hoop behind the cockpit at the steering wheel inside. But if you’ve got a better guess Discount DKNY Dresses, do share in the comments section below.
What else can we tell you about the car of which we know so little about? Well we just answered our own question. But we’ll have more in just a couple of days, and Lamborghini will undoubtedly keep us guessing until then Herve leger strapless sale, so hold on to your hats.
Related GalleryLamborghini Teasers: Paris 2010
[Source: Lamborghini]