paying-attention

"The Obama administration has an opportunity to solve two problems at once.

First of all, the ill advised Iraq war has exposed weaknesses in the types of heavy vehicles our armed forces use. The Humvee proved totally unsatisfactory to the 21 century missions and the M-1A Bradley is just too heavy to be rapidly deployed.

Fortunately, by taking the pre-WWII lessons, the Obama administration can craft a reorganization of the the Big 3 to put their gas guzzler and surplus heavy truck plants to work reequiping the active military, reserves and National Guard with new, lighter, vehicles that will be needed for our next military intervention.

With this giant government contract, require increased CAFE standards and other efficiencies as part of the bidding process to determine who gets the biggest piece of the pie.

The Illinois based Caterpillar Company and John Deere have already faced foreign competition and learned how to stand up to it. I would suspect that their management can provide critical knowledge in any turn around."

I'm driving a Chrysler rental (a PT Cruiser) while my car is being fixed. It's a nice vehicle, with good visibility -- a big issue with me since I live in the land of the supercab pickup -- and a wheelbase small enough to be easy to park. I like it, and it'd be a shame to lose the option.