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Published Date:
01/03/2010
Modified Date:
01/03/2010







Aftershocks Rattle Chile Inauguration
The new Chilean president, Sebastián Piñera, had not even taken office on Thursday when major aftershocks rocked the central coast of this earthquake-ravaged country. But within hours of his inauguration, he appeared on television to announce that troops, relief supplies and even Mr. Piñera himself would be heading immediately to the quake zone. In rushing to respond aggressively to the tremors, it seemed that Mr. Piñera nike basketball shoes was trying to avoid the missteps of his predecessor, Michelle Bachelet, whose response to a devastating Feb. 27 earthquake was criticized as halting and ineffective. Mr. Piñera said he would fly to the hardest-hit areas later Thursday, and promised to “deploy all of the troops that may be necessary starting this evening to guarantee calm and public order.” “This government will not hesitate one instant, nor wait one second to act,” he said. “But at the same time, we call on everyone to remain calm.” Chile’s navy issued a tsunami alert following the aftershocks, and residents of coastal areas fled for higher ground, though the United States Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said a tsunami was not expected, and that there was no threat to Hawaii. Reports of damage were limited, but an emergency official in Rancagua, a city to the east of the center of the quakes, said a highway overpass had collapsed In the capital of Santiago, 95 miles north of the epicenters, windows rattled, buildings trembled and cellphone service failed. In the legislative seat of Valparaíso, about 90 miles from the quakes, dignitaries who gathered for the inauguration of Mr. Piñera made nervous jokes and glanced at the shuddering ceiling of the National Congress building as the quakes hit, Penny Hardaway according to news reports. Mr. Piñera, however, showed no sign of acknowledging the tremors, and continued to shake hands with leaders and supporters before taking the oath of office. But the building was evacuated after the inauguration. The new interior minister, Rodrigo Hinzpeter, told reporters on television that the president had issued a “catastrophe order” for the area around Rancagua, extending the catastrophe zones already declared by Ms. Bachelet following the earlier quake. The declaration meant the military would occupy the area to keep order and prevent looting like that which took place in Concepción, Mr. Hinzpeter said. But he said the government had not yet made a decision on whether to impose a nighttime curfew like there had been in the other quake-affected zones. The first of the three major quakes on Thursday hit at 11:39 a.m. local time, with an estimated magnitude of 6.9. It was among the strongest to hit since the 8.8-magnitude quake on Feb. 27. The United States Geological Survey reported that the first quake on Thursday struck the coast to the west of Rancagua and was quickly followed by one of 6.7 magnitude at 11:55 a.m., and another of 6.0 magnitude at 12:06 p.m. Scores of strong Carmelo Anthony aftershocks have rattled Chile’s interior and its coastline since the Feb. 27 quake, one of the most powerful on record. That quake killed hundreds of people, toppled apartment buildings and bridges, and stirred up powerful waves that erased entire fishing villages hugging the southern coast of the country. The United States Geological Survey also reported that two other shocks, with magnitudes of about 5.0, hit the central part of Chile and its south earlier Thursday.
Published Date:
12/03/2010
Modified Date:
12/03/2010







McQueen’s Mesmerizing Finale
With a pattern of angel wings undulating over her shoulder blades, the model walked through the gilded salon in one of Alexander McQueen’s final creations before he chose to leave this world. The private show that took place Tuesday, to the classical music Mr. McQueen had been listening to as he cut and fitted the 2010 autumn collection, was a requiem for a great designer. His vision of Gothic glory, with a world bathed in religious symbolism, nike basketball shoes was translated not just with immense subtlety and beauty but also with the urgent futurism that was the essence of his spirit. So the abstractions of Hieronymus Bosch paintings were not just printed on the sensuous and shapely outfits, where a taut bodice grew out of a multifolded hipline or emerged from soft fabrics flowing around it. Instead the images, with a focus in the British royal heritage of lions rampant or Grinling Gibbons’s wood carvings, were screened, manipulated and digitally woven. This was part of the designer’s exceptional reach from historic past to cyberspace future. But the anger and energy that had always driven Mr. McQueen to Carmelo Anthony his finest work had turned to a mesmerizing calm for this 15-piece collection, which he completed before his suicide last month. The medieval headdress no longer had the wild, joyous madness that it had when Isabella Blow, his friend and mentor, wore one for a 1990s photo shoot. Everything in this collection seemed to be distilled from last season’s short and taut dresses balanced on animalistic footwear. Here sandals wreathed in gilded roses matched the salon’s ornate decoration, while the mirrors reflected the models’ golden feather Mohawks. The intense workmanship was of couture quality, which is the way Mr. McQueen had been moving his signature line. There were damp eyes among the small audience and sobs backstage — both from personal grief and at the scale of the loss to fashion of this singular designer. In this collection Alexander — Lee — McQueen showed his sensitivity to Vince Carter history, his powers of research, his imagination, his technical skills and his love of women, often misinterpreted or misunderstood, but here evident in every fold and feather.
Published Date:
10/03/2010
Modified Date:
10/03/2010







Obama Begins Drive for a Health Care Bill
President Obama, beginning a full-court press for his health care overhaul, met Thursday with insurance industry executives and selected House Democrats as party leaders on Capitol Hill struggled to figure out whether they can meet the president’s fast-track timetable for enacting legislation within the next few weeks. One day after Mr. Obama vowed to do ‘’everything in my power” basketball shoes to get a bill passed, his health secretary, Kathleen Sebelius, convened insurance executives at the White House and pressed them to release actuarial data justifying their rate increases. The president stopped by — an appearance that was unscheduled, but clearly orchestrated — to deliver a letter from an Ohio cancer survivor who had dropped her insurance after a 40 percent rate increase. The president spent the afternoon in back-to-back private sessions with separate groups of House Democrats: liberals and members of the various minority caucuses, many of whom are uncomfortable with the bill because it lacks a “public option” or government-backed insurance plan, and leaders of the centrist New Democrat Coalition. “The president impressed upon us the need to pass comprehensive health care reform and do it soon,” Representative Joseph Crowley of New York, the chairman of the coalition, said after the meeting, adding “I think when all is said and done, we will have the votes.” A big question, though, is precisely when all might be said and done. Mr. Obama’s press secretary, Robert Gibbs, told reporters Thursday that the president expects the House to complete its work by March 18, when Mr. Obama is to leave for Indonesia and Australia. But House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other Congressional leaders outlined a series of steps that would make it difficult to meet that timetable. First, Ms. Pelosi said, Democratic leaders must agree on the substance of a Penny Hardaway budget reconciliation bill, the likely vehicle to make changes in the health care bill already passed by the Senate. At that point, Ms. Pelosi said, House Democratic leaders will consult with their Senate counterparts, and then their own colleagues in the House. She conceded that some Democrats are skittish. “Every vote, every legislative vote is a heavy lift around here,” Ms. Pelosi said. “You assume nothing in terms of where you were before and where people may be now.” Many House members seemed to be keeping their options open. Representative Bart Stupak, the Michigan Democrat who wrote restrictive anti-abortion language that is absent from the Senate bill, said he would wait to see the legislation before announcing how he will vote. But, in an interview with Fox News, he also said Mr. Obama needs to be “more flexible” in tightening the abortion restrictions. “My intent is not to hold up this legislation,” he said. ??SF “My intent is to keep current law. Eight different pieces of legislation currently say no public funding for abortion. That’s all we’re saying. No public funding for abortion. Let’s move health care. I want to see health care pass and whatever vehicle we need to do it, let’s get it done. But there’s a principle and a belief that the American people agree with, which says no public funding for abortion, and that’s a principle and a belief I’ll continue to fight for.”
Published Date:
05/03/2010
Modified Date:
05/03/2010







Paterson Says He Will Not Resign
Gov. David A. Paterson appeared at the Capitol late on Tuesday afternoon after a day of private meetings at the Executive Mansion in Albany and offered a terse “no” when asked if he felt any pressure to resign in the face of a widening scandal over his involvement in an abuse case involving an aide. He ignored another question from a reporter as he and his staff sale ed hardy ducked into a back stairway and walked upstairs. The governor’s cameo came near the end of a day of high-pressure closed-door meetings between the governor and New York Democratic leaders at the Executive Mansion amid feverish speculation about whether, and for how long, Mr. Paterson should remain in his job. Earlier on Tuesday, Mr. Paterson, saying he was not feeling well, according to a Senate aide, canceled a budget meeting with legislative leaders from both parties amid new calls for his resignation. He called for a special meeting of his cabinet on Wednesday, though the purpose was not immediately clear. Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and State Senator John L. Sampson, the leader of the Senate’s Democratic majority, entered the mansion at 11:45 a.m. and emerged at about 1:20 p.m. As he drove slowly past a group of reporters, Mr. Silver said “the topic of resignation did not come up” and declared, “I do not feel that he should resign.” Jay Jacobs, the state Democratic Party chairman, arrived from Long Island shortly after 1 p.m., and addressed the latest reports that the governor directed two state employees to contact the woman who accused a top Paterson aide of assaulting her. “I don’t think it’s necessarily fatal to his governorship,” Mr. Jacobs said as he entered the mansion. “I think it’s a very tough story. I think that it’s got to be assessed. I think that the question he has to address is, are there any other stories coming?” Mr. Jacobs departed at 2:10 p.m., saying that he had not advised the governor to resign, but that Mr. Paterson had told him his side of the story, and that he had urged the governor to get it out to the public, perhaps in a news conference. “The governor needs and deserves the time — there is no rush here — to make his case and get his side out,” Mr. Jacobs said. “He’s going to do that. He absolutely understands the seriousness of the political environment he’s in.” But he cautioned that it was “a political crisis that needs resolution and needs action and cannot be resolved by just letting time fly by.” Mr. Jacobs said the governor’s mood was sober and businesslike as he explained himself. “The governor needs to demonstrate that he can govern and he needs to answer these allegations — and he has answers for them,” he said. ed hardy woman caps “I did not tell him to resign. I did not get the sense that the governor is considering resignation, that resignation is impending.” He added: “There is nothing to be served in the governor resigning today, getting his story out tomorrow, and everybody saying to him ‘Oops, maybe you overreacted.’ ” As Mr. Jacobs left, three Bronx Democrats arrived: Assemblywoman Carmen E. Arroyo and Senators Pedro Espada Jr. and Rubén Díaz Sr., the latter in his trademark black cowboy hat. A state official confirmed that Mr. Paterson had called a cabinet meeting for Wednesday, summoning dozens of the state’s senior officials -- those who run agencies and departments -- to a meeting in the Red Room of the Capitol. Such meetings are held every several weeks but are normally run by Lawrence Schwartz, the secretary to the governor, and not by Mr. Paterson, who has faced complaints from his own appointees that he is disengaged and rarely seeks their advice or feedback. Mr. Paterson abandoned his campaign for a full term on Friday amid turmoil over his administration’s actions in the domestic violence case, which are being investigated by the state attorney general’s office. But he has faced mounting pressure from current and former elected officials to either resign or transfer some of his authority, particularly over the budget, to Lt. Gov. Richard Ravitch. Some black lawmakers have questioned whether such calls were motivated by race. But on Tuesday morning, Karim Camara, a Brooklyn assemblyman who is black, said the governor had thrust those defending him into an almost impossible position, especially as Mr. Paterson’s public statements come into increasing conflict with news accounts of his actions behind the scenes. “It is very difficult to make a decision on where ed hardy woman jewelry you stand based on unnamed sources in the media,” Mr. Camara said. “But if this is true — if there is an obstruction of justice against a domestic violence victim — I think the correct thing to do would be for the governor to resign.” He hastened to add: “That’s not in defense of the governor. I read the story. I found it very troubling. It’s a very difficult position that we’re in. And we don’t have a lot of time. We don’t have weeks. This has to be dealt with immediately. And we need to hear from the governor directly.” The New York chapter of the National Organization for Women, a leading women’s rights group that once praised Mr. Paterson’s work on violence against women, and an influential player in Democratic politics, also called on the governor to step down Tuesday. It had previously expressed concern about Mr. Paterson’s involvement in the case but stopped short of asking him to leave office. “This latest news is very disappointing for those of us who believed the governor was a strong advocate for women’s equality and for ending violence against women,” said Marci Pappas, the group’s president. “In spite of the governor’s heretofore excellent record on women’s issues, it is now time for the governor to step down.” Mr. Paterson’s would-be successor, Mr. Ravitch, expressed support for the governor, telling reporters at the Capitol that he had dinner with Mr. Paterson on Monday night and that resignation had not come up during the discussion. “I hope very much that he does not resign and that’s all I’ll say at this point,” Mr. Ravitch said. He said he had no desire to take Mr. Paterson’s place, and was not making any preparations to do so. Mr. Ravitch declined to address the latest report about ???? Mr. Paterson’s intervention in the domestic violence case, saying he had no “independent knowledge of the facts.” “I think the governor will end up doing what he thinks is best for the state of New York,” Mr. Ravitch said. “I’m not aware of any compelling reason for him to resign at this point.”
Published Date:
03/03/2010
Modified Date:
03/03/2010







In Yemen’s South, Protests Could Cause More Instab
Less than an hour’s drive outside this dilapidated port town, the Yemeni government’s authority is scarcely visible, and a different flag appears, that of the old independent state of South Yemen. The flags are one sign of a rapidly spreading protest movement ???? across the south that now threatens to turn into a violent insurgency if its demands are not met. That could further destabilize Yemen, already the poorest and one of the most troubled countries in the Arab world, and create a broader haven for Al Qaeda here. The movement’s leaders say the Yemeni government — based in the north — has systematically discriminated against the south, expropriating land, expelling southerners from their jobs and starving them of public money. They speak with deep nostalgia of the 128-year British occupation in South Yemen, saying the British, who withdrew in 1967, fostered the rule of law, tolerance and prosperity. The north, they say, respects only the gun. In recent months, calls for secession have grown louder after a harsh government crackdown on demonstrations and opposition newspapers. The movement’s leaders say that they believe in peaceful protest, but that their ability to control younger and more violent supporters is fraying. “It is too late for half measures or reforms,” said Zahra Saleh Abdullah, one of the few Southern Movement leaders who agreed to be identified in print. “We demand an independent southern republic, and we have the right to defend ourselves if they continue to kill us and imprison us.” Another movement leader, sitting across the room, held up a coin minted under the British in 1964 and pointed to the words engraved on it: South Arabia. “This is our true identity, not Yemen,” he said. “A southern republic or death.” Public outrage swelled last month after Yemeni security forces laid siege to the house of a prominent newspaper editor in Aden, setting off a barrage of rocket-propelled grenades and gunfire as the editor and his young children cowered inside. (The government said he was stockpiling weapons.) They were not injured, but the clash left at least one of the family’s guards dead and others wounded, fueling more demonstrations. All told, more than 100 people have been killed in clashes with the police since the movement began in 2007, its leaders say, and about 1,500 supporters remain in prison. In some rural areas of South Yemen, police officers refuse to wear their uniforms for fear of being shot, according to several accounts from local residents. The Yemeni government has largely dismissed the movement as a small band of malcontents and has repeatedly accused its leaders of being affiliated with Al Qaeda. The movement’s leaders call that an outrageous perversion of the truth: they say that they stand for law, tolerance and democracy, and that it is the north that has a history of using jihadists as proxy warriors. But some human rights workers say a shared hatred of the government could be creating a sense of unity between some members of the movement — which is broad and very loosely organized — and members of Al Qaeda. Perhaps a greater danger, some say, is the spread of lawlessness across the south if the movement’s demands for greater equity are not addressed and it grows more violent. The movement’s own internal contradictions ???? also pose a real threat. “There is no clear leadership, everyone wants to be the boss,” said Afra Khaled Hariri, a lawyer here who has represented arrested members of the movement. The movement’s leaders include socialists and Islamists with wildly different goals and unresolved disputes dating to internal conflicts between socialist factions that left thousands of southerners dead during the 1980s. “If the movement succeeds in making a separate state, I expect disaster because of our bloody past,” Ms. Hariri said. And Aden — the heart of the British protectorate and the base of the south’s intelligentsia — would be the chief victim, she added. For that reason, some in the south say, the best solution is not secession, but a political accommodation in which the north agrees to address some of the movement’s main grievances about land expropriation and job discrimination. Many also say that moving away from Yemen’s highly centralized system of government and granting the provinces more power to govern themselves would ease tensions. So far the government has shown little sign it intends to do that. Behind the Southern Movement’s protests is an old belief that North and South Yemen are fundamentally different societies, and that their unification — achieved with great fanfare on both sides in 1990 — has been a failure. The differences are apparent even to a first-time visitor. Aden has churches, parks, a smaller model of Big Ben and a stately garden where a statue of Queen Victoria presides. The roads, though a little faded, are generally better than those in the north. It is a commonplace that people respect red lights and driving lanes here, unlike in the north. The people of the south are generally better educated, a legacy not only of the British but of the Socialist government that ruled here during the 1970s. Although they shattered the economy and suppressed their opponents brutally, the Socialists also put an end to harmful tribal practices like child marriage, championed women’s equality and achieved some of the ???? Highest literacy rates in the Arab world. All those achievements have since collapsed: literacy and education have dropped precipitously across the south, child marriage has returned and lawlessness prevails. Many here blame the north for all that. A brief civil war broke out in 1994, during which the north used jihadists who had fought in Afghanistan as proxy fighters. “They want to push us into backwardness so we are like them,” said Ali Abdo, a professor of transportation engineering at Aden University and a member of a party that supports decentralization but not secession. “Aden was tolerant: there were Jews, Christians, Muslims all living together here. The North is not.” The Southern Movement began in 2007 with protests led by former military officers who said they had been mistreated and denied pensions after the 1994 civil war. Gradually, it has grown to encompass other groups. Last year, it received a large boost when Tareq al-Fadhli, a former Afghan jihadist and ally of President Ali Abdullah Saleh, defected to the movement. The movement now includes a substantial body of powerful tribal figures as well as Aden-based intellectuals and political figures. There is a 42-member leadership committee, though it is not clear how many of the movement’s supporters it represents. Most supporters seem to acknowledge Ali Salim al-Bidh, the exiled former president of South Yemen, as their leader. Mr. Bidh emerged from years of silence recently and began actively advocating southern independence. The movement has its own songs, which can be heard blasting from the open windows of cars in southern towns. “We swear to God, we will not put up with this corrupt dictator and his gang, even if the whole sky erupts in fire,” goes one song by Aboud Khawaja, a singer now based in Qatar. This month, a 27-year-old man named Faris Tamah was arrested near Aden while playing that song from his car stereo, and he was later shot to death in prison after being tortured, said several movement supporters who know his family and say they saw a medical report. Yemen’s government-run newspapers later ran an article saying that Mr. Tamah was arrested for drunken ??SF driving and committed suicide in custody by grabbing an officer’s gun and shooting himself. “The movement began with demands, but they were refused and the pressure grew,” Professor Abdo said. “Now, the movement is in every house in the south.”
Published Date:
28/02/2010
Modified Date:
28/02/2010







As Fighting Subsides, Afghans Plant a Flag in Marj
The black, red and green flag of Afghanistan was hoisted over the center of this onetime militant stronghold on Thursday, as Afghan officials symbolically claimed control after a major military offensive by Afghan and international troops to drive out Taliban fighters. With Afghan soldiers, tribal elders and residents of Marja looking on, Air Max shoes the governor of Helmand Province, which includes Marja, and a leading Afghan army general promised at the ceremonial flag-raising to restore security and stability to the city, and to transform it from a bastion of the Taliban into a “symbol of peace.” But even as the government re-staked its claim on the center of Marja, there were reports of scattered fighting in the fields to the north of the city as American and Afghan troops continued to pursue Taliban militants. And Gen. Mohammed Zahir Azimi, a spokesman for the Afghan Ministry of Defense, said that it could take up to a month for the Defense and Interior ministries to remove buried bombs and booby traps and rout pockets of insurgents in Marja. Sporadic fighting and resistance could even last longer, adding to the difficulties of setting up a fully functional local government. Gen. Sher Muhammad Zazai, the Afghan Army’s top commander in the Marja campaign, said the operation’s military goals were “almost achieved,” and promised residents that the Taliban would no longer pose a threat to the area. Marja, a town of about 80,000 near the Pakistani border, had been an enclave for the Taliban for nearly three years. American military officials have described the battle for Marja part of a larger military campaign to rout the Taliban. The Helmand governor, Gulab Mangal, said that troops from the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force would remain in the area until security was restored, and would not allow Marja to again fall to the Taliban. He promised that reconstruction projects would begin soon, and promised that the Afghan government and President Hamid Karzai would run the city better than the Taliban had. “What did they do for you people?” Mr. Mangal said at the ceremony, which took place near the site of the new government offices. “Are there any schools, clinics being built by the Taliban? Are they helping you?” Coalition officials, trying to quickly restore government services, have begun to set up schools and hire employees to fill jobs in the district government. Afghan officials also expressed their condolences to Max Ltd civilians who were killed and wounded in the battle, which began on Feb. 12, the largest military campaign since the United States-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001. But Mr. Mangal said it was a “great achievement” that so few civilians had been killed. The military warned of the offensive for weeks in advance in an effort to preemptively drive away Taliban militants and keep civilian casualties to a minimum. But the Afghan human rights commission said that 28 civilians had nonetheless been killed in the fighting. At least 12 NATO service members have been killed during the campaign. Residents who had fled the fighting were gradually returning on Thursday, reopening their shops and assessing any damage or losses. Some shop owners complained that their goods had been stolen and said they wanted compensation. As residents watched the flag-raising ceremony on Thursday, some expressed mixed feelings about the change of power. They said the Taliban had provided order and security, and said the Afghan army now needed to prove it could open schools, clear mines and explosives from the roads and fields and keep the population safe. One shopkeeper, Baz Muhammad, 25, said he returned to Marja after fleeing for 10 days during the fighting. He said he welcomed the arrival of Afghan forces, but he was leery of foreign troops, and said he would support the return of the Taliban if NATO troops overstepped their bounds. “People are saying they will raid our houses at night and they will kill us or detain us,” Mr. Muhammad said. Juma Gul, 20, a said his family had remained in the city even after his grandfather was shot and killed in front of his home. “The operation was painful and full of miseries for our family,” Mr. Gul said, adding that he wanted to see the militaries leave as soon as possible. “For us, they are not useful. We don’t want them to stay in Marja. We want them ???? to leave. For us, both the Taliban and Marines are the same. They are fighting and killing us. We don’t want either.” NATO said Thursday that two service members had died in southern Afghanistan — one on Wednesday when an improvised explosive device blew up, and the other on Thursday from small arms fire. A statement from NATO said the trooper killed on Wednesday had not died as part of the Marja campaign. There was no additional information on the service member killed Thursday.
Published Date:
26/02/2010
Modified Date:
26/02/2010







Toyota Official Says Recall May Not Fully Solve Sa
A Toyota executive told the House Energy and Commerce Committee on Tuesday that the company’s huge recall might “not totally” solve the problem of unintended sudden acceleration in its vehicles. In response to a question by the committee chairman, Henry A. ed hardy on sale Waxman, the executive, James E. Lentz III, the president of Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A., said that Toyota was still examining the sudden acceleration problem, including the possibility that the electronics system may be at fault. While Toyota has found no evidence of a computer problem at this point, Mr. Lentz said “we continue to look for potential causes.” “We need to be vigilant and continue to investigate all the complaint of the consumers,” Mr. Lentz said. There is the possibility “of mechanical, human or some other type of error.” . Mr. Lentz also told the committee that Toyota was installing a new brake system that can override the gas pedal on almost all its new vehicles and most of those already on the road. He said that more than 800,000 recalled vehicles have been repaired. Mr. Waxman, while criticizing Toyota’s response to the recall, told Mr. Lentz: “We need to be sure that you’re doing a full and adequate analysis of something you’ve denied, but that other witnesses have shown us is very possible.” “The possibility of electronic defects must be actively investigated,” Mr. Waxman said in his opening remarks.” Since last fall, Toyota has recalled more than eight million vehicles worldwide — more than six million in the United States alone — in two actions related to complaints about accelerator pedals that can stick, making it hard to stop the vehicles. In his testimony, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said the department had found no evidence of computer problems with Toyota cars and believed that floor mats and sticky pedals posed the greatest threat. Mr. LaHood defended the work of government investigators, but he stopped short of saying that the recent recalls would solve all of the acceleration problem in Toyota cars. “We stand ready to ensure prompt action on any additional defects that we have reason to believe are present,” Mr. LaHood said. Witnesses before Mr. Lentz detailed how an electronic ed hardy underwear loungewear problem could have caused sudden unintended accelerations. And one witness, Rhonda Smith, recounted the harrowing moments of Oct. 12, 2006, when her Lexus sedan sped out of control at 100 miles an hour. Mrs. Smith told the energy committee that she furiously pushed buttons, shifted gears, and slammed on the brakes as she tried to stop the vehicle, Finally, after six miles, she was able to stop the car. She was the first witness in the first of three hearings on Toyota’s recall of millions of its cars. In their opening remarks, lawmakers said they wanted to understand why the Toyota failed to adequately respond to reports of the unintended acceleration, and they questioned whether the car’s computer system was at fault, rather than, as Toyota asserts, the floor mats and gas pedals. Mrs. Smith told the committee that she felt that Toyota’s response to her complaint was “a farce.” She said a company technician told her he was not able to replicate the episode and suggested that it was caused by pressing on the brakes while the tires were spinning. “Of course we were insulted, and furious over being called liars,” Mrs. Smith said. Later, Mr. Lentz said he was “embarrassed about what happened” to the Smiths. “We’re going to down and get that car and see what happened,” he said. Mr. Lentz grew emotional when he spoke of losing ed hardy women accessories his brother in an auto accident 26 years ago. “There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t think of what these families go through,” he said, his voice breaking. Asked why Toyota had moved away from a business model that prized quality and openness, Mr. Lentz offered a simple explanation: “We lost sight of our customers.” “We outgrew our engineering resource,” he said. “We’re suffering from that today.” Lawmakers repeatedly pointed out that their goal with the hearing was to assure the safety of the American consumer. “Safety must come first,” Mr. Waxman said while also faulting investigators at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration for not aggressively pursuing problems with Toyota vehicles. Representative Marsha Blackburn, a Republican of Tennessee said the goal was to “make sure that mistakes of the past are not repeated and to be responsible when so much is on the line.” Tennessee has a plant from Denso, a major Toyota supplier, as well as a Nissan factory and a Volkswagen plant under construction near Chattanooga. In a statement prepared for delivery to House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on Wednesday, the president of Toyota, Akio Toyoda, said he took full responsibility for the safety crisis facing his company. Mr. Toyoda, in his statement, said he feared the pace at which the company grew in the last decade was too quick. Toyota increased its global sales by about 50 percent, in part by building plants around the world, and became the world’s biggest auto company in 2008. Traditionally, he said the company’s priorities had ed hardy woman caps been safety, quality and volume. But in its growth spurt, “these priorities became confused, and we were not able to stop, think and make improvements as much as we were before,” he said in the prepared testimony. “We pursued growth over the speed at which we were able to develop our people and our organization. I regret that this has resulted in the safety issues described in the recalls we face today, and I am sincerely sorry for any accidents that Toyota drivers have experienced.” And he apologized to members the Saylor family, which was involved in an accident last fall in San Diego that killed four people and brought the issue of sudden acceleration into the spotlight.
Published Date:
24/02/2010
Modified Date:
24/02/2010



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