#78 November/December 2005
The Washington Free Press Washington's Independent Journal of News, Ideas & Culture
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TOP STORIES

Genetically Engineered Designer Politicians
When it comes to politicians, intelligent design trumps evolution
by Todd Huffman, MD

Judge: Grant County's Public Defense System Deficient
from the ACLU of Washington

The Day My Leaf Blower Became Silent
story & photos by Kristianna Baird

FREE THOUGHTS

READER MAIL
More Trust Goes to Doctors; A Plague Upon You; Can We Clean Up the Hanford Clean-up?; American Politicians: A Threat to the World; On Hunger Strike in WA Prison

Writing in an Age of Terror
by David Swanson

Somebody Up There Likes Us!
Utne Reader nominates us for best local/regional coverage
from the editor

NORTHWEST & BEYOND compiled by Sharlynn Cobaugh
Small-Town Victory in North Central Cascades; Seattleites Rally Against Military Recruitment; US Wants Extradition of Canada's Prince of Pot; Old Growth Forests Endangered by Healthy Forest Initiative; CAFTA: A knife in the back of health freedom-fighters; Dirty Kilowatts; Chavez Prepares for US Intervention

HEALTH

Dentist Gone Native: The prophetic nutritional research of Dr. Weston Price, DDS
Part 2 (conclusion): The effects of modern diet on native peoples
by Dr. Stephen Byrnes

LABOR

Work For Bush
cartoon by David Logan

What About the Rank and File?
Labor leaders are still ignoring Labor's biggest asset: volunteer members
part 2 (conclusion)
opinion by Brian King

Federal Charges Filed Against Cascadian Building Maintenance
from SEIU Local 6

Temp World
part 1
by Margie M. Mitchell

POLITICS

Able Danger: 'Something Bigger Here'
New evidence regarding prior government knowledge of 9/11 terrorists
by Rodger Herbst

Socialist Candidate Scores Well in Seattle Vote
from Advocates for Averill

ENVIRONMENT

Ford Redoubles Green-washing Efforts
Activists double over laughing
from Global Exchange and Rainforest Action Network

TRASH TALK by Dave and Lillian Brummet
The Valuable Individual; Reduce Waste this Christmas

WAR

MEDIA BEAT by Norman Solomon
'The War on Terror'--in Translation

Did you know that...
from David Swanson and O'Kelly McCluskey

Iraq: Toward an Honorable Exit
by Phil Heft

CONTACTS/ACTIVISM

NORTHWEST NEIGHBORS
contact list of subscribers who like to talk with you

DO SOMETHING! CALENDAR
Northwest activist events

MEDIA

Bird Flu!
cartoon by Andrew Wahl

Washington Prisons Pay Record Censorship Penalty
from Prison Legal News

Cable-Access TV Faces Local and National Threats
from SCAN

LAW

Too Much Seatime
by John Merriam, attorney-at-law

CULTURE

Teacher; Dead Artists; Untitled
Three poems by Robert Pavlik

If God...
by Styx Mundstock

The Wanderings and Thoughts of Kip Kellogg
by Vincent Spada

PUMPKIN EDDIE'S LIGHTNING POEMS
Moody; Crazy
by Vincent Spada

EDUCATION

Weapons of Mass Instruction
by Paul Rathgeb

Ford Redoubles Green-washing Efforts

from Global Exchange and Rainforest Action Network

Grassroots activists laughed at a recent announcement that Ford Motor Company--the EPA's longstanding last-place US automaker on fuel efficiency--had launched "Fuel-Economy School" to teach Americans how to drive its gas-guzzlers more efficiently.

Ford also announced details of its strange program to partner with police and give "citations" for free gasoline.

Human rights and environmental activists, who have been challenging Ford's claims that it is an "innovative" and "environmental" car company, view these latest initiatives as little more than a new round of public-relations-driven promises that will result in virtually no meaningful improvement of the company's bottom-of-the-barrel fleet-wide fuel efficiency.

In an October 7 press release, Ford announced a "nationwide effort to teach consumers how to improve fuel economy" including a "Fuel-Economy School" and "10-city tour to bring fuel saving driving tips to local communities." In a September 21 release, Ford promised to "increase global hybrid production ten-fold, to approximately 250,000 annually by 2010" by offering a limited lineup of optional gasoline-powered hybrid engines. Ford's projected 2010 hybrid production numbers represent just half of the 500,000 units Toyota plans to produce in 2006 and less than 3.5 percent of the seven million cars that Ford produces annually.

Every year since 1999, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has ranked Ford cars, truck and SUVs as having the worst overall fuel economy of any American automaker. A recent report from the Union of Concerned Scientists ranks Ford as having "the absolute worst heat-trapping gas emissions performance of all the Big Six automakers."

From subcompacts to SUVs, Ford's current line-up gets fewer miles per gallon on average than the Model-T did over 80 years ago. According to the EPA's 2006 Fuel Economy Guide, three Ford models are among the eight listed as having the "lowest fuel economy among popular 2006 vehicles."

Citing lack of consumer demand for gas-guzzlers, both Moody's Investment Service and Standard & Poor's recently took Ford to the junkyard by rating its stock as non-investment grade. To compete with record sales of more fuel-efficient models by automakers like Toyota, North American Ford dealers were forced to sell the company's gas-guzzlers at loss this summer by extending an employee discount program to consumers.

On September 2, 2004, Niel Golightly, director of environmental strategies for Ford Motor Company, told USA Today, "Clearly, the entire industry could build nothing but zero emissions cars today if it wanted to."

Launched in 2003, the Jumpstart Ford campaign is an international grassroots movement compelling Ford Motor Company to improve its fleet-wide fuel efficiency to 50 miles per gallon by 2010 and eliminate tailpipe emissions by 2020.

"As a result of oil wars, super storms, asthma epidemics, job losses and record high prices at the pump, Americans are realizing that breaking our addiction to oil and achieving energy independence is necessary to protect our national security and public health" said Mike Hudema, a Jumpstart Ford campaigner with Global Exchange. "It's time for Ford to start listening to Americans and declare its independence from oil."

"Ford has promised to do in five years what Toyota is doing today, and its new fuel economy school does nothing to change the fact that its cars, trucks and SUVs are the most wasteful vehicles in America," said Jennifer Krill, director of the Zero Emissions Campaign at Rainforest Action Network. "For years Ford has irresponsibly blamed American consumers for its lack of action to improve its abysmal fleet-wide fuel efficiency. Now, Ford is following the lead of the gun lobby and big tobacco by saying that it's not the car that guzzles gas, it's the driver."

For more information, see GlobalExchange.org, RAN.org, and Ruckus.org.


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