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Here are some interesting tidbits that I found regarding the hysteria over the sudden acceleration problems with the Toyota Prius.

Ted Frank from the Washington Examiner noted the following:

The Los Angeles Times recently did a story detailing all of the NHTSA reports of Toyota “sudden acceleration” fatalities, and, though the Times did not mention it, the ages of the drivers involved were striking.

In the 24 cases where driver age was reported or readily inferred, the drivers included those of the ages 60, 61, 63, 66, 68, 71, 72, 72, 77, 79, 83, 85, 89—and I’m leaving out the son whose age wasn’t identified, but whose 94-year-old father died as a passenger.

These “electronic defects” apparently discriminate against the elderly, just as the sudden acceleration of Audis and GM autos did before them. (If computers are going to discriminate against anyone, they should be picking on the young, who are more likely to take up arms against the rise of the machines and future Terminators).more

Megan McArdle from The Atlantic did a little more digging and added this:

In the original Sudden Acceleration Incident craze that afflicted America in the late eighties, the National Highway Safety Transportation Administration eventually ruled that the problem was “pedal misapplication”, aka stepping on the gas when you meant to step on the brake. These incidents were highly correlated with three things: being elderly, being short, and parking (or leaving a parking space). The elderly are more prone to the sort of neuronal misfiring described in yesterday’s New York Times. Shorter people have to hunt more for the pedals. And starting up from a complete stop is the most likely time to press the wrong pedal.

I was interested in Frank’s argument, so I took a look at the LA Times article, which is really admirably thorough. Here are the results, categorized into a nifty, though not necessarily particularly useful, spreadsheet. I went one further than Frank, tracking down the ages of all but a couple of the named drivers. If y’all wondered why I wasn’t blogging today, well, there’s your answer. I’ve excluded three cases where the information was just too sparse to have any idea what happened, but otherwise, that’s the complete list.

Several things are striking. First, the age distribution really is extremely skewed. The overwhelming majority are over 55. more

This sounds like what we lovingly refer to at work as “loser error.”

Maybe it’s just me, but this whole Toyota saga has seemed from the beginning like a hit piece to prop up American car manufacturers. You know, the same ones who brought you the flaming Pinto in the 1970’s.

It appears that more people every day are waking up and realizing that Glenn Beck is a fraud. This blog post is a perfect example.

Many of you will refuse to believe that you are being deceived by Glenn Beck because you cannot fathom any reason why he would do this. Without considering the big picture, this is understandable. Because of this, you have rationalized that the “Beck Bashers” must either be jealous of his fame and fortune or they are just “idiot liberals.” Before we can begin to explore “how we are being deceived”, we must first ask the question, “Why?” The short answer is controlled opposition, and this is where it is crucial for many of you to gain and keep an open mind! more

Deception only works for so long before people’s bullshit detectors start to go off and they start questioning what they see. As the author mentions, Glenn beck is the controlled opposition. He throws out morsels of truth and people are so starved for it they devour it without considering the source. He is just a tool to keep people from pulling back the curtain and seeing the whole truth. As I have said before he is a Neocon in Libertarian clothing. The sooner people realize this, the sooner we can move to the really changing things.

President Obama is facing a rebellion from both parties as he seeks to kill NASA’s Constellation program and seemingly outsource space exploration to private companies. While ultimately some private competition may not be a bad idea, at the moment it leaves the United States in a hole as the space shuttle program is being dismantled this year and we have nothing to replace it.

How sad is it that the country that first put a man on the Moon will be forced to hitch rides with the Russians and Chinese? We have sunk to new lows. How can we be regarded as a superpower when we are a “has been” when it comes to space exploration? Perhaps if we had not spent so much money bailing out the useless leeches on Wall Street who contribute nothing to society, we would have enough to spend on pursuits that truly advance humanity.

We should be planning a manned mission to Mars, instead we have cash for clunkers. How fitting.

WASHINGTON, March 10 – U.S. President Barack Obama is trying to tamp down an uprising in politically vital Florida against a new strategy for NASA that has rankled space veterans and lawmakers and sparked fears of job losses.

Obama’s decision to kill NASA’s Constellation program to launch astronauts into orbit and return Americans to the moon has prompted soul-searching on whether the United States is prepared to cede a pre-eminent space role to Russia and China.

“As with all great human achievements, our commitment to space must be renewed and encouraged or we will surely be surpassed by other nations who are presently challenging our leadership in space,” Democratic and Republican members of the U.S. Congress from Florida wrote to Obama last week.

Obama’s move for a greater private sector role in space launches — as he seeks to keep ballooning federal deficits in check — has generated fears of job losses among thousands of NASA employees who provide an important economic base in Florida, a state usually crucial in presidential elections.

Employees at major space complexes in Alabama and Texas are also worried.

It is making for a potentially explosive environment when Obama travels to the Cape Canaveral area on April 15 to host a space conference with top officials and leaders in the field.

“What reception will they get? Not good,” said Keith Cowing, editor of nasawatch.com, a website that closely monitors the U.S. space agency. “It’s a gutsy move. It’s Daniel in the Lion’s Den.”

Obama, in his Feb. 1 budget proposal, planned to increase NASA’s overall funding to $19 billion in 2011 with an emphasis on science and less spent on space exploration.

He would cancel the Constellation program’s Orion spacecraft and Ares rockets, after $9 billion and five years of tests. Constellation is aimed at returning astronauts to the moon in the 2020s to clear the way for a Mars mission.

Instead, Obama would spend $6 billion a year for five years to support commercial spacecraft development and pursue new technologies to explore the solar system in what the White House called “a more effective and affordable way.”