Free Republic

For Laura Christian, July 29, 2005, was the worst kind of anniversary. One year earlier, Ms. Christian had been reunited with Amber Marie Rose, the daughter she gave up for adoption at birth. But Ms. Christian did not get to call her daughter a year later. In the predawn hours that day, Amber, 16, died after her 2005 Chevrolet Cobalt crashed and the air bag failed to deploy. Now, nearly nine years later, Ms. Christian knows that the air bag’s failure was the result of a defective car part. General Motors has recalled nearly 1.4 million cars in the United...

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is opening an investigation into General Motors' response to an ignition-switch defect that has been linked to 13 deaths, prompting a recall of 1.6 million vehicles. As I have previously reported, the ignition-switch problem has been known for years. What took NHTSA so long? NHTSA is an executive branch agency, part of the Transportation Department. According to its website, NHTSA "is dedicated to achieving the highest standards of excellence in motor vehicle and highway safety. It works daily [emphasis added] to help prevent crashes and their attendant costs, both human and financial." Five...

The recall now affects 1.37 million vehicles built between 2003 and 2007. In addition to 778,000 Chevrolet Cobalts and Pontiac G5 cars recalled earlier this month, GM is also recalling Saturn Ions, Chevrolet HHRs, Pontiac Solstices and Saturn Sky models for the same issue. GM says the ignition on the vehicles recalled can accidentally switch out of the “Run” position while the car is being driven. When that happens, the car’s engine shuts off, rendering power brakes, power steering and airbags not operational. Originally, GM said there had been six fatalities among front-seat passengers as a result of this problem....

New evidence is surfacing that General Motors has known for years about the deadly defects in its vehicles ( as I suggested here last week) that are just now being recalled. The defects have led to the deaths of at least six people and are the basis of an ongoing lawsuit against GM. The deadly recall delay by GM has garnered the attention of Mainstream Media as usually GM-friendly sources like USA Today, The New York Times, CNN Money and even CBS Evening News have rightfully decided that the accusations of deplorable behavior by GM deserve to be shared...

Nestlé (Swiss Exchange: NESN-CH) announced Tuesday that it was voluntarily recalling two of the snack products following a widespread meat recall. The move affects its Philly Steak and Cheese Hot Pockets in three sizes and its Croissant Crust Philly Steak and Cheese flavor in the two-pack box. In total, about 238,000 cases of Hot Pockets were recalled, NBC News reported.

General Motors recently recalled close to a million vehicles for a deadly problem that resulted in six deaths. The models involved were Chevy Cobalts and Pontiac G5s from the 2005 through 2007 model years. The question is, why did NHTSA and GM wait so long to recall vehicles with a dangerous defect when the problems surfaced years ago? Scouring the internet reveals many reported stalling incidents for the models in question. My particular Google search went back to 2009 and unearthed disturbing evidence that GM did not properly address issues with faulty vehicles. While the vehicles were manufactured by...

A month and a half after the unsuccessful effort to oust four Exeter Town Council members, financial reports filed by both sides show that in the weeks leading up to the recall vote, the firearms-rights supporters who mounted the effort were badly outgunned in terms of campaign cash. According to contribution and spending reports filed by We The People/Rhode Island Firearms League, the Exeter Democratic Town Committee and Save Exeter, the council members’ own political action committee, the anti-recall forces were able to outspend We the People by a better than 2-to-1 ratio in the 10 weeks leading up to...

Numbers of public sector unions in Wisconsin collapsed in the wake of an historic vote that ended on Thursday. The unions are acutely feeling the impact of Act 10, Governor Scott Walker’s controversy-generating collective bargaining reforms of 2011. The reforms require public sector unions to hold annual recertification votes. In order to be certified as unions by the state, the labor groups must get the approval of over 50% of their members. For several weeks now the Wisconsin Employment Relations Commission has been holding an open and ongoing vote for over 400 unions, mostly made up of public school teachers...

 “I didn’t realize that so many people here in our corner of Rhode Island were so passionate about guns,” a nonplussed Calvin Ellis told the Wall Street Journal. Bless his heart. It’s safe to say, though, that he his three fellow Exeter town council members have now been thoroughly educated on that matter. That’s because, as RF relayed, 80% of the town council – Ellis included – stand to lose their jobs in a recall election today because they voted to transfer their shall-issue concealed carry licensing authority to the state’s may-issue attorney general. As resident Letitia Davis told wsj.com, ”Our rights are...

These are bad numbers. Really, really bad.What is interesting about the Harvard University’s Institute of Politics millennial poll is that it subdivides older millennials (25-29) from younger millenials (18-24). And it’s the latter group that is more predictive and its verdict is wholly negative.There’s more support among 18-24 year olds for recalling Obama from office, than for recalling their member of Congress or even all members of Congress– at a time when Congressional approval ratings have hit record lows. Obama’s approval rating among young Americans is just 41 percent, down 11 points from a year ago, and now tracking...

Remember that third recall effort out in Colorado, targeting two-term Democrat Evie Hudak? It is now moot. State Sen. Evie Hudak has decided to resign rather than risk facing a recall election that, should she lose, would flip control of the senate to Republicans, FOX31 Denver was first to report Wednesday. Later Wednesday morning, Hudak made her resignation letter public. “In the interest of preserving the progress made over the last year, I am resigning as State Senator for District 19, effective immediately,” Hudak wrote. By resigning before the signatures are turned in, she assures that a Democratic vacancy committee...

After seeing two of her Colorado colleagues recalled over anti-gun votes, Democratic State Senator Evie Hudak, will submit her resignation. Hudak will hold a news conference Wednesday morning at the Arvada Library. "By resigning I am protecting these important new laws for the good of Colorado and ensuring that we can continue looking forward," Hudak wrote in her resignation letter in regard to her gun votes, which led to the recall effort. Proponents of the recall have until early next week to submit about 18,900 valid signatures to the secretary of state's office. If enough signatures are valid, Hudak would...

A Democratic Colorado state senator resigned Wednesday to avoid a possible recall election over a controversial gun control law that led to the ouster of two of her colleagues earlier this year. Sen. Evie Hudak, who has represented a district that includes Denver’s western suburbs since 2008, announced her resignation less than a week before opponents planned to submit petitions to recall her. Calling the decision “difficult,” Hudak said she decided to resign to protect the new gun control legislation and to ensure her constituents would not have to pay for a special election.

It looks like the dems want the Hickenlooper to appoint a dem so We the People don't elect a Republican.

UPDATE: The rape survivors who testified against a bill that would ban concealed carry on college campuses and who were disrespected by Hudak in the process reacted to the news that Hudak had resigned: “I am pleased that the people of Senate District 19 put enough pressure on Senator Hudak to cause her to resign her Senate seat. Her treatment of me and other women in March demonstrated Senator Hudak’s belief that she knows better than the women of Colorado how they should best defend themselves. My sincere hope is that the Democrats consider, in their replacement choice, that the...

General Motors Corp. (GM) is recalling 18,941 Chevy Camaros (model years 2013 and 2014) for violating Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard No. 208—Occupant Crash Protection. Defective seat belts? Air bag malfunction? Brake failure? Nope. GM is recalling 18,941 Chevy Camaros because the air bag warning label on the sun visor may peel.

Democratic State Senator Evie Hudak is facing a second round of recall after voting for Mayor Bloomberg’s gun control bills, but sources tell us she has agreed to resign if the organizers seeking her recall get enough signatures. The scuttlebutt around the Capitol is that Hudak has agreed to resign her seat if enough signatures get verified to force a recall election, but we’ve been told a secret agreement allegedly made with Senate President Morgan Carroll comes with a few strings attached. If Hudak lost her recall election, it would hand power of the State Senate to Republicans. To stop...

Subpoenas hit allies of Scott Walker as his re-election campaign looms. Americans learned in the IRS political targeting scandal that government enforcement power can be used to stifle political speech. Something similar may be unfolding in Wisconsin, where a special prosecutor is targeting conservative groups that participated in the battle over Governor Scott Walker's union reforms. In recent weeks, special prosecutor Francis Schmitz has hit dozens of conservative groups with subpoenas demanding documents related to the 2011 and 2012 campaigns to recall Governor Walker and state legislative leaders. Copies of two subpoenas we've seen demand "all memoranda, email . ....

A supporter of Colorado State Senator, and gun control champion, Evie Hudak was captured on video threatening to “go home and get a gun and come back and kill” recall activists as they tried to gather signatures for a new recall effort against Ms. Hudak. ... The Recall Hudak Too organizers are hoping to follow up successful recalls of two other anti-gun Colorado State Senators earlier this year. Both State Senate President John Morse and State Senator Angela Giron were thrown out of office by voters over their support for controversial gun control measures. Hudak supported the same measures. Ms....

General Motors is recalling nearly 60,000 Chevy Malibu midsize cars to fix window defrosters that may not work and power seat wiring that can catch fire. … GM dealers will reprogram the computer at no cost to customers. The company says it doesn’t know of any crashes or injuries from the problem. …