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Wasn't the governmnt pushing for an OBD-III standard that would pretty much incorperate the CDMA and a full emissions/performance monitoring system?

On Star is just an "acclimation" product to get you used to the idea. Next, they'll trot out a study showing how much money everyone would save if such systems were mandatory and government controlled. Especially in light of the new Medicare bill just signed.

Bank on it...

The OBD stuff was pushed mostly by California. The auto manufacturers complied so they could sell cars. Small companies such as NetworkCar concocted devices to query the diagnostics off the OBD connector and transmit over RIM modems to monitor emissions. My boss actually built the networking for that program. The idea of remote diagnostics has been pressed by fleet owners. Interfacing the J1850 bus was already necessary to access the remote door unlocks on the new vehicles. Adding a query for diagnostics was just a software upgrade.

Your concern about emissions monitoring is legitimate. NetworkCar was angling to equip all the taxi cabs in Los Angeles because of operators have a long history of poor maintenance. The Air Quality Management District toyed with forcing the cabs to install the equipment as a prerequisite to getting a license to operate. The idea fell flat because the in-vehicle electronics package had too many defects to deploy.

Wasn't the governmnt pushing for an OBD-III standard that would pretty much incorperate the CDMA and a full emissions/performance monitoring system?

Yes. OBDIII would let them remotely shut off your vehicle for violation the Clean Air Act. ;-) You would get a warning that you vehicle required service because it was exceeding the emissions limits for your jurisdiction. After a while they could just shut your car off if you continued to be in violation. Sccaary.