CSpec

As far as I know there is no G6 on Epsilon 2.

I would bet that the entire thing was CGI...

The interior is not anywhere close to where it should be, the exterior leaves much to be desired. The new V6 is great, but the Northstar is getting old quick. The STS' inferiority will be confirmed by GM in a couple of years when they kill it off.

Romney lies; I've seen him driving his red Arnage T around town before.

This car still has a long ways to go before it can compete with at the ~$50k mark.

The cars look identical to the old models....

Very clever.

Why are Canadian people better than Mexican people?

I don't think this is too credible.

Automotive perfection right there.

True, but it's their choice.

That's some pwnage.

You have finals at 7AM? That's absurd! I have one final this year, at 4 PM on Tuesday.

This happens to all of them. I had mine replaced a few months ago.

Good for GM, but I would say some of these results are wrong. The XLR is the worst convertible over $60,000 in my book, the STS isn't very good, and the fact that the Cobalt won for under $15,000 is sort of a slap in the face, given it was supposed to compete with cars that are more expensive.

I am going to.... stalk.... Lenny and Carl........... D'OH!

Good thing they improved the transmission; the one in the GTO was a bit ancient.

68, if the hardtop thing means so much to you, why don't you just buy the CLK? If it's not worth that much to you, then suck it up.

Impala, or some version of the Impala.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB117629894771066330.html General Motors Corp. on Thursday posted a 90% plunge in first-quarter profit, though its loss narrowed at its core North American region, as poor earnings at GMAC Financial services weighed on the auto maker. GM, in the midst of an extensive corporate restructuring, reported net income of $62 million, or 11 cents a share, for the quarter, compared with $602 million, or $1.06 a share, a year earlier. Earnings in the latest quarter included unfavorable special items of $32 million, or six cents a share. The auto maker posted a positive automotive operating cash flow of $300 million for the quarter. The year-ago results included a gain of $395 million from the sale of a portion of GM's equity ownership position in Suzuki Motors. Excluding items, GM said it would have reported first-quarter earnings of $94 million, or 17 cents a share. Analysts polled by Thomson Financial had expected the Detroit company to post earnings, excluding items, of 87 cents a share. Chief Financial Officer Fritz Henderson said the company's operating earnings were significantly affected by weakness at the GMAC lending arm. GMAC's performance was hit hard by weakness in subprime lending. "Frankly, I don't think that was fully factored in," Mr. Henderson said, referring to analysts' expectations for the quarter. GM recognized a net loss of $115 million on its 49% ownership of GMAC, including the accrual of dividends on GMAC preferred membership interests and certain tax benefits realized. GMAC on Wednesday posted a net loss of $305 million, compared with a year-earlier profit of $495 million. (See related article.) In recent pre-market trading, GM shares fell 57 cents, or 1.8%, to $31.87. GM's revenue in the latest quarter fell 16% to $43.9 billion from $52.4 billion. The revenue decline largely reflects the divestiture of a majority stake in the GMAC lending arm last year. Automotive sales fell to $42.9 billion from $43.53 billion. Financial services and insurance revenue fell to $986 million from $8.85 billion. The first-quarter results underscore the challenges U.S. auto makers face in restructuring their domestic operations at a time of significant uncertainty for the U.S. economy, particularly in the housing market. Ford Motor Co. last week reported better-than-expected overall results, though losses in its North American unit widened even as the company implemented steep cost cuts. Earlier this week, GM and Ford both reported sharp declines in their U.S. sales for April. GM Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Rick Wagoner said the latest period marked "another quarter of continued progress in GM's global automotive operations. We were able to expand vehicle sales and improve automotive profitability based on the progress in our turnaround initiatives in North America and Europe and our expansion strategy for key growth markets like China, Russia and South America, Wagoner said. "We continue to see progress on the automotive bottom line as we implement the strategies laid out two years ago," the CEO added. In the first quarter, GM sold a record number of vehicles worldwide. Still, it was surpassed by Toyota Motor Corp. for the No.1 spot in the world during the quarter. At GM North America, the net loss came to $46 million, versus a loss of $292 million, a year ago. Net sales fell to $28.51 billion from $30.86 billion. GM attributed the narrower loss in North America mostly to large cost savings in health care and manufacturing-related expenses. The auto maker also credited strong acceptance of new products, as well as the company's continuing scaling back of sales to daily rental car fleets for the improvement at its core North American unit. The domestic auto makers are cutting back dramatically on low-margin sales to daily rental car companies to focus on more lucrative sales to customers at dealerships. The North American unit's loss narrowed, despite a production cut of 192,000 units, GM noted. The volume decline reflected an 111,000-unit reduction in dealer inventories in the U.S. and Canada, and a 69,000-unit cut in deliveries to daily rental companies in the U.S. and Canada, GM said. GM Europe posted net income of $5 million, down from $59 million. Net sales rose to $8.49 billion from $8.06 billion. Net income at GM Asia Pacific fell to $116 million from $492 million, though sales climbed to $4.56 billion from $3.39 billion. GM Latin America had net income of $201 million, versus $40 million a year earlier. Sales rose to $3.57 billion from $3.16 billion. <table border="1" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td class="p11" valign="top"><b>Net Sales</b> </td><td class="p11" align="center" valign="top"><b>2007 1Q</b> </td><td class="p11" align="center" valign="top"><b>2006 1Q</b> </td></tr> <tr><td class="p11" valign="top">North America </td><td class="p11" align="center" valign="top">$28,506 </td><td class="p11" align="center" valign="top">$30,857 </td></tr> <tr><td class="p11" valign="top">Europe </td><td class="p11" align="center" valign="top">$8,485 </td><td class="p11" align="center" valign="top">$8,055 </td></tr> <tr><td class="p11" valign="top">Asia/Pacific </td><td class="p11" align="center" valign="top">$4,559 </td><td class="p11" align="center" valign="top">$3,386 </td></tr> <tr><td class="p11" valign="top">Latin America </td><td class="p11" align="center" valign="top">$3,573 </td><td class="p11" align="center" valign="top">$3,161 </td></tr> <tr><td class="p11" valign="top"><b>Earnings</b> </td><td class="p11" align="center" valign="top"><b>2007 1Q</b> </td><td class="p11" align="center" valign="top"><b>2006 1Q</b> </td></tr> <tr><td class="p11" valign="top">North America </td><td class="p11" align="center" valign="top">($46) </td><td class="p11" align="center" valign="top">($292) </td></tr> <tr><td class="p11" valign="top">Europe </td><td class="p11" align="center" valign="top">$5 </td><td class="p11" align="center" valign="top">$59 </td></tr> <tr><td class="p11" valign="top">Asia/Pacific </td><td class="p11" align="center" valign="top">$116 </td><td class="p11" align="center" valign="top">$492 </td></tr> <tr><td class="p11" valign="top">Latin America </td><td class="p11" align="center" valign="top">$201 </td><td class="p11" align="center" valign="top">$40 </td></tr> </tbody></table>

Looks like 68 will have to buy a CL65.

Ford is in serious trouble.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...ml?hpid=topnews As the winds and water of Hurricane Katrina were receding, presidential confidante Karen Hughes sent a cable from her State Department office to U.S. ambassadors worldwide. Titled "Echo-Chamber Message" -- a public relations term for talking points designed to be repeated again and again -- the Sept. 7, 2005, directive was unmistakable: Assure the scores of countries that had pledged or donated aid at the height of the disaster that their largesse had provided Americans "practical help and moral support" and "highlight the concrete benefits hurricane victims are receiving." Many of the U.S. diplomats who received the message, however, were beginning to witness a more embarrassing reality. They knew the U.S. government was turning down many allies' offers of manpower, supplies and expertise worth untold millions of dollars. Eventually the United States also would fail to collect most of the unprecedented outpouring of international cash assistance for Katrina's victims. Allies offered $854 million in cash and in oil that was to be sold for cash. But only $40 million has been used so far for disaster victims or reconstruction, according to U.S. officials and contractors. Most of the aid went uncollected, including $400 million worth of oil. Some offers were withdrawn or redirected to private groups such as the Red Cross. The rest has been delayed by red tape and bureaucratic limits on how it can be spent. In addition, valuable supplies and services -- such as cellphone systems, medicine and cruise ships -- were delayed or declined because the government could not handle them. In some cases, supplies were wasted. The struggle to apply foreign aid in the aftermath of the hurricane, which has cost U.S. taxpayers more than $125 billion so far, is another reminder of the federal government's difficulty leading the recovery. Reports of government waste and delays or denials of assistance have surfaced repeatedly since hurricanes Katrina and Rita struck in 2005. Administration officials acknowledged in February 2006 that they were ill prepared to coordinate and distribute foreign aid and that only about half the $126 million received had been put to use. Now, 20 months after Katrina, newly released documents and interviews make clear the magnitude of the troubles. More than 10,000 pages of cables, telegraphs and e-mails from U.S. diplomats around the globe -- released piecemeal since last fall under the Freedom of Information Act -- provide a fuller account of problems that, at times, mystified generous allies and left U.S. representatives at a loss for an explanation. The documents were obtained by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a public interest group, which provided them to The Washington Post. In one exchange, State Department officials anguished over whether to tell Italy that its shipments of medicine, gauze and other medical supplies spoiled in the elements for weeks after Katrina's landfall on Aug. 29, 2005, and were destroyed. "Tell them we blew it," one disgusted official wrote. But she hedged: "The flip side is just to dispose of it and not come clean. I could be persuaded." In another instance, the Department of Homeland Security accepted an offer from Greece on Sept. 3, 2005, to dispatch two cruise ships that could be used free as hotels or hospitals for displaced residents. The deal was rescinded Sept. 15 after it became clear a ship would not arrive before Oct. 10. The U.S. eventually paid $249 million to use Carnival Cruise Lines vessels. And while television sets worldwide showed images of New Orleans residents begging to be rescued from rooftops as floodwaters rose, U.S. officials turned down countless offers of allied troops and search-and-rescue teams. The most common responses: "sent letter of thanks" and "will keep offer on hand," the new documents show. Overall, the United States declined 54 of 77 recorded aid offers from three of its staunchest allies: Canada, Britain and Israel, according to a 40-page State Department table of the offers that had been received as of January 2006. "There is a lack of accountability in where the money comes in and where it goes," said Melanie Sloan, executive director of the public interest group, which called for an investigation into the fate of foreign aid offers. She added: "It's clear that they're trying to hide their ineptitude, incompetence and malfeasance." In a statement, State Department spokesman Tom Casey said that the U.S. government sincerely appreciated support from around the world and that Katrina had proved to be "a unique event in many ways." "As we continue our planning for the future, we will draw on the lessons learned from this experience to ensure that we make the best use of any possible foreign assistance that might be offered," Casey said. Representatives of foreign countries declined to criticize the U.S. response to their aid offers, though some redirected their gifts. Of $454 million in cash that was pledged by more than 150 countries and foreign organizations, only $126 million from 40 donors was actually received. The biggest gifts were from the United Arab Emirates, $100 million; China and Bahrain, $5 million each; South Korea, $3.8 million; and Taiwan, $2 million. Bader Bin Saeed, spokesman for the Emirates Embassy in Washington, said that in future disasters, "the UAE would not hesitate to help other countries, whether the U.S. or any other state, in humanitarian efforts." Kuwait, which made the largest offer, pledged $100 million in cash and $400 million in oil. But the Kuwaitis eventually gave their money to two private groups: $25 million to the Bush-Clinton Katrina Fund, a project of the former presidents, and another $25 million to the American Red Cross in February 2006. They still plan to contribute another $50 million, said the Kuwaiti ambassador to the United States, Salem Abdullah al-Jaber al-Sabah. "It was based on my government's assessment of the fastest way to get money to the people that needed it," he said. "The Red Cross was on the ground and action-oriented." In the White House's February 2006 Katrina report, U.S. officials said Kuwait's $400 million oil donation was to be sold for cash. Sabah said it was an in-kind pledge made when it appeared that U.S. refining capacity was devastated and that the American public would need fuel. "We have to see what we have to do with that. When you pledge something in-kind, your intention is to give it in-kind. I do not think now the American people are in need of $400 million of fuel and fuel products," he said. Of the $126 million in cash that has been received, most has not yet been used. More than $60 million was set aside in March 2006 to rebuild schools, colleges and universities, but so far, only $10.4 million has been taken by schools. Half the $60 million was awarded last fall to 14 Louisiana and Mississippi colleges, but five have not started to claim the money. Only Dillard University in Louisiana and Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College have tapped their full awards, worth $6 million, U.S. Education Department officials said Friday. Another $30 million was sent to Orleans, St. Bernard and Plaquemines parishes in Louisiana and to the state-run Recovery School District in New Orleans to build libraries, laboratories and other facilities for 130 public schools. But none of that money has been used yet, said Meg Casper, spokeswoman for the Louisiana Department of Education. Allocations were just approved by the state board last week, she said, "so the money should start to flow." The first concrete program officials announced in October 2005 -- a $66 million contract to a consortium of 10 faith-based and charity groups to provide social services to displaced families -- so far has assisted less than half the 100,000 victims it promised to help, the project director said. The group, led by the United Methodist Committee on Relief, has spent $30 million of the money it was given to aid about 45,000 evacuees. Senate investigators are questioning some terms in the contract proposal, including a provision to pay consultants for 450 days to train volunteers for the work the committee was paid to do. Jim Cox, the program director, said that the project is "right on track" but that its strategy of relying on volunteers foundered because of burnout and high turnover. He acknowledged that more people need help than are receiving it and said the program will be extended to March to use available funds. "The resources aren't there, but these resources certainly are coming," Cox said.

Wow you actually like Vista? I haven't noticed any meaningful improvements over XP, and it idles using like 800 megs of system resources.

CTS is t3h cool, STS is t3h suck