Blog Topic

TOYOTA LIMITED RECALL SAVED $100 MILLION
Posted by: Darrell Castle
February 22, 2010

What is a single human life worth? How about 10 lives or a hundred? News media across the country are reporting on a story that comes from discovery requests by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. I quote from the New York Times, "Toyota estimated that it saved $100 million by negotiating with regulators for a limited recall of 2007 Toyota Camry and Lexus ES models for sudden acceleration, the same problem that has since prompted it to recall millions of cars, documents turned over to a Congressional committee showed Sunday." The estimate came from a confidential presentation made in July 2009 listing legislative and regulatory "wins" for the company.

This limited recall, which was apparently blamed on defective floor mats instead of electronics, allowed Toyota to keep millions of defective cars on the road which it was later forced, by crashes and lawsuits, to recall. Since the initial recall, Toyota has recalled more than 8 million vehicles worldwide related to stuck accelerator pedals. It has temporarily stopped selling and building vehicles in the U.S. and Canada that were involved in the recalls and dealers have begun repairing defective models. The company announced that the 8 million recalls plus one recall involving brakes on its hybrid Prius could cost it 2 billion.

Congressional investigators are now asking whether regulators did their original job effectively or not. This is a very easy question to answer. Regulators allowed Toyota to limit its early recall to 55,000 floor mats and avoid investigation of the far more serious electronics issues. The company also was allowed to head off an investigation of its Tacoma Truck series. These regulatory failures allowed defective vehicles to continue killing and injuring people. The regulators, as well as Toyota, should be held accountable for the injuries.

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood has been critical of the way the recalls were handled, and his spokes person, Olivia Alair, said in a statement, "We're going to hold Toyota's feet to the fire and make sure they do what's necessary." Well, we're watching what they do. Time will tell.

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LITTLE GIRL LOST PART TWO ALEXA GONZALEZ V. NEW YORK CITY
Posted by: Darrell Castle
February 19, 2010

"There was no profanity, no hate, just the words, 'I love my friends Abby and Faith. Lex was here 2/1/10:)' scrawled on the classroom desk with a green marker." For this offense, according to a report from CNN, 12 year old Alexa was handcuffed behind her back, and with tears streaming down her face, hauled away by police in full view of the worst possible audience for a preadolescent girl, her classmates.

"They put handcuffs on me, and I couldn't believe it, 'Alexa recalled. 'I didn't want them to see me being handcuffed, thinking I'm a bad person.' Although Alexa is no longer facing suspension from school, according to a New York City Department of Education spokeswoman, her case calls into question the use of zero tolerance policies in schools.

Emma Jordan-Simpson, executive director of the Children's Defense Fund, said "we are arresting them at younger and younger ages and in cases that used to be handled by a trip to the principal's office." New York City school security officers are now under the New York City Police Department and must enforce the zero tolerance policy. There are nearly 5000 employees in the NYPD School Safety Division and that number exceeds the total police force in Washington D.C.

Alexa's mother said she spent her three days off from school throwing up and it was a challenge for her to catch up on her homework when she returned to school. She has never been in trouble prior to her arrest as a "doodler." Margie Feinberg, an education department spokesperson, said 'our mission is to make sure that public schools are a safe and supportive environment for all students.'

Well Margie, you are failing miserably in your mission. You have made the public schools into a hostile environment for normal children like Alexa Gonzalez, and your zero tolerance policy is a complete failure unless its real mission is to turn normal children into robots by forcing them to live in fear that they are being watched for the slightest hint of normal behavior.

Is it possible for this society to get any more stupid? Just when I think that it is not possible, it does. This new world we are creating is one that is apparently devoid of what used to be called common sense, but now more closely resembles a war against humanity as that species has been traditionally perceived. For Alexa and her family, fortunately, a good personal injury lawyer will make the people of New York City pay for her humiliation. No wonder that state is bankrupt.

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ENCYCLOPEDIA OF MENTAL DISORDERS TO BE REVISED
Posted by: Darrell Castle
February 17, 2010

In an article entitled "Revising Book on Disorders of the Mind," the New York Times tells us that psychiatry seeks to heal itself.

"Far fewer children would get a diagnosis of bipolar disorder. 'Binge eating disorder' and 'hyper sexuality' might become part of the everyday language. And the way many mental disorders are diagnosed and treated would be sharply revised."

"These are a few of the changes proposed on Tuesday by doctors charged with revising psychiatry's encyclopedia of mental disorders, the guidebook that largely determines where society draws the line between normal and not normal, between eccentricity and illness, between self-indulgence and self-destruction-and, by extension, when and how patients should be treated."

So let me get this straight, according to the New York Times this group of doctors meet periodically to decide for the rest of us what is normal and what is not normal, what is illness and what merely eccentric, what is self destruction and what is merely self indulgence. The rest of us are expected to live with their conclusions until they are revised again as the doctors change their collective and individual minds, evolve, or until doctors who are somewhat eccentric, or maybe ill, are appointed to the panel. It occurs to me that this tiny group of doctors has a tremendous power to reorder our society to fit their individual tastes.

I wonder if we have been unduly misdiagnosing people, especially children, for generations, or if we are simply trying to be politically correct and thereby leaving mentally ill people untreated. We don't need to unnecessarily stigmatize people, but were they sick yesterday and well today just because these doctors say so, or were they truly sick? I don't know, I'm not a doctor and I'm not God. Deciding normal used to be his job.

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LITTLE GIRL LOST
Posted by: Darrell Castle
February 12, 2010

This is a story with some resemblance to my post about Judi Chamberlin's life and death from a few days ago. If you can recall Judi was involuntarily committed to a mental institution at age 22 and fought for the rights of the mentally ill for the rest of her life. Today we have a story courtesy of WPBF. To protect the anonymity I will not give this little girl's name or city. She is currently a six year old first grader. A few days ago this little girl was handcuffed and taken to a mental health facility because of her classroom behavior. Her parents say they are furious because the school chose to use such extreme measures.

She was handcuffed and transported in the back of a police cruiser. The 37 pound girl's wrists were too small for a handcuff to restrain her so the officer placed one cuff around both her wrists. Deputies report that she got upset and stormed out of her classroom when asked to do something by her teacher. The episode then turned into a temper tantrum in the principal's office. According to deputies, she kicked the wall, threw things from the principal's desk at the principal who happens to be pregnant, and then she was handcuffed. The next day deputies were called to the school again. She was yelling, throwing things at the eight months pregnant principal, and totally out of control. This time she was committed to a mental facility.

Her mother says she was terrified for her daughter. "Where is my baby?" What are they doing with her?" The child's mother says there is nothing wrong with her except a temper problem. The school says it has contacted her parents several times to set up meetings but they never show up for the meetings. The last meeting the mother canceled because she had car problems. In the meantime, she is home from school.

This poor little girl has no one to love her enough to discipline her, and nothing but a cold hearted bureaucratic system with no answers to protect her. What has happened to our society and our homes that no one can control a 37 pound six year old girl? In my day, of course, the teacher would have paddled her, the principal would have paddled her, and her parents when she got home. Would that be the right thing to do, I'm not sure but I would prefer it to involuntary commitment. The love has left our schools and our homes. God help the children because no one else will.

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TOYOTA AND N.H.T.S.A
Posted by: Darrell Castle
February 10, 2010

Auto safety regulators made a request of Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood in November of 2009 because they believed Toyota was dragging its feet in the investigation of Toyota design difficulties and resulting crashes. According to the New York Times, they requested that they be allowed to go to Japan to investigate and make their case themselves. The request was granted but it was two months before Toyota admitted to Washington that it had found problems with sticking accelerators. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration which is tasked with regulating auto makers did not use its power to subpoena Toyota's records, even though they said they believed Toyota was withholding critical information.

Now with eight million recalls including 400,000 of the new hybrid models this week alone, the N.H.T.S. is also under scrutiny. Members of congress want to know why the agency did not act more aggressively. The New York Times reports that Congress wants to know that, in the face of the most extensive recall in history for problems that have resulted in several deaths, what did the N.H.T.S.A. know, and did it act quickly enough. Some believe the agency became too close to the industry that it was charged with regulating.

Though the agency has enormous authority, did it have the money and staff to do its job, or did it simply take the path of least resistance? There were dozens of complaints going back years that were not investigated, at least not properly. Officials were often told that their requests for information had to be relayed to Japan for answers and the agency accepted that.

This all confirms my original suspicions that corporations and government are essentially the same predator. Sometimes these beasts are necessary but they must be carefully guarded.

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TOYOTA CRASHES
Posted by: Darrell Castle
February 05, 2010

What caused Toyota, for many years the gold standard of reliability and quality control, to have so many problems with crashes, sudden acceleration, catastrophic injuries, and deaths? According to Ralph Nader, consumer advocate and former Presidential candidate, Toyota should carry much of the blame for its complacency and loss of control over quality control. Nader asserts the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) must also shoulder its share of the blame. "NHTSA has conducted at least six investigations into Toyota's gas pedal problem in the past several years and closed them with no actions. The agency has refused to subpoena any tests and other information from the company...NHTSA has never issued a mandatory safety standard for gas pedals."

Many lawsuits have been filed against Toyota resulting from sudden acceleration crashes but one filed in Genesee, County Michigan alleges that Toyota and one of its suppliers, Denso, a Japanese firm, were negligent in manufacturing an electronic throttle control system in Camrys and other Toyota models. Toyota said that it had found no problems with its throttle control system, which it began using in 2002. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood has said that federal regulators will "continue to look" into whether Toyota's electronic systems pose a safety concern.

Is Mr. Nader correct in his assertion that NHTSA is negligent and bares part of the responsibility for all the crashes and deaths? Hopefully, time will tell who is responsible and who should compensate the families of the victims. In the meantime, if you have been injured in a sudden acceleration crash seek legal advice immediately.

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JUDI CHAMBERLIN 1945 TO 2010
Posted by: Darrell Castle
February 03, 2010

Judi Chamberlin, a woman who spent almost her entire life as an advocate for the freedom of the mentally ill, died January 16, 2010 at the age of 65. In 1966, then Judi Ross, age 22, was involuntarily committed to a mental institution in New York City with a diagnosis of chronic depression. She had suffered a miscarriage and wasn't able to get over it or deal with it as some women seem able to do. After voluntarily hospitalizing herself several times, she was involuntarily committed.

Judi was struck by the life committed people are forced against their will to live, even in one of the better hospitals such as hers. "There are real indignities and real problems when all facets of life are controlled; when to get up, to eat, to shower; and chemicals are put inside our bodies against our will," Judi told the New York Times in 1981. There was a lack of activity and fresh air. There were seclusion rooms and wards for noncompliant patients, even those who were not violent. Drugs which made her lethargic and affected her memory seemed intended to control rather than cure. She referred to herself as "a prisoner of the system."

After her release she began working with organizations in the mental health rights movement. In 1978 her book "On Our Own" was published and it became the "bible" of the movement according to Daniel B. fisher of the National Empowerment Center. The book is a set of beliefs and principles which are reflected in the subtitle, "Patient Controlled Alternatives to the Mental Health System." In 2000 she was the primary author of a federal report by the National Council on Disability called "From Privileges To Rights." The report held that in the old system patients had to earn privileges and she advocated for basic rights such as the right to see visitors, to leave the grounds, and to have their own clothes.

Quoting from her book: "The public dislikes mental patients, mentally retarded people, the physically disabled, the deformed or disfigured, and often such people are incarcerated in institutions euphemistically called hospitals, schools and homes. The public's aversion to people who are different is not sufficient reason to justify locking them up."

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