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An official 13% unemployment rate, which means something north of 17% real unemployment. Crashing property values and utterly blighted urban areas. That's what it takes to get voters to finally shed the leftists and elect people who are willing to spend some time thinking about what must be done to achieve some level of prosperity.

The only saving grace that state has had is a constitutional requirement, established by adults long ago, to balance the budget; at least they can attempt to recover without stupid amounts of debt. Hopefully the new boss will still be in power when all the 'unfunded' public sector union bennies finally come due; a big haircut is needed and it would be great if the powers that be failed to kowtow.

Dear MI, keep it up another 10 years to prove this isn't a fluke and I'll move back. Till then, rot in hell.

There's a core concept in decision making, called cost/benefit analysis, that our modern day society has completely forgotten.

It's not forgotten at all. According to this page the analysis has been done. Never mind that the analysis showed that this new requirement is not worth the cost. Relevant line from the article:

NHTSA uses a statistical figure of $6.1 million as the value of a human life and says under a best case-scenario, the proposal will cost between $11.8 million and $19.7 million per life saved.

The NHTSA is accepting comments on this new rule. I suggest everyone go here and tell them that they should listen to their own studies and stop creating senseless regulations. Its things like this that make me understand how people end up hating the government and become tea partiers. It's crazy.

Hell in an "at will" state your employer can fire you just because he decided he doesn't like you anymore, or even if he/she thinks your wife is an ASSHOLE

http://www.detnews.com/article/20100927/BIZ04/9270360/1013/NYT--U.S.-seeking-to-expand-wiretaps-on-the-internet

A) Currently, the FDA has the power to regulate cigarettes.

It doesn't matter if it is not a new drug. The FDA controls things like: how much nicotine are you getting? How quickly? Is the delivery mechanism safe? Is the mechanism for delivery safe, repeatable, and reliable? Can they be tampered with? How consistent is the manufacturing - Ex: does the dosage vary from lot to lot?

B) FYI: e-cigarettes are sold at mall kiosks.

So we should ban E-Cigs

No, but like other nicotine products, they should not be sold at mall kiosks.

And it'll happen despite a warning from the guy's father or other intelligence sources all because two intelligence agencies can't figure out the meaning of the word "sharing,"

You are far too optimistic. We've all heard how the underwear bomber's father reported him and no one paid attention. Well, that's not true. They DID pay attention and they actively chose to let him keep his american visa. It wasn't a mistake, they did it on purpose. This information was released by Patrick F. Kennedy, undersecretary for management at the State Department.

Therefore all these "security changes" are 100% bullshit. No amount of hassling passengers will make any difference as long as the people in charge can arbitrarily exempt the ones that are actually known to be dangerous.

I'm glad they put Premium PC in quotes because that's exactly what it is.

This article only proves that Apple's are expensive. That's it.

I could have written a article stating "Lamborghini made up a whopping 91 percent of the $200,000-and-up automobile market in June". Duh, because how many cars are over $200,000? But who'd you rather be, Lamborghini or Toyota? In 2007 Lamborghini sold 2,406 cars and made a ~70 million dollar profit. Toyota sold 2.6 million vehicles and made 14.9 billion dollars in profit.

Thanks Apple but you can keep your Lamborghini, I'll stick with my PC and my Toyota.

Here is a very good Detroit News article about this that has some additional background: 'Spam King' pleads guilty to fraud. It seems like he should be jailed immediately pending sentencing, especially since he pled guilty. I hope the scumbag dies in prison.

According to this: http://www.detnews.com/article/20090605/METRO/906050433/Detroit-s-homicide-rate-worst-in-nation?imw=Y it's actually 37 per 100,000, so 0.00037%. So it will take a while to get down to one survivor.

Yeah but how long would you actually survive in Detroit? I think I'd rather take my chances in Mumbai. At least there frozen corpses aren't left for weeks. Hell, Detroit would have to do some serious urban renewal to make it up to hellhole!

The amount of concrete and steel used to build a plant is nothing. Consider the amount of materials used to build and maintain windmills, dams, etc.

In one post I said dams also require a lot of concrete and steel. I said in another dams weren't clean either. Wind genies on the other had don't require nearly as much of either. Neither the genie nor the tower use much steel and no concrete. The pad does use both but not much of either. Check "Home Power magazine, many people erect their owe wind genies. Here's their Wind Turbine Buyer's Guide. I didn't check to see if it said anything about them but there are a number of turbines up to 5 megawatts in capacity. The CNet article "GE reshapes the future of wind power" has a quote saying 2 to 3 megawatt genies are the "most efficient and the best cost per kilowatt" by Stephane Renou "who manages research and development for General Electric's wind technology platform." Wind genies don't need to be cited in the middle of nowhere either. Here in Minnesota , as can be done elsewhere, produce farms such as corn farms have wind genies cited on them. This actually helps farmers, the pads for the genies don't take up much space yet the farmers get paid for how much electricity is produced. So far MN has 615 megawatts of wind power installed, California has 2,096 megawatts. And whereas it takes years to build a nuclear power plant wind genies can be mounted on erected towers in months if not weeks. Erect 10 5 megawatt genies a month and you add 600 megawatts a year. Say it takes 5 years to build a nuclear power plant in that tyme enough wind genies can be erected to generate 3 gigawatts. The Watts Bar Nuclear Generating Station was the last nuclear power plant to go online in the US. Construction started in 1973 and wasn't finished until 1996. It took more than 30 years yet it's capacity is only 1,167 megawatts. Enough wind genies can be erected within 2 years to generate the same amount of electricity. Check out T Boone Pickens' Picken's Plan. While I don't know much about it myself, I've been following alternative energy some 30 years. The Rocky Mountains alone, which the plan considers, has enough potential wind power to power the 48 continuous states. However as the Wind Atlas shows there are plenty of other states with abundant wind power.

Mining for uranium can be and is done safely and cleanly.

Oh really? What happens to the tailings? Do they disappear? The Navajo have nothing to worry about? Neither do any of the other indigenous people on who's land uranium is mined?

Waste is "bad" because it's still radioactive.
This is where smaller plants, like the ones being developed for neighborhoods, come into play.

And where are these plants? Can you show me one?

Hell, Chernobyl was deemed fine in 2005, less than 20 years after the worst-case scenario, which doesn't even apply in modern plant designs.

Claimed fine by whom? Certainly not by Belarus. Oh but I guess the Zone of alienation means nothing.

There is simply nothing we have a handle on that can compete with nuclear power.

Okay then, let Wall Street pay for them. They won't, unless they get more massive subsidies. Give alternative sources of energy as much in subsidies as coal and nuclear power gets and I be

Haha, you make me laugh. Ask yourself...Who is doing the rating? With this corruption, I can trust nobody except the average American who has proven that the Japanese build better cars and have been doing this for decades.

In case you did not know, the American car giants have lost market share...have a look http://www.detnews.com/2005/autosinsider/0501/06/A01-50668.htm.

Those Japanese cars are simply better built, have a good resale value and do not give a lot of headache. Aren't these the folks who endorsed the Malibu as the car of the year until it was tested on the road? It was, you guessed it, almost junk. Some folks will not touch it with a 10 foot pole. In the mean time, the Camry and Accord are doing fine.

Have you driven a Lexus lately? Sit in one...just sit in one and have a look...then compare it with any garbage from Detroit...then you return to educate me.

What else do you need? I doubt these 3 car giants will be around in the next 3 years. And I am not a lone. By the way, I drive a 2007 Lexus GS 450. I cannot ask for a better machine.

And when the employees steal all of these computers, and then resell them, that'll help boost the economy!

I sure hope you're being ironic.

Suppose that every day, ten men were asked to contribute their nation in return for the social services and infrastructure it provided.

The first four men (the poorest) could pay nothing. They made $4 or less that day, and couldn't afford it.
The fifth would pay $1. He made $8 that day, and he could chip in.
The sixth would pay $3. He made $16 that day, and could pay more.
The seventh would pay $7. He made $32 that day, and he could pay more.
The eighth would pay $12. He made $50 that day, and he could pay more.
The ninth would pay $18. He made $75 that day, and he could pay more.
The tenth man (the richest) would pay $59. He made $350 that day, so he could pay more.

Then, this terrorist liberal bedwetting man became president. He told the richest people that they would pay more in taxes, and that the vast majority of people would pay less in taxes. He did this based on the wisdom of a man named "Adam Smith," whom everyone had heard of and been taught to worship, though they were not encouraged to actually read the Wealth of Nations.

The richest man got upset, and said, how much more will I pay for the infrastructure that allows me to be in business in the first place? Then he miraculously realized that the money spent on education, infrastructure, market regulation, and all social services are the things that separate industrial nations from the third world. That stronger economy would have less crime, poverty, and spend less money on health care because it would cut out the bureaucracy and greed of the privatized system.

Ahh well. This is a fantasy scenario, isn't it?

PS: New political support for socialized medicine, which has been the wish of the vast majority of americans for two decades, has nothing to do with recent complaints by GM.

Google is your friend! Here are some links to the story:

Slashdot

Another Slashdot.

The Conclusion to the story.

Toyota hybrids use a strange thing called an E-CVT. Ford hybrids are supposed to have something similar. My experience with a Prius is that it's transmission does a far better job than a regular automautic transmission, but you'll have to decide for yourself.

4 WD truck hybrids do exist. They are even planning on hemi-hybrids next year. Personally I'd wait a few years before looking at a truck hybrid.

It wasn't the Silverado.

It wasn't the F-150.

It wasn't the Ram, either.

Both the truck model and its manufacturer have names beginning with the letter T.

ISTR there being another recall earlier this year that involved the same truck and some engines that weren't put together right, or something like that.

Meanwhile, the six GM vehicles in my family (model years from 1973 to 2004) all run like champs. You fools who think imports are better...keep on telling yourselves that. I'm not buying it for a second.

Traditionally, the police actually sometimes would do the same work as this system, except manually. They go down a street and check every parked car. Obviously it a lot slower that way when they call in every car individually and only done occasionally since it is time intensive, but in those cases they do keep a log of all the cars they check even if they come up "clear" and once in a blue moon a crime would be solved because they figured out someones car was in the area during that time or contradicted their sworn testimony etc. The article below makes some reference to that.

http://detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/2007 0720/NATION/707200331/1020

So expect law enforcement to be pushing to keep all of this data.

In some places even having access to a grocery store that doesn't sell crap is a challenge such as Detroit's inner city: http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/ 20070705/METRO/707050349/1003/

Actually... they all look alike, and most of them perform alike - stock. If you shave[detnews.com] all the current cars... I'm guessing about 10 or 20 models you could tell who manufactured that vehicle. And I'm not referring to say the crossovers from GMC/Pontiac/Cheverolet/Cadillac, but referring to Toyota/Lexus/GM/Ford/Diamler-Chrysler/Kia, etc... And I'm pretty sure what he meant when he said music industry was referring to the radio/mega-mart's CDs, etc. blah blah. Not the little niche market stores/online retailers/XM/etc.

Stickerboy is right. Look up the size and curb weights of your 91 Civic vs. a current one. The articles below cover the topic of bloat.

http://www.caranddriver.com/columns/11310/the-stee ring-column-minicars-i-dont-see-no-stinking-minica rs.html
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/ 20070604/AUTO01/706040309/1148/AUTO01

The cars you speak of are likely MUCH lighter and smaller than their current versions.

http://www.caranddriver.com/columns/11310/the-stee ring-column-minicars-i-dont-see-no-stinking-minica rs.html
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/ 20070604/AUTO01/706040309/1148/AUTO01
http://www.epa.gov/otaq/cert/mpg/fetrends/420s0600 3.htm

I'm actually impressed by some of the mileage improvements that automakers can still manage despite increasing size and weight. I used to have a 91 Toyota Camry V6: 2.5L 156 hp V6, curb weight of 3087 lbs and EPA rating of 18/24. I replaced it w/a 2002 Nissan Maxima: 255 hp 3.5L V6, curb weight of 3218 lbs, EPA rated 20/26. That's pretty impressive to me: a much larger car that weighs 131 lbs more, has 99 hp more yet is EPA rated 2 mpg better for city and highway.

Alan Ralsky

Scott Richter

Ryan Pitylak

Sanford Wallace

The first ten results on Google give four different Spam Kings, none of which is the guy here, one of which involves Burger King and real Spam.

Yes, spam seems to have a lot of kings to arrest. Here's a classic from 2005. [detnews.com]In addition to ruling as king, he also served as Poster Boy. A real Renaissance spammer.

Sophisticated processing, even:

http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2 007705160402

Why is Michigan going to flood? Are great storms going to rain down upon us? Lake Erie(which the other four lakes that affect Michigan drain into) is 571 feet above sea level; pretty much all of Michigan is above that.

These guys think global warming will *drain* the lakes:

http://www.ecocenter.org/releases/20030414climate. shtml
http://www.greatlakesdirectory.org/oh/111803_great _lakes.htm
http://detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/2007 0407/METRO/704070370

So before you say 'shill' make sure you are dealing with actual facts.

There's an editorial in the Detroit News, Wired news, and CNET news about this....
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2 007704060333
http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/2007/04/michigan_to_ buy.html
http://news.com.com/2061-10801_3-6174170.html

What's really sad is what little money the state of Michigan has to spend now.... In the past 5 years, the state has lost over 300,000 jobs which has drastically effected the amount of money for the state to operate. My father works in a state government position in Lansing where they can't afford to send state employees to check on out of state contractors and have talked about employees taking stints of unpaid leave due to the cash shortage. Anyone in the state government there should recognize the crisis the state of Michigan is in and put the approx $38 million to a good use!!!

So, you believe everything you read -- or don't read? Here's the source of all this disinformation -- an unsigned editorial in the Detroit News -- http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2 007704060333. The author does not cite his source for this idea, but cleverly talks about it alongside of other issues and proposals and mentions the name of the Democratic leader of the House to imply he's responsible without actually saying so. You don't really know from this whether anyone actually proposed any such thing, or what support it got. And this is the only reference for the CNET commentary. If this were really news, why isn't it reported as news by anyone anywhere? But the Detroit News got you all riled up against the Democrats in Congress, so they achieved their objective. They were counting on you to not dig any deeper, and you kindly obliged. These are the very same tricks that got us where we are in Iraq. You would think we'd be more inquisitive by now about facts and sources. Is it any wonder this "news" paper, more aptly named The Detroit Rumor Monger, could not survive without merging with the only other paper in town?

Seems to me they've been at this for a while. Any Apple shareholders in the committee that decided this?

"Either you believe MP3 players are more important than plugging the budget hole or you were asleep at the switch when one of your fellow congressman slipped it in. The former makes you look elitist and out of touch with the middle- and lower-class of Michigan, the latter paints you as an impotent speaker.?

The Detroit News also pleasantly surprised me by writing the editorial: "An iPod for every kid? Are they !#$!ing idiots?" at http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2 007704060333&imw=Y/

They mention fake airline itineraries, not boarding passes, but would a fake, used boarding stub also get you in trouble?

OT: having an affair is sleazy, but not illegal. If that alibi company is used to cover a crime, do they have any liability?

Your information regarding sulfur content in the United States is out of date. http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/ 20061104/AUTO03/611040301/1149 The U.S. uses diesel fuel with only 15ppm now.

Everything I've read on the subject identifies increased security as being the primary reason for the reduced number of postal mailboxes.

I realize that the "Email is obsoleting the Post Office!" angle makes for good copy, just like it did 20 years ago or so when the Post Office was supposed to go the way of the dinosaur, but it just ain't so.

Here, this is what I found with 30 seconds of Google searching:

http://www.standardspeaker.com/index.php?option=co m_content&task=view&id=3222&Itemid=2 (security)

http://detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/2006 0928/NATION/609280323/1020 (vaguely cites rise in net communications and Sep. 11th attack as hastening the death of the mailbox)

And then of course the sloppy Baltimore Sun article cited in the story mentions that it's "the Postal Service, working with the Homeland Security Department" (we call it the Department of Homeland Security, for godsake...) who is removing all the boxes. But the article snows over that to proudly proclaim that "disuse is the primary reason for box removal."

It might be that rising costs really are the reason for the removal of the boxes, but that "security concerns" are cited as pretext. Or maybe it's just that blaming innovation for cutbacks has become more fashionable than scaring people into going along with being inconvenienced. In any case, there's your story, if it's true, not this "the internet is killing mailboxes, and by extension, postal delivery!" presumptuous junk. And speaking of junk, I've got to go wade through the 30 pieces of junk mail that just arrived in my mailbox.

SUV sales haven't been affected by the price of gasoline? On what planet? Look here http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article ?AID=/20060404/BIZ/604040336/1005 Or here http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/ 20060602/AUTO01/606020398/-1/ARCHIVE SUV sales have completely tanked which is why GM and Ford are in serious trouble.

Amen to that. Especially since we all know that racial profiling is effective and victimless.

vote rigging scandals ... that we get from the Republicans

Vote rigging? I ask because every time somebody hollers disenfranchisement, it's a Democrat. Fortunately, every time I've read about dead people, convicted felons or illegal immigrants voting, voting tours across multiple precincts, underage voting (see part (B)), and pushes for voting without identification, they always seem to be voting for Democrats, so in the end it all balances out, doesn't it? ...if not, I can keep going.

You don't have to belive everything The Party tells you, comrade.

Both have expiriences with massive recalls.

[blockquote]That said, I doubt that "we reserve the right to block anyone who sues us" will look good in court. Trying to block sites because you think that they're gaming the ranking system is inherently reasonable because it's part of making the search engine better. Blocking sites because their owners sue you isn't reasonable because it's using criteria that have no relevance to end users. To a judge or jury it would look like crude indimidation and undermine Google's claim to objectivity.[/quote]

How about 'We reserve the right to delist and not deal with anyone who's suing us'?

They're not necessarily 'blocking' them, which implies denying people access to them. It's just that you can't use google to find them.

For a more or less relevant case, There is/was a class action lawsuit against Ford, saying that their crown victoria police interceptors were too vulnerable to vehicle fires when rear-ended.

Basically, what happened is that a number of police departments entered the suit(hoping for $$$), only to turn around and attempt to buy the very cars that they were suing Ford on the basis that they weren't safe. They turned around and sued Ford again, trying to force force Ford to sell them cars. Ford refused and won that suit (seperate from the one alleging that the cars were unsafe). The best link I could find for the practice

A Lodi, Calif., man convicted of supporting terrorism for attending an al-Qaida training camp in Pakistan three years ago. His father pleaded guilty to charges of lying to customs agents about smuggling money to finance the terrorist training.

The FBI learned of the plot from someone the defendants tried to recruit, authorities said. The FBI then arranged for an informant of Arabic descent to pass himself off as an al-Qaida operative.

Batiste met several times in December with the informant and asked for supplies and $50,000 to help him build an "Islamic Army," the indictment said.

Officials described the group as a distinct threat to national security and, at the same time, as something akin to the gang that couldn't think straight.

For the most part, authorities framed the case as one against a "homegrown cell" of terrorists and said the seven could have inflicted great harm.

According to the indictment, Batiste, 32, called his men "soldiers" in an "Islamic Army" that would wage a "full ground war."

He said he wanted to "kill all the devils that we can," officials said, and that he wanted most of his group to attend al-Qaida training.

On March 29, 2006, students at Mackenzie High in Detroit staged a walkout to protest the lack of textbooks and tiolet paper. 32 were arrested, with 8 charged for disorderly conduct, and 1 for inciting to riot. Some parents were fined $500. here

You have no rights in a crappy neighborhood.

Detroit Cops used to regularly round up anyone nearby a murder and hold them in cells, and although they signed a concent decree saying that they wouldn't, when they cut the budget, they made sure to cut the people responsible for monitoring those decrees.

When cops began random searches of the people mover, there was no protest or question.

Relax, all of these efforts to curtail citizens rights have kept the homicide closure rate at a remarkable 45-50%, while the number of homicides rises faster than the city's population can dwindle.

On March 29, 2006, students at Mackenzie High in Detroit staged a walkout to protest the lack of textbooks and tiolet paper. 32 were arrested, with 8 charged for disorderly conduct, and 1 for inciting to riot. Some parents were fined $500. here

You have no rights in a crappy neighborhood.

Detroit Cops used to regularly round up anyone nearby a murder and hold them in cells, and although they signed a concent decree saying that they wouldn't, when they cut the budget, they made sure to cut the people responsible for monitoring those decrees.

When cops began random searches of the people mover, there was no protest or question.

Relax, all of these efforts to curtail citizens rights have kept the homicide closure rate at a remarkable 45-50%, while the number of homicides rises faster than the city's population can dwindle.

A new study by the Tax Foundation gives Michigan a mediocre overall rating for its business tax climate. Dragging down the state is the Single Business Tax, which was ranked the 49th most onerous tax out of 50 states.

Each year, CFO magazine asks financial executives to assess the business-friendliness of tax policy in their respective states, which the magazine then compiles and ranks. Ranking in the bottom 10? California, New York, Michigan, Texas, Ohio, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Illinois and Massachusetts -- the very states that seem to be bleeding jobs. The most recent unemployment figures from the Labor Department put California, Texas, Ohio, Illinois, and Michigan all in the bottom 10 there, too, all with unemployment rates at 7.0 percent or higher.

The Bain report concluded one of the major reasons for moving jobs out of California is the cost of doing business here:

        * Taxes are 19 percent higher than in other western states.
        * The cost of electricity is 127 percent higher.
        * Property costs are 77 percent higher.
        * State regulatory costs are 105 percent higher.
        * Employee costs are 25 percent higher.

Detroit's financial woes.

Certainly I'll provide a pointer. Just look at Moulton's earlier replies to my postings. That's what I was talking about.

In general, the ID people try to exploit the inherent ambiguity of the term "Intelligent Design", because it could be interpreted as meaning many positive things. But the fact of the matter is that they have defined the term to mean one thing in front of Evangelical Christian audiences (Creationism), and another thing in public (Science). It's that flip-flopping meaning of the term that we're discussing. Or at least trying to discuss, but Moulton keeps trying to change the subject of Intelligent Design to non-stupid industrial design, and the subject of Creationism to creativity, or whatever he can come up with to avoid directly answering the questions I'm asking.

This technique is a page out of the Discovery Institute's playbook. It's no accident that they chose the terms they did, nor is it any accident that Moulton is pretending to be so confused. It's called the "Wedge Strategy".

The Discovery Institute and its Center for Science and Culture are notorious for their intellectually dishonest practices in support of Intelligent Design. They are the organization that sponsored the Anti Evolution that Rosalind Picard signed her name to, along with the name of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

I'm a huge fan of MIT, the AI Lab an the Media Lab, and I owe them a lot. I find it reprehensible that Picard would drag their good name into the wrong side of the Intelligent Design debate.

-Don

All of the important decisions about the rail have already been made, and the "research" mainly consists of trying to convince people that it's worth the astronomical costs to invest more money in such a system. We get so much federal funding from gas taxes specially allocated to mass transit, and Michigan has very little besides cars, so it's use it or loose it, but the proposal is just not going to happen in a region with a local recession, reasonably limited traffic congestion, and stable to declining population.

Sadly, this "research" gets in the way examinig of potentially useful and applicable solutions, which might actually be installed, and might actually have a net positive impact, especially in Detroit where poverty is so aweful and people have a genuine lack of transportation. Cheaper and faster solutions such as Mini Pods, more buses, or even rentable GPS tracked electric motor bikes might be considered instead.

Heck, just toss aside a measly 3% and double the M-Prize and you'll do the people of Metro Detroit more good.

Actually, they can and do.

Sadly, not for much longer...

On a side note, one of the guys I work with bought a red Ford GT several months ago. Drove it to work one day and let me get up close and personal with it; damn, they are even more gorgeous in person than in the photos! And you could hear it across the company campus when he fired it up. Too bad they're closing production, it's a sweet, sweet ride!

OnStar has been selling navigation services without the need to program anything in. The conceirge on the other other end of the phone line does the destination lookup and route planning. It used to be that they read you the directions.

With this new system described below, they download directions to the car, which then uses GPS and wheel motion sensors to guide you along the route. Instead of a map display, it speaks the directions with names of streets and signs that you should watch for (eyes looking outside the car!).

An article and some snippets in case it gets pulled into archive:
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/ 20060207/AUTO01/602070414/1148

OnStar will begin offering a new feature called Turn-by-Turn Navigation, which uses automated voice prompts to guide drivers to their destinations and builds on other safety and communication services already packaged with OnStar.

The service is the first of its kind in the market and appears to be an answer to complaints about in-dash mapping systems that are sometimes distracting and confusing to operate.
...

It will be introduced this spring on the 2006 Buick Lucerne, Cadillac DTS and Cadillac STS and be phased in on other GM vehicle models over the next two years.

GM is looking to OnStar to set its vehicles apart in a crowded market. While luxury auto brands Mercedes-Benz and Lexus have similar services, GM has pledged to make OnStar available on every vehicle by the end of 2007.