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I may agree about GM marketing and the like, but I disagree on GM's ability to build a car...

The Malibu was (and maybe still is?) the best selling car in North America and the only car really selling for quite a few months.

I also have a friend who's an ASC certified master mechanic who says he sees A LOT of Toyotas in the shop vs. GM vehicles for more than trivial matters. One guy, for instance, needed an all new motor on his brand new $15k Toyota car b/c the fuel pump got backed up & blew due to some other faulty design. He's also told me that Toyota (along with Honda and Nissan) tend to have lots of electrical issues. I care not who has the best car in initial quality. That means squat when the car is 5-10 years old... tell me what will last for the long haul.

While I don't agree with everything GM does or decisions its up echelons make, when it comes to quality I'd take a GM anything over a Toyota!

Albeit, I'd also take a Subaru as those are supposed to be reliable as well.

Have driven a Malibu, its garbage. Then again so is much of the competition like the Stratus, and the Mazda 626.

My wife's 13 year old Toyota is still going strong.

Mazda replaced the engine in my Miata, 3K miles after the warranty expired; at no expense to me.

Funny the references I have seem to say the Civic and Corolla are selling better than it:

http://usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/cars-trucks/daily-news/080604-Honda-Civic-Now-America-s-Best-Selling-Vehicle/

The best-selling vehicle in the U.S. is now the Honda Civic.

USA Today explains, "Not only was Ford's F-Series pickup, a longtime sales king, passed by Honda's Civic, the May leader, but also by three more cars -- Toyota's Camry and Corolla, and Honda's Accord." May wasn't a complete loss for U.S. automakers. "The subcompact Chevy Aveo was up 44%, the compact Pontiac Vibe up 72%, and the Chevy Cobalt, up 19%." Sales of Ford's Focus increased by 53%. The newly redesigned Chevy Malibu sold so well that, according to GM vice president Mark LaNeve, "We just ran out of product."

I have a one-word rebuttal:
iDrive

To be fair, it's much better now... but WOW, what a price to pay for a spartan dashboard!

Also, you have to consider that the market for the Honda Civic in no way overlaps with any German car. Even the Volkswagen marketing doesn't really overlap too much. The street racing crowd is not going to be showing off too many Rabbits or Jettas.

But I agree with you and think the VW Rabbit dash looks better than the Civic dash. Mostly I object to the silvery trim, but most of what I see is that VW cost-cuts by using a symmetric dash where they can just plop the driver's side gear for left or right-hand drive. The Honda is clearly designed for left-hand only. I can certainly see how people who desire a bit more bling would like the Honda.

I have a one-word rebuttal:
iDrive

To be fair, it's much better now... but WOW, what a price to pay for a spartan dashboard!

Also, you have to consider that the market for the Honda Civic in no way overlaps with any German car. Even the Volkswagen marketing doesn't really overlap too much. The street racing crowd is not going to be showing off too many Rabbits or Jettas.

But I agree with you and think the VW Rabbit dash looks better than the Civic dash. Mostly I object to the silvery trim, but most of what I see is that VW cost-cuts by using a symmetric dash where they can just plop the driver's side gear for left or right-hand drive. The Honda is clearly designed for left-hand only. I can certainly see how people who desire a bit more bling would like the Honda.

We needed a new car ASAP last week. I'd detected a whiff of gas while driving our last car, a 1996 Nissan Sentra w/ manual trans, and had an appointment with the mechanic whose shop is four whole blocks away. Didn't make it. I was in the center turn lane of a secondary road waiting for the light to change when I heard a loud "POP" from under the hood. This was followed by grey/black smoke. I turned off the car, grabbed the keys and my pack, jumped out, and called 911. I left it in 1st gear, but given how flat the road was, I didn't pull the emergency brake (oops).

While waiting for the fire truck to appear, one of two things happened. Either the fire burned the insulation on just the right wires, or the car became possessed by some supernatural entity because the next thing I know, the starter solenoid has kicked in and the starter motor is running. I now have a car which is on fire and trying to drive itself down the road. The car crossed two lanes of traffic, climbed a curb, and finally hit a light pole, all the while dripping burning napalm-like stuff and shooting flames around the hood. A fire truck finally arrived and put it out. Fortunately no one was injured.

We bought a 2008 Honda Fit base model. U.S. EPA milage est is 28 city, 34 highway. We looked at both the Civic (26/34 MPG) and the Civic Hybrid (40/45 MPG). Based on what I was willing to spend (as little as possible), the Fit had the best benefit/cost ratio. The Fit was ~16K with taxes, delivery, etc. The Civic Hybrid was going to be around 23K. The hybrid has much better gas millage, but the Fit wins hands down in terms of usability. Long term costs are not hugely different for a Fit vs a Prius.

We needed a new car ASAP last week. I'd detected a whiff of gas while driving our last car, a 1996 Nissan Sentra w/ manual trans, and had an appointment with the mechanic whose shop is four whole blocks away. Didn't make it. I was in the center turn lane of a secondary road waiting for the light to change when I heard a loud "POP" from under the hood. This was followed by grey/black smoke. I turned off the car, grabbed the keys and my pack, jumped out, and called 911. I left it in 1st gear, but given how flat the road was, I didn't pull the emergency brake (oops).

While waiting for the fire truck to appear, one of two things happened. Either the fire burned the insulation on just the right wires, or the car became possessed by some supernatural entity because the next thing I know, the starter solenoid has kicked in and the starter motor is running. I now have a car which is on fire and trying to drive itself down the road. The car crossed two lanes of traffic, climbed a curb, and finally hit a light pole, all the while dripping burning napalm-like stuff and shooting flames around the hood. A fire truck finally arrived and put it out. Fortunately no one was injured.

We bought a 2008 Honda Fit base model. U.S. EPA milage est is 28 city, 34 highway. We looked at both the Civic (26/34 MPG) and the Civic Hybrid (40/45 MPG). Based on what I was willing to spend (as little as possible), the Fit had the best benefit/cost ratio. The Fit was ~16K with taxes, delivery, etc. The Civic Hybrid was going to be around 23K. The hybrid has much better gas millage, but the Fit wins hands down in terms of usability. Long term costs are not hugely different for a Fit vs a Prius.

http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/college/masters-west-search

Tier Tier Tier Tier. There's a list on the left so you can select Tier 3 or 4 and only view those.

Oh yeah, [WINKY SMILEY]

I don't see any reference to "tiers" in that link.

Look at the sidebar on the left on this page, as well as the listing for each school. Also note that many of the better public universities are "Tier 1," not just the ivy-league schools. Granted, it takes a little while to get to them (unless I'm mistaken, the first is UC Berkeley at #21), but they're there.

Uhhh... no.

http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/college/

What a co-incidence? I was just reading On Choosing a Graduate School: A Dialogue....

A: Hey, what's up? You're looking a little anxious these days.

B: I know. We're getting close to the romance deadline.

A: The romance deadline?

B: Yeah, in a couple of days I have to decide who I'll be going out with for the next five years or so.

A: Oh, right, I forgot. Have you decided between boyfriend and girlfriend?

B: I've thought about it a lot, and I definitely want a girlfriend.

A: That's cool. But don't you worry that the standards are higher if you say you want a girlfriend? I've heard that boyfriends are much easier.

B: I heard that, too. But girls are what I'm really passionate about.

A: Couldn't you just get a boyfriend first, and then switch if you don't like it?

B: Some people try that, but it can be awkward. Better to just be honest about your intentions from the start.

A: Fair enough. So did you get any acceptances?

B: Yeah, two different women have agreed to date me. Cindy and Alyssa. But I have to choose one.

A: Hey, that's great that you go two offers. Have you made a choice yet?

B: Well, I had coffee with Alyssa, and we really hit it off â" she's beautiful, and charming, and laughed at my jokes. I definitely think we would get along well over the next few years. I met Cindy, too; she's a knockout, and clearly very talented, but there wasn't as much of a spark there.

A: That can happen. So are you going to choose Alyssa?

B: I'm tempted, but the thing is â" Cindy's US News ranking is much higher.

A: Her what?

B: Every year, US News puts out rankings of boyfriends and girlfriends. Now, Alyssa is a solid top-20 girlfriend, but Cindy is top five! I'm really worried I'd be making a mistake by passing up the opportunity to go out with Cindy. Everyone has heard of her.

A: That sounds a little weird to me. How do they come up with these rankings?

B: Nobody knows, really. But everyone takes them very seriously. Still, I keep hoping that the NRC will update their boyfriend/girlfriend rankings soon. Those are supposed to be much more scientific.

A: NRC?

B: The National Romance Council.

A: But look, you seem to have really hit it off with Alyssa. Who cares that US News ranks Cindy higher? The concept of a âoeboyfriend/girlfriend rankingâ just doesn't make sense â" what matters is how well you personally get along with them, not some pseudo-objective measure of excellence.

B: It's easy to

A: Hey, what's up? You're looking a little anxious these days.

B: I know. We're getting close to the romance deadline.

A: The romance deadline?

B: Yeah, in a couple of days I have to decide who I'll be going out with for the next five years or so.

A: Oh, right, I forgot. Have you decided between boyfriend and girlfriend?

B: I've thought about it a lot, and I definitely want a girlfriend.

A: That's cool. But don't you worry that the standards are higher if you say you want a girlfriend? I've heard that boyfriends are much easier.

B: I heard that, too. But girls are what I'm really passionate about.

A: Couldn't you just get a boyfriend first, and then switch if you don't like it?

B: Some people try that, but it can be awkward. Better to just be honest about your intentions from the start.

A: Fair enough. So did you get any acceptances?

B: Yeah, two different women have agreed to date me. Cindy and Alyssa. But I have to choose one.

A: Hey, that's great that you go two offers.

Harvard is the lawyer breeding ground.

Actually, Harvard's is consistently ranked the #2 law school in the United States. Yale is #1.

I find the term "cowardice" amusing. The Ivy League includes Yale, Columbia, Princeton, Cornell, Dartmouth, UPenn, and Brown alongside Harvard. Those are some heavyweight universities (anybody want to do the math on their sum endowments?) -- and discounting Harvard, the list still includes 3 of the vaunted "Top 14" law schools. Yes, Harvard is a conspicuous omission...but cowardice? It's not like they're only suing a bunch of 2-year community colleges.

Only 9% were even eligible for a Pell Grant. They're not all spoiled rich kids, but I'd be willing to bet that the vast majority are. It's pretty sad how unimportant the mental aspects of students are in higher education highest colleges, but in the battle between brains and blood, education and plutocracy, bet on the bad guys :(

Got any sources to cite, on your claims for number 1? US News puts your choices at #7 and #21.

I'll ignore medicine, but with respect to the topic of debate regarding grad school and non-us students, I would bet that approximately 0% of the law school graduate students are foreign. In fact, I would bet that approximately 0% are non-judeo/christian white people

You'd lose that bet.

And yes, IAAL (I am a lawyer)

See: http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/usnews/edu/grad/rankings/law/brief/lawdiv_brief.php

Also, US law schools include a significant percentage of foreign students attending for US LLM degrees.

Actually, look at the rankings for intellectual property law in particular. George Washington is ranked third, and Santa Clara University was ranked fourth last year (not sure about this year since you have to pay to see beyond the top three). I think it's fairly irrelevant because most law students don't live on campus. Also, *insert obligatory comment about how rankings are worthless garbage anyway*

I've attended two of the twenty-three on the list and haven't been sued yet, what do I win?

Of all the Universities listed, none of them are known for their law schools. Who do they specifically exclude? The #2 ranked law school in the US (Source: http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/ usnews/edu/grad/rankings/law/brief/lawrank_brief.p hp)

This only makes the fact that this campaign is based on preying on ignorance all the more obvious. No law students would fall for this, so they go to schools where they don't have to worry about law students.