A federal judge dealt another setback on Monday to the Bloomberg administration’s two-year effort to convert the city’s yellow taxi fleet to gas-and-electric hybrids from the ubiquitous Ford Crown Victoria.1. Actually, the true way to describe the ruling would be to reinforce that the United States is a Republic in which each State applies their own laws. Nothing belongs to the federal government relative to requiring hybrid vehicles v. penalties. The fed has absolutely not jurisdiction what-so-ever in that regard.
Judge Paul A. Crotty of Federal District Court in Manhattan said a plan to financially penalize taxi owners who refused to buy hybrid cars amounted to an effort by the city to mandate emissions standards — a right that, under existing laws, belongs solely to the federal government.
The same judge made much the same argument last October when he struck down an earlier plan to set a minimum miles-per-gallon rating for taxis.
2. I'd absolutely love to see Ford Motor Company file suit against the State of New York, and the United States of America under the RICO Act stating that the State and the Fed are conspiring in unfair business practices. Ford's balance sheet is so dismal and pathetic, they would not lose business in the process. My thoughts are that they would actually gain patrons by showing a little innovation and backbone.
3. As a form of solidarity, I refuse to ride in a hybrid anything.
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