Used car review: Subaru Liberty 2009-2013

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2009 Subaru Liberty.

Our rating:

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Search for used Subaru, Liberty

Despite a reputation over the years for innovative design and being prepared to offer technically non-conformist solutions, the global financial crisis sent Subaru running to hide with many of the worlds car-makers.

Specifically, Subarus designs suddenly became much more conservative than they had been.

A company that was once prepared to give us crazy little road burners like the original WRX overnight became one that was more prepared to tread the safe path that traversed the car-making middle ground.

So, the WRX became less in-your-face than ever before and the volume selling Liberty model got a styling job in 2009 that may have appealed to North American buyers (and maybe not) but certainly not too many others.

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The slab-sided, taller-looking Liberty of 2009 was all about not scaring the horses (especially in the lucrative US market) but it did nothing for the brands reputation for innovation or lovable quirkiness.

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Used car review: Subaru Liberty 2009-2013

Behavioral Economics and Irrational Voters

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The rise of behavioral economics has long been seen by statists as a body blow to libertarianism. By arguing that people are irrational consumers who are easily manipulated, behavioral economics seems to argue for state intervention to save us from ourselves. In his best-seller Predictably Irrational, behavioral economist Dan Ariely claims that irrational consumers invalidate arguments in favor of the free market, namely those that ague that free consumer choice leads to the most efficient and productive economy. Since consumers are irrational, Ariely claims, we need the government to step in and regulate the economy.

For many, more government is a reasonable conclusion from Arielys premise of consumer irrationality. If consumers cant rationally select the goods and services they need, than perhaps government can choose more wisely for them. But when you look deeper, behavioral economics provides a convincing indictment of the political system.

Behavioral economists claim that consumers cannot rationally pick products in the free market. But if thats the case, what makes us qualified to pick the elected officials who promise to run our lives for us? Within Arielys analysis, two issues the power of free and the concept of herding point out how the premise of consumer irrationality undermines any faith in the concept of electoral politics.

Behavioral economists argue that consumers lose their minds when were confronted with the word free. In Predictably Irrational, Ariely argues that free, is an emotional hot button a source of irrational excitement. To prove his claim, he cites an experiment where consumers were first asked to choose between a $0.01 Hersheys kiss and a $0.30 Lindt truffle. Consumers chose the Lindt by big margins, because at $0.30 a Lindt truffle is a steal. But when the experimenters lowered the price of each product by $0.01, so the Lindt became $0.29 and the Hersheys kiss became free, the number of consumers choosing the Hersheys more than doubled.

According to Ariely, the lure of getting something for free short-circuited peoples rationality and caused them to choose a worse product, just because it was free.

Before we go on, we must note that Arielys conclusion that our love of free is irrational ignores the idea of subjective value. If consumers get a certain thrill from obtaining a free product, then consumers are simply making the rational calculation that the value of the thrill exceeds the value of the Lindt chocolate. Ariely defines the excitement created by the word free as irrational, but the excitement is simply part of the calculation made by consumers. For Ariely, the value of a product only counts if it can be calculated in dollar figures, but of course, we know this is not true.

Whether we call it irrational or not, though, theres little doubt that the term free has a huge bearing on peoples mental calculations. But if people are as obsessed with free as Ariely claims, why then can we be qualified to vote? How can we as consumers be trusted to choose between politicians who offer us free healthcare, free welfare benefits, a free pristine environment, or free money? Faced with a reasonable, smart politician who promised us government services we would have to pay for, and a less qualified politician who lied and promised us free government, Arielys experiment suggests that consumers would irrationally choose the latter. But irrational political consumption undermines any argument for a big, democratically-elected government because it rejects the ideal that well elect the best and brightest to lead us.

Behavioral economists also stress the concept of herding: people attach value to something that other people attach value to. Ariely brings up the example of restaurant lines. If you see five people waiting in a line outside a restaurant, you might think, wow, that restaurant has five people waiting to get in; it must be great! You might get in line. The next person to come by, seeing now six people outside the restaurant, will then think the same thing. Both of you get in line, but neither of you knows if the food inside is even any good. Consumers line up, not because they know they want the product theyre lining up for, but because the product is popular.

To the extent that this concept is real, it too is an argument against big representative government. It implies that voters will choose their candidate not according to who is best but according to who is most popular. People will vote for Obama because their friends did, but their friends may have voted for Obama because of the herding factor as well. According to behavioral economics, we could expect plenty of people to vote for Obama (or Romney, or any other candidate) without having any good reason to do so.

A functional republic relies on a rational, smart electorate to choose its leaders. Thats why so many people trust big government they trust the purifying effects of the electoral process, and trust that the best and brightest will win voters trust and be elected to office. From there, the best and brightest can wisely manage the country and the lives of its citizens.

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Behavioral Economics and Irrational Voters

Parties set dates for conventions

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Dates for the Upshur County conventions of the Republican, Democratic and Libertarian Parties have been announced.

The Republican meeting will be held Saturday, March 22, at a time and place to be determined by the county GOPs Executive Committee at the committees Feb. 8 meeting, said county Republican Chairman Cynthia Ridgeway.

The GOP will likely hold precinct conventions on election night to elect delegates to the county convention, she said.

The Democratic county convention is set for 2 p.m. March 22 at the Newsom Law Office at 203 W. Tyler (just off the downtown Gilmer squares southwestern corner), announced county Democratic Chairman Dan Miles Jr.

Anyone who votes in the March 4 Democratic primary is eligible to be a delegate to that convention, which will elect the county delegation to the partys state convention, scheduled for June in Dallas, Miles said. The Democrats will not hold election-night precinct conventions as they did in the past.

The Libertarian county convention is set for 7 p.m. Tuesday, March 4, at La Finca Mexican Restaurant on Warren Avenue in Gilmer, announced county Libertarian Chairman Vance Lowry.

Anyone who did not vote in either the Democratic or Republican primaries held that day may participate in the Libertarian convention.

It is expected to nominate Peggy LaGrone for Upshur County Clerk to run in the November general election against Terri Ross, who is unopposed for the Republican nomination in the GOP primary.

For more information on the respective conventions, contact Mrs. Ridgeway at 903-968-6822, Miles at 903-968-2545, or Lowry at 903-843-2257

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Parties set dates for conventions

Man washes up on remote Marshall Islands atoll after more than a year adrift in Pacific

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About 1,000 curious onlookers crowded the dock for a glimpse of the long-haired fisherman, who smiled and waved briefly before he was whisked away for a medical check-up at Majuro Hospital. Photo: AFP

A man who says he survived more than a year adrift in the Pacific drinking turtle blood and catching fish with his bare hands has been transported to the Marshall Islands capital Majuro for treatment.

A male nurse had to help the man down the gangplank of a police patrol boat after a 22-hour trip from the remote coral atoll where he washed shore last week after apparently setting sail from Mexico in late 2012.

About 1,000 curious onlookers crowded the dock for a glimpse of the long-haired fisherman, who smiled and waved briefly before he was whisked away for a medical check-up at Majuro Hospital.

An emaciated man whose boat washed up on a remote Pacific atoll this week claims he survived 16 months adrift on the Pacific. Photo: AFP.

He was found disorientated and clad only in ragged underpants last Thursday, after his 7.3-metre fibreglass boat floated onto a reef at Ebon Atoll, the southernmost cluster of coral islands in the Marshalls.

Marshall Islands Foreign Affairs acting secretary Gee Bing said the the man, who identified himself as Jose Salvador Albarengo, 37, told interpreters he set sail from Mexico to El Salvador on a shark fishing expedition in late 2012.

Mr Bing said Mr Albarengo says he was accompanied by a Mexican man who died at sea.

"Well according to him he said he was on a fishing trip with another guy and somehow the north wind blew them and they got lost," Mr Bing told Pacific Beat

Map locating the Marshall Islands, in the northern Pacific Ocean, which are home to barely 60,000 people spread over 24 atolls. Photo: AFP.

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Man washes up on remote Marshall Islands atoll after more than a year adrift in Pacific

Marshall Islands castaway details fishing trip gone awry

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Courtesy Tony de Brum

A man, center, washed up on the shore of the Marshall Islands claiming that he spent 16 months lost at sea.

By Tracy Connor, Staff Writer, NBC News

The man who washed up on the Marshall Islands in the Pacific with a tale of being lost at sea for more than a year told authorities that he left Mexico on a fishing trip, was blown off course after his engine died and watched his traveling companion starve to death.

The castaway, who identified himself as Jose Salvador Alvarenga, was questioned Monday by police and told them an incredible story : He drifted 6,000 miles in a 24-foot boat, surviving on fish, birds, turtles, rainwater, urine -- and prayers.

Officials said they have not yet confirmed his account. The man could not recall his own birth date, provided some conflicting information about when he left Mexico, and could not explain why there was no fishing gear on the battered vessel.

"He is not fully coherent," Tony de Brum, minister-in-assistance to the president of the republic, a cluster of atolls and islands northeast of Australia.

"He is hungry, swollen, in pain, extremely loopy and wants a haircut," an interpreter who helped interview Alvarenga on Monday wrote in a report.

Despite his fragile state, the man was able to give officials new details of his life, including his birthplace in El Salvador, the name of his mother, the Mexican fishing company where he worked, and the city where he lived.

He told them he took to the sea on Sept. 21, 2012 -- although he said described that as a Saturday when it would have been a Friday -- with a teenager named Ezekiel.

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Marshall Islands castaway details fishing trip gone awry

Researchers look to K-9 DNA to identify human autism genes

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PHOENIX (CBS5) -

Phoenix-based scientists at TGen are beginning to examine whether dogs might hold the key to unlocking the mystery behind childhood autism.

The non-profit genomics organization is raising funds to initiate a study looking at doggie DNA they hope will translate into possible life improving advancements for children suffering from autism.

"Science has been studying the genetics of autism for a very long time," says Matt Huentleman, PhD with TGen.

TGen has had success in the past studying K-9 DNA and getting results translated to help humans.

"This type of breed has a cancer that is similar to the human version," says dog breeder Valana Wells.

Wells breeds Clumber Spaniels, a British hunting dog. Several years ago she submitted the DNA of one of her dogs for a cancer research study. Scientists seek out the DNA from purebred dogs because it is, they say, a hundred times simpler to analyze than human DNA.

In the autism study, researchers are looking to establish a link between obsessive compulsive behavior in certain dog breeds with the autism markers in a human.

"The hope is if we can identify the genes that might be linked to that type of behavior. That type of obsessive compulsive behavior, then that becomes a significant candidate gene for human autism," says Dr. Huentleman.

Researchers share the results of what they find with the dog owners who submit DNA.

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Researchers look to K-9 DNA to identify human autism genes

Judge Jeanine Pirro – Obamacare Lies – White House Continues To Defend Health Care Mess – Video

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