Posted: August 14, 2009
12:40 am Eastern
By Chelsea Schilling
© 2009 WorldNetDaily
2002 Toyota Tundra qualifies for Cash for Clunker program |
As millions of cars face "death row" as part of the federal Cash for Clunkers program, a homeless mission in northern California is urging Obama grant clemency to the doomed vehicles and give them to the needy.
Under the current Cash for Clunkers program, running vehicles must be disabled and eventually crushed.
According to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, the government has already ordered $12 million clunkers destroyed - in Washington alone.
Running engines are plucked from the vehicles and demolished. The oil is drained from each engine, and liquid glass is poured inside, destroying bearings and overheating the engine until it is "pronounced dead."
The car body is sent to a scrap yard where it will be shredded and melted. An estimated 750,000 running cars will receive this treatment.
Tim LeFever chairs the board of Mission Solano, a homeless outreach in northern California. The group is in the process of constructing an $11.5 million building to house the less-fortunate. As part of the operation, the group runs a charitable car lot.
While proponents claim the Cash for Clunkers program is great for the economy and the environment, LeFever said the vehicles could be put to much better use - providing homeless and needy individuals with an opportunity to own a running car. Those vehicles, he says, may help them obtain jobs and feed their families.
"Some of those are cars that would have ended up on lots like ours," he said. "Obviously that means I can't sell the car, raise money from the sale and use it for the homeless program."
LeFever said he recently looked at some of the vehicles sitting on Cash for Clunkers "death row" and was shocked at what he saw.
"I expected to see cars that were barely towed in," he said. "We spotted BMWs. We started looking, and our jaws dropped. We wondered why
people were even selling these cars. It was really a shocking sight to see all the nice cars that we are going to destroy."
Despite common misconceptions, cars that meet the federal definition of a "clunker" are often attractive, popular and well-performing vehicles, including many of the following:
2000 Volvo S80, 2001 Volkswagen Passat, 2002 Toyota Tundra
, 1996 Toyota Land Cruiser, 2000 Toyota 4Runner, 2001 Nissan Xterra, 2000 Nissan Pathfinder, 2001 Nissan Frontier, 2002 Mitsubishi Montero Sport, 2002 Mitsubishi Diamante, 1997 Mercedes-Benz S-Class, 2001 Lincoln Town Car, 2001 Lincoln Continental, 2002 Land Rover Freelander, 2000 Jeep Wrangler, 2002 Jeep Grand Cherokee, 1999 Jaguar XJ-Series, 2000 Ford Mustang, 2003 Ford Explorer, 2002 Ford Crown Victoria, 2002 Chrysler Town and Country, 2001 Chevrolet Suburban, 2000 Audi A6
"You have to ask, were they really trying to go for the worst offenders out there?" LeFever asked. "If they were, why limit it to cars that are 20 years old or newer?"
He continued, "The public has to be shocked and say, those cars are being destroyed? No way!"
Tomorrow, Mission Solano is sponsoring a protest in front of rows of Cash for Clunker automobiles and requesting the federal government change the program to allow those cars to be donated to charities for resale or to be given to the general public and the needy.
Protesters will carry signs in front of the Fairfield, Calif., Auto Mall that read "Clemency for clunkers" and "No death sentence for cars."
Mission Solano is also preparing a poll for delivery to 20,000 households in 48 states. LeFever said a key question will be, "Many poor, homeless and needy people would be given the opportunity to own these older cars if Cash for Clunkers did not exist. Instead of destroying these cars, do you believe that Cash for Clunker cars should instead be rescued and made available to those who cannot afford a new car?"
"We're not calling for an end to the program. It's already done," Le Fever said. "But right now, you have these very usable cars
sitting right there on the lot, and they're scheduled to have the engines frozen so they can't operate. We're saying, before those cars are
destroyed, can we put them back into the hands of charities and the homeless?"
http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=106828
Comment:Trying to reason with a man whos goal is destroying the integrtity of America is futile.We need to get him out and stop this insanity.

