Fresh Cars Reviews: cotd

Commenter Of The Day: Sarah Palin Edition [Commenter Of The Day]

The domestic pig has been an integral part of human civilization for over 10,000 years. While its primary use has been for food, pig parts have also been used to make weapons, tools and rhetorical devices. Yes, the pig has long been featured in such idioms as the Biblical "pearls before swine," "a pig in a poke" and "pig's ear." The indispensable 1796 tome The Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue notes that a "hog in armour" refers to an "awkward or mean looking man or woman, finely dressed." Wearing armor, however, is frowned upon today and the expression has evolved to "lipstick on a pig;" in both cases, the idea is that adding superficial upgrades to a poor product is ultimately futile. When we asked you today to list the worst automotive design features of all time, LamerX responded in classic lipstick-on-a-pig fashion:

Fake chrome kills me. You know, the chrome strips embedded in the door panels in your 1982 Dodge? The ones that when you were a kid in the back seat, you'd sit back there and peel the chrome off exposing the white plastic underneath. Your parents yelling at you "QUIT PEELING THAT OFF!"

But there was nothing you could do. You'd be bored, and have nothing to do. You'd just sit there and look at that chrome hanging off, and want to pick the whole thing off to make it at least look uniform. The sweat would start building up on your brow, your fingernail reaching out. You'd wait until a couple miles up the road when your parents were focused on the road. Maybe wait until they were in traffic, and couldn't see you in the rearview.

I guess peeling that stuff up was like picking a scab. So satisfying to rip it off and expose the raw flesh underneath... Except you didn't want to eat the chrome.

Public Service Announcement: We at Jalopnik would like to remind you that we don't endorse eating anything from a 1982 Dodge. Thank you.

Commenter Of The Day: Mandatory Minimums Edition [Commenter Of The Day]

Though there are serious disagreements over the enforcement of drug law violations, one area of growing consensus among Republicans and Democrats is the issue of mandatory minimum sentencing laws. A mandatory minimum essentially states that someone who commits a crime is sentenced to a minimum number of years in prison. The problem is this kind of policy doesn't allow judges to use their judgment to differentiate between low-level, non-violent drug users and high-level, violent criminals. The cost to society is great, both in terms of the price of imprisoning someone for ten years and in depriving a family of a mother or father. The most unfortunate aspect of mandatory minimums is they impose different, racially-biased minimums on crack and powder cocaine. Nick Hogan was released early from jail today after committing what was essentially a violent crime and was greeted by his sister, who has an obvious crack problem that Layabout couldn't help but notice.