Gropinator

This is the Hyundai Atos, a car that looks like it could go on your key chain. Chevy has a little bug of a car about the same size called the C2. Perhaps the car is too small to spell out Chevrolet, since the badge simply says, "Chevy."

Here's a VW pickup. Chevy has a similar model called the Tornado.

Check this out. I didn't get close enough to see what it was, but the border patrol let it cross into the US. So next time you hear US manufacturers whining about fuel efficiency standards, remember that just like Honda's and Toyota's examples, it only requires minimal competence to shift current designs to the domestic market.

Democrats Beat Republicans in 2005 Fund-Raising on Wall Street

April 24 (Bloomberg) -- Democrats outdid Republicans last year in attracting political donations from investment banks, brokerages and fund managers for the first time since 1994, helped by support from hedge funds and companies such as Merrill Lynch & Co.

Democrats got $13.6 million, or 52 percent of the financial industry's $26.3 million in political donations in 2005, said the Center for Responsive Politics, a nonpartisan Washington group that researches the influence of money on elections and public policy. In the two years leading up to the 2004 presidential election, Republicans received 52 percent of the $91.6 million given by the industry.

``Wall Street wants change'' on issues such as the Iraq war and the budget deficit, said James Torrey, chairman of the Torrey Funds, which manages about $1 billion. ``I'm finding people who are registered Republicans who are saying to me, `what can I do to help?'''

The securities and investment industry is among the biggest sources of campaign cash in U.S. politics. The industry's 2004 contribution total to candidates and parties was higher than any group except lawyers, health professionals and the real estate industry, according to the center, which studied Federal Election Commission records.

The Iraq war and ethics problems among congressional and executive-branch Republicans have helped drive President George W. Bush's public approval ratings to the lowest point of his presidency. That has spurred donations to Democrats, said Orin Kramer, general partner of Boston Provident Partners LP in New York and a longtime Democratic fund-raiser.

`Party With No Power'

``When the party with no power can raise more money than the party with all the power, it means people are pretty disturbed about the country's condition,'' Kramer said.

A patriot is a patriot, no matter where she's from

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By JEFF JARDINE
BEE LOCAL COLUMNIST

The Rev. Ramon Bejarano's voice remained firm and constant over the sobs of mourners and the giggles of children too young to understand their parents' grief.

They came to St. Joseph's Catholic Church to say goodbye to Juana Navarro, a 24-year-old Marine lance corporal from Ceres, who was killed April 8 in Iraq.

Bejarano conducted most of the service in Spanish, which was fitting because the majority of those in the church were Latino.

Navarro's casket rested in front of the altar, covered by a U.S. flag. Some of the mourners wore badges bearing her photo centered in red, white and blue bunting.

At a time when immigration reform has sparked protests, hatred and prejudice, along with emotional debates over issues such as nationalism and flags, I couldn't help but think about the young woman lying in that casket under the Stars and Stripes.

Juana Navarro, the first woman from Stanislaus County to die in combat, was an immigrant. She was born in Mexico and came to the United States as a child. She followed the same dream and route as so many immigrants before her.

She embraced this country, made it her own and became a U.S. citizen.

She helped her family build its home in Ceres, working with Habitat for Humanity.

She felt so strongly about the United States that she joined the Marine Corps, which prides itself on being the toughest of all the military's branches.

"Juana was generous," Bejarano said, during one stretch delivered in English. "Even to the point of giving up her life."

That selflessness was evident throughout her life, he said.

"Her desire to serve is what made her make the decision to join the Marines," Bejarano told the mourners. "She wanted to serve her country. She wanted to serve for her family."

So have others in her family — this wonderful, caring group of immigrants and now U.S. citizens.

Navarro's twin brothers, Lorenzo and Raul, also are Marines — Raul assigned to the Gulf Coast and Lorenzo stationed in Okinawa. Wearing dress uniforms, they comforted their mother, Evelia Navarro, at the church and steadied her through the burial at Lakewood Memorial Park in Hughson.

It must be a tremendous sadness for a mother to accept the Purple Heart her daughter earned by dying.

The pain of watching the casket being lowered into the ground — and the finality that represents — is a family's worst fear.

It's the ultimate sacrifice, made by a young woman who cared more about this country than about herself, and it is felt by those whose lives she so greatly affected.

That is why so many people came to the church and to the memorial park. Whether they knew her — and many did — they respected her gifts as a relative, friend and patriot.

To those who bash immigrants, who want to build fences, who will use the immigration debate as a launching point for bigotry, remember this woman, Juana Navarro.

Remember that she committed herself to everything we're supposed to stand for, and died for her convictions.

Remember that she has two brothers in the Marines as well.

Remember that the woman in the flag-draped coffin came here as a Mexican and died a U.S. citizen.

And remember that death, sadness and the good we try to salvage from it all sounds the same in any language.