You mean like all the people on Slashdot that are saying those that do like Snowden are old, out of touch, brainwashed, and clueless?

"That's because the elderly suffered much more stringent brainwashing as children that leads them to say that they "support those who fight for our freedom" while also promoting a police state worse than Orwells worst nightmare."
It is not just the elderly it is everyone that is not really young.

What it could be is older people tend to see more potential unintended results of actions. I have to say that your post is an almost prototypical propaganda tactic of making villains out of those that disagree with you.

It is a job. Like most people..you get one, you will get fired from one.

Life goes on.

remix, fired, laid off...WTF difference does it make? Drop the sensitivity, and just start looking for the next gig. This is life.

Get the govt OUT of the behavior modification business....I'm still trying to find where in the constitutions of the fed and states it is supposed to have this as a mandate.

Myself? I've never owned anything other than 2x seat sports cars (ok, the 1986 911 Turbo Porsche technically had 4 seats, but you couldn't fit a human back there). I prefer fun/performance cars. I can afford them, they make me happy every time I jump in the car and turn the key.

It should be up to you or the govt to tell us what to do with our lives to make them happy and what to buy that is useful to us.

If everyone starts to want EV and other vehicles, the market will ask for them. When gas does finally start going through the roof...people will once again start migrating that way.

But where in the constitution of the US does it tell the feds they can mandate what vehicles we can make...or better than that, where does it charge the Federal Govt with trying to alter and mold citizen behavior?!!?

Focus is smaller than the Mazda 6 the 3 is closer and when you add in diesel that is not close to an apples to apples comparison. The Cruze diesel is closer and matches your Focus in MPG

my commute is all freeway with almost no stop and go.
Again this is for me personally.

Your Imperial gallon is larger than a US Gallon.
So he Mazda 6 gets 46 mpg on gas in UK terms.
The Chevy Cruze Diesel gets over 55 mpg.
Also the US uses a different testing method than the EU so often the same car with the same engine will get better ratings in the EU.

Because paying $540 dollars a month is better than paying $580 a month.
The other fact is that pure gas cars are getting really good milage. The Mazda 6 is rated at 40mpg on the highway. The new CX-5 CUV is over 30mpg hwy.
My Chevy Cruze is averaging over 33 mpg for me.
 

This is single track right of way so I do not think that is a real option and really would add to the cost of the system.

They are not just complaining about no stops. They are also upset about those noise, and the "danger", and the risk of first responders being stuck waiting for a train.
I could also complain about the mass transit system as well. It takes 30 minutes to take a bus from my office to the mall but only 15 minutes to walk it. BTW before anyone says just walk this is south FL so think lots of heat and rain time of year.

The real issue is that they do not really seem to want them to really work.
For example the Florida High Speed rail project that Florida "rightly" refused to build was nothing but welfare for Disney. The "first leg" was the Orlando Airport to Disney!
Now they are trying to build one that goes from Miami to Orlando but the people in three counties that are not getting stops are protesting it. This train would run on existing tracks so it should not cost an Arm and a leg but NIMBY is in full force.
BTW I do live in one of those bypassed counties and while I would like for them to add stops I can see why they might not want to at first since the counties have a lower population than ones with stops.
If they really want them to work they should pick real routes like Dallas Houston, LA SF, and yes Miami Orlando.

Since too many people found my typo amusing let me tell you why are are wrong.
1. Summit racing is full of pistons, cranks, cams, and heads for LS engines.
2. Google build LS and you will find lots of hits.
BTW the current suggestions are to find an iron block LS engine like the LQ7 out of a truck since they are more common and cheaper than the aluminum versions out of cars and you can bore them out more. Replace the pistons and rods since they tend to be the weak point on the engines unless you found an LS7 or 9 which used forged pistons and ti con rods. The right heads and cam will really give you good gains with little money. Some of the stock heads are very good and can often be found cheap. The stock intakes are actually pretty good and of course headers will help but not as much as the old days since modern exhaust manifolds are very good compared to the cast iron logs used back in 60s, 70s, and 80s. Of course SBCs are still around but with electronic ignition and often efi. Both are available from the after market. The Ford Coyote engines also have a large following and lots of parts available. Ford is still selling Winsor short blocks and crate motors as well and they also have a huge aftermarket. I am not up on mopar and frankly the big blocks have been pushed out to the extremes. You can build a 454 LS small block and a 460 Winsor so big blocks are not a big advantage unless you are going to push past 500 cid which is pretty rare and very expensive.