Ford’s taking a page out of its own history (and Hyundai’s playbook), positioning the refreshed Ford Taurus’ talents against significantly more expensive competition. According to The Detroit News, “In one spot, the Taurus and the $67,000 Infiniti M45X have their radar systems challenged by an obstacle course and a pair of aggressive drivers. It is designed to show the [$26k starting] Taurus’ blind-spot detection system, which the Infiniti doesn’t have.” Passive construction aside, props to Bryce G. Hoffman for getting Infiniti to play the dozens with The Blue Oval Boyz. “We’re flattered that Ford would pick us,” Infiniti spokesman Kyle Bazemore to the DetN. “But features don’t tell the whole story. The M45X is a world-class luxury sedan. Our entry-level Infiniti G beat the Taurus in a head-to-head test by Edmunds.com.” ZING! Point – counterpoint on Lexus after the jump.

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Black motorists may be as much as three times more likely to be stopped and searched than a white motorist while driving through the state of West Virginia, even though they are less likely to be carrying contraband. This is so according to a report by the state Division of Criminal Justice Services. The agency performed a statistical analysis of 301,479 traffic stops that took place between April 2007 and September 2008. Among all 348 state, county and local law enforcement agencies, blacks were 64 percent more likely than whites to be stopped. Hispanics were 48 percent more likely to be stopped.

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