March 16, 2010 - Manassas, VA – William (Bill) J. Tolpa of Tolpa’s Auto Parts in Remsen, NY, took on the role of President of the Automotive Recyclers Association (ARA) at the 66th Annual Convention and Exposition which took place near the end of 2009.  As part of the international association’s Executive Committee since 2006, Topla has been a steadying force of the association. He, along with other executive team members, helped to guide the association through its busiest year in recent history – negotiating through the legislative process of the Car Allowance Rebate System (CARS), generally known as Cash for Clunkers, and also the purchase of a new ARA headquarters.

Tolpa’s first exposure to automotive recycling was as an owner of an auto repair facility, opened in 1976. “I often bought recycled parts to use in the business,” he recalls. Finally, after years of thinking about it, Tolpa started Tolpa’s Auto Parts in Remsen, New York in 1985. Today, it is a 50,000-square-foot facility employing 12 people. Primarily a wholesale operation, they sell to auto repair shops and auto body shops locally and nationwide. Tolpa recently added e-Bay auctions to his business, and opened Tolpa’s U Pull U Save Auto Parts in 2007.

Tolpa is proud to be a Certified Automotive Recycler (CAR) and Gold Seal through ARA and URG-accredited, and his company participates in the national Green Vehicle Disposal program as well as a national charity car donation program. Big on community involvement, the company has held Earth Day events, adopted soldiers in Iraq, invited local school groups to tour the facility, and assists in training central New York K-9 units.

Much of his business success Tolpa attributes to the friends he made in ARA and the techniques and tips he learned from them. Early on, he joined both ARA and the Automotive Recyclers Association of New York (ARANY). “As I attended ARA and ARANY meetings and conventions and got to know the organization, I liked the people more and more,” he says. Over the years, he has served on a number of ARA committees and task forces and also was President of ARANY. His ARA experience culminated in his being asked to join the Executive Committee as Secretary for 2005-2006.

Tolpa’s focus as President will be to “continue the forward positive momentum we have gained this year,” referring to the media coverage that Cash for Clunkers brought to the industry. He plans to do this through press releases and videos. He wants to increase membership by developing and marketing ARA’s programs, believing if an auto recycler can see a value to what ARA offers, they are more apt to join.

Since 1943, the Automotive Recyclers Association (“ARA”) represents an industry dedicated to the efficient removal and reuse of “green” automotive parts, and the proper recycling of inoperable motor vehicles. ARA represents over 4,500 auto recycling facilities in the United States and fourteen other countries around the world. With programs such as the Certified Automotive Recycler Program (CAR) and other partnerships, ARA members continue to provide consumers with quality, low cost alternatives for vehicle replacement parts, while preserving our environment for a “greener” tomorrow.

Toronto, ON (Portal4Canada) March 5, 2010 — CharityCar (www.CharityCar.us and www.CharityCar.ca), green vehicle disposal a charity car donation company, today announced that its total donations processed for 2009 exceeds $91,000 USD. Over the course of the year, 50% of customers traded their vehicles in for cash while the other 50% donated the money to charity. This trend is expected to continue in 2010.

CharityCar would like to thank its many generous donors across North America who, despite the economic downturn, contributed to its success; more importantly, the success of its supported charities and the betterment of the environment.

David Gold from Standard Auto Wreckers and the founder of the program said: “We originally started this program to give back to our local community in Toronto, Ontario and when friends in the business heard about what we were doing they all wanted to join in. Now, three years later, we have over 150 partner charities and more than 70 member recyclers in both Canada and the USA participating! It really is heartwarming to see.”

About CharityCar
CharityCar (CharityCar.us and CharityCar.ca) accepts the donation of old vehicles on behalf of charities and non-profit organizations across North America. CharityCar utilizes its partner Green Vehicle Disposal’s eco-friendly recycling technology, offers ‘free pickup’, does not take any fees for processing or handling charity vehicles and donates 100% of the recyclers value to the customers’ chosen charity in the United States or Canada. CharityCar’s purpose is to provide its customers with an eco-friendly solution for the disposal of old vehicles. All vehicles donated through CharityCar are disposed of in an eco-friendly manner which meets and exceed all recycling rules. For more information, visit: www.CharityCar.us or www.CharityCar.ca.

They are proud to practice environmentally sound processes when dismantling and recycling our vehicles. This is achieved by properly draining all hazardous fluids from the vehicle thereby not having them drain into the ground. They remove Mercury switches and other dangerous substances from the vehicles and dispose of them in a safe way in accordance with local laws.

April 8, 2009 – Toronto, Canada

Wolverine, errr…Hugh Jackman speaks out regarding the post-production leak of this summer’s most anticipated movie.

Hugh Jackman who plays X-Man Wolverine in the newest installment of the X-Men movie’s, said yesterday that he was “heartbroken” that the film was leaked on the Internet a month before its official release.

The Australian star of “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” said the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) was on the case and he believed the guilty party would be found.
“It’s a serious crime and there’s no doubt it’s very disappointing — I was heartbroken by it,” Jackman told reporters at a promotion for the movie in Sydney. It seems this sort of thing spreads faster than celebrity gossip.

The leaked version of the 20th Century Fox action movie was reportedly downloaded tens of thousands of times within a day of being posted on file-sharing websites at the end of March.
“Obviously, people are seeing an unfinished film,” Jackman said. “It’s like a Ferrari without a paint job.” I really like this famous quote and take it from someone who saw this movie, his analogy is pretty much “bang-on”, the move is amazing and the unfinished parts do detract slightly from the overall enjoyment of the film.

The forty-year-old Hollywood heartthrob, named Sexiest Man Alive by People magazine last year, said he was convinced that whoever had posted the copy would be tracked down.

Jackman arrived by helicopter on Cockatoo Island in Sydney Harbour, where some of the movie was filmed, for the first stop of a world promotion tour ahead of its official release at the end of the month.
He then delighted hundreds of invited guests and media by swooping down from a clifftop on a cable before unveiling 20 minutes of completed footage.

Jackman said he was proud of the fact that most people he has spoken to had condemned the leak and thought fans would still go to see it at the cinema.
The leak has already claimed at least one casualty — a US entertainment columnist who was fired for reviewing a stolen copy downloaded from the Internet.

Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation, which owns both 20th Century Fox Films and Fox News, said writer Roger Friedman had been “promptly terminated” after posting his column on the Fox News website last week.
“We, along with 20th Century Fox Film Corporation, have been a consistent leader in the fight against piracy and have zero tolerance for any action that encourages and promotes piracy,” News Corporation said in an emailed statement.
“When we advised Fox News of the facts they took immediate action, removed the post, and promptly terminated Mr Friedman.”

Although I must admit I did see the pirated film at my weekly poker game (after all it was on the tv in the background I and I couldn’t just get up and leave). I will probably see it in the theaters and/or will buy the dvd.

Would you give up your underwear for peace?  Canadian women are being asked to volunteer their undergarments in an international effort to shame Myanmar’s ruling junta into giving citizens greater access to humanitarian aid and human rights. Organizers launched the Canadian edition of the Panties for Peace! campaign Tuesday with a call for women to send their underwear to the Myanmar embassy in Ottawa.

The campaign plays off regional superstitions that contact with women’s panties can sap a man’s power. Activists claim the fear is shared by the leaders of the country’s military regime. Spearheaded by a pro-democracy group based in Thailand, the campaign was launched in the fall to draw attention to human rights abuses against women in the country.  At the time, the junta was violently suppressing a pro-democracy uprising by the country’s Buddhist monks.  

The Canadian version of the international campaign, co-ordinated by the Quebec Women’s Federation and Rights and Democracy, hopes to also raise funds for victims of Cyclone Nargis.  More than 130,000 people are thought to be dead or missing in the wake of the cyclone that struck in early May. The United Nations estimates that 1.5 million survivors have not yet received any aid.

News organizations reported Tuesday that humanitarian workers have only just begun reaching the remote, hardest hit areas of the country.  Levesque said Rights and Democracy will funnel any money raised to known aid groups working along the Myanmar-Thai border. She refused to name the groups for security reasons.

Observer say the junta is worried successful aid operations will undermine its authority following the protests in the fall. According to the campaign’s organizers, Myanmar’s embassies in Europe, Australia and Brazil, among other places, have been receiving female underpants in the mail.  Personally I think they should only collect nasty soiled underwear and drop them on the military headquarters.

NATO has been under intense pressure to beef up its military presence.  But for those member nations bearing the brunt of the fighting, there is also intense debate about whether or not to extend the mission for their own troops.  How is Canada dealing with the issue?  I think Canadians in general are doing a good job of looking at this mission with an honest open attitude.  We really want to help and make a difference and have proven we are willing to risk our lives helping.  But considering some of the recent developments with the government of Afghanistan offering the Taliban reconciliation without first having them denounce violence is a little bit of a slap in the face for all those that are risking their life to help Afghanistan.
 
We are also now having a healthy debate about renaming the 401 highway that cuts through Toronto and is the major transportation corridor between Toronto and Montreal, Canada’s busiest thoroughfare. It’s about as far from Afghanistan and the fighting there, that can be imagined. But recently the 401 was designated the Highway of Heroes to honour Canadian soldiers killed in Afghanistan now numbering more than 70.

The fallen soldiers are flown from Kandahar to Canadian Forces Base Trenton, on the north shore of Lake Ontario. From there a funeral procession leaves the base and heads to Toronto where the bodies are taken to Centre for Forensic Sciences and along this Heroes Highway many people come to stand on the overpasses and show their support by waving Canadian flags and signs.

I would like to see a little more support from NATO and also some hard decisions by the Afghanistan government in further condemning the Taliban unless they stop the violence and seek peaceful negotiations.