Nissan, other Tennessee Chamber of Commerce board members successfully lobby legislature for law killing Nashville's gay rights ordinanceCar shopping? Get a Ford instead of a Nissan!

Americablog has reported on the active lobbying by the Tennessee Chamber of Commerce for a bill just passed by that state's senate repealing current, and banning future, municipal civil rights laws in the state.

The BOARD of the Tennessee Chamber of Commerce, which signed off on this, includes Nissan, FedEx, AT&T, Comcast, DuPont, Pfizer, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Caterpillar, KPMG. Whirlpool, Embraer, Alcoa, and United HealthCare.

The new state law will nullify Nashville's recent law protecting its gay residents.

Nissan's Smyrna, Tennessee plant produces the Nissan Altima, Nissan Maxima, Nissan Xterra, Nissan Frontier and Nissan Pathfinder.

AKSARBENT's advice? Buy a Ford. (Which is much more palatable now that the jingoistic Toby Keith has been replaced by San Francisco resident Mike Rowe in Ford's television ads.)

Having recently shopped for small pickups, AKSARBENT knows whereof it speaks, kids. The Nissan Frontier, for example, is rather expensive and gets terrible mileage. We chose instead a new Ford Ranger which gets the most MPG to be had in a small truck and is downright cheap. Also, Ford has as good a record of supporting its LBGT stakeholders as you will find in the auto industry.

A pox on Nissan, the Tennessee Chamber of Commerce, and the senate it manipulates.

2011 Ford Ranger

AKSARBENT asks its readers: Why in the world would you pay substantially more for a gas-guzzling Nissan small pickup made in increasingly homophobic Tennessee when you could have a smart-looking 2011 Ford Ranger for less than $13,900? (That's what we paid in January.)
     Before choosing Ford, we called a local Nissan dealer to follow up on an Internet ad for a great deal on a Versa.
     The Nissan salesman quoted a much higher price and feigned ignorance about his dealership's lower advertised price. When we called his attention to the disparity, he said (and we quote) "Well, it's a car dealership!" What we heard was: "Yes, you're being lied to by a Nissan dealer, but hear us out!"
     An Omaha Ford Dealership (Atchley), on the other hand, sold us a brand new Ranger at a ridiculously low advertised price (with no bullshit) and even waived the ad's stipulation that the vehicle had to be financed through Ford, as we wanted to pay cash. (Lest you think AKSARBENT is being a total tool, we should mention that we weren't too happy with the inflated "documentation fee" for the Ranger...)