Someone please explain why this makes sense.

Okay, just watched a comparison review of the Toyota Camry Hybrid and the Chevy Malibu Hybrid.  The Camry got better mileage, emitted less CO2, and had better performance than the Malibu.  The Malibu was about $1000 cheaper than the Camry.

However...

The Chevy Malibu also qualified for a $1500 tax break, but the Camry did not.  Why?  Wouldn't you expect the hybrid with the better mileage would get at least the same (if not a higher) tax break?  Both are made in the US... The Camry just happens to sell in (much) higher volumes.

So... Since more people want to buy the Camry Hybrid, those consumers shouldn't get the same tax break?  That's stupid.  That's why we need a new president with a serious energy policy.  An energy policy that encourages consumers and auto makers alike to innovate and improve. . .  Make the tax break based on energy savings, not sales volume.

I make a MoveOn.org invitation sound incredibly inappropriate by liberally using the word "sexy"

This is a note for you from Ellen B., another sexy MoveOn member in Covington:

Dear Sexy MoveOn member,

I'm Ellen B. and I'm your sexy neighbor in Covington. This weekend, I'm having folks over to have a sexy party and make sexy calls for Obama, and I hope you can make it!

Some of my sexy friends think we can all just relax because Obama's up in the polls. But I don't. Yesterday I saw a poll from the Associated Press that had Barack up by just one sexy point. And Barack Obama is telling his sexy folks to work like they're 20 sexy points down in the polls, so I figure that goes for all of us! I want to make sure Covington is doing our part.

So I decided to throw one of 1,000 MoveOn for Obama Sexy Parties that are happening around the country. We'll call other sexy MoveOn members in sexy swing states like Ohio, Florida, or Virginia and sign them up to help the Obama campaign get out the sexy vote in the last few, sexy days of the campaign.

Some other local sexy progressives have already signed up to come, but we still need more sexy callers! Plus, there'll be some good food to share and great sexy people to meet.

SNL can still be funny

Watch this...

My Saturday Night

It's a typical saturday night for me.

I call some friends, they're busy.  or stuck in traffic.

I go to the movies alone.  See Religulous.  I hope I'm spelling that right.  The movie was simultaneously hilarious and terrifying.  And embarrassing--especially the segments shot at the Creation Museum, found just an exit away from my place of employment on I-275W.  I recognize one scene in the movie--a plywood sign erected along the highway.  It reads, "Hell is Real."  I can't remember where I saw this sign.  Somewhere in south-west Ohio.  I was surprised to see Bill Maher omitted one of SW Ohio's great religious landmarks... surely-I thought-I would see "big butter jesus" AKA "touchdown jesus" AKA "who-left-jesus-in-the-quicksand jesus."  I didn't.  Oh well, I suppose there was enough religious fanaticism to go around.

Then, I went to a bar.  Alone.  A blue moon and a stella artois.  I think the girls behind the bar are pretty, but I don't talk to them.  I politely close my tab and leave.

I walk around the riverfront--bored.

I go to the Newport Barnes and Noble.  Browsing books, I pick up one on finding a unified field theory. Another, a book of poetry by Ani Difranco.  Feminist poetry and quantum mechanics: what more do I need?  I sit down at the Starbucks and read.  I pay too much for coffee and eat something that resembled a quiche, but isn't.  I sit in my black t shirt and Gap jeans, light blue hoodie and worn down pumas; I finish my quiche-thing, and turn to leave.  I stop at a display of political books--Obama books on the right, McCain on the left (how odd).  I spot a shirnk-wrapped copy of the New King James Bible, pocket sized travel edition.  I wonder if someone left it here intentionally.  I wonder if someone was making a statement.  I get angry.  I find it to be wonderfully disturbing that I find this Bible sitting on a stack of books about Democratic strategy.  I walk away in disgust.  I start down the escalator, spot a pretty girl in a UC hoodie starting up the escalator opposite.  If this were a romantic comedy....it isn't.

I leave.  The B&N checkout girl asks me if I've heard Ani's new album.  I tell her I haven't; that I didn't even know she had a new album.  I tell her I'll check it out.  I won't.  Maybe I will.

I leave.  Hopefully I can remember where I parked.

Obviously, I did.

Sarah Palin: Obviously not a fan of pulling out early.

Sarah Palin policy proposal or personal view on family planning?

You decide.

Next week, we take a detailed look at the possible innuendoes that can be drawn from the statement "Drill, baby, drill!"

As if I could watch the presidential debate without posting to my blog.

My comments on:

1) The Economy:

It really is quite amazing to think that a man who has spent his entire political promoting deregulation of the economy is suddenly calling for more accountability.  Sen McCain likes to go on and on and on about how he's a maverick and knows how to reform our regulatory system and get this economic crisis under control.....yet he seems to forget that the cornerstones of his economic policy (supply side--or "trickle down"--economics and deregulation) is largely responsible for the situation in which we now find ourselves.  McCain (and his chief economic advisor Lindsay "americans just need to stop whining about the economy" Graham) seem to think that the fundamentals of our economy are strong; that this problem doesn't warrant a dramatic restructuring of our regulatory system... at least he didn't earlier in the week.  Now, now that the polls are shifting out of his favor, he's changed his tune.  John McCain has proposed 300 billion dollars worth of tax cuts to major corporations (including $4B to oil companies), taxing medical benefits, and putting a spending freeze on everything except defense and veterans affairs.  Barack Obama proposes tax cuts for those earning less than $250,000 a year, closing corporate loopholes, eliminating tax cuts for oil, and taking a methodical approach to cutting government programs that don't work while strengthening those that do.  We need regulation, we need oversight, we need restraint.... but we can't afford to avoid energy, education, health care, and the like.

2) Energy: 

I want to discuss energy... but I'm too angry.  We'll talk about energy later.

3) National Security: 

John McCain thinks the biggest thing that can be learned from Iraq is that everything is fine.

John McCain thinks we shouldn't talk to our enemies without them first agreeing to whatever it is we want to talk about.

Obama thinks the biggest thing we can learn from Iraq is that we shouldn't go into a war with a country that hadn't attacked us; that an unnecessary war might actually put us in greater jeopardy.

Obama thinks diplomacy might be a good idea.

Oh, and I really want John McCain to respond to a question about Iraq without mentioning David Petraeus.

Now... we Americans like our elections to be divided into cut and dry dichotomies.... so here's one now:

John McCain is the past, Barack Obama is the future.  You can apply that distilled view of the 2008 presidential election to demographics (age and race), economic policies, energy policy, and national security.  If you firmly believe America's standing in the world isn't in need of improvement; if you think the fundamentals of our economy are strong; if you think we can use rusted tools to fix the intricate problems of the future.... you should vote for McCain.  God save this great country if he actually wins.

watch this.

Palin and Hillary on SNL