State Of The Cons-umion.

No I didn't watch the State of the Union.  I've been doing my best to keep my head down and pretend that Bush doesn't exist until the situation resolves itself.  Which is, ironically, very much like Bush's foreign policy.  Not having watched, I don't really have any opinions to put forward (ethanol and coal?  You dirty son-of-a-...) about what was said or not said.  I will, however, refer you to Martin Eberhard of Tesla Motors.

• The Tesla blog: Vintage Oil and Other Hare-Brained Ideas

"One of the foremost principles that led me to found Tesla Motors was that, electric cars move our choice of energy source upstream from the vehicle, making them the ultimate multi-fuel vehicles: You can power them with clean (or dirty) coal; wind or solar power; clean, safe (or otherwise) nuclear energy; or even good ol' oil."

Upstream, this is the concept I've been talking about for as long as I knew you could run a car off electricity.  Now I've got a nice word for it.

"Imagine if you got a $25,000 tax credit for buying an EV for your "business," like you can for a Hummer "

Yeah, imagine politicians did more than pay public lip service to the environment before turning around and selling other peoples' souls to the auto and oil industries.

"I am not so enthusiastic about stepping up domestic oil production. I actually like our wildernesses, and I don't think we need to fill our few remaining unspoiled places with oil extraction industry. Lots of other people have written on this subject; let me just agree with them."

Damn right, Martin.  Well said.  I need to figure out how to get more into this company, short of stealing $100,000 for a roadster or for a 50,000 Whitestar.