Good News, I Think

Did I hear this right, Bush? That you're thinking of offering a tax break for the owners of fuel efficient cars? Nice work! This would be the first of your many tax breaks that I actually approve--and not just because I'm the proud owner of a splendid Toyota Prius. I think we hybrid owners deserve some recognition for our pioneering efforts to save the planet Earth from the dire effects of fossil fuel emissions.

Actually, I bought my Prius--more than a year ago, now--not only for its spectacular fuel economy, but because I think it's an amazing piece of engineering. It's also a pleasure to drive. It's quiet--you barely hear the motor when it's on electric power, which is quite often in normal city driving. It's comfortable. It sacrifices nothing in speed or pick-up. And it's a great trade-down from the S-type Jaguar I used to drive, also with great pride and pleasure but, towards the end, with some sense of bad civic conscience because of the gas consumption.

The fact that I had to wait in line for five months before taking delivery suggests that the demand for cars like this far exceeds the manufacturers' expectations. I've no idea what the waiting lists are today, but I have heard whispered rumors about more car manufacturers making plans to switch at least some of their fleet to this technology, and trying to calculate what the future demand will look like. Meantime, Bush, let's hear it for the Prius. I can't speak for other hybrid makes and models, but this one is pure genius. Here's a chance to make a real dent in the pillage of our natural resources and the pollution of our environment.

As for the nuclear option--I'm speaking here of the energy resource, Bush, not your First's despicable attempt to end the filibuster--I'll confess I'm not the knee-jerk opponent that I used to be. I do believe that the plants themselves can be built to be safe and efficient alternative energy providers. And God knows, we're going to need those alternatives more and more. There's a big downside, though: to my knowledge, no one has yet devised a system of disposal that protects the planet from thousands of years of potentially deadly radiation release from nuclear waste. So it's all very well to talk up the benefits of nuclear power, as you did yesterday, but the talk won't wash with me--and I suspect numerous other thoughtful Americans--until that end of the consumption channel is safely and sensibly resolved.

Tell you what, though, Bush. I'll trade you a couple of brand new oil refineries in exchange for a Manhattan Project to address the challenge of energy conservation and pollutant reduction on an international scale. Put the world's best scientific and technological brains together for a crash course on how to save the planet from the human species, and you'll have done something truly worthy and memorable to spare your presidency from the risk of ending up on the trash heap of history!