All you guys praising Holy Toyota and its Pretty Prius, you're kidding yourselves. You know what vehicle Toyota's spent the most money in the last three years developing and marketing?

That would be the Toyota Tundra. A full-size pickup that gets about 14 mpg. Also the Lexus IS 350 (18 mpg) and 250 (21 mpg). And the LX 400, 18 mpg.

Toyota's like every other automaker. It's in the business to make money. And Americans, with the joys of cheap gas, choose big vehicles with high horsepower. And small, fuel-efficient vehicles -- hybrid or not -- sit on the lot.

So why, exactly, is your Prius enough penance for the Tundra and the RX400 and the GS300 and the FJ Cruiser and the Sequoia?

... that American companies are just BADBADBAD, and foreign companies goodgoodgood?

Bernbart, your premise is off. Ford does what Toyota (and Nissan, and Honda, and GM, and etc.) do -- they build and sell cars in the US market that sell in the US market. They build and sell in the Euro market vehicles that sell in the Euro market. As long as there is little incentive for Americans to buy small, fuel-efficient, less polluting cars, and plenty of incentive (read, cheap gas) to buy bigger, more powerful ones, they will.

Tax Gas. Tax Horsepower. Then you'll see a change, or enough revenue to create pub-trans alternatives.

PS -- Ford also sells small, fuel-efficient Japanese cars in the US, they're just branded Mazda.

"Mr. Hager, 29, is the son of (GOP bigwig) and is studying for his Masters." And he was a WH aide, working for Karl Rove.

I don't see a whole lot of "... is a veteran of..." in any of these announcements.

Headline: Chicken hawk chicks mate. Can chicken-hawk eggs be far off?

Mr Bud, you miss the point. I do NOT wish combat on anyone. Though I'm a veteran, I'm also damn grateful I never got called to combat. However, don't YOU find it a little bothersome that people like Mr. Hager and Ms. Bush have all the advantages of being wealthy, well-connected people, and work for the people who have committed us to this war -- thus working to support our being in this war -- but aren't willing actually to put their bodies where their paychecks are?

Similarly, do you think it at ALL possible that the GOP powerstructure might be a little less reluctant to go adventuring on wars of choice if their own children are actually at risk, and not just kids who can't get into college?