Anyone out there researched the new Hybrid Cars? It makes sense to me in this day and age, with the escalating prices at the pump, mother nature interrupting gas production flow, and the ever looming oil shortage. A family car that gets a gazillion miles to the gallon (ok...Maybe 40 or 50 mpg) is the sensible new car purchase. Especially here in California where we burn the "special blend" that seems to cost quite a bit more than the blends sold in other states.
This past year, my wife and I have kept our eye on the Hybrid market and found that you cannot just go to your local dealer, plunk your money down and drive one off the lot. The demand has far exceeded the supply for all Hyrbrids to date. Many sell well over the factory sticker price due to this supply/demand scenario. A bit like buying a nice Harley Davidson motorcycle. You lay down a deposit, and in a few months your new Hybrid will arrive. There are currently no rebate incentives or financing incentives to buy a Hybrid car. They generally run about $10k higher than their gas guzzling counterpart which will likely offer a factory rebate and may even qualify for zero interest financing.
Now it seems to me that at least one of the auto manufacturers would take the lead and crank up production of their Hybrids and really get them out there in numbers. The demand for them is there. The market has already proven that. But so far, the auto makers seem content to trickle them out there slowly.
So meanwhile, my wife and I drive our "economy cars" getting 20-30 mpg and bide our time. Watching and waiting for the right deal on the right Hybrid to come along.

Peace & Love!

Here's my Rant for the day:
So what's the catch? Bush accepts blame for the failed Federal response to the Hurricane Katrina catastrophe? The collective Media showed some spunk and relentlessly demanded accountability. Despite the White House's best efforts to diffuse the "blame game", our man W was whipped into "accepting blame". While we're being so humble George, how about those WMD's?
Actually, the big question spinning around in my head is; When and where did the Media suddenly find their collective "balls" to take on W? He has been off limits since 9/11 except for the likes of Al Franken ,Michael Moore and Bill Mahr. Did the Media collectively get marching orders from a higher source? Did he Royally piss off someone in a far away oil-producing country who now wants him to eat cake? Or are his popularity poll numbers finally low enough that our ever-fickle media feels "comfortable" going after him. Not so very long ago, Dan Rather was made an example of for being so bold. So what has changed other than Katrina?
By the way, a friend sent me this picture of Katrina before she landed.

Peace & Love!

Hello out there in blogland! You may have gathered from the title of my blog that I am a Beatle fan. That would be a correct presumption. The fabs are my "four big brothers". Their music was a springboard that launched my musical tastes in every direction. From pop/rock to classical and on to the drones of Ravi's Sitar. I found eastern philosophy and meditation (which has literally saved my life and kept me sane) largley due to the influence of Beatle George. Anyway, that's a little bit about me. No heavy posting this evening. Tomorrow I will be picking up the new McCartney album, "Chaos and Creation in the Back Yard"