Here, ruin your weekend

Over at The Corner, I think Mark Krikorian has officially thrown in the towel.

Since it seems fairly certain to me now that we're going to end up evacuating Baghdad's green zone from the embassy roof in helicopters, what I'm worried about is the much more significant "surge" we're going to have to deal with — Iraqi refugees, virtually all of them our Sunni enemies, being resettled by the hundreds of thousands in the United States.

And you thought the "Dog drank my Vodka in the Taxi" kerfuffle was bad.

Quitter.

He points the way to Thomas Friedman - who I rarely agree with - who mentions some a very small bit of common ground that I think we can agree on.

...tell Americans that you’re creating a $45-a-barrel floor price for imported oil, so investors can safely finance alternatives without worrying that they’ll be undercut by OPEC.

..almost. We could do a lot more - and better. Though I think California and Florida should join Louisiana in the offshore oil rig farming and we need more nuke plants and fewer natural gas plants - let's stick with the big piece of the pie - cars, trucks and getting to work on time.

Anyone that drives on a highway knows that, irrespective of your gas tax, that automobile gas power is heavily subsidized directly and indirectly. Offer a 100% sales tax rebate for each hybrid or alternative fuel automobile. In Europe outside the UK (see gas here and diesel here), diesel is less expensive. Why can't we make diesel less expensive here in the USA? Diesel gets better MPG (~30% better) and with modern engines, is not spewing filth like a '78 Olds. Support LNG cars by removing all federal tax from LNG - heck LPG and CNG as well.

Of course, I have my own personal solution. Ahem.

The above is a start. I don't know about you, but I am getting tired of sending my money to Hugo Chavez and the Saudi royal family.