Face it. You love that new car smell.

Before we get into yet another reason why the Cash for Clunkers program is counter-productive, we heard a commercial on the way home from work just now from Father Joe urging people to forego the government program and give him their clunker in exchange for the tax write-off. Get a tax break, give to charity and don’t take on a new car payment that you may not be able to afford even with the rebate. Sounds reasonable to us. The mere fact, though, that this San Diego-based charity felt compelled to pay drive-time bucks on a national talk radio show is circumstantial evidence that Cash for Clunkers is adversely affecting the charity sector, as well.

And right on cue, as we were searching for Father Joe’s Auto Donation site.

Cash for Clunkers launched right before his peak donation season, Father Joe said. He wishes Congress and the White House had considered charities when devising the program.

"To me, the idea would have been donate your car to a charity, get a $4,000 write-off, then go spend it," Father Joe said.

Father Joe obviously has his priorities skewed. To hell with the poor, it is Gaia that must be served.

But how is Gaia being served when:

The article noted that "Newer cars are driven more than older cars. On average people drive their new cars and trucks about 25 percent more than they do their 10-year-old vehicles." So, even if the new car's fuel economy is much better than the older car's fuel economy, that will not matter much if the owner of the new car drives that car much more and according to this article, he or she likely will be driving the new vehicle a lot more than the older one.

Aside from the gathering of empirical evidence, the notion of driving your new car more often and for longer than your clunker stands up to intuition and natural human behavior… especially for men out there whom we feel confident we can speak on behalf.

Part of the reason you bought that new car was, well…. it was to drive it. Outside of city traffic and freeway gridlock, driving is fun. And this CfC program could not have come along at a better time than summer as it flows into fall with its great driving weather throughout most of the country to re-enforce this point. Your self-fulfillment through odometer rollovers: 1. Environment: 0

That road trip up the coast or out to the Grand Canyon that you were putting off because you did not have full faith and confidence in your clunker is back on again. Your wanderlust: 1. Environment: 0

And lord knows, chicks dig new cars so the thought of your game being stepped up by ownership of a new car will not be accompanied by the notion that your hot new ride will be grounded in the driveway very much. It’s all about exposure. Your libido: 1. Environment: 0.

As you can see, a program that gives the shaft to the poor with the added benefit of raping the environment is normally the exclusive domain of the Republicans so it’s comforting to know that bipartisanship is alive and well on Capitol Hill.

Warming Trend Pt. III

Up until a few days ago, we were at a complete loss as to articulate why it was we’ve become more and more comfortable with the thought of John McCain as President. Readers of this blog know that we’ve taken serious issue with the Senator in the past, especially with respect to some of his legislative actions. So, what’s happened… what has transpired to effect this change of heart? Certainly the fantastic ineptitude displayed by The One whose name cannot be spoken has helped but it goes beyond that…

… and just a few words about his speech this past Thursday (which, by the way, was witnessed by more people than Suit’s the week before). We thought Senator McCain gave a fine speech and we were particularly moved by the segment where he recalled his time in the Hanoi Hilton where he underwent a “conversion experience” of sorts that transformed his brash, cock-sure fighter pilot nature into that of having a “servant’s heart”. And that ending…? “Stand up and fight with me.” Let’s just say we don’t see too often that sort of evangelical fervor grip the normally button-down GOP.

… there was something else working that we could not place our finger on until last week when it dawned upon us: (If he wins) John McCain will be promoted out of the way.

And we mean that with heartfelt sincerity and with as little snark and backhandedness as that statement in black and white will allow.

John McCain spoke like a leader on Thursday. As a leader of men and as a leader of a nation. Leading from the Oval Office removes him from the arena of legislative politics that was the cause of so much anger for us and many other conservatives. While leading this country as its CEO, he won’t be able to craft any counterproductive, unconstitutional legislation like Campaign Finance Reform or Amnesty legislation or spearhead any shenanigans like the Gang of Fourteen with respect to judicial nominations.

True, he would still be able to sign into law some very bad legislation but we're trusting that in his executive leadership role, what we saw as some of his more rash impulses as a Senator will be tempered by the gravity of responsibilities taken on as President. As such, we are much more comfortable with and will gladly endorse the prospects of a President McCain over merely Senator McCain.

Phone(y) Safety

Perhaps the ultimate paradigm of the non-sensical, useless and quite possibly counterproductive nature of Sacramento politics went into effect today as the hands-free cell phone law will be enforced statewide.

Article here suggests that it’s the actual talking that is the real distraction and we can personally attest to this being true as talking to a passenger while we are driving provides the same amount of attention-diversion as does yakking on the cell phone, which by the way, we try to keep to an absolute minimum.

But never mind all that…. Only Sacramento (or D.C.) can pass legislation that still allows you to dial by hand (eyes not on the road) and text (again, eyes not on the road) but still let you talk as much as you want as long as you’re at “10 and 2” and then with a straight face tell us that its for our own good… that it will save lives.

We didn’t necessarily agree with helmet or seatbelt laws thinking it was a matter of personal choice but also realized these laws codified absolute common sense in terms of vehicular safety. This cell phone law breaks new ground, though, in demonstrating how the “do something, do anything” approach to the law-making of those smug bastards in our state capitol is the rule rather than the exception.