(The corporate scandals that occurred subsequent to 9-11 involving the likes of Enron and Qualcomm, shed some insight to why insider, oil man Bush didn't qualify his statement. Unfortunately, the capitalism practiced in America is not a just capitalism but a crony capitalism. In the blind pursuit of profit, driven by unbridled greed, the last thing that America's corporations want is an educated, fully informed consumer. Ditto for Wall Street, whose profit mirrors the corporations. The need to fulfill Wall Street expectations drives corporations not only to shady accounting practices but to continue exploiting the plentiful riches, e.g. oil, of the third world. Of course, the latter can't be done without Washington's hypocritical "free trade" diplomacy and the corrupt complicity of local leaders.)

With this in mind, and on a lighter note, I went shopping for a car. Mind you, I'm a doctor living in New Jersey. What I wanted foremost was a dependable, comfortable car. Secondly, I was hoping to find an environmentally friendly vehicle.

Typical of a capitalistic society, I was bombarded with car ads. Some ads were telling me that I needed a large Sport Utility Vehicle because that would: a) bring me young, curvaceous, outdoorsy babes, b) make up for my diminished manhood and c) turn the urban, polluted, congested setting I lived in into the untouched Andes.

Other ads impressed upon me that as an accomplished professional I deserved to ride in a luxury vehicle. This would also: a) bring me sophisticated, curvaceous babes, b) makes those around me jealous and c) make up for my diminished manhood. No ad, however, touted environmental friendliness as an attribute that would also help me get the babes.

Fortunately, I wasn't falling for any of Madison Avenue's shenanigans. Instead, without any commercial advertising and using only the world wide web for information, I chose a Honda Civic Hybrid Gasoline-Electric Car. The car met all the variables on my checklist. First of all, Hondas are well built and reliable cars. Second, the car is second only to the pure electric car in terms of greenhouse gas emissions rating. This eased my concern about my contributions to global warming. Third, the car gets 50 miles to the gallon in city driving and 49 miles per gallon on the highway. This eased my concern with my adding to the world's oil addiction and the resulting destruction of nature.

So now I have a Honda Hybrid. The car drives great and it looks nice. At stoplights the engine shuts off automatically leaving me in a quite peaceful state to enjoy my bootleg Dead CD's. When I take the foot of the brake, the car seems to magically restart. My girlfriend loves the car and says my purchase of the car is another sign that I will make a good father. She tells me this is a good thing and what most babes look for in a guy.

I know that my choice in cars is not going to change the world and in fact, my friends will point out, I am being a bit hypocritical as I do also own a gas guzzling power boat (To my defense, I am trading it in for a less expensive sail boat as soon as I learn to sail). But maybe my trickle over to the hybrid vehicle and the reading of this article by some of you will be followed by a torrent of demand for more gas-electric vehicles. This will do wonders for our planet such as reduce greenhouse emissions and lessen our dependence on oil while still performing our patriotic duty and consuming.