Pat, before taking on your issues, let me distill my philosphy in one sentence: the individual reigns supreme, but borders matter. Without much exposition, this means that every person has value, but even the US has limited resources, so we need to take care of ourselves first, and expect other countries to take care of thiers. And then help where we can. But in real life, there is a power struggle between groups that want power. Republicans-Democrats, China vs. US, US vs. Radical Muslims, corporations vs. government, rich vs. poor, etc.. The last one is probably more misunderstood than most people realize. I was raised in Texas, my family was laizze-faire in their outlook. I was raised middle class Baptist, and "the Lord helps those who help themselves." My mother never has understood that isn't a Bible verse, but rather a saying from I believe Benjamin Franklin. (Too lazy to look it up right now.) We had a good life. And I feel lucky because I still do. From this, I do think everybody ought to do the very best they can to support and help themselves. It matters. But the first eye opening book that I read was a paper back my dad got in 1973, maybe 76, titled, "Why SOBs succeed and Nice Guys Fail in Small Business" (perhaps slightly different from this). This book showed how the laws, even in that time, were manipulated to favor those in power. It gave an example of a boondoggle bill that was passed by congress and signed by the president that affected only ONE company. And saved them millions. Additionally, it showed how laws were passed to keep competition low in certain industries. It also pointed out how a rich person may give a million to charity, and be hailed as a great philantrophist, but still be worth $100 million more and get a tax break to boot! Rare is the rich person who really hurts his financial position for charity! The best example of this today would be Bill Gates. I think he gave some few hundred million for immunization of the poor. Maybe it was a couple of billion. Wow, how generous! In the meantime, he was just estimated to be worth $52 billion! He didn't really hurt hisself. And he never will. Anyway, before I buy hook, line, and sinker into something, I like to look at the power-money trail. What does it gain the person pushing an agenda? This is why I have a healthy mistrust of environuts, oil execs, and even doctors. I have nothing against Marshall, but he runs an organic farm. Any wonder why a lot of his posts deal with GMOs and Monsanto? Doesn't mean he can't have good information. But I temper his information with his motives, and want hard data to support his stance. Of course, that's from everybody on everything. Finally, I'm human. I have my own motives. I want cheaper gas. I want more money. I want, I want, I want, I want. But I try to temper that with caring for others. Most people do. And being human, I have limited intelligence. I get things wrong sometimes. Right now, I wouldn't be a bit surprised if their were alternative energy sources for vehicles that are not being developed and marketed because of the oil/auto industry. In 2000, Toyota made the Insight. A/C, room for 2 plus a small trunk, and 70+ miles a gallon. But sales have lagged. Even now. And the Prius and others that followed have gotten worse gas mileage, not better. Anyway, windfall profit tax has Carter written all over it. But that name works for me. Instead of taxes, how about freezing the price, or having a SIMPLE (no political boondoggle) formula that sets prices? That would benefit most people. Although, not the poorest people. I wouldn't suspend tax cuts for those who make less than $100,000.00. The truly wealthy make much more than that. I'd probably graduate the increase until you reached $160,000.00 or so. These numbers are arbitrary, but they are fairly high because of people who live in expensive areas, such as San Fran, New York, and the like. Unlike O'Reilly and most Republicans, I realize income redistribution happens. Unfortunately, it seems to be going to the wealthy too much, and not to the middle class and poor. But I want to protect jobs, and the private sector, so I don't think I'd be too radical. Just some quick thoughts...

I don't know anything about the seal problems, but a Toyota with only 76K miles could have a lot of life left. As for $3K, I again say look at the "book value" to see what it should sell for and look at the private sale value, that should be less than what you'd have to pay at a dealer. Again, I'd look at the book on Chevy and Ford (S10 and Ranger to be in the same size range as the Toyota) and see if it is possible to get one a couple of years newer and a few miles less used for the same money. I was talking to a fisherman I "bumped" into a couple of days back. He had noted my Chevy Colorado and asked how I like it. He had a Chevy S10 of some years, don't remember, but I do remember he said he had about 300,000 on it. Yes he had replace a number of things, but he engine/transmission/drive-train was original equipment. My 1988 Dodge Ram 50, similar size, had about 100,000 on it when I traded it in (gave away) on the Chevy and the only problems I had were: Head Gasket and Carb. It was a 4WD and the drive train/clutch seemed to be in "perfect" shape. A mechanic at the dealer bought the truck, and I see it from time to time, he's still driving it to work. He said he replaced the carb, I don't know if anything else has gone. Point? 76K miles isn't a lot of miles on a vehicle if it has been maintained (mostly just oil change/filter change).

Everything is so ugly. Everything is so boring. This is exactly what I was thinking after we spent a couple of hours walking around a big mall, only because it was freezing but I wanted to walk. It might not have pushed me over the edge as much as it did, had I not also been looking at thousands of cabinet knobs and faucets and hinges and every other damn thing you can put in a kitchen. I know you're talking about not being able to find specific things. I have that problem, too. The 1920s faucets that were still almost universal in utility sinks when I was a kid are now special order high priced items. But I also think things in general look repulsive. Crate & Barrel seems to have bet its entire product line on the 587th revival of the 1970s we've had to endure over the past two decades. In each object in the store, ugly fights with boring to see which will emerge as dominant. There is not one single dinner service that you could call elegant without laughing, and more than a few you could lose your lunch on as soon as you ate it. I know some here swear by PB but it is worse than ever, everything dull as death and clunky as an elephant's foot. Things that might've been somewhat interesting when they were novel ten years ago, like "vintage" faucets, have been overdone and dumbed down to idiocy. There never was a real vintage faucet that had those big knobs on top with sheep hook spouts, and all those pull downs look like something you'd be embarrassed to touch in polite company. I guess it's cheaper to shave all the fine edges off everything than to produce items with the slightest character or delicacy, whether they are traditional or modern. The sad part is no one even seems to notice. Consumers are eager to show they will be no trouble to their Chinese manufacturers.

Congrats on the new car! Nothing is more fun than a brand new car. It is beautiful, and it gets very good reviews too. It will be perfect to haul laundry in. I am like Hmorton with the interior - I would get that beautiful cream color grimy in no time. I have a black interior in my car, and I actually don't like it aesthetically, but it does hide dirt, and that was the consideration that won when I was choosing the interior color. I hear there are treatments one can do to car interiors so that any spills will wipe up and not sink in.