Mike Beebe doesn't normally pump his own gas on the state-funded vehicle that carts him around the state, but the Arkansas governor gave it a shot Monday while trying to promote biofuels.

I never intended to be a Spinster. I thought that I would get married. I never for a second thought of myself in the image of an "Old Maid." Hair in a bun, sucked up cheeks and bifocals. I'm older and a wee bit wiser. I have removed the last of the illusions of finding Mr. Right or "the one and only." I have even moved pass finding a somebody to love. I accept that it may or may not happen.

Author Barbara Ehrenreich posed a provocative thesis recently on her blog (a shorter version was also published in the New York Times).  She describes How Positive Thinking Wrecked the Economy.

Created from repurposed vintage materials such as recycled cameras along with pool balls, souvenir salt and pepper shakers, vintage bakelite game pieces, and recycled buttons.
$75.00 at 1453 Design’s Etsy Shop

By Joseph Romm

I am (slightly) less pessimistic than David Letterman. If, however, it is indeed "too late" as he says, then he has certainly nailed the reason: "We have had no leadership."

But I'm going to view the glass as one-tenth full and take it as a hopeful sign that somebody relatively mainstream like Letterman would break out of his normally uber-ironic mindset to tell it like it is on global warming.

This post was created for ClimateProgress.org, a project of the Center for American Progress Action Fund.

PR-USA.net reports that the Energy Security Leadership Council released its new plan: A National Strategy for Energy Security. The plan includes long-term goals for a transport system that doesn’t depend on oil and interim policies for helping keep the economy strong and secure. One of the aspects of the plant is a smart subsidy replacement for the $0.45/gallon ethanol tax credit.

OGJ.com reports that Japanese companies are showing more and more interest in the Brazilian ethanol industry. Itochu Corp. is one of the latest companies to show interest with its plans to produce ethanol as part of a joint venture with Bunge Ltd from the United States.

This past weekend, Prometheus Solar founder Jim Corning demonstrated his proof-of-concept electric motorcycle at the Santa Monica AltCar Expo. The motorcycle is a reconstructed Ninja 250 that uses four solar panels which provide 800 watts of power combined.

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Last year during a C-SPAN hearing on the subprime mortgage crisis, Sen. Charles Schumer said that he wished that the news media would report that a significant percentage of the black and Hispanic borrowers who got stuck with subprime mortgages actually qualified for conventional mortgages. I never found a link to the tape, so I didn't blog it.