First, I want the agree with A Texan, that global warming is a farce. The planet's climate fluctuates. It just does. Secondly, I forget who said it, but, Detroit did "catch up" to Japanese fuel economy. I used to sell Chevy vehicles and although I was not a fan of them, at first, they did get very good fuel mileage. If I remember correctly, the base model Cobalt got better mileage than the base model Civic. It was also much cheaper and had comparable equipment. The same goes for Toyota. A hybrid Tahoe had the same (city) economy rating as a Corolla(sp). If you compare websites or window stickers, you will see that they never really fall behind. I believe the main reason for this thinking is that American car companies are known for making trucks, and performance cars. When you think of Dodge, you think of a truck or a Viper. Most people don't think of a Neon. Also, I don't believe Beck changed his mind about hybrids. If you were being paid by a company, chances are you wouldn't bad-mouth their product either. Just my four cents. (Two is never enough.)