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SEATTLE -- Cars are becoming more and more fuel-efficient, and you would think that's a good thing. But Washington state is actually losing money because of it and as a result, the state is now considering a "pay-by-mile" tax. The state predicts gas tax collected today won't add up to enough cash to pay for future road projects. Drivers of fuel-efficient cars are spending less at the pump, which means they are paying less in gas tax while driving the same amount of miles.

What to do when faced the the perfect storm of an economic downturn plus an uptake in fuel-efficient vehicles reducing fuel tax receipts? If you're a control-freak government, the answer is simple! Tax commuters per mile driven, thereby stealing even more from people who can't afford to live near their workplaces.

The EPA has changed its policy on corn-ethanol blends, and states may soon change their formula 15 percent ethanol. The problem with that? There are fears might void your warranty or damage your car. Also, from the article:

"The only group that really seems to like the new rule is the ethanol lobby.

"'We've force fed a fuel into every American's car that benefits a few thousand corn farmers and ethanol refiners at the expense of virtually every other American,' EWG's vice president of governmental affairs, Scott Faber, told Mother Jones.

Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder announced Friday that the state will take over the operations of Detroit's city government due to its long-standing financial problems. The takeover is short of a formal bankruptcy, but it will include appointing an emergency manager who would have many of the same powers as a bankruptcy judge. It could mean throwing out contracts with public employee unions and vendors that the city can't afford, and could lead to further cutbacks in already depleted city services.

This is the 1959 Opel P1 experimental car. It was entered in the 1973 Shell Oil Mileage Marathon. It won by attaining 376 miles per gallon. Do you think fuel saving technology is being prevented from coming to market by Big Oil?

A bomb planted by the Taliban in northern Afghanistan has destroyed 22 Nato fuel tankers carrying supplies to coalition forces, local officials say. The vehicles were hit by a pre-dawn explosion which triggered a huge fire that engulfed them in flames, they say. At the time, the trucks were parked overnight in Samangan province, as they headed from Uzbekistan towards Nato forces in the south. Police told the BBC that the fire caused by the bomb is still burning. An intelligence official said the device was attached under one of the trucks, which were parked close together.

So why on earth are we using uranium? As you may recall, research into the mechanization of nuclear reactions was initially driven not by the desire to make energy, but by the desire to make bombs. And here we come to it: Thorium reactors do not produce plutonium, which is what you need to make a nuke.How ironic.
The fact that thorium reactors could not produce fuel for nuclear weapons meant the better reactor fuel got short shrift, yet today we would love to be able to clearly differentiate a country’s nuclear reactors from its weapons program.

An increase in the value of bitcoin, the world’s largest online currency, may fuel concerns that virtual money could undermine the role of central banks.

New York, NY: City police made over 46,000 arrests in 2009 for marijuana possession in public, according to statistics from the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services, and analyzed by Queens College sociologist Harry Levine. The annual arrest total is the second highest in the city’s history, and is up over 4,600 percent from 1990, when police reported fewer than 1,000 pot arrests.