The Bush administration launched an energy conservation program that would include urging people to install insulation in their homes, lower their thermostats, and to drive 55 mph instead of 65.

Woah! What decade is this?

Now if the administration would just admit that there is no possibility of drilling our way out of this crisis and that energy has become the moral equivilent of war, perhaps the federal government could get on the same wavelength as so many state and local governments who are trying to give incentives to renewable energy. (Our own Takoma Park has its own corn silo where people can buy corn kernals for their corn burning stoves.)

The only sour note in the administration’s program is that the mascot is the “Energy Hog,” a pig, who wears blue jeans and a leather biker jacket and will follow in the footsteps of Smokey Bear and McGruff the Crime Dog by appearing in ads.

Note to Bush: the mascots are supposed to be the good guys!

Well, I guess some habits are hard to break.