Ah, you beat me to it!  I was also going to mention the tentative recommendation by the US Chamber of Commerce commission to put a tax on hybrids to make up for the reduced gas tax revenue due to their better mileage.

That has to be one of the most bone-headed ideas by a government bureacrat that I've heard in a long time!  Don't they have a prize somewhere for the year's most stupid idea?  

 It's things like this that make me despair over whether our government is up to the challenge of doing anything useful regarding our energy situation.  While they certainly have the money (yours and mine, actually), they sure don't have the will, the focus, or the common sense.

The US Chamber of Commerce is not part of the government.  Almost, but not quite.

Rick DeZeeuw

Well, no they're actually not, but the way that they get intimately involved in the setting of government policy, they might as well be.

For that matter, neither is the Federal Reserve part of the government, but does anyone doubt that this entity is just about the most power 'non-governmental' government agency?

By that standard, the folks who might as well be part of the government includes everyone who hires a lobbyist.