Both parties are being bought by the coal industry. With evidence of global warming undeniable to most sane people, and the greening of America becoming a force to be reckoned with, coal interests are having to scramble to stay relevant.

And yet this latest idea of coal-to-liquid fuel is not all it's cracked up to be -- not by a longshot:

The Energy Department found that coal-to-liquid fuel could generate roughly twice the carbon emissions that regular gasoline does....According to the National Coal Council, ... a tremendous coal-to-liquid push--involving $211 billion in investments over the next 20 years and a 40 percent increase in mining--would allow the United States to replace just 10 percent of its oil supply. By contrast, using that coal to generate electricity for plug-in hybrids would displace twice the oil and emit a fraction of the carbon.

Or if not hybrids, how about just raising the MPG standards for all vehicles? It would work to conserve gas, cut down on global warming, save consumers money, and contribute to our independence from foreign oil.

Frankly, conservation is one of the best methods for addressing the global warming problem, and yet one of the least mentioned or utilized (mainly because no corporation can make big bucks off of it). For shame.