Good ideas and bad ones

We hear a lot these days about government funding research, as if it is the only possible method for scientific advancement. Well, that irks me plenty, but if government is going to fund something like this, an X-prize is not a bad way to go about it. (But really, I'm no journalist nor am I a grammar nazi, and I do write in a conversational mode on this blog, but how the F does "gasoline prices of more $4-a-gallon makes it" make it into a "professional" news article? Doesn't anyone know how to write any more? Don't editors have standards?)

However, being in favour of a flat tax and vastly simplified tax structure, personally I'm not so happy with McCain's idea of a $5k tax credit for buying hybrid cars. This is not a subsidy for the environment, it's a subsidy to automakers, and I don't think the government has any business subsidizing industry. The only money government should be paying to business is that strictly necessary for purchasing items and services that government needs to fulfill its well-defined and limited role in defense of the nation, and governing with the consent of the governed.