The last couple days I’ve been reading up on CARS! I love my Celica and I would drive it until it died, but it’s not family friendly. Let me clarify. That means I am thinking about the future, and since I intend to buy a car and drive it for 10-15 years, it will need a backseat big enough for a car seat. That isn’t possible in the Celica.

I’ve started looking and I have some ideas, but I thought I would poll my small group of friends online for advice. Until recently I had vowed to only buy a Toyota, but I’ve always considered Honda to be of a similar quality. Feel free to suggest car options outside of those two makers, but it’s unlikely you’ll change my mind.

Here are some of my priorities in a new car, in order of importance:

1) Backseat – Must have one. Doesn’t have to be enormous, but big enough for a carseat.

2) MPG – I pulled in a pathetic 18 mpg last fill up. Gas prices increasing without end, and this is important.

3) Price – Cheaper is better, but I’m not talking a Kia. Under $25,000 would be preferrable.

4) Utility – It would be nice if it was different from the wife’s Jetta (or future Camry), but the previously mentioned priorities have pushed utility down on the list. A truck bed or sport utility of some sort would give the family more options, but it’s not as important as it once was.

There are the priorities. I’m officially old and boring. My car likes/dislikes are being shaped by practical reasons, not cool factor. Any suggestions?

I recorded news broadcasts all day long to see if there was anything interesting. Overall it’s been pretty boring. Here are a few fun pictures.

I have no problem with stopping riads.

This guy takes the label “illegal alien” to heart.

“Viva Mexico!” this man said, followed shortly by “I’m a freaking idiot!”

The following is an article from the Wall Street Journal by Ari Fleischer, the former press secretary for President Bush. It’s a very interesting article for many reasons. The most fascinating reason I find is that it shows that the “rich” pay most of the the taxes, but it also shows that “rich” doesn’t mean you make $5 million dollars. It’s a very good read, especially for Democrats that want to raise taxes. Article starts here:

If the tax forms you’re filing this year show Uncle Sam entitled to any income tax, you increasingly stand alone. The income tax system is so bad, and increasingly reliant on a shrinking number of Americans to pay the nation’s bills, that 40% of the country’s households — more than 44 million adults — pay no income taxes at all. Not a penny.

Think of it this way. After dropping off your tax forms at the Post Office, you find 100 people standing on the sidewalk. Forty of them will be excused from paying income taxes thanks to Congress. Twenty of them, the middle class, will pay barely a thing. The 40 people who remain, the upper middle class and the wealthy, will pay nearly all of the income taxes. continue reading…