Free Republic

The Bush administration has been pushing ethanol as a renewable, homegrown alternative to gasoline. Now, the auto industry is abuzz with the promise of its flexible-fuel vehicles (FFVs), which are designed to run on either gasoline or the blend of 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline called E85. GM’s advertising says, “Energy independence? The answer may be growing in our own backyard,” and has coined the slogan “Live green, go yellow,” referring to the corn from which most U.S. ethanol is made. DaimlerChrysler, Ford, and GM have said that they plan to double production of FFVs and other biofuel...

Plans around the globe to increase reliance on nuclear power face a potential stumbling block: a coming lack of know-how in running and regulating new plants. In the U.S., the Washington-based Nuclear Energy Institute, an industry group, estimates that half of nuclear-industry employees are more than 47 years old and expects as many as 23,000 retirements and other departures during the next five years -- in an industry that anticipates building 15 new reactors during the next decade. ... In the U.S., nuclear-engineering undergraduates rocketed to 1,759 in 2004 from 450 in 1999, while the number of postgraduates topped 1,000,...

After spending an hour waiting to be served at the DMV yesterday, I starting thinking about the purpose of the DMV. Specifically, why do we need to re-register our vehicles annually? I understand the purpose of registering vehicles at the time of purchase, but why must we renew the registration every year? It just seems that it's another way to enlarge the government without serving the people. Wouldn't it make more sense to register vehicles only when they are purchased? Please let me know if there is some beneficial purpose of annual registration renewal that I'm overlooking. Thanks