I see that Molly Ivins, in her column yesterday, was calling for more use of wind power. Hey, I'm all for that -- and oddly enough, George W. once was, too: When he was governor, Texas passed a law requiring utility companies to get 3% of their energy from renewable sources by 2009, which led to pretty good growth in the use of wind power in the state, and he did endorse an extension of the tax credit for wind power once he was in the White House. (It it perhaps not a coincidence that Enron had somewhat significant investments in wind power, some of which were apparently improperly concealed.) Nevertheless, Bush hasn't really done a thing to encourage the use of wind power, and nobody else is doing much, either.

Still, I have to ask: What the hell ever happened to solar energy? I spent last week on vacation in the Southwest. I've spent a fair amount of time in Southwest over the past few years. You know what? It's pretty damn sunny there. Hot, too -- big need for air conditioning there. Yet, except on national park land, I don't think I've ever seen a single solar panel in the Southwest.

I know many, many people in this country hate government spending and hate anything that smacks of 60s/hippie/green/groovy culture, but we're letting all this potential energy go to waste. Government needs to prime the pump and make solar competitive, in the interests of energy independence and the environment. Sell it as part of the war on terror -- I don't care. We need to get red-staters past the notion that putting solar panels on your house makes you a pinko.