SG Gate columnist Arrol Gellner reckons as goeth San Francisco, so goeth America. Opposing the Vietnam War, spearheading ecological concerns, mandating energy-efficient buildings, banning smoking in public places, demanding equal access for the disabled and now, hybrid vehicles. Where would the United States be without "Berkeley radical thinking?" Gellner's self-congratulatory diatribe claims the large number of hybrids humming about Berkley signal "the beginning of the end for conventional internal-combustion-powered vehicles." Ignoring Ford and Chrysler entirely, Gellner says Detroit missed this boat "thanks to the monumental stupidity, shortsightedness and greed of General Motors executives, who preferred to wallow in the lucrative SUV trough while foreign competitors did their homework. Maybe those GM folks should've gotten out of the boardroom now and then, and taken a drive around Berkeley." Bong optional?

When faced with a choice between paying $12.95 a month for 170 channels of XM satellite radio or 130 channels of Sirius, many consumers bought neither. In an effort to lure new customers, the merging satellite radio companies are switching to a la carte pricing. So instead of a straight either/or choice, it's either XM or Sirius and THEN a choice between one of eight packages in seven price ranges (with a .25 per additional channel option on a la carte 1). If you thought the two companies would merge content, they have, kinda. "SIRIUS customers will also be able to choose a family-friendly version of SIRIUS programming that includes select XM programming. And XM customers can select a family-friendly XM programming option that includes select SIRIUS programming. These packages will cost $14.99 per month, a credit of $2.00 per month from the cost of the "best of" packages." Confused? You will be.

For reasons both cultural and non-commercial (I’m looking at you, tax-payer funded Top Gear), the British press feels less inhibited about telling the truth about cars than their American cousins. And when it comes to yank tanks, let’s just say the car hacks’ Super Ego takes a nice long holiday in Majorca. To wit: The Independent on Sunday’s review of the Cadillac SRX, in which Michael Booth tears Caddy’s crossover a new one. “Cadillac says it is ‘targeting’ the BMW X5 and Mercedes ML; ‘stalking’ would be a better description. Peering at them from behind the bushes while rubbing itself suggestively is about as close as the SRX is going to get to the premium German market.” And you thought TTAC was tough on the General. As Dick Van Dyke would say, 'cor blimey!

Why do buff books and big sites feel compelled to be a cheering section for the home team? When these guys catch a glimpse of a Detroit concept car they like, the gloves they took off for their reviews of home-grown product are put under lock and key. And out comes the brass section. Paul Eisenstein over at The Car Connection has tested not one but three FoMoCo ain'tgonnahappenmobiles. Obviously, there's not much there there– other than Ford designer Peter Horbury calling the Toyota Prius the Toyota Pious, albeit "impishly." (I guess he missed the memo on Ford's plug-in hybrid dreams.) So, has Ford green-lighted the Mustang-based Interceptor? "In the future, we have to go in a different direction," cautioned Horbury, adding that "especially with tight budgets," Ford can no longer afford many of these wild and wacky concepts. "We're not going to waste time and money showing something that has no chance of being put into production." Don't you just hate it when they play coy like that?