Miss Jane, Every time I see a Prius I think of you and Miss Lily, and I smile as I remember the July 4th story you wrote. Kudos to both of you for contributing to the greenness of the world. I can’t say that I’m as good as you two. I just bought a new Toyota Tacoma Crew Cab about two years ago. She’s not green, but she’s LEAN AND MEAN … and I kinda feel cool driving it. :) P.S. Can Miss Edith come out and play soon? I miss her, and this site needs her badly!

Dear Ms. Jane: I doubt that anyone would give me money to buy a car BUT if they did, I would buy many cars of the type I may be able to drive - like one with pedals. That would be practical for me and certainly would be GREEN. I would probably give the extras to fur friends or someone like Edith Ann. I agree with Serena, when will Edith be back??? Purrs from

(I must THIRD the plea for Edith to come back out and play!) If I buy an American car (anything but a Ford, please) with the $40,000, am I allowed to sell it and do something USEFUL with the money? I don’t understand cars. I don’t understand nationalism. Fusing them together only furthers my slightly confused apathy. …But I am down with the whole GREEN revolution.

Hi Jane — Buying a Prius sounded very nice in 2006, but NOW people are losing their jobs (maybe something you don’t worry about) and their health care and their pensions, and you can buy very green American cars & save American workers their jobs! An American car with good gas mileage may not be as “green” as a Prius, but you can go green in other ways, without aggravating the human misery factor. I realize your intentions were 100% good, but just your perspective needs to be broadened re: the “big picture.”