If you are bored, it’s located at www.whitehouse.gov.

It was really interesting to watch, although my wife’s eyes are still rolled back into her head four days later.

A few things I took away:

I genuinely believe that President Obama has the best intentions in trying wrangle an indomitable congress into passing this legislation.  You can disagree with his personal beliefs, political party platform, or his philosophical idea of the role of government, but really think it’s unfair to characterize him as personally trying to really pull an evil “socialist plot” or “government takeover” of Health Care.

His motives seem pure and are driving by an indisputable crisis of numbers and facts.  In a few years, with the rate of growth of Health Care costs, the amount of money that the US spends on Health Care will exceed our entire Gross Domestic Product.

This is not debatable, like climate change or the effectiveness of Hillary’s pantsuit combinations.  The fact that the health care industry is single-handedly breaking our entire economy and threatening our future is indisputable.

You should really take the time to see that man work the room.  He was really trying trying to negotiate by finding common ground, pointing out areas where they had fundamental differences, and areas where they had negotiable differences.  Everyone in the room acknowledged how much the legislation has already morphed from the single-payer government run plan that Pelosi wanted to a market-based approach that still safeguards from a “race to the bottom.”

He sat there patiently as people from both sides used their allotted time to grandstand to the CSPAN camera, adding nothing to the discourse in the room and just blabbing on with meaningless and counterproductive rhetoric to try to bolster their own radical argument.

In the end he tried to summarize.  We agree that:

• Health Insurance needs reform and the insurance market should be regulated.
• Allowing small businesses and individuals to pool and purchase group insurance together in an insurance exchange is a great idea (and a Republican idea that the bills have adopted).  (This is how Wal-Mart does it… drive cost down by being the biggest elephant in the room)
• We should allow the purchase of insurance across state lines.  (With the noted exception that some baseline, mandatory standard of coverage would be required to prevent a race to the bottom, and to prevent insurance companies from offering junk plans that didn’t cover anything and shifted most of the cost back to the government and tax payer anyway.)
• Continue to work on Medical malpractice, acknowledging the facts and figures cited that malpractice reform actually only represents a fraction of 1% of the cost of medicine today, and that malpractice claims have actually gone down by 50% in the last decade.

The place where there is absolutely no agreement is on coverage: whether the government should mandate coverage and what types of coverages should be required.

Without reform, Republicans will GET exactly what they think they are fighting against: a government-run, single payer system.  This will come to pass as more Americans rely on the government medicare and medicaid systems than ever before.  At a startling rate, Americans are being priced out of the medical insurance market, especially as they lose jobs or change jobs, and the government is absorbing them at an alarming rate.  Add to that the already anticipated burden of the aging baby boomer children, and we have a perfect storm.

Without significant medial reform that focuses on cost containment and universal coverage, America will continue down the current path of more and more Americans who are part of the CURRENT government-run, single payer system.

Is that what we want for our country?

Here are my picks:

Lee

Lee is all right.  Fireflies wasn’t a natural pick for him, but he made the sale.  I think he’ll make it through.

Alex (aka Mullet Man)

I love this guy.  He is by far my favorite guy on AI right now.  He is so honest and natural.  He owns the mullet and gets up there and really sings.

Tim

In three short weeks, Tim has made one of the biggest turn arounds in Idol history.  His first week on this show sounded like something that would have kept him out of American Idol in the first round audition. Then he comes back and gives a decent performance this week on a really tough song.  I still think as a total package he doesn’t have the pipes to go the distance, but maybe he does deserve to be here one more week.

Andrew

This dude came into idol as the most hyped guy, and with the most to lose.  He is making a slight recovery with tonight’s performance.  I’m not sure if it’ll be enough to put him into the Top 12.  He is definitely a unique artist, I’m just not sure he has built enough credibility to get him through one more week.

Casey

I really like this song.  It’s not a song I know, but he was very connected to it and it was interesting.  One thing I will give him, he knows how to sell it.  He’s been selling it since he got on the show, and I think we’ve all been buying a little too much of it, too.

Aaron

Wow… weird vibrato at the beginning in his lower register… kind of awkward.  The whole song was a bit awkward for me, actually.  I thought it was the wrong song choice for him.  Sitting was weird.  He didn’t seem connected to the song at all, and was totally out of the groove of the song during most of it.  He just kind of gyrated around the stage uncomfortably.  Poor guy.  I thought it was his worst performance yet.

Todrick

This was Todrick’s last chance.  He has two strikes against him… and he figured it out.  Somehow.  I don’t know how.  I was kind of hoping he tanked so he would give us at least one easy, no-brainer to vote off tomorrow.  Now who am I going to put in the bottom?!?!  Arg!

Big Mike

Call me a killjoy, but I’m not jumping on the Big Mike Bandwagon so quickly. I thought the first part was rough.  He kind of made it work in the middle and toward the end, but the way he was moving around made me a little nauseous and actually made it lose a lot of the impact it could have had. It just seemed desperate rather than engaging. I could tell he was into the song, but he didn’t really take me along with him, nor do I know why the song is so important to him.  All in all, the original was much better, and I don’t think he did it any favors.  

Now, I’m obviously totally against the judges here, but I really don’t get what the judges saw that I didn’t see… it must have been something in that performance. Let’s take another look?

OK.  Quick poll.  What did you think?  Best performance of the season?  Really?

Compared to this guy?

I dunno…

Conclusion:

So… this was a tough one.  Based on tonight only I have to say: Aaron and Andrew get the boot.  Based on everything, I hope it’s Todrick and Tim.  I would even throw Andrew in there.  I wouldn’t be heartbroken if he were out.  At any rate, they are the ones I’m not really interested in seeing in the Top 12.

1. Eat something else before you eat sushi.

Sushi is not meant to fill you up and make you feel satiated.  That is what chicken fried steak is for.  Sushi is made to give you a light, delicate meal of many flavors and textures.  Don’t go trying to throw it down and fill up the tank.  Just sample a lot of different things, and then go hit Wendy’s afterwards if you’re still hungry.

2. If you smell fish, turn tail and run!

Fresh fish doesn’t smell fishy.  If there are nasty smells inside the restaurant, or if your particular fish stinks, ask for the check and run.

3. Be adventurous: it’s really quite good.

Try all sorts of things you might not otherwise try.  This is coming from the world’s most stuck-in-a-rut eater, but I enjoy trying various kinds of Sushi.  None of them are a huge commitment (only one or two bites) and you can easily get the bad taste out with some Diet Coke.

4. Bring your wallet.

Good sushi is pretty expensive.  Prepare yourself accordingly.

Katie

Katie didn’t do herself any favors tonight.  I think her performance is quite forgettable, and I certainly have no compelling reason to vote for her.  She is in trouble!  The Kelly Clarkson song was just average.

Siobhan

There’s just something about Siobahn.  I don’t quite know what it is.  I don’t think her voice is that great in and of itself, but coupled with her quirky personality and her knack for picking songs that are great for showing off what she can do, she might have a winning combination.  She is certainly gliding into the top 12.

Lacey

Lacey pulled it out this week.  I’ve never been a big fan of the fake-ness of her high glam makeup or her way-too-bedhead-hair, but I thought she really created a moment for herself tonight and saved herself.  She should be in the top 12 based on that performance.

Katelyn

Katelyn really stepped in it.  A2 says her hair looks like a butt-crack.  I didn’t really notice it, but I did notice that her song was a step back from last week.  I thought last week (at the white piano) was a step in the right direction for her and that the judges were a little too critical of it.  This week, though she will be in trouble.

Didi

Didi totally SLAYED IT tonight!  She rocked the house.  She absolutely made up for the two awful weeks and awful song choices.  If she can keep strengthening from here, she could do all right in the top 12.

This totally deserves a video:

Paige

Paige’s version of Smile was a complete let down.  I thought she had a pretty good performance two weeks ago, and did OK last week.  She had “my woman” potential, but the terrible vocal and the appalling bossa nova arrangement of the song totally proved she has no clue what makes an incredibly delicate, intimate song like that great.  With that absolute blunder, she has completely lost my vote and confidence.  Nobody murders a song I like that much and gets away with it!  No one!

Crystal

Yeah, Crystal had another outstanding week, especially given the fact that she sang a song (Gimme One Reason) that has the signature of a song that someone might pick (because it’s a crowd pleaser) and totally sing a copycat/karaoke version.  Crystal brought her style and skill to it and did an all right job of it.

Here’s my deal with Crystal, though.  She’s starting to believe in herself a little too much, and she creeps me out a bit.  I mean, she sat down on her amp to get the judges feedback and then just sat there and nodded and smiled as if she was expecting the praise.  Simon was right to paint a huge target on her back, and I hope someone shoots for it and hits hard!

Lilly

I really didn’t like this, mostly because I don’t like Lilly’s voice and I really don’t like Patsy Cline.  It really just wasn’t my groove.  However, I thought Kara was absolutely correct in saying that somehow she miraculously made a Patsy Cline song sound current.  She should get a medal for that feat alone.

Conclusion:

Worst singers this week…

1. Paige
2. Katelyn
3. Katie

This story on NPR reveals research that shows: nope… teenagers actually aren’t thinking!

Full story here

Todrick

The man does know how to work a stage.  I wasn’t a huge fan of the rework of the Brittany Spears song as his big breakout, mostly because there wasn’t a lot of singing in it.  Isn’t this a singing competition?  Wait – I forgot.  The music industry isn’t about singing anymore…

Aaron

You can tell he’s super nervous, but he kind of settled in vocally.  He has a great natural talent, but we’ll see how far he can get without maing himself look too stupid.  He obviously has no stage presence.  Perhaps he could attend the DASHM (David Archuleta School of Hand Movements)?  It was one of the better vocals we’ve heard so far.  This is one of those guys that will really benefit from being on this show and having to come and do this week after week.  We’ll just see if he can go the distance.

Oh yeah and BTW, Aaron is one of the few men on American Idol who is actually smaller than Ryan Seacrest.

Jermaine

I liked the effort.  I liked the connection to his song.  The vocals were a little rough in spots and made me cringe three times, though.  I thought it was a good song choice for him.

Tim

This guy is from Duncanville, just south of Dallas, so he’s a local boy.  But he bothers me.  I think it’s his pretty boy hair and his smile.  Oh well, I guess I’ll have to put my personal prejudice aside.  Apologize was completely the wrong song for his vocal ability.  He OBVIOUSLY has no control over the break from his chest voice into his falsetto.

Simon better watch out… Tim’s mammy and pappy probably have a shotgun in the back of the truck and might come after him.

Joe

All I can say is thank goodness for a hispanic brother who isn’t super creepy-deepy like Jorge Nunez from last year.  Glad Joe could represent my people!!  I liked the song for him.  Will it be memorable enough?  Maybe not.  But it had a good vibe.

Tyler

I’m worried about his chin.  He has a huge chin.  I’m not kidding, this kid’s chin is absolutely huge.  He might trip on it.  Or if his jaw comes out of its socket, it might take someone out.

The song was pretty cool, but doesn’t really show any vocal ability on his part.  The arrangement is kickin’ though!  Shout out to the band!  What was he wearing, though, with the purple scarf!  BARF!

Best comment of the night: Simon says it looks like you went to “pretend to be a rockstar school.”  Felt totally put on. Absolutely agree.

Lee

Great start for Lee!  Vocals were really good near the beginning, but kind of fell apart in the middle and just slightly out of tune at the end.  When I look at and listen to him, I keep thinking of David Cook.  I just can’t help myself.

John

I think the nerves got to John tonight, and the song choice didn’t help him at all.  Hmm… his train never quite left the awkward station.

Michael

Pet peeve time.  His lips keep touching the microphone!  GROSS!  I hope he is the ONLY one that uses that microphone.

Other than that, I think his performance was great.  Best of the night so far.  He came out with energy, thrilled the audience, sang the crap out of the song, and left everything he had and could do out on the stage.  By far the most successful total performance of the night.

Alex

OK… the mullet has GOT TO GO!  Someone please pin him down with some shears, PLEASE!  I mean, this mullet thing is worse than the Chin-guy’s wannabe afro.

So I thought that there were some moments of brilliance in the vocals.  It took him a while to get started, but in the middle there were some great things.  Of course, I wasn’t watching the TV, I was watching this screen and just listening.  So I didn’t see the awkwardness that Simon did.  I really hear something good in his voice.

Casey

Wow.  Most memorable performance of the night!  After tonight’s lackluster performances, he has set himself up as the guy to beat.  It looked like he didn’t even believe it in his eyes.

“I know we’re both models.” – Randy Jackson

Andrew

The verse was pretty good, but it kind of came apart in the chorus.  The performance was a little too pedestrian for me, as compared to the original, and for such a violent song as well.

His bio states: “I had a show. Then I had a different show. Now I have a Twitter account.”

Yes, that pretty much sums it up.

This twitter account coupled with the spike in ratings during the recent NBC late night meltdown really proves only one thing: America is more interested in this washed up celebrity’s bearded, anti-corporate-television rantings than in his actual television show.

Good luck CoCo.  I for one do not feel badly for you at all, nor am I going to care that you are sitting in your Hollywood mansion crying your eyes out every morning in your huge cereal bowl.

But I’ll still follow you on twitter.

Here are my first impressions of the girls.

Paige

Simon went out on a pretty long limb saying she had the best voice of all the girls, and that the girls were going to take the whole competition this year.  Now she’ll be fighting that pressure for the whole time.

She does have potential, though.  She has a pretty big voice, which gives her “mah wooooman” potential, but I really have to see her dump her soul out on stage or peel the paint off the walls to really earn that honor.

And let’s be honest… she’s no Syesha…

Ashley

Really, just a pretty face.  Didn’t seem like there was a lot of vocal talent there, and she chose the absolute wrong song.  The Leona Lewis song ate her for dinner.  Poor thing.

Janell

Is it just me or do they have auto-tune on her vocals?  And was she defying the auto-tune with completely awful, out-of-tune vocals?  Poop.  I think she’s pretty forgettable.

Lilly

Her style seems to overshadow her limited vocal ability.  I have a feeling we won’t hear any soaring vocals or up-on-your feet performances for her.  The arrangement was a little hoakie and a little too country-western for me, but she was the most connected to her performance for sure.

Katelyn

Ugh… I love the song.  I hate that she is dressed like a 3 dollar hooker from 1986, though.  I think she did a reasonable job singing, though.  I’m just not sure know who she is going to be in this competition.  Does she know?  Kara was right about her look and Randy was right that it was refreshing to hear a voice that was focused on tone rather than runs.

Haeley

Haeley was 8 years old when American Idol premiered.  Wow…  I’m old.

Her upper register is kind of screamy and screechy, and her lisp is a little distracting on the S’s.  Again, her upper register gets very flat and narrow, and could be used to do laproscopic surgery.

Lacey

I totally get what she is doing, but she’s just not quite there yet, though.  She can’t sit there and entrance me with those eyes.

Michelle

She does have a great look.  But the song wasn’t great.  In fact, I totally got distracted during her performance chatting with my mother-in-law on Facebook.

Didi

I don’t like the song choice because it is so distinctly the style of the original artist, so you can’t help but compare it.  And what is she wearing, a rug with sleeves?  I really don’t like this vocal style much.  Sorry. (“sorry” said in the style of Simon Cowell)

Siobhan

I liked it.  I like the attention to detail on the vocals.  I like her tone and how she really connected to the song.  It was ten times better than the other girls, just based on her totally believing what she is singing.  And she sang it well.

Crystal

Her intro video was epic: ‘I’m just here for the money’ she says… “momma needs a bigger paycheck.”  While she is completely a wreck to look at, she is pretty talented.  I really liked her song.  Her total performance was one of the best of the night.  Maybe the harmonica and guitar is a bit overkill – I mean… does she really need to do it all herself?  There’s a whole band over there, ya know.

Katie

Good intro.  Perhaps the most refined and consistent vocal tone of all the contestants.  She has a little more to learn about performing on a stage though, and you can tell she is still 17 from the immaturity of her performance.

…Renewed in spirit, and with fresh new opinions to opine…

…Unashamed of even the most poorly-researched commentary…

…and unafraid of being lampooned, harassed, technologically abused, and left for dead.

Here’s a quick smattering of topics to get us up to speed:

Politics:

Congress now has a “jobs agenda” instead of a “jobs bill.”  Switching from an actual bill to an agenda seems to mean it will be even less likely that anything actually gets done in congress.  Is there a negative approval rating?  That’s seems to be what they are heading for.  People were harassing Obama that he got very little of his ambitious agenda done in his first year, but I would definitely say Congress gets the prize for completely wasting its time working on mondo-legislation that will be forever gridlocked.  My solution?  Congress needs to focus on incremental, consensus change.  Get what you can get, because it will be better than getting nothing at all.

Religion:

Lately I’ve been reading a biography of Brigham Young.  So far, I’m at 1848, right after he’s entered the Salt Lake Valley for the 2nd time.  Here are few things I didn’t know I never wanted to didn’t realize:

• Brigham came from a very poor family
• He was one of the most ardent protectors of Joseph Smith, oftentimes threatening and exposing apostate church members who were seeking to harm him.
• He served only one mission to England, which was less than 18 months, and still baptized and gathered over 8000 converts.  The message was not well received in London, but was best received in the British countryside among the working class.
• Brigham left Winter Quarters shooting directly for the Great Basin, in spite of others who made strong cases for California or Oregon.  It wasn’t quite the ‘wandering children of Israel with miraculous discovery of the Salt Lake Valley’ portrait that has oft been painted.
• After Brigham got to the Valley, he basically turned back around and went directly back to Winter Quarters.  I wasn’t sure I knew that.  He left most of the men of the initial 1847 company there to start planting winter crops, and his thoughts then turned exclusively on initiating the massive migration the following spring.
• I’m surprised how poor of a writer he was.  All of the direct quotes from his diary are extremely poor in grammar and spelling, while things like “Journal of Discourses” are just replete with flowery language.  He must have been a much better orator than he was writer, and he certainly had some help committing it to paper later.

American Idol:

I’m not going to be able to watch the Top 12 Boys and Girls until Thursday… so stay tuned for a massive blog on Thursday.

Excuses:

• A2 has been sick, so I’ve been focused on barking at her that she’s not drinking enough fluids.  She, for her part, is putting Vicks vapor rub on her feet in order to keep from coughing at night.  Does this sound completely illogical to anyone else but me?
• Work has been busy.  I’ve been swatting software bugs faster than you can spell supercalifragilesticexpialidocious.  (I think I spelled it wrong)
• I’m feeling a bit uninspired.  I think being married is training me have fewer opinions and just defer to what my spouse says.  Even though other married men are nodding their heads as they read this, it doesn’t make it right.
• Blogging is on the decline.  I think blogging hit its peak in 2008-09, but now that there’s been movies about blogging, it’s going out of vogue.  Those of you who know me know that, if anything, I’m EXTREMELY conscious of staying in vogue.  This is why I’m still sporting a hair style from 2003.

Does anyone even read this, still?  Or have I completely falled off of your blog reading list.

I introduced her to Suze Orman’s Retirement Roadmap which Suze presented on her show last November or December.  In it, she details what she thinks people in every decade of their life (20s, 30s, 40s, etc) should be doing now to save for retirement.

My ears especially perked up when I heard it, because she started with people in their 20’s. Good financial planning or investment advice and strategies for people in their 20’s is practically non-existent out there.  I’ve searched the web pretty extensively, and very few people ever get past a blanket “it’s best to start early because look how much more you can potentially make.”  Well, the problem is, they never get into exactly HOW we make that much more with time on our side.  Instead, they just focus on those in their 40s or 50s who have higher net worths and screw ups to deal with.

Anyways… Suze’s advice: for those in your 20s who have access to a 401k with a matching contribution, contribute to your 401k only up to the match, and then open a Roth IRA and contribute up to the $5000/yr max there.

What’s the difference, you ask?  The 401k is an employee sponsored account/program for retirement that saves and invests your money pre-tax, thus making your taxable income lower.  This is great for high-income people who are trying to jump into a lower tax bracket by contributing to retirement.  There are great incentives to do a 401k, the foremost of which is an employer match (a.k.a. FREE MONEY).  Always take the free money, I say.

The Roth IRA is an individual account (not owned by the company) that takes money you’ve already been taxed on and invests it for retirement.  The earnings and the corpus of money is not taxed as income when you withdraw it during retirement.

I crunched on this advice in the back of my mind for a few months, and it started making more sense:

1. 401k + Roth IRA provides diversification.  Whether you think taxes will be higher in the future or lower, you just might be right.  :)  The best way to protect against an unsure future is to diversify, and having both a 401k and Roth will give you the ability to draw from each pool at the right time, or preserve the pool if you need to.  Plus, having some of your income tax-free will lower your overall taxable income during retirement, which has the potential to be high if you started saving in your early 20s for retirement anyways.
2. More trading options with a Roth IRA.  The money in your Roth can usually be invested in a lot wider variety of investments.  It can also be quickly turned back into cash, if you need.
3. Fewer penalties with Roth. You can withdraw the money from a Roth much easier than a 401k, and without the 10% IRS penalty.

The downside?

A Roth will require more care and attention than a 401k.  You will usually not have the ability to do paycheck deductions for a Roth, so you just have to be SURE than when you reduce your 401k contribution to the match, you really go through with making the Roth contribution.  Otherwise, you just gave yourself a raise at a great cost to your retirement.

We also found out that even if one spouse works, you can have a Roth IRA in each person’s name and contribute up to $5000 in each, giving you a combined after-tax savings of up to $10,000/year.

More info:  http://money.cnn.com/2006/05/25/pf/expert/ask_expert/index.htm

Seems appropriate for Sunday.

* Note: You will want to listen to this with good speakers with a sub woofer (for the organ).  It sounds pretty crappy on laptop speakers.

I always joke about retiring by age forty.  How nice would it be to not have to formally work at anything for the rest of your life?  Or any of your life, for that matter?

The thing is, I have a bunch of jobs and projects I want to do on my own time.  I have enough to keep me busy for two lifetimes, I think.  It’s too bad that feeding and sheltering myself (and now my family) has to take precedence over doing those various projects.

I could seriously be happy sleeping in until 9 or 10 every day, getting up, enjoying some relaxing music while I cleaned the house, exercised, worked on a few personal or church projects, made a fresh lunch and dinner, and played a game or went on a walk.

I could get used to travelling a few times a year, or even travelling most of the year if I could.  I love seeing new places and getting to know new cultures.

I could spend time volunteering, mentoring, running a side business, mastering a (low impact) sport, learning more musical instruments, or learning how to cook better.  I’m not at a loss for ideas of how to spend my time!  Really, I’m not!

The problem is… all of it takes money, and so I spend most of my life chained to a desk and a computer to work most of my life to support the rest of my life.

Why retire by 50?  Well, as an artist, I enjoy symmetry.  The first 25 years of my life were focused on education, and being the consummate planner that I am, I now plan to spend the next 25 years working, and the following 25 in retirement.  I’m thinking I’ll be gone by 75 or so…

Yeah… I’m the creepy dude planning his own demise.  I ask, why not?

Oh well, back to work…

After working for weeks on end in a fabric covered container, with no vacation in sight or in recent memory, sometimes you just wish you had your own private island.

Granted, my island would have more sandy beaches than this, but this picture is a start.  I want to open my large sliding doors and windows to open air breezes.  I want to enjoy lazy days on the deck, eating slow roasted BBQ and soaking up the sea breezes.

A man can dream, right?

I want a Tesla Model S

http://www.teslamotors.com/models/index.php

This car is the second car from a new technology/car company, Tesla, who is focused solely on developing electric vehicle (EV) technology.  The first Model S is supposed to roll of the line in 2011.

Tesla was the first company to have a real-live electric vehicle on the road with its Roadster.  The Roadster is a Porche competitor in speed, handling, and PRICE, costing upwards of $120,000.  But this price isn’t just buying a car, it’s really investing in a company that is the future of electric vehicles.  Tesla’s business plan was to develop the EV technology from the high-end to the low end, starting with a customized, performance vehicle and using the extra margins to reinvest in the research and development of the technology.

Now, with the Roadster (phase 1) complete and almost 1000 Roasters on the road, Tesla is moving on to Phase 2: the Model S.  It’s been in planning for some time now, but the recession put the brakes on another round of funding that was needed to build out the infrastructure for mass production.  However, a recently secured a Department of Energy loan will now outfit the plant in California where the Model S will be mass produced.

The idea for Model S is that it will be a Lexus/Audi/Infiniti competitor, and will be the first mass produced Tesla.  After government subsidy, it will be about $50,000.

And it will have a range of 300 miles, about the same as a tank of gas and an internal combustion engine.

Tesla’s technology is far superior to anyone else’s, their car’s designs are incredible, and they are pushing the envelope on the car purchasing and maintenance experience.

To prove that their cars are for DRIVING and not just for the showroom, Tesla drove a Roadster from its headquarters in California to the Auto Show in Detroit… and they didn’t even wash it afterwards, proving that this car could go the distance.  All the other manufacturers had their little concept vehicles, but not one of them has a working car on the market like Tesla.

Electric vehicles are a good answer to a lot of current problems with transportation:

1. An electric car is simple.  An electric car consists of three basic components: batteries, a computer, and a big motor.  The part count in an internal combustion engine pales in comparison.  Imagine having a vehicle without hundreds of fallible, frictioned, moving parts that wear down and fail at the worst possible time.  Granted, even an EV will have maintenance problems, with its complex computer hardware and sensors, but it will be nowhere near the complexity and fallibility of the internal combustion engine.
2. Offloading the energy fueling our cars to the electric grid makes sense as an alternative to gasoline.  Currently, the energy to drive a Tesla costs about 2 cents per mile driven.  Plus, the electricity can then come from various renewable or non-renewable means: coal, nuclear, wind, solar, etc.  Either way, EV is the most realistic way of significantly reducing our dependence on foreign oil and taking control of our own country’s energy policy.
3. Zero emissions.  Nuff said.  Cleaner urban air is better for everyone.  (Granted, the emissions for non-renewable fuels go somewhere… but at least it doesn’t get blown in my face from a tailpipe as I walk the streets)

The problem, though, is battery technology.  Currently, the batteries are the single largest weakness of the car.  Significant breakthroughs in this technology must be made to make it commercially viable to give the car a long enough lifespan to make sense for average consumers.

Here are a few videos to wet your appetite:

Finally, Tesla Roadster wins a drag race between four performance cars: