You know this hybrid business is getting out of hand when the Big Devil of the automotive community, those gas-sucking, lane-hogging, sun-blocking SUVs, have a hybrid to call their own.

Ugh.

And now it's official: it really is great to be an American, and to drive a Ford. If we eat too many fries, we can suck the fat off our thighs. If we want to drive an SUV, we can buy a 2005 Ford Escape Hybrid and feel good about ourselves, all thanks to Ford and their earnest, hard working engineers. They may well save the world before they're done, with no help at all from the ever expanding, expectant and petulant group called American consumers.

Thanks, btw. If the 2005 Ford Escape Hybrid saves a tree, thanks. If it reduces our dependency on foreign oil, hey - way to go. And if keeps us from frequent visits to the gas station, that's even better. And if it costs a little - or a lot - more to do something so good, well, we can always put it on the credit card.

It's the American Way.

The fact is that hybrids, this one included, do save dollars at the pump. Just not as much as we thought. We seem to want to drive them, too, as evidenced by the popularity of a certain Toyota Prius. And surely, as the number of hybrids on the road and for sale increase, so will the influence and effectiveness of this powertrain system.

Up to now, though, hybrid vehicles were designed for commuters who had fuel economy top of mind. You know - small cars and such. But then along comes the 2005 Ford Escape Hybrid, and the first SUV built with a hybrid powertrain makes this technology available to everyone. Ford labored long and hard to deliver this vehicle, even got a little help from, ahem, another automaker, and the fruit of its work is a fine vehicle that features a full hybrid system - you can actually roll forward with electric power only, derived from its own source of energy, courtesy of regenerative braking power.

That's a different kind of power than what we're used to - and come to think of it, that really is what the 2005 Ford Escape Hybrid offers: a new kind of power called choice, choice for conservation, for fuel economy and for doing the right thing.