Two stories on the front page of Wednesday's newspaper fit together like a square peg in a round hole.

One was a report on how more and more Helenans, reacting to high gasoline prices and worries about climate change, are turning to hybrid vehicles, scooters and bikes to get around town. It's just one example explaining why gasoline consumption in this country is falling, apparently pushing fuel prices down with it.

The other was about U.S. Rep. Denny Rehberg flying back to Washington D.C. to join fellow House Republicans in an otherwise empty House Chamber to call for oil drilling off shore and in the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge.

The story was typical political fare, with Rehberg saying the energy crisis must be "solved" immediately, and Democrats calling the GOP gathering nothing more than a political stunt.

You can't generalize from a couple of news stories, but we suspect that a growing number of voters are less than impressed with efforts to make a huge political issue out of off-shore oil drilling at a time when both parties seem unable to agree how to launch an all-out national program for alternative energy that eventually would put climate-changing fossil fuels behind us.

For a long time, many of us either ridiculed the idea of climate change or insisted that the verdict wasn't in. Eight years ago, when Al Gore brought up the problem, George Bush smirked at what he called Gore's "fuzzy math."

It also was eight years ago, according to that first front-page story, that Helenan Pete Lenmark bought one of those new Honda hybrid cars. Since then, his vehicle has averaged 55.6 miles per gallon over more than 50,000 care-free miles.

People, once again, are moving ahead of their politicians. Perhaps they're also feeling the resentful stares of their current or yet-to-born grandchildren.