Steven Rattner knows a thing or two about the American auto industry. He oversaw efforts to restructure the nation’s automobile industry as the former Counselor to the Secretary of the Treasury, and his knowledge of the industry and firsthand experience working with the White House eventually led him to write a book, Overhaul: An Insider’s Account of the Obama Administration’s Emergency Rescue of the Auto Industry. Today, Rattner noticed an interesting irony at play in the President’s visit to the General Motors plant at Lake Orion.

Friday’s Today Show featured a light-hearted segment on the pitfalls of naming car models, highlighting some of the best (and worse) names in automotive history. At the top of the inappropriate name list was the now-defunct Hummer, for reasons that were completely lost on host Meredith Vieira.

Thanks to actress Pamela Anderson, among others, overcompensating jillionaires the world over will now be denied the Holy Grail of douchy excess: a giant, armored SUV with an interior crafted in genuine whale penis leather. Russian automaker Dartz has bowed to pressure from Anderson, and other environmentalists, and has pulled the feature from its Pombron Monaco Red Diamond Edition SUV.

Not to worry, though. The pricey ride still comes with plenty of pointless luxury.

I am not a car person — have never been, never will be. I still don’t really even understand the “Cash For Clunkers” story. However! Turns out that, without knowing how to change the oil or why V-8 doesn’t just pertain to vegetable juice, I knew a whole lot about cars (even people who ain’t too clever/can learn to tighten a nut forever!).