Monday, June 18, 2007

A Classic Shell Game

Most individuals are aware of what a shell game is.  Here is Wikipedia’s description.

The shell game (also known as Thimblerig, Three shells and a pea, the old army game) is portrayed as a gambling game, but in reality, when a wager for money is made, it is an illegal confidence trick used to perpetrate fraud. In bunko slang, this famous swindle is referred to as a short-con because it is quick and easy to pull off.

Pay particular attention to the above portion of that description which I’ve highlighted.

Now read the following.

Democrats are hoping to strip $15 billion in tax incentives from the energy bill that was going to large energy companies and instead, divert it to renewable energy sources, like solar, wind and the controversial ethanol fuel being made from corn.

This is the Democrats idea of “getting tough” with big oil, but they are simply continuing the ongoing shell game, which all professional shell game jobholders in Washington D.C. play against individuals each and every day as they fleece their pockets.

Congress is simply accomplishing another swindle against the American people, perpetuating another fraud with the fawning assistance of their newest accomplice, alternative fuel producers.

Quote above regarding the supposed “stripping of $15 billion,” comes from an article that purports that the Senate debates energy bill.

Posted by John Venlet on 06/18 at 06:12 PM
(0) Comments • (0) Trackbacks • Permalink

Hey, Al Gore, Maybe You're Bitchin' About the Wrong Thing

Instead of bitchin’ about the media coverage over the adventures of Paris Hilton,

The planet is in distress and all of the attention is on Paris Hilton. We have to ask ourselves what is going on here?”

maybe Al Gore should be bitchin’ about the historical temperature data collected by NOAA.

Remember in January when the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and its good friends in media trumpeted that 2006 was the warmest year on record for the contiguous United States?

NOAA based that finding - which allegedly capped a nine-year warming streak “unprecedented in the historical record” - on the daily temperature data that its National Climatic Data Center gathers from about 1,221 mostly rural weather observation stations around the country.

Few people have ever seen or even heard of these small, simple-but-reliable weather stations, which quietly make up what NOAA calls its United States Historical Climatology Network (USHCN).

But the stations play an important role in detecting and analyzing regional climate change. More ominously, they provide the official baseline historical temperature data that politically motivated global-warming alarmists like James Hansen of NASA plug into their computer climate models to predict various apocalypses.

NOAA says it uses these 1,221 weather stations—which like the ones in Uniontown and New Castle are overseen by local National Weather Service offices and usually tended to by volunteers—because they have been providing reliable temperature data since at least 1900.

But Anthony Watts of Chico, Calif., suspects NOAA temperature readings are not all they’re cracked up to be. As the former TV meteorologist explains on his sophisticated, newly hatched Web site surfacestations.org, he has set out to do what big-time armchair-climate modelers like Hansen and no one else has ever done - physically quality-check each weather station to see if it’s being operated properly.

To assure accuracy, stations (essentially older thermometers in little four-legged wooden sheds or digital thermometers mounted on poles) should be 100 feet from buildings, not placed on hot concrete, etc. But as photos on Watts’ site show, the station in Forest Grove, Ore., stands 10 feet from an air-conditioning exhaust vent. In Roseburg, Ore., it’s on a rooftop near an AC unit. In Tahoe, Calif., it’s next to a drum where trash is burned.

Al, the global warming alarmist prophet, Gore quote taken from this article.

Quote regarding bad thermometer placement, etcetera, taken from Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.

Posted by John Venlet on 06/18 at 11:50 AM
(4) Comments • (0) Trackbacks • Permalink

The Crown Jewel of Ponzi Schemes

How much do you think you have paid into the social security system over the years?  Do you think you’ll get any of that back?  Do you think that the social security system is actually a savings system? What if you save the monies taken from you, rather than paying into a system which actually only functions because of the newbies paying into it, just like a ponzi scheme?

Some of these questions are looked at in a piece at the Mises Blog titled What If Social Security Were Completely Scrapped?

From the piece.

Some recent studies on personal saving indicate that some people worry too much about retirement, and overlook current consumption. Some of the misconceptions concerning American retirement funding may come from the financial industry. Economist Lawrence Kotlikoff has tested the retirement calculators on the web sites of Fidelity, Vanguard, American Funds, and TIAA-CREF, and found the savings recommendations ranged from 36 to 78 percent too high, compared to his software’s calculation. According to Kotlikoff “The simplistic calculators on companies’ web sites are primitive tools that have no connection to modern mathematics or economic theory,” he says. “Five-second financial checkups are really financial malpractice.” Also, “There is a risk from overdoing it when you’re young — you squander your youth rather than your money,” he says. “It makes no sense to have a huge bundle in your 401(k) and have not gone to Hawaii, or gone skiing with the kids. It’s not all about the end game — it’s about the middle game and the short game, too."

Posted by John Venlet on 06/18 at 09:43 AM
(0) Comments • (0) Trackbacks • Permalink

Sunday, June 17, 2007

Slanderous Blather from the Boston Globe Editors

Editors at the Boston Globe implore, Please, not another Cold War.

Okay, but let’s review what the editors say as they blather on in this piece.

Bush, dedicating the Victims of Communism Memorial in Washington, said 100 million people died because of that ideology. Nevertheless, some of those deaths were caused by US overreaction to its conflict with the Soviet Union, the focus of Kennedy’s Cold War rhetoric in his 1961 address.

Hogwash.  The blame for the deaths of 100 million people, because of communist ideology, resides with the commies.

Posted by John Venlet on 06/17 at 07:30 AM
(0) Comments • (0) Trackbacks • Permalink

Isn't This a Matter for Individuals to Decide?

Here’s a headline from the Boston Globe.

Union says Maine lags N.E. in Internet speed

But, the Communications Workers of America aren’t actually concerned with internet speeds, that’s just their way of attempting to interfere in private industry, as the sub-headline to the above linked story clearly illustrates.  Here’s the sub-headline.

Group does not want Verizon to sell holdings.

There’s the rub, and it isn’t internet speeds.  And even if the rub was internet speeds, it would be none of the union’s damn business.  The only ones who should be concerned with internet speeds should be the individuals who actually own a computer and pay for access to the internet via the provider of their choice.

Posted by John Venlet on 06/17 at 07:05 AM
(0) Comments • (0) Trackbacks • Permalink

Swedish Meatball Error

The Washington Times has a commentary online this morning written by Josiah R. Baker.  Baker teaches economics at Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida, and his piece is titled Sweden’s turn from socialism.

Baker’s piece mostly is informative, noting changes in the political climate in Sweden, away from their socialist nanny state tendencies to a recognition that market based economics are in actuality what makes the world go round.  He terms this an “earthquake.”

I did note one rather glaring error, though, in Baker’s commentary, where he is making a comparison between the U.S., the former U.S.S.R. and the Swedish model of economics.

Unlike the U.S., where animosity between management and workers existed and the U.S.S.R., where workers confiscated the means of production from management, the Swedish “third way” demonstrated intricate cooperation between industrialists and organized labor like nowhere else.

The error, here, is Baker’s assertion that “...the U.S.S.R, where workers confiscated the means of production from management,...”

In the U.S.S.R., the workers did not confiscate the means of production from management, the commies confiscated the means of production and mercilessly drove the means into the ground.  The workers were the mere beneficiaries of socialist idealism whose policies were designed to confiscate any and all things associated with the individual and private ownership.

Posted by John Venlet on 06/17 at 06:35 AM
(0) Comments • (0) Trackbacks • Permalink

Saturday, June 16, 2007

"White Dwarf" Christianity in Europe

Last month, in a post I titled Eurabia, or Not?, I noted Richard John Neuhaus’ review of Philip Jenkins’ book God’s Continent: Christianity, Islam, and Europe’s Religious Crisis.

Jenkins postulates, unlike other well known individuals, that Islam is not, and will not, overrun Europe, and his book lays out his arguments as to why Europe will not become Eurabia.

This morning I find a piece penned by Jenkins online at Foreign Policy titled Europe’s Christian Comeback. The piece is written, I would gather, in further support of Jenkins’ arguments as put forth in his book, and has a couple of interesting points which I include here.

The West is awash with fear of the Islamization of Europe. The rise of Islam, many warn, could transform the continent into “Eurabia,” a term popularized by Harvard historian Niall Ferguson and other pundits. “A youthful Muslim society to the south and east of the Mediterranean is poised to colonize—the term is not too strong—a senescent Europe,” Ferguson has predicted. Such grim prophecies may sell books, but they ignore reality. For all we hear about Islam, Europe remains a stronger Christian fortress than people realize. What’s more, it is showing little sign of giving ground to Islam or any other faith for that matter.

In fact, the rapid decline in the continent’s church attendance over the past 40 years may have done Europe a favor. It has freed churches of trying to operate as national entities that attempt to serve all members of society. Today, no church stands a realistic chance of incorporating everyone. Smaller, more focused bodies, however, can be more passionate, enthusiastic, and rigorously committed to personal holiness. To use a scientific analogy, when a star collapses, it becomes a white dwarf—smaller in size than it once was, but burning much more intensely. Across Europe, white-dwarf faith communities are growing within the remnants of the old mass church.

I would caution, though, against fundamentalist attitudes arising from any of these “white dwarf” churches, as fundamentalist attitudes are the leading cause of expressions of violence no matter what individuals may be propounding.

Posted by John Venlet on 06/16 at 04:46 AM
(0) Comments • (0) Trackbacks • Permalink

Friday, June 15, 2007

On the Russian Front Today

I seriously wonder if individuals in Russia will ever be able to overcome the horrors of their forced collective past.  There are times when I think events are going the individuals’ way, but mostly that thought is crushed by the seemingly lackadaisical attitude the majority of the Russian people exhibit toward current attempts to consolidate power at all levels into a new collectivism, which is simply the old collectivism, albeit in better suits.

Matthew Omolesky has an interesting piece up at The Spectator, regarding recent events in Russia, titled A Dangerous Historical Myopia, which cautions against ignoring recent events by referencing past events.  From the piece.

But these absurd claims of a Russian struggle against contemporary fascism are more than just historical myopia and incoherent bellicism. They are clear indicators of the failure of Russia after the initial promise following the collapse of the Soviet Union, and serve as a warning of worse to come. Vladimir Socor of the Jamestown Foundation has perspicaciously described these aforementioned appeals to anti-fascism first as “part of classical Soviet political-warfare techniques (undoubtedly studied by the KGB alumni who are now in charge of Russia) to singularize a designated opponent while attacking it, so as to inhibit general solidarity with that targeted opponent.” What is more, Socor ominously notes, “by stirring up enmity within Russia against Estonia over the Bronze Soldier, the Kremlin seeks to immunize the public against any Russian form of Vergangenheits-Bewaeltigung (Germany’s post-Nazi comprehension of its history) so as to avoid internal challenges to the Soviet-successor ruling elite.” More evidence, in other words, for Pyotr Chaadaev’s famous assertion that Russia’s universal lesson to the world is that its example is to be avoided at all costs.

Posted by John Venlet on 06/15 at 01:11 PM
(0) Comments • (0) Trackbacks • Permalink

Artic Photos

It’s been rather warm here in Michigan the past few days, and in other areas of the country, which propels me to completing my outside chores in the A.M.

Grab a cold one and take a look at these artic photos. It may help you stay cool.

Via Fred at GoodShit.

Posted by John Venlet on 06/15 at 07:07 AM
(0) Comments • (0) Trackbacks • Permalink

Is There Such a Thing as Junk DNA?

The ambitious Human Genome Project provided a wealth of scientific information, and was at times heralded as the possible beginninng of the end of disease and other maladies, as more and more data was gleaned from those strands of genetic coding.  One aspect of the study of the genome, though, that perplexed, was the amount of “junk DNA” in the genome.  Why hadn’t the process of evolution simply purged this “junk DNA?”

Well, because it isn’t junk.

The ninety-five percent of the human genome that doesn’t actively code for proteins and was historically known as “junk” DNA is actually vital for regulating the activities of that remaining five percent.

I guess we don’t know quite as much as we thought we knew.

Your Genome is Really, Really, REALLY Complicated

Here’s another article regarding this news titled Findings Challenge Established Views On Human Genome.

Posted by John Venlet on 06/15 at 06:31 AM
(0) Comments • (0) Trackbacks • Permalink

Have You Been Had by Prius?

Gas prices, carbon offset credits, the religion of global warming, the “Hey, look what I’m doing for the environment and society” feel good factor, these are just a few of the reasons why the Toyota Prius has become the carriage of choice of many of the so called “environmentally conscious.” But just how green is the Prius?

Through a study by CNW Marketing called “Dust to Dust,” the total combined energy is taken from all the electrical, fuel, transportation, materials (metal, plastic, etc) and hundreds of other factors over the expected lifetime of a vehicle. The Prius costs an average of $3.25 per mile driven over a lifetime of 100,000 miles - the expected lifespan of the Hybrid.

The Hummer, on the other hand, costs a more fiscal $1.95 per mile to put on the road over an expected lifetime of 300,000 miles. That means the Hummer will last three times longer than a Prius and use less combined energy doing it.

Not to mention, Prius purchasers also get a state handout in the form of a tax credit, not that the producers of the Hummer have not fed long and deep at that trough of plenty, replenished, of course, by the state’s constant delving into yours and my pockets.

I think I’ll hang onto my ol’ 1982 Jeep Laredo and Magnum.

Here’s the link to CNW’s ‘Dust to Dust’ Automotive Energy Report, and also the link to The Recorder’s opinion piece on the subject titled Prius Outdoes Hummer in Environmental Damage.

Via my brother the Wizard.

Posted by John Venlet on 06/15 at 06:11 AM
(2) Comments • (0) Trackbacks • Permalink

Thursday, June 14, 2007

Just Another Reason Why Cops Don't Want to Be Videoed

Just yesterday, I commented on why cops don’t want to be videoed, well unless there are advertising and network dollars to be made.

Currently, in Battle Creek, Michigan, another case of cops beating an individual is making the news.  The case involves an individual by the name of Dujuan Rose, and two Battle Creek cops by the names of Ryan Lapratt and Andrew Olsen.

Lapratt had been fired by the police department, after the incident, but somehow escaped actual justice in the case in a jury trial.  Video not-with-standing.  You can view the video and story of the beating by the Battle Creek cops at the link.

The incident took place in December 2006, and due to the Ryan Lapratt’s skating away, Dujuan Rose is suing the two cops for $10 million.

I wish him success.

Has this incident and ongoing doings shown up Radley Balko’s radar?

Posted by John Venlet on 06/14 at 01:43 PM
(0) Comments • (0) Trackbacks • Permalink

The Fallacy of Special Interest, Priviliged, Groups - An Example

Special, priviliged, interest groups run rampant in America.  There are too many to enumerate, and their demands rain down on American individuals like bricks, crushing freedoms wantonly.

This morning, reading the Washington Post op-eds, I find the following op-ed, penned by Scott Gant, a lawyer, and author.

We’re All Privileged

Hmm, I think, what can the title of that op-ed delve into?  This.

Today the House Judiciary Committee will hold its first hearing on a potentially historic bill to protect journalists. What’s most remarkable about the legislation, however, is not what it does for journalists, but how it defines journalism.

The “Free Flow of Information Act of 2007” would enact a statutory “shield law” on the federal level protecting journalists from having to disclose certain information they would be forced to reveal were they ordinary citizens, such as the identity of a source or materials collected during newsgathering.

Don’t you just love the use of the term “ordinary citizens,” implying that Americans in actuality are divided into groups, and sub-groups, based upon laws enacted by professional jobholders, hooligans and meddlers?

I, in most cases, do not find myself having to protect myself from individuals, but rather, I must protect myself from groups, who employ the state as their strong arm man.

Gant ends his op-ed thusly.

Of course, shield laws are just one way the government bestows on those deemed “journalists” privileges unavailable to others. As journalism returns to its status as an activity rather than a profession, it is appropriate to rethink what it means, and consider carefully how non-traditional journalists should be treated compared to those who work for established news organizations. Although it remains to be seen how the Free Flow of Information Act of 2007 will fare in Congress, the sponsors of this bill rightly view journalism as an endeavor that belongs to all of us.

Gant is correct that journalism belongs to each and every individual, but, requiring a law to be enacted to state that this is so, as “protection,” is as outrageous fantasy as Micahel Keaton’s Batman character leaving the Batmobile on the street and calling “Shields” into a remote transmitter, as he hustles away to save the day.

Posted by John Venlet on 06/14 at 05:46 AM
(1) Comments • (0) Trackbacks • Permalink

Artificially Mandated Demand Consequences

Supply and demand, the actual mechanism upon which economies run, rather than state, artificial, mandated laws, cannot be strait jacketed.  Attempts to strait jacket supply and demand, via the state, have consequences which ripple uncontrollably throughout economies, which cause the state tweekers to step in, once again, and attempt to regulate.  It’s a vicious circle, which in all cases simply causes additional economic problems, which we, as individuals, have to bear.

Ethanol is just one such example of this viciousness, and the fallacy of artificial supply and demand as mandated by the state.  The following headline provides an excellent example of just this.

Industry watchers fear ethanol oversupply

From the story.

“We expect the relentless supply of new ethanol production capacity will lead to a 70 percent decline in margins by 2009,” wrote Bank of America analyst Eric K. Brown in a report late last month. The report, “The Ethanol Floodgates Have Opened,” downgraded ratings on several ethanol-related stocks.

Researchers at Iowa State University also raised concerns about profit margins being battered by corn prices that, driven by ethanol, have risen from under $3 per bushel last summer to close to $4 per bushel lately. They say that will make it difficult for ethanol plants to make money. And as the ethanol supply grows, they predict, ethanol prices will drop relative to gasoline unless there’s a change in government policy to encourage more demand for it.

Note the final thirteen words of the above quote from the story, “unless there’s a change in government policy to encourage more demand for it.” Artificiality at its worse.

Further in to the article one finds the artificial demand target the so called “businessmen” will call for.

Tumbleson said corn growers are hoping to get laws changed to require even greater use of ethanol, such as a 20 percent mandate. He said America’s energy independence is at stake.

Even though the truth of the matter is that you cannot legislate supply and demand, fools at all levels will still attempt to do so.

Personally, I hope the entire ethanol industry crashes and burns with a bright, glowing fire.  It would be a just retribution for their use of state force to create artificial demand, while at the same time siphoning dollars out of yours and my pockets to build their false industry.

Posted by John Venlet on 06/14 at 04:30 AM
(0) Comments • (0) Trackbacks • Permalink

Wednesday, June 13, 2007

Saggy Britches

When I was a kid, I at times had to wear a few of my older brother’s hand me downs.  This wasn’t necessarily so bad, in and of itself, except for the fact that my older brother wore a “husky” size, while I always wore a “slim” size.

If I inherited a pair of my older brothers pants, the dang things would sag on my skinny little arse like I had an unwanted load in there, and I at times had to deal with being called “saggy britches.” I hated that.

Nowadays, you see all manner of youths wearing saggy britches.  I find that fact both amusing, and downright uncouth, while the lovely Melis is more apt to call out “Pull your pants up!”

Walking around with your britches to your knees, which I many times describe as doing the “perp walk,” shows about as much pride in your appearance as a hyena does after rolling around in elephant dung or an old carcass.  Although for a hyena, that’s a badge of honor.

Anyway, down in Delcambre, Louisiana, the town council, in their misguided wisdom, has decided to levy $500.00 fines for strolling around doing the perp walk in saggy britches.

Sag your britches somewhere else, this Cajun-country town has decided.

Mayor Carol Broussard said he would sign an ordinance the town council approved this week setting penalties of up to six months in jail and a $500 fine for being caught in pants that show undergarments or certain parts of the body.

Ya know, I’m all for individuals taking pride in their appearance, and find the so called “style” of walking around in saggy britches a rather ridiculous way to express a supposed individuality, but penning an ordinance, with $500.00 fines and the possibility of six months in the pen, is simply a pathetic attempt at instilling some class into individuals who may not even qualify for third class status.

Cajun Town Bans Saggy Pants

Posted by John Venlet on 06/13 at 01:56 PM
(0) Comments • (0) Trackbacks • Permalink
Page 3 of 5 pages « First  <  1 2 3 4 5 >