Thursday, July 05, 2007

Bottoms Up

The Boston Beer Company, the brewers of Samuel Adams beers, which has been performing very well by the way, has spent some of their R&D dollars developing a new beer glass specifically to bring out the best in their Samuel Adams Boston Lager beer.  FYI, you’ll have to provide a birth date, to prove you’re 21 years of age or older, to view the glass.

Esthetically, the glass pleases my eye, and I’d be interested in quaffing one their lagers from the vessel.  There is one complaint registered against the glass, though, and that is that it does not hold a pint, which is only a problem if you’re drinking drafts, rather than their 12 ouncers.

You just have to admire this development, whether you enjoy their beers or not.  I think it exemplifies true American pride in a product.

Posted by John Venlet on 07/05 at 01:14 PM
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A Marijuana Fueled Exercise in Futility

How much marijuana would constitute a “basket full of smoke,” as Johnny Cash sings in the tune Let the Train Blow the Whistle, after offering all another toke?

The state of Washington allegedly will be taking this matter up, debating, and then indeed legislating, exactly how much smoke an individual may have on hand if they have a script from their physician for medical marijuana.

What may seem like an odd question for straight-laced government types to tackle is a serious attempt to shore up the state’s medical marijuana law, which has been around for nearly a decade without defining the 60-day supply patients are allowed to have on hand.

Would an ounce or two of White Widow be considered a basket full of smoke, good for 60 days?  What if the smoke is commercial grade Columbian, would a pound of smoke then be considered a basket full?  What if an individual is utilizing Thai stick to fill their medical marijuana script?  Would the bamboo sticks traditionally utilized to wrap Thai buds around be included in the weighing of an individual’s supposed marijuana limit?

In actuality, though, the reason the basket full of smoke question is being debated is this.

Prosecutors and police generally support the change, saying it should help officers determine whom to arrest and whom to leave alone.

I think said prosecutors and police should leave us all alone, when it comes to baskets full of smoke, whether an individual has a script, or not.

Wash. to set medical marijuana limits

Posted by John Venlet on 07/05 at 08:21 AM
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The Energy Solution

Andrew Morriss, whose credentials include, H. Ross & Helen Workman Professor of Law, professor of business administration and professor at the Institute of Government and Public Affairs of the University of Illinois, Urbana Champaign, and a senior fellow at the Institute for Energy Research in Houston, Texas, has this to say, among other things, regarding state interference in the energy markets.

There is a way to improve energy security: unleash entrepreneurs. Refiners have been solving America"s energy problems since the start of the 20th century. When the U.S. faced a major gasoline shortage in 1910, entrepreneurs revolutionized refining technology and doubled gasoline yields. For the last 30 years, they"ve been boosting output from refineries, making it possible for our total capacity to rise even as older, less efficient refineries were closed.

In short, American refiners have regularly increased the quantity and quality of gasoline from each barrel of crude, and done it without Congress” advice.

If we want to increase our energy security, we"ll stop changing the rules every time a politician needs an issue for his next campaign ad. Refineries, pipelines, and oil fields are all multibillion-dollar investments that take years to earn a return. The constant shifting of government rules undermines the certainty investors need before making such a large-scale capital commitment.

If we want to make America more secure, decrease gasoline prices, have cleaner fuels, and increase the reliability of supplies, we need to get the government out of the way of the entrepreneurs who can deliver those things.

His piece, published in the Washington Times, is titled Energy mythology.

Posted by John Venlet on 07/05 at 07:00 AM
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Wednesday, July 04, 2007

The Motor City Madman

Ted Nugent.  While I don’t necessarily agree with all of Ted’s points as delivered in a piece titled The Summer of Drugs, published online by the Wall Street Journal, some of the arrows he sends out hit dead on target.  One of the arrows.

A quick study of social statistics before and after the 1960s is quite telling. The rising rates of divorce, high school drop outs, drug use, abortion, sexual diseases and crime, not to mention the exponential expansion of government and taxes, is dramatic. The “if it feels good, do it” lifestyle born of the 1960s has proved to be destructive and deadly.

Posted by John Venlet on 07/04 at 03:10 PM
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Happy Independence Day - Be Independent

“I am free, no matter what rules surround me. If I find them tolerable, I tolerate them; if I find them too obnoxious, I break them. I am free because I know that I alone am morally responsible for everything I do.” - R A Heinlein

Posted by John Venlet on 07/04 at 09:02 AM
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The Market Speaks on Alternative Energy

State mandated growth targets for alternative energy, especially ethanol, are artificial, operating in the realm of wishful thinking.  What does the free market say?

Few Are Investing in Alternative Energy

Will the state learn a valuable lesson from this?  Not likely, instead the state will in all likelihood reach their sticky little fingers a bit deeper into individuals’ pockets, in order to throw more money at alternative energy to make up for the lack of free market interest.

Posted by John Venlet on 07/04 at 07:16 AM
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Tuesday, July 03, 2007

Can You Describe What it Looks Like?

If you lose something, and an honest individual finds it, and places an ad fortunately notifying you of it being found, the individual who found the lost item may ask you to describe it prior to just handing it over.

Unfortunately, when it comes to monies confiscated from individuals by the state of New York, in the form of taxes, the state of New York apparently believes that prior to any of those confiscated monies being returned to individuals, they should complete the necessary paperwork to identify the money.

Before taxpayers get those tax rebate checks promised in the state budget three months ago, they will have to apply for the breaks...The state Department of Taxation and Finance will run a campaign to advise taxpayers on how to get their checks, which are expected to be sent in the fall.

NY Taxpayers to Apply for Rebates

Posted by John Venlet on 07/03 at 03:10 PM
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More Ethanol Shenanigans Consequences

I’ve been critical of the artifical demand created by the government in regards to ethanol.  And rightly so.  I’ve titled posts regarding this boondoggle Corn Holed, Lack of Superlatives Club, Artificially Mandated Demand Consequences, and A Classic Shell Game.

Some pieces I’ve read, regarding ethanol and the state’s attempts to “create” additional artificial demand, have postulated that this supposed “creation” of additional demand could lead to additional inflationary pressures where it may impact individuals the most.  At the grocery store.

This supposition, of additional inflationary pressures due to caterwauling by the politicos for additional ethanol production and use, has been poo, pooed by the politicos, when apparently it should be taken quite seriously.

Got milk? Get more money first.

Milk prices have jumped since the beginning of the year, but not nearly as much as the dairy industry expects for the rest of 2007.

Prices will probably be up $1.50 to $1.60 a gallon by the end of the year, predicts Chris Galen, spokesman for the National Milk Producers Federation in Arlington, Va.

“We could see a 50 percent increase in retail prices this year,” Galen said Monday. That would put the national average around $4.80 per gallon.

Corn and fuel prices are the chief culprits. The cost of corn, which is feed for cows, has soared as production of corn-based ethanol has blossomed.

It’s not just gas; milk prices rising, too

It is time for the state to get its nose out of the free market.  They are destroying it.

Posted by John Venlet on 07/03 at 02:26 PM
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Have I Been Had by CNW's 'Dust to Dust' Automotive Energy Report?

In a post on June 15, 2007 I titled Have You Been Had by Prius?, I noted the report issued by CNW, and is referenced in the title to this post, which stated that, based on overall energy usage, the Hummer was more environmentally friendly than the Prius.

A reader commenting on my initial post regarding this subject, has pointed out to me the possibility that CNW’s report/analysis may very well be flawed.  Additionally, the reader referenced me to the Pacific Institute, and a rebuttal review of CNW’s report claims.

The Institute’s report is written by Dr. Peter H. Gleick, and is titled Hummer versus Prius - “Dust to Dust” Report Misleads the Media and Public with Bad Science, and is in a pdf format, seven (7) pages long.

A short excerpt from Gleick’s rebuttal piece.

The report’s conclusions are completely at odds with what the science currently says about vehicle energy requirements. This, of course, does not mean the conclusions are wrong. It does, however, mean that the authors must provide supporting evidence and analysis in a format that can be reviewed and tested. As noted by French mathematician and astronomer Pierre Simon Laplace: “The weight of evidence for an extraordinary claim must be proportioned to its strangeness.” Or as Carl Sagan said: “Extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof.”

CNW has provided no such proof. The little supporting evidence that it has released suggests that the contentions in the report are, at best, unproven, and are likely wrong: the result of faulty analysis, untenable assumptions, manipulation and misuse of facts and data, numerical
mischaracterization, and inadequate review. Analyzing the limited portions of the report and data that have been released reveals several major flaws and the violation of several fundamental tenets of good science. We present this analysis below. When these flaws are corrected, the conclusions change radically.

A lesson in caution, for myself, to be sure.  I still think I’ll hang onto my ol’ 1982 Jeep Laredo and Magnum.

Posted by John Venlet on 07/03 at 08:45 AM
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god Complexes

Individuals who desire to force other individuals to conform to their ideals of what is good for them, and what is not good for them, are quite possibly suffering from a god complex.  Case in point.

Has it occured to you that this is a nanny state because we need nannying? I don’t think anyone can dispute that smoking is not good for you. I read somewhere that having a smoking “section” is like having a peeing “section” in a swimming pool. It’s just not enough to have a partial ban and wait for the natural goodness of people who simply don’t know any better, to stop. They need to be forced to stop.

The above comment, was gleaned from a comment thread from a piece titled A sneer of petty disapproval posing as law which was written by Sam Leith for the Telegraph.

Jonathon Pearce, over at Samizdata, poses a question in response to the god Jasmine’s pronouncement that individuals who smoke, “need to be forced to stop."

A question I would put to this woman, and quite a few of the other control-freaks out there is this: what gives you the right to tell an adult that he or she should adjust their habits for “their own good”? Does Jasmine think of herself as being some sort of god? Has it never occurred to these people that their obsessive desire to regulate all aspects of existence is in fact a sign of a deep psychological problem, which needs to be fixed? (Bold added by ed. for emphasis)

Pearce titled his post An honest statement of arrogance found in a comment thread.

Posted by John Venlet on 07/03 at 08:04 AM
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Utilizing a Misnomer to Register Envy

The New York Times front page, online, has a little feature under the heading “Most Popular.” The feature provides a sort of top ten listing of stories being emailed, blogged about, and search terms utilized.

One of the top ten stories being emailed, today, is written by Roger Cohen and is titled The Filthy Rich Are Different From You and Me.

Cohen’s piece is a Times Select piece, which means you have to pay to read what Cohen will be griping about in the piece, and it also means that most individuals, especially the less wealthy, in all likelihood will not be reading the piece.  I could afford to read the piece, but I refuse to pay for that dubious right.

What is interesting about the piece, as far as I am concerned, is Cohen’s blatant display of envy of the rich as exhibited in the title of the piece.  Cohen does not just specify the rich as being “different” from you or I, it’s the “filthy” rich.

Consider the perjoratives associated with the word filthy. Obscene, underhand, and vile.  Are individuals with accumulations of wealth obscene, underhanded and vile?  Though a rather small percentage of the very wealthy may exhibit some of the traits associated with the word filthy, I would contend that the majority of the very wealthy exhibit traits individuals should be emulating, rather than whining about.

Though Cohen is decidely envious of the rich, are individual Americans as poisoned in their thinking?

Here’s the opening from a piece published by The Economist on June 15, 2006.

AMERICANS do not go in for envy. The gap between rich and poor is bigger than in any other advanced country, but most people are unconcerned. Whereas Europeans fret about the way the economic pie is divided, Americans want to join the rich, not soak them.…

The title to that piece is Inequality in America, and like the Times Select piece, one must pay to read the whole thing.

There will always be rich individuals, and poor individuals.  Neither rich, nor poor, are filthy, they are simply rich or poor.  Those who describe them in other terms, such as Cohen’s use of the word “filthy” to describe the rich, are simply exhibiting, with a desire to spread, their prejudices and envy.

Posted by John Venlet on 07/03 at 06:41 AM
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Sail Away

A well built yacht, is a thing of beauty. Here’s one, built at the behest of Tom Perkins, which is both a technological marvel, and a thing of beauty.  The sailing yacht is 289 feet long, with masts 192 feet tall, and not a single stay nor shroud, which weighs in at 1,367 tons.  I’d enjoy seeing it on the high seas.

Extreme Sailing: The Biggest Boat in the World

Via Fred Lapides site GoodShit.

Posted by John Venlet on 07/03 at 06:17 AM
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Monday, July 02, 2007

Stand Alone

When individuals deal with one another on strictly an individual to individual basis, in most cases peaceful transactions result.  Yes, this is not true when an individual robs another individual, whether at gunpoint or via dishonest actions, but in the main, individual to individual transactions yield peaceful results.  It is only when individuals group up, and cast aside their individuality in favor of group think, that conflict occurs.

Writing LewRockwell.com, Butler Shaffer comments on this in a piece titled Identifying With the State which is well worth considering.  From Shaffer’s piece.

We have acted like country bumpkins at the state fair with the egg money who, having been fleeced by a bunch of carnival sharpies, look everywhere for someone to blame other than ourselves. We have been euchred out of our very lives because of our eagerness to believe that benefits can be enjoyed without incurring costs; that the freedom to control one’s life can be separated from the responsibilities for one’s actions; and that two plus two does not have to add up to four if a sizeable public opinion can be amassed against the proposition.

By identifying ourselves with any abstraction (such as the state) we give up the integrated life, the sense of wholeness that can be found only within each of us. While the state has manipulated, cajoled, and threatened us to identify ourselves with it, the responsibility for our acceding to its pressures lies within each of us. The statists have – as was their vicious purpose – simply taken over the territory we have abandoned.

Via Sunni and the Conspirators.

Posted by John Venlet on 07/02 at 07:43 AM
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Actually, It's a Hallucination

Nolan Bowie, who is an adjunct lecturer in public policy and a senior fellow at the John F. Kennedy School of Government, has an op-ed in the Boston Globe this morning titled Education for the long term.

Bowie’s op-ed begins with an old Chinese proverb which does make sense.

"If your vision is for one year, plant rice; if your vision is for 10 years, plant trees; but if your vision is for 100 years, educate children."

But after that relating that proverb, Bowie’s op-ed descends into hallucinatory babble, as he stumbles down the mountain to relate to us his “vision."

My American vision is of a country with no digital divide, in which everyone has access to high-speed broadband service.

Further into his op-ed, Bowie provides a more detailed explanation of his vision.

I wish to share my vision of a possible future where the digital divide—a term that implies inequality of access to Internet connectivity, to relevant information, education, knowledge, and opportunity in digital formats and in digital networks—is eliminated in the United States by adapting a national ubiquitous high-speed broadband policy.

Imagine what American society would be like if there were no digital divides and all the people of the United States had ready access to really fast Internet connectivity, to relevant content, to essential online services, and to the capacity—through literacy, skills, and motivation—to use all of it effectively.

Yeah, just “imagine” how educated children would be if they all had “really fast Internet connectivity,” they might all magically become really smart, really fast.

Bowie’s vision for the federal government to reach into every individual’s pocket to develop a “really fast” national internet infrastructure, as a solution to the failed educational policies intitiated at the state and federal level, is merely a personal hallucination which he desires to inflict on the unsuspecting and ill-informed.

Posted by John Venlet on 07/02 at 06:30 AM
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Pat, I'd Like to Buy a Vote

The current media reporting, regarding the fundraising prowess of various presidential wannabes, richly displays that electioneering is simply a money game, called like a horse race, with piles of unredeemable betting slips soon to be fluttering in the breeze.

Obama Raises at Least $32.5 Million

Posted by John Venlet on 07/02 at 06:06 AM
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