Tuesday, June 30, 2009

David Mayo Sentenced

I noted that David Mayo copped to a plea deal, rather than go to trial, in a post on Saturday (Mayo’s legal travails all stem from purchasing hydroponic growing equipment).  Mayo was sentenced today, and will serve no time in prison, though as a probationed inidividual, he will indeed be subject to further police state type searches.

Injustice has once again beaten down justice.

Grand Rapids Press sports writer David Mayo will return to job; judge gives no-jail-time sentence

Posted by John Venlet on 06/30 at 03:08 PM
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GM Pipe Dream

Now that General Motors (GM) is Government Motors, with the ability to “legally” rob the American people of their hard earned monies, just how high would GM’s stock have to rise to payback the American people?

If a new General Motors emerges from bankruptcy as planned, U.S. financial aid for the company will expand to nearly $50 billion, but neither the government nor the company is forecasting how much of the public money will be repaid.

It’s sure to be a stretch. For the United States to fully recover its investment, the value of General Motors stock will have to reach levels it has never before attained. (bold by ed.)

It’s a pipe dream, that will never happen.  Americans are screwed, and there is no uncertainty about it.

Uncertainty Clouds Recovery of U.S. Investment in GM

Posted by John Venlet on 06/30 at 03:00 PM
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Legislating Catfish Follies

I’ve often stated that laws are made for stupid people, which is true.  Laws are also often made to make one thing or another legal or illegal, or to make something that it is, is not.  Case in point, catfish.

You see, here in the United States, catfish farming is one of the largest aquaculture businesses, and the catfish farmers in the U.S., who felt that the Vietnamese were horning in our there business, wanted to put a stop to the Vietnamese catfish coming into America.  So what did the American catfish farmers do, they made nicey nice with the powers that be and had a federal law passed in 2002 which stated that Vietnamese catfish were not catfish but some unfamiliar fish such as pangasius, which is a member of the catfish family.

Unfortunately for American catfish farmers, their attempt to curtail Vietnamese catfish from making it to the American market did not work so well, and since that did not work, the catfish farmers now want the Vietnamese’s pangasius to be leglislated back into a catfish, in the hope that this new law will curtail the Vietnamese’s horning in on their catfish business.

So after years of arguing that the Vietnamese fish isn’t catfish — and winning a federal law saying as much — the U.S. farmers are now trying to have it both ways. Under their latest lobbying strategy, they want the Vietnamese imports considered catfish so that they will be covered by a new inspections regime that they pushed through Congress last year.

So a catfish is only a catfish if the State decrees it’s a catfish, and that’s only after the State’s been suckered by the catfish farmers once again.

THE INFLUENCE GAME: A catfish by any other name

Posted by John Venlet on 06/30 at 01:09 PM
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Yeah, Make Up A Law, That’ll Stop Them

In early June, I noted a story regarding Columbian cocaine producers utilizing so called “submarines” to smuggle cocaine into the United States and other parts of the world.  I titled that post Innovative Smuggling Vessel, But Hardly a Submarine.

Well, Columbian lawmakers have decided to craft a law outlawing the building and use of these semi-submersible means of conveyance.

Colombia has outlawed the construction, and use, of the semi-submersible boats used to smuggle much of the cocaine coming into North America. For those caught building these boats, it’s twelve years in prison. For those caught using these boats, it’s fourteen years.

Yeah, that’ll stop those cocaine producers dead in their tracks.

Story is here and was linked via The Sub Report.

Posted by John Venlet on 06/30 at 09:58 AM
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Reminiscent of Stalin’s Cult of Personality

Is the Obamamania surrounding Obama a reincarnation of the cult of personality which Josef Stalin so ruthlessly took advantage of?  I think it could be.

Stalin, and his slavish politboro rubber stampers, saw enemies everywhere.  Whether it was kulaks, scientists, army officers, ordinary citizens, or some other association of individuals, each group, at some point, came under suspicion for treasonous or terrorist tendencies.  This is happening today in America, so far without the purges and the gulags.

While I know I’m just a low level terrrorist, and am comfortable with that designation, Karen Bass, California’s speaker of the assembly, believes conservative talk radio individuals are terrorists, while Paul Krugman believes that individuals who deny climate change and government intervention are traitors.  And let’s not forget that Deparment of Homeland Security’s Janet Napolitano believes veterans are prime terrorist wannabes, and that the State of Missouri believes you maybe a terrorist if you support a political party other than the Democratic Party.  While the “One,” Obama, leads the terrorist behind every corner madness by stating that foes of the cap and trade boondoggle are terrorizing for political gain.

Stalin may be dead, and the Soviet Union no more, but ironically Stalin’s legacy lives on in the West.

Posted by John Venlet on 06/30 at 07:34 AM
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Expressing Reality

“There’s no such thing as life without bloodshed. I think the notion that the species can be improved in some way, that everyone could live in harmony, is a really dangerous idea. Those who are afflicted with this notion are the first ones to give up their souls, their freedom. Your desire that it be that way will enslave you and make your life vacuous.”

Cormac McCarthy, author of The Road, which I thoroughly enjoyed.

Via Chris Horton’s blog.

Posted by John Venlet on 06/30 at 07:08 AM
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One Candle Power

So, Obama is making noises about setting energy efficiency standards for lamps.

Aiming to keep the focus on climate change legislation, President Barack Obama put a plug in for administration efforts to make lamps and lighting equipment use less energy.

“I know light bulbs may not seem sexy, but this simple action holds enormous promise because 7 percent of all the energy consumed in America is used to light our homes and businesses,”...

How illuminating.  I wonder if Obama’s lamp energy efficiency standards will utilize the candela, carcel burner, or the Hefner lamp in setting the standards?

White House announces new lighting standards

Posted by John Venlet on 06/30 at 06:37 AM
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