Thinking Right

By Bill Shipp

February 18, 2009 9:09 AM | Link to this

Georgia’s 9th District congressman, Nathan Deal, usually doesn’t make ripples in Washington. So when he came out of his shell the other day to defend the peanut before Congress, he made news. He told a House committee hearing on the recent Georgia peanut scandal that he often ate raw peanuts and suffered no ill effects.

His declaration didn’t make much impression on his colleagues, who are determined to craft new laws regarding peanut safety.

They’re all worked up because of an outbreak of salmonella in at least 43 states and Canada. Hundreds of people have been hospitalized, and several have died. The malady has been traced to a single dirty peanut plant in Blakely - a plant that obviously had not been inspected for sanitation hazards. The boss of the plant declined to testify when called at the hearing. He said he did not want to incriminate himself.

After listening to the hearing on C-SPAN for a couple of hours, I popped a cold one, grabbed a handful of goobers and jotted down these observations.

Despite Rep. Deal’s testimony, raw peanuts will give a person a tummy ache if he or she eats too many.

Watch the dirty peanuts issue closely. Congress can debate bank bailouts, Iraq and Wall Street all day and not hear a peep from anybody. Bringing up clean food is a different matter. If you want to see Mama mad, just suggest that the food in the supermarket may not be safe. Try telling her that no one in authority has checked that peanut butter in the cute little jar. Then warn her that the cute little jar may be crawling with microscopic bugs that will make you really sick, a lot sicker than if you had eaten raw peanuts.

Two other Georgia congressmen - Dr. Phil Gingrey of Marietta and John Barrow of Savannah - acquitted themselves well before the hearing, even if most of the other lawmakers seem to take a dim view of anything from Georgia.

The Georgia Agriculture Department was represented by a couple of young scientists, who understandably seemed nervous. The future of the Georgia peanut industry may be on the line. Georgia Agriculture Commissioner Tommy Irvin couldn’t make it, but he sent his able assistant, former House Speaker Terry Coleman of Eastman.

I shall not bore you with details of the hearing, but you ought to know this: That peanut plant and lots of others like it are inspected by people who are chosen and paid by the plants’ bosses, the hearing revealed. As Rep. Barrow explained, “It’s like trying your own case in court.” In short, you need an impartial judge for a fair trial.

The Democrats on the committee, mostly Yankees from Ohio and Michigan, were really down on the federal Food and Drug Administration. They hinted that they would like to turn the FDA on its head and secure guarantees that the American food industry is producing safe and edible products. This is not China, somebody chimed in.

I’m willing to bet that, before long, Congress will introduce a measure called the Georgia Peanut Act that will make peanut processors as closely watched as nuclear engineers and diamond cutters. Georgia or any other state cannot afford to produce a fun food such as peanuts and have it loaded with killer bacteria. A bailout will not kill salmonella.

I wonder if any Georgia lawmaker is courageous enough to break his close ties with agribusiness and come down on the side of clean food and tougher regulations and inspections. Never mind. I already know the answer.

Let’s get back to the performances of Reps. Barrow and Gingrey. Gingrey, who is a medical doctor, ought to quit wasting time in Washington. He ought to have his own TV show. He has that pleasant and agreeable manner required for the tube. At a town meeting recently, I heard him talk with a woman who wanted a progress report on our war with Iran (not Iraq). He forgot to tell her that we’re not at war with Iran.

On TV, Gingrey could call himself “The Other Dr. Phil” and have his friend and mentor Rush Limbaugh drop by as a guest to discuss problems related to marriages and drugstore prescriptions.

As for Barrow, he ought to stay where he is. It is pleasant to hear at least one Georgia congressman hold his own in debate and declamations in the House. Some have speculated that Barrow might go for a U.S. Senate seat one day. Johnny Isakson’s post is up for grabs in next year’s election. I just wish Barrow had not gone to Harvard Law after he left the University of Georgia. That kind of negative credential has a way of working against a candidate in Georgia elections.

By Redneck Convert

February 18, 2009 9:12 AM | Link to this

Well, this flushing tax got to go. It’s a danger to society. We all know there’s cheapskates that would do anything to keep from paying a tax. If you charge by the flush somebody like Raghead would be collecting his stuff in buckets and everything else to keep from getting taxed. If you think you’ve heard him scream about the Capital Gains Tax, just wait till he lights into the flushing tax. Besides, everybody knows he’s full of it. And other cheapskates would just build a outdoor toilet to keep from getting taxed. You would need a gas mask just to drive down some streets that have alot of Republicans.

And ain’t this flushing tax against women? They need to go all the time while men go maybe couple times a day. And they usually go together, so there would be a whole lot of taxing going on when they meet. And what happens when one of us rednecks get ahold of some bad pork skins? Are we going to pay extra tax just for getting the runs?

Anyway, I want the guvmint out of my bathroom. It’s OK for them to check on bedrooms once in a while to keep the preverts in line, but I sure don’t want some pencil pusher knowing when I go.

Now I need to know more about this miles tax. Will delivery trucks be charged? Would people just let their house rot and set up a tent near where they work? Would we have to pay to build sidewalks on every road in GA? And would we put a windfall profits tax on bicycle makers?

I would rather just stick with the gas tax. Leastwise I never see how much tax I’m paying when I fill up the Ford F-450 or the beer truck.

I’m just depressed. Wooten sure knows how to put the down in a down day.

By Churchill's MOM

February 18, 2009 9:14 AM | Link to this

Big write up about our next President in the Washington Post..Got to love our Gal.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/17/AR2009021703437.html?hpid=topnews

By Churchill's MOM

February 18, 2009 9:22 AM | Link to this

Had lunch with a bunch of friends yesterday and they were all talking about this. Most thought the way to abstinence was marriage but I think the quickest way to lose a man is to not make him happy and I have a VERY happy husband. It’s bridge day at house so, I’ve got to get Pearl going on lunch.

The Associated Press Wednesday, February 18, 2009; 2:13 AM

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin’s 18-year-old daughter, an unwed mother, says teenagers should avoid having sex.

However, Bristol Palin acknowledges that abstinence is “not realistic at all.”

She commented during a two-part interview recorded for Fox News Channel’s “On the Record.”

Just days after the governor was named John McCain’s running mate on the Republican presidential ticket, she announced her daughter was pregnant. Bristol Palin gave birth Dec. 27 to a boy named Tripp.

Bristol Palin said her son brings her so much joy that she doesn’t regret having him at all. She’s engaged to the baby’s father, Levi Johnston, and said her fiance sees their son every day.

“He’s a really hands-on dad,” she said. “He’s just in love with him as much as I am.”

Bristol said telling her parents she was pregnant was “harder than labor.” Levi and her best friend went with her to break the news.

“I was just so sick to my stomach. And so finally, my best friend just, like, blurted it out,” she said. Bristol also said it bothered her to hear that many people thought her mother was making her have the baby, when it was her own choice.

The governor also appeared in the interview, recorded Saturday in Fairbanks.

She said she was proud of her daughter, “wanting to take on an advocacy role and, you know, just let other girls know that this is _ it’s not the most ideal situation, but certainly, make the most of it,” Sarah Palin said. “And Bristol is a strong and bold young woman and she is an amazing mom. And this little baby is very lucky to have her as a mama. He’s going to be just fine.”

Part one of the interview aired Monday night and the second part was scheduled for broadcast Tuesday night.

The Palins were in Fairbanks to watch the governor’s husband cross the finish line of the 2,000-mile Tesoro Iron Dog snowmobile race. Todd Palin, whose team came in sixth, is a four-time winner of the world’s longest snowmobile race.

By Ga Values

February 18, 2009 9:26 AM | Link to this

Bill Shipp 9:09 AM

I hope you are correct about a conservative running against Johnny the Socialist. In my 64 years we have never had 2 Senators as bad as the 2 we have now.

By Maniac is accurate

February 18, 2009 9:28 AM | Link to this

Pay to flush? The government is getting something of value every time I push the handle. They should be paying me, because as most realize, mine don’t stink.

By Big Bucks GOP

February 18, 2009 9:29 AM | Link to this

Until recently, Robert Allen Stanford was known mainly as a colorful Texas financier and a power broker in the breezy money haven of Antigua.

But on Tuesday, a caravan of cars and trucks carrying federal authorities pulled up to the headquarters of his company, the Stanford Group, to shut down what the regulators described as a “massive ongoing fraud” stretching from the Caribbean to Texas, and around the world.

Unknown is the status of investments in as much as $8 billion in high-yielding certificates of deposit held in the firm’s bank in Antigua, which the Securities and Exchange Commission, in a civil suit, said Mr. Stanford and two colleagues fraudulently peddled to scores of investors.

“The whole thing was a masterfully done masquerade,” Steve Korotash, associate regional director of enforcement in the S.E.C.’s Fort Worth office, told the Houston Chronicle in an interview.

Also unknown Tuesday were the whereabouts of Mr. Stanford — or Sir Allen, as he became known after the Antiguan prime minister knighted him.

Over the years, Mr. Stanford has burnished his reputation through connections with sports figures — pro golfer Vijay Singh signed a marketing deal with his firm — and politicians.

Bloomberg News reports that Mr. Stanford has six planes registered with the Federal Aviation Administration, which he used to sponsor trips for members of Congress to the Caribbean to talk about economic development.

Indeed, Mr. Stanford and his firm have emerged as recent contributors to various American lawmakers, focusing particularly on legislators considering bills that could change offshore banking rules. The Chronicle’s blog offers a list of the many Texas lawmakers who took campaign contributions from him.

By Peanut Man

February 18, 2009 9:31 AM | Link to this

Bill Shipp 9:09 AM

You left Saxby out. The question is How much money did Saxby get from Peanut Corporation of America and what did heget for it?

By Big Bucks GOP

February 18, 2009 9:32 AM | Link to this

Alan Greenspan, the former chairman of the Federal Reserve, told The Financial Times on Tuesday that short-term nationalization of some United States banks might be the “least bad solution” for the nation’s banking crisis. Later, in a speech, he said that heightened federal regulations for banks seemed inevitable.

By Big Bucks GOP

February 18, 2009 9:33 AM | Link to this

The Obama administration’s Financial Stability Plan would work more effectively if it lent money directly to banks instead of their bank holding company parents, Harvard professors John C. Coates and David S. Scharfstein argue in a New York Times op-ed.

By Eric

February 18, 2009 9:34 AM | Link to this

You can forget about my compliance with a mileage tax! No way I’ll let gov’t. install any tracking device. That would definitely mark the end of our so-called “free” society. Anyhow, we are already paying a mileage tax by virtue of the gas tax: the more one drives, the more he/she pays in taxes at the pump.

By Big Bucks GOP

February 18, 2009 9:34 AM | Link to this

Credit Suisse, under a widening investigation into foreign banks with offshore private banking services, is working to avert a potential standoff with federal authorities like the one faced by the rival Swiss bank UBS.

By Big Bucks GOP

February 18, 2009 9:35 AM | Link to this

Credit Suisse, under a widening investigation into foreign banks with offshore private banking services, is working to avert a potential standoff with federal authorities like the one faced by the rival Swiss bank UBS.

By @@

February 18, 2009 9:37 AM | Link to this

Pay to flush? We’re there now.

Yes we are, Jim. I believe President Obama just put his “John Hancock” on a big one this week.

Swoooooosh! there it goes…..

By Big Bucks GOP

February 18, 2009 9:37 AM | Link to this

Even billionaire Bill Gates may be feeling the pinch these days, as the value his investments fell by $3 billion, or almost 20 percent, in the fourth quarter.

By Chris Broe

February 18, 2009 9:40 AM | Link to this

LOL, redneck. That was very funny, as usual.

Churchill, Palin would be a hoot as prez. She cant do any worse than Obama who still hasnt’ captured Osama or built one road yet. I’ll bet he’s used the white house bowling alley, though.

Shipp: very informative inside look at the peanut hearings. Liked “came out of his shell”.

The flush tax: What if you have a 1.6 gallon per flush commode, and your neighbor has a 3.2 gallon per flush commode. Are we to be taxed at the same per flush rate? This comes at time when Kelloggs is putting two scoops in it’s cereal, and Charmin’s has invented not just the triple roll, but the Megaroll. More foreboding, Oprah has Americans eating more fiber, (Scottish oatmeal. Steel cut oats. etc). It takes two flushes just to warm up the toilet. Sometimes I flush 8 or 9 times. It’s not fair.

By Maniac is accurate

February 18, 2009 9:41 AM | Link to this

Hey, to my way of thinking I’m paying out the @&# now for flushing.

By Ga Values

February 18, 2009 9:42 AM | Link to this

From what I understand if Sonny and his boys take over the DOT before they are finished with the Public/Private partnersips we will be paying to go to the grocery store. The taxpayers are going to be taken for a ride by our owned by develepor legislature.

By Chris Broe

February 18, 2009 9:57 AM | Link to this

How about the double whammy that recreational vehicles and motor homes are going to receive! To figure out how much this will cost, you must recall your formulas for word problems you learned in school: Suppose you start driving at point A and average 2 flushes per hour and drive 100 miles in your motor home, at the same time, your wife has a breakfast burrito instead of the usual egg mcmuffin and gets a mild form of dysentery at the fifty mile mark. When will the cost of flushing overtake the cost of the gas?

By Peter

February 18, 2009 9:59 AM | Link to this

Pay per flush…….well how about this column of little significance ?

Hey Jim, in light of Bristol Palin’s thoughts on Abstinence…….Seems like the TEACHING from the “Right” is totally ” WRONG ” !

I also see after 8 years of Bush and the “Right”……… We have basically back slid on the Quality of life Americans will now live.

“Worst Is Yet to Come:” Americans’ Standard of Living Permanently Changed

Posted Feb 17, 2009 12:53pm EST by Aaron Task in Investing, Recession

There’s no question the American consumer is hurting in the face of a burst housing bubble, financial market meltdown and rising unemployment.

But “the worst is yet to come,” according to Howard Davidowitz, chairman of Davidowitz & Associates, who believes American’s standard of living is undergoing a “permanent change” - and not for the better as a result of:

An $8 trillion negative wealth effect from declining home values. A $10 trillion negative wealth effect from weakened capital markets. A $14 trillion consumer debt load amid “exploding unemployment”, leading to “exploding bankruptcies.” “The average American used to be able to borrow to buy a home, send their kids to a good school [and] buy a car,” Davidowitz says. “A lot of that is gone.”

Going forward, the veteran retail industry consultant foresees higher savings rate and people trading down in both the goods and services they buy - as well as their aspirations.

The end of rampant consumerism is ultimately a good thing, he says, but the unraveling of an economy built on debt-fueled spending will be painful for years to come.

Terrible JOB by the Republican’s ……. Let’s keep them out of office for a few decades, so we can get OUR Country back !

By Chris Broe

February 18, 2009 10:21 AM | Link to this

If there is a flush tax, then will it be possible to get audited by the tidy bowl man?

By Curious Observer

February 18, 2009 10:24 AM | Link to this

“We have basically back slid on the Quality of life Americans will now live.”

Right-o! Globalization has kicked in. How does an American worker making $20 an hour compete with a foreign worker making $3 per hour if both have use of the same technology and productivity enhancements?

Answer: The American worker must reduce his demand to $3 per hour and use shipping costs of foreign goods as his edge.

The slide to a lower standard of living is inexorable under the current trade laws. The existing unemployment, the outsourcing of jobs, the huge consumer debt, and reduced housing values are all merely symptoms of this lower standard of living in action.

By Chris Broe

February 18, 2009 10:32 AM | Link to this

When you think about it, there are lots of similarities between flushing and filling up with gas. Both involve handling a nozzle. Both involve pushing down on a lever, one in the beginning, the other at the end. Both involve waving and smiling at others handling their own nozzles.. (sen craig).

I totally understand this double tax.

By AmVet

February 18, 2009 10:51 AM | Link to this

…even if most of the other lawmakers seem to take a dim view of anything from Georgia.

No shiite.

The neo-cons are hellbent on seeing that the Moron Belt stays in the 20th (or 19th) century. And all in the name of their faux conservatism.

Hey I have an idea!

Lets bring back the traitors flag, pray for rain on the capitol steps, equate Sunday beer sales with prostitution and ensure that Georgia is always at the bottom of the nation’s educational rankings…

Oh wait.

By Recreational flatuence

February 18, 2009 11:15 AM | Link to this

And, in both cases, Chris, spillage is frowned upon.

By Leon

February 18, 2009 11:59 AM | Link to this

Ragnar,

Allen Stanford called and said to tell you “the crow flies at midnight”, you’d know what he meant.

By findog

February 18, 2009 12:03 PM | Link to this

Dear Jim, Maybe its finally time for a constitutional right to privacy?

By Ragnar Danneskjöld

February 18, 2009 12:06 PM | Link to this

Good afternoon all, up at the crack of noon. While there is no doubt that new and attractive technologies exist, they do not therefore require use. The proposed new forms of taxation have flaws greater than the systems they are to replace. Every tax is a “disincentive” for a particular activity, and the suggested systems are so flawed.

In the case of the mileage tracking system, the government now proposes to tax mileage rather than gasoline consumption. A Prius driver uses comparative few natural resources compared to the Hummer driver. Under the new regime the fuel sipper will be taxed the same mile for mile as the roadhog, supplanting the tax/gallon system that rewarded the better steward.

As to the strange per flush tax, this is the general plot of Urinetown. Presumably the more efficient toilets are found in more expensive homes, thus imposing a severe penalty on those too poor to acquire the better technologies. We also note those with specific debilitating medical conditions will be tax more heavily than the average soul. In the most extreme cases the new form of taxation will have the bizarre side effect of encouraging bypass of the indoor facility in favor of bushes in the back.

I’ll close without the observation all would expect from me, regarding the intelligence of leftists and their enablers. Write your own punch line.

By professional skeptic

February 18, 2009 12:25 PM | Link to this

Hahahaha… I’m a Redneck Convert fan for life!

By Disgusted

February 18, 2009 12:30 PM | Link to this

Why, Leon! What are you implying about Mr. Stanford? Did not Ragnar cite him only yesterday as a paragon of moral and political virtue?

P.S. The feds are looking for Mr. Stanford. Some silly matter about a $9 billion investment fraud that could eventually make Bernie Madoff’s little venture pale by comparison. Curiously, Mr. Stanford seems to have disappeared.

By Shawny

February 18, 2009 12:46 PM | Link to this

well, GA is looking to making people pay to ride in the HOV lanes if they only have a 2 person carpool, or to allow in single person cars. They want to take a page out of Los Angeles’ book. What a model city to pick for advice on how to run city traffic. nice.

That is wrong. Keep it a carpool only lane and it encourages carpooling. 2 person carpools are easy to organize and manage and should not be punished or discouraged. Single drivers with more money than sense should not be allowed in.

By SaveOurRepublic

February 18, 2009 1:32 PM | Link to this

Both proposals are totally asinine & without merit. The enviro-fascist “Green” movement is a complete ruse used to facilitate further Big Government empowerment. The “Green” agenda (while bogus on the surface) is just another control mechanism funded & pushed by the Globalist Elite (puppet ma$ters).

What’s particularly disturbing (but not surprising) is the plan to leverage GPS “chips”. In my estimation, this is just another foreshadowing of eventual (mandatory) biochip implementation. Think that’s over the top do ya?? Just look at microchip implantation in livestock & the huge push for pet implantation (notice the posters & literature in vet’s offices). This is meant to precondition the population for (first) a “voluntary” biochip (using safety of kids, alleviating the need to carry cash & credit cards as “selling points”) & ultimately mandatory implantation. Globalist Elitist Nick Rockefeller openly admitted these plans to the late (patriot) Aaron Russo (video on YouTube & Google Video). It’s all about increasing & tightening the control grid over the populace!

By Ragnar Danneskjöld

February 18, 2009 1:42 PM | Link to this

Dear Leon @ 11:59, I fear the “crow flying” means I’m getting stiffed on my fee again.

Dear Disgusted @ 12:30, maybe you would wish to review my post from yesterday. I am pretty sure I identified Mr. Stanford as a kum-bah-ya leftist, not as a paragon of virtue. Surely you noticed his Gore-like preoccupation with the “dangers” of global warming. My snarky note yesterday played on my earlier theme about Bernie Madoff, suggesting that Ponzi Schemers are always flaming leftists.

By Jackie

February 18, 2009 1:47 PM | Link to this

It seems to me today’s topic is one the conservatives would embrace.

They want to lower taxes and get the government out of our lives, yet they complain about the services they receive everyday for the money being paid via taxes.

As is usual, the conservatives want to have it both ways without taking responsibility for either.

They want what they want without knowing what they want.

By Algonquin J. Calhoun

February 18, 2009 1:51 PM | Link to this

In Massachusetts, Democratic Gov. Deval Patrick is expected to unveil a proposal this week to use GPS chips to charge motorists a quarter-cent per mile traveled. “It’s outrageous; it’s kind of Orwellian, Big Brotherish,” said a Republican state senator, Scott Brown, who’s drafted legislation to prohibit the practice.

Jim, I’d think you’d be completely behind this. After all, you were in favor of electronic snooping on Americans during the George W. Hitler years.

By ButtHead

February 18, 2009 1:57 PM | Link to this

If the dimacrats could tax the air we breathe they would. Change we can believe in, change taken out of OUR pockets for the sake of socialism….

By Glenn

February 18, 2009 2:05 PM | Link to this

Pay by the flush. Or pay by the mile. Take your pick. It’s the nanny state at work.

Nah. Main point is, you gotta pay.

Nanny wants more money ‘cause she’s got to work for a living, and wants more money to continue doing what she now does so badly.

So you gotta pay and pay and pay…

By deegee

February 18, 2009 2:09 PM | Link to this

HAHAHAHAHA! Our next president was Katie-Couricked by her own state legislators! It’s not like they asked her what she reads for crap sake.

A couple of weeks before the Alaska legislature began this year’s session, a bipartisan group of state senators on a retreat a few hours from here invited Gov. Sarah Palin to join them. Accompanied by a retinue of advisers, she took a seat at one end of a conference table and listened passively as Gary Stevens, the president of the Alaska Senate, a former college history professor and a low-key Republican with a reputation for congeniality, expressed delight at her presence.

Would the governor, a smiling Stevens asked, like to share some of her plans and proposals for the coming legislative session?

Palin looked around the room and paused, according to several senators present. “I feel like you guys are always trying to put me on the spot,” she said finally, as the room became silent.

By Algonquin J. Calhoun

February 18, 2009 2:16 PM | Link to this

Butthead, what an apt moniker for an insect such as yourself, the need for a stimulus was brought about by the idiotic policies and free-spending of George W. Hitler. don’t blame the Democrats for that moron. The national debt trebled under the fool! He ran up more debt than all the other presidents before him combined. Continue to lie for your Republinazis but we know the truth!

By Glenn

February 18, 2009 2:20 PM | Link to this

Sin taxes.

That’s what politicians on The Left call them, con gusto. It excites a certain kind of politician, the Democratic kind, to think of discovering new sources of revenue. A great many of them think that the Mother Lode lies in pure sin.

The idea is, no one can fault you for faulting other people who need faulting; who need faulting for eating sweet drinks, or for eating animal parts, or for choosing injudiciously to drive vehicles that make morally wrong decisions. Wrong, wrong, wrong. But big bucks for us!

If you play your cards right.

By Redneck Convert

February 18, 2009 2:20 PM | Link to this

Well, I see these airport security people are going to start using body scanners instead of the kind that pick up metal. Seems these body scanners show the body just like it was buck-nekkid.

I already feel downright sorry for the guy that uses the scanner next time Sister Dusty wants to fly someplace.

By fed up

February 18, 2009 2:25 PM | Link to this

deegee huh?

By fed up

February 18, 2009 2:31 PM | Link to this

deegee huh?

By Glenn

February 18, 2009 2:45 PM | Link to this

Pretend you’re an elected official from the Democratic Party: What sin would you tax?

By MrLiberty

February 18, 2009 2:52 PM | Link to this

I already pay per mile. Its called a gasoline tax. If the government wants people to drive more fuel efficient cars, then the current system is just right. I pay per gallon and I buy fewer gallons per distance with a more efficient car. The more I drive, the more I pay. Just like water. Again, what is the issue.

If government wants more money then say so. There is no need to dress up the theft.

Everyone always says that we need government for things like the roads. Could this be any better example of why that argument is a farce? They take our money for roads, spend it to buy votes from welfare queens (individuals and businesses) and then don’t have the money to fix or build the roads when needed.

Face it folks, this government has to be voted out. Both republicans and democrats are the problem because they think that all problems can be fixed with government, when the truth is that ALL PROBLEMS ARE THE RESULT OF GOVERNMENT.

www.mises.org and www.lewrockwell.com for thoughtful, intelligent and informative education on economics and the politics of real freedom. Please visit (I gain nothing personally from your visit except possibly some future freedom. Don’t we all deserve that??

By Dusty

February 18, 2009 3:01 PM | Link to this

Dear RedNeck Convert and other liberal loons lacking lucidity, 2:20

I blush about this “flush” so will all of you HUSH?

But I admit,

when it comes to a liberal policy,

“Tis best to flush and demolish it.

And to RedNeck, no hard feelings.

I excuse your undercover dealings.

Here’s a whoopee cushion for your delight.

Sit and enjoy with all your might.

By jm

February 18, 2009 3:18 PM | Link to this

With the exception of the GPS chip, this is not much different than a toll road (something I am against by the way). Since Mr. Wooten has advocated the creation of toll roads as a way of reducing traffic, I don’t see how this could bother him, unless his issue is with the invasion of privacy.

By Glenn

February 18, 2009 3:28 PM | Link to this

Dusty,

I’m sorry, but your post of 5:59 yesterday was positively imbecilic throughout.

Do you require a new pair of spectacles?

By @@

February 18, 2009 3:36 PM | Link to this

Well, this is a pay to drive topic so here’s a FACT I just discovered. The article is about Obama’s “green jobs” initiative. There are some serious obstacles standing in its way:

Improving Automobile Mileage

To reduce consumption of imported oil by approximately a third, Obama plans to force implementation of a congressional decision in 2007 to raise federal fuel economy requirements to 35 miles per gallon for cars by 2020, from their current level of 27.5 miles per gallon. (Today, about 60 percent of U.S. oil demand is used to power the American vehicle fleet.) The 2007 congressional decision was never put on a path for implementation by the Bush administration, which Obama will try to reverse by asking the Department of Transportation to come up with a plan by March to implement the mileage standard.

The problem with increasing the mileage of the current fleet (which has essentially averaged, on a fleet-wide basis, slightly above 20 miles per gallon since the early 1980s) is that it would necessitate replacing a substantial number of America’s current fleet of over 250 million cars, small trucks and SUVs. In the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, Congress allocated $25 billion to “reequipping, expanding, or establishing manufacturing facilities in the United States to produce qualifying advanced technology vehicles or qualifying components.” ———->However, all of the $25 billion was subsequently relocated to provide bridge loans to the auto industry as part of their bailout announced on Nov. 20, 2008.<———-

OUCH! and they’re back for MORE?

Therefore, it will be up to consumers to replace their old automobiles with hybrid vehicles, and Obama hopes to encourage them to do so by offering $7,000 in tax credits per vehicle for the purchase of an “advanced vehicle” (presumably these would include various types of hybrids) and putting 1 million plug-in hybrid cars on the road by 2015. This tax-credit program would have the U.S. government essentially spending a huge amount of money to buy new cars for people. Currently (figures are from December 2008), U.S. purchases of hybrids average 17,600 per month (down from about 30,000 during the first half of 2008), or approximately 3 percent of total purchases. At that rate, if Obama’s $7,000-per-car system were adopted, the U.S. government would have to spend approximately $123 million in tax credits per month, or nearly $1.5 billion a year, just to sustain the current level of hybrid purchases.

Going back to look for more tidbits. It’s a reaaaalllly long article from Stratfor.

I’m kinda curious here……most of the jobs are in construction and we know who’s been filling those jobs. How many Americans still work construction at an affordable wage?

By @@

February 18, 2009 3:51 PM | Link to this

Didn’t have to go much further into the article to find more. I’d link, but it’s foreboden (subscription only).

Encouraging ‘Plug-in’ Hybrid Technology

The “plug-in” component of Obama’s hybrid-vehicle plan is a direct plug for the domestic manufacturer General Motors Corporation (GM), which has essentially put all of its eggs in one basket with its flagship to-be Chevrolet Volt electric plug-in car. ——->The Volt, which can go 40 miles purely on stored electricity before switching to its onboard gasoline engine, will have a price tag of more than $40,000, which means that even with the $7,000 tax credit for advanced vehicles (which presumably would also go for the cheaper Japanese hybrids), the Volt would cost essentially twice as much as its foreign competition.<——- GM flatly stated in recent congressional hearings that the Volt would not be profitable in its first production run, that total costs of production would be around $750 million and that return on the investment could be expected only after 2016 — a risky strategy for a troubled manufacturer, to say the least.

At the moment, however, there is very little certainty that U.S. consumers would choose a U.S. made plug-in hybrid like the Volt over the (mostly Japanese) competition. Complicating calculations relating to the energy efficiency of the plug-in electric hybrid is the fact that the economics and ecological benefits of these vehicles depend on local electricity costs and the relative “greenness” of the consumer’s power source. A traditional gasoline-electric hybrid contributes to less net greenhouse gas emissions than a plug-in hybrid in states that rely on coal for electricity generation.

I see italics don’t work over here.

Oh well…..

Ah-l be baa-hk.

By @@

February 18, 2009 4:04 PM | Link to this

About that coal needed to power those hybrids:

To retrofit an existing coal plant would cost approximately $1 billion to $2 billion (a 300 megawatt coal plant by itself costs about $1 billion and a 630 megawatt costs around $2.4 billion) and would require a doubling of the actual acreage on which the plant was built. An additional problem is that capture and sequestration would consume 30 percent of the plant output, substantially limiting the total energy output of the plant.

The United States has over a quarter of the world’s coal; it wants to increase its domestic energy sources; and it needs to reduce carbon-dioxide emissions. The only problem is, while the technology exists, no one has figured out a way to employ it economically.

The elephant in the room is the potential cost of a complete overhaul of many of the current coal-burning plants, which would likely be necessary to make them economically viable under a future cap-and-trade system. The price tag for such an overhaul would be monstrous and definitely higher than the $150 billion currently earmarked for the next 10 years for all energy projects. The United States has 1,470 coal-burning plants, and if the cost of retrofitting for subterranean sequestration is factored in, the numbers would be astronomical and could measure in the trillions.

The final problem facing the coal industry is that the authority to regulate the building of new power plants in the United States rests with state governments, not the federal government. Some state governments have come under pressure from environmental groups to delay or cancel the building of coal power plants to avoid exacerbating climate change. In other states, environmental organizations have used lawsuits to tie up proposed coal plants for years. These lawsuits have added to the uncertainty surrounding the economics of building new coal plants. The economic uncertainty, legal uncertainty and litigation have resulted in a situation in which of the 151 coal plants proposed for construction in 2007, 109 were essentially scrapped or tied up in court, with only 28 actually under construction in 2008.

Damn greenie weenies.

By Redneck Convert

February 18, 2009 4:13 PM | Link to this

Well, Sister Dusty’s little poem to me reminded me of the time me and the boys put a smoke bomb in Estil Small’s engine and a whoopee cushion on his seat. When he set down and turned the key he thought he’d done blowed up the whole truck.

By hryder

February 18, 2009 4:27 PM | Link to this

There should be no bail-outs. ,”I want it, if it feels good, do it,” crowd is at it again. Trying to get another free lunch. No one is entitled to a house, automobile, or anything else than life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Notice, the word pursuit not the attainment. Note; The highest percentage of obese people are financially poor. One gains fat by taking in more calories than expended over a period of time. Get an education, a job, and your hands out of my pockets!!!!!!

By Peter

February 18, 2009 4:27 PM | Link to this

HA HA HA to this Blog today…..

There has never ever been a time in US History when more “LIBERAL SPENDING” took place with King George Bush in office.

Never ever has the deficit gone through the roof, and American’s in general got the screws put to them, as during the 8 years of George “SPEND” Bush !

HA HA HA to any Republican that wants to make the claim…..

Republican’s are……. “Conservative”…… when it comes to spending American Tax dollars.

Not only are they NOT Conservative with America Tax dollars…….Republican’s do NOT account for the money either !

By Dusty

February 18, 2009 4:40 PM | Link to this

Dear Glenn,@3:28

My glasses are just fine, thank you.

Perhaps when you learn to write in specific, concise and practical ways you won’t have to call so many people imbecilic.

You are writing on a blog, not impressing the crowd at the board meeting.

Perhaps California is the place for you. Over populated, over educated, and over the max in debt. They might like an overdose of verbosity.

By @@

February 18, 2009 4:45 PM | Link to this

Lawd, this is a long article.

Ethanol is only cost effective if oil remains at $90 pbb. Using corn for ethanol increases the price of a valuable food source. They’re recommending cellulose ethanol with some transportation problems.

The current collection-transportation networks in the Midwest are calibrated for food distribution, not gasoline delivery. Therefore the first problem is how to get the cellulosic material to the refineries. Chaff and agricultural by-products are usually less dense than corn, so it would take more trips to the local refinery to make it worthwhile, increasing transportation costs. Farms would either have to ship their agricultural waste for refinement to a centralized collection point (most likely right next to the grain elevator) or run rudimentary refineries right on their farms.

Either way, once the refining process is complete, the ethanol would have to be shipped to consumers around the country (most of who are on the coasts, far from the Midwest). There is no pipeline network ready to take the fuel-ready ethanol from refineries to the coasts, and such a network (one akin to the natural gas pipeline network in Europe may have to be developed) would be an extremely expensive project. Therefore, a switch to ethanol could work for the Midwest, leading to a bifurcated system where the coasts still use petroleum for transportation while the agricultural producing regions rely on ethanol.

They talk about the Alaska pipeline pointing out that the cost for Russia to transport 3 times the distance is less than it would cost the U.S.

Today there are three competing pipeline projects being considered: ExxonMobil’s Mackenzie Valley ($16.3 billion), the TransCanada project ($26 billion) and BP-ConocoPhillips’ Denali project (somewhere between $30 billion and $40 billion). All three projects are financially daunting

Oil leases here in the U.S. would require extensive (long-term) and costly studies to determine the worth of the field. Forcing oil companies to do so when they don’t see the fields as viable sources would result in cost impact to the consumer. And, then again, there’s the greenie weenies that’ll block.

Unless the U.S. government develops a state-owned energy company willing to tap and produce from fields for a loss, there is no point in taking leases away from energy firms.

Stratfor seems to favor “The Smart Grid” solution but:

The concept is simple enough and would update America’s electricity infrastructure (currently running on technology not much different from its nascent stages in the 19th century) to a modern digital consumer/provider system. However, such a national grid would necessitate replacing all of America’s electricity meters, as well as all transmission lines and all transformer stations, a project with a likely price tag of somewhere near $200 billion. The current stimulus package, however, commits only $4.5 billion to a smart-grid upgrading of some 3,000 miles of transmission lines and equipping about 40 million homes with “smart meters.” This funding will not be enough to begin a serious overhaul of America’s electricity transmission network. It is more an attempt to kick-start industry and private businesses and move them toward an eventual retooling.

I’m done.

A real eye-opener as to the cost and time it would take. Things are just never was we HOPE for, are they?

By @@

February 18, 2009 4:47 PM | Link to this

‘Ya had ^^^ THAT one coming, Glenn.

By @@

February 18, 2009 5:12 PM | Link to this

Oopsee!

Was was what.

By jungleland

February 18, 2009 5:23 PM | Link to this

I was about to buy a Saturn, the only dealership that treat’s it’s customers with common decency. Now they are about to go away.

GM would rather allow the Dems to force them to produce a “green” car that will lose money (and cost way more than a foriegn version.

By @@

February 18, 2009 6:00 PM | Link to this

Almost forgot!

Cap and Trade Program

One of the most ambitious proposals of the Obama energy plan is a national cap and trade program. Under such a program, the government would set emissions standard for various industries, allowing companies that emit less carbon dioxide than their allotment to trade their excess “credits” to those who are emitting above the cap. The initial allotments of carbon credits will incite one of the more contentious domestic debates in the coming years, as will the steepness of the emissions reduction curve. In addition to a national goal of 80 percent by 2050, there are questions about what the goal will be in 2020 or 2035.

Lobbying efforts are already under way regarding cap and trade. American businesses do not want to see states in charge of setting greenhouse gas emissions standards since that would increase the accounting and legal fees companies would have to incur to deal with the system on a state-by-state basis. Instead, they want to see a single national standard.

Establishing a national standard for a cap and trade system would allow utility companies to factor in future costs of emitting greenhouse gases, which currently is an unknown. Utility companies do not know whether it makes sense to build regular coal plants, clean coal plants, solar or wind installations or natural gas production facilities because the rules of the game are not set. Until that happens, energy expansion in the United States will be at a standstill.

However, the U.S. domestic climate-change policy must be negotiated at the global level, particularly with China. Obama, or any subsequent U.S. president, will be hard-pressed to adopt carbon emission rules without first getting some sort of a deal with China that would guarantee that Beijing would also address its own greenhouse emissions. Otherwise, U.S. greenhouse gas-emitting industries (chemicals, petrochemical, paper and pulp, steel, cement, etc.) could bolt for China and the developing world.

….and wouldn’t China love that right about now.

Therefore, a conversation with Beijing about climate change is high on Obama’s list of priorities; his energy envoy, Todd Stern, is accompanying Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on her current trip to East Asia, primarily to discuss some of Obama’s energy ideas with the Chinese.

By luangtom

February 18, 2009 6:03 PM | Link to this

Geez, is it only me? Does anyone else hear the same b.s. being ranted by the supposed green-advocates and fiscally responsibles that fail to realize it took BOTH parties to vote on the spending and programs that got us into this economic disaster? George W. did not unilaterally decide to send troops, spends billions and bail-out banks. It took a vote from BOTH sides of the aisle to get these measures onto the books. Why not point the finger at BOTH sides and all of those responsible? There is not one elected or appointed official in DC that did not take part in the debacle we call government that got us into this mess. Clear them all out, garner a new staff and start over……

By Daedalus

February 19, 2009 9:10 AM | Link to this

Let’s see — republicans and conservatives oppose taxation — for almost any purpose except defense. Since we cannot tax ourselves to pay for roads, the GPS road ‘tax’ sounds more like a ‘user fee’ to me.

Isn’t that conservatives answer for govt? Make the user pay? Don’t want to pay the user fee? Don’t drive.

As for the peanut scandal — Texas and Georgia reaped what we sowed. Federal regulatory agencies delegate many of their authorities to states. States like it because they have more control and the delegation comes with grant funds. However the state has to pick up a share. Georgia only does the bare minimum to get by. No surprise there, see our education system, dead last, but breathing. When the state does a crappy job of regulating its industries we then blame the feds. Perfect.

Georgia has underfunded its regulatory agencies for years and we get the protection we deserve: lousy. Of course the rest of the country will suffer from our incompetence — but somebody has to bring up the rear!! Go Georgia! How About them Dawgs!

Stay away from Georgia peanut products though, man that stuff will kill you.

By zeke

February 19, 2009 9:54 AM | Link to this

Absolutely ridiculous! If we do not stop these socialist communists now, they will determine every aspect of our daily lives! I work in an area that requires me to drive about 40,000 miles per year to make my living! The gas tax is too much already, and, I would not be able to compensate for this type additional cost! Same goes for banning smoking in privately owned businesses! UNCONSTITUTIONAL!

By SAMUEL MORSE

February 19, 2009 10:08 AM | Link to this

..——….—..——.—.——-….—….—-

By williebkind

February 19, 2009 10:24 AM | Link to this

Well, have you noticed that all the bad things that have come along have been managed by those college graduates. Even the new tax ideas come from those of higher education.

You can tell they are college graduates especially those blaming the peanut for managers maintaining a nasty environment and inspectors reporting it clean.

I guess I will not be having my peanutbutter and jelly sandwich for a while. Do not any of you tell PETA but I went and butchered more animals for my freezer to replace those PJ delights. I guess I will have to eat more BLT’s now or maybe that “good ole mater” sandwich.

As far as toilet flush taxes, it does not affect me since I have my own well. I guess that is a perk of not living with 8 million people in 20 sq miles.

My solution is simple! If you have inspectors make them inspect. If they lie, we will give them a fair trial and then put them in jail.

Of course if college graduated managers try to take short cuts or bribe inspecters give them a trial and then put them in jail too. Problem solved.

Well, you have to remember I am a product of the public school system.

By williebkind

February 19, 2009 10:44 AM | Link to this

hey Samuel!

242w144?