Date posted: March 7, 2008 - Friday
Title: TW3 03/07/08
Current mood: awake
So, End This Already
OK, I've kept my mouth shut for long enough. This Roger Clemens thing has got to end now!
I held my peace last week when it was elevated to a ridiculous level, but other thoughts have forced me to speak. It was bad enough Congress wasted time holding hearings that got exactly nowhere. But, when the matter was referred to the FBI for further investigation it just got silly. What, there has been such a drop in the crime rate the FBI has nothing better to do than figure out whether Clemens lied to Congress?
So there will be a long, drawn out investigation which may or may not produce enough evidence to indict Clemens. And the lawyer for Clemens' accuser speculates the Good Ole' Boy in the White House will pardon Clemens before he leaves office even if it can be proved he lied to legislators. Maybe that was the real reason Clemens did so much lobbying and glad handing with members of Congress before his recent hearings.
I don't care if he lied. I actually think he did based on things that have been reported, but that makes no difference in what is happening now. And, considering I felt the whole investigation was a waste of time and resources, I was prepared to just let this mess take its' course. I was until something was pointed out in the column of a local sports writer that made me have second thoughts.
Unfortunately, star athletes like Clemens have become role models to kids in this country. Couple that with the obsessive desire everyone seems to have to make as much money as possible and you have a set of circumstances that are influencing younger people in a negative, destructive manner.
The Center for Disease Control's most recent Youth Risk Behavior Survey, conducted in 2005, showed 4.8 percent of 12th grade males had taken illegal steroids at least once. That number is considered conservative because it is felt high school boys wouldn't admit to doing something wrong even if the survey was anonymous. And the number could translate into hundreds of thousands of cases of illegal steroid use by high school athletes.
Ideally, baseball itself should have handled this problem a long time ago, but greed and hubris have eliminated any attempt to follow a moral and ethical course in the sport. So this needs to be handled forcefully and quickly by the FBI and bring this dirty little mess to an end.
This Has Gone Too Far
Ethanol is screwing up food prices.
It's part of trickle down. Corn is going to make Ethanol instead of being used to feed cattle. Thus the price of beef goes up. The price of milk goes up because dairy cows aren't being fed cheaper corn and have to eat more expensive products. That means the price of cheese has to go up as well. And that impacts the price of …
Pizza.
The price for a pound of cheese closed at $2.07 last Friday on the Chicago Board of Trade. Last year that same pound of cheese was trading at $1.35. And cheese isn't the only thing driving up the price of pizza. Wheat prices have gone through the roof as well. Wheat has traditionally traded at between $3 and $7 a bushel. On Wednesday, February 27, the price of a bushel reached a record $13.50 and closed last Friday at $10.86.
I suppose the larger pizza chains will manage to survive, but even Domino's reported poor earnings this week. Sales domestically were down 3.5% for the chain and net income was down 48% from a year ago. Even the larger chains like Pizza Hut and Papa John's have raised prices on their cheese only pizzas.
With the economy in sad shape the little guy is going to suffer more and maybe go under. Other ingredients in pizza have gone up as well, and the smaller places (which account for half the pizza sales in the country) are going to be in a bind. They can either raise prices (which will hurt sales to economically strapped consumers), change recipes, carefully control portions or just eat the cost and hope things turn around soon.
Now I have to admit I am not eating as much pizza as I once did; or even as much as I would like to. Since it's made with essentially bread, and that is one of the items I'm supposed to avoid as a diabetic, I only have pizza on rare occasions as a sinful treat. But it's a treat I don't want to totally go without.
I will admit Ethanol isn't the only cause of the rising prices, the emergence of a greater demand for corn in foreign markets like China and India has also driven up prices, but when all this conspires to drive up the price of one of my favorite foods things are getting out of hand.
This is hitting me hard.
We're Ignoring It, Why Can't You?
I spoke last week about the EPA decision to deny California a waiver to impose stricter greenhouse gas emission regulations. This week it defended its' actions.
A 48-page report signed by EPA Administrator Stephen L. Johnson claims California doesn't have "compelling and extraordinary conditions" that would warrant stricter standards. It said all the rest of the country is also affected and the problem isn't unique to California. The report drew angry ridicule from environmentalists and officials in California.
The Clean Air Act gives California special authority to regulate vehicle pollution because it began regulations before the federal government did, but the state still needs a waiver to make changes. The problem is if California is granted a waiver then other states can adopt stricter standards as well. This would mean someone is actually taking action to fight global warming which the EPA seems to be making a concerted effort to ignore.
Of course the automobile manufacturers applauded the EPA decision and defended the report. Its statement said we don't need a "confusing multi-state approach" but a unified national solution. But, since the Bush administration seems hell bent on not adopting any meaningful regulations for greenhouse gas emissions, it lets auto makers off the hook.
The proposed California regulations would have made car makers reduce greenhouse gas emissions in cars and light trucks by 30% by 2016. That would give them eight years to actually do something. I guess that's too much to ask.
Later this week Johnson was on the hot seat in front of Congress. Almost a year ago the Supreme Court told the EPA to determine whether or not greenhouse gasses (specifically carbon dioxide) needed to be regulated. Johnson admitted few if any people at the agency are directly working on the issue although at the time of the court order he had promised a reply to the court by last Fall.
The excuse? Johnson said the new requirement for automobiles to achieve a 35 miles per gallon fuel efficiency by 2020 caused the delay. EPA scientists had determined last year greenhouse gasses were a threat to public health, but when the new gasoline regulations were signed they started the process over.
The Bush administration has been fighting the regulation of carbon dioxide, saying it wasn't covered under the Clean Air Act. A large number of people have long believed greenhouse gasses were a danger to the public, but since it would hurt not only the automobile industry but some other industries as well the Bush administration seems determined to scuttle any legislation or regulation which would hurt those businesses.
Waiting until 2020 to get new fuel efficiency, if the automobile makers even make that deadline and don't seek extensions, seems to me to be too little too late. Signs of global warming tied to greenhouse gas emissions are already evident. You have to wonder if we don't do something soon will we be able to mitigate or reverse the problems of global warming at all? And how can we live with an administration and an EPA administrator who use every excuse they can think of to ignore the problem and avoid complying with a Supreme Court directive?
How About Getting Some Lions?
Rush Limbaugh is a total idiot.
OK, I will admit I have never liked the man. My mother, who was somewhere right of Attila the Hun in her politics, used to watch his TV show and if I happened to be in the room I had to listen to his inane ramblings, but he has never been my cup of tea -- or anything else. So the things he said this last week regarding the Democratic race to pick a presidential candidate are not out of character, but still floored me.
He was urging Texas Republicans to vote in the Democratic primary (people are allowed to cross party lines in the Texas primary) and to vote for Hilary Clinton. His thinking was it would prolong the battle between Democrats for the party nomination and the continued struggle would tear the Democrats apart and help ensure a Republican victory in the Fall.
OK, to me a rather underhanded tactic, but it seems typical of what Republicans have been doing over the last several elections and it isn't illegal. I have speculated before they would probably rather run against Clinton than Obama because they think she would be easier to beat.
Limbaugh stated he did want his party to win because , "This is the presidency of the United States you're talking about." Again, OK to say, but it was what followed that was so obnoxious.
"They're (Democrats) in the midst of tearing themselves apart right now. It is fascinating to watch." He also said voting for Clinton would, "sustain this soap opera, and it's something I think we need. It would be fun, too."
Fun?????
Limbaugh was right about one thing, this is the Presidency we are talking about. This is serious business for all of us. It is not something to be enjoyed like watching a cock fight. (For those who can have fun watching such carnage.)
I can just picture Limbaugh wrapped in a bed sheet cheering at the Coliseum as lions ripped Christians apart. Or slathering with glee while gladiators carved each other into so much hamburger.
Maybe Limbaugh ought to get together with Michael Vick and watch a dog fight. They would probably have a gay old time watching animals tear each other apart.
Super???
I read the term "super delegate" a while back when Clinton and Obama were courting these people before the California primary. Although it's not the politically correct term the Democrats use, it designates elected officials and party leaders who have no fixed candidate to vote for at the national convention. Now I see it again in stories concerning candidate strategies after the primary elections on Tuesday
Technically these people are "unpledged party leader and elected official delegates" and can vote for whoever they want at the convention; including people who have dropped out of the race. The number of these delegates will also make up something like 20% of the eligible voters at the Democratic convention.
There were reforms in the Democratic party after the 1968 elections in order to curb the power of party leaders. The super delegates were instituted in 1982 and implemented in 1984 at 14% of the delegates. That percentage has risen to nearly twenty and essentially got party leaders back in control of a large part of the candidate selection process.
I may be way off base here, but it seems to me having almost one fifth of the convention delegates controlled by party leaders takes away from the democratic process. I thought we tried to get away from smoky back room deals in politics a long time ago. The Democrats have come under fire for this whole setup and I think rightfully so.
Quickies
Another one bites the dust. A member of the Bush administration that is.
Timothy Goeglein, who was a White House official who maintained Bush's contact with conservative groups, admitted to plagiarism in writing some 20 columns for an Indiana newspaper. Goeglein who has worked for Bush since 2001, came under fire when it was discovered he lifted material from a Dartmouth College publication in writing a column on education and presented it as his own. He later admitted to the plagiarism. When the newspaper reviewed his other writings they found more instances where he stole from other works and claimed the writing as his own. He resigned last Sunday. Just for my own curiosity, how many members of the Bush administration have had to leave office or been indicted now?
George Bush is still harping on the subject of immunity for telecommunications companies who cooperated with the administration in providing information on customers without a legal warrant. He said this week such companies should be thanked for helping with warrantless wire tapping and not sued. He labeled the illegal actions by telecom companies as "performing patriotic service"
