"That's HEDLEY!"

He will be missed.

Here's a good idea.....

This is an extraordinarily bad idea

Didn't we decide a long time ago that sulfur aerosols in the upper atmosphere were a bad idea....you remember....the whole ozone thing. Acid Rain. Is that another Lefty enviro, "Never Mind"?

Edit: Here's a good addition that shows how bad the above idea is. Check Dr. Dewpoint's archives for a lot of really good, logical data you won't see most other places.

Where To Start?

The Beer: The Pale Ale is still fermenting. The three pounds (about 1.5 kilos) of honey may be responsible for the long fermentation. Honey breaks down much more slowly than other fermentable sugars.

The Bicycle: A lovely 30 mile ride through the country west of town, looping over to the Lake where it was, of course, 10 degrees (F) cooler.

The VRWC: Apparently, there are some people in Santa Fe who want Wi-Fi banned because they're "allergic". http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,358001,00.html

I googled this Arthur Firstenberg and an individual with the same name (with a "u", not an"i") is an anti-cell-phone-you'll-get-brain-cancer-all-radiation-is-bad-blah-blah-blah. I'm left wondering if it's the same guy. I suppose if the guy has a pacemaker and the signal is sufficiently strong, it could be a problem. I have my doubts.

Another, more interesting article: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,358029,00.html seems more legit. As a submarine veteran, I am aware that the full story of both the Thresher and Scorpion are subject to much speculation. If this helped lay any of that to rest and found the Titanic, I think it is totally worth it.

The hits keep coming: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080525/bs_nm/spain_buffett_dc

I disagree with the esteemed Mr. Buffet in some respects here. Yes, banks were stupid, but there was significant pressure from government and activists to loosen up credit so "everyone can share in the American Dream". Note also, he states that the economic downturn shouldn't last long in this article, but just a few days ago, in an interview with Der Spiegel, he said he expected a "long, deep recession". OK. Which is it? Is he changing his opinion? Or is someone not getting the correct facts into print?

So much crap, so little time.

The Difference

The Beer: The Pale Ale continues to ferment nicely.

The Bicycle: A beautiful day for cycling. 70 degrees (F for my non-US friends). Sunny. Nice change from freezing my "como-say-yammas" off.

The VRWC: Here's where we can define ourselves. I don't like Ted Kennedy. Never have. He is culpable for the death of Mary Jo Kopechne and was given a pass by everyone. He's a big time Lefty and stabbed the President in the back when the President tried to make nice. That said, I do not wish a malignant brain tumor on anyone. I won't dance in the streets over his demise and I'm certainly not saying he deserved it. I respect the Office of US Senator too much. Now, consider if President Bush had a malignant brain tumor and the response from the Left. Need I say more?

Well THAT Was a Bad Idea

The Beer: A fine Honey Pale Ale. which I think is competetive with Sierra Nevada. With the price of hops, it was the most expensive batch I've ever brewed. I expect much from it. Two weeks to bottle and another two to drink.

The Bicycle: The Madone loyally took me to Port Washington and back. Unfortunately, the weather was not cooperative. Between cold and wet, it was, all-in-all a truly miserable 40 miles. Hence, the "Bad Idea" theme.

The VRWC: President-Elect....er....Dewmocrat Nominee....I mean, candidate Senator Obama wants Republicans to lay off his wife. OK. Shut her up and we won't have anything to say. You put her on the campaign trail. She's fair game. I don't see Clinton or McCain whining about the treatment of their spouses, so shut up.

I predict here and now that Obama will be crushed worse than McGovern. I see the same populism and same "Rock-Star" popularity. Maybe he takes Oregon.

Or maybe he beats McCain like a rented mule. I'm too afraid to stay home.

Saturday

The Beer: A hearty dark beer with a mild hoppiness, similar to a stout. I made it last fall with some leftover ingredients from other batches. I just drank the last one.

The Bicycle: The Madone sits patiently in the garage as I planted the garden today. Peppers, mesclun, squash (zucchini and butternut), pole beans, snap peas, herbs (all legal) and eggplant. If the weather holds, I'll ride long tomorrow.

The VRWC: The President indicated while speaking in front of the Israeli Knesset (or didn't) that Senator Obama is an appeaser. The Left has gone nuts over this. But the facts are the facts. He voted over and over again to not confront Saddam, he has voted to get out and failed to show any indication he is willing to confront evil in the world (If you are looking for proof of evil, look to Myanmar). If he wasn't an appeaser, he would have stood up for the President against the remarks of Hugo Chavez at the UN. But in fact, he is an appeaser. I don't know what else you call it. And for Senator Obama, with zero foreign policy experience to question McCain's cred (and I'm not exactly a McCain fan, either) is the height of hypocrisy.

Nancy Pelosi is going to Iraq. Isn't that special. I'm pretty sure she plans to spin this against the President and against the war.

That's all, folks!

Energy Policy

Is it possible that Democrats REALLY don't understand economics? Or do they figure the average American voter doesn't?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080510/ap_on_go_co/democrats_energy

The energy policies advocated by Democrats are nothing more than scare tactics. The evil Bush-Cheney-Halliburton-Saudi-Big Oil conspiracy stuff is wearing thin. Fact is, there is plenty of oil under US soil, but the Leftys won't hear of tapping it. They're under the spell of the far Leftist enviros who have an agenda to do something....I'm not sure what. But I can tell you for certain that their agenda will destroy the US economy far worse than the weakened dollar has.

I can't post the article here, because I can't find it anymore, but it points to evidence that the weak dollar is the culprit in high oil prices. The value of oil as related to gold has not changed. They track very closely. With respect to the dollar, both oil and gold (and many other commodities) have skyrocketed. This tells me that the problem is not scarcity of resources, but weak dollar policy and speculation. The dollar is weak, so money must be placed elsewhere.

The very idea that taxing oil companies is somehow going to help the consumer is ridiculous. Taxes are a cost of doing business and raise the price of goods and services. Further, the idea of forcing energy companies to use part of their profits for "renewables" is shortsighted. Renewables a) don't and can't work (do the math. It's simple physical laws) and b) require vast amounts of energy for their development and produce vast amounts of toxic waste at their end of useful life.

In the words of the revered poetess, "Dis sh-- is bananas, b--a-n-a-n-a-s".

Count on The Government........

To screw it up.

The "Homeowner Bailout Bills", HR5818 and HRH830 are just plain bad policy. I mean, seriously. The people who end up footing the bill here are those who are out there working hard every day, making good decisions and paying their bills. Where's the bailout for my credit card? I want a $50,000 car, but I can't afford it. Should I go buy it and expect the government to bail me out? The car dealer is offering a low interest rate AND cash back.

There are three guilty parties here:

• A party purchasing a home they didn't need for a price they couldn't afford.
• A party (whether a broker, agent or builder or other) pushing the line, "Buy as much house as you can afford. Prices are going to keep going up."
• A party that colluded with the other two to make a risky loan to someone who would never otherwise qualify.
• I'll add a fourth party here......a bunch of freakin' do-gooders about 10 years back who got all excited because not everyone could buy a house. "Lenders are too selective. They should lend money to low income people at rates they can afford." Am I the only one who remembers that?

This program will not help anyone. If someone can't afford the house they are in now, they can't afford it later. From the text of the bills, it appears it is only a 3-5 year government-backed loan, after which the homeowner has to refinance. When they default on this one in droves - and they will - the government will have a bunch of homes to sell off and the Fire Sale will be on. If you think home prices are deflated now, wait three years. This is going to get ugly.

Maxine Waters commented that we bailed out Wall Street, we should bail out "those who vote for us". That's just pandering.......and Wall Street shouldn't have been bailed out either.

Let this one settle out via the market and fewer people get hurt.

Read the bills for yourself at www.thomas.loc.gov