Ethanol Follies

It's tough being a Senator. You have to figure out how to buy the votes of group A, while simultaneously buying the opposing votes of group B, using monies taken from groups C, D, and E. If you've don your math right, you get re-elected, which is job 1.

Today the Senate voted to end the federal subsidy for Ethanol. Sit down and quit cheering, you haven't heard the whole story.

The fed pays gasoline refiners some $.54/gallon to buy ethanol from Big Corn, which pleases Big Corn. The gasoline refiners, thus, reduce the cost of blended gasoline in proportion to the subsidy, saving you a few cents at the pump for fuel that delivers less power and reduced mileage.

Eliminating the subsidy saves the government money, reducing spending, but wait! The government requires the gasoline refiners to add the ethanol to their product, so without the subsidy you get to pay more for that sub-standard gas you buy. Note that there was no effort to eliminate the requirement for ethanol in gasoline, nor was there proposed a tax cut to help you pay for the suddenly more expensive gas, although there is a glimmer of fairness in this.

Currently the ethanol is paid for from your federal taxes. If this bill passes, the ethanol will be paid for by the end users of the fuel. Since about half the population currently pays no federal taxes, but pretty much everybody buys gas, the penalty falls equally on everybody.

Think of this as step one towards a national flat tax, which would be better if it weren't being imposed over an already progressive tax.

Motorcycle For Sale

Can't rant about liberals or rave about guns all the time I guess so here we are:
This is a '92 Kawasaki Ninja 250. It's been banged about a bit, but it's all there and runs fine. This was my daughters bike, which she didn't ride much, and sold to me when she needed money. It has under 10Kmiles on it.
O.K. just barely less than 10K, but there it is. I don't ride it much, but I'm told it will get 60 MPG if you ride like a sane person, and 50 MPG if you don't. It goes on Craigs List Monday.

Asking price is $1600.

Update: That was quick. All gone.

Frankenfoods

Yet another of those evil, nasty Frankenfoods will now be hitting the market, this one a wheat that is resistant to the newer, tougher wheat rust now coming out of East Africa.

Protests in Europe in 3....2....1...

Oh yeah, it delivers 10% more wheat than the old version.

Right To Work

Sen Ron Paul is sponsoring the National Right To Work act in the U.S. Senate. This bill touches all the right bases and Dr. Paul's heart is certainly in the right place. The Senate, being controled by the UAW and the SEIU, has the perogative to park the bill in a committee with the understanding that it should never see the light of day, which they have done.

The Dems are missing an opportunity here. If the bill is voted out of committee, it means that one or two Dems voted to do so. The unions will be furious, but if they come from mostly non-union states, they have little to fear. Secondly, the bill must pass the Senate.There are lots of ways to buy political cvover here, such as adding an amendment that pushes out its effective date until after the upcoming election, or put in an opt-out clause that would effectively gut the thing. There are enough Dems from right-to-work states to actually pass this in any case.

We assume that house passage will not present problems.

The last refuge is to make it an open secret that the president is expected to veto the bill, so a Dem can vote for it and explain to his union constituents that the vote didn't really count, and he was just pandering.

If the president vetoes it, it improves his already solid standing with the 7% of U.S. workers who still belong to unions, and further alienates the remaining 93%, improving his already good odds of becoming a one-termer. Of course he could announce he was considering signing, and change his mind when Richard Trumka arrives at the White House in an armored truck full of campaign cash. There aren't enough votes in the Senate to override a veto anyway.

Of course if he signs it, he improves his odds of a second term. The question would be Does he think this will help more than having the unions out there waving signs and donating their dues.

Well, do ya feel lucky, punk?

Gun Law, Finland

Reporting here that the Finns have proposed a new law that raises the minimum age to own a handgun, while demanding 2 years experience with one as a prerequisite to ownership. Some of the Finns call this a catch-22 as being unable to own a gun might make getting practice with it somewhat difficult.

The application of the idea is poor, but the basic idea isn't without merit. I thing no one should be allowed to have kids unless they can demonstrate 5 years experience raising them.

H/T to Snowflakes In Hell for that one.

The Future of Transportation, Motorbikes

Pop over here and check out a rather limited view of what a motorcycle can look like if you turn their wheels 90 degrees, so the axles are perpendicular to the ground, and replace the tires with propellers.

Commuting to work becomes a lot more interesting. Instead of watching out for Bozos slurping coffee and talking on cell phones at freeway speeds*, you get to learn where the high-tension lines are located, and plan to be at least a couple hundred feet higher.

*Yeah, yeah, freeway speeds vary a lot. between 0 and 85, repeatedly, over some depressingly short stretches.

Foxes 3

I am hearing stories from the neighbors about the foxes in the neighborhood, and the news is mixed. The two foxes I saw in my back yard looked to be medium sized and quite healthy. The neighbor describes a large, scruffy-looking one he sees in the morning.

He also says he's lost one of his cats, and the neighbors beyond him have lost 2 small dogs. I could get the impression that there are a lot of foxes in the 'hood, and mine are among the smaller ones.

A co-worker tells me he was able to get his foxes to move out by placing a light in the den, and running an AM radio just outside the entrance. Seems they don't like the light and noise, so I'm giving it a try. After 24 hours of a night-light in the ventilation hole, and 850 AM's news, weather and sports, but mostly sports, they seem to have abandoned the den. I'm putting a layer of cinder blocks over the dirt to stop them returning, and salting the area with insecticide to dispose of the fleas.

Neighbor on the other side, who keeps his cat strictly indoors, thinks the foxes are probably Rockies fans and don't mind the incessant sports, it's the 3 hours of Rush Limbaugh that drives them out.

If I thought they were liberals, I'd just put out some land mines and be done with it.

Free States

The Mercatus Center has a study posted that ranks the relative freedom of the individual states. This is a combo of individual and business freedom, and the details and a map depicting freedom in shades of blue can be found at the link.

It's nice to see my own state, Colorado, rated at #7, although I seem to remember the place being MUCH less regulated not that long ago. It's depressing to think that 80% of the country is more like North Korea than we are.

Another interesting item is the way Indiana stands out, #3, in a sea of darkness like Switzerland surrounded by the 3rd Reich.

They mention regulation of air guns in Colorado. I was unaware we had any regulations beyond admonitions not to shoot out other peoples windows.

Gun For Sale

3 years ago a friend presented me with a piece of heavy wall stainless steel pipe, and asked if I could turn it into a cannon. The answer to such a question was yes* with the disclaimers associated with that asterisk running on at some length.

So the thing got built, and I did all the math, and concluded that as long as you don't think you're going to war with this, it can provide some amusement.

The gun is 36" long and has a 3.06" bore, which closely fits a 303 can of the sort used for dog food or Spaghetti-O's. Said can, filled with cement weighs about 2 pounds, and with 15 degrees elevation will reach out an impressive distance. Even better, is a can full of lug nuts, the long kind with one end closed, which whistle ominously in flight.

Firing is by percussion cap:
It occurred to me rather late that a swinging arc mounted at the top of the rear sight could be calibrated in yards of range for a light charge on one side, and a heavier charge on the other.

This is NOT a replica of anything. It's a black powder toy. The carriage is made from the rear axle of a Ford Fiesta, and has been voted "Best Use of a Ford Fiesta". Since this is a towed (2" ball hitch) piece of equipment, there is a license plate and associated paperwork. Don't worry, it's not a registered gun. The paperwork describes this as a"light utility trailer". The frame has been painted primer gray. Someone with the right facilities could doubtless touch up some details.

The fellow I built this for has paid me, and now discovers that it's a bit larger than he imagined, and his garage is full. Asking price is still being hammered out. Suggestions (offers) will be considered. I'm probably more flexible than he is. I need the garage space.

Update: Asking price is $1500.

Update: Gun has been sold.

Sic Transit Gloria...

And all that. It seems the TV producers have changed their minds about using me on their program. The word I'm getting is that they have decided to promote backyard inventors who have produces backyard inventions for the good of humanity.

My experience with this is that it's a sovereign cure for adolescent obesity. What better service to humanity could I produce, at least in this country? I recommend it to every household full of kids in the country, as long as they're located more than 1/2 mile from my house.

Of course it's possible that the producers somehow found out what I actually think of a large part of humanity, which doesn't of course, include any of my readers.

At any rate, they hold out the prospect of going on later if the show progresses, or if they decide that a generous dollop of violence would boost the ratings.

Weinergate

I can't speak for you, but I'm sure tired of all-Weiner all the time. You'd think he would have resigned by now.

Oh wait....wrong party.

Gun Show

Went to the gun show, riding through a haze of smoke from the fires in Arizona. Arizona, having voted the wrong way in the last election, can probably expect the same level of Federal support given to Texas for their fires.

Moderately good attendance, and we sold raffle tickets for the M-1 and the 870 shotgun. Compared to last month when we sold nothing, at least on my shift, this was great. I take this as evidence that the recession is over, and the recovery is under way.

Unrelated, but interesting, my labels for posts, which you see below the post, have all been miraculously fixed, so I guess the Blogger repair job is proceeding apace. To whomever did this, thanks!

To Keep And Bear Arms

I'll be working at the gun show today, so stop by the CSSA table, and join the NRA or the CSSA.

Meantime, The Truth About Guns, mentions that the Mexican constitution has its own version of the second amendment written into it:

Todo hombre tiene derecho de poseer y portar armas para su seguridad y legítima defensa. La ley señalará cuáles son las prohibidas y la pena en que incurren los que las portaren.

My Spanish is good enough to comprehend the first line, but I have to resort to Babelfish for the second:

All man must right to own and to carry arms for his security and legitim defense. The law will indicate which are the prohibited ones and the pain which those incur will carry that them.

The problem with machine translation becomes obvious right away. Also there seems to have been either a typo or a language shift since 1857, as hombre (man) probably would translate better as hombres (men).

It seems to say that all men have a right to keep and bear arms for their defense and personal security, BUT the law may prohibit some men from this, and may specify exactly who is not permitted, and establish penalties for the violators.

In spite of using the word "right", what the clause grants is a privilege to be granted or withdrawn at the whim of the government, very much like the interpretation the antis would like to impose on our own second amendment.

King Alfred of England, in around 800 AD recognized that if the Danes landed five ships up near York, they would have laid siege to the city, looted, pillaged raped, burned, and be halfway back to Denmark before he could call up his army and march it up to oppose them. He issued an edict then establishing every mans right to arms, and a civic duty to be at least minimally proficient with them to discourage the Danes or at least keep them busy until the army could arrive.

The modern equivalent of this is Chief Wiggums comment: "Can't you people take the law into your own hands? I mean, we can't be policing the entire city!" The principle works on pretty much any scale.

Quote Of The Week

"If you want to make a Conservative angry, tell him a lie. If you want to make a Liberal angry, tell him the truth." - Rush Limbaugh

This from an observation at News Busters that while Time magazine is making odds on the GOP wannabes, they continue to completely ignore Herman Cain, even after his outstanding showing in the recent debate. Speculation runs wild: Is Time racist? Is Time bigoted?

Actually the truth is a bit too plain to see. Time is Democratic. The last thing they want anyone to see, is a competent, conservative BLACK candidate. It might give the others ideas. It would also explain why they give the best odds to the RINOs and lesser standing to the conservatives.

Update: I suppose it's incumbent on me to point out that Townhall's polls which appear on Moonbattery and other placed, are guilty of the same offense. They even include Huckabee, who's not officially running.

Energy and Environment

In the news, all those windmills the Brits invested in seem to be languishing in the still air, victims of a shortage of wind. It was said that if the government were put in charge of the Sahara desert, within 6 months there would be a shortage of sand. Well here's proof.

We were told that unlike oil, no matter how much wind we used, there would always be more, but look, we've only just begun to tap the worlds wind reserves, and already there's shortages. This is having an impact on Vestas, maker of giant windmills worldwide, who is currently laying off large numbers from its plants in Denmark.

There's a Vestas plant just north of Denver too, but as long as the Dems run the state, they'll have a market for their product.