A sign of things to come?

I read through the following article this morning with mild amusement.

The Greenest Show on Earth: Democrats Gear Up for Denver

As the Mile High City gears up to host a Democratic bash for 50,000, organizers are discovering the perils of trying to stage a political spectacle that’s also politically correct.

Consider the fanny packs.

The host committee for the Democratic National Convention wanted 15,000 fanny packs for volunteers. But they had to be made of organic cotton. By unionized labor. In the USA.

Official merchandiser Bob DeMasse scoured the country. His weary conclusion: “That just doesn’t exist.”

Ditto for the baseball caps. “We have a union cap or an organic cap,” Mr. DeMasse says. “But we don’t have a union-organic offering.”

Of course then you hit a section which makes you scratch your head and wonder ‘are they serious?’

But Matt Burns, a spokesman for the Republican convention, looks on with undisguised glee at some of the Democrats’ efforts — such as the “lean ‘n’ green” catering guidelines.

Among them: No fried food. And, on the theory that nutritious food is more vibrant, each meal should include “at least three of the following colors: red, green, yellow, blue/purple, and white.” (Garnishes don’t count.) At least 70% of ingredients should be organic or grown locally, to minimize emissions from fuel burned during transportation. “One would think,” says Mr. Burns, “that the Democrats in Denver have bigger fish to bake — they have ruled out frying already — than mandating color-coordinated pretzel platters.”

But, as usual, there’s just no way to make everyone happy.

Joanne Katz, who runs the Denver caterer Three Tomatoes, will take one for the green team by removing her fried goat-cheese won tons with chipotle pepper caramel sauce from the menu. But she questions whether some of the guidelines will have the desired earth-saving effects.

Compostable utensils, she says, are often shipped from Asia on fuel-guzzling cargo ships. As for the plates: “Is it better to drive across town to have china delivered to an event and then use hot water to wash it, or is it better to use petroleum-based disposables?” she asks.

Even beer is causing a problem.

But it’s almost inevitable that principles, politics and profit will conflict. To wit: Coors Brewing Co., in Golden, Colo., will donate biofuel made from beer waste to power the convention’s fleet of flex-fuel vehicles. A green star for the convention — but it has rankled die-hard liberals, who boycotted Coors in the 1960s and ’70s to protest hiring practices that they said discriminated against blacks, Latinos, women and gays. Heirs to the Coors fortune have long been active in conservative causes and Republican politics.

…

No matter, grumbles Anna Flynn, a longtime union member from Denver who objected to the donation. “Any way you put it, it’s still Coors,” she says.

So will the fanny packs — made in the USA of undyed, organic fabric. Mr. DeMasse vows to get a union shop to print the logo, but he says the ink will be petroleum based. Unless, that is, he decides to get the logo embroidered — with biodegradable thread.

I couldn’t help but be reminded of the ‘Office Christmas Party’ joke that worked its way around the internet a couple of years ago. If you haven’t seen it, or would like to see it again, I’ve included it below the fold.

Ethanol Hurts Gas Mileage

Ethanol Blended Fuel Hurts Gas Mileage

Supporters of ethanol use say it’s a cheaper, cleaner burning fuel. They claim the 10% blend has virtually no impact on fuel efficiency, but some mechanics disagree.

…

Block says it’s simple science. He says a car must burn more ethanol to create the same energy as gasoline. So if you remove 10% pure gasoline and replace it with ethanol, the fuel won’t burn the same.

According to Block’s numbers, the driver of a vehicle that gets 20 miles per gallon would see his fuel efficiency drop to 19 miles per gallon on average.

Hmmm. This sounds familiar. Seems I read someone saying something like this not too long ago. Oh yeah, it was me.

Not to mention that Ethanol blend gasoline makes many cars (like mine) run like crap and causes them to burn MORE gas which makes people spend MORE money at the pump.

One MPG difference can have a significant impact over course of a tank of gas. For the record, by my calculations a 10% Ethanol blend causes me to lose a little over 2 MPG. In my case thats a days commute to work and back. Thats one more day I can go an without having to buy gas. Over a few months that adds up to a couple weeks. Over a year that adds up to… well, you get the point.

Gas taxes will be going up.

How do I know?

Americans drive 1.4 billion fewer highway miles

Americans drove 1.4 billion fewer highway miles in April than they did in April 2007, the Department of Transportation said Wednesday.

That marks the sixth consecutive monthly drop and coincides with record gas prices and an increase in transit ridership, Transportation Secretary Mary Peters said.

Yeah, I can hear you out there. “So? What does this have to do with gas taxes?”

Well here’s the money quote:

Peters expressed concern that the cutbacks have resulted in the collection of fewer taxes on gasoline. Such taxes are funneled to the federal Highway Trust Fund, which gets 18.4 cents per gallon from gasoline and 24.4 cents per gallon from diesel fuel.

“History shows that we’re going to continue to see congested roads while gas tax revenues decline even further,” she said.

In addition to driving less, Americans are buying smaller vehicles. Peters said sales of midsize SUV dropped 38 percent last month compared with May of last year as Americans increasingly choose to drive cars, the department said.

Fewer taxes? Oh no. We can’t have that. The Government is never expected to make do with less. Only the citizen. Need proof? Just look around for a few water bill tax stories. There’s plenty of them out there. In fact, he’s an entry I wrote about one back in 2006:

Local Government raises water bills BECAUSE…

Water bills in Harrisburg are going up. The Harrisburg Authority has approved a 13.5 percent rate increase that takes effect immediately. A household of four would see an average increase of $4.04 a month.The authority said the increase is due to a significant drop in water usage because people are conserving more.

No good deed goes unpunished. Conserve more and you will be taxed more.

The Farm Bill

Pelosi Statement on House Vote to Override the Presidents Veto of the Bipartisan Farm Bill

Last month, the Congress passed the Food and Energy Security Act, a new Farm Bill for America, because it will help lower food prices, makes an historic new commitment to nutrition assistance and food stamps, invests in energy independence, supports conservation, and recognizes the importance of fruits, vegetables, and other specialty crops.

The Food and Energy Security Act will also help reduce gas prices and ensure that Americas family farmers fuel Americas energy independence. The bill makes a $1 billion investment in energy independence, takes a critical step in transitioning from bio-fuels made from corn, and creates a new tax credit that will provide a $400 million investment in cellulosic biofuels, such as switchgrass. These efforts will help ensure that we send our energy dollars to the Midwest and across America, instead of to the Middle East.

Well yippee. Another billion to the Corn/Ethanol lobby. Nevermind that Ethanol production is causing serious increases in food prices as well as being obscenely wasteful in the amount of water needed for production. And why are they still pushing this ‘Ethanol will reduce gas prices’ crap? In my area you can’t find a gas station that isn’t selling at least a 10% Ethanol blend gasoline. Gas prices are still over $4 at those stations. Not to mention that Ethanol blend gasoline makes many cars (like mine) run like crap and causes them to burn MORE gas which makes people spend MORE money at the pump. If the Government insists on spending taxpayer’s money on biofules, those numbers should be reversed. Put a billion into celluosic biofuels (and algae based biofuels as well). Those biofuels are far more promising that Ethanol (not that the Corn lobby will admit that).

I’m really not understanding how Pelosi can say this bill will lower food prices. Not only, as mentioned before, does Ethanol production increase food prices, this farm bill still pays farmers to idle their land and not farm. All in the name of conservation. So which is it? Is there a ‘global food crisis’ that we hear so much about in the media or do we need farmers to idle their land for conservation? Which is more important?

The price of gasoline has doubled since the Democrats took over Congress two years ago. This pork laden farm bill is not going to help. These politicians are living in a dream world.

side note: I also notice they’ll still repeating the ‘Middle East’ mantra. It seems they want many people to keep believing that we import a majority of our oil from the Middle East when in fact our top suppliers include Canada (number one), Mexico, Venezuela and Nigeria.

Heh

I received this in an email with no link to the original source.  If someone knows the source, please let me know so I can give proper credit.

Can’t I even watch a television show

without having this damned election thrown in my face? Because to be honest, I’m really starting to get sick of it and would like to have SOME way to get away from it that doesn’t involved turned off every electronic device in the house and canceling all magazine and newspaper subscriptions.

All I wanted to do was watch the season finale of House on hulu. Barely a third of the way through the episode (Wilson’s Heart) there was a scene between House and one of his doctors in a bathroom. Bad enough that they had House open it up with a ‘wide stance’ joke, but they switch to a shot of the other stall and you’re greeted with this:

Convenient how the shot of the actress was just a bit off center to get the ‘Change 08′ as much notice as possible. I mean come on, just a little bit of a rest…. please?

Reminds me of the big uproar over the Dixie Chicks back in 2003 when they bashed Bush overseas and Hollywood seemed hellbent to mention them whenever and wherever they could.

Television shows like House are supposed to be an escape. If I want politics, I’ll turn on the news.