Maybe they didn’t get a chance in February

An ad on page 5A in Monday’s Waukesha Freeman. Notice the first line.

Filed under: 2008, Elections, Humorous , 2008 election, humor, Waukesha, Wisconsin

The Clean Energy Scam

Yes, another TIME magazine cover on ethanol.

But this time it’s a different tune.

Propelled by mounting anxieties over soaring oil costs and climate change, biofuels have become the vanguard of the green-tech revolution, the trendy way for politicians and corporations to show they’re serious about finding alternative sources of energy and in the process slowing global warming. The U.S. quintupled its production of ethanol–ethyl alcohol, a fuel distilled from plant matter–in the past decade, and Washington has just mandated another fivefold increase in renewable fuels over the next decade. Europe has similarly aggressive biofuel mandates and subsidies, and Brazil’s filling stations no longer even offer plain gasoline. Worldwide investment in biofuels rose from $5 billion in 1995 to $38 billion in 2005 and is expected to top $100 billion by 2010, thanks to investors like Richard Branson and George Soros, GE and BP, Ford and Shell, Cargill and the Carlyle Group. Renewable fuels has become one of those motherhood-and-apple-pie catchphrases, as unobjectionable as the troops or the middle class.

This is what happens when you let politicians determine what happens in the market. We see it over and over again and yet we somehow believe that this time it will be different.

The small print you can’t read in the cover shot above reads,

Politicians and Big Business are pushing biofuels as alternatives to oil. All they’re really doing is driving up food prices and making global warming worse–and you’re paying for it.

As always, isn’t it?

The subtitle to the article, which is hard to find online says,

Hyped as an eco-friendly fuel, ethanol increases global warming, destroys forests and inflates food prices. So why are we subsidizing it?

Why indeed?

Next, and in fact already happening, environmentalists will bemoan increased mercury levels from broken and trashed energy saving bulbs. Recently mandated by our government.

Sound familiar?

Filed under: Environment, Government inefficiency , Environment, ethanol, global warming

Idiot politician of the week

James Wigderson names his latest.

Filed under: Politics , idiot politician of the week

Let’s give them another post to find

For some reason, there’ s a sudden interest in “cat urine drug” or some combination thereof. I’ve had almost 1000 hits since last Thursday, including my best day since moving to WordPress (691 on Thursday) resulting from searches for that phrase or similar because this post ranks second. But I haven’t heard any news about it since that post.

Oh well, as long as I get hits.

Filed under: Blogging, Odd news , Blogging, cat urine, drug, methamphetamine, Odd news, search engines

April 1st election

UPDATE: The website for your ballot (and voting record, by the way) requires the exact spelling of your first and last name. I have Ms. Lori Howe’s postcard to make me aware that one of my names is mispelled.

I also got Roger Patton’s website from the Waukesha Freeman. I only needed to read this page to know I wouldn’t be voting for him.

I also added the link to Mr. Gleisner’s website, which I neglected earlier.

Cindy Kilkenny tipped us to this web site where you can find out the Wisconsin candidates and/or questions on your ballot. Here’s mine (Links to web sites are included where known, my choices in bold).

JUSTICE OF THE SUPREME COURT

MIKE GABLEMAN (Non-Partisan)
LOUIS BUTLER (Non-Partisan)

ALDERPERSON (AL3)

CHRISTOPHER R. HERNANDEZ (Non-Partisan)
LORI A. HOWE (Non-Partisan)

County Board Supervisor (NSU19)

Steven Wimmer (Non-Partisan)
Roger Patton (Non-Partisan)

COURT OF APPEALS JUDGE, DISTRICT 2

WILLIAM GLEISNER (Non-Partisan)
LISA S NEUBAUER (Non-Partisan)

WAUKESHA COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT JUDGE, BRANCH 2
MARK S GEMPELER (Non-Partisan) Um, let me see…

WAUKESHA COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT JUDGE, BRANCH 5
LEE S DREYFUS, JR (Non-Partisan) Ditto.

WAUKESHA COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT JUDGE, BRANCH 6
PATRICK C HAUGHNEY (Non-Partisan) And again.

School District Unified (US6174)Waukesha
COMO, JOSEPH LEE JR (Non-Partisan) You’re kidding, right?
O’BRYAN, KURT (Non-Partisan)
BRZENK, BARBARA (Non-Partisan)

QUESTION 1: Partial veto
QUESTION 1: “Partial veto. Shall section 10 (1) (c) of article V of the constitution be amended to prohibit the governor, in exercising his or her partial veto authority, from creating a new sentence by combining parts of two or more sentences of the enrolled bill?”

YES, YES, YES.

Filed under: 2008, Elections, Waukesha, Wisconsin , 2008 Spring election, Waukesha, Waukesha City Council, Waukesha County Supervisor, Waukesha School District. Frankestein Veto, Wisconsin, Wisconsin County Circuit Court, Wisconsin Court of Appeals, Wisconsin Supreme Court

AL CENTRAL

The Cleveland Indians are the defending champions, but the Tigers were active in the offseason. The Indians had the top-rated rotation, Borowski was the saves leader and a more than adequate offense. All those pieces are returning.

The Detroit Tigers improved themselves greatly with the additions of Willis, Cabrera, Renteria, and Jacque Jones. Their already lethal offense is now more so. If the pitching holds us, they could take it all. But I don’t think they will.

The once fearsome Chicago White Sox rotation is a shadow of its former self. The offense was last in the league last year and there have been no improvements. The reason I put them as high as third is because of the following two teams.

Johan Santana leaving for the Mets leaves big shoes to fill for the Minnesota Twins. If all the youngsters come through, they might finish higher.

That leaves the Kansas City Royals. They improved last year and didn’t lose 100 games. They probably won’t this year either. But they still need a lot of help and will finish last again.

Filed under: Baseball, Sports, Wisconsin , American League, Baseball, Central Division, Chicago White Sox, Cleveland Indians, Detroit Tigers, Kansas CIty Royals, major league baseball, Minnesota Twins, Sports

Waukesha Carnival time!

After missing last week due to another trek to north central Ohio (where we got but a dusting from the storm that left 10+” here), we have another rather large edition of the carnival. We better jump right into it.

David B. Bohl starts us off with How to Maintain Professional Boundaries posted at Slow Down Fast Today!

Kyle Prast from Practically Speaking posts some statistics crimes at the Brookfield High Schools.

Dad29, who is in favor of the Elmbrook referendum, wonders if the Wisconsin Government Accountability Board will be speech cops.

Cindy Kilkenny is against the Elmbrook school district referendum.

Linda Richter wants us to hold Alderman Ken Harenda accountable.

The New Berlin Citizens for Responsible Government shares their April 1 Ballot recommendations.

Curt Otto has some pictures of Harley Fest.

Spring City Chronicle recommends Christopher Hernandez For Alderman in Waukesha District 3.

James Wigderson clarifies things in Which candidate is he [not James but Charles Betker] not endorsing?

I included this post from Jeff entitled Sweeping The Streets: March 27, 2008 because he touched on Mayor Nelson being unfairly blamed for downtown vacancies and because once again we are shown how much the public doesn’t understand TIFs.

Bryon Houlgrave posted a funny picture. While this shot is humorous, this post tells some of the trials of trying to get those pictures.

Josh presents some good thoughts on sex offenders posted at Blog Waukesha.

Pete Fanning gives us a truly disturbing political video.

Wisconsin State Senator Mary Lazich (aide Kevin Fischer?)informs us about taxes in her post, Tax Freedom Day in Wisconsin is April 24 posted at Conservatively Speaking.

Shawn Matson has made some adjustments to his blog now entitled The Case for Milwaukee to his blog. You can now also get to it via this link.

The Asian Badger has a post showing us that not all liberals are completely brain dead.

That concludes this edition, but by no means exhausted all the fine posts this time. It is election time, after all.

Submit your blog article to the next edition of the carnival using the convenient carnival submission form. Past posts and future editions can be found on the blog carnival index page.

Filed under: 2008, Blog carnivals, Blogging, Elections, Waukesha, Waukesha Carnival, Waukesha blogs, Wisconsin , 2008 Spring election, blogs, Brookfield High schools, Elmbrook school district, Harley Davidson, liberal, photos, political video, sex offenders, Tax Freedom Day, tax increment financing districts, Taxes, Waukesha, Waukesha Carnival, Waukesha County politics, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Government Accountability Board

That elliot

Always looking on the bright side.

Filed under: Politics , government, libertarian

Supreme Court race

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has the online chat sessions with Justice Louis Butler and Judge Mike Gableman up. You may recognize a question poser or two.

Dane101 had a well-written review of the race by an Emily Mills. The author was left-of-center, but she presented the facts in a well-balanced way. She goes into the ads but not in the same way as the more liberal or conservative members of the Cheddarsphere might do.

The Wisconsin Family Council (no, not those guys, the other ones) also has a pretty fair look (PDF file) at the Supreme Court race and the Question on the ballot, the so-called Frankenstein veto.

Filed under: 2008, Elections , Frankenstein veto, Louis Butler, Michael Gableman, Wisconsin Supreme Court

Bible and government by Dr. John Cobin – a review – part 3

In this post, I hope to finish the rest of the book that I started with this post and this post.

In chapters 3 and 4 Dr. Cobin gives us his view of popular Biblical views of government. His key premise is that,

With few exceptions over the course of human civilization, civil government has been relatively evil insofar as mankind’s temporal well being is concerned. Furthermore, in an individualistic sense, civil government is always evil to someone. Certainly, Uriah would not have thought King David’s treatment of him to be a nice or a good thing (II Sam. 11:4, 15).

Wow. Quite a statement for a Christian to assimilate.

But wait there’s more.

Popular thinking that government is always a lesser evil than the extreme case of political anarchy is mistaken. Proponents of such thinking fail to reckon with the brutal record of civil government.

Bet that got your attention.

He gives an example of

those who have faced extermination at the hands of communists might not agree that the tyrannical government that dominated and oppressed them was better than anarchy.

Perhaps, but that wouldn’t mean that all civil government is evil all the time. Even the communists might have done something good.

He may be correct that “the existence of anarchy does not imply that society has neither rules nor order” but that does not mean it would work in this day and age. He believes the market would provide order, but that is too much to hope for that anyone but the most fervent believer in free markets to accept.

There is a danger of power which is why we must be vigilant.

We see an example in Revelation, where government is used by Satan to persecute the faithful remaining on the earth.

But wait there’s more. Joseph, an Old Testament hero seen as a picture of Christ, is criticized by Cobin for

bad, proactive economic policies where people were effectively swindled out of their land by the state (Gen 41:33-44). The state profited handsomely by the craftiness of Joseph.

Whew. This will be more than most Bible believing Christians can accept completely.

His solution? Christians should not actively participate in government.

The Appendix to Chapter 3 purportedly lists all policies of governments in the Bible and classifies them as good ambiguous or evil.

Chapter 4 continues looking at the Bible and government, looking at three key passages, Romans 13:1-7; 1 Peter 2:13-17 and Titus 3:1-2. Let’s just say that he practically reverses the commonly held view and does so unconvincingly.

Dr. Cobin believes that good government is the exception rather than the rule. He also feels that Christians are under no compulsion to obey every law. He spends most of Chapter 5 dealing with that. I would agree as long as the Christian is prepared to face the consequences, something Dr. Cobin appears unwilling to do.

Chapter 6 gives a policy analysis of the Christian and American public school. Suffice it to say that he believes

The public school has at once been both the greatest, most pernicious threat to liberty and American Christianity.

Few conservatives would disagree, hence the popularity of parochial and home schools.

The final chapter sums it up and gives a table of issues and how Christians should react.

I’ll have one more post on the book, or more correctly, on the author and my reaction.

Filed under: Books, Christianity, Politics , anarchy, Bible and government, book review, Christianity, John Cobin, Politics, public schools