Month: July 2009

Why Congress should probably read bills before they pass them

RollCall.com[*1] :

As a result of the markup of carbon costs, a lot of those working families will be out of work and unable to pay their existing bills, let alone new ones. Consider: Burning one ton of coal produces about three tons of CO2. So a tax of $15 per ton of CO2 emitted is equivalent to a tax of $45/ton on coal. The price of Eastern anthracite coal runs in the neighborhood of $45/ton, so under the proposed system, such coal would be taxed at a rate of about 100 percent. The price of Western bituminous coal is currently about $12/ton. This coal would therefore be taxed at a rate of almost 400 percent. Coal provides half of America’s electricity, so such extraordinary imposts could easily double the electric bills paid by consumers and businesses across half the nation. In addition, many businesses, such as the metals and chemical industries, use a great deal of coal directly. By doubling or potentially even quadrupling the cost of their most basic feedstock, the cap-and-trade system’s indulgence fees could make many such businesses uncompetitive and ultimately throw millions of working men and women onto the unemployment lines.

. . .

But all these bad aspects of the Waxman-Markey bill pale before its potential impact on the world’s food supply. America’s agricultural sector is one of the greatest success stories in human history. In 1930, hunger still stalked the entire globe. Not just in Africa, India and China, but even in Europe and America, the struggle to simply get enough food to live on still preoccupied billions of people. Since 1930, the world population has tripled. But instead of going hungrier, people nearly everywhere are now eating much better. This miracle is the work of American farmers, who have not only produced huge surpluses to feed the world, but used the income gained from such good work to pioneer ever more advanced techniques that have enabled farmers everywhere to grow more

. . .

If you tax carbon, you tax fertilizer and pesticides. If you tax these things, you tax food, and by no small amount. A $15/ton CO2 tax would increase fertilizer production costs directly by about $60/ton, with the cap-and-trade bill’s increased transport costs inflating the burden still more. That’s enough to make many farmers use less fertilizer, and less fertilizer means less food.

Emphasis mine.

First, call your U.S. Senators and tell them to stop this madness. Then, make sure by every legal means necessary that every single Representative who voted for this abomination is retired with extreme prejudice in the 2010 election.

HT: Instapundit[*2]

The Lionesses of Iraq

At StrategyPage[*1] via Instapundit[*2] :

The (U.S.) Marines have a different attitude towards this. As they put it, “every marine a rifleman.” In practice, this means that the majority of marines, who have combat support jobs, continue to get infantry training. So the marines in Iraq called these all-female teams (3-5 women) Lionesses. Again, no shortage of volunteers, as female marines, even more than their sisters in the army, were eager to get into the fight. But that’s not what the lioness teams were created for. What the marines had also noticed was that the female marines tended to get useful information out of the women they searched. Iraqi women were surprised, and often awed, when they encountered these female soldiers and marines. The awe often turned into cooperation. Most Iraqi women are much less enthusiastic about fighting the Americans than their men folk (who die in large numbers when they do so.) Being a widow is much harder in the Arab world than it is in the West.

The marines also noticed that the female troops were better at picking up useful information in general. This is something Western police forces noted, in the last few decades, as women were allowed to work in all areas of police work, including detectives and crime scene investigators. Iraqi men were also intimidated by female soldiers and marines. In the macho Arab world, an assertive female with an assault rifle is sort of a man’s worst nightmare. So many otherwise reticent Iraqi men, opened up to the female troops, and provided information. Women also had an easier time detecting a lie (something husbands often learn the hard way.)

Me. Proud. Our girls got game. Lionesses of the Desert. Where’s the movie?

OK, let’s try this: Awful Library Books

Snookums wants me to go to the library more. I’m not so sure that’s a good idea.[*1]

So in answer to some questions: No, the books on this blog are not necessarily “awful”, its just that “books-that-should- be- reconsidered- under-interpretation-of-current-collection developement-policies-and-retired” is not a fun name for a blog that is just trying to instigate a discussion on quality library collections!

Also, none of the books on this blog are the property of Holly and Mary. We wander through library catalogs and ILL our choices. We aren’t selling any books, but if you are serious about collecting some of these titles, I suggest you head to your nearest public library’s book sale room. ( I am sure they would be happy to relieve you of some money!)

Via BoingBoing[*2] .

OK, maybe it’s library book sales I should stay away from.

Top 10 Manly Movie Deaths

I’ve been way to dark lately. Er, oops, didn’t mean “dark.” Wouldn’t want to be racist, you know. I meant . . . um . . . well, not exactly depressed . . . what’s the word, what’s the word . . . terrified? Yeah, that’s close.

Well, anyway, I’m going to try to lighten it up a bit. So, at the link, via Tigerhawk[*1] , the Top 10 Manly Movie Deaths[*2] .

OK, that maybe doesn’t help the mood all that much. But the good news is I think I’ve only seen five of the 10 movies. Is that good news? I are so confused.