A Sweet Deal

The US Department of Agriculture is planning to buy 400,000 tons of sugar to prop up sugar prices.  That's $168 million worth of sugar, at the March price of 21.03 cents a pound.  Where is that sequester when you need it?
   According to the Wall St Journal, USDA is motivated by a desire to prevent bankruptcy among sugar producers who have borrowed $862 million from USDA this growing season.  If the producers go broke, Uncle doesn't get paid back, at least not in dollars.  Apparently the sugar borrowers pledge their crops as security for the loans.  If they don't have money, they give the sugar to Uncle Sam instead of dollars.  Last time this happened, 2000,  Uncle wound up the proud owner of  one million tons of sugar. At least sugar isn't perishable, that gives bureaucrats some years to figure out how to get rid of it.  The 2008 farm bill calls for this sugar to be made into ethanol and added to gasoline. 
   In addition to cheap loans and price supports, the sugar industry gets tariff protection.  World sugar prices are only 18 cents a pound, compared with 21 cents a pound inside the US.   The National Confectioners Association, big sugar consumers, claim the sugar producers have cost US consumers $14 billion in higher sugar prices since the 2008 farm bill passed.
  One bright spot.  Our democratic senator, Jeanne Shaheen calls this swindle  "unacceptable" and is sponsoring a bill to "give the USDA more flexibility in handling the sugar program".  More flexibility my foot, she ought to sponsor a bill to shut this scam down completely.
 

World's most famous stove pipe comes out of storage

The Vatican's chimney, the one that puffs white smoke or black smoke to signal election or non election of a new pope was on TV the other day.  Vatican workers were shown installing it in the roof of the Sistine Chapel.  Damn.  You would think that the world famous chimney would be solid masonry, there all the time,  not a piece of stove pipe kept in some storage place except for papal elections.  If for no other reason, Vatican tout guides would love to be able to point out the famous chimney to tourists. 

There oughta be law

Against telemarketers who ring your phone and then fail to answer when you pick up.  Penalties might include boiling in oil, keel hauling, and hanging from the nearest phone pole. 

Green Eggs and Ham, #1 in hard cover fiction

It's been a week and Dr, Suess still dominates the Wall St Journal best sellers list.  Of the 10 entries in hard cover fiction, 6 of them are Dr. Suess.  Green Eggs and Ham is now the number 1 best seller. 

New York Times makes up new science

The Times ran an article about Shaun Marcott and his team at Oregon State University.   Marcott claims to have "read" earth's temperature going back 11 thousand years.  Naturally (for the NYT) Marcott's temperature "reading" shows temperature's were colder than today, for the last 11 thousand years.  Global warming rides again.
  Naturally the Times didn't both to explain just how Marcott was able to measure the temperate 10,000 years ago.  That's actually quite a trick.  Many global warmers have made mistakes, like claiming tree ring wide indicates temperate.  (It indicates rainfall).
  The Times also quotes the notorious Dr. Michael Mann of Penn State.  Mann was exposed in the great Hadley Climate Research Unit document leak as an very partisan warmist not above fudging his results to get the answers that he wants. 
  Finally, the Times declares a solution to the age old question of "what caused the ice ages".  This has been a topic of discussion for the last century or more.  There are dozens of theories kicking around, none of them convincing enough to become generally accepted.  But this doesn't stop our NYT warmists.  The Times boldy declares that variation in the heat of the Sun causes ice ages.  Sun gets colder and we have an ice age.
Trouble with this theory is that instrument readings don't support it.  We have solar output readings going back to the beginnings of artificial satellites.  The instruments are sensitive enough to show the 11 year sun spot cycle.  But they don't show any long term variation at all.  Solar output today is exactly the same as it was 40 years ago (date of earliest satellite observations).   Which suggests that the Sun burns at the same level all the time.   
  Glad to hear that the Times is so scientifically hep, throwing out new theories as if they were generally accepted.  I always believe what I read in the Times. 

Renaming the Washington Redskins.

The PC police are suing the Washington Redskins football team.  They claim "Redskin" is racist and derogatory and yadda yadda. The case is at the Supreme Court right now.
  If the court rules that "Redskins" is unacceptable, I think the team ought rename themselves as the Washington Rednecks.  

Bring back top 40 radio

Was watching Channel 6 (Vermont Public TV).  They had an hour long show (Hullabaloo) with just  good '60s groups playing good '60s hits.  It was great to hear.  Back in the day you could get music that good off the AM car radio.  Now a days, all the car radio (FM no less) has is elevator music. 
  And, despite 60 year old recordings, you could hear every single word of the lyrics.  Unlike many current movies.