So how do they know the tomatoes are contaminated?

It's tough trying to make a living growing tomatoes. FDA is blaming the salmonella outbreak on tomatoes, from somewhere. Sales have dropped to zip. Fresh ripe tomatoes are piling up unsold, un eaten and going bad. Growers are losing money thru no fault of their own. How do they know the salmonella came from a tomato? Were they able to culture salmonella from an uneaten tomato? If so, could they read the packer's name and lot number off the cardboard carton?
Or, did they merely ask the victims to list everything they ate, and discover that all ( or a lot) of the victims listed tomatoes? Since tomato is about the most popular veggie in America you'd expect nearly everyone to list them. Guilt by association.
FDA isn't talking. Wonder what they are really doing

There aughta be a law, Pt 2

Against TV broadcasters putting a station logo over the program material. Bad enough to endure the modern 10 minute commercial break. But to mess up a movie with a station logo is plain offensive. Even worse are those animated coming attraction thingies that pop up to ruin the movie for you.

There Oughta be a Law Pt 1.

Against those telemarketers who ring your phone but when you pick it up, you just get dead air. When they ring my phone, causing me to drop what I am doing to answer, they should at least have the courtesy to speak with me.

NH congressman Paul Hodes Solves the gasoline price crisis

Mr. Hodes shared his wisdom with us taxpayers in a handsome 4 color printed brochure mailed to voters. “This mailing was prepared, published and mailed at taxpayer expense” was printed right on the front. Mr. Hodes has a four part plan to bring back the good old days of lower gas prices.

Part 1. Stop filling the strategic petroleum reserve. Big one here. 70,000 barrels per day were going into the reserve. US consumption is 20 million barrels a day. Stopping filling reduces US demand by 0.35%. Does anyone think this is enough to make any kind of difference?

Part 2. Sue OPEC. The long arm of US law will reach across the world and hail Dubai, Saudi Arabia, the Emirates, the Iranians, and others in to US district court. Rather than being held in contempt of court, these easily cowed Arab countries will immediately cut prices and pump more oil. Last time I looked, foreign governments were not subject to US law. Sounds like more welfare for lawyers. Surely no one believes we can increase supplies by suing the suppliers.

Part 3. Alternate Energy. Repeal some tax breaks enjoyed by the oil companies and put the extra tax money into “alternate energy”. Ethanol anyone? At least I can run my car on ethanol. Wind and solar? Can’t put them in my gas tank, or my oil tank. Add a “biomass” tax credit. Wow, I get a tax credit for the cord of split birch I bought this spring?

Mr. Hodes doesn’t speak to the PSNH wood fired electric plant for Grafton country recently shot down in Concord, or the endless red tape holding back nuclear power.

Part 4. Offer special low rate loans for construction of energy efficient buildings. Right on. With mortgage money tight as it is, every new building will be certified “energy efficient” if it cuts a quarter point off the mortgage rate. This will become simply cheap mortgage money, a desirable thing, but hardly a thing to reduce gasoline prices.

Part 5. Tax credits for carpooling. “Oh yes your honor, I carpooled every day, and that is why I took a tax credit of $5700 last year, $20 a day for the 270 working days”. Right now, everyone who can put a carpool together is carpooling. Find two or three guys working at the same company and living sorta close together and they will carpool. No tax credits required.

Mr. Hodes doesn’t speak of the need to increase domestic oil production, build more refineries, exploit US reserves of oil shale, refine common cheap heavy sour crude oil into heating oil and gasoline, support research into nuclear fusion, and end the ridiculous system of boutique gasoline requirements.

If Mr. Hodes would talk about actually doing real things to relieve the fuel shortage he could send out as many self promoting brochures at taxpayer expense as he pleased. As it is, he comes out four square for doing nothing, at taxpayere expense.

Congress men are terrible speakers

Watched the House "debate" on the Amtrak bill this morning. Rep after Rep would take his allotted time to praise his committee, his constituents, damn the price of gasoline, and recommend a vote for the Amtrak bill. None of them spoke about the bill itself. Issues such as levels of service, speed, adding new routes, improving existing routes, buying new rolling stock, electrifying more track, scheduling more or fewer trains, raising pay and benefits for Amtrak workers, dead silence. In short, the C-Span televised floor debate didn't enlighten this taxpayer one iota. A voice over commentator mentioned some dispute between the White House and Congress and a veto threat, but none of the floor speakers gave a hint of this, or emphasised some good feature of the bill that might qualify a veto over ride.
In short, our Reps are using their floor time to promote themselves and their party. They don't attempt to persuade voters or the other party of the merits of the bills before them.

Republican energy plan will yield $2.06 gasoline

PowerLine has a comparison of Republican vs Democratic energy plans.

Water Vapor a Greenhouse Gas. Global Warming Part 3

At this time we all have heard of the evils of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere. According to many sources, the CO2 blocks infrared radiation from leaving the earth for outer space, making the earth warm up.
Atmosphere levels of CO2 are around 300 parts per million. Less publicity is given to the 22000 parts per million of water vapor in the atmosphere. Water vapor is also a green house gas, as strong an infrared absorber as CO2. And there is better than 70 times as much water vapor in the air as there is CO2.
With 70% of the earth's surface covered by water, we are going to have a lot of water vapor in the air. Dry air will absorb as much water vapor as it likes, as it blows across the oceans. With the concentration of water vapor 70 times or more that of CO2, why do we worry about CO2? Even if man made CO2 was reduced to zero, the water vapor is still there, trapping heat, and warming the world.
Of the 300 PPM of CO2, much of it comes from natural causes like volcanoes and cannot be abated, no matter how drastic the restrictions on fuel burning become. A reduction of 100 PPM of CO2 (from 300 to 200 PPM) is the optimistic best that can be expected. It won't do anything for water vapor. So, today we have 22300 PPM of CO2 and water vapor. After drastic reductions in fuel use we get down to 22200 PPM. Is that going to save the world?
Few global warming enthusiasts talk much about water vapor.