EU softening toward GMOs

Genetically modified organisms that is.  The EU has forbidden growing, importing, selling, or eating of anything with "gene modifications".  At least modern gene modifications using laboratory methods.  Nobody talks about the extensive gene modifications made over the centuries by plain old selective breeding.  All crops grown today are way different from their wild ancestors. 
   Anyhow, the EU Parliament lifted the EU wide ban on GMO's last week.   Regulation of GMO's is now up to the national European governments.  Who are strongly anti GMO and are not expected to loosen rules anytime soon. 
   The Economist does admit that GMO's are widespread in American and Asia, bringing increased yields, better taste, and lower food prices. 
    It could be, that in turning GMO regulation over to the national governments, the EU Parliament hopes to dampen criticism of overweening EU bureaucracy.

Wild Winter Turkeys

We got 'em.  Last week I saw a wild and soggy turkey strutting  up the road in a rainstorm.  It was 40 that day, but very wet.  Then two days ago I saw a pair of 'em stumbling thru the woods behind the house with three inches of fresh snow on the ground.  I wonder where the turkeys spent the night, now that it is dropping down to 10 and 20 degrees below zero after dark.  You'd think temps like that would give you quick frozen turkey. 

Who has the patience to watch Obama tonight?

Not I.  I can get a quick recap a few minutes after he finishes.  Obama's speaking style, vague generalities with no substance, is just plain annoying. 

Greasing the skids

Greece, somehow has bamboozled the EU into giving them handouts.  After being allowed into the Euro back in  the 1990's, the Greeks managed to paper over their humungeous deficits by floating bonds.  Somehow, a bunch of sucker banks, mostly in Germany, was stupid enough to buy the bonds, thinking that they would get paid back on time.  The Greeks kept the illusion going by using the proceeds of the latest bond sales to the roll over old bonds. 
  This scam finally unraveled and every one, even the sucker banks, stopped buying Greek bonds, or making loans to Greece.  At this point, the Greeks owned so much money, that allowing them to default would cause intense pain thru out Europe.  The sucker banks cried that a Greek default would bankrupt them.  So, the EU decided to bail the Greeks out, a bit.  They demanded that the Greeks clean up their act, balance their budget, lay off the enormous number of Greeks on the Government payroll, and tighten up tax collection.  In return for promises to reform, the EU would give the Greeks enough money to pay the interest on their debts.  Which means that the sucker banks can carry their Greek loans as assets on their books.  If the Greeks stop paying, then sooner or later, the sucker banks would have to declare a whacking big loss.  A loss big enough to put a number of them out of business. 
   This stop gap situation may come unraveled this spring.  The Greeks have to hold national elections and the polls all show a new populist party Syrisa about to win outright.  Syrisa  is threatening to scrap all the promises of reform, and stop paying on Greece's foreign debt.  At which point the EU handouts will stop. 
   What happens to the EU and the Euro is unknown, but the Europeans are worried about it.  The Greeks will have to figure out how to live within their means.  They may decided to drop out of the Euro so they can print their own money, as much as they need, to meet payroll.  They may not, because all Greeks with any kind of money, in Euros, will be against the idea.  Dropping out of the Euro, would mean everyone's Euros would turn into Drachma, and then the Drachma would drop 50% or more against the Euro.  In effect, every Greek gets a real close haircut.  No one wants that. 

Woe to the Brits

Britain is heading for another election.  They have the Labour party, the Tories, and a new rising power the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP for short).  The way the polls have it, UKIP will have enough votes that they will have to be taken into a coalition government in order to get a majority in Parliment.
UKIP is anti immigrant and anti EU.  They want to pull Britain out of the EU.  Since Britain does about 60% of her export business with the EU that could really smart.  Right now as an EU member, British exports go into Europe duty free.  If Britain pulls out of the EU, that happy state of affairs is over, British goods will face full EU tariffs, and there are plenty of continental competitors eager to pick up that business. 
   The way things look now, Britain is sailing into a sea of troubles.

Who do you believe?

We got two polls out this morning.  Reuters, and Gallup.  Reuters scores Obama at 37%, where as Gallup has him much higher, at 46%. Both Reuters and Gallup have good reputations going back 80 years or more.  Both base their results on small samples of the population, 1000 to 1500.  It takes great care and skill to select a representative sample.  Select an unrepresentative sample, say at a Tea Party meeting or a ACLU gathering, and you can get just about any results imaginable. 
   I like the lower Reuters number myself, but perhaps it is too good to be true. 
   So what does one believe? 

Fox News Joins Nanny State

They are hard at it right now.  Cops are investigating a Silver Spring MD couple who allowed their grade school age children to walk home alone from a park, about one mile.  Fox has a couple of lady commentators raving about how terrible this was, it's cold, a mile is too far.  Yackety Yack.
    When I was in grade school we all walked home after school.  It was a mile. No school buses in that town. I walked that mile to school and back from school, every day, rain or shine.  That was in Saxonville, a medium tough working class town.  This was Silver Spring MD, a silver spoon bedroom community.