Strategic Petroleum Reseve

It wasn't that long ago, during the 2004 election campaign, in fact, that President Bush was criticized for continuing to replenish the Strategic Petroleum Reserve in the face of rising fuel prices. Even the WSJ acknowledged at the time that the millions of barrels the federal government was buying for the SPR was having an effect on the global supply and therefore prices, for as long as the refilling lasted.

A March, 2004 press release by Sen. Chuck Schumer even urged Bush to release some oil from the SPR because gasoline had reached an "all time high" (untrue) of -- $1.74 a gallon!

I wonder -- do these Bush critics still believe that filling the SPR last year was a mistake?

Repeal the Highway Bill

Congress is convening early in an emergency session to get relief funds to the Katrina areas. They will talk about how hard their work is to find the money, but it's actually quite simple.

The recently passed highway bill has a price tag of $286.4 billion. President Bush said it was $30B over his budget but he signed it anyway. Other experts say that the bill contains over $50B in pure pork.

By repealing the highway bill, Congress can put its priorities straight. First, pass the emergency relief bill from the $286B, then allocate the rest to a new highway bill, presumably with less pork and more for real...highways.

First Responders

We had both police and fire responders tromping through our home on two separate days during this past week.

On Saturday, we went to the movies, leaving our housecleaner in our home. Upon our return, we found her work unfinished, her personal belongings (purse and cell phone) in the garage, and no sign of her. After calling her home (no response) and searching the house, we called 911. The police drove Carol to her house -- no one home, neighbors clueless.

Turns out she locked herself out of our house, borrowed a neighbor's phone, and called a friend to pick her up and take her home. (She couldn't find anyone home on our street because they were all at a block party at the other end of the street.)

On Tuesday, I received a call on my cell phone while at lunch. It was our alarm company letting me know that our fire detector activated and that they had called the fire department. I got hold of Carol on her cell phone while she was shopping and we both raced to the house.

Turns out that Carol had put a pan of eggs on the stove to cook, and forgot about them when she left. The water boiled away, and the eggs exploded. A little smoke, no harm done. The firemen entered through an unlocked door, resisting the urge to break down the front door.

"Armchair First Responders"

Check out Michelle Malkin.

Repeal Davis-Bacon

In past disasters, the president has suspended the Davis-Bacon Act, a Depression-era relic that requires contractors to pay "prevailing wages" (i.e., union wages) to be awarded a federal government construction contract. We are still waiting for President Bush to do the same for the Katrina recovery.

Since we all recognize that when the government dictates wages, small businesses lose contracts and work doesn't get done, why not just repeal the bad law?

Just wondering.

Real Estate Bubble

After watching the Today show trying to boost hysteria about the "about to come crashing down" housing market and giving publicity to the predictably unreliable and Bush-hating economist Paul Krugman of the NYT, I found this.

Okay, economists disagree about the impending housing bubble (which doomsayers have been predicting will burst since 2003) -- but most experts who really understand the market, with all of its complex fundamentals, see no such thing. So why do the MSM present only one side?

Steriods: Grey Stats and Green Stats

MLB seems unable to solve its steroid problem -- so it's time for the fans and sportswriters to take action. Here's my proposal.

Let there be separate statistics: Grey Stats, for those who don't voluntarily submit to steroid testing; and Green Stats, for those who do. Only the Green Stats may be used to determine titles, awards, and Hall of Fame nominations. The Grey Stats can be used by the owners, managers, or players' union for whatever purpose except recognition.

Among other obvious benefits, two statistics tables eliminates the need for asterisks.

Opposed by the Senate

A characteristic of sound bites -- in broadcast media, and even short clips in print media -- is that bias is frequently magnified into blatant falsehood. Over and over again yesterday, I heard on radio news, and later on TV that John Bolton was appointed U.S. ambassador to the UN in a recess appointment because he was "opposed by the Senate."

Excuse me? Bolton had a clear majority of Senate support. But the Senate couldn't vote up or down because a minority of senators used obstruction tactics to keep the vote from the floor. But maybe "opposed by a minority of senators" is too heavy a phrase to be used by sound-biters. Okay, so what's wrong with "filibustered by the Senate"? Because that's really why he was appointed in recess.

Lost Wallet

During an early morning jog with Taco on the 5th of July, we came upon a wallet lying alongside the sidewalk.

We opened it, extracted the cash and credit cards, and threw it into the bushes.

Actually, we took the wallet home. No point in knocking on the door of the property -- it was very early, and the previous day was a holiday, with the neighborhood filled with folks congregating at nearby Lake Murray to watch the fireworks. We should be able to identify the owner from the material contained within.

And we did. There was an out-of-state drivers license, but more interestingly, a business card -- of a law firm that Carol was familiar with, because a friend of hers worked there.

So Carol called her friend at the firm. "Does so-and-so work there?"

"Why, of course! Right next to me! How do you know her?"

"I have her wallet."

"You're joking!"

It happened that the wallet's owner had gone to watch the fireworks at her boyfriend's house in San Carlos, where we live, and dropped her wallet.

Both the wallet owner and Carol's friend live many miles from us -- but we were the ones that found it in that place on that day. If we hadn't taken that route (and we take different routes every morning), we wouldn't have found it.

Something to think about.