Your tax dollars at work

This time, we're sending neoprohibitionist apparatchiks to a California resort for sun and fun!

Come next January when the top is up on my Mustang and I am shoveling my driveway, I will be warm in the knowledge that at least some of my federal tax dollars will be used to allow members of anti-alcohol groups to sun themselves at the Bahia Resort hotel in Mission Bay, Calif.
...
Using a federal grant, the California Council on Alcohol Policy will hold a nice seminar for officials from tax-exempt groups that lobby the California legislature.

And what do you suppose they lobby the legislature for?

“This conference series has aided the development of a number of national and international initiatives, including … excise tax increase,” according to the conference website...

In its September 2003 report, the federally funded Institute of Medicine recommended raising alcohol excise taxes, stating that “top priority should be given to raising beer taxes.”

Gee, if business was doing this, it'd be called astroturfing.  But when our Betters in the bureaucracy do it, it's "for our own good."  Right.
-----
Quotes and info from Don Surber

Posted by: Old Grouch in Rants at 15:27:35 GMT | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 189 words, total size 2 kb.

Club For Growth's RePORK Card-- linked

Now linked in the sidebar, in the "Useful Stuff" section: The Club For Growth's 2007 Congressional RePORK Card:

...Representatives John Campbell, Jeff Flake, Jeb Hensarling, Scott Garrett, and David Obey (1 amendment) offered 50 amendments to strip outrageous pork projects from the appropriations bills...
The Club for Growth has compiled a RePORK Card of all members' votes on all 50 anti-pork amendments...

Rather sad.  While four members of my state's delegation scored 55% or better in favor (one scored 100%), the majority came in at 6% or below.  How did yours do?

Posted by: Old Grouch in Administrivia at 23:09:23 GMT | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 96 words, total size 1 kb.

When the lawyers take over your company

Johnson & Johnson, the health-products giant that uses a red cross as its trademark, sued the American Red Cross on Wednesday, demanding that the charity halt the use of the red cross symbol on products it sells to the public.

Johnson & Johnson said it has had exclusive rights to use the trademark on certain commercial products — including bandages and first-aid cream — for more than 100 years. -- AP Story, via International Herald-Tribune

Yes, you're supposed to protect your trademark. But there's absolutely no way J&J can achieve anything other than a Phyrric victory here. The public will punish them for their foolishness.

Where the hell was the board of directors?
-----
Via Slashdot

Posted by: Old Grouch in Rants at 15:21:50 GMT | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 122 words, total size 1 kb.

Clipfile: August 9, 2007

"When did the left ever care about facts?

If you state a fact they question the source. If they approve of the source then you are a liar. If none of that works they change the subject - every.single.time." -- Jane_W, commenting at JustOneMinute

Posted by: Old Grouch in Clipfile at 14:28:33 GMT | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 48 words, total size 1 kb.

Engineers, management, and failure

This week, a bridge failed. It was not, particularly, an engineering failure. The bridge had stood for some 30 years. It was a management failure.

Read on...
-----
Via DP.

Posted by: Old Grouch in Linkage at 14:31:47 GMT | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 33 words, total size 1 kb.

Headlines getting bigger, blacker

Dear Rupert,
Just a note to let you know we're noticing!
Cheers,
O.G.

Posted by: Old Grouch in In Passing at 22:38:21 GMT | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 65 words, total size 1 kb.

Citizen journalism in Minneapolis

Two posts by David Erickson:

• Minneapolis Bridge Collapse & Citizen Journalism (Includes an extensive list of photo galleries and video postings.)
  
• More Thoughts About Citizen Media During Minneapolis Bridge Collapse Disaster

Posted by: Old Grouch in The Press at 15:19:39 GMT | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 35 words, total size 1 kb.

"Free Dominion" human rights complaint withdrawn

Not overruled or found invalid, but still good news:

Moments ago, we received another letter from the Canadian Human Rights Commission, dated August 1, 2007, informing us that Marie-Line Gentes has withdrawn her complaint against Free Dominion and requested that the CHRC take no further action against us.

I would like to thank Ms. Gentes for making this move and will assume her motives for doing so were honourable...

Also included was a cover letter asking us to take note of the fact that Investigative branch of the CHRC will be recommending that the Commission not proceed with this case.

-----
Previously: July 20, 2007

Posted by: Old Grouch in In Passing at 01:17:48 GMT | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 110 words, total size 1 kb.

So where is everybody?

A Washington Post story about the demographic balance of attendees at the Yearly Kos get-together has spread through the 'sphere, generating some right-side snarkage, and a serious question.

It began with the Post quoting Yearly Kos organizer Gina Cooper:

"It's mostly white. More male than female... It's not very diverse."

[The Post writer then proceeded to describe efforts by the organizers and others to increase "diversity" and "representation" at the conference, all the while carefully identifying the gender and ethnicity of every person mentioned.]

Then La Shawn Barber turned the Post's headline back to front:

...the title of the article is, “A Diversity of Opinion, if Not Opinionators.” It should read, “A Diversity of Opinionators, if Not Opinions.” Different skin colors, not opinions, is the kind of diversity liberals obsess over.

Finally, Glenn Reynolds used the title of La Shawn's post to build his usual one-liner:

YEARLYKOS: A "sea of middle-aged white males." Not that there's anything wrong with that!

The serious question came from Bill Quick:

The single most powerful voting bloc in the country is white males, and of those who vote, middle-aged and older make up the largest sub-group. If the Kossack version of progressivism is making strong inroads into that demographic, conservatives are faced with some real problems.

Good point, but IMHO there's no reason for Bill to worry.  In fact, this datum may be indicative of an encouraging change.
more...

Posted by: Old Grouch in In Passing at 23:56:55 GMT | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 594 words, total size 6 kb.

I like the way this guy thinks

"So here’s my global-warming-fighting plan..."

Posted by: Old Grouch in Linkage at 18:45:35 GMT | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 12 words, total size 1 kb.