California Considering Raising the Beer Tax by 1500%!

Yes, that's right 1500%. The full article is here.

Seems that California Assemblyman Jim Beall (San Jose Democrat) wants to increase the current beer tax from $0.02 per can or bottle to $0.32 each. A six pack would go up in price by $1.80. Estimates are that a barrel of beer would see tax increase from $6.40 to $89!

Assemblyman Beall said the tax would generate $2 billion a year to fund health care services, crime prevention and programs to prevent underage drinking and addiction.

Seriously, is this classic tax and spend politics or what? I have said before (and have no doubt will have plenty of opportunities to say again) Taxes are too high now. Budgets must be balanced, but balanced by not spending more. We can not afford every pet project of every person that somehow gets elected, or spends money to get somebody else elected. Stop it now.

The good news is that apparently this particular change will require a 2/3 majority in the legislature and passage by the electorate. Fat chance of that happenning.

Arizona, Enforcing the Law

Arizona has recently passed a law that says essentially "if you hire illegal immigrants, we will pull your business license". The shake up is starting to be noticable according to this article.

I particularly liked the notes that Entire apartment buildings are empty, students are disappearing from schools and One in 10 workers in Arizona is an illegal immigrant.

So why do I think those are so great?

Well, the first links back to the post over at the Scratching Post about school costs. If "1 in 10" workers are illegal, then how many of the students are just sucking up our taxes? How many are way-below average in English (and therefore VERY costly to teach)? How much better off will our kids be if we actually 1) remove the drain on the school system and 2) remove the illegal workers that suppress the pay scale once they are done with school?

And then think about this... if the "apartment buildings are empty" (I suspect some journalistic hyperbole here, but I can hope), then without having our cops spend hours, without spending money to deport them, the illegals are simply leaving. Yeah!

Take away the jobs and the people leave. Simple. So simple. Time to expand this law into California.

A Speech Every Voter Should Have To Read

I know that Obama gets all the press for his speeches. I guess... if you like... to hear... just a few words... at a time... then he... really is... a great orator. Or maybe he just doesn't have enough to say to really fill the time. I have yet to hear more than a few moments of John McCain speaking (unless you count the section where he's geting booed on the anniversary of Dr. King's assination).

I ran across this speech of Sen McCain and thought it the best I've read in a long time. I suggest you check it out. If that seems too hard, then read these two excerpts and reconsider.

I'm a conservative, and I believe it is a very healthy thing for Americans to be skeptical about the purposes and practices of public officials. We shouldn't expect too much from government -- nor should it expect too much from us. Self-reliance -- not foisting our responsibilities off on others -- is the ethic that made America great.

and

If you find faults with our country, make it a better one. If you are disappointed with the mistakes of government, join its ranks and work to correct them. I hope more Americans would consider enlisting in our Armed Forces. I hope more would consider running for public office or working in federal, state and local governments. But there are many public causes where your service can make our country a stronger, better one than we inherited. Wherever there is a hungry child, a great cause exists. Where there is an illiterate adult, a great cause exists. Wherever there are people who are denied the basic rights of Man, a great cause exists. Wherever there is suffering, a great cause exists.

Obama Babble

Last night on the late news on our local station they had a story about the YouTube and like posts about all the little kids that can be seen saying "Obama".

Then they had a child development expert explain it. Seems that "Ba" and "Ma" and other 'ah' sounds (like "Pa" and "Da") are the first ones kids learn. They babble them (and get really positive feedback from the adults around them). The sounds become friends to little kids. Consequently O+Ba+Ma is something they like to hear and say.

I have to wonder, how much of that childhood affinity to O+Ba+Ma sounds is still impacting the young adults that seem so drawn to Sen. Obama? Is it really as simple as childhood babble affecting our political process? I think it would explain a lot.

Another Beautiful Day at the Ball Park(s)

First my youngest had a game this morning. Despite the overcast gray skies, and the fact that his team lost 5-2, it was a nce start to the day (of course his two innings - six batters) might have been part of why it seemed nice.

Then over to Petco. By the time we got there, the skies had cleared and it was a wonderful day. Brad Penny for the Dodgers vs. Jake Peavy for the Padres. A great match up. Peavy had a three up, three strike outs first. Penny had some bad luck in the bottom of the inning, 5 straight singles, a sacrific fly, and then an error by the third baseman to allow the 4th run (technically the official scorer said the ball hit to third was a single, but seriously, what was he looking at?). At this point the game was pretty much over. Peavy pretty much coasted (even though he gave up two hits, both in the 4th to allow the Dodgers a run), Penny settled in and went 6, two Dodger relievers later we are going into the top of the ninth.

If you've ever been in Petco when the Padres are in a "save" situation, and Trevor Hoffman is warming, then you know what comes next... The scoreboards all go dark, the music on the loudspeakers silence. As soon as the centerfield bullpen door opens and Hoffman takes his first step on to the warning track, the first knell of Hell's Bells rings out and all the scoreboards light up with fire and the text "Trevor Time".

A strange thing happened today. The scoreboards all went dark, the music on the loudspeakers silenced. The centerfield bullpen door opened but Trevor didn't step out. Heath Bell stepped out - to play warmup catch with the left fielder. Peavy went back to the mound. Trevor stayed in the pen. Three batters later (walk, 4-3 double play, ground out 4-1) game over. Padres win.

Padres v. Astros (part IV)

For Todd...

Nice game today. Sunny, warm, and a 2.5 hour game. Started with Garlic Fries and a Burger (it felt wrong, not a beer and a dog, but it tasted oh so good).

Walked all the way around the park with my wonderful wife in the sunshine. Took our seats in left, just before the first pitch. A nice easy top of first for Randy Wolf. A two run dinger by Kooz in the bottom of the inning, right into the Padres bullpen about 15 feet to my left.

A horribly frustrating bottom of two. Two quick outs, a single by the pitcher, then walks to Hairston and Iguchi (ending with 7 straight balls). Adrian Gonzalez comes up with the bases loaded, takes ball one, then swings at the second pitch! That's right, eight straight balls and he swings at a borderline pitch, grounds out, and kills the inning. Don't these guys ever learn? If the Pitcher can't throw a strike, don't help him! Ish! If a player had done that when I coaching, I would have gently taken him aside and explained that that is stupid baseball. If I was Buddy Black, I would have explained to Gonzo that since he is too freaking stupid to understand the game, henceforth in obvious "take" situations, we were actually going to give him the "take" sign. Urgh!

(OK, time to calm back down...)

Anyways, the Astros managed a run in the third and thus it stood at 2-1 Pads into the 7th. Wolf was taken out (seemed like he was running out of gas to me, so a good move, in my opinion). Padres brought in Enrique Gonzalez to pitch (short powerful looking guy, with a high eighties dead straight fastball... I was worried). Two batters later it's 2-2 with a runner on second and no one out. Somehow he manages to get out of the inning without any additional runs. In the bottom of the inning Hairston triples, Iguchi singles, Pads back up 3-2.

In the top of the eighth the best defensive play I've seen this year... Heath Bell pitching, two out, slow runner on second, a hard ground ball to the right side. Gonzalez dives, but can't reach the ball. Iguchi ranges far to his left into shallow right field. Gloves the ball and throws to Bell covering first. Sweet!

Top of the ninth... Hell's Bells... Trevor Time. Last night Trevor completely gagged a one run lead by giving up 4 runs. Today was a simple ground out to short, ground out to first (with Trevor covering), ground out to third. Cue the music, walk to the car.

Hot Fusion - Will It Ever Be Practical?

WARNING: This entry is unabashedly scientific. If you are a science-phobe, stop reading now.

OK you're still reading so the question I want to think about is "Will Hot Fusion Ever Be a Practical Power Source?"

Let's start with, it is, of course, impossible to predict the future with perfection, but the past is the best predictor of the future. When I was a kid 40 years ago, the experts said they'd have Hot Fusion as a Power Source in 20 years. So 20 years later (20 years ago), it still wasn't ready, but the experts said it would be working in 20 years. Today it still isn't ready. Tonight I saw an article over at this place. In this article an expert says that at current funding rates it will take about another... no, not 20 years... 35 years.

Ok, so after 40 years, with consistent projections of "20 more years", we now hear "35 more years". My projection based on this is that Hot Fusion as a Practical Power Source will happen... when it happens. I don't mean that to sound like a cop out, so let me clarify. It will happen at a time that is unpredictable. I believe what we are seeing is a reflection of the truth that the whole process is simply beyond our current technology. Not that won't happen someday, but it will happen after a breakthrough that is unforeseeable.

So if I believe that (and I do), what would I do? Would I keep funding Hot Fusion? Yes. It is the ultimate solution to power. Would I cut the funding a bit and use that to fund other possible energy sources? You bet. I think that solar, and wind are the better short term answers. They are both free and non-polluting. Biofuels are a red-herring. We can barely grow enough food for all the people, no way we can grow so much more that we can feed the power needs as well.

Well that's my two cents.

Love and Marriage (Maybe)

The Scratching Post has a wonderful post titled On the Effects of Sex Ratios. In the post our Maximum Leader points out that "Women want marriage, and men want sex". While that is, of course, an over simplification, it certainly isn't wrong.

Many years ago (ick... it was 1989) I read a book called "Sexual Selection" by James L Gould and Carol Grant Gould (a Scientific American Library publication, which does not seem to be in print now). On page 258, there is a revealing list of thirteen characteristics that one might use to select a mate. The list was ordered by males and females here are the lists:

MALES	FEMALES
Kindness and understanding	Kindness and understanding
Intelligence	Intelligence
Physical attractiveness	Exciting personality
Exciting personality	Good health
Good health	Adaptability
Adaptability	Physical attractiveness
Creativity	Creativity
Desire for children	Good earning potential
College graduate	College graduate
Good heredity	Desire for children
Good earning potential	Good heredity
Good housekeeper	Good housekeeper
Religious Orientation	Religious Orientation

Basically the lists are identical except for the two items in bold (technically the "College graduate" is also one higher in the Female column, but it correlates with Good earning potential, so it can be ignored). Notice the two items are exactly the kind of things that one might expect based on basic evolutionary arguements about who cares about what (just as per the arguements KT gives in his post).

These sorts of facts cause the social liberals great consternation, as they challenge their cherished beliefs about what should be (in their opinion).

To them I can only say what every scientist is taught, "Theory guides, Experiment decides".