THE AMERICAN FRUIT BOOK

From the Title Page:  A Book For Every Body, The AMERICAN FRUIT BOOK; Containing Directions for Raising, Propagating and Managing Fruit Trees, Shrubs and Plants; With a Description of the Best Varieties of Fruit,  Including  New And Valuable Kinds; Embellished and Illustrated With Numerous Engravings of Fruits, Trees, Insects, Grafting, Budding, Training &c., &c. By S. W. Cole, Editor of the New England Farmer, Late Editor of the Boston Cultivator, Author of the American Veterinarian, And Formerly Editor of the Yankee Farmer, And Farmer’s Journal.

* * * * *

 36 million drivers would flunk drivers tests

 Is it just your imagination, or do many of your fellow motorists lack even a rudimentary grasp of traffic laws?

Well, if a test administered by GMAC Insurance is any indication, one in six people cruising our highways and byways — roughly 36 million licensed drivers — would flunk their driver’s test if they had to take it today. Not only that, but based on the 2007 GMAC Insurance National Drivers Test data the state with the most road-going dummies is New York, while the most knowledgeable ones are out West to Idaho. [snip]

Also of interest from the GMAC Insurance test:

• Drivers 35 and older were more likely to pass
• Illinois, Georgia, Washington, D.C., Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Rhode Island and Massachusetts were the least knowledgeable states overall, with average scores under 75 percent
• Fifty-five percent of the respondents didn’t know how many feet before making a left or right to signal. [snip]

The following state rankings were released for the 2007 GMAC Insurance National Drivers Test:

• 1. Idaho.
• 2. Alaska
• 21.Vermont
• 36. Maine
• 37. New Hampshire
• 40. Connecticut
• 46. Pennsylvania
• 47. Rhode Island
• 48. Massachusetts
• 48. New Jersey
• 51. New York

After analyzing the article, before glancing at the list, I thought population was the key. That would place Wyoming first and Vermont second. Not so.

Perhaps, I reflected, the political belief system of the states held a clue. That appears to work for the bottom states, but didn’t vindicate Wisconsin at 4, Washington at 6, Oregon at 9 or Iowa at 10.

Given that the 2007 failure rate doubled to 18% from 2006, a reason exists. Combining both posits advances one conclusion.

I’ll let the reader ponder the possibilities for others.

Quack…..wheeeeeze….cough….Quack!  He’s back!

When Don Imus was brought to ground by a few liberal jackals, race-profiteers and media hounds a while back, his removal from WFAN was a mercy killing.  With the comic motility of a Maine potato, Imus was painfully lodged at the lowest regions of nasty talk radio.  Now, he’s about to stage a comeback, by displacing  Guardian Angel Curtis Sliwa and the old William Koenstler associate, Ron Kuby at WABC.

That Imus would have lasted beyond 1989 is itself, improbable.   True, he’d walked the standard reformative path admired in the liberal media - re-hab for drugs and alcohol, an irreligious book demonstrating his ability to concentrate and willingness to villify the defenseless, but that wasn’t enough.  Along the way he also became a humanitarian, with the Imus Ranch for Kids With Cancer.   That punched his ticket.

With the Imus Ranch came two essential, and several unfortunate, things.  The first essential was that some children with dreaded disease were helped.  The second essential was the approval of liberals, who poured into the show through the chute provided by Westwood One Entertainment.  David Gregory, Howard Feinneman, Chris Matthews, Kerry, Dodd, Lieberman, Frank Rich, a list too long for this post.  

The unfortunate things attributable to the ranch were Imus’s very young, insufferable twit of a wife, the unknowable and uninteresting spawn Wyatt Imus, the maundering brother with his obliterating stupidity, and the product line, which stretched to the New Mexico horizon and was just as interesting.  

The Imus in The Morning Show on WFAN was a sustained and relentless commercial for the Imus family and its marketing wing.  Maybe it’s just me, but the true iconoclast, the indignant rebel doesn’t shill for cowboy hats, baseball caps, denim shirts and salsa.  What Imus is, in addition to everything else, is a phony, a charlatan.

Up against these concerns for children with cancer, was the bizarre counterpoint of a show so nasty, vile, vindictive, slanderous and gratuitously vulgar that the people involved seemed oblivious to the infected popular culture they created for the same kids they were helping in New Mexico.  Were they just cynical about their charitable pursuits, or just craven in their pursuit of wealth through shock radio, or both?  Or neither?  

I don’t know.  The existence of some things seems to reduce or expand the likelihood of other things.   Real goodness has a way of spreading through the person who’s trying to be good, which always made me wonder how the supposedly religious Charles McCord could be so obsequious to Imus, and how he could write such clever but vulgar routines.  

Imus himself, so misanthropic and awful in his judgements,  seems unfastened from the human qualities necessary to manage  a ranch for children.   That’s a question about the soul and the mainspring of human effort.  I’d like an answer, even though I don’t deserve one. 

I obviously used to listen to the show, though it became clear years ago that hearing one edition means you’ve already heard the others.  So I stopped listening, and suggest to Imus that his new format do/not do the following.

1. No Bo Dietel, all the time

2. No mention of “my friend Kinky Friedman”

3. No mention of Lobster Newburgh.

4. Stop saying “what a nightmare”

5. Let Delbert McClinton slip into obscurity

6. Stop saying “get Lupaca on the phone”.

7. Talk for three minutes without saying the proper name “Imus”

8. Take your own advice, and “Get Out!”

Oink! Oink! Senate Republicans still slobbering over earmarks

WASHINGTON (News) - Democrats might want to keep in mind the old rule in politics that you never stop an opponent while he’s committing suicide. They are about to have the distinct pleasure of watching a slew of Senate Republicans jump off a political cliff. [snip]

Take for example the roll call vote on Sen. Jim DeMint’s amendment to kill a provision in the Senate Commerce, Justice and Science appropriations bill directing $2 million to three construction projects for a college in Harlem.

The South Carolina Republican’s amendment would have struck the provision first inserted in the legislation by Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee. All three projects are named for Rangel.

But when it came time to vote on this crude effort by Rangel to use tax dollars to promote himself, it was preserved on a 61-34 vote. Two Democrats — Sen. Evan Bayh, Ind., and Sen. Russ Feingold, Wis. — voted for the DeMint amendment…[snip]

16 GOP Senators voted for the pork: Alexander—Tennessee, Bond—Missouri, Cochran and Lott—Mississippi, Collins—Maine, Craig—Idaho, Domenici–New Mexico, Hagel–Nebraska, Hatch–Utah, Lugar–Indiana, Murkowski and Stevens–Alaska, Shelby–Alabama, Specter–Pennsylvania, Voinovich—Ohio, and Warner–Virginia.

No New England Donk Senator voted no; they spend everything and would print more money if they could get away with it.

Sanders-VT votes for all government spending, at least he is truthful about it. He a communist, prefers the tern Progressive, who wants government running everything. Leahy-VT on the other hand, says he wants a democratic form of government, but votes like Sanders every chance he gets.

Four of the 16 GOP senators are leaving the senate: Craig, Domenici, Hagel and Lugar. Craig’s seat will be filled by a Conservative. Domenici is a toss up. Hagel and Lugar found they would not get past a primary, so ta-ta.

Collins has a fight; MoveOn has targeted her re-election. Any change with Collins seat would be cosmetic. She is as liberal as Leahy is.

Unless there is a big change in the philosophical makeup of who’s running, expect more of the same. If the above gang of RINO’s quit, the GOP picks up a different look and clout.

While you’re here, say hello to Juan. They are voting tomorrow to let him and his extended family have amnesty. Why he may even move in next door and diversify your neighborhood, overnight!

And I had such high hopes for the Sexual Revolution

As everyone already knows, King Middle School in Portland, Maine will add birth control pills and contraceptive patches to their arsenal of weapons against the rampant fertility of the ill-bred classes who send their children to that school. Since 2000, the school has been offering condoms, but the statistics don’t show that prophylaxis of this kind has helped…although it’s hard to tell.

You see, Portland’s Middle Schools “reported” 17 pregnancies in the last four years, “not counting miscarriages or terminated pregnancies that weren’t reported to the school nurse”, according to the AP release to CNN.Com/Health for October 18, 2007. This the most interesting “fact” of all. They’re factoring into a decision to distribute contraceptives, events that they can’t count. The point in Portland, is that the assumed intervention of latex isn’t vigorous enough to prevent these…people…from conception, after which they fail to report their miscarriages and abortions. Only a liberal can think this way and expect to be believed.

King Middle School has a health center, and according to the AP, “Five of the 134 students who visited King’s Health Center during the 2006-2007 school year reported having sexual intercourse, said Amanda Rowe, lead nurse in Portland’s student health centers”. Horrifying, isn’t it?

I could have found the same number of transgressors in the thirty students in my 1962 “Marriage and the Family” class, the one taught by the unmarried magpie who joined the Communist Party in 1947. The sensible-shod, tweed and Oxford cloth comradette with the 16MM fun films. What’s changed from Miss Red Peril to Nurse Rowe?

Okay, time for the squeaky doors, clanking chains and distant screams, as we quote Oliver Wendell Holmes in Buck v. Bell, the celebrated compulsory sterilization case. Is there a difference? Holmes said “It is better for all the world, instead of waiting to execute degenerate offspring for crime, or to let them starve for their imbecility, society can prevent those who are manifestly unfit from continuing their kind….three generations of imbeciles is enough”.

Sure. Holmes was talking about mental impairment, the absence of reflective powers and moral discrimination; the inability to control sexual urges and the social cost of these shortcomings. BUT, of the estimated 60,000 forced sterilizations that followed Buck v. Bell, how many of them were done for bureaucratic expediency? I guess, thousands, many thousands. Where does the presumed compassion of the Portland School Committee (which approved the drug distributions), end, and the practicality of Holmes begin?

I’m not taking a position on this issue. It needs to be discussed, and liberals, particularly, need to come clean on the consequences of this aspect of their amorphous liberation philosophies. Tragedy, ugliness and moral mazes so lush you never find your way out.

Google bans anti-MoveOn.org ads

WASHINGTON - Internet giant Google has banned advertisements critical of MoveOn.org, the far-left advocacy group that caused a national uproar last month when it received preferential treatment from The New York Times for its “General Betray Us” message.

The ads banned by Google were placed by a firm working for Republican Sen. Susan Collins’ re-election campaign. Collins is seeking her third term.

The proper term for Collins is RINO.

Earlier this week, Google told Lance Dutson, president of Maine Coast Designs, that the ads he placed for Collins had been removed and would not be allowed to resume because they violated Google’s trademark policy.

Google’s Web site states, “Google takes allegations of trademark infringement very seriously and, as a courtesy, we’re happy to investigate matters raised by trademark owners.” That suggests Google acted in response to a complaint by MoveOn.org. [snip]

“In a recent ruling, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the notion that there is anything like a cause of action under the Lanham Act, the statue governing trademark law in the United States, for so-called ‘trademark disparagement,’ ” Coleman said. The courts have also rejected the notion that the use of a trademark as a search term is a “legally cognizable use” as a trademark use under federal trademark law, he added. Coleman is also general counsel for the Media Bloggers Association.

Google routinely permits the unauthorized use of company names such as Exxon, Wal-Mart, Cargill and Microsoft in advocacy ads. An anti-war ad currently running on Google asks “Keep Blackwater in Iraq?” and links to an article titled “Bastards at Blackwater — Should Blackwater Security be held accountable for the deaths of its employees?” [snip]

The Internet giant came under fire last year when it removed YouTube videos uploaded by conservative commentator Michelle Malkin and threatened to ban her from the popular video-sharing site.

Using Google for a search of conservative sites might not give you an answer. It wasn’t but a year or so ago that Google pulled “The Peoples’ Cube” off its search engine because of the humor type found at the Cube.

Use of the site for anything automatically loads all information about you into the system for targeted ads. All of your browsing habits are recorded. If you use the software back up, any data there is in their dBase too.

Getting Licensed to Death

The Reason Foundation just issued a state-by-state study on the number of occupations that require a government license.

The regulatory intrusion in the free market is evidenced by the lead paragraph of Reason’s press release:

Do you want to be a fortune teller in Maryland? Your future better include a license from the state. How about being a hair braider in Mississippi? You’ll need 300 to 1,500 hours of training and government permission. Want to sell flowers in Louisiana? Only licensed florists can do that. And almost every state requires certification if you want to move furniture and hang art while calling yourself an interior designer.

These are not licenses, they are fees (taxes) placed on various businesses. Those businesses that truly need certification have licensing boards set up composed of members of the specific profession or trade. Some require specific schooling (college is not specific schooling) such as Medical or Dental apprenticeship, while some require passing an exam. Most are arbitrary, bordering on state sanctioned scams.

Anecdotally, when I had my construction company in NY, the county instituted a licensing program to “protect” the public. What I could competently do on the 31^st of the month, I was unable to do by fiat on the 1^st of the next month. No test, no questions about acumen or duration of the business; pay the $100 and they mailed the license. The license covered banging nails, sheetrocking and taping, etc. Additionally,I held a Master Electrician license presented by a board of electrical inspectors. That required oral and written presentations.

Here are the top hostile states and the number of occupations requiring a license:

1. California (177)

2. Connecticut (155)

3. Maine (134)

4. New Hampshire (130)

5. Arkansas (128)

6. Michigan (116)

7. Rhode Island (116)

8. New Jersey (114)

9. Wisconsin (111)

10.Tennessee (110)

12.Massachusetts (107)

15. Vermont (107)

“Most of these licensing requirements are completely arbitrary,” said Adam B. Summers, a policy analyst at Reason Foundation and author of the report. “You see that clearly when examining neighboring states. California has 177 job categories licensed. But if you take one step across the state line into Arizona just 72 careers are licensed. In North Carolina you need a license to do 107 jobs. Next door in South Carolina, only 60 jobs require certification.”

Proponents claim these licensing requirements are needed to protect the public from unscrupulous, incompetent, or dangerous practitioners. However, numerous studies show these laws actually reduce consumer protection and public safety, according to the Reason Foundation report.

“These laws are created under the guise of ‘helping’ consumers,” Summers said. “In reality, the laws are helping existing businesses keep out competition, restricting consumer choice, destroying entrepreneurship, and driving up prices.”

Full Report Online
The full study, Occupational Licensing: Ranking the States and Exploring Alternatives, is available online at www.reason.org/ps361.pdf.

Risky Business

Home Depot co-founder Bernie Marcus believes that the biggest competitors for capital that business has are America’s plaintiff trial lawyers. They siphon off billions of dollars that would be invested in R&D, growth, and jobs creation, or would be returned to shareholders. Trial lawyers also increase the cost of capital for those companies whose ratings are downgraded as a direct result of trial lawyer briefings to financial analysts or press conferences about their litigation portfolios—all part of the trial bar’s new business model. [snip]

State Rankings

NEW HAMPSHIRE-17

New Hampshire’s liability climate encourages growth and job creation. The state has enacted some reforms, including the elimination of punitive damages, medical malpractice reform, and modest joint liability reform. New Hampshire juries are not known for excessive, unwarranted verdicts. Having said this, the state’s insurance loss ratios are in the bottom 30 percent of all states, which explains the 24 ranking in the HWV Index. The Supreme Court majority is activist and the AJP partner that helped with this profile suggests the state’s liability climate could deteriorate as the New Hampshire Legislature considers a bill to reverse reform legislation.

CONNECTICUT-24

While Connecticut’s composite ranking is 24, there is a significant variance among the three indices. The HWV Index and the Harris Poll rank the state at 16 and 14 while the PRI Index ranks it at 44. Despite some liability reform legislation in the mid-1980s, including reasonable limits on punitive damages and elimination of joint liability, the AJP partner that helped prepare this profile rated the state’s liability climate as discouraging growth and job creation.

Supporting this assessment are insurance loss ratios (especially for product liability, medical malpractice and auto, and selfinsurance), which rank Connecticut in the bottom half of all states. The absence of reasonable limits on non-economic damages may help explain the poor ranking on insurance loss ratios. Another negative factor is activist Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, who, along with former New York Attorney General (now Governor) Eliot Spitzer, led the movement for regulation through litigation. Connecticut’s liability climate may be trending downward.

MAINE-26

There is a significant variance among the three national rankings with the two econometric studies ranking Maine at 36 and 34 and the Harris Poll ranking the state at 5. Insurance loss ratios in Maine rank 26th in the nation. The Supreme Court majority and Attorney General Steven Rowe are viewed as activists. The Maine Legislature has not enacted any significant liability reform legislation. The state’s liability climate is, at best, neutral to growth and job creation. Maine may well become a “red light” state in the next ranking.

MASSACHUSETTS-29

There is a significant variance in the PRI Index ranking of 41 and the Harris Poll ranking of 18 for the “Bay State.” Although total insurance loss ratios in the state are in the top 40 percent of all states, the product and general liability insurance loss ratios are in the bottom 20 percent. Instead of fairly balancing the interests of consumers and business, the Commonwealth’s liability climate is decidedly antibusiness. With the election of Governor Deval Patrick and an anti-reform legislature, the prospects for improving the liability laws of Massachusetts are dim.

VERMONT-43

With insurance loss ratios among the five worst in the nation, Vermont’s liability climate discourages growth and job creation. The Legislature has enacted some modest liability reforms, such as reasonable limits on punitive and non-economic damages in wrongful death cases. The Supreme Court majority and Attorney General William Sorrell are regarded as activists.

RHODE ISLAND-49

While Rhode Island juries are not known for excessive verdicts, and punitive damage awards are rare, the AJP partner that helped with this profile reports a noticeable upward trend in recent jury awards. The state’s lawsuit against four lead paint manufacturers under a public nuisance theory was the first attempt by a state to hold the industry responsible for the dangers of lead paint in old buildings. Three of the four companies were found liable by a Rhode Island jury—a verdict that could cost the companies billions of dollars unless it is reversed on appeal. The Supreme Court has an activist majority and Attorney General Patrick Lynch is regarded as an activist. Its liability climate is not conducive to growth and job creation.

Enacting tort reform is impossible as long as jurors believe large settlements are apple pie. Lawyers will not vote to slaughter this cash cow; many are in our state offices. The ablility to afford a run for these positions by self-funding makes change difficult. Neither party turns down fresh loot.

Corporations were complacent when years ago the impact of litigation was confined to paying legal fees and enduring the occasional adverse verdict. Corporations could survive this competitive disadvantage against the trial bar. That is no longer true. Today, verdicts reflect an anti-business sentiment and many juries have a lottery mentality when doling out awards. Now, a company’s share value, brand equity, and even its very solvency are at risk. That’s why successful companies must study the trial bar’s new business model, and develop sound, effective, and preemptive opposition strategies.

Outsourcing and foreign manufacturing costs companies less; foreign operations provide an extra shield against lawsuits too. Next, this country will see our major companies incorporating in corporate friendly tax and litigation havens. Halliburton didn’t move to the UAE because of the physical climate.

New England lost its manufacturing base, now we rely on service industries. With the Internet, they are even more mobile; they hire fewer employees.

In a conflict, a fixed position is a losing tactical situation. A legal confrontation is no different. Since there is always some state that sooner or later will alter it’s business laws, an ability to incorporate anywhere provides immunity from high tax addicted governments. Only a Marxist/Socialist believes otherwise. For their position to maintain, they must control all government. Capitalism, being the normal human condition, exists on its own.

I find it problematical in my personal life to leave a job uncompleted. There is a righteous obligation to see tasks to the end, disdaining a poorly finished job.

Personified by original New Englanders as well as the rest of the colonials, this work ethic built this state, this country into what it is yesterday. Hardy woodchucks created the farms and woodlots that became Vermont and New Hampshire. Seafarers from ports in Maine, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut generated trade and wealth.

From the French and Indian War to Korea, we remained stalwart with those that fought at our side. We terminated the first rapacious jihadists, when Jefferson subdued the Barbary pirates. Through the pains of war, we kept the faith and stayed the path

In the mid 1960’s, America changed when the first spoiled generation came of age. They coveted material items, bought with others’ labor, rather than strive for them as in previous times. Never tempered in the forge of maturation, they believe in birthright and have a concomitant deficiency in sense of community. They became the me generation.

Vietnam showed this absence in an obtrusive fashion. Whether we should have or not fought there is moot. This generation demanded the politicos cut and run from there, acquiescence sold the people who worked with us into re-education and labor camps. Those who fought with the Arvin now get nothing except slum housing and pedicab work…if they’re lucky. This precipitated the slaughter in Cambodia for no reason except to exterminate the educated class. Our esteemed officials cared less; those with us paid and are paying the price.

Today, the left is executing the same nefarious diligence with Iraq. The Democrats want to cut and run immediately. Sell out to the heathens; care nothing for the Iraqis working with us. Once more, the boomer generation shows a repellent indifference for our obligations to the Middle East.

The Iraqi citizens, who assumed we would keep our word, acquire death sentences. Al Qaeda avows beheadings as soon as they ensnare those who accepted our word. That is fine with our culture of sensitivity advocates; they extend nothing to anyone adjudged a friend of the US.

Is it to be a bloodbath in Iraq? Shall we allow the leftists to isolate us from any association with other countries save Israel? They wish them destroyed. The message is the same for us.

When the wolves start eating sheep, they save the judas goat for dessert. It isn’t an honor.

LONDON (Reuters) - World powers agreed on Monday to work on a new U.N. Security Council resolution to put pressure on Iran over its nuclear program but remained committed to seeking a negotiated solution, British officials said. [snip]

…We began work on a new Security Council resolution,” said John Sawers, political director of the British Foreign Office. [snip]

Finally, the Security Council is showing a spine of steel! They’re using the thesaurus as a weapon of mass eruction. These new ones will completely solve the problem we have with Iran.

By Jeremy Pelofsky

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Fraud involving payments supposed to help victims of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita likely exceeds earlier estimates of $1 billion and only a tiny fraction of the money has been recovered, according to a U.S. government report released on Wednesday.

A February estimate that improper payments could be $1 billion “is likely understated,” the Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress, said in the report to the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee.
[snip]

“FEMA has yet to strike a proper balance between expedited assistance and good stewardship of taxpayer funds,” said Sen. Susan Collins, chairwoman of the committee and a Maine Republican.

Katrina alone caused $80 billion in damage, killed 1,500 people and displaced hundreds of thousands more. More than $100 billion was set aside by Congress to help the region recover from the 2005 storms.
[snip]

A U.S. judge last month ordered the Bush administration to resume aid payments for housing after FEMA cut the assistance off citing an insufficient explanation. ACORN, a community organization that filed a challenge, said the payments would help 11,000 families in Texas and Louisiana.

Rino Collins is upset with 1/100^th of the allocated money. This is the equivalent of losing a penny out of a dollar’s worth of change. Her position would be enhanced if she exhibited this concern when setting aside the money.

Congress throws away our money in this fashion daily. If congress falters, usually around election time, the courts intervene to insure this spending.

U.S. National Overview

October 2006

October

* 52nd coolest October on record (1895-2006).

* All regions near to or below normal temperature (first time since February 2003 with no regions above average temperature).

* Only 2 states above normal temperatures in October: New Hampshire and Texas. * 12th wettest October for U.S.

* Fourth wettest October on record for the Northeast Region.

* Maine ranked 2nd wettest October.

* Regionally, wet in Southwest, South, Central, Southeast and Northeast For information on local temperature and precipitation records during the month, please visit NCDC’s Extremes page.

Guess we’ll have to toast Al Gore to get the temps up.

A wave of the chuck’s tail to the Addison Eagle.

From the editor:
“Burn, baby, burn”
I’m sorry, but I’m just not losing sleep over International Paper’s plan to burn scrap tires at its mill in Ticonderoga. And here’s why—

1. Both environmentally and economically, burning tires may not be the best way to deal with scrap tires, but it’s a far, far better solution than simply disposing or dumping the things along Creek Road. Oh, you can look up this fact for yourself: There are fewer impurities in the air from burning tires than the oil currently used by I.P at the plant.

2. Did you know that our State of Vermont—the very same state that’s currently fighting the I.P. Ticonderoga planned tire burn test—sends its scrap tires to Maine to burn in another I.P. plant? “Vermont environmental groups have a ‘do as we say, not as we do’ philosophy  (when it comes to tire burning),” Essex, N.Y. Supervisor Ronald Jackson told the Press-Republican newspaper recently. “We won’t mention the fact that Vermont ships all its used tires to Maine to be burned… so they are not opposed to burning tires. They are just opposed to burning tires in Ticonderoga.” Ignore that Vermont governor behind the curtain.

3. We discovered that in the year 2000 (last year available for such data), approximately 47 percent of the 273 million scrap tires generated in the United States were burned for fuel. Gosh, I guess I missed all the news reports about thousands of dead Americans as a result of commercial tire burning.

4. According to a scientific report by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, “While it may seem counterintuitive to anyone who has seen an uncontrolled tire fire, there actually can be environmental benefits to controlled burning of scrap tires or tire-derived fuel  (TDF) chips for energy.” What does the Ohio Department of Natural Resources know about it anyhow?

5. TDF produces more heating value than coal with similar emissions. And according to environmentalist Terry Gray, a tire-fuel expert,  “Coal mixed with TDF produces less ash, greenhouse gases and metal emissions than burning coal alone.”

6. Energy-intensive commercial operations such as I.P.’s Ticonderoga facility are ideal places for using TDF. TDF is cheaper than greenhouse-gas producing coal and oil. According to the Press- Republican, “IP officials estimate that burning tires to supplement daily fuel requirements would save more than $4,100 a day, or $1.2 million to $1.5 million annually.” But let’s please ignore that fact. We’re “green” Vermonters and we have a dirty little secret:  We really don’t like blue collar workers and their employers—be it farming or quarrying, timbering or electrical-power generation and transmission.

7. Without viable recycling alternatives for scrap tires, TDF is a logical, reasonable use for scrap tires.
And last but not least—

8. Some of the local intelligentsia have called for a boycott of I.P. products (yuck, look for a big drop in toilet paper sales locally). So, based on this silly luddite reason alone, I am supporting the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation’s approved I.P. test plan.

Burn, baby, burn!

Lou Varricchio, M.S.
THE ADDISON EAGLE

Every Luddite in the county is buying nose plugs and rolls of aluminum foil. The only fuel cheaper to burn than the tires would be the luddites. Bundle them tightly in Styrofoam and toss them into the pit!

A wave of the chuck’s tail to Telegraph.co.UK
I let this sit for a week, but not a word in the MSM-

An independent witness who went into Abu Ghraib this week told The Sunday Telegraph that screams were coming from the cell blocks housing the terrorist suspects. Prisoners released from the jail this week spoke of routine torture of terrorism suspects and on Wednesday, 27 prisoners were hanged in the first mass execution since the overthrow of Saddam Hussein’s regime.
[snip]
Some of the small number of prisoners who remained in the jail after the Americans left said they had pleaded to go with their departing captors, rather than be left in the hands of Iraqi guards.

“The Americans were better than the Iraqis. They treated us better,” said Khalid Alaani, who was held on suspicion of involvement in Sunni terrorism.
[snip]

Sounds like they’re begging for the panty party hats and the dog show now! How fickle one can be.

When will the MSM cough up a hairball over the way the Iraqi’s run a prison? Where is the professed sensitivity toward the formerly “mistreated prisoners?”

We never should have controlled the prison. The Iraqi’s make a wonderful cat’s paw for getting the intelligence we need. The military acts on the presented intel, while the Sunnis and the Shi’a point fingers at each other, leaving us as the driven snow.

The Germans can’t say anything and the French, well who cares. As for the MSM, they’re in the same category as the French.

A wave of the chuck’s tail to The Addison Eagle, Middlebury, VT.

In Vermont, folly takes place so regularly; I’m declaring it a season. The arm wavers are aroused by the International Paper tire test burn passing muster. The EPA and the State of N.Y. supplied their imprimatur for the Ticonderoga, N.Y. company to burn used tires as fuel for two weeks.

Democrat Matt Dunne, candidate for [VT] lieutenant governor and fellow Addison County Democrats including state senators Claire Ayer and Harold Giard announced a new strategy to fight the proposed burning of toxic tires across the lake.

…Dunne, Ayer, and Giard joined local opponents of the tire burn to announce a plan of action to pressure I.P. to stop the tire burn, according to Jorna Taylor of Dunne’s campaign.

John Lyle, an I.P. employee living in Orwell, was angry with the actions of Dunne, Ayer, and Giard.

“Boycotts always end up hurting little people like me,” Lyle said. “I guess Dunne and the Vermont senators don’t know that the Ticonderoga plant employs quite a few Addison County residents.

These “environmentally sensitive” politicos get the blind staggers thinking about burying or storing the tires anywhere in VT. Their sole idea for using discarded tires is making “Peace and Justice” sandals for their myrmidons to wear while chanting, “’Vermont is open for business,’ don’t mind the boycott!”

These useful tools demand I.P. spend millions installing technologies to find out if they need the technologies. That logic is like a kid’s first train set.

Then too, the I.P. plant in Brunswick Maine’s burns tires; there is no approbation by these caring individuals about the practice there.

The next meeting is in Nimby, VT. 05753. Don’t plan on attending (sniff), you don’t have the credentials.