A couple one minute rants...

I leave at 5:30am tomorrow for Seattle, and it is now 11:10pm here in deepest, darkest central Joisey. So, I'll indulge myself in a couple of mini-rants and then I'm off to bed.

My first (and most obvious) target is the airline industry. Flying sucks! When I was a kid (shortly after Orville and Wilbur did their thing), flying was fun. Didn't get there as fast in the air, but the planes were actually fairly comfortable, the people staffing them and the ground facilities were not worked to within an inch of their sanity. And we didn't have to deal with the paranoia that has become SOP since 9/11. No, if I had any kind of an alternative...oh, like maybe trains...and could afford to take that much time, I would in a heart beat. But that alternative isn't really viable these days, so I subject myself to the horrors of modern air travel. It is just another huge, glaring example of how our quality of life is eroding away.

Then, also in a "transportation" sort of vein, there are the roads here in the Soprano State. They suck as well! What with deteriorating bridges, potholes that swallow smaller cars whole and a marked lack of new roads being built to handle the ever increasing traffic load, driving here in the Garden State has become an exercise in stoicism in the face of adversity rather than something one actually might want to do. Those Sunday drives of yesteryear are but a dim, fading memory 'cause there ain't nobody who actually goes for a ride in the country just for the ride any more.

Of course, it isn't just the roads that make driving suck here in the 'burbs. No, my slightly biased estimate is that at least 70% of the people the great State of New Jersey has awarded the license to drive are, in fact, not up to that task. OK, maybe not 70%...but the percentage is significant. These so called drivers wander from lane to lane; they drive 10 miles an hour below the posted speed limit in the left lane...and then have the presumption to look askance at those who pass them on the right. Only by some prodigious displays of vehicular control have I managed to avoid the fools who have been seriously trying to kill me of late. I do have to say that my Outback is quite agile for a station wagon, and I am grateful for that.

On other fronts, Hillary should read the writing on the wall and withdraw with some grace and in the best interest of the party. She'll get points for doing so.

The exciting news is that for the past few years I have been vainly scouring the shelves of America's retailers looking for a certain product. I finally drew up some very rough drawings and took them to a patent attorney who did think that it is an idea worth pursuing. So, $500 dollars poorer (me...he's that much richer) I am waiting on pins and needles for the result of the "art search". If that proves to be negative, I will file a provisional application and begin the process that could see me actually the possessor of a US patent. How cool is that? Plus, if I can patent it, I think I can sell it and make enough money to become semi-retired. (Meaning I'd still work, but only at things I actually wanted to do.) Further reports will be forthcoming as things progress.

And with that, dear reader (shrug...if there is even one of you out there) I am going to toddle off to bed and try for four hours sleep. I hate flying....

Those fun-loving guys are at it again...

The current issue of Time Magazine (4/7/08) has as its cover story an expose of the biofuel (ie. ethanol) stampede. Basically, Time reports that ethanol actually adds to the greenhouse gases while diverting crops like corn from being a food source to being a fuel source. This diversion of crops like corn away from the feedlots and grocery stores to the ethanol plants means that the cost of many foods is going to go up. In addition, the rush to biofuels is one of the driving forces behind the accelerating destruction of the Amazonian rain forest.

One of the factoids that Time trots out in the course of the article is that the amount of corn needed to produce a tank of ethanol for a hybrid SUV would feed one adult human for one year. The fact that there are tens of millions of human beings who suffer from (at one end of the scale) malnutrition to (at the other end of the scale) fatal starvation, the act of diverting food to something as inconsequential as fueling one of our behemoth vehicles becomes a little macabre at best.

So, not only is most ethanol a net carbon emitter (only sugar cane based ethanol contributes, net, less carbon than oil based fuels), but its production absorbs resources which once went into food production. All that corn that is going ethanol plants is not going to the feedlots...and that means that those burgers on the grill this summer are going to become a luxury rather than a regular event.

Of course, what we should be promoting and investing research dollars and resources in is hydrogen. As a fuel, hydrogen emits no carbon (when you think about it, its major byproduct is water...). The rap against hydrogen is that it is hard to handle. Which is why we need to invest in research to find ways to make it easier to use. Oh, and I do note that many of the biggest boosters of biofuels are American corporate agri-businesses. Yes, Corporate America, smelling the opportunity for some quick profits has jumped aboard the ethanol bandwagon while loudly proclaiming themselves to be truly committed to to protecting the ecosphere. This loud self-promotion does lead me to wonder why American Corporations are almost always on the wrong side of those issues which define character. Hmmm.

But that is a rant for another time...

We Democrats need an intervention...

What is wrong with our leadership? What is wrong with Hillary and Barack? Don't they see that they are giving McCain a priceless gift? I am beginning to think that the party is not important to either Hillary or Barack. I am beginning to think that they care little that they are ripping the heart out of the party and that they could very well be giving Mr. McCain the keys to the White House.

It is one thing to have a sitting President as your known opponent. A sitting President presents a continuing target. A candidate like McCain, however, only has to go around making "meet 'n greet" appearances while he quietly, in the background, builds his campaign machine. So, the fact that Bill Clinton didn't clinch the nomination until July was not all that bad. After all, he had George the First tanking the economy and otherwise being fairly unpopular. This year's candidate(s) don't have that luxury. Sure, they have George the Second, who is a true disaster, but George the Second isn't running again. The American people can throw all the bric-a-brac they want at George, but he's gone anyhow.

What our two erstwhile candidates need to do is retire to a room somewhere and not come out until they have decided between themselves who is going to carry the standard. I don't care how they do it: play poker, Indian wrestle, dueling pistols at thirty paces...whatever. Just stop this internal bloodletting and start focusing on the true opposition. As an aside, this was one of the good points about having kingmakers like Richard Daley and others of the "smoke filled room" era: they knew who the opposition really were, and they made sure that the party didn't waste too much time and effort on internecine warfare.