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The Value of Drink "Sometimes when I reflect back on all the wine I drink I feel shame Then I look into the glass and think about the workers in the vineyards and all of their hopes and dreams . If I didn't drink this wine, they might be out of work and their dreams would be shattered. Then I say to myself, "It is better that I drink this wine and let their dreams come true than be selfish and worry about my liver." ~ Jack Handy WARNING: The consumption of alcohol may leave you wondering what the hell...

Russia calls for sturgeon fishing ban in CaspianRussia on Thursday proposed that Caspian Sea states impose a five-year ban on fishing for sturgeon, prized for its caviar eggs, to save stocks from collapse, a spokesman for the fisheries agency said. "We are ready to announce a moratorium," said spokesman Alexander Savelyev, adding that Russia would formally propose the ban to the other four Caspian Sea states of Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan soon. "This is because the sturgeon is about to disappear," said Savelyev, adding that Russia was not able to fish its annual quota of 50 tonnes of sturgeon...

Congregation of the Church of the Holy Organic, let us buy. Let us buy Anna Sova Luxury Organics Turkish towels, 900 grams per square meter, $58 apiece. Let us buy the eco-friendly 600-thread-count bed sheets, milled in Switzerland with U.S. cotton, $570 for queen-size. Let us purge our closets of those sinful synthetics, purify ourselves in the flame of the soy candle at the altar of the immaculate Earth Weave rug, and let us buy, buy, buy until we are whipped into a beatific froth of free-range fulfillment. And let us never consider the other organic option -- not buying...

A few years ago, Bill Cosby set off a firestorm with a speech excoriating his fellow African-Americans for, among other things, buying $500 sneakers instead of educational toys for their children. In a recent book, Come On People, he repeats his argument that black Americans spend too much money on designer clothes and fancy cars, and don't invest sufficiently in their futures. Many in the black community have been critical of Cosby for blaming poor people rather than poor public policies. Others have defended Cosby's comments as an honest expression of uncomfortable truths. But notably absent from the Cosby affair...

It might not come as a surprise to learn that the cars Britons own are smaller than the cars Americans drive or that Swedes favour safe, politically correct SAAB's and Volvo's. But there's more to be said. To begin with: WHO'S RICH, WHO'S NOT? - Swedes claim they enjoy the highest standard of living in the world and they also say poverty, in absolute terms, is extinct in their country. The income distribution is known for being extremely even. If this really is true, how is it reflected in Swedish car consumption? Furthermore, for the first time since the 19th...

No Need For Reduced Alcohol Consumption In Later Life, Study Suggests ScienceDaily (Dec. 20, 2007) — Provided they stick to the same guidelines about alcohol consumption as younger adults, regular moderate drinking poses no additional risks to the over 65s, and may even bring health benefits, according to two studies from the Peninsula Medical School in the South West of England. Researchers assessed the drinking levels of over 13,000 older people in England and the US and looked at the effects on physical disability, mortality, cognitive function, depression, and well-being. They concluded that moderate drinking is fine for the over...

Norway has more millionaires, measured in US dollars, than any other country in the world in terms of its size.

A group of local politicians from Sollefteå in northern Sweden have lodged a complaint to the Swedish Consumer Agency (Konsumentverket) after viewing an advert that promotes shopping. The three-member consumer delegation - consisting of Micael Melander from the Social Democrats, Tonny Molander of the Greens and Left Party representative Niklas Lind - discussed the advertisement for clothing chain Kapp-Ahl at a meeting on March 23rd. Related Articles Job prospects undone by girlfriend's blog 26th April 2007 Male witch threatened to kill flatmates 25th April 2007 New Miss Sweden risks disqualification 24th April 2007 Article Options Send to a friend Printable...

WASHINGTON - In his first State of the Union address to a Democratic-controlled Congress, President Bush is calling for Americans to slash gasoline consumption by up to 20 percent by 2017. Bush envisions the goal being achieved primarily through a sharp escalation in the amount of ethanol and other alternative fuels that the federal government mandates must be produced. The rest of the fuel use reduction is to come from raising fuel economy standards for passenger cars, Joel Kaplan, White House deputy chief of staff, told reporters in a briefing before Bush's Tuesday night speech to a joint session of...

Some people claim the iPod index tells you more about the economic situation of different countries than the Burger Index or GDP/capita statistics, in fact, some will even tell you it says more about this issue than any other stats available. Anyhow, In this case, what could one possibly make out of the compilation featured in the article below? What does the economies of Brazil, India and Sweden (my home country) have in common? I've heard of research reporting that Sweden is poorer than Mississippi (at least an internet profile like Instapundit - perhaps not the most frequent visitor to...

The article, from one of the world's leading newspapers, touches on what a blessing saying "hasta la vista" to socialism really can be - not to mention future prospects! Ask the people who live in the hottest city of Europe - and they don't speak "cockney" or french with a Paris accent. The fall of Communism in Russia and China in combination with the orientation towards pro-capitalism of Scandinavia has already lead to a explosion of trade between the world's 14th biggest economy, Russia, the world's 4th biggest economy, China and the 8th biggest one, the Scandinavian countries (Source: IMF...

Bottom trawling destroys deep sea lifeNew York: A long-awaited report by the United Nations shows the need for an international moratorium on bottom-trawling and other destructive fishing practices that damage deep sea life, Conservation International (CI) said. The U.N. Division for Ocean Affairs and Law of the Sea (DOALOS) reviewed measures to protect the vulnerable deep oceans of the high seas -- the 64 percent of ocean that lies beyond the national jurisdictions of any individual nation. Its review, ordered by the U.N. General Assembly in 2004, was based on reports from member states on steps taken to stop destructive...

Time to Remove Barriers to Boosting Oil Refining Capacity by Ben LiebermanPosted Jul 27, 2006The high price of oil is the main reason that the price of gasoline has nearly doubled over the last three years, but it is not the only reason. The cost of turning oil into gasoline has also risen, thanks in part to costly federal regulations on refinery operations and expansions. Many in Congress are aware of this problem, and the House recently passed the Refinery Permit Process Schedule Act (H.R. 5254) to address it. This very modest measure would streamline refinery-related regulations and would be...

The Office of Tax Analysis of the U. S. Department of the Treasury has performed an analysis of the recommendations of the president's commission on fundamental tax reform. The report details findings of OTA regarding each of the two reform proposals by the commission, plus analysis of a third option: a personal consumption tax (PCT). Which plan produces the highest growth in capital and in income? The PCT, of course. This study uses dynamic scoring, which is good. But the study would have been even better if it had analysed the Fair Tax, which has substantial support in Congress, particularly...

Denny Klein thinks he has found a new commercial use for hydrogen technology. Working in a small, two-room shop at the Airport Business Center, Klein, 63, said he has developed a gas that speeds welding and fusing times and improves automobile fuel efficiency 30 percent. Although the technology Klein uses -- electrolysis -- has been around for decades, he said it's the form of gas that comes out of his electrolyzer and the characteristics of the gas that set his hydrogen technology apart. Klein's gas is two parts hydrogen and one part oxygen. Sound familiar? Yep, it's water. Electrolysis is...

The hydrogen economy is closer than we think. At least, that's the image portrayed by this TV news report from FOX 26 (as far as I can tell, the report aired last year, and I'm not sure which city this FOX 26 is in. For our purposes, these details don't really matter). The report focuses on Denny Klein, president of Hydrogen Technology Applications, and his water-powered car. There is some impressive imagery at work in the piece. Seeing someone pour water into an engine and getting energy out of it is pretty amazing. And slicing through metal with a water-based...

I would challenge you democtatic underground lurkers (or a freeper with a DU account) to post this over there and see what sort of repsonses come from the left... I keep hearing how oil dependent we are and how higher consumption is driving up prices... I hear how it is adversely affecting 75% of americans, It seems like if that was the case, 75% of americans would cut the amount they use! I know I cant be the only person in america that has drastically cut the amount of fuel I use over the past year. I want to know...

People have been nagging me about my wasteful oil consumption for 30 years. I didn't pay much attention. I love my Mustang convertible. I was the kind of guy who, hearing President Bush tout the virtues of ethanol and decry America's "addiction" to oil in the State of the Union speech, would dismiss it as empty rhetoric. Except, recently, I was stopped in my tracks by a message on an airport billboard. "The world consumes two barrels of oil for every barrel discovered," it said. "So is this something you should be worried about?" The question was a grabber. But...

IN an effort to capitalize on the megadollars that megayachts can bring to a harbor area, coastal resorts around the globe are racing to build or retrofit their marinas to accommodate the colossal cruisers. [. . .] . . . new marinas . . . are being developed . . . To keep megayacht owners busy - not to mention spending - while their boats are parked at the marina, developers are surrounding their ports with high-end restaurants and retail shops. To entice yacht owners and their entourages to stay longer, they are also building luxury condominiums and five-star hotels....

Make no mistake about it, the Voluntary Human Extinction Movement isn't anti-child, it's more like anti-human. The VHE is dedicated to phasing out the human race in the interest of the health of the Earth, founder Les Knight told Wednesday's San Francisco Chronicle. With 16,000 people born per hour and a current global population of 6.5 billion, there are already more than enough people on the planet, Knight said. A 1994 study concluded a single person born in the 1990s would be responsible during a lifetime for 22 million pounds of liquid waste and 2.2 million pounds each of solid...

New research by a Canadian university has brought previously unknown parts of the world's oceans into focus and is raising new concerns about the global decline of big species. The study, released yesterday by the journal Science, found that the ocean contains a small number of "hot spots" where marine life concentrates and where stocks are declining dramatically. But the finding has also opened a new window of hope because it points to a few key areas, in a vast, featureless ocean, where conservation efforts could be targeted for maximum effect. By looking at 50 years of international fishing data...

Holy Cow! I believe that this is the first time other than on Boortz that I have heard an actual DISCUSSION of the Fair Tax on the air!

"A system of conservation based solely on economic self-interest is hopelessly lopsided. It tends to ignore, and thus eventually eliminate, many elements in the land community that lack commercial value, but that are (as far as we know) essential to its healthy functioning." - Aldo Leopold Economic growth is an increase in the production and consumption of goods and services and is a function of population and consumption, per capita. Economists measure growth by assessing a country's gross domestic product, the annual sum of goods and services produced and purchased in the nation, or by gross national product, which is...

Does crude oil above $50 have you scared? The conventional wisdom is that prices like these are recession-makers, but so far it hasn't been true. Motorists just keep pumping the gas and buying up a storm at Wal-Mart, too — and the economy keeps pumping along. But what's really scary is the nightmare vision of oil trading at even higher prices. There's no shortage of doomsday peddlers out there talking about $100 oil. But remember, when the NASDAQ was at 5,000 almost exactly five years ago, there were plenty of people who said it was headed to 10,000. Today's oil...

HONG KONG - A notable feature of 2004 was the volatility in oil prices - New York light sweet crude prices reached a peak of US$55.67 on October 25, ending the year up 33.6% at $43.45 per barrel. While a number of supply-side and supply-chain factors have contributed to this situation, the most significant long-term factor contributing to rising oil prices is an increase in Asian demand, most notably from China. China's unprecedented growth not only makes it a driver of a long-term increase in energy prices, but also the most vulnerable to rising oil prices. China, which has been...

China has "eclipsed" the US as a consumer nation China has overtaken the US in the consumption of basic agricultural and industrial goods, a new survey says. China, with its 1.3bn population and booming economy, is now the world's biggest consumer of grain, meat, coal and steel. China is well ahead of the US in the consumption of goods such as television sets, refrigerators and mobile phones. The Washington-based Earth Policy Institute said China was now an emerging economic superpower. However, per capita consumption in China - the world's most populous country - remains far below that of the US....

WASHINGTON — President Bush's tax reform panel listened Wednesday to the pros and cons of taxing money earned or money spent, leading one member to say that a hybrid should be considered. "It has merit," said John Breaux, a former senator from Louisiana and the panel's Democratic vice chairman.

Not long ago, Republicans were trying to pass a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution. Their worry was that large deficits would hamper growth and prosperity. At the same time, Alan Greenspan, Chairman of the Federal Reserve, preached deficit reduction too. He saw it as the solution not only to the country’s economic downturn, but also to its more long-term economic problems. Meanwhile, Democrats were skeptical. They believed that deficit spending had brought the country out of the Great Depression, and Democratic economists were overwhelming Keynesians. As such, they feared that raising taxes and lowering government expenditures to try to...

I happened to be in the dentist's office today, and read this article (isn't it great how you can review news over the past 3-4 months with the magazines in a doctor or dentist's waiting room)? Anyhow, I thought this article was good. It was originally in Fortune magazine; I found the document in PDF form (the link above) with Google. There are a lot of reasons that reducing oil consumption is a good idea. Beyond the simple fact that there are an increasing number of projections that indicate peak oil production will happen in 20-40 years (with pessimists even...

GENEVA — People are plundering the world's resources at a pace that outstrips the planet's capacity to sustain life, the environmental group WWF said Thursday. In its regular "Living Planet Report," the World Wide Fund for Nature said humans currently consume 20 percent more natural resources than the Earth can produce. Consumption of fossil fuels such as coal, gas, and oil increased by almost 700 percent between 1961 and 2001, it said. But the planet is unable to move as fast to absorb the resulting carbon-dioxide emissions that degrade the Earth's protective ozone layer. "We are spending nature's capital faster...

I am about to praise a liberal, a Democrat and a member of the Congressional Black Caucus (search). No, there's nothing wrong with your TV and you have not inadvertently tuned to one of the broadcast networks. This is still FOX News Channel. Congressman Chaka Fattah (search) of Pennsylvania has proposed eliminating the cumbersome and to most of us indecipherable tax code and replacing it with a consumption tax. Instead of individuals and corporations paying a tax on earnings, Fattah wants to tax what we buy, sell, trade or acquire. He estimates the current system costs the government $200 billion...

IS ANOTHER oil shock in the making? All indications point to that considering the rise in world crude prices, not just in the spot market, but also in the futures segment. In the past, the rise in the spot price of crude as, for instance, ahead of both the Gulf wars, was not accompanied by a sympathetic jump in the forward price simply because the market expected the spike to be short-lived. But, this time, the forward price has been going up sharply. Crude oil has jumped 13 per cent in three weeks. Oil for July delivery reached a record...

April 8, 2002, 8:30 a.m. Consumption Junction It may be time to tax what we consume. Bruce Bartlett hroughout most of American history, taxes were levied principally on consumption, rather than income. Except during the Civil War, the federal government was financed almost entirely by import duties and excise taxes until 1913, when our current income tax was imposed. The Founding Fathers favored consumption taxes in part because they are harder to raise to confiscatory levels than incomes taxes. In the Federalist Papers, Alexander Hamilton had this to say: It is a signal advantage of taxes on articles of consumption...

The storage industry's two favorite professors have completed their annual look at data growth and found once again that data is growing. Peter Lyman and Hal Varian of Berkeley's School of Information Management and Systems say that information production has increased by 30 percent each year between 1999 and 2002. Last year alone, the amount of data stored on paper, film, optical and magnetic media reached five exabytes - or 5 million terabytes. This is music to storage vendors' ears, and it should come as no shock that EMC, HP, Intel and Microsoft "supported" the study."All of a sudden, almost...

WASHINGTON - Their lawsuits have been defeated in the courts, and now a Senate bill would tell obese Americans that their weight gain is nobody's fault but their own. The "Commonsense Consumption Act," a bill introduced by tort-reform champion Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., would prohibit obese Americans from suing food companies for weight-related medical conditions. A federal judge in New York already threw out two such lawsuits earlier this year. Read McConnell's bill. The legislation also represents another move by Republican legislators to curb class-action lawsuits and the sway of powerful trial lawyers. By a one-vote margin Wednesday, the...

Conservatives are rejoicing. They see the United States already on a path of fundamental tax changes that will accelerate economic growth. "Stealth tax reform," it has been called. That's because relatively few voters are aware of the significance of the changes in the system proposed by President Bush and incorporated in the three tax-cutting measures passed by a Republican-led Congress since he took office. "George W. Bush is the first president to actively understand and embrace the fundamental core principles of tax reform," says Ernest Christian, a founder of the Center for Strategic Tax Reform in Washington. The ultimate tax-reform...

Senate OKs Oil Savings of One Million Barrels a Day WASHINGTON, DC, June 10, 2003 (ENS) - The Senate today passed an amendment to the energy bill now working its way through Congress that requires the President to enact measures to conserve enough oil throughout the U.S. economy to reduce demand by one million barrels a day by 2013. Seen as a clear victory for energy conservation, national security, and oil price stabilization, the bipartisan measure passed the Senate by a vote of 99 to 1. The amendment by Senator Mary Landrieu, a Louisiana Democrat, was cosponsored by Democrat...

When another collection of self-storage units sprouts up like alders in an old meadow, Coleen O'Connell sees it not as an innocuous sign of the times, but as a symptom.The disease that the proliferation of these steel-sided, windowless structures indicates, O'Connell believes, is "affluenza." It's an affliction that drives many Americans to consume far more goods than they need, and willingly trade away time with their families so they can work to earn more money to buy even more things, she said. O'Connell has a friend who owns so much furniture that she keeps some of it in a self-storage...

In the heart of the Treasury Department, their work deeply under wraps, tax-policy experts are hatching policy options for what could be the Bush economic team's first big idea: shifting the U.S. tax system away from taxing income, toward taxing consumption. But taking what has long been an academic ideal and translating it into real-world tax policy would take a dramatic commitment of presidential leadership, a long education and political campaign, and a bipartisan convergence of political interests, tax-policy experts say. Few of them are holding their breath. "It's true that you can write down a simpler tax system on...

Britain's upper crust are indulging themselves with the latest food fad -designer loaves costing almost $30. The sourdough Poilane loaf costs 50 times more than normal brands, but its French bakers are confident it's worth every penny. They claim the posh bread, which contains just flour, sea salt and water, has a superior taste and extra health-giving qualities. In the UK it is only available from eight Waitrose supermarkets, at £9.62 a loaf, fresh from the Poilane bakery in London's Belgravia. The bread, which measures 31cm across and weighs almost 9kg, is hand-kneaded and baked for six hours in an...

PERTH, Australia (Reuters) - Better, more efficient growing techniques are slashing marijuana prices in Australia and pushing up consumption. Prices of the weed have fallen in real terms by almost 40 per cent over the past 10 years, according to a survey by the Economic Research Centre at the University of Western Australia. Marijuana remains illegal here, but smoking or possessing small amounts has been decriminalized in most Australian states. "Even though marijuana is an illegal substance in Australia it seems that the application of modern production techniques, particularly hydroponic techniques, has led to a substantial increase in supply," said...