Perro Caliente!

Cigar Aficionado appreciates the Noble Frankfurter.
(shown here in its most sublime instantiation, the Chicago Dog).

Independence Day, 2009.

The idea is quite unfounded that on entering into society we give up any natural right.

- Thomas Jefferson to Francis Gilmer, 1816.

Back to the Moon.

The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter is returning its first images of our planetary companion. Also, the June 2009 issue of IEEE's Spectrum is devoted to a manned voyage to Mars.

The Polish Opening.

The Wall Street Journal supports our point of view on Iran.

Just Go, Please.

Rich Lowry of National Review has it right: it's not about adultery, it's about dereliction of duty. Governor Sanford, it's time to go.

It's Worse...

The Huron River is running at 1400 CFS at the Ann Arbor gauging station. A true river blow-out. We'll see how things are in a few weeks...

The Circus is in Town!

We Americans can only handle serious issues for brief periods of time. The stretch from February through June was as a geologic timescale for us, filled with Pork Bills, Pirates, North Korea, Iran, Gitmo, Carbon Taxes, Obama Motors, and National(ized) Health Care. So do we now hear calliope music in the air? Yes, indeed, the Circus is back in town, courtesy of the sad passing of Mr. Jackson. The Meatpackers will be consumed by the grisly details of the inquest, rumors, rumors about rumors, indictments, legal fistfighting over the estate, 24-hour televigils, and the massteria of the funeral, burial, tributes, riots, and the associated merchandising. A great time for a backcountry vacation or getting some of that summer reading done. A siren will signal the all clear.

Some Carbon Math.

The U.S. House of Representatives passed an heavily amended version of the Waxman-Markey "Cap and Trade" Bill, which beginning in 2012 levies a tax to emit carbon dioxide at a rate of $13 per ton. This rate will increase steadily over the years, with the goal of forcing reductions of CO2 to less than 17% of current emissions by 2050 (83% by 2020).

The CBO claims that such a tax will cost the average household only $175 in energy costs by 2020. Shall we check the numbers?

The current total US emission of CO2 is about 6400 million US tons per year. The 2012 tax on this CO2 emission will total $83B. If we assume that all of this tax ultimately will be assessed on the 185 million taxpayers in the country (all costs to utilities, manufacturing, transportation, etc. are passed on to the total taxpayer base), the total 2012 tax increase on average per taxpayer is about $450. About one third of the taxpayers actually pay no tax; if we assume that this will also be the case for the CO2 tax (the bill provides for a CO2 tax credit for each lower income household), then the total burden in 2012 per net paying taxpayer will be more like $650. So, a household of two taxpayers will get walloped with an effective $1300 CO2 bill.

To account for the huge disparity with the CBO estimate, either the government will force some entities upstream in the cost flow to eat these costs - with accompanying adverse consequences to the economy, or only a fraction of CO2 emissions will be taxed, which defeats the purpose of the legislation. Something doesn't quite make sense here, and we will post clarifications or revisions to our estimates if the need should become evident.

Intellectual honesty requires us to disclose that we do detect some faint strains of free-market environmentalism in this approach, which has appeal. Free-market environmentalism applied to fair-value pricing of federally owned timber or mineral resources makes sense, since such environmental effects are nearly wholly confined to the land mass of the United States. We could in principle tax ourselves to oblivion for CO2 and do nothing about the increasing emissions from industrialized China and India. Perhaps we could send them the bill?

P.S. - Intellectual honesty, too, would require Democrats to concede that nuclear power must play a prominent role in reducing our dependence on fossil fuels for energy generation. We will not hold our breath for such a proclamation.

Addendum: The Heritage Foundation has produced a bar graph showing the increased household energy costs caused by Waxman-Markey through 2035.

The Most Brilliant Musical Ever.

"How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying" is the Zeitgeist for the early 1960s. All of the numbers in the film version are superb, but here is our favorite (close second: "Gotta Stop That Man"). Robert Morse is brilliant here, and his role as a partner in Don Draper's ad agency in AMC's "Mad Men" was inspired casting. Like bookends for a commentary of those times. Enjoy.

Situational Support for Freedom.

A puzzling phenomena is occurring in Mainstream Meatpacker World: a large-scale insurrection appears to be breaking out in an authoritarian regime, and the President of the United States, the Leader of the Free World, has shown great reluctance to condemn the regime's theft of a recent national election. The reaction of Meatpacker editorial boards? Exercises in pretzel-logic to support the President's diffidence. Quite remarkable.

Behind the Curtain.

Many have called for the President to employ additional rhetoric against the Ahmadinejad regime for its theft of the Iranian presidential election. Perhaps it will be useful. The real action, however, will occur behind the scenes, something like the actions of the Reagan Administration to shred the Iron Curtain and push the Soviet Union into the ditch.

One can only hope that neither ideology nor diffidence will prevent President Obama from acting during this decisive moment.