No Runny Eggs

The repository of one hard-boiled egg from the south suburbs of Milwaukee, Wisconsin (and the occassional guest-blogger). The ramblings within may or may not offend, shock and awe you, but they are what I (or my guest-bloggers) think.

Archive for May 20th, 2009

Unintended consequences, envirowhacko edition

by @ 23:23. Filed under Envirowhackos, Health.

(H/T – The Lid, who is now on the roll of bloat)

Yes, I believe that this particular consequence of the envirowhackos’ agenda, unlike most of the consequences, is unintended. The National Post reports that a lot of reusable cloth bags, currently in vogue among the envirowhacko set, have bacterial, yeast, or mold contamination in tests conducted for the Environment and Plastics Industry Council in Canada. Specifically:

– 64% of the bags tested were contaminated with some level of bacteria
– 30% had bacterial levels higher than what Ontario considers safe for drinking water
– 40% had yeast or mold infection
– The most troubling – some bags had fecal bacteria on them.

Given that it takes hot water (or bleach) to disinfect the bags, and a heated clothes dryer to quickly dry the bags before contaminants that survive the laundering process can really take hold in the dampness left by the water, I’m waiting for the envirowhacko screams when they realize, like corn-a-hole, the “solution” is at least as bad as the problem.

Roll bloat – taking the lid off

by @ 23:08. Filed under The Blog.

In a continuing quest to synchronize my overstuffed feed reader with the roll of bloat, it’s well past time to add The Lid to the latter.

War on corporations holding back economic recovery

by @ 22:38. Filed under Economy, Politics - National.

(H/T – Asian Badger)

Forbes publisher Rich Karlgaard notes something missing from the ingredients that are coming together for economic recovery – CEO confidence. Quoting Rich

The Fed has done its job. (Maybe too well, but that’s another story for another day.) Consumer sentiment and spending have bounced back. The headwinds that remain have less to do with bank stress tests and more to do with CEO mood. The Business Roundtable, which represents big business, reported “record low” CEO confidence in April:

–71% of CEOs plan more layoffs in the next six months.

–Most see declines in capital spending.

–The CEO Economic Outlook Index was negative for the first time.

Why is that so? History provides a guide (again quoting Rich):

In her book The Forgotten Man, Amity Shlaes wrote that the 1937–38 “depression within the Depression” occurred when capital went on strike. President Roosevelt’s willingness to “try anything” (including retroactive taxation, laws against discount pricing and an attempt at packing the Supreme Court) had businesses and their backers so confused over FDR’s rules that they simply withdrew.

This is the risk of President Obama’s willingness to “do what it takes.” Those words sound positive and action-oriented. They really mean “anything can happen.” The tearing up of legal contracts? That can happen. Limits to salary and travel? That can happen. Bullying by the Environmental Protection Agency? That can happen. Nationalization of General Motors and Citigroup? That can happen. Nobody knows for sure what will happen. Government is sorting it out day by day.

There are two things that can happen with a lack of investment from the CEOs and, as Dad29 points out in the comments over at Asian Badger, the corporate bond market, and neither of them are good: increased unemployment as business continue to shed workers, and increased inflation as more money (in this case, caused by an extremely loose Fed bolstered by consumer confidence) chases fewer goods (caused by a lack of capital investment). As they say, those who don’t remember history (or willfully ignore its painful lessons),….

The line must be held here

by @ 21:37. Filed under Politics - National, Taxes.

(H/T – JammieWearingFool, who hasn’t had a Full Metal Jacket Reach-Around in a while)

The News Organization That Cannot Be Quoted™ reports that the Senate, not content with slapping a 3-cent-per-12-ounce tax on sugary drinks to pay for nationalized universal health care, is planning on massive increases in alcohol excise taxes to do the same:

– 17% on hard liquor, from $2.14 per fifth to $2.54 per fifth
– 233% on wine, from $0.21 per bottle to $0.70 per bottle
– 145% on beer, from $0.33 per six-pack to $0.71 per six-pack

Lest one thinks that they’re going to stop there, let’s run the numbers:

– It is estimated that nationalized universal health care will cost $1,500 billion over the first 10 years. We all know that’s a low-ball figure, but let’s run with it.
– The sugar tax would supposedly bring in $50 billion over that 10 years.
– The new alcohol tax would supposedly bring in $60 billion over 10 years.

That leaves, assuming the nationalized universal health care costs aren’t understated and the revenues aren’t overstated, a $1,390 billion hole. Need I remind the bipartisan Party-In-Government that California rejected tax increases yesterday? I seem to recall excessive taxation being the reason why we don’t bow to Queen Elizabeth II.

Yet another reason why I don’t do ads – your Federal government

by @ 21:13. Filed under Business, Politics - National.

(H/T – Robert Stacy McCain)

When I went to BlogWorld in 2007, I remember seeing something about pay-per-post, where companies would pay bloggers to write good stuff about their products. Apparently, the ninnies that can’t read the Constitution over at the Federal Trade Commission just discovered that (either that, or they got into power on 1/20 and got to this point in their checklist). BusinessWeek reports:

But such back-scratching endorsements could become tougher under a coming set of Federal Trade Commission guidelines designed to clarify how companies can court bloggers to write about their products. This summer, the government agency is expected to issue new advertising guidelines that will require bloggers to disclose when they’re writing about a sponsor’s product and voicing opinions that aren’t their own. The new FTC guidelines say that blog authors should disclose when they’re being compensated by an advertiser to discuss a product.

Don’t get me wrong; those that do accept items of value in return for raving about a particular product should disclose that. However, we don’t need the federal government mandating it.

For the record, no corporate entity has ever given me anything in exchange for blog-inches. Of course, the fact that I don’t do reviews has something to do with that.

Bloggers To The NRSC: Stay Out Of Primaries (via Right Wing News)

by @ 11:55. Filed under Politics - National.

I may not be a big blogger, but I wholeheartedly agree with what John Hawkins and Erick Erickson put together:

Dear Senator Cornyn,

We the undersigned believe that the National Republican Senatorial Committee should be committed to serving ALL the members of the Republican Party.

Additionally, the NRSC should be focused on defeating Democrats, not Republicans. Towards that end, we believe it was completely inappropriate for the NRSC to endorse a candidate in the Florida primary race.

Therefore, we request that both you and the NRSC alter your position on the Florida Senate race, maintain neutrality, and promise to spend no money directly or indirectly in that race.

Sincerely yours,

John Hawkins
Right Wing News

Erick Erickson
Redstate

Ed Morrissey
Hot Air

Jon Henke
The Next Right

Eric Odom
American Liberty Alliance

Pamela Geller
Atlas Shrugs

R.S. McCain
The Other McCain, Right Wing News, Not One Red Cent

Dan Riehl
Riehl World View

Jeff Goldstein
Protein Wisdom

Kevin Aylward
Wizbang!

Lorie Byrd
Wizbang!

David Blount
Moonbattery, Right Wing News

Melissa Clouthier
Melissa Clouthier, The Other McCain, Right Wing News

Jeff Vreeland
Tech Republican, President of VM Technologies and IT Chairman for the YRNF

Matt Lewis
Politics Daily

Ned Ryun
The Madison Project

Justin Hart

John Caldwell

Joshua Trevino
Co-founder of Redstate, founder of Treviño Strategies and Media.

Chip Hanlon
Red County

Robert Loewen
President of the Lincoln Club of Orange County

Richard Wagner
Chairman of the Lincoln Club of Orange County

Allow me to add my signature to the list:

-Steve Eggleston
No Runny Eggs

Patients Choice Act announced

by @ 11:09. Filed under Health, Politics - National.

Reps. Paul Ryan (R-WI, and my Congressman) and Devin Nunes (R-CA) and Sens. Dr. Tom Coburn (R-OK) and Richard Burr (R-NC) unveiled the Patients Choice Act earlier today. As part of the publicity push, they wrote an op-ed piece carried by Real Clear Politics. From the beginning of that:

While President Obama may believe the stars are aligned for major health reform this year it is far from certain whether Congress will pass a bill that works. The groups that are most likely to unravel this effort are not the president’s opponents, but his allies. Nothing will rally ordinary Americans against the president’s plan more than his allies arguing too forcefully for a system run by politicians and bureaucrats in Washington – what we call the “public option” in the Obama plan.

It should come as no surprise that this ideologically rigid position is coming under fire. As the Washington Post recently wrote, “the fixation on a public plan is bizarre and counterproductive … It is entirely possible to imagine effective health-care reform – changes that would expand coverage and help control costs – without a public option.”

I’m still sifting through the long summary and the Q&A that Rep. Ryan’s office sent over, so I will be updating this post this afternoon. In the interim, you may as well enjoy them, as well as the short 2-page summary. I wish I could offer you the text, but the Library of Congress’ THOMAS system doesn’t have it up yet.

PCA Q&A
PCA long summary
PCA short summary

My immediate reaction is that this is a far sight better than what the Democrats have been cooking since 1993.

Hot Read Wednesday – RS McCain’s “Toward a More Cynical Theory of Politics”

by @ 6:41. Filed under Politics - National.

How good is Robert Stacy McCain? He takes a perceived personal slight and turns it into an expose into what went wrong for the GOP. The payoff:

Like the corporate manager who loses sight of his responsibility to the customers and to the stockholders, the Republican elite have lost sight of whose interests the party was intended to serve. What is really at issue here is, “Whose party is this?”

Is this a party that belongs to Republican voters? Or is it a party that belongs to the hired consultants and strategists, the think-tank wonks and lobbyists, the Kathleen Parkers and David Brookses? And of these two groups, which is more responsible for the GOP’s recent defeats — the elite or the grassroots? On Election Night, I wrote an American Spectator column with the title, “You Did Not Lose,” which I think accurately answers that question.

Republican voters are more powerful than the Republican elite; the latter are dependent on the former, and not vice versa. If the elite no longer serves the interests of the voters, a new elite can be easily created. Ambitious young Republican political operatives are a dime a dozen in Washington. It is only because the grassroots don’t know their own power that they have put up with the elite’s abuse as long as they have.

Go. Read. Now!

Roll bloat – let’s eat

by @ 6:19. Filed under The Blog.

I could’ve swore I put Doctor Dave on the oversized roll of bloat on the right side before now, but somehow I didn’t. Don’t be like me and keep on forgetting to add Feed Your ADHD to your rolls and readers.

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