I'm Too Busy Working On Gas Prices To Change The Clock!

Economy 

In the same news conference during which he expressed surprise that analysts thought the price of gas would hit $4.00 per gallon in the Spring ( it is $ 3.25 right now bei mir ), the President said later that he was unable to do some other such-and-such or so-and-so because his time was pretty much tied up with rasslin' with big and tough guy-type economic problems, such as fixin' to do something about the price of gas.

It was one of those "Saddam Hussein has killed all the Mandelas" moments. (A George Bush foggy quote from 2007.)

I bolted out of my reverie, peered closely at the TV, wondered whether it was the same day or whether I had passed out after his first remark and gone into a cataleptic state and only recovered in time to hear his second remark. I would say something like: "I think he's loosing it", but that would be totally misleading, implying as it does that he had had some sort of grasp of it in the first place.

Back to economics. The price of the cheap green peppers is $ 1.59 per pound. These were the cheapies, not like the reds and yellows which were always a bit pricey and made you wear a tie if you served them for dinner. Inflation was 4.3% for 2007. Adjust for energy and food and it was 2.5% ( I have no idea why the Government adjusts for energy and food by subtracting them out of inflation. It's not as if we can do without them. You would think the absolutely necessary items would carry a bit more weight, rather than the reverse. Why not just subtract everything else out. like air and gravity? ) So...the inflation due to energy and food was 1.8%, or 42% of the total inflationary figure. It is likely to increase. As energy increases, thus increasing inflation, the cost of food will increase ( due to distribution and things like ethanol ). Voluntary steps won't work. The only thing we can voluntarily do is jump off a cliff together.

 I am afraid that people will look back to the good old times of the Greatest Generation and realize that when they call for a Manhattan Project to accomplish energy independence or some other goal, they will yearn for those wonderful old days. They little realize that the Manhattan Project, beyond needing an enormous stimulus of war, also needed total government control and intervention. This is why it would be sort of nice to have a functioning administration that can do more than threaten, strut, leer, and shoot people in the face.

Daylight Savings
Fall Forward, Spring Back ( or some variation thereof ) is upon us.

Recent scientific work in Indiana, where a number of counties had been in the habit of not correcting for DST, has indicated strongly that Daylight Savings actually costs more! It is more the pity, since adjusting DST was the only substantive work on Energy that the Executive and Legislative branches were able to perform in the aftermath of Katrina.
Although DST may have worked well during World War II, it seems likely that now air conditioning units run longer during the extra light hours and there is a bit more heating in the dark hours in the spring and fall. The costy difference is substantial. If people need more sunlight, my view is that they may get out of bed earlier. That way they need not inconvenience their neighbors by forcing them to adjust to their energy-wasting nonsense.  

Jerusalem 
There was a terrible shooting at a Yeshiva. How long, oh Lord, shall we go on like this? Freedom is definitely a two-edged sword. It forces you to do things.

 If we were not free, we could run a Pastor John Hagee scam or dodge or ruse or caper whereby we say we know the mind of God and wait for God to fire up that good old eight cylinder Plan Eternal, thus getting us off the hook of freedom. When things get tough, let God handle it. When there are tough choices, let God do it. When there is work to be done, slough it off on God. Certainly God must wonder where we all were when He was handing out the Free Will. (Perhaps we got it wrong and went to the theater where "Free Willy" was showing.)