Beginning at midnight tonight, the City of Chicago will begin imposing a $0.05 tax on bottled water  under the false pretense of “…discouraging the use of environmentally harmful plastic bottles…”.  Of significant interest, the tax will be charged on plastic bottles containing “still water,” as opposed to mineral water, fortified water, soda water, soft drinks, beer, etc. and etc.  The City, as it so happens, sells water, but it does not sell Diet Coke.

Of course, we realize that this new “law” has nothing at all to do with saving the planet and everything to do with finding new funding sources for behemoth government budgets.  It is the same story from the town council to the US Congress to multi-national, quasi governmental organizations.  The “sin tax” has always been a fovored tool of the loosely moraled politician.  Who knew that purified water, the constant companion of the kayak-on-the-roof set for well over a decade now, would fall into bed with cigarettes, alcohol, guns and cheeseburgers?

Tread carefully, your “sin” just might be next.

Excerpt from The American Spectator article (http://www.spectator.org/dsp_article.asp?art_id=12503):

The law is a pet project of Alderman George Cardenas. It’s intended to raise revenue (about $10.5 million annually, by city estimates), to discourage the use of environmentally harmful plastic bottles, and also to address Cardenas’s ridiculous obsession.  The Alderman blames the city water and sewer department’s $40 million budget shortfall on bottled water consumption, an allegation that — pardon the pun — doesn’t hold water.

Times Square Ball Goes Green

By COLLEEN LONG – 23 hours ago

NEW YORK (AP) — The Times Square New Year’s Eve ball is celebrating its centennial by going green.

The star of the world-famous holiday extravaganza was revamped this year with 9,576 energy-efficient bulbs that use about the same amount of electricity as 10 toasters.

Philips Lighting, which created the light-emitting diodes, or LED bulbs, specifically for the event, says they are smaller but more than twice as bright as last year’s lights, which were a mix of more than 600 incandescent and halogen bulbs. And the new lights can create more than 16 million colors for a kaleidoscope of hues against the 672 Waterford Crystal triangles.

“The whole world looks up to New York’s New Year’s Eve. I’m proud to be able to save energy and show off this technology to the world with such a special event,” said Kaj den Daas, chairman of Philips Lighting North America.

The ball was first dropped for the New Year’s Eve celebration in 1907. Made of iron and wood, it weighed 700 pounds and was lit with 100 25-watt incandescent bulbs.

Over the century, five other versions of the ball were designed to ring in the New Year. In 1999, the ball was made from crystal to welcome the new millennium.

This year, the motif is “Let There Be Light” and features a stylized, radiating sunburst on each of the crystal triangles.

The new design and technology “will make the ball glow like nothing else,” said Tim Tompkins, president of the Times Square Alliance, a business group in charge of the event.

The ball was tested successfully Sunday afternoon, making its way slowly up and down the 77-foot flagpole atop 1 Times Square with bursts of color.

More than a million revelers were expected to crowd the streets for the annual New Year’s Eve celebration Monday.

Also this year, wishes from people around the world will be included among the confetti dropped when the clock strikes midnight. For the first time, people can write wishes for the New Year on the multicolored confetti by visiting the Times Square Information Center or by typing a message on a “virtual wishing wall” online.

Those message-carrying pieces will be mixed in with the rest of the more than one ton of confetti, organizers said.

What a year!

Tom Brady sets the new NFL record for touchdown passes in a season with 50, breaking the mark of 49 set by Peyton Manning in 2004.

Randy Moss, catching passes from Brady, sets the NFL single season touchdown receptions record with 23, breaking the record set by Jerry Rice in 1987.

Prior to this latest era of offensive explosion, Dan Marino held the record for the most touchdown passes in a season with the 48 that he threw in 1984.  That was the same year that Mark Clayton set the record for touchdown receptions in a season with 18.

Before we complete the anointment of Tom Brady as the greatest of all time, perhaps we should think about placing an asterisk beside the new records.  If you think back you may remember that in 1994 the National Football League changed the rules regarding kickoffs in hopes of generating a more high-octane, offensively oriented game.  By moving the spot of the kickoff back five yards and lowering the tee by two inches, there would be fewer touchbacks and better average starting field position.   The changes have, indeed, resulted in more offense.

On a similar note:

Cowboy’s fans have reason to be uneasy. 

America’s team has lost two of their last three games and, in that span, Tony Romo has thrown one touchdown pass against five interceptions and the team has failed to score a touchdown twice.  The 2007 squad has set many franchise records, the worst of which was for fewest rushing yards in a game, that dubious feat accomplished today with one (1) net yard of rushing.  Concurrently, the Cowboys allowed the first 100-Yard rusher of the season in Clinton Portis.

We all know that the ‘Boys had nothing to play for while the opposite was true for Washington.  Nevertheless, the trend is not what one wants to see entering the tournament.  Be careful about jumping on any large lines.

Does it make sense to take a low-priced commodity that the entire nation depends upon for food and, through some form of government sponsored, modern day alchemy, turn that product into a high-priced fuel product subject to the whims of the volatile international energy markets?     (I would suggest that if, indeed, this proposal did make sense, the private market would have no need for government subsidies.)

Does this not, in some way, reconfigure the corn pricing mechanism so that it is taken away from American farmers and consumers and instead placed into the hands of oil producing, and consuming, nations, specifically those in the Far and Middle East?

In our veiled attempt to become “energy independent” are we going to become “food dependent?”

Does this government not understand that adequate dwellings and low-priced foods are the key to political stability?
    (the “dwellings” part of that formula is, at present, problematic.  We’ll see what happens to the “food” input.)

Are we subsidizing Pandora’s Box?

http://www.stephenheise.com/2007/12/17/us-real-estate-market-cooling-down/

You’ve got to think that this statement will come back to haunt someday.

Oracle, the world’s largest maker of database software, advanced the most in 15 months after Chief Executive Officer Larry Ellison said the company is shielded from a slump in business spending.   –Bloomberg.com

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aAB8QNII98D0&refer=home

One must wonder exactly what performance measures are used to determine how bonuses are earned at top Wall Street firms.

Morgan Stanley’s CEO John Mack is foregoing his 2007 annual bonus (he received $40mm last year) in the face of a quarterly loss of $3.59 billion announced by the company today.  The firm, analysts and the media are pointing the finger at a write down of $9.4 billion in mortgage-related securities to account for the loss.  This write down compares to a figure of $3.7 billion estimated by the firm only last month.

Year end bonuses for other employees are estimated to total $9.93 billion up from $8.39 billion last year, or an increase of about 12.5%.  Total compensation at Morgan Stanley increased about 18% from $13.99 billion in 2006 to $16.55 billion in 2007.  This increase in salaries and bonuses while shares of the company are off 26% in 2007, compared to the Amex Securities Broker/Dealer Index which has seen a 16% drop. 

Morgan Stanley Chief Financial Officer Colm Kelleher commented: “If you were to normalize our business and take out this $9.4bn charge, you would see that we had a record year across the whole enterprise.” 

It is hard to take Mr. Kelleher at his word considering that top line revenue at the company fell from $7.85 billion in 2006 to negative $450 million for the year ending November 30^th, 2007.  It is quite easy at the moment to blame the mortgage market for all of a firm’s ailments.  “It’s not us, it’s the market,” is one of the oldest excuses on Wall Street.  There is every reason to believe that there are many more problems under the hood at Morgan Stanley than will be revealed in the wake of this quarterly report. 

News that the Chinese SWF has taken a $5 billion stake that will allow it to grab hold of as much as a 9.9% ownership interest in the company is somewhat discomforting; though this is apparently the trend given our weakened currency.

Bloomberg.com

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=a2qcvmtp7gxc&refer=home#

The Street.com

http://www.thestreet.com/s/morgan-buoyed-by-5b-investment/newsanalysis/banking/10395223.html?puc=_googlen?cm_ven=GOOGLEN&cm_cat=FREE&cm_ite=NA

Do you know what your elected representatives are up to now?

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601070&sid=aPxA08AwZUfk&refer=home

While taking time off from important matters such as steroid use in baseball, our senators and congressmen are addressing much more significant issues such as domestic energy consumption.  I feel much better now knowing that, as of tomorrow, the federal government will tell me what kind of light bulbs I can buy, how much fuel a new vehicle is allowed to use per mile and how much water a new washing machine can use.
 

If Americans truly want to live in a green world, as we are loudly told we do, wouldn’t we have already bought new bulbs, more efficient cars and washing machines that use less water?  What if I can’t afford the new bulbs or the more efficient vehicles and appliances?  What if I like my bulbs just the way they are now?  Why is someone telling me what decisions to make as a consumer?

Make no mistake, the green revolution is a scheme that will increase taxation (directly and indirectly) and strip away even more of your civil rights.  To be sure, there are true zealots on the eco side; look beyond them, though, and somewhere near you will find those oh too familiar pigs lining up at the trough.

Beware Greeks bearing gifts!

 100 Prominent Scientists Warn UN: Attempting to Control Climate Futile
Michael Asher (Blog) - December 13, 2007 7:05 PM

Scientists warn of “tragic” results

In April, the AP reported that  52 scientists were involved in the writing of the IPCC’s final climate report, along with “diplomats from 115 different nations.”