February 21, 2006

Automatic Flatterer
This is what a computer should do first thing in the morning! Click on the line below and then type in your first name...
http://www.cse.unsw.edu.au/~geoffo/humour/flattery.html

What do the Danish Call a Danish?
Vienna, Austria, is actually the birthplace of Danish pastry....the Viennese invoked the name of the Scandinavian country when branding the pastry.

... in Denmark, the Danish is called wienerbrod (Viennese bread). http://www.foodtimeline.org/foodcakes.html#danish

WHO IS THIS AMERICAN WARRIOR?
http://patriotfiles.org/WhoIsThisAmericanWarrior.htm

Gasoline falls below $2 in some spots

2/16/2006- Gasoline prices have slipped lower than $2 in a few places in a harbinger of lower prices nationwide.

The nationwide average has dropped to $2.269, down half a penny overnight, travel organization AAA said Thursday. Scattered stations already have posted prices starting with "1" rather than "2." Users of a fuel-price website Thursday reported $1.96 gasoline near Minneapolis, for instance.

Averages in a number of metropolitan areas are likely to fall to less than $2, perhaps as soon as today. Corpus Christi, Texas, averaged $2.006, and several other metro areas were just a few cents more.

...Petroleum traders, who control the price of oil from which gasoline is made, have been swayed more by healthy supplies than by unrest in oil countries, so oil prices have drifted down, and gasoline has followed.

...Motorists can expect "a further decline in retail prices for the next couple of weeks" until gas prices at the pump fully reflect the drop in oil prices, EIA says...http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/energy/2006-02-16-gas-prices-usat_x.htm

Gas-price controls backfire in Hawaii
Cost of fuel rises faster under new law, while drivers pay less in other 49 states
February 19, 2006- Hawaii's gas price controls, imposed last fall when the cost of fuel was hovering around $3 a gallon in many parts of the U.S., have actually triggered much higher costs for consumers.

As of Friday, Hawaii drivers were paying the highest per-gallon costs in the nation, with record-setting prices of as much as $3.39. A year ago, consumers in Hawaii were paying nearly $1 a gallon less. The national average today is $2.24 a gallon.

…Now there are moves afoot in the Hawaii legislature to scrap the price controls.

...In a recent check Hawaii's average cost per gallon was $2.84, followed by New York at $2.57, California at $2.53 and Connecticut at $2.47. The least expensive gas in the country is in Utah at $2.13... (ours is $2.10 today)
http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=48897

Kyoto flops

February 16, 2006- Europe's top environment official marked the one-year anniversary of the Kyoto Protocol on Thursday by accusing the U.S. of not doing enough to combat climate change -- despite the fact that many of the treaty's most enthusiastic supporters have done significantly worse than America in dealing with "greenhouse gas" emissions.

The U.S. rejected Kyoto, saying the treaty's emission-reduction targets would harm the American economy and workers. Instead the U.S. is exploring alternatives with Asia-Pacific partners focusing on developing cleaner technology.

...The protocol …commits industrialized nations to cut their emissions by an average of five percent from their 1990 levels, by 2012.

...Major polluters China and India were exempted from emission-reduction targets, on the grounds they were considered developing rather than industrialized countries. Their exemption was another issue of concern cited by the U.S. as well as Australia, which followed the U.S. in rejecting Kyoto.

...according to 2003 figures cited by Friends of the Earth Europe this week, some countries which, unlike the U.S., do have legally binding Kyoto targets are doing as badly, or even worse.

For instance, Austria was set a Kyoto target of -13 percent, but emissions are running at +16.6 percent. Italy's target was -6.5 percent, and its actual emissions are +11.6 percent. Others that are off target include Belgium, the Netherlands and Spain, while France, Britain and Germany are nearer to being on track.

..."If current trends continue, Europe will not meet its Kyoto target," the green group said, adding that "if emission levels continue to develop as they did over the last three years, the [15 E.U. members'] emissions in 2010 will be +2.8 percent above of what they were in 1990."

Other industrialized countries with Kyoto targets are doing no better. Canada was set a target of -6 percent but is emitting +24 percent of its 1990 levels. Japan's target is -6 percent, and emissions are running at +7.4 percent.

New Zealand's government announced in mid-2005 that it would be unable to meet its Kyoto commitment -- a target of no change from 1990 levels -- and the country was warned that compliance would cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars.

In Washington, the Competitive Enterprise Institute said Kyoto's future looked bleak, as countries that have agreed to cut their emissions realize the costs involved.

"Even as they damage their economies with limits on energy use, emissions continue to go up," said Myron Ebell, the institute's director of energy and global warming policy... The sooner that Kyoto's supporters realize that it's a dead end, the better off the world will be."http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewForeignBureaus.asp?Page=\ForeignBureaus\archive\200602\FOR20060216a.html

Sunny Skies Cheer Up Home Building, Other U.S. Activity
2/16/2006- Warm winter weather prompted some positively sunny economic data Thursday.

The reports bode well for a powerful first-quarter rebound after an anemic fourth quarter — and more Federal Reserve rate hikes.

...Builders looked optimistic for new projects too. Permits rose 6.8% to 2.127 million.

...The employment picture looks more stable.Jobless claims rose by 19,000 to 297,000 last week, a bit above forecasts. But they've held below 300,000 for five straight weeks.

Factory activity also was strong. The Philadelphia Fed's regional factory activity index rebounded to 15.4 from 3.3 in Feb., more in line with national reports...

...Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, in his second day of testimony before Congress, repeated his belief that the U.S. expansion remains "on track." He again stressed that the Fed will rely heavily on incoming data for future policy moves.

The latest reports back up Bernanke's belief that the economy will roar back in the first quarter.

The recent drop in energy prices could spur growth while keeping some price pressures at bay...
http://www.investors.com/editorial/IBDArticles.asp?artsec=5&issue=20060216

Wal-Mart
http://www.investors.com/editorial/IBDArticles.asp?artsec=20&artnum=2&issue=20060216

David Bennett <><
http://home.hiwaay.net/~dbennett
http://www.freewill-predestination.com