The following is an IM exchange I had today with one of my buddies from Clemson who is now saving a ton of money by getting his law degree at Ole Miss instead of USC.
Be careful, there is a lot of bad language, so if that bothers you, do not continue reading.
Cell phone makers, listen up. You need to sell phones that come with some extra equipment. That extra equipment should be a small paging device that could be hooked to a keychain. Press the button and the phone rings (the phone should be set to override the volume setting, and ring at it’s loudest volume). Actually, the phone, even when off, should be set to pick up a request to declare it’s location. Further, the system should work in reverse. When I have my phone and cannot find my keys, a handy little paging system would be sweet.
What could go wrong? History has a always shown that artificial pricing limits causes good things to happen (psych!).
Apparently, with no evidence to support the claim, Hawaiian legislators have determined they are being gauged. Hey, if I lived in an island in the middle of nowhere, I would expect gas to be flowing like the lava, too.
Companies, Consumers at Odds Over Hawaii Gas Law
Saturday, July 23, 2005HONOLULU — They may call it paradise, but Hawaii is no heaven when it comes to gas prices.
“Oil companies have been able to earn super-competitive profits at the expense of Hawaii’s consumers,” said State Sen. Ron Menor, who helped pass the nation’s first state cap on gas prices set to go into effect Sept. 1.
The law mandates the state Public Utilities Commission “impose a price ceiling on wholesale gasoline prices that reflects competitive market conditions” and to foster “the opportunity for prices to reflect and correlate with competitive market conditions,” reads the statement by the Division of Consumer Advocacy, available on its Web site.
But oil industry lobbyist Melissa Pavlecik disagrees with the idea of capping prices.
“Every expert who has looked at the industry has concluded that the price is higher here because of taxes, the remote location and other market forces. No one has ever found price gouging in Hawaii,” she says.
Economists also warn that, unless companies can make a profit, they won’t send their gas to Hawaii. And even if it doesn’t affect the main islands, critics say oil companies may stop sending gas to outer islands — where delivery costs are higher.
Gas station owners have their own objections. The new law is meant to control prices by putting a cap on what wholesalers can charge, but station owners fear they’ll be squeezed as the oil giants raise rents to make up for lost profits.
“They’re playing a shell game. They’re lowering my price of gas, but then they’ve increased my cost of doing business. So I have to recover that cost somehow,” gas station owner Barney Robinson said.
If that happens, Hawaii’s revolutionary gas cap could result in even higher prices at the pump.
UPDATE: (more…)
Walking to my car after work yesterday, I saw a sign that said the following, and I quote:
HOUSE FOR SALE WITH OWNER
And it wasn’t even hand made.
PRIME MIN. HOWARD: Could I start by saying the prime minister and I were having a discussion when we heard about it. My first reaction was to get some more information. And I really don’t want to add to what the prime minister has said. It’s a matter for the police and a matter for the British authorities to talk in detail about what has happened here.
Can I just say very directly, Paul, on the issue of the policies of my government and indeed the policies of the British and American governments on Iraq, that the first point of reference is that once a country allows its foreign policy to be determined by terrorism, it’s given the game away, to use the vernacular. And no Australian government that I lead will ever have policies determined by terrorism or terrorist threats, and no self-respecting government of any political stripe in Australia would allow that to happen.
Can I remind you that the murder of 88 Australians in Bali took place before the operation in Iraq.
And I remind you that the 11th of September occurred before the operation in Iraq.
Can I also remind you that the very first occasion that bin Laden specifically referred to Australia was in the context of Australia’s involvement in liberating the people of East Timor. Are people by implication suggesting we shouldn’t have done that?
When a group claimed responsibility on the website for the attacks on the 7th of July, they talked about British policy not just in Iraq, but in Afghanistan. Are people suggesting we shouldn’t be in Afghanistan?
When Sergio de Mello was murdered in Iraq — a brave man, a distinguished international diplomat, a person immensely respected for his work in the United Nations — when al Qaeda gloated about that, they referred specifically to the role that de Mello had carried out in East Timor because he was the United Nations administrator in East Timor.
Now I don’t know the mind of the terrorists. By definition, you can’t put yourself in the mind of a successful suicide bomber. I can only look at objective facts, and the objective facts are as I’ve cited. The objective evidence is that Australia was a terrorist target long before the operation in Iraq. And indeed, all the evidence, as distinct from the suppositions, suggests to me that this is about hatred of a way of life, this is about the perverted use of principles of the great world religion that, at its root, preaches peace and cooperation. And I think we lose sight of the challenge we have if we allow ourselves to see these attacks in the context of particular circumstances rather than the abuse through a perverted ideology of people and their murder.
PRIME MIN. BLAIR: And I agree 100 percent with that. (Laughter.)
To my knowledge, this was originially posted on the Corner. I have seen it in too many other places already to give everyone credit. Like everyone else, I knew I was going to post it before I finished reading it.
