The Happy Carpenter

My new horse!

by Rochelle (age 8-1/2, 11 hands high)

Me and my Grandma went to a horse auction. She bought me a desk set and a halter for Jack, my horse. When it was time for the horses to sell, the first one out was a palomino Quarter Horse. The minute I saw it I begged my Grandma that I had to have it! After the auction I asked her if I could see it again. She said yes, so we went and looked at it. Then the man who owned it came with a woman. She said she would buy it and I was sad. She said she would give him $1500. My Grandma said she would give him $1600 . He said “All right” and I bought her.

I was so happy. He said he would deliver her to our house first. And we went home. When she got there I rode her up to the barn. She was perfect. I love her. Then I gave her a rest and waited for tomorrow!

Why oil prices are so high, and just in time for my V8 455 cu in engine

According to yesterday's Wall Street Journal, oil prices are high because

Most important, demand has skyrocketed. Not only in the U.S., where economic growth has been gangbusters, but also in China, which has leapt ahead of Japan to become the second largest oil market in the world. China's growth has also sparked an economic recovery and higher oil demand in the rest of Asia. Count India, too, as an increasingly oil-thirsty economy. This roaring demand has not been met with increasing production. Blame that mostly on OPEC. The oil cartel has been smarting over the fall of the dollar against the euro. That, of course, reduces dollar-denominated oil revenues and increases the incentive to keep supplies tight. With prices at or above $28 per barrel--the upper-bound of OPEC's target range--the Saudis, for example, ran a budget surplus for the first time in decades. Inventories are also low. The U.S. has not yet recovered from the disruption in crude and refined products from Venezuela last year. And tight inventories exaggerate any changes in supply at the margin. As the market got tighter, several events have injected uncertainty. Russian President Putin created some political risk by clamping down on the oil industry and arresting the former head of Russia's largest oil company, Yukos, and accusing a second company of tax fraud. There has been continued instability in Venezuela, Nigeria and Indonesia. It also hasn't helped that Royal Dutch Shell announced it was lowering, by 20%, its estimate of reserves. And there have been questions raised about the size of Saudi reserves and the possibility that Saudi production might be peaking. Now throw in a big bunch of uncertainty ahead of tomorrow's OPEC meeting.

UPDATE, from today's Financial Times:

Most of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting countries on Tuesday favoured a cut of 1m barrels a day in oil output, despite increased concern in consuming countries that high crude prices threaten the world economy. Saudi Arabia, the world's biggest exporter of oil and Opec's most influential member, on Tuesday confirmed it wanted the group to reduce output to stem the rise in oil inventories in consuming countries and hinder a fall in prices as demand declines this spring. Saudi Arabia - backed by Venezuela, Libya, probably Iran and many of the smaller Opec members, wants the group to implement its decision of last month to cut its quota by 1m b/d to 23.5m b/d. As of Tuesday, only Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates appeared to be in favour of postponing the cuts. Non-Opec countries that in the past have co-operated with the cartel, on Tuesday did not appear as eager to join the cuts. Russia criticised Opec, saying prices were too high, but Mexico said it wanted market stability, adding that the cartel had not yet reached a formal decision. Mexico said it was co-operating with Opec by meeting with Saudi Arabia, but has so far decided not to join the cuts.

Oh, great.

Three big stories in the War on Terror today

So this morning I did something unusual – I went to see what the major media were talking about. Since I first found The Drudge Report several years ago, I’ve been getting less and less of the major mass media diet. Sometimes I worry that I might be getting out of touch. Heck, the TV broke several days ago and I’ve hardly noticed. The only mass media I’m exposed to anymore is the Rush Limbaugh Show and The Glenn Beck Program (nothing rhymes with “program”). I killed the habit of TV news in 1993 and haven’t missed it. Stopped reading the paper in 1994. But I made a little foray into the newspapers after I’d read some very insightful and detailed accounts of big events in the War on Terror in some of my usual blog sources. The big three events were:

(1) In England, a network of Al Qaeda was arrested with bomb making materials,
(2) In the Philippines, a network of Islamist terrorists, including the individual who beheaded an American tourist, were arrested, and
(3) In Uzbekistan, police had been in a shootout with terrorists, and 19 +/- innocents had been killed.

If you go to Fox News, you’ll find a big WAR ON TERROR graphic with all three stories listed as I’ve put them above.
If you go to the St. Petersburg Times, you’ll find “Blasts Stun US Ally”, a headline leading to the story of the terrorists in Uzbekistan. No mention of the victories against al Qaeda in England or the Philippines.
If you go to the Tampa Tribune, you’ll find headlines of “At least 10 killed in Uzbekistan clashes” and “Eight terror suspects arrested in England”. No mention of the Philippines.
If you go to the Washington Post, you’ll find a big headline “In Iraq, Muslim Unity Tested”, and small headlines “Philippine President: Attack Averted”, and “British Arrest 8 in anti-Terror raids”. No mention of Uzbekistan.
How interesting. Fox News, balanced Right, has all three stories with emphasis on the victory. The St. Pete Times, communist Left, had only the loss in Uzbekistan, and that listed as a stun to a US ally. The Tampa Tribune, balanced Left, has one victory and one loss. And the WaPo, left but not wildly so, has 2 victories plus their own report from Iraq, under a picture of grieving parents of a son lost in Iraq.
What’s my point?
First, the blogoshpere is better. After a little time (OK, a lot of time) searching, you can put together news sources and commentary better than you’ll find in the major media.
Second, Fox is not wildly right, but balanced with a little Right emphasis. If it feels way Right to you, then you’ve probably spent too much time in the major media left bias world, and should look around for more and better sources.
Third, the St. Pete Times is still Pravda West, and should be ignored.

I (like you I'll bet) am sick and tired of hearing conservatives kvetch and moan about media bias. I left the major media behind when the blogosphere came of age, so I'm not getting my nose rubbed in the bias every day. I thought this multi-story juxtaposition was interesting because it illustrated the subtle bias -- it's not what's written in the stories that is so bad, it's the cumulative effect of the filtering. Quite deliberate, I'm convinced, but not the monopoly it used to be.

The Lord of the Rings Trilogy

While poling around The Washington Post to see what the non-bloggers are reading, I stubled across a list of the $100 million movies, of which there are 295. This struck me:

Rank The Lord of the Rings Trilogy
6 The Return of the King" $373,359,557
8 The Two Towers $340,478,898
13 The Fellowship of the Ring $313,837,577
#1 Lord of the Rings $1,027,676,032

Put those three films together and you'd have the #1 film of all time by almost double. Whoa. Some might point out that the same could be said for all the Star Wars movies if they were all put together, but I would say No; those were not conceived and written as one.

Meet Honey, the newest member of the family

She's a 21 year old Palomino mare, well trained, strong, and gentle. I'll let Rochelle tell you the rest. Isn't she pretty?!

Newly single woman, in need of a better class of man

My sister in law is newly single. She's 27 years old, fully pretty and nice. I'm thinking she should get into classic cars as a way of meeting better men (thanks to Brandy for the idea -- Brandy recommends horses for boys seeking girls). My question is, what car? She doesn't have a lot of $$$ (a condition she would probably like to correct) so Ferraris etc. are out.

War on Drugs and Doctors

From NYPress via DisectTheLeft:

Prescribe Tylenol codeine? Expect the SWAT team.
I have long referred to the war on drugs as the war on some people who use some drugs, sometimes. Now there’s a byproduct of that war–a side effect, if you will–a war against doctors who prescribe painkillers, putting a chill on legitimate pain treatment by physicians who fear prosecution. The Justice Department is particularly concerned with Vicodin, Dilaudid and–America’s most abused pain pill–OxyContin. Just ask Rush Limbaugh and Courtney Love. There are even doctors’ offices now with signs on the wall, warning, "Don’t ask for OxyContin" and "No OxyContin prescribed here."
… former San Francisco district attorney Patrick Hallinan "says that honest doctors all over the country are being targeted by the DEA under the supposition that their patients were violating the law without the doctor’s knowledge" by selling their prescriptions on the street, and that the agents are using the same tactics against them that are used against narcotics dealers… The campaign began under Janet Reno and has increased in intensity under John Ashcroft–including the storming of clinics in SWAT-style gear and the ransacking of doctors’ offices.

From there, the author Paul Krassner goes into one doctor’s long sad story with the Drug Warriors. If you think the only problem with the War On Drugs, which has been going strong for about 40 years now, is that we’re not fighting it hard enough, please read the rest of this story and tell me if it gives you pause.
After at least 40 years of war with no end in sight, we should all be able to agree that it's time for some fresh thinking about the war.

Sister love

Sometimes I can't wait for them to grow up

Last night I tried reading Watership Down to Rochelle, Noel & Renee before they went to bed. I told them they were a little too young for it (8, 6 & 4) but we'd give it a try and if they couldn't follow it, that would be OK and we'd just try again next year. Well, last night they were transfixed, at least through chapter 2. Before she dropped off to sleep, Rochelle made me promise that we'd start reading again first thing in the morning.
I was thrilled.
But morning came, and The Saddle Club was on TV, and it turns out they're not quite ready for Watership Down. Damn, I can't wait to share that with them. And Dune. And The Moon is a Harsh Mistress. And so many other great books that helped make me the man I am. Well, we'll try again this summer.
On the bright side, my old TV, circa 1989, finally died today in a power surge. Can you say "BIG SCREEN"?

Good on ya', mate! *OR* Thank God for Australians

From today's Wall Street Journal Opinion, by John Howard, Prime Minister of Australia: It will be doubly tragic if mass murder is rewarded with even the perception that our resolve has weakened.... Words are weapons in the information age and there is a need for vigilance to ensure we are not signaling weakness in the face of this ongoing threat. There can be no excusing the inexcusable. The messages we send, whether as leaders of governments or leaders of opinion, must be that we will stay the course and finish the job.... One of the front lines in this unconventional war is Iraq where terrorists seek to destroy the freedom offered by the overthrow of Saddam Hussein. Whether you agree with the decision to invade Iraq or not, there is no denying that there is a job to be done to ensure that the Iraqi people have a future.
Currently Australia is one of 35 countries that have troops deployed in Iraq. The work they are doing is vital and practical.... For the most part, the Iraqi people understand and appreciate the role these foreign forces are playing. It is not surprising that an Oxford Research International Poll commissioned by the BBC found that only 15% of Iraqis want the coalition forces to leave.... Of course, they do not want them to stay indefinitely, and none of the governments that have contributed to the coalition want their troops there any longer than is necessary. But right now we do not know when the essential job being done by coalition forces in Iraq will be finished. Talk of an early withdrawal, or arbitrary deadlines, undermines their role and gives comfort to those who seek to thwart the creation of a free and democratic Iraq.... I recall, as though it was yesterday, being in Washington on Sept. 11, 2001. I remember the sense of outrage and disbelief. But most of all I recall the immediate and resolute determination to stand together against this global threat. The threat remains. The need for unity in the face of that threat is as important now as it was then. (emphasis added)