Is this coming soon to the USA?:

Dutch smoking ban goes into force
A tobacco smoking ban has come into effect in cafes, bars and restaurants in the Netherlands.

The country is following a growing trend across Europe and the world of bans on smoking in public places.

Pro-smoking lobbyists say the ban will lead to a drop in business, but others say any losses will be made up by non-smokers going out more.

Patrons of cannabis cafes will still be allowed to smoke marijuana as long as it is not mixed with tobacco.

Possession of cannabis is illegal in the Netherlands, but holders of small amounts are not prosecuted. Smoking cannabis is permitted in licensed cafes.

Rotterdam cinema handed out free cigarettes on Monday night, hours before the ban came into force on Tuesday.

One hospitality industry forecast said there has been an increase in the number of businesses up for sale ahead of the ban, as owners anticipated slower business because of smokers staying away from restaurants, cafes and bars.

But other studies suggested that their numbers would be replaced by non-smokers going out more to enjoy a night out in a cleaner environment.

Any businesses caught allowing customers to smoke would be warned and repeat offenders would face escalating fines, Chris Krikken, a spokesman for the Food and Wares Authority charged with enforcing the ban, told the Associated Press.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/europe/7482571.stm

Published: 2008/07/01 01:09:24 GMT

© BBC MMVIII

The best line of the whole story: "Patrons of cannabis cafes will still be allowed to smoke marijuana as long as it is not mixed with tobacco."

I love it. Which one's the "evil weed"? I won't say marijuana is good for you but I don't recall ever hearing of one death being directly attributable to marijuana smoking.

The obligatory "business will suffer" line is quoted and is being dutifully rebutted/ignored. If anybody wants to debate whether or not this is a factor that should be given consideration, make your case and I will be happy to share my thoughts on why it should not be.

I do wonder why there can't be such a thing as a tobacco cafe (since they have Marijuana cafes) but maybe there will be (though there is no mention of such and I would think there would be if there was going to be).

The answer I have taken to giving when people complain that their "right" to smoke is being taken away is "sorry but you never had the right to smoke up my/everybody's air, you just thought you did". Or, another way, "yes we do mind if you smoke" (not that most smokers ask, I know I never did).

To my still smoking friends who are reading this: please quit already, you know you want to.

This from another blog:

"There is no oil shortage, not yet at least. That doesn't mean we're not quickly sliding towards Peak Oil. We probably are, but that has nothing to do with today's gas prices. The reason oil has skyrocketed to nearly $140 per barrel is because of speculation; rampant, "unregulated" speculation. The peak oil doom-sayers are simply confusing the issue. This is not about shortages or scarcity; it's about gaming the system to fatten the bottom line. The whole scam is being executed by the same carpetbagging scoundrels who engineered the subprime fiasco; the investment bankers. The Wall Street Goliaths are using the futures market to recapitalize their flagging balance sheets after sustaining massive losses in the mortgage-backed securities boondoggle. That's the whole thing in a nutshell. Now they're on to their next swindle; distorting the futures market with humongous leveraged bets on food and oil."

If you want to read more of this the link is at the bottom.

Here's just a bit more:

"There's no shortage, no scarcity.(Not yet, at least) In fact, oil is being deliberately kept off the market to keep prices high. Consider this: if supply isn't keeping up with demand then why aren't there any lines at the gas stations like there were during the '70s?

Because it's all a fabrication. Prices are up because of speculation, that's all."

If this is all true (and he devotes much of his post to citing numerous sources, including King Abdullah, saying the same thing), then this is basically another "bubble" which will eventually "burst". When it does, "investors" holding futures contracts will be obliged to pay more than current market price to meet their obligations, they'll have to pay, say, 140 dollars per barrel, but they won't be able to sell it for more than, what? 90 dollars per barrel? It was much less than that fairly recently (sorry, I have no numbers, or maybe I should say, you're welcome). And they're already over-producing and withholding product.

Commodities investors can't really sit on product, can they? At the time that the "call" comes, in addition to paying, don't they have to accept delivery? So they have to sell, right? Or pay somebody to store it (adding even more to the cost, which they already can't recoup because the price is down).

This will suck, for them. There are probably some super-shrewd bastards that have a way to insure themselves against this, at someone else's expense of course, but much money is going to be lost here. You don't suppose that these investments (oil futures contracts) have been packaged and sold as "securities" to some poor unsuspecting schmucks, do you?

The question is, what does this all mean for, well, me? If people can't pay will the flow be interrupted?

One more question. If there is already surplus production and an artificially high price, what happens if we reduce consumption/demand by, say, 15%? Or even ten?

And how 'bout let's.

Could be interesting.

Link: http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/15474

Well I guess I'm not going to be doing a lot of Bible reading anytime soon, I'm just not up for it. The visit from the Bible folks didn't really go anywhere; they stayed for about an hour and a half and we had some discourse.

The big difference between us, as it unsurprisingly turns out, is that they think of the Bible as this "gift from God" and that every word in it is from God and so consequently they attach great significance to every single sentence, every single word even.

For instance, at one point the feminine half of the pair showed me where it said "...the meek shall inherit the earth...", quoted the whole line, and sat back like, you know, there it is.

And of course my reaction is that it's a nice sentiment, I guess, for what it's worth, kinda vague though and certainly not something I expect to ever happen. I mean, huh? Inherit the Earth? From whom? Is it metaphorical?

They seem to feel, drawing on the book of Revelation also, that at some point, maybe very soon, the "end times" (cap.?) will come to be and 144,000 people will be assumed into "Heaven" and the rest will have some sort of eternal life here on Earth (with the meek "in charge" I guess) and, oh yeah, the Sun is never going to burn out, I asked.

They feel certain that this is "God's word" and further that they are not misunderstanding anything, this is a future certainty.

I don't buy it.

You?

This sounded interesting so I read it. I'm not sure what to make of it.

By Stephen Adams, Telegraph News

"John Bolton, the former US ambassador to the United Nations, has escaped an attempted citizen’s arrest as he appeared at the Hay Festival.0528 15

Security guards blocked the path of columnist and activist George Monbiot, who tried to make the arrest as Mr Bolton left the stage.

The former ambassador - a key advisor to President George W Bush who argued strongly in favour of invading Iraq - had been giving a talk on international relations to more than 600 people at the literary festival.

Mr Monbiot was blocked by two heavily-built security guards at the end of the one-and-a-half hour appearance, before he could serve a “charge sheet” on him.

After being released by the guards the columnist - a fierce critic of the 2003 American-led invasion - made a dash through the rain-soaked tented village in a failed attempt to catch up with Mr Bolton."

A citizens arrest? Who are these people? They had a "charge sheet". They were just going to walk up to him, read the "charges" and then, what, he was just going to surrender himself to their custody? Were they planning on "taking him in" no matter what? Were they armed? Where would they have taken him, to some jail? In their basement? What? I actually would like to know what they expected would happen there (probably just what happened) and what they were hoping for. I'll post if I decide to dig and if I find anything more.

Citizens arrest.

I answered the door yesterday and two women were there, holding some books and pamphlets and such, and wanted to ask me a question. I said go ahead. What would I change about the world, if I could.

Hard to come up with just one answer, ya know? So I came up with I wish people were less selfish. They seemed to think that was a good answer.

Then they started asking me about "The Bible". Had I read it, do I read it, stuff like that. They said that they're going around offering to help people learn more about it, words to that effect anyway.

Believe it or not I invited them to come back and they gave me a small book, What Does The Bible Really Teach, that I can get started with.

This could be interesting. I believe I gave them enough information about what I feel about the Bible and religion and the fact that I am an atheist so that there are no unrealistic expectations. I've always wanted to get more into (and out of?) the Bible, though not for the traditional reasons.

This could be interesting. I will post more as we go.