- Paul McCartney to the rescue, India. Because you all have been clamoring for the national Vegetarian Day that your government just won't give you even though they have no good reason to hold back, the former Beatle has written to ask Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to declare a meat-free day in order to celebrate compassion towards animals. In his letter, McCartney wrote that a Vegetarian Day "would be a celebration of life.” Of course, McCartney has been a vegetarian activist since the mid-1970s, when he and his then-wife Linda both gave up meat. What might surprise you is that a 2003 study by the United Nations’ food agency found that 42 percent of India's 1.2 billion population were vegetarian. Do the math and……that’s a lot of vegetarians. On one hand, a person might imagine that an impoverished nation would not be that highly selective about its diet, but the reality of the situation is that India’s poor have a lot better chance of raising crops than they do of affording cattle and other livestock to fill out their diet. The big question here is whether Prime Minister Singh is a big Beatles fan and might be swayed by the input of a foreigner with no direct ties to his country coming in and demanding that he issue a decree dictating how more than one billion people should eat for a day. If Indians are anything like Americans, the meat lovers among them would blow right by any such decree and eat whatever the heck they wanted, National Vegetarian Day or not. But I wish you success in your new endeavor, Sir Paul, because so far, the fact that your band’s music is now available for one and all to purchase through iTunes just hasn’t gotten much traction and I’m worried that if people don’t start paying attention to that news, you and your pal Ringo Starr might feel neglected and ignored………
- Maybe this is the ignorant, anti-auto racing enthusiast in me coming out, but dare I ask why one man (or woman) can't competitively drive two different types of vehicles around in giant circles? Because auto racing is such a brilliant “sport,” I’m sure that NASCAR officials have a great reason why Carl Edwards will never again be able to finish the season in fourth in NASCAR's Sprint Cup standings and second in the Nationwide Series. New rules, effective immediately, dictate that drivers in NASCAR's three series -- Sprint Cup, Nationwide and Trucks -- will not be allowed to accrue points in more than one series for the 2011 season. Many of racing’s biggest names, such as Edwards, last year's Nationwide winner Brad Keselowski, and 2010 Nationwide wins leader Kyle Busch, will have to pick one title to chase and be content. Rumors about the change have circulated for weeks now, ahead of the sport's "competition update" slated for Jan. 21, but it appears the series designation is one that will go into effect this season. "The brand-new license forms that are out, there's a box and in it, it states that you have to mark -- put an X -- what championship you're running for," driver Kenny Wallace told NASCAR.com. "A driver will only be permitted to earn driver championship points in one of the following three series: NASCAR Sprint Cup, NASCAR Nationwide or NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. Please select the series in which you would like to accumulate driver championship points. Choose one." As with any good bureaucratic organization, NASCAR declined to comment on the policy change because it would rather have everyone talk about it without having all of the facts for a couple weeks before it makes the officials competition announcements over the next few weeks. For those of you who, like myself, could not care less about any form of auto racing, the magnitude of this rule change may not truly hit home. The Nationwide Series was set up to be a feeder series where young talent can develop, but instead NASCAR's Cup stars have seized control and dominated. The last five champions were all full-time Cup drivers, and little-known Justin Allgaier was the only non-Cup driver to win one of the 35 Nationwide races last season. Perhaps NASCAR sees its established drivers choking the life out of their young drivers’ development…….or perhaps they feel like their biggest stars need to focus on driving just one car around in giant circles for one championship. Only two drivers, Keselowski and Edwards, had planned to run the full schedule in both series. NASCAR is not expected to not limit the amount of Nationwide and Truck Series races that Cup drivers can enter, so maybe that will placate some fans……….
- Wow. Now THAT is how you drop the hammer on your constituents, state of Illinois. Some state legislatures might pussyfoot around and raise taxes by three or four percent, but not Illinois’ elected representatives. Instead, the rich, old white dudes (and minorities as well) in the Illinois General Assembly approved a jaw-dropping plan to drop a fiduciary hammer on the entire state by raising the state's personal income tax rate by 67 percent and business income tax rate by 46 percent. Worse still for citizens, Gov. Pat Quinn said Wednesday he supports the plan. The governor explained that Illinois was facing "a fiscal emergency," which is why he supports the plan. Expressing no contrition for ripping copious amounts of cash from the pockets of a struggling state with millions of people scarping just to get by, Senate President John Cullerton, a Chicago Democrat, said in a statement, "This is a crucial step to owning up to our responsibilities and commitments with those who do business with Illinois." Umm, then raise the BUSINESS tax rate by a ridiculous amount and the personal tax rate by a smaller, more reasonable amount. Oh, and if you’re really hard up for cash, then you should have passed the proposed $1 increase on a pack of cigarettes that you all dropped. The only people who care about taxing smokers more is smokers and let’s face it: They’re all losers. Hiking income tax rates affect everyone and for those who run a small business, they’re going to be hit twice. Under the bill the current 3 percent personal income tax rate goes up to 5 percent until 2015, when it would drop to 3.75 percent. The new rates would drip an extra $800 from a family or individual making $40,000 a year. The General Assembly passed this affront of a bill after the House passed it earlier in the night without a single Republican vote. I don’t know if this makes the situation better or worse, but the tax increase would have been even worse had lawmakers not compromised on the plan by allowing the tax rate to lower in 2025 to 3.25 percent. The increases begin immediately and are retroactive to the beginning of the year so as to fully stick it to as many people as possible. Now……in the interest of fairness, you should know that the state's deficit is close to $15 billion and analysts estimate that the river of tax revenues from this higher rate would cut that number in half. Cutting government waste and their own salaries never crossed the minds of those making this call, I’m guessing. The only people enjoying this charade seem to be the governors of neighboring states. "Wisconsin is open for business,” Wisconsin's governor Scott Walker stated on his Web site. Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels then chimed in during a radio interview, "You guys are nothing if not entertaining. It's like living next door to the Simpson's--the dysfunctional family down the block." Their enthusiasm was not shared by Illinois Republicans, who immediately denounced the bill. A statement from Illinois Republican Party Chairman Pat Brady said, "This is clearly Mike Madigan's baby, only it will be our children and grandchildren who'll have to pay for Madigan's and the Democrats' irresponsible actions and assault on taxpayers." Ah, the smile on the face that can only be brought by political greed and angry rhetoric………
- Hmm, who saw this one coming? Backstreet Man A.J. McLean has gone into rehab again and sources close to the man band say that he has been "out of control" in the last few months because of substance abuse. Better still - at least for those who are praying that the joint man-band tour with the BSM and New Men on the block never happens - those same sources claimed that his addict act was interfering with plans for the two man bands’ upcoming tour. The tipping point apparently came during a BSM cruise last month (yes, there are people dumb/clueless enough to pay thousands of dollars to trap themselves on a boat with a has-been man band for days on end) when McLean appeared under the influence much of the time. Video from the cruise showed McLean with what looks like a beer. He has battled addiction for years and was in rehab in both 2001 and 2002 for alcohol and cocaine abuse, so this news comes as no surprise. It also comes as no surprise because being in a man band and realizing that’s the one thing in life you can have any success doing is enough to drive anyone to drink heavily and abuse the Colombian nose candy. Heck, the Backstreet Men’s music and their very existence almost drive me to drink and I can remember the last time I was tortured by having to listen to one of their wretched songs. McLean’s trip to rehab was cryptically foretold on his Twitter account. He wrote on Jan. 9, "I love u all and wish me luck! I start my sober journey tomm!” The next day, he tweeted, "See u on the other side!" So here’s hoping that while in rehab, McLean a) is able to overcome his addiction demons and b) while there, he also overcomes another bad habit that is dragging him down - the habit of being in a man band…………
- The secret to success for succeeding with solar energy, as it turns out, is not simply having a lot of sunny days. Even for states where the sun shines often, photovoltaic plants are only financially solvent with tax breaks and other government incentives. A new study found that only states that offer financial benefits to solar plants are truly able to make those plants cost-efficient. The national leader in photovoltaic projects, California, is in that position due to a 2006 act that offers rebates to homeowners and businesses that go green. By the same token, oft-gloomy northeastern states with a dearth of sunny days are still having success with solar plants because back in 2009, 10 of them formed an alliance that aims to cut carbon dioxide emissions 10 percent by 2018 and have focused on making solar plants as viable as possible. Those 10 mid-Atlantic states include New Jersey, which is the fastest-growing state in terms of solar development. One might expect the (relatively) warmer southern states to be heavily reliant on solar plants, but only Florida, North Carolina, and Texas have truly meaningful solar projects. Right now, California churns out about 900 megawatts of solar energy each month and offers benefits to solar adopters, including tax rebates and financial support for new solar projects. By comparison, New Jersey generates a whopping 246 megawatts of photovoltaic power even though its biggest city, Newark, boasts only 93 sunny days a year (compared with L.A.'s 186 sunny days). Globally, Germany and Japan lead the world in photovoltaic projects despite not being the sort of sunny-all-the-time, warm-and-sandy vacation spots where one might expect to see solar energy soar. For now, solar energy is simply much more expensive to produce than fuels like gas and coal and that fact is a chief culprit in limiting other states and countries from developing it more extensively………
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