IRS: Pressing need fo ran ISO audit.

Hugh Hewitt is under the impression that what is needed to deal with the IRS abuse scandal (which now apparently includes a 90% audit rate for adoptive parents) is an independent prosecutor.  Now, while that may be a good idea--despite the low success rate of such prosecutors due to stonewalling--what might work better is to unleash a few experienced ISO auditors on the IRS and give them authority to issue findings and require corrections.

How could this work?  Well, an ISO auditor generally starts at the shipping dock and tracks a shipment back to its component parts through the full process.  He talks to each process owner and asks them two simple questions:

What did you do?  and
Can you show me the documents that tell you how to do your job?

In general, minor findings are when a person ignores published procedures, and major findings exist either when those procedures do not exist, or when management circumvents the published procedures. 

In this case, I'd expect that a good ISO auditor would figure out that the relevant documents are unused due to access, complexity, and corporate culture within an hour.  It could literally be orders of magnitude faster than an independent prosecutor.

Why the Bard dropped out of college?

This source suggests that many colleges are dropping Shakespeare in part not just because the Bard makes today's writers look like blog-writing hacks in their pajamas, but also because of the sexual references in his writing.

This is, of course, bizaare in a college culture where "hooking up" has replaced dating or courtship, you'd think, but think again.  A few might be offended at the content, but perhaps a more coherent explanation is that the passion of Juliet makes today's hookup culture look like the pathetic excuse for love that it is, and those "unfortunate" enough to read the classics might start asking for "more of that."

About that 99 score

Advocates of coal-burning vehicles are understandably abuzz about a recent Consumer Reports review of the Model S which gave that model a rating of 99 out of 100 possible points.  Now, given what I've presented about this vehicle, you would be correct to assume that your host would give the vehicle a score closer to 10 than 100 on a scale of 100.  So what gives?

What gives is that the automotive writers are placing the Tesla in its own niche where adverse comparisons to competitive vehicles--its extremely low range, tight rear seats and poor rear visibility, and nasty environmental effects--simply do not matter.  It's not about how the vehicle really stacks up--poorly even in terms of performance--versus other sedans priced at $70,000 and above, but rather about how the writers react to bright shiny things.

Just how dirty is a Tesla?

Well, let's run the numbers.  The standard Tesla sedan has a battery capacity of 60kW-H and a stated range of 208 miles, and it gets that power from the electric network.  The usual owner will plug it in at night, and hence the power will come from those power sources that are hard to power down and backup, but where fuel is a significant cost.

Translation: coal, as nuclear plants are providing the base load at night already, the wind dies down at night, and natural gas and hydroelectric power can be cycled more easily than coal fired boilers.  So let's calculate how much coal is burned to fuel a Tesla.

To get 60kW-H, we divide that amount by the energy content of coal (6.7 kW-H/kg) and the average efficiency of coal fired power plants of 31% to find that charging one's Tesla sedan fully requires the burning of about 29kG of coal, which will release about 90kG of carbon dioxide, or about a pound of carbon dioxide per mile driven.  The Nissan Leaf and Tesla Roadster, also using about .3-.4 kW-H per mile, will have similar numbers.

For comparison's sake, this is about the same amount of carbon dioxide as would be emitted by most half ton pickups these days.  And my "favorite" vehicle, the Chevy Subsidy Volt?  Well, 16kW-H to go about 30 miles on average is the equivalent of about 29 ounces of carbon dioxide emitted per mile, or about the same as a one ton pickup towing a fairly significant trailer.

Would it improve much if power generation moved more to natural gas?  Well, with 55MJ/kg vs. coals 35MJ/kg, and a different hydrogen/carbon mix, you could get to about 9 ounces of carbon dioxide per mile for the Leaf or Tesla (a bit more than the Jetta TDI today), and about 15 ounces of carbon dioxide per mile for the Volt, about the same as my minivan or the Model T Ford, which got about 18mpg.

In short, the best an electric car can do is what compact cars have been doing since the 1940s--the Volt matching only the Model T--as (AHEM) any decent engineer familiar with the Carnot cycle could have told you.

Instead of subsidizing these boondoggles, maybe we should assess a road damage tax of $2000 or so to cover the gas taxes they're not going to be paying, as well as an environmental damage tax to mitigate the damage from all the coal they're burning.

Correction on Tesla

A bit back, I noted that the apparent $11 million profit generated by Tesla Motors was in fact--after deducting federal subsidies and below market rate loans received by Tesla--a loss of $32 million when honest accounting methods were used.

Well, unfortunately, your host neglected an item that appears on the balance sheet, which is $68 million in carbon credits sold by Tesla to other automakers.    Now beyond the irony of granting this car company carbon credits for making a clearly dirty product--it takes about twice the carbon emissions to build one as a standard car, and they effectively run on coal--you've got the question of why on earth the state of California mandates carbon credits instead of simply increasing taxes on energy.  It is as if they're deliberately choosing the clumsiest mechanism possible in order to bestow largesse on political benefactors like Elon Musk.

Whatever the rationale is, the simple fact is that I was wrong.  Tesla's loss by honest accounting methods is not $32 million last quarter, but rather an even $100 million, or over $20,000 per vehicle sold.  Hopefully legislators will soon wake up to what a fiscal and environmental disaster hybrid and electric cars are, and stop promoting them through government subsidies.

...if you believe the IRS scrutiny is not coordinated from Washington, DC

.....then ask yourself why the Engelbrecht family of Texas has been investigated by the FBI twice, the IRS (four times), the BATF(twice), OSHA (which imposed fines for inconsequential violations which are usually ignored), and the Texas department of environmental quality--and each time with no violations of interest.

What are the odds that all of these agencies would continue the process of investigation when the initial investigations revealed nothing of interest?   The confluence of agencies involved, along with the sheer improbability of this investigation, suggest only one man who could be ultimately responsible, a man who lives at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

It's time to rein him in with the bounds of the law.

Let's assume the IRS is being honest,

....and that they didn't know that asking questions about member prayers and addresses was illegal, that they didn't have a clue that a "Tea Party Only" rule for extended scrutiny would be seen as being politically motivated, and that the problem was limited to only a few people.

That would still mean that people with stellar performance records at the IRS are too dense to figure these things out, which would in turn mean that the systems in place for selecting them, managing them, and evaluating their performance are incapable, more or less, off differentiating a Forrest Gump from Albert Einstein.

Sounds like a good reason to reduce the size of government to me. 

Another great example of government incompetence; White House spokesman Dan Pfeiffer has suggested that Republicans need to apologize to U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice for thinking that she actually would have had access to the evidence behind the administration's Benghazi lies. 

If I were John Boehner, I'd give it to them; I apologize to Ms. Rice for assuming that her manager would have the basic human decency of including her in discussions of the evidence instead of feeding her a line of baloney to share with the world. 

Another triumph of socialism

Venezuela, benefiting from $100/barrel oil and on the edge of the greatest growth of pulp-wood known to man, finds itself needing to special order fifty million rolls of toilet paper, as well as foods that also could grow quite well in that tropical paradise.

It brings to mind Reagan's quip that if you brought socialism to the Sahara, pretty soon they'd have a shortage of sand.  And so, courtesy of the late Hugo Chavez and his minions, Venezuelans are learning this truth the hard way.

A very cynical view of government

Take a look at Brian's link to how a government employee in a corrupt agency ought to bring that corruption to the attention of the press.  In parallel news, Hugh Hewitt released a list of things that an employee of a corrupt government agency ought to do if he's in a situation where he needs to report wrongdoing.  Among the top things to do, apparently, is to hire an expensive lawyer, and it appears that one countermeasure (counterintuitive) against the whistleblower is to pre-empt him by announcing the scandal and carefully walk his evidence out of the courtroom.  (exactly what the Obama administration did, by the way)

What this means, in my opinion, is that apparently in DC, there is no meaningful protection for lower level employees who report perceived wrongdoing in good faith, and (as the Obama administration has prosecuted more leakers than all of his predecessors combined) it appears that the situation is becoming even more brutal. 

It would seem that an employee of a corrupt agency like the IRS, EPA, BATF, DOE, DOEd, or any number of other agencies can do little better for their soul--and their pocketbook, as those lawyers don't come cheap--than to quit and find honest work.  After all, Proverbs 28:1 tells us that

The wicked flee when no one pursues, but the righteous are bold as a lion.

The bright side of Democrats running things.....

....here in Minnesota is that we are going to see just how quickly the costs can accumulate, from our homage to the Crystal Cathedral (new ViQueens stadium) to a bill allowing daycare providers to unionize.

Now as the former neighbor of a daycare provider here, I can understand some of the rationale for this, as a large portion of daycare costs are paid by the state.  When Governor Dayton Messinger shut down the state a year or so back, it was eerily quiet--the checks from the state weren't coming, and our neighbor's business was hurting badly.  So in this case, we do have a major player calling the shots in a bit of market monopoly, which is one of the few cases where a union makes sense.

That said, the bill sets up the possibility of a "closed shop" where providers are required to pay dues to the union, and also creates the likelihood of the "unholy alliance" between unions and the state to make daycare even more expensive than it already is--Minnesota is one of the top states for the cost of daycare already.

So what's the bright side of this?  Well, everyone earning over about half the median income is going to see that (a) sending your kid to daycare may not make sense after all, and (b) voting for Democrats is really, really, really expensive.  With a bit of luck, Minnesota could become a right to work state.

Parenting 101

Apparently, a prominent actor's son has told his parents that he wants to be emancipated and live like an adult, and for some odd reason, Dad has gone to the press.

Now I'm guessing that this is a scheme of getting a buzz around his name (acting gigs coming slowly for him these days), but if my 14 year old told me that, I'd sit her down and say "OK, kiddo, let's figure out how you're going to pay for your housing, food, health insurance, transportation,......". 

I'm guessing that the desire for emancipation wouldn't make it past understanding that (a) most companies don't hire 14 year olds and (b) the cost of rent.  Plus, she loves making desserts for the family.

An advantage of having a death penalty,

....even if it is not often used, is that defendants can and will modify their behavior to avoid it.  A recent example is "Dr." Kermit Gosnell, who gave up his right to an appeal in exchange for getting life in prison without the possibility of parole.  He will die in prison, as he should, and the taxpayers will be spared the expense of appeals.

It's worth noting as well that if Gosnell changed his behavior to avoid the death penalty--though of course sadly too late for his victims--then we'd be silly to argue that the death penalty can not function as a deterrent.  It's also worth noting that the deterrent effect depends strongly on whether the penalty is administered justly, as anyone from Illinois can tell you.

(there, I'd limit it to politicians, of course)

Book/diet review; The Mayo Clinic Diet

It almost goes without saying that the majority of people in this area are glad to have Rochester's biggest employer in town, and being among them, it was natural for me to take a look at their book when my doctor told me that it was time to either drop some weight, or start taking a cornucopia of pills to control blood sugar and triglycerides.  So let's take a look.

The advice is pretty straightforward, almost common, but it quietly departs from USDA advice on diet in some pretty significant areas.  First of all, the base of the Mayo food pyramid is not grains and starches, but rather fruits and vegetables--of which you can eat as much as you like, at least if you hold the salad dressing, butter, and the like.

Mayo also abolishes the old system of having independent groups for protein and dairy (sorry cheeseheads!), and they reclassify many foods according to their actual nutrient content.  Cheese and peanut butter, for example, fit the category of "fats" better than "proteins."

The book then teaches the reader how to do a basic calorie count, and how to "break down" a meal into its constituent parts.  A slice of pizza, for example, might be a  serving of grains, one of fruits/vegetables, one of protein, and one or two of fat--from the cheese and the crust as well.

Notice that Mayo "quietly" departs from USDA advice.  No comparison is drawn, and no accusations are made.  In doing so, they allow the reader to make his own decisions based on his own worldview--not to mention avoiding the wrath of the USDA and others.  It's a book for adults.

My take, for what it's worth, is that lumping dairy in with meats as "protein" (and sometimes "fats") is a welcome departure from USDA protection of the meat and dairy industries, as well as a recognition that most of the world can't handle dairy after about age 5.  The reversal of the food pyramid order is simultaneously a rejection of USDA grain subsidies and historic dietary advice, an acknowledgement of the insanely high nutrient/calorie ratios of most fruits and vegetables, a healthy helping of the fact that we've got to fill our stomachs with something, and finally a picture of the original "Paleo" diet of Eden.

Finally, the book's first few chapters parallel Peter's Gospel call in Acts 2, by noting that our health really depends on putting off certain habits (TV, meat-centered meals, calorie-rich snacks) and putting on others (movement, fruits and vegetables, and the like)--a process of repentance.  Almost certainly this is not intentional, but it's welcome nonetheless.

In short, I can endorse this diet for far more reasons than the fact that I've edged five pounds closer to where my friend Ray's scale is supposed to read.

Government accounting vs. honest accounting

....can be seen in the recent news that Tesla Motors has scored a quarterly profit of eleven million dollars.  It sounds pretty good until you realize that the same company has received one time subsidies of $500 million, and ongoing subsidies of $7500/vehicle.  So if you consider a likely cost of borrowing that half billion bucks of at least 5%--or $25 million annually--and the per vehicle subsidies of $37 million for 4900 vehicles--and that $11 million profit is looking an awful lot like a loss of $32 million, or a loss of $6500 per vehicle. 

On the flip side, it looks like a pretty good return on investment for CEO Elon Musk's $35,800 donated to the Obama Victory Committee.  Not that there was any quid pro quo arrangement on this, no sirree.  You might as well argue that the IRS was targeting conservative groups for audits, or that high level State Department and White House testimony on the Benghazi debacle is hopelessly at odds with the testimony from those who were there.

Yes, it's time to repeal the 16th Amendment....

....because once again, the IRS has been caught using its power to harass political conservatives.  The simple fact of the matter here is that there is no procedure or program that can prevent this; a nod and a wink from a senior functionary will suffice to engage the full body cavity exam for which the IRS is rightly infamous.

(and though I can't name examples, I'd guess that just as the IRS has harassed conservatives under Clinton and Obama, so have they harassed liberals under other administrtions)

If the staffers involved do not lose their jobs and face prosecution, we will know that the Obama administration and Congress are unserious about this, if not complicit in the corruption.