Year: 2009

Time to Short Whole Foods

The CEO of Whole Foods is apparently operating under the delusion that his company’s business model involved making people healthy.  In that vein, he says his company sells “a bunch of junk.” and is vowing to help his customers eat healthier.

He went on to say that Whole Foods was going to launch a healthy eating education initiative to encourage customers and employees to reduce obesity.

But Mackey told the Wall Street Journal: “Basically, we used to think it was enough just to sell healthy food, but we know it is not enough. We sell all kinds of candy. We sell a bunch of junk.”

Mackey, dude.  I don’t know if anyone’s told you this, but at the end of the day, you sell food.  That’s your business.  If you’re encouraging people to eat less of it, unless you can turn up the margins, something that’s going to be tough in this economy, you’re screwing your shareholders.  Whole Foods has a simple business model: selling overpriced food to people who care about Mother Gaia, and who think an overworked Filipino adolescent driving a pair of oxen around a rice patty are all the farming technology the world needs.

Whole Foods provides somewhere to go to buy food so they can feel good about themselves.   That’s what you’re selling, Mack.  You’re selling a dream to hippies, and at a much higher profit margin than your typical supermarket.  If those folks come to Whole Foods, and feel good about themselves when they buy a box of organic, fair trade ho-hos, that’s a win win situation.  You win, because you just sold an overpriced box of ho-hos, and the consumer wins, because they can feel good knowing they are buying the best product subsistence farming has to offer.  It’s what capitalism is all about!

Whole Foods needs to ditch the true believer, and hire someone who’s more interested in making money for their shareholders.  I have no CEO experience, but I understand what Whole Foods sells, so I offer my services.  I would never shop at a Whole Foods store myself, but I know plenty of folks who do, and they have money to burn.  I’ll keep selling them the dream, and promise to cry for Mother Gaia all the way to the bank, and print your dividend checks on 100% recycled, organic bleach free paper.  Wouldn’t want any of our shareholders feeling bad about themselves, now would I?

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NRA Skewing Gun Violence Data?

This is a rather ridiculous assertion.  Gun control activists are angry that NRA lobbied to have the CDC stop producing biased gun studies designed to reach a certain conclusion.  And why should the CDC, which is the federal epidemiological agency, be involved in studying crime?  Crime is not a public health issue, sorry, no matter how much the left wishes it were so.  It’s beyond CDC’s mandate, and Congress took appropriate action to keep them within their mandate.

We have lousy numbers on gun violence.

Why, in this sophisticated world of a data mining, where marketers can profile you within an inch of your life, can’t we track victims of violence? Not only the dead ones, who tragically are easier to count, but the ones who are shot but don’t die?

Could the answer, at least in part, be the massively powerful, heavily funded National Rifle Association?

Well, I for one am glad to see Chicago’s total handgun prohibition working so wonderfully as advertised.  Certainly the NRA is responsible for guns being in Chicago where they are illegal no?   But either way, the allegation is totally false.   A quick search turns up this site, which links directory to Chicago police computers.  You can search on all manner of crimes that happen in and out of schools in the City of Chicago.  The data is there, for anyone who wants to compile it.  The problem is that it’s no longer coming in a politically convenient package all wrapped up by the Clinton Administration’s CDC, and ready to use to push for more restrictions in a city where guns are already largely illegal.

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Drop the Squirrel! Drop it Now!

In another overuse of SWAT team incident, in Milwaukee they use one to take down a squirrel shooter.  They wouldn’t comment on the type of gun used, but did find three dead squirrels in the yard as evidence.  My money is on the gun in question being an air gun, or you can bet the police would have mentioned it.  The people of Milwaukee can sleep safely tonight, or at least the squirrels can.

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Reactions to the Gym Shooting

NUGUN seems to have attracted some commenters through links from CNN and some other major sites.  I’m honestly not all that interested in fleshing out the usual “gun-free zone” or “would carrying at the gym help,” crap we normally do after incidents like this.  Firearms are not going to be effective in all situations, and in this one, I’m not sure how much of a difference it would or wouldn’t have made.  If I joined a gym, it would be for the pool, and I can promise you I’m not packing a pocket pistol in my swim trunks, nor leaving a pistol unattended in a gym locker.

The guy picked a soft target, and his tactic of switching lights off isn’t one we’ve seen before.  Are you going to shoot at muzzle flash?  How can you be sure of what’s behind it, and that the target hasn’t moved?   I don’t know, this seems to me to be more a situation you’d be better off running like hell for the nearest exit.  Exit lights aren’t switchable in public buildings, so they would be visible.  Based on the fact that the shooter hit something, it would indicate that there was probably some ambient light, so maybe light wasn’t as much of a factor.  Who knows.

My philosophy is to carry where you can.  But it’s not always possible to be armed at all times, and in all circumstances.  At a gym is one of those circumstances being armed is a lot more difficult.  I echo NUGUN’s comments on the utility of pocket pistols, but they have their downsides.

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Manufacturing

Obama claims that grassroots efforts against his health care program are “manufactured,” but grassroots organizing in favor are democracy trying to stop mob rule.  As Jim Geraghty of Campaign Spot said on his twitter feed, “Claims of ‘manufactured’ outrage — in this economy, it’s a pleasant surprise to see anyone manufacturing anything.”   Bravo.

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You Don’t Say

Investigators discover the obvious about the Pittsburgh Gym Shooter:

“These are the rambling messages of a likely psychotic” and display characteristics of a man who has been “severely depressed for a long time,” forensic psychologist Naftali Berrill said of Sodini’s writing.

I would have never guessed the man was psychotic.  Shooting up a bunch of innocent people in a gym is something pscyhologically healthy people do all the time, isn’t it?

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Bloomberg Gets Credit for Defeating Thune

It looks like Bloomberg is throwing down on the NRA, and claiming victory.  The article provides good insight into how the political process works.  I suggest everyone read it.

It did not look like the odds were in their favor. Feinblatt maintained a whip sheet, one of those essential lobbying tools for tracking “who’s with us, who’s against us and who’s on the fence.” He figured there were more than two dozen senators who were undecided, leaning yes or leaning no. But he was particularly focused on one.

“We had to flip Specter,” Feinblatt says. “There was no question about it — we had to flip Specter.”

Yes, Arlen Specter, he of the recent switch from the Republican Party to the Democrats. The former district attorney. The guy facing a tough reelection campaign next year. That Specter, the one they call “Snarlin’ Arlen.” He became their bellwether.

I hope Toomey cleans his clock next November.  At least now I don’t really have to worry much about NRA endorsing Specter in the election.  Bloomberg appears to be positioning himself as the chief opponent of gun rights.  But he’s on the defensive.  We’re coming after New York City’s gun laws.  One way or another, they will be forced to accept the right of the people to own and carry a firearm for self-defense.

There’s been a lot of rumors floating around on the Internet that this entire Thune amendment was staged, and was theater, and have used evidence of vote trading to bolster the claim.  I hate to break it to these folks, but all politics, at least that which you see, is theater. Some figure that out and become disillusioned and cynical, but there’s no reason to be.  You can still influence the process, and find success.

Thune and the NRA were wise to push the bill.  When someone hands you the keys to an expensive sports car, you don’t drive it around like a old lady on Sunday.  You open up the throttle and see what it can do.  That’s what the Thune amenmdnet was about.  In this case, we didn’t quite get the performance we wanted, so we’ll go back, tune the engine, stiffen the suspension, and try again.  Next time we may not come two votes short.  If Bloomberg wants to fight this again, I can promise him we’ll give him the opporuntity.

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What’s Happening To Delaware County?

Once a Republican stronghold, Delaware County, the county directly South of the City of Philadelphia, and where I grew up, now claims wild eyed leftist and gun hater Joe Sestak as their representative.  Sestak won the seat from Curt Weldon in 2006.  Now Sestak wants to be our Senator, and is challenging Snarlen in the primary.  He’s announced he won’t run again for the Congressional seat. The candidates are starting to line up.

What’s disturbing me is the prospects so far aren’t looking too good from our point of view.  So far we have:

  • Tom Killion – R (State Rep. NRA D rated)
  • Bryan Lentz – D (State Rep. NRA F rated)
  • Greg Vitali – D (State Rep. NRA F rated)
  • Steven Welch – R (businessman, no known rating)

Is there no gun vote left in Delaware County?  Let’s hope Steven Welch is on our side.  Delaware County’s demographics don’t lend themselves to someone who’s wildly pro-gun, but we ought to be able to do better than a D for that seat.

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You Need An Interest Group For Everything

Megan McArdle is lamenting that her hobby of book collecting has been outlawed by Congress.  That’s one of the major reasons many of us do what we do here in the gun blogosphere.  No hobby is safe.  It seems you need an interest group to lobby for your right to do anything these days.   Somehow I don’t think this is what the founders had in mind when they created a federal government of limited and enumerated powers.

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