Barrel Strength

h/t Gateway Pundit

In 2004 Obama ruled out running on a national ticket in 2008 because he lacked experience.

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So what changed?

Update, June 12, 2008

h/t Obama’s Gaffes

Jimmy Carter on Obama in 2007: “I just don’t think he has got yet the proven substance or experience to be the President.”

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The modern era in the US federal energy policy began in 1973 with OPEC oil embargo. Other than blaming, in no particular order, oil companies, speculators or OPEC, where does US stand with the implementation of the energy policy over a protracted period?

All your correspondent can see is restriction on drilling in places such as Alaska and Louisiana, steps to sue OPEC and increased taxes on oil companies. How this leads to increase in the supply of oil is a mystery. Of course there is also the solution proposed in the video below by Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), who was named in 2005 and 2006 as one of the “most corrupt” members of congress by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, to nationalize the oil companies.

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Given the bipartisan consensus that a energy policy is required, it is disconcerting that nothing has happened over an extended period. With all the roadblocks and intransigence for the energy policy, one has to ask what hope is there for formulating a broadly accepted consensus for the War on Terror? Bush is derided as a lone wolf but what were and are the options?

Those who fondly recall and point to the bipartisan consensus during the Cold War might want to recall the following statement by Dukakis’ running mate, Congressman Lloyd Bentsen, that shows how different the Democrats were back then: “I propose the president of the United States advise the commander of the North Korean troops to withdraw his forces beyond the 38th parallel within one week or use that week to evacuate civilians from a specified list of North Korean cities that will be subjected to atomic attack by the United States Air Force.”

The world grows grimmer by the day. First the cherished Scottish history is relegated to the trash heap. And if that isn’t painful enough, the beloved scotch itself has been upstaged by the Japanese.

The Nikka distillery in Japan has taken an interesting turn with single cask malt whiskey called Yoichi. Their website describes it as follows.

“It is purely bottled from one barrel without mixing whiskies from other barrels or water…. Each barrel has its own flavor because of the difference in material and condition, kinds of trees for barrels, the sizes and times the barrels are used, how to barn and so on.”

It certainly brings a variety to a single malt brand instead of drinking the same-old . The Japanese efforts in whisky making haven’t gone unrewarded, as earlier this year the Yoichi 20-years old became “the first variety produced outside Scotland to win the coveted single malt award in an international competition run by Whisky Magazine, the main industry publication… The decision to give the top prize to Yoichi followed a blind tasting of more than 200 of the world’s finest varieties by a panel of 16 of the world’s leading whisky experts.”

Perhaps it is a case of minding the dreaded EU legislated carbon emissions, as article goes on to state that the “Traditional distilling apparatus such as coal-fired pot stills, used widely in Japan but rarely seen in Scotland, was also praised for producing a superior dram.”