Petey's Pipeline E-zine

Issue #30

May 1, 2006

Business First Wheels of Progress
Random Ramblings & Miscellaneous Musings Raising Hemp Consciousness
Write Thinking Commonly Confused or Misused Words (Part I)

Business First (Editorial)

Wheels of Progress
by Phil Hanson

In predicting what businesses of the future will look like, one must consider all the factors having potential to influence both business and the future. We don't get to cherrypick which data we'll use to make and support our prognostications.

The pending energy crisis will profoundly affect economic activity as it drives manufacturing, transportation, warehousing and retailing costs to unsustainable levels. When the costs of goods and services become prohibitive, prudent consumers will become prosumers, instead, relying on their own skills, abilities and other available resources to provide for their needs, and on local businesses, which cater exclusively to local markets, to provide other essential goods and services. The days of consuming for consumption's sake are limited.

At some point, the trend toward economic globalization will reverse itself. As local communities strive for self-sufficiency, global markets will collapse, as will the businesses that serve them. Multinational corporations, as we know them, face the possibility of extinction.

International airlines will be among the early casualties. Most of them are already facing financial difficulties, and it can only get worse. Of course, this will surely spell disaster for the aircraft industry and all businesses that supply it or in some way benefit from it.

Don't let's forget the global tourist industry. Popular hotels, restaurants, resorts, theme parks and other tourist attractions will shut down, in landlocked cities, as tourism shifts to cities served by seaports.

Popular sporting events that use initials like NBA, NFL, PGA, NASCAR, et al., will curtail their activities or disappear altogether. Local sporting events, many with citizen participation, will become more commonplace.

Fuel scarcity means that interstate trucking is headed for extinction, too. Railroads will resume their former role as the prime movers of interstate passengers and freight. Local trucking will continue to play a vital role in the distribution of locally produced goods and interstate shipments arriving by rail.

An inability to obtain plentiful supplies of affordable fuel means that fewer people will buy cars, causing the auto industry, as we know it, to collapse. As small-scale regional and local manufacturers fill the void, look for car prices to surge dramatically upward, a predictable outcome when economy of scale goes out of play.

And so it goes, one failed industry precipitating the failure of another. When the dust settles, expect the numbers of unemployed to be counted at the high end of eight figures.

Is there anything we can do to avert, or at least mitigate, the coming economic disaster? Yes! Yes, there is.

Pray for a natural one.

• • •

For your daily doses of insight and opinion, read Petey's Pipeline Blog. Check it out at http://peteys-pipeline.blogspot.com/.

Feel free to respond to blog postings at any time. Whether you agree or disagree, your thoughtful, carefully considered comments are welcome. However, anything suggestive of a temper tantrum, psychotic episode or hysteria will be deleted.

Running a spelling check on your text before making posts is strongly encouraged. Perfect Text, Petey's Pipeline E-zine and Petey's Pipeline Blog exist, in part, to make all of us better writers. Let's not defeat that purpose by being hasty or becoming careless.

Random Ramblings & Miscellaneous Musings

Raising Hemp Consciousness
by Phil Hanson

The Federal government can no longer justify waging a costly drug war, or prolonging a nationwide prohibition of cannabis hemp (not that it ever had justification in the first place). With a veritable convoy of disasters bearing down upon us with ever-increasing speed and fury, we have more important things to worry about, more important things to deal with. Time is of the essence, and time is running out.

While politicians, in bed with Big Oil, Big Pharmaceutical and Big Timber interests obfuscate and procrastinate, global environments, economies and social infrastructures stay the course on their downward spiral to inevitable collapse. Poor people, hungry people, homeless people, sick people suffer needlessly so that the privileged few can feed their obsession for obscene wealth.

Currently, the U.S. incarcerates more than 2 million of its citizens, making it the world leader in per capita incarceration. Some 700,000 of these prisoners are doing time for minor drug offenses, mostly for marijuana possession or low-level marijuana distribution. Given that the U.S. spends upward of $40 billion per year to fight the war against (some) drugs, it would be more cost-effective to release imprisoned "stoners," pay them $25,000 a year to smoke marijuana, and give up this silly, futile war.

From the beginning, politicians knew their ill-conceived drug war was a losing proposition. They know it still, yet that doesn't stop them from waging a war they have no intention of winning. They see the drug war as a $40 billion cash cow, and they bleed the taxpayers to fund it. They're trading a clean environment and a potential $2 trillion annual economy for $40 billion and millions of wasted lives.

Land of the free? Who in hell do you think you're kidding?

Until I'm free to grow hemp because it makes sense to grow it, I am not free.

Until I'm free to buy clothes made from locally grown hemp fiber, I am not free.

Until I'm free to buy books printed on durable, long-lasting hemp paper, made from locally grown hemp, I am not free.

Until I'm free to use hemp in ways that help reduce air and water pollution and global warming, I am not free.

Until I'm free to supplement my diet with locally grown hemp seed, I am not free.

Until I'm free to use renewable fuels made from locally grown hemp, I am not free.

Until I'm free to smoke marijuana for medicinal purposes, or for no better reason than I enjoy it and take great pleasure from it, I am not free.

If you support a healthy environment, a thriving economy and freedom of choice raise your voice in support of hemp legalization, now. Until you do, we'll all continue to suffer the negative effects of your silence.

Write Thinking

Commonly Confused or Misused Words (Part I)

Often, when writers confuse word meanings due to similarities of spelling or sound, they unintentionally use the wrong word. The resulting misuse of a word introduces ambiguity and confusion into one's writing and calls the writer's credibility into question. You can avoid these embarrassing mistakes by becoming familiar with the words that frequently cause problems. Learning the spelling, meaning and accepted usage of these commonly confused and misused words will make you a better, more credible writer.

Here are a few examples to get you started:

all ready (all prepared, or in a state of readiness) The drivers were all ready to race.

already (adverb meaning previously) The cars were already on the starting grid.

all together (the entire group) The boat's crew was huddled all together on the dock.

altogether (completely) Sailing in this kind of weather is altogether out of the question.

any one (refers to one of several things or persons) Any one of these clues could yield the answer.

anyone (pronoun meaning any person) Does anyone know the answer?

any way (refers to one of several ways) Is there any way we can complete this project on time?

anyway (adverb meaning anyhow; carelessly, slapdash, in any event) Anyway, we've got to try.

every one (refers to each and every one of a group) Every one of these parts is defective.

everyone (pronoun meaning everybody) Everyone wanted to go out for pizza.

Look for more commonly confused words in the next issue.

Disclaimer

The articles appearing in Petey's Pipeline E-zine are based on information believed to be true at the time of publication. Neither Perfecttext.com, Petey's Pipeline E-zine nor their publisher assume any liability or responsibility as to the accuracy or efficacy of any information, products or services that are submitted, advertised or rendered by contributors to Petey's Pipeline E-zine. While we make every effort to screen out scam artists and bogus offers, you should still do your homework. Caveat emptor!

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