Oil, Oil, Everywhere And Not A Drop Is Clean

Have you heard enough about the oil spill yet? Too bad, because there's a good chance you're going to hear a lot more. There's a fair chance that the oil spill from BP's Deepwater Horizon oil platform which exploded and sank in the Gulf of Mexico could go on a while longer. How much oil has spewed into the gulf so far? Well estimates range from two cups to millions of gallons. So if this thing continues to belch oil and at a rate of a teaspoon a day to a thousand gallon a day or maybe a hundred thousand gallons a day, or maybe, oh, you know what I mean. Well, they admit, now, that it could keep belching oil until August. But if the Hurricane season is bad, maybe a whole lot longer. I don't see anybody smiling about that, except maybe Saudi Arabia and a few other suppliers and maybe a terrorist or two. What does this mean in terms of damage to coastal lands and marine life? Very likely the largest oil disaster in world history in that respect. If it continues through August or beyond, it'll surely effect the east coast eventually. That means sea and wildlife, especially migratory and shorebirds. in the eastern U.S. will be devastated.The hospitality and fishing industries of every eastern state bordering salt water will be destroyed. So, why don't we start cleaning it up? Well, they're trying. Are there problems with doing that? Of course. This isn't exactly like an oil tanker tipping over on the interstate and spilling a couple of thousand gallons onto the road. It's big. How Big? Well, do you remember the Exxon Valdez thing up in Alaska? That was years ago, right? Well they're still finding oil from that and this is multiple times bigger than that, and it's going to funnel into the Gulf Current that will spread it up the East Coast and eventually on to Europe. If wishes could help, then I wish it wasn't happening, but it is happening. If' it's a bad dream, then we won't be waking up for years and when we do, life might be a whole lot different then it is now.

Ungrateful, That's What.

Commercial fisherman in the Gulf are complaining that their way of life may suffer or be lost all together. In fact all manner of business people and their employees are complaining about the tremendous losses they are and will endure. What ingrates. Don't they realize that the oil industry is experiencing losses to their profits? Why, just the other day I say a commercial by an oil company that said it's industry was in deep trouble because they weren't able to continue drilling more deep water oil wells. For Pete's sake, have some pity on this undernourished industry. It's suffering too. With drilling off-shore all over the country, even in the Arctic. on hold, how is a poor mega-billionaire to make ends meet? You'd think this oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico was their fault. All they did was construct a drilling operation even they felt was somewhat suspect and then continue to a drilling plan over a mile down, with no plan to correct a problem if one happened. How were they supposed to know that a problem could occur? Now, to be fair, it wasn't every oil company that this happened to. It's just one. All the other oil companies are stellar citizens who would never put profit ahead of safety. Well, alright, maybe just a little profit. Maybe twenty or forty billion, but no more. At least for now. But the point is, this could cut into their profits. You know what that means? They won't be paying us any taxes. Oh. Wait. They don't pay any taxes anyway. Well, that's beside the point. So, don't be so ungrateful.

There's Heros and There's Glen Beck

Since this is Memorial Day weekend, I thought I'd talk a little bit about the difference between heroism and what it means to sacrifice to serve other people and folks like Glen Beck. Sometimes people hang the title or Hero on people who do the job they were paid for even when it doesn't require any particular courage. That's a mistake, I think, because it lessens the title of Hero. In my mind, a person is someone who potentially puts his or her life or security on the line to protect others and then actually has to take the risk in a moment of complete unselfishness. A fireman or policeman or soldier who never actually takes that risk is still a great servent of the people because they stand ready to take the risk, but until he or she takes the risk and follows through, they haven't made that grade, but they still deserve great admiration. Then there are those who aren't anywhere near that catagory. I speak of radio and TV talkshow hosts who belittle young children. People like Glen Beck who belittled the young daughter of our president. Now there's an act of real courage for ya. Give that man a cuppie doll. To be such a hero to his public is a real puzzle. He claims to be speaking on behalf of God, who speaks to him regularly and tells him to belittle little children, I guess. He's the kind of hero who has said that people's families should be out of bounds for the media. Now, why would you tell the media not to speak of the families of important people? Oh. Wait. I think I know. It's so he doesn't have any competition when he says something. Then his comments will carry more umph. Ya gotta hand it to Glen. He's a real louse.

What's Next?

So, let's see where we're at. We still have two wars going on in the middle-east, we have the largest ecological disaster in the western hemisphere in history, we're still trying to recover from the second worst economic disaster in our history, Europe is edging closer to a return to economic disaster and threatening to drag us down with them, North Korea is threatening war against South Korea and they have the BOMB, we're on course to become the second largest economy in the world when China surpasses us, which seems more and more likely, because we ignore our educational base and allow the rest of the world to surpass us in the race to develop alternative energy and the products that will be used in that industry, we fret over illegal aliens coming into our country to do the work our own people refuse to do and then compete with us for the jobs we do want. Our leaders would rather point fingers at each other and stretch the truth so far that nothing sound or looks like the truth, instead of getting down to the business at hand. They lie and cheat and get uninvolved in all manner of unpleasantness. Our corporations locate offshore to avoid paying taxes and then complain our taxes are too high, our banks manipulate our economy so as to make huge profits even when everyone else is loosing money. They borrow money from the government at zero interest and then lend it back to the government with interest so the government can lend to them. All in all, I'd say things are pretty good. At least for some of us. Not so good for others, but then, they can't afford buy any votes in congress, so don't worry about them. Of course, them is us. Have a nice day.

The Price At The Pump

I don't know about the rest of the country, but around here, have you noticed the price of gas at the pump? In the last four or five weeks, the price of gas has continued to drop. How come? I mean in the past, whenever there's been any kind of interruption in oil production or delivery, even if somebody hiccuped at a well, the price went up. And the companies would all cry that they had to raise the price because oil was more scarce. But this time, during what looks like the largest oil disaster in history next to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, the price is actually going down? All the oil companies seem to be keeping a low profile. Now why do you suppose that is? You don't suppose they're concerned of a backlash by the general public if they simultaneously destroy the ecosystem of the Gulf of Mexico and raise prices on gas, do you? I mean, who would be upset with them for a simple every-day mistake like oh, I don't know, like letting a deep-water oil rig explode and send millions of barrels of oil into the waters of the Gulf to potentially, permanently damage the coasts of every state that fronts on the Gulf, destroying their economies and people's lives? I mean, let's be fair. These oil folks are just plain, simple, down home folks like any other billionaire you know. You know, like the billionaire that lives next door to you, right? And anyway, what could the general public do? Cause the congress to get tough with big oil for the first time in history? Cut off any more deep-water drilling? Or no water drilling? For heavens sake. Who would do such a thing? I mean, how would Exxon and BP and the others be able to post world record profits if they can't drill in the oceans? Fore Pete's sake people, don't be so hard on these country folks. After all, they do pay taxes. Even if those taxes are paid to other countries instead of the USA.

Military Fat

How come Defense Secretary Robert Gates wants to eliminate an engine for the new F35 fighter jet? Because the military already has one they like very well, thank you very much. And they can't afford a second backup one. Well that seems reasonable. Then, how come Congress demands they get one whether they want it or need it or not? Because the second engine is made of pork fat. See, Congress lives on pork fat. Without it, how do you expect these people to get reelected? How does pork fat get them reelected? By getting people to vote for them? No. Pork fat gets them reelected because it brings in all that money from lobbyists hired by G.E. the company that wants to make the second engine. Here's another odd deal. If you're a captain in command of a company of soldiers and you need a bomb sniffing dog and it's handler and you make a request for it, it has to be approved by five four star generals. How come? It called job security. If Secretary Gates wants to get word to that captain to polish his boots, there are thirty levels of command in the chain of command between the Secretary and the captain. You'd think Mr Gates could just pick up the phone and call the captain and tell him to shine his boots, but oh no, it has to go through channels. Gates would like to pare that down too, but there stands congress and that job security thing again. And the thing is, each step in the chain of command has an increasingly larger staff to go with it. Ah. Life is good at the top, but even better just a step or two below the top.

Praise the Lord and Pass the Oil.

I just heard that there is a fairly good chance that the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico may never be able to be contained. The oil companies have failed miserably so far. The government really has nobody capable of doing even what BP has done. In fact any technology that exists to solve this kind of problem has been and is in the hands of the oil companies. The problem is that oil companies have never concentrated on fixing any problem like this, but rather of getting to the oil. Now, that doesn't mean the government is blameless. Certainly not. The thing is, the government, which is supposed to oversee and regulate the oil companies in their drive to get at oil, has instead, been in bed with the oil companies for decades. That's right Republicans and Democrats alike have overlooked what the oil companies do, AT OUR PERIL. So, what's the big deal? Not much if they stop the leak soon. Just a few million or so people along the Gulf Coast including from Florida to Texas. But if they can't stop the leak, then in time, and not too much time, it'll get into the Gulf Current that carries it up the Atlantic coast and on to Europe and western Africa, then the entire Atlantic. Now we're talking hundreds of millions of people, maybe as many as a billion. But there's always a silver lining or two. Nobody will be shouting Drill Baby Drill any more. And some Televangelists will shout out that it is God's punishment for the people of Kansas or Switzerland. Why would they say such a thing? Money. Publicity. The fact that it would make no sense would be lost on them.

Let's Clear The Air.

If you were going to run a political campaign, what would you stand for? We all know what a conservative stands for or a liberal or even a libertarian. Well, maybe not so much a libertarian. They're not so well understood. They seem to be all over the place, but then so are liberals and conservatives. But you can generally figure out what they stand for part of the time. Then there's the Tea Party movement. It seems to stand for only a very few ideas. Lower taxes and smaller government. That's about it, isn't it? Did I miss anything? The problem with such a narrow ideology is that it leaves you wide open for some real kooks to usurp your cause. And also some opportunists. These last will try to steal your cause for personal gain. So people who are claiming to be Tea Party loyalists just might give you their votes only to find out they don't really want what you want. Therefore, I declare myself a Tea Party loyalist. If you'll give me your vote, I'll do whatever you want me to do. Be anything you want me to be. I am truly committed to whatever cause I should be committed to. Just don't commit me. I mean I'm willing to stand up and be counted as long as nobody keeps track. Actually that's not true. You may not realize it, but I'm slightly opinionated and moderately stuck in my own mud. I have little interest in anyone else's mud. Except to comment on how unsavory it is.

What Causes Problems, 101.

I like the editorialist Thomas L. Friedman in the N.Y.Times. He usually has some smart observations. He's usually right on. And he often points out problems with politics and politicians, which makes it easy for him to be right on. Now, sometimes politicians find ways to solve problems. But the problems they solve are usually problems they caused in the first place. Of course, that's quickly forgotten by them and usually blamed on someone else, by them. To be sure, not all problems are caused by politicians. Many are caused by greedy people who pay politicians to overlook the problems until they've made a killing or lots of people get hurt. That's usually when the politicians swing into action by commissioning studies by blue ribbon panels or commissions to find out what the politicians already know. Namely that the problem was caused by politicians or greedy people who paid the politicians to overlook what they were doing. Come on, you already know that. I just told you that. The point of appointing blue ribbon commissions is to get to the bottom of the problem and then writing a two million page report that no one will read, so no one will know who caused the problem. But we know. Don't we? Now, I tell you all of this so you'll understand that we're still not out of the woods on the economic front and we're just beginning to feel the full brunt of the damage done by this oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Before this one is solved, there'll be more loss of jobs and increased prices and lost wildlife and it's habitat, then we've likely ever seen. And the Republicans will blame the Democrats and the Democrats will blame the Republicans and what's really needed will not get done. What really is needed is to stop, once and for all, the idea of "Drill Baby Drill" and regulate the daylights out of the oil industry and get on with the work of building an alternative energy policy with teeth in it that will provide jobs for now and into the future. That's what we need. But ya know who's in charge of this operation? The Politicians. Ya know what'll get done? I just said the politicians are in charge.

Bob Herbert made some heart wrenching observations in his OpEd this morning in the N.Y. Times. The oil spill from the explosion on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico is beginning to permeate the lifeblood of the Gulf Coast just the same way big corporations have permeated our government. Sometimes it's hard to tell the two apart. Well, that's just the way the corporations like it. They'd like us to think they're in charge, all the time, whether in the corporate boardroom or on the Senate floor. Unfortunately, that's pretty much true. they are in charge most of the time. Don't get me wrong, big, important Congressmen and Senators do a lot of blustering and posturing and speechifying and promising, don't forget the promising, but in the end, they're owned lock, stock and barrel by a very large assortment of corporations who make it financially possible to win their elections. The only thing that stands in the way of that happening is you and me. And that, only once every few years. Two years in the case of Congressmen, six in the case of Senators and four in the case of the President. Don't forget that. It's our only chance to stand up to the corporations. It's our only chance to stand up to their elected representatives and it's our only chance to stand up for ourselves.

RAND PAUL!

I sure hope this country can come up with a system of government that doesn't include the two party system. But if it must have two parties, then I really hope it won't include the likes of Rand Paul. He's the son of Ron Paul, a Texas Senator who ran for President in 2008 as a Libertarian. But his son, Rand is so far to the right even ultra-conservatives can't see him and definitely don't want to be associated with him. Now, the Tea Party movement is fed up with the government. Well folks, get in line. It's a very long line. But for heavens sake, be a little more careful who you support. This Rand character wants to set this country back a hundred and fifty years. We need to move forward, not backward. Let's hope Kentuckians see through him. Rand is so out of touch, that he held his victory party for winning the primary at a country club in Bowling Green. Now, don't get me wrong, they probably throw a great party, and I'll bet they serve a wonderful meal, but the folks that voted him into the general election, couldn't afford such a place. I know Tea Partiers are angry at Obama, but at least he had the good taste to hold his election party in a park in Chicago. Now far be it from me to try to tell Tea drinkers what to do. OK I will try. Next time be a little more selective with your candidates. They call it vetting. Or you could say that you want to know if the person is a kook or not.

Forget The Beef, Where's The Oil?

Now, far be it from me to find fault with a government agency, but just this once. Oh, all right, a few more then just once. Oh, all right, a lot of times. Satisfied? But the Materials Management office, especially the Alaska office, seems to have decided that the way to get along and get ahead, is to go along. These are the folks who decide who can drill for oil and gas, and where and when. I guess they believed that the "drill baby drill" crowd was on the inside. And until the last presidential election they were. In fact, they were still doing pretty fair until a month ago. But when the Deep Water Horizon blew up and oil and gas started spewing into the Gulf of Mexico, there was suddenly no more talk of "DBD". All was hush hush. In fact I'm not sure I'm supposed to mention it at all. So from now on, I'll just say DBD. But we'll still know what I'm talking about. But don't tell anyone. Anyway, back to the Materials Management folks. It appears that if any of their scientists dared to do or say anything that might slow the process toward drilling permits, well, they were sort of ostracized. You know. Like don't plan on ever getting out of the basement where it's wet and damp dark and dirty, until you start treating the oil companies like, well, you know, like royalty. Well, now that DBD isn't quite so popular, their strategy isn't working so well. See, most of the qualified people who wouldn't cave in to the pressure to get along, got out. Now, they've been caving in so long, they haven't figured out how to oversee and manage. So we still have no idea how much oil is spilling into the Gulf. I mean, even within hundred thousand gallons, or maybe that many barrels. We just don't know and BP isn't telling us, and EPA doesn't know and NOAA doesn't know. Even my cousin Ron doesn't know, and he lives in Louisiana, near New Orleans. So if none of these people know and Ron doesn't know, Obama sure doesn't know. Which means that there could be a whole lot bigger problem then BP is telling us about. Which is almost certainly the case. Don't ya just love DBD? Pretty soon the people in New Jersey could be unhappy with the idea. I nice shiny coat of oil on the Jersey shore could give them a case of heartburn. Ever hear of the Gulf Current? They have.

Why Not Number One?

Boy, Did Thomas L Friedman give it to Obama in the N.Y. Times this morning. And he's right on. This terrible oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is a rare opportunity for our President to show real leadership and lead this country away from foreign oil Independence. But it's not happening, as Mr Friedman points out. This is a 911 moment. A JFK moment, when JFK challenged the country to put a man on the moon. The country was ready for that challenge and Kennedy led us to success. He also put us back on top as the undisputed leader of the world in science and industry. It's been mostly downhill since then. We now find ourselves way behind in science and industry and in danger of losing our lead in technology, if we haven't done so already, and we don't even seem to be trying to catch up. One thing we're doing very well at, though, is whining about everything from taxes to immigration to Obama care. If we'd stop talking about the value of tea, and who's getting the advantage over whom, we could start talking about how to beat our competitors at science and technology and take back our rightful spot at the top of the heap. But to do that, we need leadership. Leadership that isn't afraid of their shadow. Leadership that would rather do the right thing for the country then worry about whether or not they'll get reelected. Do we know any leaders like that? I haven't seen any in Congress or the White House yet. And the campaigns don't tell us if any challengers for office are that kind of leader. How come? Because our campaigns are all about running down the other guy instead of talking about any real ideas. Shame on our leaders and their opponents. And shame on us for allowing them to get away with it. How come we don't demand fresh ideas from would-be leaders? How come we don't demand to be number one?

New Ad for Penn's Woods.

We just had our primary elections today, and that's why I thought I'd unveil the newest ad for Pennsylvania. "Come and visit Penn's Woods. Stay a while. Run for office". The one thing that
Pennsylvania has besides a hard name to spell, is a very large legislature. But even more important, it's a very, very well paid legislature. And once you've had enough and decide to retire, there's every chance that you can retire at up to three times what you were making as a legislator. Let's start with the compensation package. You get paid a comfortable salary as high as $103,000. You get a housing allowance, car allowance, mileage allowance, and then you get a Per-Diem payment for each day you show up for work. There is an excellent package of benefits including one of the best medical, dental, vision plans available, and the retirement plan is to live for. What I said before about getting a retirement pay of up to three times what you make as a sitting lawmaker is true. The best part of the whole deal is that you really don't have to do anything, except maybe argue with members of the other party and stall anything from happening. You never have to worry about passing bad laws because almost nothing gets done. Now, if you happen to be a bit of a shady character, you could get some graft to go along with all of the above compensation and benefits. Oh, and by the way, once elected, you can do anything you want, and still get reelected. It's a deal you can't refuse. So, come on over.

The Alternative Energy Snowball.

Well, China is in the process of developing the worlds largest Solar Energy industrial complex. The U.S.of A. is----- still asleep at the wheel. Now, I realize that there are still a lot of people out there that don't believe in Global Warming and all that goes with it, but there's something they're missing. See. most of those folks are sold on free market economy. They're the folks that want the market to drive the world's economy. Or at least America's economy. Well, OK, fair enough. What about the fact that countries all over the world, especially our competitors are driving as fast as they can to capture the market on alternative energy products? The rest of the world thinks there's a really good market developing for these products and they're gearing up to supply that market. Here in the United States, though, we're not really trying to help that industry much at all. Is that because we can see the future and the future told us that there won't be any demand for these products, or is it OPEC that's telling us that? Or is it that spicy snack we had last night that kept us up most of the night, that's telling us to forget this upstart industry? Is it heartburn that's saying "urp, don't do it, uuurrp, it's just a flash in the pan, urp". My dad used to tell me "don't be a follower, be a leader". Good advise. Maybe we should start leading for a while, again. But maybe we shouldn't wait too long.

Ahhh! Earmarks.

Did you know that Earmarks are not ugly spots on somebody's ear? Actually, they're ugly spots on our legislature. That's right. Earmarks are the sneaky way legislators have of slipping some pork into the diet of each and every one of us. The problem is that we rarely get to actually taste it. What they do is take a bill that is introduced to fix some problem or improve our lives and they tack on a statement that says millions of dollars will go to this pocket or that pocket. Often to a family member, but not always. But it's always so they can talk about it when they want to get reelected. "My friends and fellow voters". they can say, "I delivered the goods to you, my constituents, and I hope you'll deliver the votes for me". Now sometimes earmarks do some good, but that's really not the point. The point is we can't afford these frills any more. But our elected officials can't figure that out. Try as they might, they just can't rap their brains around the idea that their fellow Americans just can't afford to give the house away, just so these guys can get reelected. If the people are starving, let em eat cake. That's the motto our folks in Washington like to use. Only in private, of course. Heaven forbid if actual people were to hear such talk. No, no. In public, they will agree that such things as earmarks are a bane not a boon. In fact every single lawmaker would vote to end the earmark practice, provided they could attach a couple dozen earmarks to that bill.

BP v Beano

BP has been asking for permission to drill offshore of Alaska. Their wait seems stalled even longer due to the spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Now, I don't want to seem anti-drill baby drill, but it does seem appropriate that BP wait a little longer so they can prove they know as much about fixing a problem as they do about causing one. That may be unfair. After all, they've stated that the fault for the spill belongs to others. Who blame others for the spill, who blame others, who blame BP, who blames Haliburton. Whoa. I'm getting a little dizzy. The blame goes from who built the safety equipment, to who built the pipes, to who manufactured the concrete to '?'. Watch out or they may blame you or me next. Now, to the spill itself. We've heard it is anywhere from two teaspoons and call me in the morning to a volcano style eruption of oil and gas. One suggestion that hasn't been made is that if it's gas, try Beano or Tums. And what about the solutions. It sounds like Beaver in the old 'Leave it to Beaver' TV shows. When Beaver made a mess and is trying a variety of very funny "quick fixes". The only problem with that analogy is that this isn't funny. At all. Seriously, I heard on the news that BP has spent the equivalent of six days profits so far in the rush to fix it. That'll change. And I read in the N.Y. Times this morning that a group of Senators tried to raise oil companys' liability from $75 million to $10 billion. $75 million? They make more than that much in profits in one day, and the cost of cleanups goes well beyond that. I'm fairly certain the oil company lobbyists are against that kind of legislation.

Coal and Carbon

I talked about the difference in costs between oil and Solar and Wind energy. But the big daddy is coal. Coal is the dirtiest of all energy sources. Yet we use more coal then anything except possibly oil. By far and away, coal is used to produce most of our electricity. It also heats a lot of older homes. Now, every time you turn around, somebody is talking about clean coal. In order to have coal be clean and by that I mean that all of the carbon dioxide is removed, and all of the toxic impurities are removed, there's not all that much left. Ever see a smokestack from a coal fired plant? They say they can remove all that pollution from the smokestack and build pipelines to someplace where they can compress it into, I don't know, blocks I guess, and store it under ground. Now, forget the cost of capturing the smoke, building 23,000 miles of pipeline, building the equipment to compress it, and building the facilities to store it, how about in your backyard, and just concentrate on how much we're talking about. 5.4 billion tons in 2009. That's like 41 super tankers per day, 365 days per year. That will have to be stored somewhere. Back to your backyard. Just how big is your backyard? All of this stuff will have to be designed, invented and built and or purchased by, guess who? Oh and by the way, in order to capture this smoke from the smokestack, it will reduce the production of electricity by about 28% of every generating facility in the country. Which means they'd have to build more then a third more generating plants then they now have, just to stay where they are now, in production. Are you beginning to get an idea of how costly coal really is? And that doesn't take into account the possibility of any problems, like a pipeline breaking and the ensuing cleanup, or any pollution to ground water, you know, the drinking water aquifers. But don't fear, there's a proposal in the proposed energy bill in the Senate to spend $2.4 billion on it. $2.4 billion? That's not even a down payment. Not even a deposit. If you think that the bailouts for Wall Street and the car companies was high, wait for the price tag on clean coal. But, hey, as long as you have deep pockets, you can afford to keep paying for a bad idea. Can't you?

I'LL RAISE YOUR TAXES IF YOU'LL CUT MY BENEFITS.

Who's right? Should we cut taxes and cut government spending and thereby lower our debt? Or should we raise taxes and increase government spending thereby lowering our debt? Actually neither plan works, period. David Leonhardt says in the N.Y.Times today that we'd have to come up with 7% to 10% of Gross Domestic Product per year to begin to pay down the debt. That would come to about $1 trillion. Just to give you some idea of what we're talking about, if you took the total budgets of Homeland Security, the Departments of State, Education, Energy, Justice, Labor, Transportation and Veteran's Affairs, you'd still be short a mere $400 billion. The point is that cutting taxes and lowering spending or raising taxes and increasing spending only keep you where you are. What's needed is to raise taxes, and cut out subsidies for all sorts of special interest industries as well as corporate and personal tax loopholes, and cut out wasteful military and other departmental programs and cut back on individual benefits. In other words, we need to do some of both plans and a lot more. So the Republicans won't like the idea of tax increases and the Democrats won't like the idea of cutting benefits. Sounds perfect. Of course it's easy for you and I to blame the politicians. Heck, it's fun to blame them. The thing is, it's really our fault, not the politicians. We wanted everything they gave us, but we don't like paying for it. And whenever a politician tries to do the right thing, he, or she, gets voted out of office. We Americans like our cake and we like to eat it too. So if you look at the face of our financial enemy, IT ARE US. So we need to stop our whining about higher taxes, and if your favorite tax deduction goes away, well, just buck up and suck it up. And if it's a little harder to get on the government dole, well just buck up and, oh you know the drill. Or we can always keep complaining about the politicians. After all, they do deserve it, somewhat.

How Come Solar Energy Is So Expensive?

Solar and Wind Energy and for that matter, all alternative energy sources are too expensive, right? I mean, just look at the prices of such equipment and you know that they are just too costly, right? Actually that's not true. You hear that a lot, but it's not true. Now, if you only consider the prices, then it looks true. But if you look at the actual costs, they actually are very competitive and the costs are coming down on alternative energy all the time. Here's what I mean. If you consider the special rates given to oil companies in the form of cheap or free leases, discounts on the royalties they have to pay, and all the other support they receive, gas is a whole lot more expensive. But somebody pays for those special rates. The taxpayer. You'd think the Tea-Party set would be complaining about that, but they're not. And these costs don't include the cleanup of problems like this spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Oh, and don't think you won't be helping BP to pay for that. And if you still don't think it'll affect you, wait until you want to by some shrimp or any seafood. But what if this oil starts to get into the gulf current? Then it'll be washing up on the whole east coast. Then there's two wars we're fighting in the middle east. If you don't think it's because of oil, you'd better think again. Add that price to the cost of oil and see where you get. When you wipe away all the fog and smog the oil companies put up to confuse us, you begin to see that Alternative energy sources are really quite cheap. Just imagine how much your taxes would go down if we didn't have to depend on oil. You could go on a vacation to the middle east. Or maybe not. But the south Pacific looks nice. Or even Disney World. The point is, never accept what you hear from the oil world. It's not likely to be true. By the way, has anyone heard "Drill Baby Drill" lately? Or, did you know they're still cleaning up from the Exxon Valdez spill? Still!

Financial Reform?

We need financial reform desperately. The good news is that our government actually realizes that fact, and is working on it. In fact they've been working on it for some time. Now, that's not unusual. It takes more time to get it right then it does to get it wrong. Right now, they're hearing from those "payday loans" and "check cashing" outfits. Usually, but not always it's one in the same. These folks are crying alligator tears for the government to leave them out of the reform. See, they don't want to be reformed. They like things exactly the way they are. They certainly don't want to be regulated. I don't know if you've ever done business with any of these folks, but they seem to be high-fliers. It looks to me as though these are exactly the kinds of operations that need oversight. They need to be regulated. They charge extremely high interest on the loans they make, which are very short term loans, and invite their customers to use their check-cashing feature, thus insuring that they will get paid back before anyone else. My Dad always warned me about people like these folks. Only difference is that the folks he talked about would break your legs if you didn't pay. Now, of course, this new breed of businessmen don't act like that. If you're late with a payment, you won't get an unwelcome visitor, but they'll hit you with the full weight of the law, which will be on their side. I'd say they're the poster child for financial reform.

Boy, it's been a tough week. Working with volunteers is always tricky. Even more so when you're a volunteer too. Lots of people want to be heroes. It's a good thing they do. Where else would you get volunteers. People who give freely of their time, do so because they hope to do some good. So saying they want to be heroes may sound a bit crass, but actually that's exactly what they're trying to do. That's what heroes do. They do good deeds. So why should that be a problem? Well, if everybody runs out and grabs a white stallion and puts on a mask and says "Hi HO Silver", that can spell bad news for the bad guys. So what's wrong with that? Well, nothing as long as it's the bad guys that get the bad treatment. The problems come in when the Lone Ranger doesn't know who the bad guys are. See, in the old movie series, The Lone Ranger always talked thing over with the sheriff or the ranch owner or the ranch owner's daughter, first. That way they could tell him who the bad guys are. Presto. No collateral damage. Now, today we don't deal with bad guys so much when we volunteer, but sometimes we inadvertently do something that upsets another volunteer. you can lose helpers that way. Sometimes you lose very helpful helpers. Maybe better helpers then the ones you gain. That's why you need somebody to tell you who the bad guys are and who the good guys are. The Lone Ranger knew that. That's why he always won. We can't all be Lone Rangers, and you never heard about the wannabe Lonesome Wranglers. They tried to do things without checking first and they wound up shooting the wrong people and went to jail, I guess. Today, lonesome Wranglers just drive good helpers away. Don't let your kids grow up to be Lonesome Wranglers.

Did you know that all terrorists are Muslims. it's a fact. Just listen to conservative talkshows and quasi-news programming. Now it is true that many terrorists are Muslim Extremists, but then I think you can truthfully say that nearly all terrorists are extremists. I say nearly all, because there may be some out there who are simply sickos. But you may be surprised to learn the Timothy McVay was not as Muslim. Oh come on. Timothy McVay was the Oklahoma City Bomber. It really wasn't that long ago. Anyway, I'm not sure why conservative extremists like those on conservative talkshows and quasi-news programs (I like saying that) like to make the claim that all terrorists are Muslims. I think it has something to do with ratings. It has little to do with the truth. But then much of what's said on TV has little to do with the truth. Ratings, remember? Claiming terrorists are Muslims is like Arizona saying that all criminals are illegal aliens and if they can only eliminate illegals, they'll solve all the crime. It's a slick way of getting out of actually trying to solve a problem. You know. Blame it on the other guy. See, if it's the Muslims and the Hispanics then it's not the white guys or the black guys. I suppose, if that works, then the White guys will blame the black guys and the Black guys will blame the--- Oh, you get the idea. A better idea would be to tell it like it really is. There are people out there who are bent on doing bad things. Instead of blaming large or small groups for it, let's try to catching the bad guys.

SOCIAL SECURITY IS BROKE

Ya know, I've heard that said by so many people, I'm getting tired of hearing it. So, is Social Security broke? Well, I suppose it is starting to go broke, and I'm not surprised. I've heard it called a ponzi scheme, and everything else. But here's what happened. For most of it's lifetime, Social Security kept bringing in way more money then it needed to pay the folks that retired and were collecting. That meant that there were billions laying around. Congress kept looking at all that money and kept saying to itself, self, if we don't spend this money it'll go bad, just like ripe tomatoes. And we need to give the people of our country things. Our constituents want us to bring home the bacon, or pork, and we don't have the money to give them things. Now, here's all this money that people are paying into Social Security and there's more than is needed, so, let's use that money to give the people, our constituents, things and stuff. That'll make them happy and they'll reelect us. This is a good thing we're doing for our constituents. And, ya know, it was nice to have paved roads and good schools and we were able to fight wars around the world on the Social Security dime. So. Now there isn't enough money left to cover all the retired and retiring people. So, now Social Security is called a bad thing. What I don't understand is how it went from being a good thing when it had money to burn, to a being bad thing after Congress spent all the money. Oh. Wait. It's like taking that special girl out to the finest restaurant to impress her and wind up making her wash dishes to pay the tab. When it comes to Congress, and I suppose to many of the constituents, if you can't pay for the lunch anymore, you ain't in favor anymore. Here's a thought. How about if those legislator pay back what they took. Because the constituents can't very well give back those roads and schools and wars, now can they?

Moms Are Nice People

There was a suggestion by a couple of Congressmen that might help the problem caused by the Supreme Court on campaign financing. Remember the court said that corporations can spend any amount on elections? Well this idea is to require anyone or any corporation who's paying for these attack ads to stand up and be counted. By that I mean they have to be in the ad themselves and state they are the ones who are paying for the ad. Makes sense to me. After all, if you're so dedicated to calling someone a no good so and so, you should be willing to stand up for the truth. But here's an interesting sideline. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce says it's a bad idea because it might cause some not to speak out. Well, my mother always told me that if I'm not willing to say something about someone in public, don't say it. Of course she also said that if I couldn't say something nice about someone, don't say anything at all. Do parents still tell their kids those sorts of things? Do corporations have mothers? I don't think so. Maybe the government needs to pass this lay so it can act as the corporation's mother. Maybe the U. S. Chamber of Commerce needs a mother too. While I'm at it, there's a lot of other organizations that need a mother's touch. Like the NRA. Hey, ya know what? The U.S. Supreme Court could use a mother too, while we're at it.

The Rating Game

We'll be hearing about Goldman Sacks for years, and rightly so. But there's a bigger fly in this ointment then Goldman Sacks and friends. The Ratings Companies. Like Moody's and Standard and Poor's. The thing is, companies like Goldman Sacks Et Al have been in the dating game with the likes of the Ratings companies like Moody's and Standard and Poor's for years. Here's how it works. In order for Goldman to get people to buy toxic garbage, they have to convince buyers it's a good, safe investment. That's where the Raters come in. They rate investments like derivatives and most other investments. A triple 'A' rating is very good, and an investment with it can get top dollar. Problem is, Goldman Sacks and others pay the raters for the rating service. Sooo. If a rater wants to get paid, like at all, they have to please the likes of Goldman Sacks. A "AAA" rating will do nicely, thank you. And here's your paycheck, thank you very much. Now. If you ask your car dealer for a good safe car, and he sells you a bomb on wheels, and it goes off, and he knew it was a bomb, and you can prove it, you got him. But with the raters, if the bomb goes off, and they knew it, and you can prove it, apparently, they got you. So the next time you hear about a good safe investment with a "AAA" rating, how are you going to feel about it? Well, just remember, they'll still respect you in the morning.

Well, Are You Fer It Or Agin It?

It's sort of a little thing, but our Supreme Court has once again gotten something wrong. Now that's not my opinion, well actually it is , but it's Justice John Paul Stevens who finds fault with the majority opinion on the, Cross in the Mohave Desert, case. The majority said that the lower court should not find fault with the legislature in it's decisions. Stevens however, points out that the same majority did exactly that when it struck down the legislature's laws on campaign finance. So which is it folks? I clearly remember all the mumbling a decade ago about needing more conservative judges on the Supreme Court who would follow the constitution instead of legislating from the bench. Well they got their conservative court, but they certainly didn't get rid of legislating from the bench. in fact they got more. Something else they got too. Poor judgement. If justice is blind, or at least blindfolded, these guys are peaking. Peaking to see which way the conservative winds are blowing. Now, I'm all in favor of people having healthy differences of opinion, but I'm not in favor of separation of thought and state. I'm in favor of separation of church and state. There is a difference. These new justices are getting it wrong on both counts. What we need is for just one conservative justice to retire. it would be nice to get back to a thoughtful court. Just imagine the furor when it comes time to replace one of the majority. The Senate could well experience a meltdown. If it hasn't already. Ya know, in other countries the legislatures break out in egg fights and even fisticuffs. Well, at least it's entertainment.