Energy Legislation? Oh Come On Now.

Well, the Senate is finally moving toward some sort of energy bill. They're calling for electric utilities to derive 15% of their power from alternative energy sources by 2021. Is that the kind of strong statement we want to make? I mean, a whole 15%? Don't most states require that much or more already? Are we supposed to think that's showing courageous leadership? And of course, that's only electric. What about transportation? Isn't that part of the energy equation too? It appears that our esteemed deliberative body, the portion of government that advises and consents isn't much of an advisor if that's the best they can come up with. I don't think it's the best they can come up with, it's just the only thing they're likely to get any sot of agreement on. Can you imagine a group of grown men and women who know what's best for the country, but are unwilling to vote for what the other side wants. Either side. When I was little and my sister and I couldn't agree, my parents chose for us, or we did without supper. Maybe that's what we need. A few parents choosing for the Senate and sending them to bed without supper. The other thing my mom and dad believed in was couple punishment. By that I mean a couple of spankings. That's another thing these folks could use. They're not really children, so it wouldn't be against the law, would it? And I don't mean to disregard the House of Representatives either. They're just as welcome to the switch and to go hungry.

China, Japan And Our Economy

Did you hear the one about the argument between China and Japan? Well China and Japan both claim ownership of a small group of uninhabited islands in the South China Sea. Actually it's the sea around the islands and the oil that may be under it that's of interest to both. Anyway, Japan has been administering the islands (whatever that means) and a Chinese fishing boat ( I'll bet it was fishing) rammed into two separate Japanese coastguard boats. So Japan arrested the captain of the Chinese boat. So China stopped all Chinese tourists from going to Japan and stopped shipping all "rare earth" metals and minerals to Japan. Then China threatened to do even more to Japan if Japan didn't release the captain. Now, let's go back to these rare earths. They're metals that are very rare hence the title RARE. You need them to build hybrid cars and most electronics and in guidance systems for bombs and missiles. China controls about 93% of the world supply. So, Japan backed down and released the captain. So what's the joke? I never said there was a joke. But the joke is that Japan who used to be the second largest economy behind the U.S. is now third behind China and in this little confrontation gave up the supremacy in the Pacific Asian region and bolstered Chinese ego allowing them to exert more pressure throughout Asia and the world. How does that help us? Since China controls so much of these rare earths, what's to stop them from pushing America around? Hey. They already are, by manipulating their currency hurting our economy. Everything is interconnected in the world today. Japan may not matter in the long haul, but for the short term they pulled a Democrat. They wimped out.

War, Draft Dogers, And Us.

Last week I was talking with a friend about the two wars we're in and the dangers of terrorism in general. This morning I was reading in the N.Y.Times an article about the National Guard and how it is unable to plan and train for national and local emergencies because it is forced to plan and train for combat. That caused me to think back to the last time there was a draft in this country. No, I'm not talking about a cool breeze. When young men, and women, are called up for duty through a system known as the draft. It was Viet Nam. Young folks may not even know we were at war in that country, or where it is, but back then everybody knew. There's nothing popular about the draft, especially with young people trying to plan their futures. There was even a group called draft dodgers who did almost anything they could to keep from going to war including burning their draft cards and going to Canada. Thank goodness for Canada. All you had to do was get out of bed one morning, have breakfast and drive to Canada. I had already served, so it didn't affect to me. My point is that the reason Pres. Bush was able to start and fight two wars without the whole country on his neck about it, was because there was no draft. Volunteers only, and special, paid "employees", who were and are mercenaries and the National Guard. We need the government to reinstate the draft before we can go to war in the future. No more mercenaries no more using the National Guard except as a last resort. The problem with that idea is that we'd never be able to go to war again. Ever. So what's wrong with that, you may ask? Well, what do you do with all those Generals we have sitting around and how about all those would be Generals? What're they gonna do?

Promise Or Contract? No Difference.

Well, I just read the condensed version of the Republican's "Contract with America". Oh No. I mean the Republican's "Pledge to America", the contract came in 1994. Anyway, it sounds just lovely. That is, if you don't pay attention too closely. Like suggesting to keep Bush tax cuts permanently and add another tax cut for businesses while professing to be concerned about the deficit. By the way these two cuts would add $4 Trillion to that deficit. Of course, you'll hear the Republicans claim it will create jobs thereby bringing down the deficit. What businessman in his right mind is going to create any jobs at all, no matter how much you give him, unless there's an increase in demand for his products? And almost all of those tax breaks are for billionaires from Wall Street, who have already proved they're not going to create jobs under any circumstances unless it's another pool cleaner or gardener. The other thing is the Health care plan recently passed into law and much disliked. They plan to repeal it. Does anyone think they could actually do that? It takes something like a two thirds majority to override a veto. That's not going to happen. And it at least holds out the promise to slow, if not lower, health care costs. Without it, double digit increases will continue. The rest seems to be a rewording of the failed 94 contract with America. If this is an indication of how they'll govern, and I'm sure it is, what's the difference who governs? A vote for this, is a vote for the party that caused this recession.

Well. Here's The Choices.

Well Boys and girls, ladies and gentlemen, and children of all ages, we're deep into the countdown to the day we will pull the lever. That's right bunkie. Soon we get to decide which group will lead our country, not their country, but our country, even though they will act as though it's theirs exclusively to play with. But it's not theirs, it's ours. That's why we get to pull the lever. Although, as soon as we've pulled the lever (or pencil in the space or push the button), it gets turned over to the winners to run. Soooo. Who should we choose? Well, first we have the folks we gave the reins to, after promises to end two wars, repair the economy, include a public option, end the recession, and put people back to work and then added a multi-trillion $$$ to the deficit. We'll can them Team D. Then there's the group we took it all away from because they started those two wars without paying for them, gave away the store with tax cuts for everyone and turned a multi multi billion $$$ surplus into a multi-trillion $$$ deficit and drove us into this recession, but want control back so they can do more of the same. We'll this group Team R. Then there's the new start-up party that hasn't the foggiest idea of how to govern, but thinks there should be no taxes, no regulation, no interference and no government at all. We'll call this non-party Team T. Not to be confused with the "A" Team. Boy, am I happy with these choices. So? Who ya gonna vote for? Huh? Now you see why I want term limits? We really can't afford to have these (I'll be nice here and call them) individuals going to Washington, sticking around for years and decades, mucking up the works. The least we should require is some degree of intelligence and a sense of duty. Oh ya. And a willingness to do the right thing even if it's unpopular. Which, I guess, is a sense of duty. Don't get me wrong, every once in a while someone who is actually capable and dedicated gets elected. It's just that they soon learn they have no chance what-so-ever. They usually lose in an off year to a (remember this guy) Soupy Sales kind of opponent.

Why We're Falling Behind.

Well, my favorite columnist, Tom Friedman said in the N.Y.Times this morning exactly what I have been trying to voice. I couldn't put it all together in my poor head. He explained that the problem with America isn't that we don't have the right system, because we do. It isn't because we don't have the best and brightest people, because we do. It isn't because we're not capable of doing anything we want, because we can. It's because we're abusing the system we have. Our politicians are more interested in beating each other then in saving the country. We have far too many people out of work, but instead of pulling together to fix the problem, our leaders are looking to take care of the "Party" and it's ideology. We put a man on the moon for goodness sake, but we cant fix our own infrastructure. So, where is this craziness leading? If we keep going the way we have, we'll be a third world country. Not because we can't do better, but because we refuse to do better. We whine about taxes, then turn around and disregard normal maintenance. We complain about how bad the scenery is while we throw trash out the window. We choke on pollution and the lack of jobs and let the whole green technology with it's jobs fly away to China. Until Washington stops playing politics and the public starts supporting the country, we'll continue to slide backwards. We'll keep getting passed by China, and a host of other countries who know how to pull together the way we used to do. Why does it have to be Conservative or Liberal? Why can't it be American? Which is part conservative and part liberal and partway between. Of course to do that, we'd have to get rid of most of the leaders we have now, including almost all of the ones running against them now. We'd need a completely clean slate of citizen leaders. Leaders willing to serve limited terms of office. So they can't be infected with the Washington Bug of corruption and power.

The Big Campaign Ponzi Scheme.

Boy, here's a gimmick for ya. A 501C nonprofit is just that. A nonprofit corporation. The idea was originally allowed to help charities. They could supposedly spend no more than 50% of their income on campaign ads. Then it expanded until smart politicians figured out that they could exploit these 501C (4) corporations to hide campaign contributions. Donors can give all the money they want and nobody will ever know it was them. In fact, foreign corporations could give money to support a given politician and it would never be made public. Now of course at some point the IRS will be told. So here's what they do. They form the 501C (4) corporation, let's say in January, buy millions of $$$ in TV ads attacking some candidate or other, then fold in late November. They don't have to report to the IRS until as much as two years later. At that point, I suppose, they will get scolded for doing wrong. So, the "old peoples co-operative" or the "over the hill 60s" or some such name, can claim that this candidate or that one has stolen $500 billion from your medicare account, or cut your Social Security payments for next year, or cut off unemployment for the poor and increased everybody's taxes or even claim the candidate hates babies and motherhood. In other words, they can tell any lie they want in a TV ad and then go out of business and start a new one next campaign season. This is better than shell games, or ponzi schemes, and it's legal. It's legal because who's going to stop it? Politicians? Heck no. They're all doing it. The courts? The Supreme Court seems to think anything goes when it comes to politicking. So how come TV networks don't pull the plug on these lies? Huh, how come? The networks say they're not the police. So, who's left? Some champion on a big white horse? Ya know what? I have this large bridge in New York City I'm considering selling for a bargain basement price. Give me a call at 1-800 clueless.