A Cold Shoulder

Hundreds attend global warming protest ….. and they look pretty mad!

Elections Have Consequences

This is why Barry should have never been elected. We are being inundated by climate scare tactics designed to further destroy our economy and forever create a socialist state. People will buy into this because the media is the Democrat party. Oh we got our “historic” new president and a bunch of fools following him off a cliff. Just give him a chance, they say. I did. One week is all it has taken to prove to me that he absolutely can’t be trusted and is destined to be the all time worst president we have ever had. I’m sorry friends and family but between letting terrorist free, buying into global warming, pushing a huge pork laden so called stimulus bill designed to buy votes, paying for abortions, putting a tax cheat in charge of the Treasury Department and Hillary at State there isn’t much good to look forward to the next couple of years except one hell of a fight.

Vicki’s Birthday

When I woke her up this morning at 7:00 and asked her if she wanted to go out for breakfast or dinner she answered, “I want to go back to sleep.” She didn’t get the chance because Brad, Jackie, Alana, and Sammy stopped by with cinnamon rolls and presents.

After opening presents and having rolls and coffee she did what makes sense on a beautiful day, go outside and read, which leads to falling asleep.

We went out for dinner (Dale, Donna, Wally, Peggy, Howard, Michele, Brad, Jackie, Alana, Elizabeth, Ric, and Vicki) at Villa De Los Antos and came back for cake and coffee. Happy Birthday Vicki!

What Ever Happened to "Appropriate Technology"?

It's deja'vu all over again. If you can remember the periodical "Mother Earth News" you know what I'm talking about. Ben Franklin Stoves to heat the house, Volkswagens with batteries driving electric starter motors, passive solar collectors, wind generation, large home gardens, a woodlot, earthworks to modulate home temperatures, earthworm bins for fertilizer, mulching, picking pests off vegetables by hand. I could go on and on, after all, I was a subscriber.

Of course, now it's high tech, but the same. The problem was that it was too much work, the power was insufficient, didn't work well, and not cost effective. But now that we only have 4 years to live .... it's all doable... again. Back then the wind generators were small enough to fit on your micro-farm. The heat generated by the sun was used in a way that was more efficient (heating water) not converting to electricity and wood was considered a renewable resource. Your house was built underground (and you didn't have to deal with city building codes) so heating and cooling was minimal. It was almost like returning to cave dwelling.

Here we are again in the 70's with our new generation of (metro)hippies, a black Jimmy Carter and this time without our Franklin stove.

I Don't Know if I Should Voice It

I had the Inauguration on a live feed today for my computer classes so that the students could listen and watch it in it's entirety, oaths, prayers, and speeches without commentary. What I was left with was a sadness that seems out of place.

The rambling poem and the sometime inspiring sometime insulting benediction created a feeling in me of foreboding. Obama's speech was not the type that a commander would give his men going into battle but a disjointed list kind of like a State of the Union but without applause lines. I feel sorry for those who put their trust in him and I don't want to feel that way, they are my friends, my family, and my country.

And Another Great Day for a Ride

I was talking to a friend who has been chipping ice off of his toothbrush up in the frozen wasteland of Illinois and wanted to cheer him up a little. So this one's for you TJ.

It was a clear frigid 52 degrees this morning when I headed out the door at 7:30. On the way out to Cave Creek the roads were full of motorcycles and bicycles. The royal blue sky made the sun feel even warmer.

After a brisk 100 mile ride through scenic country on a twisty two-lane to Bartlett Lake I sipped coffee enjoying the view at an overlook. The ride home was a pleasure as the temperature rose to 70 degrees.

When I arrived home the scent of freshly fried chips and home-made salsa greeted me. And it isn't even noon yet.

Where Do We Go From Here?

In America we have an utopian "gene" that resurfaces occasionally. All it takes is some distance from pressing problems and a group of believers. The experiments fail for the "simple" reason that the desire for personal freedom will not die easily. It's "human nature". The second or third generation buys out. The problem has been attacked by the current group of believers by taking over the school system and the information media. They have been able to secure at least a majority of the population .... for a while. The only way they may succeed is to take away enough freedoms that the average person can't see the horizon, so to speak. No dissension, "the science has been settled".

I think that reality will rear it's ugly head and bring us back. A few terrorist attacks, very cold winters, a little bit of financial suffering, and hopefully all this wishful thinking will fade away or may be swept away. For instance, what would happen if terrorists put bombs in a bunch of soft targets, shopping malls, baggage check-ins or public plazas? How about freezing temperatures where no amount of "green" energy will suffice? What about bailout after bailout that doesn't work? What about taxation that punishes those who produce and feeds the seed for the next crop (money that would have been invested rather than spent) to the takers? One or more of these will probably happen. And soon.

Then we can get back to raping the planet. You know, raising the standard of living, growing enough food, producing enough energy, improving medical care, creating wealth rather than redistributing it, creating new jobs, cleaning up pollution, increasing lifespans. A return to the bad old days.

The Vulture Gold Mine

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Just Thinking

I spoke to one of my sons today about government's financial games that often lead to unintended consequences. In particular, for those or you old enough to remember, the tax breaks for interest paid. Remember when any interest on loans was non-taxable probably as an incentive to get the economy moving? It didn't take long for people to run up all kind of debt so the politicians decided to focus just on getting people into homes so they removed the break on all interest and allowed it only on a home and a vacation home too (if I remember correctly). The idea was that if people were owners they would be better citizens, I guess, and it would raise tax revenues because all debt wouldn't be subsidized by tax breaks.

The unintended consequence was the invention of "home equity loans". People turned their home into a cash cow by transferring all debt in the belief that property values couldn't decrease causing the building boom and equity borrowing to skyrocket. The politicians saw some people being left behind so they made credit easy by requiring a percent of loans to be made in various high-risk areas which weakened the lending institutions triggering the lending crash (Another unintended consequence).

At the same time workers were needed to build all the homes so a deal was crafted that for humanitarian reasons (really economic) the border was allowed to become porous filling the needs of employers and the politicians. Unfortunately the unintended consequence was that American citizens lost jobs to those willing to work for much less. They had no intention of staying here but were mining America to send the money back home which drained off billions of dollars that American workers would have spent here. On top of one consequence was another, when the market crashed those workers either left with the money they had made or had children while they were here and those new citizens are now in our public schools being educated at taxpayer expense in many cases living with parents who are without formal education and are in the process of becoming citizens or living here illegally.

Now we have thousands of homes that no one can afford. The people who built them are gone and the ones who are here don't have the education to hold jobs that could support the payments.

Are we better off? Should government be in the "business" of economic manipulation? Check out the latest scheme here.