Hello Dolly

Every year on TV we are shown pictures of people nailing plywood over their windows in preparation for a coming hurricane. Tonight is no exception. It immediately is followed by someone bemoaning how high the price of plywood has become in the buildup in preparation for the arrival of the storm by those exploitive profiteers at Home Depot.

It is their plywood after all, Lady, not yours. Why didn't you buy your plywood earlier? Better yet, What did you do with last year's plywood? Or, how about shutters -- the real ones, not the decorative ones that you already have on your house.

I grew up in a two-hundred-year-old house in Pennsylvania. Rarely, a hurricane would live out its final days running up the Delaware valley. But the houses in my neighborhood were prepared -- with real working shutters that could be closed over the windows with minimal effort. Not so in hurricane alley. There the working plan is to nail up plywood again and bitch because the mean old lumber yards expect to sell it to the highest bidder.

I surprised myself

I have been saying this for a while, but it caught me again. Can it be anything but a conspiracy to keep us stupid?
Ask everyone you know. "Why is gas so expensive?" I have heard the usual litany - "Speculators". "Big oil". "The Arabs".
The answer is , of course, gasoline is cheaper than it was in 1964. Huh?

In nineteen-sixty-four, the Dollar was an instrument called a silver certificate. It equaled and was exchangeable for one silver dollar at any bank. It was also in nineteen-sixty-four that either dollar equaled and was also exchangeable for four gallons of gasoline.

A mere 100 days after the death of President John F. Kennedy President Lyndon Johnson accomplished a goal he had since he was an assistant to Senator Sam Rayburn in the early days of FDR. He demonitized silver and removed the requirement that there be an actual "dollar" for each certificate in circulation. In essence he made the bill the dollar.

Little-by-little, the currency inflated. Now, in 2008, we take those two dollars and see what they buy. The paper one now buys one quart of gasoline - one sixteenth the amount of gas that it bought in 1964. But what of the silver dollar? At today's spot fix for silver and the price I paid for gasoline this very afternoon, one silver dollar would have bought not four gallons of gas as in 1964, but five full gallons of gasoline.

So as you listen to people blame everyone in sight for the so-called high price of gasoline, remember, they are not blaming the groups really responsible for the slipping of our savings and decline of our real salaries, the bureaucracy of the Federal Government and our own Representatives. They are misdirecting us to see the dollar as a constant and gasoline as a variable. But seal up a jar with one gallon of gasoline, and one with a one dollar bill. Come back in ten years and see which one has lost its value.

Sociali... err, social .... .... ...

Well, since the last blog, the Honorable (?) Senator Maxine Waters has let the cat slip out of the bag, and telegraph her ultimate intentions.

Borie Oilfield
Originally uploaded by luxomni

What the brilliant Senator Waters meant to say was Nationalize.
And what does that really entail? How do you nationalize an industry? In the case of Venezuela, you merely round everyone up, put them on an airplane and make it take off. Where they landed was their problem.

But with nationalizing a company here it is somewhat different, and not so easy.

One, there's that pesky Constitution getting in the way, but that doesn't bother Liberals too terribly much.
But more difficult, what exactly do you nationalize; and from who (or is that whom??)It might actually have been easier if they had not made the Sherman Antitrust Act first and broken everything up into little pieces. The raw petroleum is purchased from various countries, companies and even individuals all over the world. The "Big Oil" companies buy it from these guys at market cost.

Then maybe we should steal it from the end vendor. They are the ones that actually charge us so much and don't even check our tire pressure or give us free glasses with fill-up anymore. Besides, their name is Patel, and they aren't even Americans. But they only have two thousand gallons and if you take it they won't buy any more for you to take.

Then there's the companies themselves. What do they actually do? They buy petroleum and mark its price up and sell it. That and they have a bunch of ugly, smelly refineries all over the place. We take those away form the companies and ... and ... and? What force the employees to continue on - like slaves? Or like government employees, get paid to put in eight? Why am I suddenly thinking of Atlas Shrugged? Wyatt's Oil anyone?

Then how about the stockholders? They are rich teachers? Teachers? Well, yes the Teacher's Retirement System is a big owner of shares. In fact, retirement plans are the largers group of stockholders in most companies and industries. But the COO of the Teacher's Retirement Plan assured me the Friday that they are diversified into Petro China and European Companies as well, just in case our leeches, oops I mean politicians, can't control their greed.

So does the Government steal the oil from these people who own the land the oil sits under. There is a precedent. Break the centuries old tradition of ownership of land as private property. They already want that with property tax and condemnation. Or do they steal it from the retailer, a one-time shot? Or from the processor who provides a dangerous and technical service? Or do they steal it from my retirement? Any way she does it, it will not be better; it will be grandstanding, self-serving theft; and Mr. Tillerson will be correct, we will long for the days of $5 a gallon gas.

The Gasish Inquisition

Our beloved Congress-Critters are at it again. They are at Stage 4 - Search for the Guilty - in the search for the reason for the rise in the price of gasoline. The have demanded the heads of the various oil companies come and stand before the Congressional Kangaroo court. There is a justice Department if there is a real crime committed. Oh, no, this is Congressional theatrics at its best or worst.
There is no chance that they can find the most of the real reasons. They have already determined their idea of the cause and are trying to find information to justify their conclusion that Capitalism is the cause. They will not acknowledge that the dollar has tanked in the international currency market (many reasons -- many of which track back directly to themselves). They will not recognize that the percentage of gross that is profit to the oil companies has remained constant -- it is merely that same percentage of a larger pie.
They will not acknowledge that they have made three times the profit that the oil companies do from each gallon of gas. They will not acknowledge that their environmental regulations (as much at the state level as the Federal) have contributed greatly to artificial scarcity.
But for all this, somehow I suspect I can live a lot longer without the phlegmatic Chuck Schumer and his show trials than I can without R. W. Tillerson and his management of Exxon-Mobil.

Why are Communists like Monarchists?

From each according to his abilities to each according to his needs. The first thing you learn about that political system known as Communist. This is the ideal utopian system where all men are truly equal. At least that's the bullshit they spout.
Then why is it that every single People's Republic goes straight to a President for life (and beyond)and that President for Life bequeaths his position to a relative? Kim Jong-il of North Korea has taken the place of his father Kim Il-sung, who is not only President for Life, but "President forever". And now, Fidel Castro has passed on his Presidency of 50 years to his brother Raoul. You will never find a leftist who will see the inconsistency of this procedure.
We are about to elect the most openly leftist President yet. He promises change un-enumerated. Will he be our "President for Life"?

Candidates who don't know what a President does

There is a reason that most Presidents have been ex-Governors and Mayors and not Senators. All three of these candidates are demonstrating the reason why. The President is the head of the "Executive" branch of our government, not the Legislative; any yet all three of these horrible candidates are proposing legislation that they would institute once they were chief executive. They are promising this program and that program and how they will nationalize this industry and that. It is all in the name of "common good" mind you; but it is not what our founding fathers envisioned.
But it doesn't really start with these candidates. For nearly 100 years now, Congress has been derelict in their duty. Instead of the crafting the minimum sensible laws for us to operate under, they have delegated sweeping powers to an ever-increasing number of government sub-bureaucracies like the EPA who can make rules and abridge rights on a whim with no real check or balance. They mean well they say, and if we complain, we must be against whatever noble cause they claim to stand for -- in the cited case, if you object to an edict of the EPA you must be against clean air. It is the perfect Catch 22. If you think that the Department of Education undermines education, you must be against children. To these unelected sub-employees, results are never as important as process. Which is why making the rules should never be the province of the Executive Branch, but belongs instead to our House of Representatives who is accountable to us every other year. But our remaining candidates all believe that not only is this as it should be, they believe it grants them supernumary powers to make laws as they believe necessary to instill their own design of what they would like our country to be.
And this my friends scares me. Not only does our population exhibit an abysmal ignorance on our Constitutional system, but every single one of the remaining viable candidates intends to take advantage of that ignorance.

Ted Kennedy Thought to Have Stroke

Ted Kennedy Thought to Have Stroke. The symptoms were confusion and slurred speech.

Luxomni wants to know -- How could they tell?

A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds

If Jerimiah is right (and by extent Obama) about the Government being evil, then why do they want more of it?
Do they think that any president, even Obama can control what it does? Not bloody likely!

Red State. Blue State.

Nunn Elevator
Originally uploaded by luxomni

Not even Rush Limbaugh picked up on it. Some years ago, USA Today published a map which showed the split in the Republican and Democratic states. The urban heavy states had a majority of Liberal Democrats and were colored blue. The rural Republican states were colored red. I have two problems with the map and its consequences.
First why those colors and not the reverse? Could it really have just been a coincidence? Why were the Liberal wins not colored the RED that they should have been? Am I the only one who thinks that our Liberal Media establishment deliberately hid the red connection to the liberal Democratic party?

And second, why have we never seen the breakdown county-by-county? That would show just how this balance really is not just red-state blue-state. The imbalance really is how outweighed the rural part of our country is by the inner cities of the country. I have heard many ignorant speakers call for eliminating the Electoral College. If you saw county-by-county just how bad the imbalance is, you would understand just how important the Electoral college really is. So why won't the news outlets show us?

There can be no doubt that our news media really is biased in favor of a system that would eliminate the freedom that lets them rail against their own country.

If charity makes the giver feel good, it doesn't matter if it hurts the reciever

I'm seeing red. For years we have heard the Social Security Trust Fund doesn't have enough income to cover the old age of the "baby boomers". I might manage to receive a year or two of it, but those born in 1954 or 55 will be lucky to get any.
So why am I so mad? My neighbor over the back fence just proudly told me that she finally qualified to receive Social Security payments. She claims she is too disabled to work, because she is handicapped. Her problem? She is too fat to work, (about 300 lbs or so) and so her knees hurt. So for the rest of her life you must support her. Frankly, a little walking might get rid of some of that fat. In the school system where I work, I am starting to see more and more of that -- women getting too fat to walk without assistance and trying to retire early. Parking in the handicapped spaces so they can save a car length or three when coming in. Real handicapped people ought to be incensed. That is not a handicap, it is a lifestyle choice.
My neighbor? I'm glad you asked, since you will be supporting her for the rest of her life. She's 27.

Antelope at Play

Antelope at Play
Originally uploaded by luxomni

Since I'm in Wyoming, I can't let this pass unadmired. These guys are at play just like the song says.

Wyoming Horizon

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2341/2461827390_daf7e60073_m.jpg

Originally uploaded by luxomni

As I look about my world at home, in a county that went from crowded to triple that population in 20 years, I forget that there is still a world like this out there. Not all our country is megalopolis. But the arrogance of our Federal Government know no bounds. The same well meaning but silly and crippling laws apply here as in Atlanta. You pull in to a juke joint across the gravel lot and there are the requisite number of unused handicapped spaces. (I did not check to see if the outhouse was handicap accessible.)

I try to imagine these people being forced to give up their pickup trucks and forced into Prius (priuses? Prii?) and driving silly city cars because the people in New York, Washington, and San Francisco don't even know what the rest of the country is like. We ain't inside the beltway kids.

I drove through Laramie, Wyoming and there was an old hound lazily wandering his neighborhood and my mind raced to the PETA do-gooders and lawyers that would have made a scandal of it in my neighboorhood.

The United States is a big and varied place. One size fits all should apply as little as possible.

Oh the Price of Gas!

Where is honesty in reporting these days? Gasoline is not getting more expensive. Oh, it looks like it costs you more, but in relation to tangible things going up too, gold, silver, milk, bread, and Coca-cola, gasoline is at the same relative position it has been. * Then what gives? Your dollar is in free fall.
But what about the "obscene " profits the oil companies make? Same percent of gross it has always been. Do you think that after they make what you think is enough that they ought to give gasoline away? And where does that profit go? To the evil stockholders. And who are they? The biggest holders of most stocks are pension plans. The biggest of those are the teacher's retirement plans - people of the same political persuasion as many of the loudest complainers. Windfall profits tax would take it from your own retirement. Poetic Justice.
And since the tax load on gasoline is about three times the profit, where is the outrage over the increase in revenue to the Government?

*The story on this at a future date.

Civics Test

My friend Connie over at Pieces of Thought pointed me to a wonderful civics test.

I took it. I did miss one, and the irony is that I am not sure why I missed it. I didn't like the answers offered to number two. I knew Freedom of Religion was a correct choice. And I thought that the right to bear arms was one. I knew that the right to vote WAS NOT a correct choice. But my choices were all or just one, and I am not sure what logic or semantics they were using not to have that count as the Second Amendment.

Other than that - perfect score. So my total is 29. If you take the test feel free to come back and post your score. Of 43000 who have taken the test as of now, a little more than 1000 had perfect scores and about the same number missed only one (And I am curious how many missed question number 2 like I did).
About four thousand and change missed about 8 (a little more than one quarter of the questions) and the same missed nine of thirty. Missing nine would be a score of 70% -- passing when I went to school (versus 60 now).

The statistics were woefully lacking, only showing the mean for each age group that took the test.
But they did break out the curve for the total population.
30 1,066 Perfect Score
29 1,058
28 1,282
27 1,501
26 1,938
25 2,304
24 3,054
23 3,543
22 4,010
21 4,140
20 3,992
19 3,445
18 2,922
17 2,280
16 1,938
15 1,483
14 1,067
13 848
12 568
11 344
10 225
9 130
8 65
7 30
6 23
5 15
4 7
3 6
2 3
0 19

43,306

John Adams - Episode 2

At the end of the Continental Congress, Benjamin Franklin was asked what sort of government the delegates had made for the people. He responded "We have given you a Republic, if you can keep it."

At the end of the second episode of the HBO miniseries "John Adams", I found myself a little fogged up. There was a literal tear in my eye and I knew not from whence it came. I pondered why at this joyful point in the show I should involuntarily find myself sad.

Then I remembered Franklin's words of nearly ten years later. How we found these men of honor and integrity in one place at one time is an impossible congruity. I know of no member of our government of either of the major parties of the caliber of these our founding fathers. In fact most of them are either trying to exploit it to their own ends or to outright destroy the very principles of our Declarations of Independence and our Constitution and Bill of Rights.

The one who came closest to being on a par with those who made our country ran as a Libertarian Party Presidential candidate in 1988 and a Republican candidate this year. But while he seems to recognize that it is not the purpose of our Federal Government to manage every facet of our lives, Ron Paul was flawed in not recognizing that the primary purpose of our Federal Government is protecting us from outside threat. Whether or not our Iraq involvement was wise is totally immaterial. All the wailing and blaming can not close Pandora's box. What is certain is that withdrawl after the fact without stabilizing that country will be a disaster that will haunt and threaten our safety in the future. Yet Representative Paul was as good as it got.

So a tear forms in my eye as think of the choices for President of this country that I will be offered this November, and that these are not on the caliber of Washington, Jefferson, or John Adams. We have the choice of three Senators with no executive experience, and dubious intent:

A man described as the most liberal in the Senate who wrote a book explaining how the rich (read those of us who work for a living) owe (the effort of our lives belong to others == slavery) the poor (those who won't);

A woman who is the definition of Fascist and the epitome of ego, telling the people what they want to hear;

or,

A man who in the name of taking influence peddling out of politics has taken my freedom of speech in the process.

No wonder I had a tear in my eye. John Adams, where is your equal?

You are old ...

... if you remember when it was a Government of the People;
and we were not a People of the Government.

Luxomni 3/18/2008