Kimberley Strassel of the Wall Street Journal has done a good job with her Obama's Magic opinion piece in today's Journal.

There will be a lot of "magic" required to accomplish all that he has promised us, but we're accustomed to 'rude awakenings' following  Presidential campaigns.

The story of five school districts that invested borrowed money in an attempt to earn larger returns is back in the news as the result of their court case against the two organizations that sold them the deal.

This is an up close and personal portrayal of the rather esoteric things referred to as CDOs...Collateralized Debt Obligations.  The CDOs that were purchased contained some of the Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac garbage that blew up a short time ago.  So, bad mortgage deals that some politicians wanted made so that their constituency would continue to vote for them have come home to roost in five school districts in Wisconsin.

Up until recently, we've listened to news and watched hearings on television and been somewhat removed from the whole discussion.  Now we watch the stock market lose something on the order of thirty percent of its value even after the "bailout" plan was enacted.  Those who have investments see their hopes being delayed, if not dashed.  People thinking of retiring within the next year to five years are probably re-thinking if they counted on their investments as part of the money they'd live on in their 'golden years'.

All that is bad enough, but now we learn that these school districts were owners of some of the 'crap' mortgages.  The districts have tried to portray themselves as 'innocents' but news articles today appear to destroy that position.  They were apparently told about the 'risk' but chose to ignore it for a greater return than otherwise available.

They seem to have known that they could lose their entire investment if the default rate rose above 4.95% but would remain whole if the default rate stayed beneath 3.95%.  They were also told, apparently, that the "highest historical default rate in the past 23 years" was 1.85%, so where was the risk?

The risk was in the Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac garbage loans that were a part of these 'great deals', and the default rate did exceed the 23 year high.  And some of our (the nation's) elected officials were pushing for even more.  100% mortgage loans to questionable credit risks is simply stupid.  These politicians wouldn't have lent their money in that manner, but they were really anxious to get our money into those deals!

The Wall Street Journal published a special section on the environment today and the primary effort was to help us understand the concept of a carbon footprint.

I need the help!  I had no ability to visualize what a pound of carbon dioxide would look like.  I am a bit of a skeptic about carbon footprints since we're still here and the natural forms of introducing carbon dioxide into the atmosphere have been going on forever.  I am a bit of a skeptic because this wasn't talked about until Al Gore began his 'environmental religion'.  I am a bit of a skeptic because what started as a 'global warming' crisis has been altered to a 'climate change' crisis.  I am a bit of a skeptic since I've yet to be convinced that science supports the broad contentions made by the proponents of 'climate change'.

What have I learned so far?  Well, supposedly each of us in the United States releases 118 pounds of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere every day.  That is an awfully precise number considering that science is not in sync as to precisely how carbon footprints ought to be determined.

I learned that an average refrigerator would hold about 2 pounds of carbon dioxide gas.  A pound of carbon dioxide has the volume of 8.2 cubic feet.  I was reminded that carbon dioxide in its solid form is what we call 'dry ice' and that bubbles in our soda are made from this gas.  I learned that if I were to buy a Toyota Prius, to be as good as I could be, that purchase would equate to putting 97,000 pounds of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.  That number is derived from the following and assumes that I'd drive the car 127,000 miles and get 42 miles per gallon:

• making the materials for the car (steel, plastic, etc.) [12.9%]
• assembling the car [5.7%]
• producing the fuel and transporting it to the gas station [15.8%]
• fuel use in the car [52.7%]
• maintenance of the car [4.7%]
• disposing of the car [8.3%]

Then, I read of Car Free Days (CFDs) in Seattle.  This seems to me another fad in the array of fads associated with Eco activism.  Seattle closes city streets, posts signs explaining that to drivers, and provides notices to city residents.  All this takes labor, and fuel and other energy forms...all for something that no one has yet tried to measure...maybe fearing that the theory would be disproved.

I confess.  I continue to be the skeptic.  Maybe I will be proved correct, or maybe I'll be proved incorrect.  I don't know.  I suspect that I probably won't know that answer yet if I live to my normal life expectancy.

All this reminds me of the seeming importance of symbolism.  If we can be seen as doing good, it really makes no difference if what we're doing is good, or not good.  It is the appearance about which we're concerned.

Then there are the louts of the planet such as me who aren't yet convinced that we ought to be concerned.

This video collage is most informative as to the sub-prime problems we are dealing with today. 

It seems that there were attempts to rein these two quasi public/private entities in over the years but one party seemed to stand in the way.

You can watch it for yourself and form your own conclusions.

Our news is dominated by talk about the "bailout" that has been prompted by the collapse of the sub-prime mortgage market.  Even at its current value, the bailout supposedly carries a cost of nearly $2,400 for every man, woman and child in the country.

This hits us in the last 45 days or so of the race for the presidency of our country.  It hits when we face the election of those who will represent us in the House of Representatives for another two years. It is, as so much has been, being used as the proverbial "political football".  It also threatens to become the largest single "pork-barrel" conveyance we've seen in recent history.

Many will argue where the blame lies, but, at the moment, I am more concerned with how this 'package' will look when it finally emerges from the 'back rooms' on Capitol Hill.  Actually, I am more concerned with what will be included and obscured by political double-speak.

I must confess that I have little faith in too many of the politicians that will participate in this decision-making process to make me at all comfortable that we'll be best-served, as a nation, with the outcome.

I see the results of past such situations.  I see that, when the dust settles, we find too many gifts to too many people of our hard-earned money cloaked in fine language but smarmy nonetheless.  Our politcos cannot seem to help themselves when there is so much opportunity to grab so many dollars dangled in front of their eyes.  And, too many of those dollars may find their way back into the pockets of these decision-makers in the form of sweetheart deals.  It is too easy for the recipients of multi-million dollar 'gifts' to give a few hundred thousand of those dollars back to those who made it all possible.

I marvel at the millionaires that have been made on Capitol Hill.  I look back at a congressman who had taught grade school, was elected and served in congress, the vice-presidency and the presidency and who, somehow, ended up with ownership of a chain of television and radio stations.  I see a man elected to and serving as majority leader of the Senate who somehow managed to buy up property that sits perfectly in Nevada so as to now be worth many times the original price.

I suspect that Lyndon Johnson, were he alive, and Harry Reid, if pressed, could give answers to their respective 'breaks' that would seem proper...and that might, in fact, be true.  But, there just seems to be too much of this kind of thing to permit me to be other than suspicious.

Those are just two stories.  There must be hundreds or thousands of such stories.  These are people who were thought to be honorable servants of the people.  These were people to whom voters gave their trust only to learn years down the road that they had misplaced that trust.

Add to this, the recent revelations of favored mortgage deals that none of we mere taxpayers were ever given the opportunity to receive.  These deals were in the news only several weeks ago, and those people are now making the 'back room' deals using our money.  The news of tax payments not having been made by an official in charge of tax law was just in the headlines a week or so ago, and that man is playing in the big leagues of 'deal making' a few days later.

They make these deals as easily as we would make deals in a game of Monopoly...but they use real money...if there is such a thing.  And that real money comes from us...the 'us' who pay income taxes.  They make deals that protect them and that protect their large campaign donors.  They make deals that will attract even bigger donations in the future.

I dislike sounding like such a skeptic...but I am.  And, I don't think it is entirely my fault that I'm a skeptic; I've had a lot of help over the years from a lot of politicians.

So...Bailout or Boondoggle?  What's your guess?

Lincoln's 200th birthday will see new 2009 pennies issued.  That raises the question as to why we still have pennies.  Is it to weigh down a lady's purse or cause a man's pocket to bulge and jingle?  Is it to fill all those glass jars in which people collect their unused pennies?

A Cox News Service article by Chris Megerian discussed some of the facts regarding pennies.

In answer to the question posed in the headline, a penny minted in 2007 cost 1.7 cents but the U.S. Mint has gotten that cost down to about 1.4 cents today.

A penny in 1857 had the buying power that a quarter has today.  I've not seen anything in recent memory that could be purchased for a penny, and I probably wouldn't want it if it were only a penny.  On the other hand, I used to covet pennies because, as a kid, I could buy all kinds of candy at the corner grocery store with a few pennies!

It seems to me that we have outlived the usefulness of the penny.  It should be eliminated and we should simply re-price things and round up or down to the nearer nickel.  There used to be a half-penny but that was eliminated in 1857.  We really ought to 'get with it' and make this happen.

There have been attempts in Congress in both 2002 and in 2006 to eliminate the penny, but both attempts failed.  The U.S. Mint produced 7.4 billion pennies last year.  At a cost of 1.4 cents each, that comes to over $103 Million if my long-hand math hasn't been lost completely.

I know that doesn't sound like much to our members of Congress, but it sounds like a whole lot to me!  Especially for a coin that we simply don't have to have.

I listened to Senator Joe Biden telling me and the rest of the country that those of us who pay income taxes needed to pay more.  He went on to tell me how patriotic that would make me feel.

Given that some 48% of Americans do not pay any income tax today, I guess they are being deprived of the patriotic feeling.

Given that some 5% of Americans pay 80% of the income taxes paid in America today, I can only imagine how patriotic they must feel every day as they awake to the knowledge that they'll be paying even more taxes.

Senator Biden has served more than three decades in the Senate, and has probably made nearly every gaffe possible over the course of those thirty-some years.  I don't know that this statement was a gaffe so much as it was testimony to the fact that he and many more of our politicians are so out of touch as to be laughable...if it didn't hurt so much when I laugh.

It was this ruling elite that aided and abetted those who led Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae.  It was this ruling elite that made it possible for those who had no business buying homes to become homeowners...for a few months until it caught up with them...so we all could bail them out without having learned a life lesson that most of us have come to understand.

Our scheme of income taxation began a long time ago.  It was well-intended then but has grown out of control.  Our tax laws today represent a gigantic tumor sucking the very lifeblood from the economy.

But...we'll all feel more patriotic if we'll just send a few more dollars on to Washington so that the grand old "income redistribution" scheme called the tax code can continue to dole out money to earn votes for those doing the doling.

And, contrary to the current elitist mantra, taxes are too high, and those taxes threaten our very existence.  Government does nothing to earn any money, but it is capable of spending ours as if there is no tomorrow.  And, they may succeed at the rate they're going...maybe there will someday be no tomorrow.

Interestingly enough, none of the elitists appear to be at all worried about where their next free meal is coming from. 

Even Rep. Charlie Rangel, head of the committee that oversees tax code, has to pay taxes...except he doesn't seem able to understand that as well as he ought.  But, that's okay.  He has hired a forensic tax accountant to help him obfuscate even further so that he can maintain his office and his appointment and thereby continue to devise new schemes to take more of our money from us to be given to those who haven't yet learned that we're all expected to work and contribute.

On the other hand, maybe they're the smart ones.

Much is being written and discussed during this Presidential election period about health care reform.  Barack Obama prefers a government-run version of reform.  John McCain prefers a private market reform that would use tax law changes to accomplish nearly-universal coverage...the stated goal of both approaches.

I saw a news report this morning that serves as a great reminder of one of the things we need to be mindful of if we are going to move to government-run health care.  Here is that article:

Medco CEO argues for federally mandated end of life care protocols for Medicare patients.

CQ (9/17, Weyl) reports that in a recent speech at the National Press Club, chairman and CEO of Medco Health Inc., David B. Snow Jr., said that "the federal government should set protocols based on medical science to guide Medicare treatment for patients at the end of their lives." Snow elaborated that "30 percent of Medicare spending -- about $130 billion per year -- is spent on patients in the last year of their lives, often when recovery is no longer possible." But, nearly all of that money could be saved by establishing guidelines "of when to forgo further treatment." Snow also proposed "increasing electronic medical coordination, passing tort reform, promoting healthy lifestyles, and encouraging compliance among patients," which would save an estimated "$1 trillion per year, or half of current healthcare spending."

I have written of the "R" word before.  Rationing is a very common practice where tax dollars are used to fund health care.  I recall the situation recently reported from Oregon where a patient with cancer was not accorded medicines that likely would prolong life, but would be accorded coverage for 'assisted suicide' since that is legal in Oregon.

This isn't intended as a debate on the efficacy of withholding treatment that would extend life.  It is intended to provoke some thought about the need for such decisions if we go down the government-run health care road.  There will never be enough tax money available.  We see that in the debate over a new school building, and in road repair discussions and so on.

When there is not enough money in a government-run health plan, the patient will pay the price.  The organizational structure won't be pared down and taxes won't be increased because it is politically unpalatable.  The weakest link in this chain is the patient who has no way to fight the decision.  A "dispassionate" board who have never met the patient will make "an informed" decision and move on to the next agenda item.

Medicare is government-run healthcare.  Medicaid is government-run health care.  Between the two programs, more than 50% of the people in the United States already have health care coverage provided by the government. 

So, we debate the question all the while that government-run health care grows essentially unchecked.  The next step in Wisconsin, by the way, after BadgerCare Plus is to be BadgerCare Connect...if the politicians on the Democrat side of the aisle in Madison have their way.

Incrementalism is alive and well in Wisconsin.  It reminds me of the old saw that asks how one eats an elephant?  The answer, of course is: one bite at a time.

The title speaks volumes.  There is no point to an interview between a 'journalist' and a candidate for high office where the 'journalist' has the mission of attempting to embarrass the candidate.  There should have been no need for the "vs" abbreviation in my title.

That is what is now being aired by ABC News.  The first increment can be seen here if you've missed it so far.

Charlie Gibson, aka 'journalist', aired the first segment of several that resulted from his much touted interview with Sarah Palin, Republican candidate for Vice President.

None of us is immune to the following:

We will see what we want to see; we will hear what we want to hear.

That is being borne out all across the airways today and will continue for several days after the full interview has been aired.

So far as what I saw and what I heard...

I saw a confident candidate who was accused of exhibiting "hubris" by the journalist.  Hubris, if you're not familiar with the term, generally is accepted as referring to "exaggerated pride or self-confidence".  My feeling, frankly, is that this term more accurately pertains to the Democrat candidate for President than to the Republican candidate for Vice President.

I saw a smug journalist lay several traps for the candidate that were skillfully avoided to the chagrin of the smug journalist.

I heard virtually no evasion of issues such as is typically expected from a candidate.  The candidate had an answer, whether or not it was what the journalist thought it ought to be.  And, the answer stayed the same when the journalist posed the same question another time or two or three.

I heard questions posed that I believe should've long ago been posed to the Democrat candidate for President, and would've been except for the obvious biases of our journalistic corps and their employer news organizations.

~~~~~~~~~~

All this aside, Sarah Palin is still driving the elitists nuts at the very same time that she is enthralling we ignorant louts in flyover country.  As I and many others have said previously, she is us and we recognize that.  She is human.  She has or could have the same problems that you and me have.  She actually raises her children as opposed to having them raised by someone else.  She has crashed through the proverbial 'glass ceiling' and that drives the feminists nuts.  This is simply not part of their game plan.

How refreshing this all is for me...and for a whole bunch of others from all indications.

It seems like yesterday that I watched in horror as the airplane carrying an untold number of innocents slammed into the second tower in Manhattan.  Our daughter and husband were visiting us and we simply sat in silence as the magnitude of what we were witnessing began to be felt and understood.

As that fateful day continued to unfold, we were made aware that our lives had changed...and probably would never again be what they had been before.  We prayed for those who had lost their lives and for those who were tasked with defending us from more of the same.

We were hungry for more news although it was all the same.  There were no immediate answers.  There was a near immediate resolve of virtually the entire country.  We would not stand for this attack on the 'homeland' and we would find those responsible and bring them to justice.  'Justice' was likely being defined very differently from person to person that day and during the days that followed.

We saw the political posturing as all our elected officials seemed to want to be standing on, and counted as being on, the 'correct' side of this issue.  How quickly that political resolve seemed to fall by the wayside.  How quickly the positions began to alter to more of the same old 'politics'.  How quickly the finger pointing commenced.  How sad that was and is.

The New York City Police Commissioner said, this morning, that there had been six major attacks averted in New York City since that fateful day.  We have seen nothing remotely similar in the 'homeland' since and yet we each, I suspect, will not be surprised to again find ourselves riveted to the television screen watching something like this at sometime in our future.

We have been "safe" since that day.  Different people ascribe that to different reasons.  Unfortunately, this has turned into the classic political football that many of us feared would be the case.  Everyone wants to take credit for no repeat of that day, but too many want all this safety to come at no cost from a social perspective.  Guantanamo should be kept.  Guantanamo should be bulldozed.  Troops should be added to Afghanistan.  Troops should all be brought home now.  Telephone tapping should be permissible with little oversight.  Telephone tapping should be prohibited until multiple judicial jurisdictions can be involved.

Considering that we are in the 'Presidential' election season, I am frankly surprised that neither side has seemed to want to own this issue.  I am surprised that we, the people, have lost track of those feelings we had seven years ago this morning.  I am, as you might've surmised, a hawk in terms of defense.  I've spent many years in the military and believe that we must enforce our rights in this world in order to preserve our rights in this world.  Witness Russia and its two bombers that just landed in Venezuela yesterday.  As soon as we drop our guard, we become highly vulnerable.

Judicial appointments have lagged this year...even more than last year.  Harry Reid, Majority Leader in the Senate, had promised in a June letter that he would "treat President Bush's judicial nominees with more respect than President Clinton's received from a Republican Senate".

He has until the end of September when this Congress calls it quits to live up to that commitment and it isn't at all likely to happen.  President Clinton, in his last two years in office, had 15 circuit judges and 57 district court judges confirmed.  As of today, the Democrat Senate under Harry Reid would need to confirm 5 additional circuit court judges and 9 district court judges just to equal that Republican Senate he decried.

We all know this is not going to happen.  Harry Reid has proved to be not only a poor Majority Leader, but has also demonstrated that his word is certainly nothing upon which anyone should rely.  There actually was a time when a politician's word meant just what it was supposed to mean.  My sense is that this has gone by the way.  We all suffer as the result since much 'horse trading' is involved in virtually every bill that is passed or not passed.  Even the horse traders of yesteryear were good to their word.

One other thought stays with me through this debacle we're witnessing.  The Republicans continue to think that bipartisanship means that they have to give on every issue.  That is just flat wrong.  The Democrats have consistently outmaneuvered the Republicans this term and that was essentially caused by the lack of will power and commitment to positions taken amongst too many Republicans.

As a conservative, I am accustomed to being perturbed with Republicans.  However, this mass surrender on such important issues as judicial appointments is simply a travesty!  We'll all live with the results over many years to come.  Witness the Supreme Court appointments that continue to hurt the conservative cause.

The Democrats are hopeful that they'll see their slate elected to the Executive branch, and expect that they'll dominate both  houses of Congress when the November elections are over.  If the McCain/Palin ticket continues to gain strength, as is currently the case, maybe the Democrat gambit will have been a failure, but that remains to be seen.  Republicans seem to forget that they can take the Senate's inaction out to the voters as has been done in the past.  Let us decide if we like that 'stalling' approach or not.

Sometimes a 'do nothing' Congress is the best thing we could have.

At the risk of being labeled a "Slanted Republican Extremist", I have to say that I have seldom seen the enthusiasm amongst conservatives that I am seeing today following the speech by Sarah Palin last evening.  To set the record straight, by the way, I belong to no political party and believe my self to be a fiscal and social conservative.

That having been said, I was very impressed with Ms. Palin last night.  She strikes me as the person next door.  I think she strikes many Americans as the person next door.  She isn't the super-sophisticate that we see in the Speaker of the House.  She isn't the elitist we see in the Senate Majority Leader.  Sarah Palin is the person next door...and I hope she never changes.

I have been taken to task by liberals because Sarah Palin isn't perfect and her family isn't perfect.  No one is perfect, and I don't expect that of anyone since I am far from perfect.  I really don't understand some of the people who have made comments on the earlier Blog concerning Sarah Palin.  I must simply not be 'with it'.

There seems to be a palpable fear emerging from the liberals today that must stem from her performance last evening when the press set her up to 'have to hit it out of the park'.  She has befuddled them all because she did just that.  She hit it out of the park and made it look easy.  I have heard her labeled as a 'natural' speaker.  I believe that may be true.  She handled herself extremely well.  She took shots with a smile on her face that made her seem much less shrill than Hillary when she took shots.

Sarah Palin will see some rough spots before this is all done, but I suspect that she'll see far fewer rough spots than I might've guessed a couple of days ago.  She has a real gift of being able to connect with people.  And her connection seems to be at a deeper level than simply surface.  She seems able to touch people where they're unaccustomed to being touched.

There is a toughness that reminds me of Margaret Thatcher.  I see a communicator that reminds me of Ronald Reagan.  I see the person next door.  She isn't unapproachable; she is very open and tells us what she is thinking without the typical feigned eloquence we've all come to expect and despise from the usual politico.  As I said earlier, she is like you and me...at least I think of her as being like you and me.  And that makes all the difference in the world.

I believe we are witnesses to something really special, and I suspect that liberals are simply beside themselves trying to determine how best to beat her up enough to keep that something special from happening. 

The other thing we are likely going to be witness to are the downright dirty tactics that have already begun to be unrolled by the liberals.  The mainstream press has finally dropped all pretense of impartiality.  The 'talking heads' have almost begun to foam at the mouth.  When the press finally steps back after this is all done, and it begins to understand the damage it has done to itself, I can only hope that it goes on a long soul-searching retreat so that it can look deep inside and maybe, just maybe, find the proper road to follow in the future.  If it doesn't, the press as we've known it to this time will be gone.

Us 'working stiffs' aren't as stupid as they've given us credit for being.  We can actually think for ourselves.  We are able to reason and we are able to determine what we each think is right.  We know what needs to be done for the country.  We can actually make determinations for ourselves.

When a Sarah Palin touches us, we know we've been touched.  And we know we've been genuinely touched; not manipulated as is the case with some others seeking office.

What an experience.

Labor Day has arrived and signals the 'end of summer' as nights get chillier and children and grandchildren go back to their respective schools.  Ideally, we will enjoy a luxurious fall season with leaves ablaze and many beautiful days before snowflakes once again arrive.

Labor Day was formally decreed across the United States in 1894 by then President Grover Cleveland.  The new federal holiday was swiftly approved by Congress and has been with us since.

Labor Day has, like so many special holidays, lost a lot of its meaning for many people.  For some, it is simply another three-day week-end.  For others, it is the time when the Muscular Dystrophy fund drive is hosted by Jerry Lewis, and so on. 

I have never been a member of organized labor, unless by accident during my six-week 'career' at the Estwing hammer plant in Rockford, IL in the early 1960s.  I have friends who were and still are members of unions.  I have many acquaintances who were and/or are members of unions.  My feelings about the labor movement tend toward the position that they were very important during the later years of the Industrial Revolution and during the early third of the 20th century.  Since that time, I am convinced that unions, in general, have lost the essence of what made them so dominant during those times.  Child labor laws have curtailed that practice.  Employers have come out of the dark ages in most cases and recognize they must treat their employees as humans who are part of the reason for the success or failure of their business.

Among the strongest unions today is the SEIU (Service Employees International Union) run by Mr. Andy Stern.  He has proved to be a consummate organizer and is one of the brightest people in organized labor today of which I'm aware.  I see entities such as 9 to 5 with the soon to be held referendum that would bind employers in Milwaukee to offering sick leave for all employees.  These organizations tend to signal the changes that have been occurring in our country.  The strongest union is one that organized workers in the 'service' sector.  The old United Auto Workers (UAW) struggles with the malaise felt throughout that industry.  Coal miners no longer have the clout that once was theirs.

I see the Democrats in Congress still carrying the water for labor with such things as the open vote effort that would certainly favor organizers and quiet the opposition.  Political power changes hands periodically and that has a great deal to do with the ebb and flow of organized labor.  Labor organizations still have the ability to mobilize tens of thousands of 'volunteers' to get out the vote.  Republicans can only stand in the shadows and lament that they do not have similar clout.

I wonder where organized labor will be in a decade or two or three.  I don't know but I do recognize that change will continue at the same or a faster pace.  Will organized labor find ways to make inroads in India or China?  Will those governments permit such organizing?  If the government of China permits organizing, I wonder at what cost to the workers?  Will unions in the U.S. come together to maintain a level of strength that many have already lost individually?  If so, where will the new leaders come from?  I doubt that heavy industry will be the source of leadership; it more likely comes from the service sector of our economy given the massive shifts in employment in our country.

At any rate, I trust you will have or have had a very pleasant Labor Day 2008.

You and me are really great people.  Why is that?  Well, we seem to help bail out just about everything that bangs on Washington's door.

A short time ago, the sub-prime mortgage companies received their bail out; likely the first of their bail outs since Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are still in the throes of that mess.

Now the automobile industry is in the queue for what yesterday was about $25 billion and today has already climbed to $40 billion according to the press.

Is this a proper use for the tax dollars that are extracted from each of us?  Should we be funding these bail outs for industries that essentially have gone bad because of their own doing?  If you or me were responsible for these 'disasters', we'd probably step up to the plate and take what was coming to us.  But we didn't force people to be too gullible and let people sell them homes they couldn't afford.  We didn't cause the oil price jump because we didn't approve new refineries for thirty years or drill for new fields of oil?

If any of us should be paying 'the price', it seems that the finger of blame needs to be pointed at Washington and the people we send there to represent us.  That group has caused these issues to surface through favors to those putting money into their campaign accounts.  That group has caved in to the environmental groups that are fanatical to the extreme in their pursuit of the ultimate goal they espouse.

Oh, that's right.  We are to blame because we continue to return the same people to Washington in spite of what they do and don't do.  We don't require any 'reparations' for their actions.

Maybe we all need to get a little more involved and a little more vocal starting with our upcoming local elections.  Too may of us simply shake our heads and fume; we really need to be more active in our precincts and districts and villages or cities, and in our counties and states.

I saw a quote in the past few days that went along these lines:  "Too many people have died for our freedoms for us to not vote."

Cigarette Taxes...

The state raised cigarette taxes to $1.77 per pack and promptly budgeted/spent all the new money that would bring in.  The only problem is that this 230% increase in the tax rate only generated a 48% increase in the tax money received!  Now, we're stuck with a lot of people circumventing the tax entirely by buying cigarettes out-of-state or over the Internet.  And, we have added to an already staggering budget shortfall.

Makes a lot sense, huh?

~~~~~

Clean Air Act Gone Wild...

One of my favorite agencies, the EPA, has decided that it now has free rein over so-called greenhouse gases.  This came to pass as the result of a 'namby-pamby' U.S. Supreme Court decision last year that didn't go quite far enough to ward off this rampant agency.  EPA has now released its Advanced Notice of Proposed Rule-making, an ANPR in the jargon, and this is astonishing.  EPA would regulate airplanes, trains, ships, boats, tractors, farm and mining equipment, lawn mowers, garden equipment, portable power generators, fork lift trucks, construction equipment and logging equipment.

EPA estimates that more than 500,000 new permits will be required.  Among the supposed new requirements are these:

• Lawn mower standards:  "...each application could require a different unit of measure tied to the machine's mission or output-such as grams per kilogram of cuttings from a 'standard' lawn for lawn mowers."
• Truck speed standards:  "Speed limiters are generally available on new trucks or as a low cost retro-fit..."
• Single family homes become polluters:  "...we believe that small commercial establishments...and indeed, a large single-family residence could exceed this [CO2 pollution] threshold."

All of this means that our taxes go up exponentially since the EPA will be forced to grow staff and facilities to handle this new found mission.  And, it means that we'll all pay more for products and services.

And, none of this was ever the intent of Congress nor has it had the opportunity to inject itself to this point.

~~~~~

Compact Fluorescent Bulbs...

Regular, nice old incandescent light bulbs (starting with 100 watt bulbs) become illegal to manufacture in 2012.  The National Center for Policy Analysis (NCPA) points out that this means we can forget about spending 20 cents or so for the old bulb while buying the new CFLs for something on the order of $3.00+ (remember that these are usually subsidized today).

While CFLs save energy, they have costs associated with them that make all this really questionable:

• The average lifetime is not 10,000 hours, but "up to 10,000 hours"
• The energy savings and lifetime of CFLs has been exaggerated in some applications
• The CFL only achieves the claimed efficiency if burned continuously for long periods
• If left on for only 5 minute periods, the CFL will burn out just as fast as an incandescent bulb
• CFLs dim over their lifetime and do not deliver what is promised

And, we're adding mercury to the environment which supposedly will be handled by proper disposal.  Yeah, sure!  How many of us has disposed of a burned out CFL improperly already?  How is that ever going to be policed?

~~~~~

Clean Water Restoration Act...

The EPA is back again.  The original Clean Water Act of 1972 had gotten to be very broadly interpreted under various EPA rulings.  "Navigable waters" had morphed into isolated wetlands, dry lake beds and drainage ditches, for example.  Now, two Democrat members of Congress have introduced the bill named in the title.  It would replace the phrase "navigable waters" with the phrase "waters of the United States"  This means "all waters subject to ebb and flow of the tide, the territorial seas, and all interstate and intrastate waters and their tributaries, including lakes, rivers, streams (including intermittent streams), mudflats, sloughs, prairie potholes, wet meadows, playa lakes, natural ponds and all impoundments of the foregoing".  Reason magazine, August/September 2008

If this bill were to pass in its current state, it would very likely result in massive new regulations for boaters, fishermen, hunters, and even conservationists.  This act would leave it to the courts to decide what constitutes "waters of the United States".

Thanks to Ronald Bailey for writing the article "Feds in a Fishbowl" in Reason.

~~~~~

Anti-Meat Campaign...

Finally, from the Heartland Institute, this on global warming activists' latest efforts.  They are launching new efforts to restrict meat production and consumption, building on prior efforts to restrict various agriculture activities that supposedly would reduce 'greenhouse gases'.

More on this can be found on the worldchanging.org website.

If we continue to have a ban on drilling more oil, we won't be able to buy meat anyway, so maybe this isn't as bad as I first thought.

Maybe we really do have too many crackpots in Congress...or too many people are being paid through campaign contributions and don't have the commonsense necessary to sort out the good from the crazy.

The 'virtual fence' that was approved by Congress to extend across hundreds of miles of the border between the United States and Mexico has been been put on hold indefinitely.

Why?  Well, it seems that the Interior Department has not signed off on the use of its lands.  These officials have refused to accept an environmental assessment that the towers, cameras, etc. would have no appreciable effect on the lands.

Even though the Department of Homeland Security has the authority to waive environmental laws for border security projects, it apparently does not extend to the virtual fence projects.  Sounds like the typical governmental bull!

An employee of a Florida hospital testified recently about the costs of treating illegal immigrants in one hospital.  You can watch the testimony by clicking here.

The citizens of this country finally prevailed on border controls, and yet the government continues to thwart this solution.  It seems like someone is a bit confused on just how this country works.  The people in these various departments are employed because we pay taxes to support their employment.  I am tiring of those within the system who pervert it to their own will.

Oregon has had government involved in health care for quite a few years.  The state electorate also approved the concept of state sanctioned suicide several years ago.

Recently, the board that reviews the medications that are approved for state residents made a determination that was controversial...in my mind if no where else.  The board, in essence, said that, given the cost of a certain medication, it would approve suicide for this patient but would not approve use of the medicine given its relative newness and the lack of convincing data as to the outcome.  It had essentially set a price on the human life involved.

Today I read the story concerning Denver Children's Hospital and heart transplants in infants that use the heart from another infant that died a 'cardiac-related death'.  This differs from a heart harvested from a brain-dead infant in which that heart is beating until removed from the donor body.  A decision has been made that the donor that has been pronounced dead and has been in that state for only 75 seconds, is a valid heart donor for purposes of this new program.  The earlier line that had existed required death be determined only after some five minutes during which time the heart did not re-start itself.  In this instance, the length of time a person had been deemed 'dead' had been reduced to assure that the harvested heart had a decent chance of functioning in the new body.  The three cases in which this approach has been employed resulted in three infants alive today.  The decisions to withdraw life support were made by the parents in all three instances.

We know so much more today than we did a decade ago.  We can do things from a medical perspective that were impossible then, and these procedures have become commonplace now.  We are, in this area, pushing the envelope as it has never before been pushed.

I know there are at least two sides to these issues.  I have good friends whose daughter lives today because of transplanted organs that were available on a timely basis.  I can't even begin to comprehend being placed in the middle of such decisions, and I earnestly hope that never befalls me.

And this leads to my general question:  Is there a line we dare not cross?  If so, where is or was that line?  Am I comfortable with an appointed board making life and death decisions about me?  Who among us can claim the right to make such a decision?  How do medical ethicists deal with these kinds of issues?

I don't profess to have the answers to these questions.  If you do, and you're willing to share, I'd appreciate your comments.

As we watch the Summer Olympics, we see the pageantry and the heroics of the athletes from around the world. 

We don't see the oppression that has persisted for centuries in China and that continues to persist under the very noses of those who are walking the streets of Beijing.

TV cameras and microphones have been installed in all the taxi cabs and are remote controlled by the authorities to be sure that no one says or does something threatening to the regime.  130,000 police and soldiers are present ostensibly to protect the attendees.  They also help assure that the opposition will be suppressed during the games.

300,000 Chinese citizens augment the 130,000 people mentioned above as additional eyes and ears.  Reporters are subject to censorship.  Passports are summarily pulled from some reporters who have sought to broadcast by telephone back to their home countries.  That is a subtle form of reminder that the regime is in complete control and that one shouldn't forget it.

Against this backdrop, the President stood aligned with Chinese protestants this morning to deliver a few words of support.  We don't know what kind of persecution will follow when the reporters and TV crews leave, but we can remember the Tienanmen Square episode of a few years ago and draw upon those scenes of brutality to get some idea.

China is China.  Nothing more and nothing less.  It owns a big chunk of America.  It spies on us every day.  It works to find weaponry that can be used against us.  It still wishes to defeat us; if not on an actual battlefield, then in commerce.  We seem to forget these things, but they are critical.

Is 'perversion' too strong a term?  I don't think so.

The EPA has turned down attempts by the State of Wisconsin to relax the ill-conceived S.E. Wisconsin requirement for 'reformulated' gasoline even as we are virtually in full attainment.  That was probably dwarfed by comparison to the decision it announced that it was denying the State of Texas' request for a cutback on the amount of ethanol required to be blended with gasoline.

There is a radio commercial playing in our market that is sponsored by the ethanol lobby that makes the case, in essence, that we, who question the use of corn to make ethanol, are over-reacting and need to check our facts.  I am angered every time I hear that commercial, including this morning as it played while I was shaving...with a blade.  That could've hurt!

The simple facts are being ignored by the EPA, Congress and the President.  And, these aren't stupid people.  This is intentional ignorance.  Our food prices are going up, and it is caused in part by the insistence that ethanol be blended with gasoline even as us taxpayers pay the price for the ethanol support being paid on every gallon.  The other part of the increase is obviously that caused by the fact that Democrats have so far refused to relax their stance against oil drilling here and now.

Back to ethanol.  It is causing many cattle ranchers to reduce their herd size because they can't afford the feed to grow them for market.  The prices for chicken and beef are rising at a rapid pace.  I looked at flank steak a few days ago since it always used to be a relatively lower priced cut of meat.  That is a thing of the past.  I bought chicken breasts a few days ago and was astounded at the prices I saw on the packages.

I know that my mileage with reformulated gas is less than it was before that edict; about 10% worse.  I know that ethanol is much less efficient in terms of the energy it generates than is gasoline.  So, I am burning more and getting less.  A double-whammy in our part of Wisconsin.

The EPA stated that there was "no compelling evidence" that the mandate for ethanol is causing "severe economic harm".  That had to have been spoken by a federal employee who is reimbursed for his or her mileage...from our tax dollars  These people simply have no contact with reality, or manage to suppress the lessons they really learn in order to be a "dutiful servant of the people".

As if all this isn't enough to put me into a deep funk, I am confronted with the idiocy that is called political campaigning where people talk about wind power, sun power, and bio-fuels while not mentioning oil or coal or nuclear power.  How in the world are we supposed to leap forward a decade or more when technology is not yet even available to soften our landing?

We are in real danger of becoming a third world nation if the current policies are not changed and changed quickly!  Our economy simply cannot withstand the political assault it is under.  And this is not a political assault from another country...it comes from within.

So, I don't think calling the EPA the Environmental Perversion Agency is much of a reach. 

And I, for one, am very, very tired of the elected people we all put into office forgetting who it is they represent, and what it is we want.

If you were prescient and stocked up on the Forever Stamp while it was still available at $0.41, you may be able to say "Gotcha!"

A small news item caught my eye this morning.  The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) posted a loss of $1,100,000,000 for the quarter ended June 30th.  Yes, that is $1.1 Billion that was lost by the USPS, now a private organization.

The reasons cited were reduced mail volume (blamed on the slowing economy) and rapidly rising transport costs.

We can all understand that the cost of fuels that go into delivery have gone through the roof.  Everything delivered costs more, or soon will.  And, the economy has slowed.  Given the apparent political stalemate on drilling for oil here and now, fuel costs will likely do nothing but continue to increase.  Your Forever Stamps may prove to have been a really good investment since postage costs will almost certainly have to rise for us consumers.

I wonder, however, if there may be something more at work here.  Is it possible that we are watching the initial death throes of snail mail as we have known it for our lifetimes?  We know that more of us are computer literate today than ten years ago.  I think we would agree that use of computers and other communications devices will continue to accelerate.

Between telephones and other electronic communication media, and with delivery services available that have already taken most of the parcel post market, are we in the process of ending the use of delivered items that we walk to a mailbox to retrieve?  Simply look at the state of newspapers in our country today to get some idea of the potential impact.

Will there continue to be a USPS ten years from now?   Twenty?

If so, what will it look like and what will it do?  What will happen to all the brick and mortar that carries the USPS logo?  What happens to the tens of thousands of employees?

Could this really happen?   Did anyone ever ask that about horses and buggies?  Did anyone ever foresee air travel in the 1850s?  Did anyone ever foresee space travel in the 1930s?