Cheeseburger Cap and Trade

I am a big fan of cheeseburgers. I would list them in my top 10 favorite foods. I heard recently that beef causes clogged arteries, so they want to use a new system of "Cap and Trade" on dealing with my cheeseburger.

By the year 2015, they would like to impose a cap on my cheeseburgers. If I eat more than 5 cheeseburgers a year they will fine me real big or put me in jail. This is designed to "help" me to not eat as many cheeseburgers, which in turn would keep my arteries all clean and functioning.

Now if I want more than the 5 cheeseburger annual allotment, I can buy special cheeseburger "credits" from some vegan who hates cheeseburgers. I just pay them the money and poof I can have another cheeseburger. How handy huh?

So what really happened here? What happened is that the same amount of cheeseburgers are being eaten, my arteries are still being clogged, and the vegan has a few coins in his pocket for doing nothing but not eating meat.

This is my over-simplified version of this stupid cap and trade thing for greenhouse gases. We get the privilege of buying "carbon credits" from someone else, that they can not or will not spend so we can burn the same amount of green house gases we are burning now.

There is yet another catch that makes this even less attractive: Using my cheeseburger analogy, pretend that I am the only one on the "cheeseburger cap and trade system" and everybody else can still eat all the cheeseburgers they want. I think I would go to one of those places that have "cap and trade free cheeseburgers". That is the same thing that American businesses will do when they are told that they will be charged essentially a tax for doing their job. They will go to places like China or Chile or something just to escape the tax, or better yet, get paid by their competition for their "carbon credits".

All I can say is: If this isn't spreading the wealth or socialism, than I don't know the meaning of socialism.

Tax Me!

I was thinking about taxes today and how much I paid this last year. The total percentage of my income that I paid in taxes was 32% of my income last year. A third of my income was paid to many different taxing agencies.

It boggles my mind that so many people do not get how much they actually are paying all the time in taxes. When tax time rolls around you can ask just about anyone how much they paid in Federal income taxes and more often than not you will get an answer like "I got a $500 refund."
The question was "How much did you pay in taxes, not how much did you overpay in taxes?" The answer is something like "Huh?"

Here's a little video I found about taxes actually is pretty good for rap....

Bring back Judge Roy Bean

According to the Court of Appeals of this great State of Colorado you cannot be tried for murder if you kill a baby in a mothers womb, even if the baby is born alive then later dies. Interesting to say the least.

A woman, Shea Lehnen, was 8 1/2 months pregnant until On Nov. 6, 2007. Logan Lester Lage, was drunk and running from the cops and drove head on into Shea Lehnen's vehicle.

Click here to get the story from the Daily Sentinel:
http://www.gjsentinel.com/hp/content/news/stories/2009/05/28/052909_lage_ruling_WEB.html
I think it is time for a judge like Judge Roy Bean. This guy would have already been tried and his death sentence carried out. Mesa County DA, Pete Hautzinger did the right thing in filing murder charges on the twit. Then in their infinite wisdom the Colorado Court of Appeals reversed the decision saying that a baby born alive and breathing oxygen, is not a person. So I guess it is OK to kill babies in Colorado....

So essentially this child, Lileigh Lehnen, was robbed of her future forever... and this ass, Logan Lester Lage, will be out and about in a few years, ready to get into his car and kill again, instead of spending the rest of his life in prison.

Not always what they seem...

When I was a freshman in high school I received varsity letters in two sports, football and track. Sounds pretty impressive huh? Well not really. You see as a freshman, I lived in this small town of 300 people, Lewellen, NE. To letter in football. you had to play one full quarter in a varsity game. In Lewellen we played 6-man football (yes really, 6 man) There was 12 guys on the team. I still spent the majority of my time on the bench. The coach sent the 3 of us who spent most of our time on the bench in, during one game where we were getting killed like 40 to zip. I played the whole 4th quarter. I also got 5 penalties (2 holding and 3 offsides).

In track in order to letter you had to place in the top three in a major track meet. Like I said I was in a small school. I got my letter by placing 3rd in a the two mile relay. The sad part is there were only 3 teams entered in the relay and I helped us lose by a full 1/4 mile.

I told those stories to give a bit of caution on what you are hearing about our new Supreme Court Nominee, Sonia Sotomayor. I read Paul Shockley's story, in the Daily Sentinel, on how the Mesa County lawyers are "praising" the choice of Sotomayor, and I don't think I want to say anything one way or another, just yet. I think we need to give this choice time to "simmer". Lets find out more about her before we give her praise or criticism.

This is where the hope comes in from that Hope and Change mantra that Obama dished out during the campaign, I hope this is a good change.

Memorial Day 2009

Is this Little House on the Prarie?

Sleepy Eye, MN is the place where Pa would take Mary to see the doctor when she was going blind on the show Little House on the Prairie. Now it is the focus of another trip to the doctor, which could end not nearly as happily as a 1970's drama.

The story....
Daniel Hauser is a 13 year old boy with Hodgkin's lymphoma. The doctors treating him believe that the cancer has an 80% to 95% of going into remission for at least 5 years if the boy is treated using chemotherapy. The parents, Colleen Hauser and
Anthony Hauser, do not wish for their child to be treated using chemotherapy. They say because of religious reasons their child should be treated using holistic medicines.

The case went to court and a judge ruled in favor of the doctors and ordered Daniel to under go the chemotherapy. After the judicial order, the mother decided to take manners into her own hands and took off with the child. They are still missing as of this posting.

Another added element to the story is that Daniel is reported to have a "diminished capacity" and can not make an informed decision on his own.

Because I really hate it when the government tells you what to do and I respect the first amendment of the constitution, I really wanted to be on the side of the parents. I came to the conclusion that I could not agree with the parents in this matter. This is a child who's parents believe you can treat cancer with echinacea and herbs. That is just stupid and crazy.

You say that they can use freedom of religion to treat the cancer anyway they want, it is their child. If it is part their religion to treat a child using holistic medicine, why was he at the doctor in the first place?

The child can not make these decisions on his own because he is of a diminished capacity, and he is a sick, scared, child. The court needed to step in and I think they ruled correctly. What the mother is doing now is what I would consider attempted murder. Is this woman at all sane? What woman would rather give her sick child a whole grain bar as opposed to life saving treatment? What is the father doing to help find her, anything?

My religious belief is that if you are sick, you go to the doctor and he helps you get well. God gives us doctors with the tools to help heal you.

On Little House on the Prairie, Pa didn't give Mary an aroma therapy candle and call it good. Pa took Mary to Sleepy Eye, MN., where the doctors were to help her get better.

Colleen Hauser, if you are out there: Please take Daniel back to Sleepy Eye and start getting him treatment. Save his life, not your pride.

Cutting Dealerships

I have been trying to wrap my mind around why cutting dealerships helps the failing car makers? Doesn't the dealer have the investment in the cars, he thinks he can sell? I mean I understand that if you cut loose a brand name and close a factory that it would help you possibly make a better product. But why would you want to cut loose your customer? If a dealership was not making money wouldn't it fail on it's own? Or change brand names it sells?

So when we were giving bailout money to car companies because they were to "big to fail" because of the thousands of jobs that would be lost, that was OK. When those same car companies force thousands of people out of work that do NOT work for the car company, that is also OK too?

If I was selling a product to thousands of stores and my company was failing I don't think I would try to sell less of my own product. The dealerships are now forced to buy their cars from other car companies if they want to stay in business. The the local dealerships will become Toyota and Honda dealers.

The American people are on the hook now for the money we "lent" to the car companies. Those same car companies are going (or are in) bankruptcy. We were lied to about how much this money will help them and how the car companies didn't need bankruptcy with our money. Why do we keep trusting these companies?

This whole thing looks like a way to cater to big labor and cut out those pesky non-union jobs like car dealers. I guess "buy American" will no longer be a mantra in the country as the American companies are forcing Americans to buy Japanese.

Maybe we should fire the CEO of those companies, we will have our chance in November of 2012.

December 24, 1944

If you look to the bottom of the page you will notice a arm patch from the 66th Infantry Division. My grandfather, Larry Hunt was a member of this division. He was a Sergent in the 870th Field Artillery battallon. During World War 2 a majority of his job was two-fold, he was a mechanic for the big artillery guns and he trained members of the 66th on how to fire a machine gun. In December 1944 the division was finally called into action and was to be sent as replacements during the Battle of the Bulge. I have wrote the following story at other times and different places but never here. I felt during this time between Armed Forces Day and Memorial Day, it needed repeating.

These are the events as they occurred on December 24, 1944:

On Christmas Eve 1944, the Belgian troopship Leopoldville was transporting 2,235 American soldiers, all from the 262nd and 264th Regiment, 66th Infantry Division across the English Channel as reinforcements to fight in a fierce struggle that would become known as the Battle of the Bulge. The Leopoldville was protected by escort ships, including the British Destroyer Brilliant, but no air cover was made available even though the threat of attack by German submarines was high. Just five and one half miles from its destination of Cherbourg, France, the vessel was torpedoed by the German submarine U-486. The ship sank 2 1/2 hours later.

According to many survivors, the Belgian crew abandoned the sinking ship and left the American soldiers to fend for themselves. The British Commander in charge of the convoy ordered the Leopoldville's anchor dropped to prevent the troopship from drifting into a minefield outside the harbor. While this solved one problem, it created another. When a tug arrived on the scene, the dropped anchor prevented it from towing the sinking vessel into shore. Murphy's law states that whatever can go wrong will. On Christmas Eve 1944, Murphy's law was in full effect. Delayed radio transmissions for help, delayed response of rescue craft, heavy seas and freezing temperatures were just a few of the many things that sealed the soldiers fates. And it being Christmas Eve, serviceman at an American base in Cherbourg who could have aided the stricken Leopoldville were taking a night off from the war, either partying or attending church. No one seemed to be around to help.

By the end of that terrible night, 763* American soldiers were dead, many drowning or freezing to death in the icy waters of the English Channel. These soldiers represented youths from 47 of the then 48 United States. New York State alone lost 80 young men, including 39 from New York City. Many of those killed were only 18 to 21 years old and 493 of the bodies were never recovered. Three sets of brothers were killed, including two sets of twins.

Because of wartime censorship and to cover-up the mistakes made by the various governments and officials involved, the disaster was not reported to the news media. Survivors were told by the British and American governments to keep quiet. Amazingly, relatives of the victims received notices that their loved ones were Missing in Action, even though the U.S. War Department knew them all to have perished. Later, the men were declared Killed in Action, but even then no details of their deaths were divulged to their families. After the war, the tragedy was considered an embarrassment to the Allies and all reports were filed away as secret by the American and British governments. Families of victims searched vainly for information about the deaths of their loved ones. Only in 1996--over 50 years later--did the British declassify documents relating to the sinking of the Leopoldville.

The Leopoldville disaster was the worst tragedy to ever befall an American Infantry Division as the result of an enemy submarine attack. Yet, this is more than a story about a terrible wartime tragedy, it is about how governments, in order to hide their own mistakes, can hide the truth from those who need it the most.

*The death toll has often been reported as 802. A review of the official Leopoldville Disaster List from the National Archives totals 763 confirmed dead.

The Italic portion of the story is from the History Channel web page. My grandfather while not on board the Leopoldville, knew many of these fallen men. I remember being told that his worst experience in the war (and he was later wounded) was getting "sea sick" crossing the Channel. Many years later I think I know why he got so ill.

My point of this story is: Take the time, this Memorial Day and remember the men and women who have made the ultimate sacrifice for this land.

A Sovereign Colorado?

I really like the idea of Colorado expressing our sovereignty, using the 10th Amendment of the Constitution. The complete Constitutional amendment reads: "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people."

Why don't we in Colorado, stand up for our sovereignty and place law on the books similar to that of a law like Montana, which states: If a gun and it's ammo is manufactured in Montana and does not leave the state (interstate commerce), the Federal Government does not have the power to regulate that gun or it's ammo. So the people in Montana can decide if they want certain kinds of guns or if they want background checks or whatever, it's their state their rules.

It sounds scary, like Colorado being it's own country. That is not quite like that. Simply what it means is we do not trust the Federal Government and let's put more power it into the hands of the individual states. Any power not mentioned in the Constitution belongs to the individual states.

This is not about Democrat vs. Republican. This is about a very poorly ran federal government with leaders we can not trust, and haven't been able to trust for quite some time. This is about not wanting to pay for other people's screw-ups. For example we are going to "bail out" California because they are "to big to fail". Last I checked, I had no vote in California, so I have NO CHOICE in their poor economic decisions, yet me and my children and my grand children, will be forced to pay for their mistakes. Essentially it is taxation without representation much like the same thing our founding fathers were fighting with King George III. We have placed (or they took) too much power from the individual states and now it is time to make this right.

USPS - 44 Cents

The USPS has decided that we need to pay 44 cents for stamps. I know it is not much but it bothers me whenever any government entity decides to raise prices. Especially one that is on a slow, expensive path to being dissolved.

The Post Office lost 1.9 billion dollars in the second quarter. UPS made 400 million in profit last quarter. Fed-Ex 97 million. So I'm sure with losses like that the Post Office will raise the prices of stamps again (because it worked so well the last time). The post office has 641,000 employees and 260,000 vehicles. It costs the Post Office about $235 per residence, to deliver the mail.

The Post Office used to have a TV commercial that bragged about how well they did, and how many trucks they had, so much better then UPS or FEDEX. All I could think of when I saw the commercial was; boy the Post Office must really be inefficient to have that many more vehicles and still not make money. When that commercial came out I was living in Sidney, NE and had an event I was attending in Cheyenne, WY. I needed a box of t-shirts I was selling at the event to be there when I got there (a long story). To be sure they were on time I mailed them 2 weeks early. It is 100 miles from Sidney to Cheyenne. It took them 120 DAYS to make the trip. I contacted the Post Office and their response was that they were misplaced in North Platte, NE (a town that is 120 miles... in the opposite direction), and that sometimes happened. They also told me that I should have used a more reliable method of shipping (The Cheyenne postmaster actually told me that). So I really have not been a big Post Office fan since then.

I have got a simple solution to sinking all this money into the Post Office, why not make the Post Office go private. Eliminates a huge portion of the budget as well as another bit of government control.

It also frees up our elected officials from all that work they do, naming post offices. Maybe they could spend a third of that time, I don't know... maybe.... passing meaningful legislation (I know that is highly unlikely).

In the mean time why don't we load a few train cars with mail. Everyday I see a government owned Amtrak (also operating at a loss) fly by with 5 cars on it. Why aren't we sticking a couple of cars of mail on it and maybe both could make some money, or at least not losing so much.

Grand Junction Strip Club

As part of a cultural outreach, The Grand Junction is opening a new strip club, oh am I excited....NOT! I have heard the arguments for a strip club and I understand them; freedom of speech, I approve of, or I wouldn't have a blog. Last time I was in a strip club, the dancers didn't do much speaking though, just dancing. Capitalism is the next, you want to invest your money in an enterprise to make money go right ahead, your money, risk, your reward or failure.

What I have a problem with is the basic immorality of a strip club. Strip clubs invite bad behavior. I lived in the small town of Elko in Northern Nevada for 10 years. This is a town where prostitution houses and gambling are legal. Casinos have awesome security so there was seldom a problem with them, and when people went to a prostitution house they didn't just hang out all night getting drunk and rowdy with their friends. They went, did what they were paying for and left, no drunkenness, no rowdiness. Don't get me wrong I DO NOT approve of prostitution either, but because it tears apart families and degrades women, not because of the drunken rowdiness of the business.

The problems in Elko were at the strip bar. Drunken jealousy, over a woman they can't have, turns into a fight. Or patrons would get "worked up" and try to do something inappropriate with women that did not want that done, often at a neighboring bar once the stripping stopped for the night. Or just the basic thinking that a strip bar is a immoral type of environment, so they did drugs or sold drugs in the open, then there was the underage drinking problem.

Another problem I have with the new strip club is that it is going to make my job a bit more difficult. You see I am the Maintenance Engineer at a motel less than a mile from the new strip club. Part of my job is the security of the motel property. I will do everything in my power to insure that the patrons of this new establishment will not become a problem around our establishment. I must plan for the worst and hope for the best. I will have direct line to the GJ police department so I hope they can keep up.

E-Crazy

I am a liberty loving, environment trashing, warmonger and all so maybe this piece will sound a bit crass but here it goes...

This save the environment thing is getting a bit out of hand, I think. Mesa County started charging $0.42 a pound for electronics to be "sent away" so we quit filling our landfill. My first question is: Who is going to go out in the desert and pick up all the TVs and computer monitors that the public will dump out there to avoid the fee? I'm sure they will become great target practice, targets. My second question is: Who is making the money off this deal? Does the company that Mesa County sends the electronics make money on both sides of the deal, meaning do we pay the company and then the company re-sell the waste to someone who recycles it into a product? I tried to find this information out yesterday, but couldn't find it anywhere. If this recyclable material is valuable, like copper, why don't we get paid for it, instead of us paying them to take it?

Another E-problem I have is all this hype about battery operated and hybrid cars. It is a hazard to dispose of a regular auto batteries. What kind of pollution is it going to be with these giant batteries in these cars? What about the people in auto accidents with these big cells full of acid in there car, is that really safe? I'm sure we can fix the problem by charging the public a couple of thousand bucks to dispose of their car, so they can "recycle it". If people die in an accident involving a battery, we can just call it our contribution to eliminating global warming, reducing their "carbon foot print" to nothing.... Oh wait I forgot, people are carbon so I'm sure we can't bury them because of the hazardous waste thing, and we can't cremate them for fear global warming, what do we do? Soylent green comes to mind.

E-lighting....These lovely little twirly Chinese made bulbs called CFL's aren't they great? I bought a handful of these things an put them in my house because I am cheap, and I wanted to save money on power. The next month Xcel came to my house and changed the electric meter. Now my power bill is $60 more a month, hummmm is it the stupid little bulbs? By the way don't break one, cause you will have to call out the hazmat team to clean it up. I'm sure there is a way to get fee at the landfill for all the mercury we are dumping in there with these bulbs, such a win-win, right? One more thing, did you know that incandescent bulbs give off heat? I wonder how much heat is lost in one's home by the use of CFL as opposed to incandescent bulbs? I guess you better turn up the thermostat so we don't get cold.

So as I wait for the world to collapse from all the environmental problems, that only the Americans are creating, I will be a good boy read my computer screen under the dim glow of CFL lighting, pay my Cap and Trade taxes, drink from a water bottle and eat my soylent green, with no questions asked. Thank you Mr. Gore, oh wise Internet Inventor, Thank you.

Math and the Tea Party's

When I get board I like to play with math (can you say nerd?). I thought these were kinda interesting numbers, regarding the tea party attendance.

The following are the top attended Tea Parties according to Pajama's Media and I added Grand Junction to the list. The ratio is the portion of the population which attended the Tea Parties:

NYC 1 in 1253 (Attendance: 15,000)
Chicago 1 in 950 (10,000)
Houston 1 in 487 (11,500)
St. Paul 1 in 320 (10,000)
Atlanta 1 in 260 (20,000)
Denver 1 in 240 (10,000)
Saint Louis 1 in 233 (12,000)
Indianapolis 1 in 142 (12,000)
Sacramento 1 in 100 (20,000)
San Antonio 1 in 95 (20,000)

Grand Junction 1 in 46 (3,000)

I'm not sure if that means we have more time to pay attention to what is going on around us, or we just have more common sense.