Sunday, April 20, 2008

Global Warming ~ Another Opportunity To Rip Us Off

Yes, you heard me.

The big old ugly blathering about global warming is just another opportunity to rip us off.

Have you noticed, the more the world situation worsens, the more the media is going on about global warming? What are we being distracted from? What ELSE is going on out there in the world that we should be more aware of?

Let me be blunt.

As usual, it's all about the money.

Do NOT get me wrong. I am all in favor of wind power, solar power, passive solar homes, alternative building and energy options. Heck yeah! My dream home is set into a hill overlooking about 20 acres. Passive solar, wind tower, solar panels, a garden, olive trees, grapevines, yes, they're all part of my dream retirement. Even a couple of diesels (Mercedes 240D and a pickup truck) converted to run on veggie oil.

I've been recycling since the '70s. I believe in composting and reusing and freecycling too. I'm an avid reuser. Vintage is good. Old stuff fixed up and repurposed is very good. (Especially if it's free.)

Heck yeah, I am in favor of all these things.

However. However.

I look at our government and what do I see? Do I see any encouragement toward these options? Do I see any incentives for cities, towns, counties to encourage this kind of building? Do I see any modifications to the Universal Building codes that would allow alternative buildings that incorporate these methods of heat, power, cooling? Do I see any encouragement of repurpose and reuse?

Honestly, no I don't. I see resistance at every point.

As I groused in my previous post, the government is NOT serious about gas prices or energy savings.

Al Gore and his garbage are not the root of the problem, but he sure is perpetuating it. The man may be highly intelligent, but has the common sense of a toad. Heck, a toad has more sense, at least the toad knows enough to get out of the sun before it's brain is fried...

Look my friends, the earth has been warmer WAY longer than it's been cooler. If you look at the long term evidence, the earth has pretty much always been warmer than it is now.

In addition, you see I remember, not that long ago, the scare-mongers were blathering about how we were going into another ice age and civilization as we know it was going to change dramatically.

Oh please.

Civilization has already changed dramatically. The Internet is one major factor in changing the world as we know it -- faster than we can process the changes. My grandmother just passed two years and two months ago. She went from an era of covered wagons to cars to airplanes (she was a pilot too!) to spacecraft. LOL, she didn't like computers though. But my mom has three computers and she uses them all for her many projects.

Don't tell me that civilization is changing because of the dang weather. It's changing because change happens. It just happens faster and faster as communication becomes faster and faster.

The world was huge when the pyramids were being built. As each level went up, the pyramid became narrower, smaller. The world is becoming smaller and smaller as we build upon the past, just as the pyramid got smaller and smaller as the builders approached the top. Of course, the analogy isn't perfect, because even as the world gets smaller due to communications, our knowledge is growing by the day, an invisible inverted pyramid standing huge over the history of humanity.

Anyway, getting back to global warming. Trust me, within another 10 or 20 years, we'll be back to "we're going into another ice age" gloom and doom.

If the government was really serious about all this, they'd be doing a LOT more to encourage grass root movements and research into alternative methods of energy.

In the end, it's all about the money. Global warming is big business right now. As long as it's making money, it's going to be the pet project of many a huckster -- including Al Gore and his many followers.

But one Krakatoa can change all that in just a few minutes. Google it up, google up "the little ice age" and you'll see exactly what I mean.

My friends, don't believe the hype. Look around you. Listen. Read. Don't buy into everything that the Internet and TV spews out.

Spew is the right word. Global warming is just another opportunity to rip us off. Educate yourself with more than just the evening news.

It's a wide world out there. Look back, look at the present, look forward and keep moving forward.

Don't believe the hype.

Wednesday, April 9, 2008

No One Is Serious About Gas Prices

Look my friends, nobody in our government cares that we're paying through the nose for gasoline.

They don't care. No one is serious about gas prices.

Trust me, I've been through many a gas crisis. I was driving when gas went over a dollar a gallon and Americans about had a fit. I was driving during the big gas crunch of the 70s, and through every crisis since then.

The government doesn't give a flying you-know-what about us little people.

If the government was serious about saving energy, emissions, and gas prices, the speed limit would be lowered to 55mph.

I know, a lot of people would still speed, but they'd be speeding at 65, not 85. And the state police would be making plenty of money for local government in fines. (In California, the fines for speeding on the freeways go to the local government, so if you're speeding in Solano County and get caught by the CHP, Solano County gets the fine.)

I am VERY serious about this issue.

I was talking to a co-worker today. He owns a Prius. Now according to www.fueleconomy.gov, the Prius is estimated to get 45mpg highway. He gets 55mpg.

How?

I pass him many a morning on the way to work, out there on the freeway. He's putzing along in the slow lane at 55 mph. He leaves about 15 minutes early (unlike my usual 10 minutes late) and just cruises along. He told me that for every 5mph (slower), he gets 5mpg better gas mileage.

He gets awesome gas mileage because he drives his car at the optimum speed.

On the way home, I'm usually in the slow lane, putzing along behind a big rig at about 55-60mph. If I did the same thing every morning, my truck would probably be getting at least 25mpg highway, instead of about 19-20mpg.

So, considering the gas mileage my co-worker gets in his hybrid, I can estimate that IF the Feds lowered the speed limits, we'd save enough gas to make gas prices drop like rocks -- even if we're driving SUVs.

But the Feds aren't going to do that.

Why?

Not to be cynical, but like always, it's all about the MONEY.

Here in Cali, we pay a lot of taxes on gas, more than any other state. We also drive a lot. If we don't use as much gas, the tax revenue goes down. If the tax revenue goes down, the government doesn't collect as much money.

Bottom line, it's about the money.

Money talks and BS walks.

Let me be even more blunt. The government is NOT your friend.

If our Federal government was serious about global warming (which is another rant for another day), controlling emissions, and gas prices, the speed limit would be 55mph for everyone, trucks and cars alike.

We wouldn't even need smog checks, a lower speed limit would also lower emissions.

But the Feds aren't serious at all.

Yes, I know, that leaves the job of keeping our gas bills down to us little people.

So, hey, what am I doing to conserve? Well, we're getting that tax incentive money in May. Anyone have an unmodified Honda CRX HF 5-speed with air conditioning for sale??

Or a Mercedes 240D converted to run on veggie oil?

I can't stop commuting, I can't afford to take a 50% pay cut. So I'm looking for an economy car. Don't think I'm kidding. If you have one, e-mail me ASAP!!

I'd LOVE to get off the gas/diesel rigmarole altogether. But if not, an old 8 valve Honda engine will do just fine...

Because I know that only you and I care about gas prices. The Feds sure don't care.

No one else cares about gas prices. Except the little guys who're getting screwed.

Hey my friend, that's you and me!!

Friday, April 4, 2008

Today, A Light Went Out In America

Yes, today a light went out in America, the day that Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr was murdered.

A light went out.

Yet at the same time, a torch was lit. America woke up to the true state of affairs of the Civil Rights movement and many good hearted (and previously oblivious) people were horrified at his murder.

I was listening to Good Morning America this morning and Dr. King's son and daughter were talking and it really made me think. Coretta Scott King's words to her children brought me to tears. How can a mother explain to her children that their father was murdered for doing the right thing? Not the popular thing, not the thing society thought he should do, but the right thing?

It brought another train of thought about sacrifice.

Dr. King sacrificed himself and when he did, it changed our whole society -- it changed America.

Like Jesus, he gave his own life for his people. And not just his people, but for all Americans of every color. His words are quoted often, "I have a dream". Today so many of us share that dream, that all people should be equal in America. Just like they are equal in the eyes of the Lord.

Yes, unlike Jesus, Dr. King was a man. A great man, but a man with flaws. Of course he wasn't perfect. He was a man, like every other man. He had weaknesses that his enemies tried to exploit.

Don't we all have weaknesses? Flawed thinking? Even prejudices and bigotry?

Yes, we all do.

As a Christian, Dr. King was held to a higher standard. Sometimes he failed and sinned, as we all do, but the point of being a Christian is that we pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and try again. We are mandated to try again.

I know in my heart, my Faith tells me, that when Dr. King met Jesus at the throne, he was welcomed as a good and faithful servant.

How can I know this, beyond my heart's desire, beyond my Faith?

Look at America today.

Today, our children go to school together, play together, work together, live in the same neighborhoods.

There were many catalysts that brought this about, but the murder of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr brought an epiphany to America.

Thus here we are, April 4, 2008, forty years after his untimely death, reflecting on the legacy that he left his four little children as well as all of America and the world's little children.

Today so many of us share his dream. His dream that is still marching toward reality, step by step, day by day, year by year.

Today, we reflect on the man and the Cross he chose to pick up and bear. Each of us has a load that we can choose to pick up, or leave lying on the path of our lives, on our road to Heaven.

Dr. King paid a high price for his choice. But it was the right thing to do.

As we reflect on this day in American history, I look at the faces of my three children and reflect on how the world has changed.

They might not even exist if it weren't for Dr. King, Rosa Parks, the many who worked so hard to make the Civil Rights movement a reality.

We live in a neighborhood where the original CC&Rs say that we couldn't live -- before Dr. King.

My children go to a school that they wouldn't have been allowed to attend -- before Dr. King.

And today we follow the progress of Barack Obama, running for President of the United States of America, something that was unthinkable -- before Dr. King.

It's only been forty years since Dr. King left us, but see how far we have come.

Yes, there are many, many people who have worked to make this a reality. Dr. King didn't work alone, there were many who picked up the torch that was lit when his own little light went out.

Today, we reflect on Dr. King and his massive contribution to our society, our culture, our country.

There is still much to do, but I think Dr. King would be very pleased at our progress.

I think our Lord is too.

"Well done, good and faithful servant. Well done."