One Way Congress Could Be Useful...

Tina and I just finished playing one of our favorite games.  If you haven't tried "Ticket To Ride: Europe", you should.  We have a lot of fun and it's fairly easy to catch on to.  That's good if your mind works like mine.

As I was putting the game up in our front closet I had to confront the leaning tower of Pisa.  Every game's box is a different size!

And then it came to me!  If Congress were to consider and pass a bill creating standard dimensions for game boxes it would be great.  It's a law that would actually benefit everyone in America by reducing the cluttered look of game closets. 

It's a law that would not harm anyone.  In fact it could "create or save" (to use the blurry rhetoric of the most transparent administration in history) thousands of jobs as higher paid packaging designers are retrained to lower paying graphic arts work.  Kind of like the "Green Economy" where oil field workers are trained to assemble solar arrays and such. 

And it's a bill that would keep Congress busy so they couldn't screw up anything else in the country.

I'm calling my representative, Ann Kirkpatrick (D-AZ), on Monday morning!

Join or Die...

Okay, I don't usually get all religious on you here.  And I don't think I'm going to do that today.  I just want to share some thoughts that are spurred by current events and my particular brand of religi-osity.

I see the radical environmental movement and the national-socialization of the US economy through banking, manufacturing, and health care as related.  In fact, they are part of the same scheme.  What is the desired end game of these activities?

The end of liberty in the United States of America.  The end of prosperity in the United States of America.  The increase of power for a few and the bondage of millions.

"Oh, come ON!" you say.  "Give me a break."

"But wait!" I say.  "It's all been done before."

If you'll take the time to read the books of Alma, Helaman, and Third Nephi in the Book of Mormon, you can see it plainly. 

The story tells of the ancient inhabitants of the American Continent.  These people lived much as we do today, but without cars or iPods.  They worked, they loved, they fought, they prayed.  Some were Christians, and some were not.  Some were honest and good.  Some were just plain evil.  Some wanted freedom and equality, while some wanted power and riches.

As things went along, certain people - mostly lawyers and judges - incited discontent in the people.  They invented problems and encouraged prejudices.  Eventually, a large portion of the people thought it would be a great idea to change their constitutional form of government in favor of a monarchy that would provide every needful thing.

This movement resulted in political arguments and even civil war.  The "kingmen", as they were called, accused the "freemen" of oppressing the people with their policies.  They claimed that the existing government was out of step with the needs of the country.  The insisted that legislating morality was not only wrong, but that it was impossible to legislate morality without infringing on the rights of the individual.

Outside enemies took advantage of the civil distractions and exploited the weakness that division brings.  War broke out across the land.  The people suffered terribly economically, socially, and militarily.  Ultimately their society disintigrated and they were split into tribes or factions looking out for their own welfare. 

In the end they found peace - or rather, they found the absence of war.  Thier society was a shadow of what it had been.  All confidence in commerce and security was gone.  Law was a thing of the past, and behavior was only regulated by the chief or leader of the tribe. 

Now, we face similar things in our country.  Lawyers and judges are inciting discontent in the people.  They are working to change the basis of law and constitutionality in the United States.  Others insist that the old way of doing things is not fit for our "new" times.  They seek to rewrite the basis of our government, teaching that individual rights flow from the state, rather than the state receiving any power it has by the consent of the people. 

Progressives accuse those who hold differing views of intolerance, closed-mindedness, and biggotry.  They say that we are out of step with the times.  As our enemies watch, we are weakened by soft-mindedness, immorality, decadence and strife.

An American revolutionary flag design sometimes credited to Benjamin Franklin declared "Join or Die!" 

Abraham Lincoln quoted Jesus when he said that "a house divided against itself cannot stand." 

They both were right.

The key, though, is that the people MUST unite around CORRECT principles and MUST be unified in GOODNESS.  The Book of Mormon hero Captain Moroni had an effective, if extreme, method of unifying people for a good cause.

Read about it.

Some Fun With CO2 and Math...

Okay, let’s do some math.

1% of the atmosphere is made up of greenhouse gasses. 3.6% of those greenhouse gasses are CO2. That means that 0.036% of the whole atmosphere is CO2. 3.4% of CO2 in the atmosphere is attributed to man. That means that 0.0012% of the whole atmosphere is CO2 from man’s activities.

23.02% of all manmade CO2 in the atmosphere comes from the US. That means that 0.00028% of the atmosphere is made up of CO2 from the United States.

The numbers are so small it is hard to wrap my mind around them. If I’m right (I struggle converting decimals of percents into fractions), that means that 28/10,000,000 of the atmosphere is the target we’re shooting at with any carbon tax or carbon cap in the US.

Further, the 17% reduction target (for the US) that President Obama plans to announce in Copenhagen this month comes to .000048% (or 48/100,000,000) of the atmosphere.

I don’t think that there is an instrument out there that can even measure that amount. We would have to rely on mathematical calculations to “verify” or predict the change.

And what would that yield? NOTHING!!!

Am I crazy, or is that irrelevant?

I’m not pro-pollution or anti-solar power. I’m not pro-excessive driving or anti-bicycle. I don’t hate birds or algae or polar bears.

We need to be sensitive to the needs of the earth and its creatures and act wisely. No question.

Chasing the red herring of CO2 is not wise.

So, what is the motive in forwarding false science and manipulating data as has been shown in the East Anglia/Penn State case? It seems that the motive in the “deniers’” case is that they are interested in determining the truth, assessing the severity of the problem, defining what man can do to abate the problem, and deciding if man’s actions can possibly counter the problem. If there is a possible solution, then we must assess the cost of the solution and, as rational beings, weigh it against any benefit and act reasonably.

Fight the urge to “do something” and stop to think it through. Once it’s thought through, let’s act prudently. That’s all I’m saying.

What would it cost? Trillions of dollars of productivity destroyed in the American economy. Witness Spain: unemployment around 20%; average wage for remaining employed workers down nearly 50%.

Just think this through.

How much more will a head of lettuce cost if American carbon is traded or taxed? How about a jar of peanut butter? The seed producer will have to pay for the carbon used in producing the seed. The farmer will pay for that as well as the carbon used in cultivation and harvest. The processor will add the cost of the carbon used in processing. The transporter will add his carbon costs. The grocer will add the carbon costs of handling, stocking and merchandising the food. And the consumer will pay them all. That $1.50 head of lettuce or the $3 jar of peanut butter will cost a LOT more. That means that people will have to devote a larger portion of their income to survival needs and will have less to use on consumer goods or to invest in growing their own businesses, lending to others, or anything else that might stimulate the economy.

How much will it cost to heat one’s home? Again, we have the cost of carbon associated with exploring for oil or natural gas added to the actual cost of the work. We add the cost of carbon for transporting the fuel to the point of use or conversion. We have the cost of carbon associated with transporting the processed fuel to the end user and the carbon cost for simply consuming the fuel or energy. So, how does that affect the quality of life for Americans.

AND… What if Chile, or China, or India decides NOT to levy a carbon tax or trading scheme on itself? Now it’s MUCH cheaper to import things like lettuce, peanut butter, and heating oil. So those jobs go away in our country and MORE “U.S. Americans” are out of work. And when they’re out of work they aren’t buying so much stuff. And when they stop buying so much stuff, even more of us lose our jobs. And the spiral continues.

But it’s okay, you may say, because you’re retired. You’re drawing down your 401k or 403b. Everything is looking good. Until the companies in your portfolio start to go under. Now when you sell 1,000 investment shares, instead of getting $120 a share you get $3. And you take your $3,000 and try to stretch it over the year.

But what about welfare? Sure, it’ll pay us not to work. But the money for the welfare check has to come from somewhere. With fewer people employed, fewer people will be paying taxes. So there’s not so much money to redistribute.

So, we call China and ask for another loan – I mean, “We float bonds on the international market.”

The market says, “Sure, we’ll loan you money, but because your debt ratio is so high, we want 25% interest; and because there’s a good chance you won’t be a viable entity in 5 years, we’ll only buy 3-year T-Bills.”

Or we just print more dollars. And the dollar loses its value because there is such a large supply out there. So, that loaf of bread (the American bread costs $25 a loaf, so we’re importing it from Mexico and paying $5) suddenly costs even more. Maybe the Mexican bread goes to $50 a loaf because the Fed increased the money supply by 10x. So, if I’m not on the government dole and can’t get a 1000% raise this year, I’m going to have to leave my job and get onto welfare that is adjusted annually for the cost of living.

This is a no-win. I can surrender my dignity and accept welfare and watch my family suffer, or I can retain my pride and watch my family suffer more.

At that point I might be tempted to curse a polar bear and a salt marsh mouse and wish that I had my life back.

We need to REALLY be sure we’re right before we destroy our way of life in pursuit of the unattainable. If it proves out that we CAN do something that will be effective and reasonable, I’ll be the first one in line to support it.

Islam: The Religion of Peace....

One Of These Days....

40 acres.
Spring and pond.
Woodlot.
Pasture.
Hay and grain.
Garden.
Tractor.
Pickup truck and Jeep.
Cows.
Chickens.
Cold winter and wet summer.
Barter.
Pigs.
Chainsaw and freedom.
Work.
Focus.
Wife and children.
Peace.