Monday, January 31, 2011

THE SACRED COW



When I was young and dumb…some will say the dumb part has not changed…a friend of mine asked me for help.  He was married and had two kids…he explained that he had run short for money to buy food.  I was single and relatively speaking…rich.  Being a super nice guy I lent him $100 to buy food for his family.  This is what friends do for one another. 

About a month later he approached me again.  This time the tire on his car had blown out and he needed some money to buy a replacement.  I told him that I had some money to loan him…but I would need it back since I was saving to go on leave.  He promised that he would repay me.  I loaned him $100 dollars.  He was so happy he invited me to his house for a home cooked meal…I never pass up a home cooked meal.

He lived in the housing area on base.  It was a very small apartment…part of a duplex.  The furniture was used…his kids were clean…and their clothes were very nice.  The apartment was clean…his furniture was nice, but I could tell it came from a thrift store. 

After dinner we sat down to watch some movies on cable, and talk.  He began to complain about how much the cable company charged for their service.  He told me that he was always running behind, but he couldn’t let them disconnect him…his family could not live without cable.  Most of us have our Sacred Cow…for him it was cable.

A Sacred Cow is something you will do whatever it takes to keep.  It is not to be touched by anyone for any reason.  The basics of life will even be sacrificed for the Sacred Cow. I could tell that if I even suggested that maybe he should drop the cable service until his finances were in better shape he would have fought me tooth and nail.  His Sacred Cow was a necessity to him.

As our National Debt continues to climb our nation is faced with making some tough decisions.  We have many Sacred Cows which many are ready to defend at all costs. In fact, as our Sacred Cow becomes more expensive we will do what it takes to keep it.

Politicians…like the rest of us realize that in order to get our debt under control…the Sacred Cows need to be modified…reduced…maybe even eliminated.  That truth does not seem to matter.  At the mere mention of touching one of these Sacred Cows…people will pull out all manner of excuses.  They invoke the image of Granny in a cold house…with no food.  They raise the Flag over the wounded Veteran.  Like my friend…even the suggestion of reducing the amount spent on a Sacred Cow will result in the gnashing of teeth…anger…even to the point of violence. 

People will cackle like hens and runabout like brain damaged raccoons even if someone thinks out loud about touching their Sacred Cow.  Granted the greatest among these are Politicians…who are prone to making grandiose claims….or party partisans who make fools of themselves in defense of obviously failed social experiments. The Sacred Cow must be preserved! 

Our nation can no longer afford the luxury of providing food, shelter, and clothing to the children of illegal foreign nationals...at the expense of feeding our elderly, or caring for our wounded Vets.  We can no longer afford to support educational experiments at the expense of our students and teachers.  We can no longer afford to subsidize other nations at the expense of our own.

I do not call of wanton cutting of any program…however…every program is full of waste…each and every Sacred Cow must get trimmed.  Unlike a Hindu Barbecue…Cow must be on the menu.

I challenge everyone to look at your own Sacred Cow and seriously decide…what fat can be trimmed to make it better for us all.




Friday, January 28, 2011

THE UNCERTAINTY TAX

Submit for your approval…you are sitting on your front porch sipping on tea when you see a truck pass by…the truck is spewing smoke..and generally stinking up the neighborhood.  You head to your garage and start working on making fuels cleaner.

You invest all of your extra money…all of your free time…and after years of hard work design the perfect system.  Your system uses coal…but unlike other systems you can capture almost all of the CO2 released in the process of creating electricity from coal.

You find the perfect site…you and other investors spend millions in legal fees, engineering plans, and environmental studies…the Environmental Protection Agency issues you a permit to build your plant. Things are looking good.

You have secured the financing, bought the property, and have all the other permits needed to build your plant.  Then just as you finish the ground breaking ceremony…a letter arrives from the EPA revoking your permit.

You are out all of your money…and time that can never be recovered…you have no recourse.

The EPA did that to the Spruce Number 1 Coal Mine in West Virginia.  In an unprecedented move it revoked a permit. This means that no company that has followed the rules can have any certainty that the permit means anything.

Top Enviro-Mentalist

How does this affect you and me?  Well first off companies that require approval to build a factory, or plant can not be sure that the permits it has attained will have a hard time finding financing.  Who would issue a loan, or invest in a project that may…at any moment be cancelled? This does not just affect the investors in the project, but all of the sub-contractors, lending institutions, local, and state Governments.

For those of you that have driven through Appalachia, you are aware of the tough lives those people live.  Since the most recent popular fad is the religion of Human Caused Global Warming…a pseudo science…based in myth and lies…the EPA is now poised to use regulatory means to enforce political belief.  For Appalachia it cost them 250 jobs on this one project alone.  For the region it has cost $250 million in direct investment into the area.

Of course all of this holds to President Obama’s promise to force energy prices to skyrocket.  Who does that affect most of all?  The unemployed poor..who of course depend on our tax dollars to pay their electric bills…the working poor..who must decide between food and clothing or keeping the lights on.  Of course it also impacts companies who must charge more for goods and services to pay to keep the conveyors running.

The EPA is not about protecting the environment…it is about protecting and enforcing political dogma based on a unfounded theories…extending the reach of the Federal Government into state, and local Governments, and destroying the ability of business to innovate in a way that promotes a cleaner environment.

In any discourse concerning the economy…this type of roadblock must be removed.  Returning the EPA to its original mandate is not enough.  The EPA must be completely reengineered to an agency that works on facts…not political hype.

Reference: Wall Street Journal

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

MY MAILMAN IS OVERPAID

MY MAILMAN IS OVERPAID!!

Everyday my fat lazy Mailman, referred to by some as a postal worker…a term that implies he works…does his best to not do his job.  If it is possible he will fold, spindle, and mutilate anything that does not easily fit in a mail box.  When the package is too big to be furiously stuffed into my mailbox he loves to pound…and I do mean pound…on my door.  Then with a sneer he says, “You have another oversized package”.  I guess maybe by using the U.S. Postal Service to get my packages I am in some way violating his personal rules on walking.

When I first saw him he reminded me of Santa Claus…Gray hair, beard…basically the shape of a bowling ball with feet…and stubby little arms.  Now he looks more like a very angry elf…Ugg…he is way over paid.

When President Obama said he was freezing Federal Civilian Pay I thought about fatso…serves his lazy bones right too.  But then…I wondered…Why was the Obama so quick to stick it to the Federal Worker…that is so unlike him.  Was he saying they are over paid?

The Republicans have been saying that for a long time..and it has nearly become one of those urban truths.  Government workers are massively overpaid.

Just B Askin posted here that that is not true….So if they are not overpaid what is the truth?  I set off to do some digging….and this is what I have found.

I began at a place that many people trust…Fact Check.org.  Here is what they had to say:

Senator-elect Rand Paul of Kentucky, for example, said recently: “The average federal employee makes $120,000 a year. The average private employee makes $60,000 a year." This has become a GOP talking point and the basis for the House Republicans’ call for a hiring freeze in the "Pledge to America." But it’s misleading.

The analysis is based on data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis and crudely done by dividing total compensation (salary and benefits) by the number of current federal civilian employees. Comparing such averages is quite misleading, for two reasons:

     o First, BEA says the figure is inflated by including compensation that is actually paid to benefit retirees, not just for current workers. The figure is at least several thousand dollars too high, by our calculations.

     o Second, the average federal civilian worker is better educated, more experienced and more likely to have management or professional responsibilities than the average private worker.

Do I think Rand Paul was wrong?  Yes…How wrong is he…I do not know.  I will accept, for now, the idea he is several thousand dollars too high…I will go so far as to say he is 10k to high…that would mean that the average Fed Employee is paid 110k..versus the average civilian worker being paid…for giggles…70k.  That is still a difference of 40k.

Now they throw in this crazy notion of Fed workers being better educated and experienced.  That is a very dubious claim.  For instance, to become a Federal Worker you take a Civil Service exam…Your score goes a long way to getting hired by the feds…But wait…before being hired there are many “perks” that can be added to get on with the Feds…these perks to your points include ethnicity, gender, military service, and disability.  So much for equal employment opportunity.

Now lets look at an example.  Jane and Jack apply for a job with the U.S. Postal Service.  Jane has worked for Fedex for 5 years…she is white…and under 30 years old.  Jack is fresh out of the military…He has a 10 percent disability connected with his military service…Jack is a Pacific Islander.

The first thing that happens is they are graded by a computer…Jack and Jane both score a 100 on the Civil Service Exam.  However, Jack gets 10 point for his service..and another 20 points for his disability.  Jack gets to move on to an interview…Jane doesn’t.

The point here is not that Jack does not deserve a boost up…the point is that the average Federal worker is not necessarily better qualified.  A federal worker is not graded on the profit they bring to the company…in fact…who knows how they grade them?

Factcheck.org goes on to repeat themselves to the point of making me sick. In fact they say “We calculate…” but never say how they calculate their numbers.  Factcheck.org should be called Fatchance.org….much like my Mailman.

So, what is the real truth?  We will probably never know.  I do know this…we have a deficit that is more money than I can imagine.  While private employment drops, Federal Employment has expanded.  If Federal workers are so darn good…they can do what I do…get a job that pays more money in the private sector…where you are expected to make a profit…not just spend money.

If you would like to know more about this, check out the article at: Are Federal Workers Overpaid

Want to know more about fatcheck.org?  Check out the “impartial” panel. Progressives are us.

I am now trying to figure out how to order a 200lb anvil..and have it delivered by the U.S. Postal Service.  Hope Santa enjoys lugging that puppy.

Saturday, January 15, 2011

My Devil Dog!!

Today I received some of the greatest news since...well...since my son was born.  He is now a Devil Dog! I am so proud of him it is hard not to overdue this report without seeming like a prejudice father.  But I am!. For those of you who have never had the privilege and honor to serve this nation let me explain what happens when someone joins the U.S. Military Service.

First thing is making the right choice for you.  Not all services are created equal..each has its own challenges..each has its own pros and cons.  As the years have progressed our nations military has gone from being separate services to a combined fighting system.  The lines of communication between them has gone from a blurry fat line...to a much sharper fine line..one that has made our military the greatest fighting force on this planet.

I myself chose the Air Force...most of my family were either Navy or Marines...However, my Father served in the AF during the Korean war...and my uncle started out as a Marine..then transferred to the AF and made a career of it. However, when the time came I made my choice based on what I wanted to do..and being a cop is what I wanted to do.

My son has always wanted to do something special with his life...and this step..is the first step toward that goal.  His choice of service is one that I have always been in awe of.

The second step is Qualifying for the job.  It is not an easy thing to do.  In today's military you must be more than just strong...you must be smart.  Idiots need not apply.  The position he chose is as a Special Communications Signals Collector Operator.  Google it.


Most civilians see a person in uniform at parades...or in a recruiters office.  It is easy to forget that the little girl..or office person you are looking at is also a trained combat weapon.  They not only do paperwork..but are trained to fight.  You won't see that in your local bank.


The third step is Basic Training.  Basic Training is a test of your will as well as your body.  You are trained to respond as part of a team...you are trained to be able to operate at full speed while under trying circumstances.  This is something that lasts a life time. To complete basic is an accomplishment that is something to be proud of.


The fourth step is completing combat training.  Everyone in our military is trained to fight..hence the term U.S. Armed Forces.  Learning the complexity of moving as a team...utilizing the correct methods of engagement..knowing your weapons inside and out.  I guess this is why Homeland security worries about our veterans.


The fifth step is learning your job.  In my son's case...this will be pretty technical stuff.  In fact, with all military specialties it is learning new and exciting things..knowing how your specialty enhances the war fighting capabilities of the greatest Military Force on Earth.


Finally he will deploy with his unit...he will continue a learning process that will last a life time.


It is hard to say when a boy becomes a man...but on this day...I learned that my little boy is a full fledge Man..with the rights and responsibility that comes with the title.


Congrats to you buddy...Welcome to the tribe of Veterans...you are now a Devil Dog!!


Out of respect for him I will not tell you which one is him...he and I are not that keen on photos...but I will say he is the good looking one.


His video is here: Charlie Company