One Trick Pony

This is where I get so frustrated with the Republican party. In discussing oil prices, their main focus is on drilling more oil. This is a longer term solution. While not a bad idea I think it is time that they stop being so damn bull headed about exploring alternative energies. I agree with removing the regulations on drilling in certain areas as a stop gap until we can get some other options in place but they also need to realize that oil is the past and present but not the future.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,365627,00.html

They just further make themselves look like one trick ponies in energy policy and look like they are in the pockets of oil companies. I am not saying that I believe that is completely true but it sure makes it hard to argue otherwise when they act like this.

Here's a crazy concept stop interfering and thinking that you have any control. Or... worse screwing things up like the Corn Ethanol subsidies and let the free market dictate where to head. The market is more efficient at finding solutions that bureaucracy is.

Mass Transit Ridership Surprise

For some reason it appears to surprise some people that mass transit ridership numbers have increased as gas prices have increased. That seems like a bit of a no-brainer. In a market where fuel is cheap everyone wants their freedom. When fuel costs are higher, they are willing to deal with less freedom and will ride mass transit. Just FYI - Most people do not really do anything to "Save the Planet". It usually revolves around how does it directly effect them and there pocketbook.

Mass transit will be widely accepted and ridden in two scenarios: heavy traffic and high fuel prices. If you have either one or both mass transit becomes and option that people will consider.

Now that said the article that I linked to also describes how people are having problems with mass transit. To me this is a two-fold problem: government is notoriously pathetic at maintaining, managing and running ANYTHING. Too many examples to name. Second, this is a perfect time and reason to find a way to raise taxes for mass transit. While there is demand voters will be accepting of tax increases to pay to fix the transit systems that they are now actually riding.

Typical Politics with old policy

We are in an election year where the Democrat is claiming that he will change everything yet what is the solution the Democrats have for the oil issue: Windfall Profits Tax.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,364846,00.html

This is a policy that the infamous President Peanut Jimmy Carter already tried with disasterous results. At that time, gas prices were rising and the geniuses in Washington decided on Windfall Profits Tax and price caps. Guess what happened? No surprise to anyone who understands economics, companies started producing less fuel. Then what happened, fuel shortages. Carter's ingenius response? Fuel rationing. So you could only get a certain amount of fuel each week. Does this sound the future you want?

Also, how does the government getting money from oil company solve the problem that I am paying too much for gas?? This seems like faulty logic unless you are politician with a great idea as to how to spend it. They are currently saying for alternative fuels (lookup what happened to the tobacco settlement money that was supposed to be spent on education and smoking programs). Typical politicians with the same old tricks.

Now that said, the Republicans have absolutely NO idea how to work on the problem. They are just spinning in circles with really no decent ideas.

Facts are facts politicians don't understand the market. If they would stay out of it and stop trying to regulate and tax everything the solution would very quickly arise. This is how the free market works, where there is demand (read money) there will be someone to sell a solution.

Typical politicians- same tricks. The problem is that many are still falling for it.

How often does the Right thing trump the Profitable thing

I just read an interesting article from Harvard Business Review about how the head of Samuel Adams decided to help out his "competition" by selling them hops at the same discounted rate that they had negotiated with their suppliers.

To me this really made me think: "How often do businesses do the right thing over doing the profitable thing". Also, what defines the right thing?

I think that in our society this type of thing doesn't happen very often because businesses are very cutthroat but I think that in some cases the right thing is also the right thing for the business. Not only would it be great PR but realistically it may help the company long term.

Very interesting

Tough Call: YouTube al Qaeda Videos

Joe Lieberman has called on YouTube to remove al Qaeda videos. My first reaction was yeah they should be removed. After considering it though, I am not so sure. I believe that YouTube absolutely has the right to remove the videos if they deem them to be against their policies, I am just not sure that a Senator should be pushing the issue. Although, I don't like to see al Qaeda have this type of video available on YouTube, it has some resemblence to the beginnings of the McCarthy era.

We must protect the people and the country but we also must protect our rights as Americans otherwise what are we really protecting?

Southern Border

I have had many conversations about securing the southern border of the U.S. with friends and colleagues. I have told them time and time again, that I have no issue with workers coming in to the U.S. to work. Give all the immigrants paperwork to get in once you have verified who they are. I have heard many say that they don't think a fence or personnel along the border is justified. My argument has always been that we need to secure it against people who mean to do us harm.

I just read this article: Drug Cartels to Mexican Police: 'Join Us or Die'. Pretty much drug cartels are proving the the Mexican authorities are no match for them. The police and soldiers are outnumbered and outgunned. Can Mexico seriously police the border region? No.

With that said, I am not exactly sure how we can continue to seriously argue the point of securing the border. Mexico is unable to secure the region. I think that the U.S. is foolish to not lock down our southern border. Not to keep immigrants out but to keep drug cartels, terrorists, and others who mean harm out of the country.

Worst is Over!

Alan Greenspan claims that the worst of the credit crunch is over. He may be right but I am not sure that the saga is over yet. I truly believe that many more lenders and consumer are going to suffer the wrath. I also believe that before all is said and done that Congress is going to "intervene" with new regulations on that industry.

I also find it interesting that Greenspan denies that he had anything to do with the housing bubble by lowering interest rates. I am no economic genius but it sure seems to me like the purpose of lowering the rates was to get people to go out and finance things (maybe like homes) in order to build up the economy. Amazingly, the housing industry took off right after that. Then as interest rates started to rise things started to come crashing down. I would have a difficult time not tying those things together in some fashion.

Be careful of the bubbles. Want to see the next one... look at the gas pump.

Not quite sure about Global Warming

My contention with the global warming theories and greenhouse effects is that we don't know enough to jump to conclusions. We are still learning how climate changes work and why they happen. We can't even predict what the weather is going to be like in 2 days but some claim they know what is going to happen in 50 or 100 years. I just found an article that demonstrates that we are still learning and should stop going off of assumptions. You what assuming does right?

Cold Water Thrown on Antarctic Warming Predictions

**Side Note: Did you see that the "man-made" ozone hole is actually serving a benefit in Antarctica? Kind of humorous.

Anyway, I think that we need to spend a lot more time getting to understand the earth and how it works before we going jumping to conclusions.

The First Decent Presidental Campaign News in Months: Rice for VP

Well, who knows if it will happen or not but I must say it would be welcome news to me. Condi may actually be thinking about the VP spot with McCain. This would actually give the ticket a more conservative credential and a few battling points against the second coming of Obama.

I have a huge amount of respect for Condi and I hope that McCain and Condi get together and consider how much stronger the ticket will be if they can work together.

Here's hoping.

Dan Senor: Condoleezza Rice Is Pursuing the VP Spot

Left wings talking heads

I find it amazing that the biggest talking heads on the Left's talk radio circuit have been Stuart Smalley, I mean Al Franken, and Randi Rhodes.

Franken is a comedian whose "fame" is from Saturday Night Live. He had a few parts that were somewhat funny but does that make him a political pundit or Senator?!?!

Then you have Rhodes. A potty mouthed comedian that got on the radio by being a shock jock.

Air America Host Suspended for Clinton Remarks

Pretty impressive names!! Nice work Air America.

Bush: US Must "Get Off Oil"

Well I must admit that I really was a Bush supporter some time ago. I am not a Bush basher now but I must say that he has proven to not do much of anything over the last 3 years in office.

Now he makes the statement that US must "Get off Oil". Really?? What has your adminstration and the Republican congress that you had for SO long done to solve the energy issues in the United States? Nothing. Can you show me the energy policy that your administration has been using? Oh no... there wasn't one. Now as a lame duck President you make an obvious statement without any need to back it up.

Bush: US Must "Get Off Oil"

I am tired of politicians who are so great at policy decisions except when they actually have to make them. Luckily the capitalist economy in this country will provide for the problem without the politicians getting involved.

Democrats have problems voting in Ohio

Well here we go again... voting irregularities in Ohio and amazingly Bush wasn't on the ticket. The Democrats have a word for not seeing the desired outcome of voting... Voting Irregularities.

Clinton, Obama camps see voting problems

I think this is becoming just a bit like the boy who cried wolf. If everytime a Democrat doesn't see the desired result they call it an irregularity and then file suit I think that it might start to become just a little suspicious.

But what can you expect from the party who introduced the super-delegate process. We think that the aristocracy should have more a say than the people.

Strange Views

I was just listening to the radio and the old song "War" by Edwin Starr was on. The lyrics are very sad in my opinion but I think that tie into today's politics.

"War, huh, yeah... What is it good for....Absolutely nothing"

Absolutely nothing? Interesting viewpoint. I am glad that the founding fathers of the United States didn't believe that. I bet that the French are glad that we didn't believe that during the 1940's. I would bet that the people of Kuwait are glad that we don't believe that.

Now, are wars good? The answer is yes and no. That is because although they cause destruction they are also necessary to deal with problems. When humans are no longer evil then I believe that wars will no longer be necessary until then it is a necessary part of the human existance.

Unfortunately, I hear a lot of politicians singing the same lyrics in their speeches. That to me is very scary. A country who believes that war is not good for anything is going to a punching bag.

Nothing Better To Do

So here we are. We have troops in Afghanistan and Iraq. The economy appears to be headed for recession. We have shootings every other week in a school somewhere. We are in the middle of the war against terrorism in the world. And what is your congresman doing? Trying to indict Roger Clemens!! Everything going on and Congress is interfering in baseball??

What ever happened to the concept of limited federal government that the Constitution described? The government has gotten so bad that they now are overseeing Major League Baseball. What's next? Investigate the use of non-USGA golf balls on the PGA? Maybe they could investigate how to get a real playoff in college football.

WAKE UP PEOPLE... This is NOT something that the morons in Washington D.C. should be doing!!!

Interesting Inflation Information

Now mind you I am not a Ron Paul fanatic or anything crazy like that but it does make me wonder how the Chairman of the Fed can watch gold, silver, oil, foreign currencies soar and then with a straight face say inflation is in check. It is because they only watch price indexes not the value of hard assets. For centuries gold was a standard because it's value didn't change. Now amazingly, it's price is skyrocketing but there is no inflation?

Here is an interesting article about the current economic situation:
Confidence Plunges, Inflation Rate Soars

I also find it kind of interesting that it never fails that the economy becomes a huge issue in every Presidential election cycle. Amazing how that cycle works.

Imagine That!

For quite some time I have been extremely skeptical of the global warming theories. I would agree that for a time frame the earth may have been getting warmer. My contention is that there are cycles that cause this to happen. Obviously, there was a pretty large global warming phenomenon after the Ice Age. We have such a small sample of real temperature data and I don't believe that we can accurately predict the temperatures of the past so how can we truly predict what is happening. We can't even predict tomorrow's weather but people contend that they can predict the next 20-100 years.

Anyway, guess what the statistics are now showing... global cooling. Amazing, the ice sheets are falling into the water. Why would that happen? Maybe for the same reason that you put ice in your drink to cool it down. Now, let's say the temperatures of the oceans fall. Being that they cover 75+% of the earth what affect will that have? It would more than likely cool down the earth. Could it possibly be a regulating feature of the earth for the warm/cool periods?

Here are a couple of articles:

Temperature Monitors Report Widescale Global Cooling

Forget global warming: Welcome to the new Ice Age

Now, I am no scientist who is making huge money from the governments of the world (hint...hint) but it sure seems like the gravytrain maybe nearing the station. My recommendation... grants for the science of the disasters that will be caused by the next Ice Age. Sounds like a multi-billion dollar research study and market for the smart scientist.

Politically Homeless: Lack of a Candidate

I am currently in a position where I feel like my principles are making it so that I don't even want to vote. The Republicans are looking like they are going to select a very moderate John McCain (albeit not as "moderate" as Guiliani). The Democrats are fight over who can become more liberal.

I hear tons of people saying that conservatives should support John McCain because he is a Republican. I have also heard that we should vote for McCain to keep Hillary out of office. I am not convinced of this approach to voting.

First of all, I think McCain probably has a better shot against Hillary than Obama. Hillary and McCain are both closer to center than any of the other candidates and there is a lot of people who do not want the Clintons in office again. Due to the fact that Hillary and McCain agree on quite a few issues independent and moderate Democrats could possibly vote for McCain. Many conservatives will hold their nose and vote for McCain to "keep Hillary out".

As for the other, argument that we should vote for the Republican candidate. I have also heard that the conservatives are tearing the party apart by fighting McCain. First of all, I am in principle a libertarian conservative and by current necessity I typically will lean toward Republican candidates. That does NOT imply that I really care that much about the Republican party. As the Republicans continue to move to the left, I will hope that another option presents itself (maybe the conservative or Reagan party). Anyway, my point is that I am a conservative first and a Republican distant second so the argument that I should vote for McCain and that I should fall in line sounds like something the Democrats want - Don't ask questions just fall in line. Above and beyond that should I really throw my principles out the window and support McCain?

I am not quite sure what I will decide. I can honestly say that I won't be voting for Obama or Hillary, but if I vote for McCain it will definitely be with my nose plugged.