Just Sick of It!

energy: Should we drill of shore or in Alaska and many other places in order to lower the price of oil? NO! Should we force middle eastern counties to produce more oil? NO!

Its time to think of different alternatives to gas and oil. We have been hearing the argument of energy independence for decades. Jimmy carter, a democrat, faced a similar issue and was saying everything we are saying today. I believe completely that we need to get away from oil but its up to the consumer to make the change happen. Everyone is complaining about high gas prices but more people are walking through their neighborhoods and bicycling because of it. Instead of being isolated in our cars, separated from the out side world, and passing the blame to the oil companies and the government we should get a fuel efficient car and a bike. Such a move will force the oil companies to try to get money somewhere els. Oil is bad for our health, bad for our environment, and a risk to our security. If Iran or any middle eastern country decided to stop selling us oil our whole country would be in chaos and we would be forced to invade. Take a walk out side and listen to the birds. When you run into a friend or have a short conversation with a stranger are you going to regret not being in a car. Tell me, how much road rage will you experience? I think we can force the government and the oil companies to realize the archaic days of oil are over!

abortion: When it comes to moral issues like abortion and gay marriage the government should not be able to support or ban anything. I believe it should be left up to individual communities, cities and or states in order to keep large groups of people from getting angry and creating civil unrest. In the process of determining what I think is right and wrong I tried first to find an accurate source of right and wrong. The government is not an accurate source because it can be wrong. The majority vote isn’t necessarily right either because it can be wrong. I decided to choose nature as my source to determine right from wrong, but it should be left up to individual communities, cities and or states to make sure the number of people insulted stays minimal.

social security: The fact that the government is trying to take care of my retirement is ridiculous! if they weren’t taking the eighty dollars out of my check every payday I would arrange to have one hundred dollars directly deposited into a retirement fund or put into a 401k.

education: We need more alternatives to public school. With less people in public schools there would be less issues with money and space and the class rooms would contain better face to face learning. Alternatives are of course private schools, both in class rooms and online, public schools that offer online opportunity’s where parents can help teach their kids instead of relying wholly on some teacher the parent doesn’t know, and home schooling. A combination of all these options would ease the stress on our school system as well as keeping us from relying wholly on the government to educate our children.

Updated 7/15/2008 [ED: Fixed YouTube embed's]
Updated 7/25/2008 [ED: Fixed YouTube embed's]

There has been a quite, may semi-quite, storm brewing on the Internet as of late about a tiny, no nothing island out in Alaska, called Gull Island. Gull Island, and by extension the under it and Alaska, could be the solution to lowing the price of Oil within the next few year. This has spread so much as of late that on today’s Sean Hannity show a caller mentioned it to the guest host.

So in case you are having trouble finding out about this little island that could let me give you a little history and information that I have collected. Gull Island is located about five miles off shore from Prudhoe Bay in Alaska’s northern slope.

Gull Island, although close, is not in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge or ANWR which you can see the border of it does not cover the Prudhoe Bay area and is a few miles north east of the ANWR area boundary, which is also clearly visible on the official ANWR site.

In the 1970’s Lindsay Williams a Chaplain for the Alyeska Pipeline Company witnessed ARCO drill, test, analyze and then cap a huge oil find on Gull Island. It’s been said that Gull Island has enough oil to pump 2 million barrels of oil a day for 200 years. We import about 10 million barrels of crude oil per day in 2007, so using 1970 era figures and technology we have solved 1/5th of our foreign oil dependence on an already drilled and currently capped well.

But that was 1970 and technology has gotten at least a little bit better since then. Keeping that in mind I believe that 2 million is a entry level figure and should at least double with current technology and methods. If we start drilling now we will see our prices start dropping soon, but it won’t be by a lot. By freeing our oil companies to build new we will be sending a message to the futures markets and futures prices will drop.

If we leave our local oil and Gull Island to just sit there we could end up paying a lot more and oil will reach $170 a barrel easy. If you don’t believe me King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia today mentioned in a speech that we should all get used to current prices and prepare for even higher rates.

But there is no problem right? We could all be switching to other cars, and all those people that can’t afford an electric car or a hybrid should just walk or take the bus, because that’s how you move a family with kids around, the bus. But let is not live off of our land here in America who is without a doubt the most resource rich country in the world from oil to natural gas.

So let the debate rage on. Let’s keep pushing our country toward a depression by raising the cost of transportation and goods to a level where the low-middle and lower class of our society cannot eat or get around. Somehow I should be more worried about a few anamials and micro-organisms in Alaska then my next door neighbor, yea that makes sense.

Just sick of it perfectly sums up the the sentiment of the majority of Americans. The Democrats, Republicans, Independents and Green party members are all disappointed and disillusioned. I personally believe that this is testament to the importance of not relying on the federal government. Never fall for the flattery rhetoric that promises an easy life Barrack Obama, Hillary, Bush, and John McCain have never felt. we need to focus on the importance of individual responsibility. Here are some examples:

Energy: Stop blaming the oil companies and go for a walk every once and a while. I don’t care how expensive gas is because I have a fuel efficient car and a bicycle.

Social Security: The fact that I have been relying on the government to take care of my retirement is absolutely repulsive. If they stopped taking that 83 dollars out of my check I would have 100 dollars directly deposited into a retirement fund or 401k.

Health Care: Its not hard to get health care, and its not hard to have whatever is left over written off or to make a payment plan! I know because I have done it. Conclusion, there is no health care problem!

If these example don’t make sense to you, please comment me.

Sincerely: J Smith

Updated 7/1/2008 [ED: Minor changes and styling]

This political season universal, or if your trying to hide a meaning behind cleaver words national, health care is an extremely hot topic. While I do agree that we should help as many people as possible and I have a great disdain for the health care insurance industry. But I’ll tackle those snakes at a latter time, today I want to talk about national health care.

I was born in Winnipeg, Canada and lived there for about 10 years before I moved to the United States. I go back and visit Canada every year and have on occasion gone to doctors offices and hospitals to visit family members. Although I don’t have a tremendous volume of experience with Canada’s health care system I have far more then most people who talk about it here. My thoughts about it, it’s great in theory. I’ve heard horror stories from family members about waiting months or years to get quality of life surgery, because there are waiting lists, or hours upon end in doctors offices and emergency rooms. I watched Micheal Moore’s documentary on national health care and where he shows the completely vacant doctors office is the exception, not the rule.

My mom has some health conditions and when she moved back up to Canada for a while she had trouble finding a doctor that would take her. Most of the doctors she used when we lived there before were not accepting new patients and finding ones that were was a difficult task. Much like here in the United States you have a primary care physician, ‘your’ doctor. This is where you go when you need a check up, something looked at, maybe having some trouble, etc. You always go to your primary care doctor first. Well what happens when people don’t have a primary care doctor? They go to the hospital first and more accurately they go to the Emergency Room or a walk in clinic.

Now there are news reports of Canada running out of doctors. Which can’t be true, because of the superior nature of national health care those doctors are paid very well and thus it’s a desirable job, or not. If someone is telling you that national health care is the land of milk and honey and has so many benefits and never once mentions an issue or downside your healthy level of skepticism should have kicked in. For god’s sake our government can’t even keep it’s restaurants in order and we expect them to do our health care correctly?

I believe that extending Medicare and Medicaid, which need major fixing, to everyone that can’t afford or does not have health insurance is a good thing, but there should be provisions to make sure companies still offer health plans. Also laws and regulations should be created to prevent the health insurance companies from denying claims just to save them money.

Rarely is totally one solution ever is the right answer and dramatic swings in our country’s fundamentals are pretty dangerous as well. Much like United States population we should blend the best of both worlds, the total coverage of national health care with the best doctors and technology of privatized health care and have a system we can all be proud off, instead of taking sides like schoolkids on the playground.

Whoso would be a man must be a nonconformist. He who would gather immortal palms must not be hindered by the name of goodness, but must explore if it be goodness. Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind. Absolve you to yourself, and you shall have the suffrage of the world. I remember an answer which when quite young I was prompted to make to a valued adviser, who was wont to importune me with the dear old doctrines of the church. On my saying, What have I to do with the sacredness of traditions, if I live wholly from within? my friend suggested, — “But these impulses may be from below, not from above.” I replied, “They do not seem to me to be such; but if I am the Devil’s child, I will live then from the Devil.” No law can be sacred to me but that of my nature. ( Ralph Waldo Emerson)

I take this as one of the most important things Emerson ever wrote. This quote from one of my favorite writers forces me to look more deeply at the topic of homosexuality. If you asked me of my opinion on gay marriage, I know you would not like my answer. It would seem as though I am dancing around or avoiding the question. However, thats not the case at all. I never claim to know what is right or wrong until the result is made apparent. I can only do the best i can to do all my homework, weigh the pros and cons, determine an adequate source of right and wrong, and then make my decision. Why I am against gay marriage and any other kind of acceptance or support, I want to leave for responding to comments I receive. I will not respect an opinion that has less thought behind it than mine. I have thoroughly looked at this issue from every angle I could. I am not bound by anything but the integrity of my own mind and am willing to change my mind if proven wrong. I pride myself on my open mindedness and fairness, but not if it goes against reason. After the research, the reading, the writing. Looking up the history of homosexuality and its movement, talking with with them and listening to them on T.V., it still remains a decision indefensible through reason. Homosexuality has lasted the test of time. However, the real test doesn’t begin until the whole world is watching. To go along with Ralph Waldo Emerson here, gays are doing the right thing by coming out into the open. They will need to have debate in public, write books, and march down the street. After humanity has thought deeply on the subject, read their books, listened to their debates and observed their character, then, and only then, will the outcome become apparent.

Government is all about drawing lines and creating rules and laws to keep society safe, stable and prosperous. Of course these lines and rules don’t match perfectly with nature, because we, as human beings, don’t know everything, or know if we know anything at all. As we learn when writing the research paper, its not about your decision, but how you came to that decision. I consider the most destructive force in humanity to be compulsive and emotional decisions without sufficient thought. The best argument I have heard from a gay so far is that they feel it in their hearts to be who they are. That is not a good enough reason for me to encourage or support their preference. In the end, The coin will have to be thrown into the pool of humanity and we will have to await the result.

First it was the poor landless white males who demanded there right to vote and participate, than it was the blacks demanding that the line, the rules of discrimination, be removed for their rights. Women were next, than Asians and other minorities, and now gays. What ever the out come turns out to be, who will it be next? The polygamist’s right to several wives? Other peoples beliefs that 14 year olds can be wedded off by their families? Who is to determine these people’s rights and freedoms? I’m telling you, that they will toss their coin into the pool of humanity and humanity will decide. My final answer is that, like Ralph said, everyone needs to be true to themselves no mater what . What is right will be what remains in the end. Where and whenever the end lies.

Recently the California Supreme Court lifted the ban on gay marriage in California. So as soon as this summer gay and lesbian couples will be able to marry. Queue the end of the world music because according to some right wing bible thumping crazies out there this is the beginning of the end.

Now I’m glad people out there believe in something and I actually like the fact that we reference god in our society’s, in the pledge and on our money. We should all realize that the word god and it’s meaning can be a placeholder for whatever you believe in. So I’m not a hard nosed atheist and I don’t’ specifically follow a single religion. This allows me to view both sides of the argument without any bias, so make me as your outside observer in this arena.

What I’ve been looking for is the reason why gays and lesbians should not marry. Some say it signals the beginning of the end, other point to it as more proof of the moral decay of our society and other say that it violates gods will. Gays and lesbians are already living together, raising kids and are productive members of the democrat party, and well maybe society as well. So if they are doing all those things why can’t they get married? If it makes them happy, who are you to stand in the way of that?

Do I necessarily approve with gays and lesbians, no I do no. From a purely biological level it is not something that I can justify, but what does that matter? Why would somthing I believe in effect someone who doesn’t believe in it? What gives me the right to force my opinion or beliefs on other people.

I understand that as a people, a society and a govement that we need to control behavior and activities that could harm oneself and others, for example taking drugs, drunk driving, etc. But gay marriage, no matter how you frame the argument, in itself is not a dangerous activity.

So let Tim and Tom, Jane and Jan and every other gay and lesbian couple get married. It’s not something I want to join in, but I know I don’t have the right to force my beliefs on them.

Why am I seeing this pastor in the politics section and how can Barack Obama ever have attended the sermons of this radical and conceded preacher? This post is a little late because a wind storm caused us to loose power but Let me begin by dissecting some of the comments Wright made at the national press club. “Louis Farcon is not my enemy; He did not put me in chains, he did not put me in slavery, and he did not make me this color”. Now I would like to hear this pastor give a condescending answer to me like he did the other questioners because I did listen to the whole thing and this is exactly where he stopped his sentence. He then backed up, put his hands in the air and listened to the people applaud. My question, although I already know the answer, is who did put him in chains? After reading his biography, I know he was never enslaved himself. Last time I checked this government he disrespects so blatantly is the same one that, because of our system, allowed for blacks to be freed, allowed women their rights, helped save the world from the Germans and the Japaneses during wold war 1 and 2, and is currently giving the Iraqis the chance to have a democracy of their own. Slavery is in the past! I thought we were talking about today’s world in which Mr. Wright has more money and comfort and influence than myself! This Pastor obviously chooses to be divisive and bitter instead of realistic!

I would like to highlight this situation not only because Rev. Write is a whantobe politician, but as an example that religion and politics will always overlap as well.  When asked about his patriotism Rev. Wright basically said that it was the government he is angry at and not America as a whole. According to Wrights own words he said to Barack Obama “if your elected November the 5th I’m coming after you”.  Rev Wright is trying to influence our political system and he has no right to do so because he is not an elected representative.  It is common sense that anyone with a crowd of listeners before them is going to try to make a difference. Rev. Wright can preach all he wants, but he would never be elected as a politician because of his angry and divisive beliefs. Rev. Wright has only one vote just like the rest of us; and thank God for that!

Now as for the church and state  issue, liberals where livid when they noticed how republicans cuddled up to to a couple radically conservative preachers and screamed the church and state issue. This is the separation of church and state argument all over again, but this time its not coming from a conservative white preacher. Church and state will always overlap because our government is not necessarily bared by religious rules; yet, pastors and all religious people are trying to make a good world to live in, just as the government is. Therefore, these two institutions will sometimes come off as allies and sometimes as competitors. Nobody wants the government to be religious and nobody(of sound mind) wants their pastor preaching politics instead of the bible. Rev. Wright spoke about him being a pastor and Barack being a politician but also suggested that it is somehow his job to preach politics in his church. Part of what it means to be an American is that it is the job of every American to be somewhat of a politician. We all should have our own opinions and debate among ourselves about policies that are in our best interests. We should talk to our representatives and hold demonstrations when necessary. Where the difference lies in this case is that politicians are elected by the people and therefore have more power than any pastor. Politicians are given power by the people, not the pastors. If Rev. Wright wants to run for public office I’m all for it! especially since I know he’ll be less successful!

Rev. Wright is an angry, radical, conceded and divisive preacher who Barack Obama should have avoided if he wanted to become president of the united states of America. Although I always believed John Mccain would be better for America, I was very interested in Barack Obama because of the symbolism, his non typical nature, and the possibility of him defeating an entrenched, powerful , and typical politician like Hillary, but this connection, for twenty years, to a radical preacher should diminish his chances. If he is willing to choose a radical paster to wed him and his wife and baptize his children, than he might be willing to choose radical directions for America as well; that’s commonsense.

In case you’ve been living under a rock the hippie green guys have been touting the amazing advancement of Ethanol for use in motor vehicles as a replacement for gasoline. Ethanol can be produced by the fermentation of sugars or the the hydration of ethylene from petroleum, or as we like to call it oil. The mainstay of this movement is the finger pointing to Brazil and this success with Ethanol based fuel. If you just listened to the talking heads, and green hippie’s you would be under the assumption that Brazil is 100% gas free, but you would be wrong.

Brazil uses, for that vast majority of their vehicles, a blend of about 24% ethanol and 76% petroleum gasoline. This blend roughly accounts for about 30% of the countries automotive fuel. Remember these are FlexFuel vehicles do not run on 100% ethanol. In 2005 73% of all vehicles sold in Brazil were FlexFuel. The meat of the issue is that Brazil uses pure sugar cane, and cane-waste, to produce ethanol via fermentation. Sugar cane has a long growing season and because of it’s high sucrose content it easily can be fermented into ethanol. All I have to say is good for Brazil, they took the oil crisis of the 1970’s and did something productive, more then I can say the United States did.

In the US the common Ethanol fuel is E85, which is is 85% ethanol and 15% petroleum gasoline. So were better off then Brazil already, they only use E76 and we use E85. Well there is a hidden problem Brazil uses sugar cane and in the US we are using corn. Brazil can produce ethanol for about 22 cents per liter, which in the US we can produce ethanol for about 30 cents per liter, a cost difference of about 30%. The reason, corn needs to be converted into sugar before it can be fermented. Additionally Corn is the least efficient crop to produce ethanol from.

Now we run into a hot topic, the net energy effect of ethanol production. There are a lot of very bias postings on the Internet about this topic, but from my research on the subject and reading of the papers it does look like ethanol has a positive net-energy effect. This greatly depended on the equipment used, the milling process and the method of fermentation. But in the end it’s far you can go in car on the fuel and, well every seems to agree that you don’t get the same MPG on a E85 then you do plain old gas.

Shifting to a comply different front, ethanol use as a motor fuel is driving up food prices. Because of the increased demand for corn the price has risen sharply as of late and is driving not only US food prices up but prices for any product that uses corn. Grain prices were driven by population growth and human consumption, now that we are trying to use it to fuel vehicles we could be causing the poor in this country and across the globe to do we less food. Corn is a food, not a fuel!

I’m all for eliminating our dependence on oil, foreign or domestic. But we have to go about it the right way, no more of this half assed FlexFuel or Hybrid crap that the eco-friendly hippie tree hugging tards keep trying to cram down our collective throats without thinking of the ramifications of their actions. We need to research better energy storage technology to make longer lasting and higher capacity batteries that can be reused for 100% electric cars, nothing less should do.

No go and eat some corn on the cob and try and avoid the urge to stick it in your gas tank.

Let me be frank, I’m a firm believer in term limits across the board. I’ve been in countless arguments about term limits and I’ve heard all the reason for term limits. But there is a reason why that argument should never even have to be brought up. The reason is we no longer have any Statesmen in this country. My definition of a Statesmen differs from what I think it currently is. My definition is a person who is serving for the public interest and fulfilling their civic duty.

Statesmen serve because they believe they can help or fix an issue, that they bring something to the public office that would help the city, state, country. After they finished or feel that their work is done, they leave. Statesmen serve a term or two and try and make a difference. Public service should be much like the Military Reserve or National Guard, once the job is done they go back to their real lives and jobs. Which means that politics isn’t those peoples whole lives.
We’ve gotten away from Statesmen, now we have career politicians who spend their entire life in government. We shouldn’t need term limits. But because of power hungry politicians who crave power and money we are now in a situation where our options for high political office are between a “Douche and a Turd” and there is no end in sight. A Statesmen takes the countries priorities and needs before their parties or their constituents. Even if their choice is not popular with the whole country or their party they should do it if is in the best interests of the country.

When your the President the only thing that matters is the country as a whole and being at the helm of the country means you should steer it like you would a large ship, slow and methodical. This is the essence of a Statesmen, someone who will do what’s needed, popular or not, to keep the country continuing on it’s path.

Look, there is a fair amount I do agree with Jesse Ventura about, and one of them is that the county needs the Statesmen of old to return. Now there is a fair amount I don’t agree with Jesse Ventura about. Namely the 9/11 conspiracy junk and the open borders issue. But this country would not be here today without Statesmen, and in particular one, George Washington, who was offered the crown of the United States. Tell me how many politicians in current times could you see turning that down.

So I have only one question, where have all the Statesmen gone?

I believe that my common sense, moderate, conservatism approach to political philosophy is the way to go and liberalism( although good for the little guy) turns out to be more destructive than beneficial. Sometimes the little guy is little for a reason and the bigger guy is big because he/she does the right things and becomes big. Saying “sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me” will only cause the aggressor to pick up a stick or stone. If it sounds like I’m talking to children thats because such concepts are common sense. todays generation of teens that are soon to be adults have been raised to take the side of the little guy. when they discover that America is the most powerful country on earth it suddenly becomes cool and popular to regret being American. patriotism is fading so fast I cant find anyone under the age of 20 that is willing to be patriotic in front of their peers. Democrats (who are supported by liberals) want to help the poor by making it easier for them to get money or blatantly giving them our tax dollars for doing nothing. I am poor as I write this but because I live in America I know that a lot of hard work and fiscal conservatism will allow me to work my way up. It is common sense and I have witnessed that most poor people are poor because they are unwilling to do what it takes to progress. Todays society, full of young adults straight out of our school system, is over flowing with whiners who think they are somehow entitled to more money and toys because they are in America. This mentality is all to common and totally unrealistic. It is commonsense to realize that this planet and this country has limited resources; if you want some you have to work hard to get some. Instead of being liberal and falling for unrealistic ideas of equality we need to be MODERATE and try to understand each other. Last but not least, especially in todays world where prices are skyrocketing, pollution is heating the planet up, and we know how important it is to not harm the environment we live in, conservatism takes on a whole new importance. Conservatism to me is about saving money and making safe financial decisions(economy), not over indulging in pleasures or comforts(gas and electricity), accepting that life is hard, trying your best to be responsible, hardworking, and leading by example in order to make a difference. I hope I see more hardworking, patriotic, and money wise kids coming out of our school system in the next couple of years or I will seriously be worried about our future as the greatest country in the world.