Heroes Real Heroes

Like many people, I was shocked to hear, this weekend, about the murder of Chris Kyle.  He was doing what he has spent most of his adult life doing - helping someone in need.  I'm not going to recap his murder or any of his life story.  Here's a link that will tell you many of the details of his remarkable life.  I'm reading his book, American Sniper.  Some reviewers on Amazon are disappointed in the book because Kyle doesn't detail his kills in Iraq, doesn't tell the distance, what kind of weapon he used, how he adjusted for wind, etc.  Other reviewers have political or moral issues with the war and criticize the book on that basis.   Still others claim that Kyle wrote for a paycheck and/or the glory (actually the proceeds from the book go to  help returning veterans adjust to life after war, what Kyle was doing when he was murdered).  What I found interesting in the book was his views and motivation.  He truly was a patriot.  He was at war to protect and defend his country.  In fact one of the major conflicts he mentions in the book is that his wife did not agree with his priorities.  He lists them as 1. God  2. Country  3. Family   Obviously his wife and many others would find fault with numbers 2 and 3.   One passage that really caught my attention today was his criticism of the Iraqi soldiers he was trying to train.  He said they were worthless.  They had  very little motivation outside their family or possibly their village or tribe.  Country meant absolutely nothing to them.  Then he speculates on the reason for this.

I realize that a lot of the problem has to do with their screwed-up culture in Iraq.  These people had been under a dictatorship for all their lives.  Iraq as a country meant nothing to them, or at least nothing good.  Most were happy to be rid of Saddam Hussein, very happy to be free people, but they didn't understand what that really meant-the other things that come with being free.  The government wasn't going to be running their lives anymore, but it also wasn't going to be giving them food or anything else.  It was a shock.

That should be a wake-up to all of us.  We seem to be moving toward a dictatorship, by choice!  We should know that government won't be able to give us everything, healthcare, security - both personal and national, 100% safe food, transportation, cell phones, etc.,  without at the same time running the rest of our lives.  Gerald Ford is not known as a deep thinker, but even he got this basic fact.  He said, "any government big enough to give you everything you want is a government big enough to take away everything you have."

Read American Sniper and also Marcus Latrell's Lone Survivor.  We all need to know the sacrifices these men are making for us.  We need to see through their eyes what we are so casually throwing away.

                  

No Longer Self-Evident?

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.  They are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.  That to secure these Rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, That whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it and to institute new Government......

--The Unanimous Declaration of the thirteen United States of America

July 4, 1776

  

It wasn't that long ago that the truths mentioned by our founding fathers were self-evident.  They weren't up for debate.  We knew that we were endowed by our Creator with these rights.  The  government worked for us, not vice versa.  Somewhere along the way we lost sight of these truths.  We have allowed the government to grant us our rights.  The problem with the government granting rights?  The government can also rescind the same rights.  The government no longer derives its power from the consent of the governed (us).  The government   creates power for itself, if not through legislation, through regulation.  And we, the people, are allowing it and in many cases, even encouraging it.  

If our form of government is destructive to the people's unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness (property), and it is our right to alter or abolish that government, how we do we achieve that alteration or abolition?  That is where the first two amendments to our Constitution come into play.  

Amendment I

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or of the right of the people to peaceably assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Amendment II

A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the People to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.

Without the right to peaceably assemble, speak freely, and petition the  government; and the right of the people to bear arms,  it would be impossible to secure a free state or ensure the other rights granted by our Creator and guaranteed in the Constitution.  Without free speech or an armed populace, how can the people control the government as it grants itself more and more power?  We can't.  When we lose the rights guaranteed in the first two amendments, all other rights are granted at the whim of the government.  I don't think anyone, right, left, Republican, Democrat, or Libertarian are prepared for that eventuality.  Yet that's where we are heading at a breakneck speed now.  

When guns are outlawed, only the government will have guns.

--Edward Abbey

Secession?

Since the re-election of President Obama, secession has been in the news frequently.  It started with a petition from an individual in Louisiana to be allowed to peacefully secede.  At last count similar petitions by all 50 states had been submitted to the White House's official website.  The number of electronic signatures to these petitions range from just over 4,000 to over 100,000 at the time of this writing.  I do question the wisdom of creating a personal account, including all your personal information to the website of this administration, in order to criticize them.  After all, they have shown a great deal of grace and tolerance of opposing viewpoints (sarcasm intended).  The media, with voices muffled because they are soooo far up the backside of, umm I mean because they are so deep in the pocket of the president, have been very vocal in their criticism of these petitions.  Most have focused on the legality of secession.  In fact, Supreme Court Justice Scalia has been quoted saying that secession is only legal with the permission of the United States government.  The scary part of that argument is that Scalia is one of the conservative justices.  If those quotes are actually reflective of his opinion, we are further lost than I had feared.  The basis of our Constitution and the foundation of our country is found in the Declaration of Independence.  "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.  They are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights...."  The government does not grant these rights.  We were endowed by our Creator with these rights.  The next, less quoted portion of the Declaration deals with the people "empowering" a government and the right given the people by "Nature, or Nature's god" to dissolve a government when it no longer serves the people.  Now, I'm no Supreme Court Justice, but that seems pretty clear.  Nature, Nature's god, or our Creator granted rights to the people.  The people grant the government power to govern.  That's the chain of command, so to speak.  The government is not at the top of the chain, but at the bottom.  We and our government need to remember, or in some cases, learn this basic fact.  While I don't think we have reached the point where states need to seriously consider the topic of secession, I definitely understand the feeling of a lack of representation of my views and beliefs in our federal government.  That being said, I have absolutely no doubt of the right of the people to secede from a union or government that no longer serves the interests of the people.  I have absolutely no doubt that right is granted by our Creator, not by our government, therefore the government cannot restrict that right.  

Below is the Declaration of Independence in its entirety.  I believe that all Americans need to familiarize themselves with the document and its meaning.  Before talk of secession becomes serious.  In my next posting, I will discuss the easiest remedy to these very serious issues.  Not surprisingly, the remedy is in our founding documents.  We have just strayed from those documents in the past 100 plus years.  

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.--Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our Brittish brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

Why Won't We Drill?

I've already written too much about President Obama's policies that are trying to push us toward windmills, solar panels, and plug-in cars.  He is trying to do this in spite of the fact that those sources of energy and those cars are not reliable or efficient.  That is why under his policy, electricity costs "will necessarily skyrocket."  He is using federal tax incentives and regulations to discourage drilling in the U.S.  As I've mentioned previously, tighter regulations (by the state in this case ) in western Colorado severely limited exploration for natural gas.  The low price of natural gas combined with the regulations led Halliburton to close operations in the Grand Junction area, an area that went from unemployment rates under 4% in 2008 to today's rate of over 11%.  Another example of Change You Can Believe In.  Where did those jobs go?  Take a look at the state that Yahoo named the Best State to live in - North Dakota.  High paying drilling jobs have taken the state's unemployment rate to 3.8%!  5% below the national average.  Why are companies drilling there?  The state is not regulating "fracking" like Colorado began a couple of years ago.

Fracking is not a cleaned up version of an obscenity.  It is a slang word for fracturing.  In order to release oil and natural gas from the rock formations, companies fracture the formation.  Even though the procedure has been used for decades in Texas, Oklahoma, and other oil-producing states, the state of Colorado decided the process needed more study to determine its impact on the environment, especially water supplies.  As is usually the case, the media jumped in immediately with sensational stories to influence the debate.  A family went to a Denver television station with a story about their flammable tap water.  Sure enough, video shows their tap water being lit with a cigarette lighter as it comes from their kitchen faucet.  The connection to drilling?  A new well was recently drilled 7 miles away.  The drilling company did frack the well.  The state's energy department said that flammable water from wells is actually pretty common, and was reported in several areas of the state whether gas production was present or not.  Drilling for water sometimes passes through layers of the earth with pockets of natural gas.  As a rule, the release of gas is limited to a very short time.  But of course none of that made into the news reports. So, Colorado's Department of Natural Resources used the worry about fracking as an excuse to tighten regulations on the practice.  And effectively drive Halliburton along with its jobs out of the state.


Now, with gas prices inching towards $4 a gallon, Obama is starting to feel some heat on his energy policies, starting with the offshore drilling moratorium put into effect, in spite of a federal court ruling against it, immediately following the BP disaster a year ago.  This is an issue that he should worry about.  Unemployment in the 8% to 10% range has become the "new normal."  So that probably won't get as much attention as it should in the 2012 election campaign, especially with the media spinning the "improvement" that has the rate just below 9% now.  I think the average voter will have a very difficult time accepting $4 a gallon gasoline as normal, especially when they receive a $100 reminder each time they fill up their Government Motors Tahoe!

Reading the newspaper will tell you that oil and gas production is expected to be a big issue in the next election.  As one site I read said, you can tell what worries the Demoncrats by what they attack.  And they are attacking oil and gas exploration now.  Last week's Denver Post had a front section story, page 2 if my memory serves, about the environmental impact of fracking.   On Monday, the city of Grand Junction announced the opening of the western slope's first station selling natural gas for cars and city vehicles, touting natural gas's affordability and the fact that it clean burning.  So the Demoncrats, through the Denver Post launched their attacks.  The page 2 story reported that the environmental friendliness of natural gas was overstated, when the impact of fracking was considered.  They described giant trucks lumbering over the fragile western slope, pounding the earth to release the natural gas, just like black smoke spewing dinosaurs.  When you consider the impact of the equipment's emissions, the lack of emission of natural gas burning cars is more than offset, according to the Post.  Now this is my question, not the question of the so-called journalist writing the article -  why should the environmental cost (assuming there is actually one) of fracking should be considered when choosing a natural gas powered car, but not the source of electricity for the Volt ( too bad Fiero was already taken, because this story shows Fiero would be a more appropriate name).  Clean burning coal is the source of over half the electricity needed to power the Volt.  Luckily no one is buying - either the car or the fear of environmental catastrophe.

Next came a front page of the business section article.  This article seemed to be in response to the reports of the high paying jobs that left Colorado for more friendly states like Texas, Oklahoma, the Dakotas, and New Mexico.  The Post reported that the production from the exploration of western Colorado was greatly overstated.  The Post reported that of 16 wells they studied for the report, almost "half produced 800 barrels a day, or less."  Now, I was no math major, but just assume that those 16 wells averaged 800 barrels a day.  Probably a low estimate, considering the spin the author seemed to be giving the article.  Oil is $105 a barrel as I am writing this.  Again, I was not a math major, so lets round down to $100 to make the math easier.  Mr. Haight, my 4th grade math in Gruver, TX would be proud to know that I remember that to multiply by 100, just add two zeroes to the number you are multiplying.  So using these low estimates, these wells would make $80,000 a day!  Oh yeah, times 16 wells.  That's only $1,280,000 a day.  Again, let's make the math easier by assuming that these wells belong to a good union and only work 300 days a year.  What local economy wouldn't appreciate the production of $384,000,000 in a year?  Now, my bank statement rarely shows a comma, and never has two!  But if my memory of Mr. Haight's class is correct, those six zeroes and two commas denote millions.  $384 million, by conservative estimates, in a year.  Using data from only 16 wells studied for the article.  Imagine what the real numbers for the area would be!  That might put a couple of folks in the "rich" bracket that the Demoncrats are so fond of exploiting through tax increases.

This week's Post featured a front of the Perspective section article on the "real" west.  The article disputed the Republican's claim of representing the west in the battle to ease land use regulation by the Department of the Interior.  The article quoted a poll of western voters that supported the government's "protection" of our public lands.  The problem with the poll is the same as most westerners have come election time.  The polling is skewed by the heavily populated cities of Denver, Boulder, Las Vegas, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.  The constituents that wouldn't know a wilderness area not featured on a granola box, decide the policy for millions of acres of federally controlled/regulated land and the media spins it as the opinion of average westerners.  Whether that land should be federally controlled is another issue that I wrote about last year. 

Finally, today's news reported the final shot at the oil and gas exploration-friendly area of western Colorado.  Unfortunately in Colorado, the Demoncrats still control the state government.  Even worse, it's a re-distric
ting year.  So, the legislature has announced its recommendations for a new district that would include the traditionally Republican area of Grand Junction.  The area will be merged with the San Francisco/Los Angeles of the state, Boulder and Fort Collins.  This move will assure the conservative western slope will have virtually no representation in the state government.  So the folks that made the once proud state of Colorado the first to legalize abortion in the 70's and led the state's march to legalized marijuana will now decide representation for the conservative west.

I have had a very difficult time writing this post.  It's hard to keep my thoughts on track with all the B.S. being thrown right now.  My blood pressure is probably spiking now.  Sarah Palin may not be able to see the Kremlin from her front porch, but she is right on the correct energy policy for our country - "drill, baby, drill."  Or maybe her other creed is more appropriate - "don't retreat, reload."

Capitalist Frogs

Most of us know the story about how to boil a frog.  Toss a live frog in boiling water, and it will jump right back out.  Even a frog's not stupid.  Put a frog in a pot of warm water, and it's comfortable.  When you turn on the burner under the pot, it adjusts to the slowly heating water.  And stays perfectly comfortable as it is boiled to death.   

Woodrow Wilson threw our capitalist society into the boiling water.  Americans, being at least as smart as your average tail-less amphibean, jumped out of that pot.  When FDR cranked up the heat, only because of the emergency brought on by the depression and then World War II, Americans endured the heat because it seemed to be the right thing to do.  But as soon as the twin crises passed, the country jumped out and swore that we'd never get back in!

So, we sat in our pot of water, perfectly comfortable in our little free enterprise beliefs.  Soon, our elected officials suggested that we subsidize farmers.  You know, pay them to not grow crops while the land recovered.  Kind of goes against free enterprise principles, but the water's fine, so a little heat can't hurt.  Minorities and women have been held down by our system for years, so let's give them a little help getting started.  I know, a real free market would eventually reward them if their work was worthwhile.  But that would take too long.  They deserve a break.  The water's barely warm, turn the heat up just a little.  No problem.

Nuclear power's really clean and we will never run out of it.  But wow, it's really expensive and innefficient.  Let's give them a little government money to get started.  The market will eventually catch up to our wisdom and pay us all back.  Turn up that burner a little more.  Well, the earth's getting a little too warm cold warm, we need some friendly energy.  Let's give a little tax money to solar panel makers and windmill generators.  Just to get them
started.  Getting warm yet?

Those darn rich Americans aren't giving their money to ACORN like they should.  Give them some tax money.  And then finally, Fannie, Freddie, AIG, Bank of America, those guys are all too big to fail.  We'd better throw boatloads of tax money at them, or  free enterprise will fall apart.  Now, it's definitely getting hot!

The water finally got hot enough to wake up us free enterprise frogs.  We've got to stop the subsidies and let the market decide who succeeds and who fails, from the doughnut shop on the corner all the way to the state level.  If Krispy Kreme knocks Sunshine out of the market, so be it.  Don't toss loads of money to Sunshine to keep them afloat.  If California keeps going further and further into debt to pay retirement benefits for 50 year old retirees, don't give them federal money to keep putting solar panels on their schools.  If $1000 of each Government Motors vehicle sale goes to retired union members, don't buy that Impala, unless of course, their car is $1000 better than the competition's.  And our tax dollars better not go to bail them out! 

A recent poll showed that just over 25% of respondents don't know that subsidies, bailouts, and welfare checks come from the taxpayers!  They think the government just has extra money laying around.  The report did not say how many of these 25% were actually members of congress.  Ribbit. 

Ban It!

Here's an interesting story about the importance of education and the average American's willingness to let the government take care of them.

A reporter went to Times Square on a weekday late afternoon, just as office workers were crowding the street to go home after a work day.  He stopped 200 people at random and asked if they would favor the federal government either banning or strictly regulating the use of dihydrogen monoxide.  Dihydrogen monoxide is a very commonly found chemical that, through simple inhalation, kills thousands of people per year in the United States alone. It's use by businesses and individuals is essentially unregulated.  No licenses are required for its purchase or use.

As a former resident of Arizona, and frequent radio listener in the Phoenix area, I can tell you that the state ran public service ads hourly warning about the dangers of the chemical, especially to young children.

The poll results?  70% of those questioned said the government should ban the chemical compound immediately.  15% said it should be strictly regulated.  The remaining 15% were obviously libertarian nutjobs that protest government regulation of anything.  After all who is not in favor of banning di(meaning 2) hydrogen (highly explosive, right?) mono (one) oxide (oxygen)?  Or H2O.  If you still don't get it, you must be a recent American high school graduate.  It's water.

We not only allow, but encourage these people to vote!  Change, yeah!  Sign me up!  Oh yeah, what are we changing to?  Hope it's good.  Got any water?

Rangers Win the World Series!! Or Maybe Not

Hell must've frozen over.  No, the Rangers didn't even win their regular season game today, much less the World Series.  An even more rare occurrence.  I heard an intelligent comment on National Public Radio.  Of course it was at 3:30 this morning on a BBC rebroadcast, and it was made by an Indian (from India, not Native America).  

Mark Twain once said that democracy was like the steam powered printing press that he invested his life savings in.  It worked one time. In a dark room.  With no witnesses.  Intelligent commentary on NPR is just as rare.  But I did hear it!

The story was the typical NPR drivel about businesses destroying the planet with greenhouse gas emissions and pollution.  Specifically they were telling how polluted the Ganges River has become.  The Ganges River is sacred to the Hindus in India.  At least once a year they bathe in the river as an act of purification.  Even with raw sewage, industrial waste, and dead oxen floating down the river!  

The Indian scientist being interviewed was telling about his studies of the self-purification qualities of the river.  He said that something about the river itself purifies the water more quickly than other rivers being studied.  His hypothesis was that an element present in the huge quantity of leaves that wash down off the Himalayan mountains speeds the purification process of the river. But the cleansing process has been slowed because of the dams that have been built in the past 50 years slowing the flow of the river.

The interviewer asked why, if the river is so sacred to the local population, did they allow it to become so polluted?  And not polluted just by industries and businesses, but by the local population?  The Indian scientist said he blamed the British.  When the British controlled India, they set up government agencies to regulate the businesses and control the quality of the water in the river.  He was not blaming the government for loose restrictions on the industries, but for trying to regulate the water's quality in the first place.  He said the regulatory process created a disconnect between the local people and the river.  

In all the previous history of the area, the people took responsibility for keeping the river clean and keeping it sacred.  The British had good intentions when they tried to regulate what was being dumped into the river, but by taking control of the water quality, they took away the local population's respect of the river as well.  The scientist 
said people no longer feel responsible for keeping the river clean.  The government takes their tax money and says it is to keep the river clean.  So the people feel that it is the government's job.  Even though the citizens are the ones who bathe with bloated dead oxen floating past, they don't feel the need to keep their water clean.  It is the government's job.  They also feel that it is o.k. to toss their ox in the river.  The government will clean it up.

I have seen similar results of government intervention on the highways of northern Arizona.  The Navajo of the high desert along the Arizona - Utah border reputedly have a deep respect for the earth.  Their religion teaches that they actually came from a world inside the earth to this world through a sipapu, or small hole in sacred areas of the earth.  So the earth is literally their mother, and like their mother, to be respected and revered.  When the state and federal highways were built through the reservation, the government took responsibility for keeping the land clean.  A drive along Highway 160 from the Four Corners area through Tuba City on the western edge of the reservation features beautiful scenery.  The scenery that John Ford made famous in his John Wayne westerns.  But the current scenery also includes a highway lined with literally millions of empty beer bottles, beer cans, and more trash than you would find after a spring break frat house party.  The American Indians feel no need to clean the area, or no reason not to throw their trash along the road.  The government will clean it up.  It's their job.  And like every other job taken on by the government, they don't do it very well, if at all.  Although they are pretty efficient at collecting the tax revenue needed to pay for the job!

Now they have taken responsibility for keeping us healthy.  Or at least they will take the responsibility in 2014.  In the meantime, they will take the revenue starting today.  I was taught in human resources classes on interviewing and hiring, "past performance predicts future results."  The government's history tells us this will not end well.


But I did hear an intelligent comment on NPR!  Can the Rangers' World Series rings be far behind?

Glenn Beck and Al Sharpton --BFF!!??

I saw David Barton on Glenn Beck's show about a month ago and he had him on for the full hour today.  He is an American historian/author whose book, Original Intent, looks very interesting.  He is also the owner of the largest collection of pre-1812 American letters and documents.  Coincidentally, he was also part of the commission that rolled back some of the progressive changes to American history in Texas' history curriculum.

He owns one of the twenty-two surviving copies of the Bible actually published by Congress, with a note on the cover page that states that this Bible is published specifically to be used in schools.  Our founders wanted freedom from a "national religion," not separation of church and state as it has been twisted today.   They founded our country on Christian principles, not a specific denomination, but basic Christian principles.  They had no problem with individual states choosing a "state religion," as Massachusetts did until the early 1820's.  The federal government was prohibited from supporting a specific religion, but it was a right reserved to the states.  Like many other areas, the founders were willing to let citizens vote with their feet.  If Pennsylvania wanted to support the beliefs of Quakers; New York, Judaism; Rhode Island, Puritanism; Georgia, Baptist; and California, worship of the endangered fruitfly; the states had the right to do so.  And citizens were free to move from one state to another in pursuit of their happiness.  

Mr. Barton has the hand-written sermons from ministers from many denominations who led church services held in the House of Representatives, founded and attended by Thomas Jefferson.  Obviously his interpretation of "church and state" was much different than that voiced today.  He also encouraged services that were held in the chambers of the Supreme Court!


Another interesting story he told about Jefferson involved his relationship with John Adams.  He and Adams were close during the revolution and in the very early days of the republic.  They had a falling out over differing ideas about the government.  Jefferson felt that Adams was destroying the nation and defeated Adams in the election to become the third president.  The two did not speak for years.  A mutual friend named Benjamin Rusk, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, told Adams about a dream.  He said that in the dream that he, Rusk, was holding a book of letters between Adams and Jefferson and he felt that it was a message from God.  Adams said that he too, believed that it must be a message from God and he made the first move to re-connect with Jefferson.  Mr. Barton now owns the letters between Adams and Jefferson, many of them about the role of religion in government.  One other cool, or maybe spooky point in the letter, Rusk also said that in the dream he saw both Adams and Jefferson would die on the anniversary of the founding of the nation.  Both Adams and Jefferson died on the 4th of July 1826.


The point of his appearance was again how progressives have changed history to meet their points of view.  He went founder by founder from a painting of the signing of the Declaration of Independence and showed letters and documents written by the men showing their views on religion.  They believed that America should not have a federally mandated religion; that Americans should be free to choose their own religion, or no religion at all.  It seems that today, the only choice the liberals/progressives want Americans to have is whether to let their baby live.


When you get down to principles, America does have a strong, common foundation.  And yes, it is based in Christianity - the Ten Commandments.  We need to get away from the specifics that keep us divided and get to the foundation that we have in common.   Don't let the people at the opposite ends of the spectrum tear the country apart, but allow the strong middle hold it together.  Unfortunately right now our government and media is way to the left or progressive end of the spectrum and is trying to drag the rest of us their direction.   Yesterday the Reverend Al Sharpton was on Glenn Beck's show.  They both admitted that they do not agree on many, if any specifics, but they do have a common belief in the basics or foundation.  They just disagree in how to get down to the foundation, or where to build from the foundation.  That's where the founders' belief in state's rights comes in.  Let each state decide what services to provide, what taxes to collect, what recreational drugs to outlaw, whether to mandate health insurance and even whether women have the right to kill their babies.  Then let the citizens vote with their feet.  But keep the federal government out of it.  If Al Sharpton and Glenn Beck can find a common ground, maybe there is some hope for the rest of the country.

Rainbows, Unicorns, and Government-Created Jobs!

The Obama administration has already hired their 16,000 IRS agents to help enforce the new healthcare laws and their 1.5 million census workers.  Apparently those were their only two ideas.  Now they are asking for ideas from the public.  Well, any ideas except those dealing with tax cuts to businesses that can actually create jobs.

Two ideas that have already been dismissed:  1.  Do away with self-service at gas stations.  Attendants would be required to pump your gas and make sure your tires are properly inflated.  Remember the tire gauge was going to end our dependence on foreign oil according to candidate Obama.  Well maybe not.  The administration decided that would just be a "make busy" job.  
2.  Federal subsidies for "urban farms" like Michelle Obama's.  Unless they were growing medicinal marijuana, it would again be a "make busy" job.

One they did like?  If a company is contemplating layoffs, they should eliminate a position, and take the two full-time employees and make them part-time.  Then no jobs are lost!  How easy was that?  They also announced the reason for the continued high unemployment is that for every new job listed, there are five applicants.  And not as many jobs are being created as are being lost.  Whew, that clears up that question.

 Completely unrelated, I love this web ad from the republican party.  
 

It's all about the Benjamins (money for the less with it crowd)

The first rule in management is "Don't mess with your people's money."  A mistake on a paycheck will be remembered forever, no matter how quickly it might be corrected.  For all the debate about the Constitution, states' rights, federal funding of abortion, government takeover of health care, and death panels, the thing that will kill the bill quicker than anything is the cost.

And maybe that's the way it should be.  In a capitalist system, the market decides.  That's one of the basic principles of our country.  Why did cars become more fuel-efficient in the mid-70's?  Because gas prices went up.  Cars with better gas mileage sold, so car companies made an effort to improve all models' fuel-efficiency.  When gas prices moderated, or the public got accustomed to the higher costs, size became more important.  Chrysler's comeback under Lee Iacocca was led by the minivan.  When gas threatened to climb $4 a gallon or higher, there was a waiting list for hybrids.  

We all complain about American jobs going overseas.  When I worked for Stride Rite in the late 1980's and 1990's, almost all their shoes were made in factories in Massachusetts and Missouri.  Nike set the standard for the industry by going overseas to China and reducing their costs and increasing profits for their shareholders, which is their number one responsibility.  Stride Rite followed their lead, sending hundreds, if not more than a thousand jobs overseas.  By doing so, they were able to avoid the cost increases associated with doing business in the U.S.  Costs consisted mainly of environmental requirements (we all want clean air, right?), employee wages and benefits (we all want high wages and great benefits, right?).  Those production cost increases, to use Obama's phrase, necessarily led to skyrocketing retail prices.

At my store in Arizona, I saw the perfect example of Americans voting with their pocketbook.  We sold the Sperry Topsider boat shoe for $49.  A customer looked at it, tried it on, liked it, then saw that it was now made in China.  He told me that he refused to buy shoes made in China and these used to be made in the U.S.  He REFUSED to support any business that sent jobs to China.  I told him that the Dexter store was only a couple of doors down from my store and they had similar shoes, still made in the U.S.  He was back within fifteen minutes, buying the made in China Sperry Topsiders.  The Dexters, Proudly Made in America, cost an extra $20.  

In the early 1980's, WalMart was Hometown Proud.  They advertised carrying made in America merchandise.  They were also going under.  By 1988, you no longer heard the made in America claim.  Their new catchphrase was Always the Lowest Prices.  Google for stories about the Lowest Prices and their affect on American jobs particularly Zenith televisions and Rubbermaid.  It is impossible to pay the highest labor and environment related costs and sell for the lowest prices.  And it speaks volumes about those costs when you realize that it is cheaper for businesses to ship raw materials overseas, mainly to China, pay to have the products manufactured, and then ship the finished product to the United States than it is to have it manufactured in America.  Unions put the blame on the businesses when American jobs become Chinese jobs.  Blame Americans.  We are the ones that put more value on low retail prices than on American jobs.  When unions or the government start setting wage and benefit requirements, you only have to look to General Motors to see the results.  When over $1000 of the cost of every car goes to benefits for retired workers, a company can't compete.  That leads to higher retail prices and/or lower quality standards, fewer sales, and in this case a government run company.  And when the government gets involved in business, the results are predictably disastrous for the taxpayer, the shareholder, and the customer.  Unions seem to come out of the mess all right though.  They expect a payback for their campaign contributions.

Get the government involved through minimum wage standards.  At my company, we employed an average of 23 year-round full time employees.  Our starting wage was just under $1 over minimum wage.  The government felt that the minimum wage needed to be raised.  Within two years, our starting wage was now below the minimum, which forced the company to give all employees with under a year of service a raise to minimum,about 6%.  Well, the company has a responsibility to its shareholders to make a profit.  At my store, we were budgeted to use 14% of our gross sales on hourly payroll.  That did not change.  The company's options were to raise prices to increase gross sales, or reduce the number of employees.  Customers put a higher premium on price than service, so instead of 23 year-round employees, we now had to get by with 21.  Another interesting side-effect was that longtime employees were now dissatisfied with their pay.  While starting wage went up over 6%, annual salary increases stayed at the standard 3%, so new and short-term associates were making close to the pay of 3 to 5 year associates.  And customer service scores went down because the lower number of employees not only could not do the job as well, but they were not as happy with their job.  As usual when the government gets involved, everyone loses.

So now health care is the focus of the government takeover.  Like anything else, we want the best product at the lowest price.  We don't want to pay the cost of the world's best medical care, we only want to receive the world's best medical care.  In this case, we can't send the jobs to China for lower costs.  So, as in the case of General Motors, the government is stepping in.  And as usual, only the unions (unions, not to be confused with dues paying union members) will be happy with the results.  

Public Lands, Hope, Change, Hope It Changes!

When we first moved to Arizona in the 90's, one of the first things I noticed was all the public land.  We went all over the north and central part of the state, hiking, camping, and taking day trips.  Coming from Texas, I couldn't believe that you could do so much travelling without coming to a fence, locked gate, or No Trespassing sign. 

As someone who loves to camp, hike, and practice outdoor photography, I really enjoy the access to all the wild areas of the state.  Colorado also is home to large amounts of federally controlled land.  Take a look at the maps of the three states above.  Any part of that map that is not white is owned in some way by the federal government.  I'm not sure what percentage of Colorado and Arizona are federal land, but it is well over 50%.  Texas is just under 2%.  I read that Utah is over 90%, and Nevada is 98%!  I think the only part of Nevada not controlled by the government must be Las Vegas.  No wonder President Obama seems to hate Vegas! 

Recently the President used an executive order to "protect" parts of western Colorado to preserve habitat for wild horses.  Who doesn't want to protect the habitat of wild horses?  I don't know how he finds time for all his interests.  What with running Government Motors, Chrysler, all those banks, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, controlling excessive insurance company profits, and getting healthcare legislation passed in spite of the fact that most Americans don't want it.  I bet he watched the Disney movie Spirit, with his daughters last weekend.  And they said, "daddy, you've got to make sure those poor horses have a place to live!"  You know how persuasive little girls can be.  He probably looked at a map and figured that western Colorado would be a good place for some mustangs, I bet he watched an old Ronald Reagan Henry Fonda western that mentioned horses in Colorado. 

Surely it wouldn't be because of the shale deposits in the area that he decided to limit private company's access?  You know the shale that energy companies can extract clean burning, efficient natural gas from?  The same energy companies that would provide hundreds of high paying jobs to people who would then buy houses, cars, healthcare insurance, and pay taxes.  That's what President Reagan called "trickle down economics."  It does work.  It's the only thing that does work.  The problem that President Obama and his progressive friends have with trickle down economics is that private companies are making money.  And deciding for themselves how to spend it. 

I travelled regularly in the Grand Junction area last year and listened to a local radio station frequently.  They started with stories about tighter regulations on drilling in the area, making it more expensive to extract the natural gas, which was going down in price at the same time.  Then, later in the year, Haliburton announced that it was discontinuing operations in the area and laying off hundreds of employees.  Home construction in the area that had been booming for over a year, suddenly slowed to a crawl.  Construction workers that had been spending a good portion of their paychecks in the local stores moved on to jobs in other parts of the country (probably Texas with all its non-federal land).  Guess what?  Unemployment went from 3.5% in the summer of 2007 to 4.5% in January 2008 to 9.4% in today's report.  Oh yeah, with all those evil energy companies, their well-paid employees and their paychecks going elsewhere, sales in the area stores dropped dramatically, forcing more layoffs.  And to make matters worse, the drop in sales brings a drop in sales tax revenues.  So now the local governments are feeling the pain too.  Only the government could screw things up this bad and this quickly.  

So, the obvious solution?  Restrict development in the region even more!  Not what you would've thought?  Well, then you are obviously not a mustang loving Harvard graduate.  

To steal a line from Sarah Palin, "How's that hope-y change-y thang working out for ya now?"  

Arizona Camping

Cathy and I love to camp.  When we lived in Texas, we would take a spring and fall vacation, usually to Arizona and camp.  One of our favorite trips was through southern Arizona.  We camped the first night at Roper Lake State Park.  The park has a tub-sized natural hot spring and a cattail-infested lake, about the size of a small pond.  It had nice campsites, and most importantly, a shower and restrooms.  We like to camp, not rough it!  While we were there, it rained non-stop from the time we finished setting up the tent until after dark.  We cooked spaghetti and after eating, went to bed early, listening to the rain on the fabric of the tent.  The rain let up at about 10, and I had just dozed off when we were both awakened by a loud roar.  Engine roar, not bear roar.  If you have never camped a couple of miles from a dirt race track, it is a quite an experience.  Between the roar of all the race cars and the, apparently state of the art, public address system, it was just like being there.  Only without being able to see the race of course.

The next morning we drove north to Fort Thomas.  I had specifically chosen this route so we could see Fort Thomas.  My Grandpa Doode had been stationed there before World War II.  I thought it was a military assignment, but later learned that he was working with the WPA at the time.  He had a lot of stories  from his short time in Arizona, so he must have really liked it.  He grew up in the same part of Texas where I have lived the majority of my life.  So he and his friends were very impressed with Mount Graham.  They had arrived by train at night, and did not see the mountains until morning.  They had free time on their first day at Fort Thomas, so Grandpa and some friends went to the mess hall to see if they could get a sack lunch and then go climb the mountain.  The cook laughed and told them they were welcome to try, but that the mountain was over 40 miles away.  Having grown up on the comparatively flat hill country of north Texas, they had no perspective to apply to the almost 11,000 feet high mountain.  They were offered some recreation though.  Grandpa said their boss came into the barracks and told them there would be a baseball game that night, if anyone was interested in playing.  Of course, they all thought they were budding baseball stars, so they volunteered.  It was not until game time that they noticed the donkeys and learned the game would be played in front of a large crowd and on the backs of donkeys!

His favorite story of Fort Thomas was about a rescue mission they went on.  The area around Fort Thomas is high desert.  Daytime temperatures go well over 100 and nights get cool.  They were told about a hunter that had apparently got lost in the rough area.  His family had not seen him in a couple of days.  With black bears, mountain lions, and of course rattlesnakes in the area, they feared that something had happened to him.  So a group of volunteers from the WPA camp were recruited to search for the lost hunter.  While it was a break from their normal duties, it was by no means fun.  Searching in the dried stream beds, watching for snakes, and of course enduring the incredible Arizona heat was miserable.  And worse, they found no sign of the hunter during their search.  Grandpa was sitting at the fire with a few of his fellow searchers the first night when one of the men asked the name of the poor fellow they were searching for.  When they told him the name, he said "that's me!"  He had been out hunting and came across the rescue party. Since he knew the area, he joined the search.  The wise man in charge told him to be quiet and not tell anyone else, or he would definitely be in need of rescue.  The next morning they called off the search and returned to Fort Thomas.

Roper Lake and 29 other Arizona state parks are scheduled to close by the end of June due to a state budget shortfall.  A privately owned company has offered to lease the right to run the parks for a profit from the state.  The rates charged would be the same or possibly a little less than the state charges, and they would be subject to state oversight of all operations.  His company runs more than 100 former state parks nationwide.  He said that 98% of them turn a profit in addition to paying a fee to the state.  Arizona's state government is hesitant to contract the parks to his company.  They are concerned about a privately owned company making a profit off state owned land!  Their other option is to close the parks altogether and let them deteriorate while no one gets to visit and neither the state nor any private individual earns any income from the use of the land.  Seems like some state legislators need to hear the proverb about "cutting off your nose to spite your face."  One day, hopefully very soon, we Americans will learn that government is the source of, not the solution to, the majority of our problems.