Where Am I?

I started a literary reading series last summer--every Monday night, June , July & August. I find that it takes not only my time, but my "creative" juices, such as they are.

See Summer Gazebo Readings.

But I'll be back as soon as something ticks me off enough to head back to the computer--or the summer ends, whichever comes first!

If I Were King: Energy Edition

I've been playing this out in my head for a while now, and I've posted various pieces of it over the years--indeed, long before gas prices took off.

Here's what I would like to see done as a comprehensive energy policy:

1) Standardize gasoline formulations. Right now there are several different sets of gasoline formulations throughout the US, all designed to help meet EPA Clean Air standards. The problem is, given our limited refinery capacity, oil companies have to make guesses about regional demand--and the cost to revamp the refineries to produce different formulations impacts our prices at the pump. Congress should immediately standardize US gasoline formulations.

2) We haven't built any new refineries in the US since Carter was President. We have to authorize the immediate construction of at least 2 new refineries, preferably in areas away from the existing ones, so that the next hurricane doesn't send us into an economic tailspin.

3) We have to immediately fast-track the siting and construction of nuclear power plants-- at least the 45 that McCain is calling for, probably many more. (France gets 70% of its power from nuclear.) If we are going to shift transportation and home heating away from oil, then we will need the additional electric capacity that only nuclear can provide us.

4) We need to use solar power, our modern day manna from heaven, to break away from carbon based fuels. If we could "find" $165 billion for a BS tax refund, we can find similar funds to finance solar fields and solar panels for residences and businesses. The more units we install, the faster the costs will come down, and the more efficient they will be made--that's the way American technology and business works. Start spending $165 billion per year on solar installations and see what our minds will create.

5) We should set a standard for miles-per-gallon for new vehicles--say 100 mpg. Any new vehicle sold below that standard will be taxed $X per mpg, increasing as you go below 50 mpg, then again below 25 mpg. We can phase the tax in over 3 years or so, to give manufacturers a chance to alter their production. But the point is that if you are driving a vehicle getting 15 mpg, you are hurting the nation far beyond the cost of the gas. We need to be energy independent.

Taxing new vehicles is better than adding a tax to the gas itself--which only hurts businesses and individuals. And by taxing only new vehicles, we avoid any huge impact on the working poor.

6) We need to drill for more oil here in the short run, and expand credits for new production. You can't make the oil companies the villains, penalize them for providing us the product on which we are addicted, and expect them to continue to produce it. Life doesn't work that way.

7) We need to subsidize the electric companies to help them retrofit their plants that use oil, as opposed to coal, to generate electricity (about 1 1/2% of our capacity) and to upgrade their delivery system. If more cars turn to electricity for power, we are gong to need more power generated through the electric grid--and that needs to be upgraded badly.

8) All new construction needs to have a renewable energy component, and a significant increase in energy-saving technology--both active and passive-- installed. Solar panels, energy efficient appliances, insulation, windows, motion-sensitive lighting, CFL fixtures-- and more. We may need to have national building code requirements.

9) We need a cluster of smaller projects as well--things like converting all stop lights to energy saving LEDs instead of bulbs, re-insulation of homes and businesses, design of TV's and computers so that they don't draw energy even when they are "off". More recycling. Better traffic controls and patterns.

Shifting away from oil gives us several benefits-- it should lower our carbon emissions, which should please the global warming crowd. It will lessen our dependence on foreign sources, decreasing the likelihood we will need to send our armed services into harm's way to protect our energy suppliers--which should have the support of military families and their supporters. It will require massive use of our technological know-how and resources, which is great news to Silicon Valley,and the next generation of scientists and venture capitalists.

We can substantially reduce our dependence on fossil fuels, and especially on foreign oil, but it will take a concerted effort involving pieces that not everyone would like. If there was a simple answer, we'd have found it. But do we have the political will to get it done? I hope so. I've sat on gas lines in my lifetime, and I'm watching now how we cater to petty dictators, and allow nations like Iran to develop nuclear weapons, all because we need their oil. I hope my grandchildren won't have to.

Unfortunately, the way modern American politics works, instead of looking at a comprehensive package as a whole, individual constituencies will attack the portion they detest, and something like this would likely never pass. Still, I don't know how else we shift this economy onto more solid ground then we are on--at least until a depression strikes us down.

Hillary to Drop Out

ding dong

Pension Reform?

People in New York, particulary on Long Island, don't ever get it when we read stories about the need to put more money into education.

Latest example why? The list of the top ten recipients from the New York State Teacher's Pension system just came out.

Number One? James Hunderford, who receives $316,000 per year.

And guess what? He's only 64 ...and he's back working for another Long Island school district at the bargain rate of $200,000 per year.

The two school districts he worked for, by the way, are considered mediocre-to-average by Long Island standards, so it's not like this guy turned around a troubled district, or shephered the Harvard of Long Island.

But there are no reforms needed in education, are there?

Cyrus Follow Up

My post on Miley Cyrus generated some heated comments between my friends. Here's my comments on those:

1) First, I wasn't trying to say that liberals support child pornography. What I meant was that when faced with a situation where an "artist" crosses the lines of generally accepted civil decency, it is virtually always liberals who rush to the defense. For example, the infamous "Christ in a Bucket of Piss" and the defecation-Madonna drew widespread criticism, but there was a legion of liberals who cried "McCarthyism" and who came to the defense of the "artist".

A quick Google of blogs supports my point-- there are quite a number of defenders of Liebowitz, and while I can't tell the political leanings of all of them, many have Impeach Bush or pro-Hillary/Obama messages on their sites.

Liberals have shown a reluctance to draw critical lines when it comes to art. Rightly or wrongly, I think that is a true statement.

2) I will grant everyone that it is also true that the Right has no lock on morality, nor do those who call themselves religious, of any affiliation. My point, made obviously inarticulately, was that there is a group of people in this country who make money off exploiting children, by peddling sex and violence to children, by foisting onto our children video games, TV shows, movies, music lyrics, etc. that are full of hate, violence and age-inappropriate sexual content.

It is not just liberals who are doing it-- I'm sure there are many registered Republicans who reap the financial benefit of this garbage-- it's just that liberals have traditionally provided the intellectual cover for it. And I think it is also fair to say that the vast majority of the Hollywood establishment are Democrats.

3) I have said many times and I repeat here, that I think that virtually nothing should be censored from adults. I see no reason why the Sopranos, or Sex in the City could not have appeared on network television. My problem has been the lack of labeling, and the inappropriate placement of shows and promos for shows. See prior post.

4) As for parents just shutting the TV off-- simply impossible. Inappropriate material is thrust at our children (I include teens in that category) through too many venues. Unless we all become Amish, there is no way to shield our children from it all. See prior post.

5) Lastly, Buck asked me my opinion as to whether America is a Christian nation.

I don't know. I have to think about it, quite frankly.

I know that the word God does not appear in our Constitution, a fact I personally am very proud of.

And clearly our laws are based on the Judeo-Christian ethic to a great extent.

And I know that when the Founding Fathers were talking about Christianity, they weren't including Mormons, Quakers or Catholics, by and large.

Still, until I formulate my own opinion, I think the best I can do is reprint a bit of a post from 3 years ago which contained an exchange from "Meet the Press" I found fascinating:

MR. RUSSERT: Senator Lieberman, when you hear political leaders, religion leaders say, "America is a Christian nation," as a Jewish American, how do you feel?

SEN. LIEBERMAN: I hear it this way, and this may be a companion piece to what Reza has just said. This is a country founded by Christians, a majority of whose citizens are Christians. But going back to the premise I spoke to before, those rights to life, liberty and a pursuit of happiness, which we have as the endowment of our creator, have been given to everybody. So though this is a nation that--the majority of which is Christian, I will say to you as a Jewish American that I believe in the 5,765 years of Jewish history, there has never been a country, other than Israel during certain times of its history, which has given Jews more freedom. The same can now be said of Islam and Buddhism and Hindus, etc., etc., etc. That's the glory of this country and, frankly, the grace and gift of the Christians who founded the country and who continue to be the majority within it.

And incidentally, I think this is an important message for us to convey to the rest of the world, because when--those rights that were in the Declaration of Independent, we didn't say that only Americans got this endowment from our creator. That's a universal declaration of human rights. And the best encouragement to people in the Islamic world outside of America, that we're not about Christianizing the rest of the world, is what's happened here in the United States of America. Everybody's got a right to choose. This is about freedom. And I'm very heartened by what Reza has said, and I do want to say that this war on terrorism, our enemy, which is not Islam--It is extremist Islamic terrorists--we are facing the first theologically based enemy in a long time. This is a theological war by a small group of Muslims, but they are inviting a reaction from the majority of Muslims, who Reza speaks for, and I think in the end, there is great hope in that for all of us."

Friday Quickies

.....Been as busy as I ever have been, compounded by the time I have to take off next week for Daughter-the-Elder's college graduation-- a truly proud and happy Daddy event.

So busy, in fact, that I haven't read my own blog in days. My last post engendered a surprising flurry of comments, some I fear that may have caused ill feelings between my friends. I certainly hope not.

In fact, I haven't read the comments yet--just scanned them, which was enough to get a flavor of the tenor of the conversation. (Benny--bust a nut? Almost caused me to spit-take coffee on my computer.) I will read all the comments this weekend, and make any comments at the end of the last post.

We've been a civil group of people holding markedly varied views on life, politics and the world. I hope this remains a fun place for you all to come, stand on the virtual soapbox and voice your opinions.

In the end, when faced with an uneasy situation, I find myself reacting as most American men do, and thus I have one final comment on the whole Miley Cyrus controversy and all of your comments:

How about them Mets?

....Seems to me Obama used Rev. Wright to give him, Obama, some legitimacy in the Chicago African-American scene at the start of his career. It must have worked well, opened some local doors, and helped Obama get started.

Too bad for him that Rev. Wright came straight out of Central Casting, perfectly playing the part of the angry black radical who causes fear and loathing in white America.

Worse still for Obama is the fact that Wright chooses to ignore or downplay legitimate grievances that exist, and instead continues to espouse idiotic theories about AIDs, 9/11 and white-government conspiracies.

There is no way Obama didn't know that Wright believed this garbage --and given her prior statements, there is a question in my mind how much of it Mrs. Obama buys into-- but once he made his deal with the devil there was no way Obama could have left the Church without undermining his local base.

So I give Obama credit for handling this situation, but he takes a hit for lying about not knowing what Wright was espousing.

....By the way, think Hillary and Barack would like to get Al Gore to stick Bill and Rev. Wright on an Arctic ice floe for the balance of the contest?

.....Great story hitting all the morning shows. A college kid hits a homer, but rips up her knee rounding first. If helped by her teammates, she has to be declared out. So what happens? The opposing team picks her up and carries her around.

Huge thumbs up to Mallory Holtman of Central Washington State, the first baseman who came up with the idea.

An excellent Friday morning feel-good story:

...And finally a quote from the great Theodore Roosevelt:

Courtesy is as much a mark of a gentleman as courage.

Miley Cyrus

What is it about our entertainment industry that it insists on peddling porn and debasing humanity at every turn?

No doubt the typical knee-jerk reaction by America's liberals will be that art is art, and we conservatives are too stupid and too uptight to "get it". The word "McCarthyism" will no doubt fly soon, though in fact the only place true McCarthyism is currently practiced on a regular basis is on our uhber-liberal college campuses.

Annie Liebowitz is a pornographer. This time she did it with a 15 year old known for being "squeaky clean"--thus making her a perfect target for this type of exploitation. "Innocence" may be the only dirty word known to "Hollywood".

Ah, peddling sex to children and through children. What a wonderful way to make a living. I hope Dante was right and the circle of hell set aside for America's entertainment executives, directors, producers, etc. is an especially hot one.

For prior examples, see Brittney Spears, virtually every PG-13 movie, teen-targeted music and TV show, and a prior post.

Giving

Now that the candidates have all filed their tax returns, I have to say I am impressed with all of them on one point: all three are generous givers to charity.

I know the more cynical of us might say, hey, giving to a charity is a great way to garner loyalty and support from the people involved in that charity, and to that extent, the donation is merely a politician's business expense.

Still, in a land that is the most generous in the world (Americans give 1.7% of our GDP to charity, the highest ratio of any nation) I think it is important that our leaders join in the effort.

I recall that Al Gore, when Vice-President, was severely, and properly, criticized for only giving $353 to charity on $200,000 in income in 1998. And I know that the Obamas gave a relatively paltry amount (less than 1% of their income) through 2004. Still both Gore and Obama gave larger contributions in later years.

The Clintons and John McCain are also to be applauded for their contributions, which were sizable both in amount and in percentage of their incomes.

That said, in 2006 we Americans gave away over $295 billion dollars to charities. What is needed is some insight into how the charities use these funds. I truly believe the entire industry needs a little sunshine-- there is many a scandal hiding behind the doors of charitable foundations, religious organizations, and other non-profits.

I don't want government interfering with how these organizations operate--I do want to see some transparency in their operations. We give too much, too willingly, as a nation not to know where the money is going, and how it is being spent.

Mets 54 Strikes, Phillies 52 Strikes

Like a baseball announcer who reports the results of a game based on the number of strikes each pitcher threw, instead of the runs scored, the Mainstream Media insist on reporting results of primaries (and general Presidential elections) based on total votes, instead of what really counts--delegates (or, in November, Electoral College votes).

Who cares that Hillary received more votes in Nevada or Texas--Obama received more delegates in each state.

And last night, true to form, the buzz was all about Hillary's 10% victory.

Which is totally irrelevant.

In case you haven't seen it elsewhere, here are the true results of yesterdays' Pennsylvania primary: Hillary received a net gain of 6 delegates.

6.

Obama still is ahead by 162 pledged delegates, meaning Hillary would need to win another 27 Pennsylvania's to tie him.

And there ain't 27 Pennsylvania's left.

By the way, check out Disbarred Bill's latest expletive deleted explosion/lie. If there is a lower life form than Bill Clinton (OK, maybe Howard Wolfson), I've never seen one.

Do They Bowl On Alpha Centauri?

Stephen Hawking, one of the most truly amazing human beings to grace this planet, speculated that there probably is life elsewhere in the Universe.

He noted that there are three options as to why we haven't heard from anybody: the first is we are alone; the second is that they advanced technologically to the point they blew themselves up. Hawking said he prefers the third option, that

"Primitive life is very common and intelligent life is fairly rare," he then quickly added: "Some would say it has yet to occur on earth."

In a related story, both the Obama and the Clinton campaigns announced that their candidate was the only one who could relate to truly alien cultures, thus reaching out to intergalactic primary voters, and, of course, listeners of Air America, the "progressive" radio network.

Jimmy Carter Meet Jack Nabors

Jack Nabors was a pitcher for the 1916 Philadelphia Athletics. He set the record for the most consecutive losses in a row-- 19.

And now, with his nonsensical Hamas venture, Jimmy Carter extends his string of being wrong about foreign affairs, threatening Nabors' dubious record.

I don't know if I can name them all, but the biggies for Carter include Iran, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Panama and Korea.

The next President would do well to take away the man's visa and give him a hammer. At least when he hits the wrong nail then, he only hurts himself.

Texas Polygamy Case

Short question: We are seeing tons of coverage about the children taken from the Texas compound. And now, in a media blitz, the mothers of the children are all over the news.

Putting aside any other comment or query, I have this question:

Where are the fathers of these children? We haven't seen any. We haven't heard from any.

And the media isn't even mentioning them.

Inaction & Insincerity

The Pope has hit U.S. soil, and finally, more than 16 years after the stories of the first pedophile scandals broke, and more than 6 years after the extent of the cover-ups was exposed, we have a sort of apology.

The problem is this Pope, while a Cardinal and now as Pope, has consistently hidden pedophiles and especially their Church-hierarchy protectors, from justice. Exhibit One is the despicable Cardinal Law who, thanks to Pope Benedict, serves in a position of great honor at the Vatican, instead of as an inmate in a U.S. jail.

“Our love must not be a thing of words and fine talk. It must be a thing of action and sincerity" (1 John 3:18).

If this Pope were sincere, he would act, not talk. And all of those involved in secretly shipping predators around from parish to parish to prey on the Church's most devout and innocent would be banned from the Church--not coddled and supported for the rest of their lives.

This scandal has cost the church over $2 billion thus far. Catholics should remember that a portion of their weekly tithe, however small it may be, goes to put food on the plate, and golden robes on the back, of Cardinal Law and his brethren.

The Pope is Coming

Many American Catholics have been waiting for years for a Pope--this one or the prior-- to speak out about the unspeakable acts inflicted by priests on children, and moreso about the reprehensible way the Church hierarchy dealt with its pedophiliac priests.

The stain of that scandal, his refusal to handle it--indeed, his protecting and rewarding of criminals such as Cardinal Law and his assistants-- should follow the memory of Pope John Paul II forever.

As for this Pope, there hasn't been this much excitement about an ex-Nazi coming to New York since Kurt Waldheim became Secretary General of the United Nations.

Friday Quickies

...I wrote yesterday of my distaste for the Olympics. On second thought, maybe if they combined some of the sports I might find them more interesting.

How about combining archery with the pole vault-- see if they can nail the suckers before they clear the high bar?

Taikwando and gymnastics? See who can kick the head right off one of those little anorexic pixies?

Fencing and trampoline?

Wrestling and water polo?

....Bob Barr is considering a third party candidacy against John McCain. Now I'm no huge fan of McCain, but Barr? It's men like Barr, and Trent Lott and Tom DeLay that cost the GOP the Congress and the moral authority in this country.

As they say, not enough bad things can happen to a man like Barr.

....Watching this John Adams HBO series makes me hope they do an in depth story on the life of Alexander Hamilton--especially his virtually lifelong feud/rivalry with Aaron Burr.

....Saw that horrific video of those teenagers beating on that girl. Two thoughts crossed my mind.

I loved how the media kept telling us how despicable it was that the girls were taping the beating for the purpose of uploading it to the Internet, how awful the idea was of the video being distributed--all the while they played it again and again and again in an endless loop.

Hypocrites.

And my second thought was, at least from the clip they kept showing--damn, this girl could take a punch!

....Jimmy Carter.

That's all I can type with clenched fists and gritted teeth.

....I'm generally a government hands-off guy, and I've always been a big proponent of deregulation.

But this airline system of ours' is broken. The companies keep losing money, the safety is suspect, the air traffic system is antiquated, and the customer is treated about as well as an inmate at Abu Ghraib.

Something needs to be done.

I hesitate to think of the government getting more involved, but clearly the industry has been unable to right itself. Passengers are left stranded; departure and arrival times are barely good guesses; too many times passengers are trapped for hours and hours on tarmacs, without water or clean facilities.

The disruption is hurting our economy.

Something needs to be done. I wish someone had an answer.

Years ago a wise friend of mine (OK, not really wise--he's dead wrong on just about everything except the Mets and that his daughter is both beautiful and intelligent) repeatedly said that someone could get elected running against the cable company.

I think today someone could get elected running against the airline industry. I honestly am perplexed by this whole situation, but in the end I refer you to the quote below.

....And finally, a quote from the great Theodore Roosevelt:

The country needs and, unless I mistake its temper, the country demands bold, persistent, experimentation. It is common sense to take a method and try it, if it fails, admit it frankly and try another. But above all, try something.