Wakeup Breathing

The environmentalists are touting the use of ethanol as one way to save the planet from the evils of gasoline. Ethanol which is basically grain alcohol or “corn squeezins” as some know it, is being used as addition to gasolene or in place of gas. And for the most part it works. There are changes you need to make to engine burning ethanol because ethanol destroys the normal gaskets and hoses that are not affected by gasolene. Many race cars burn alcohol instead of gasolene for their race fuel.

But using ethanol to replace gasolene nation wide, while a good pipe dream is impossible with our current material used to create it. That material is corn….while we grow substancial amounts of corn most of it is used for our food and food for many of our food animals. Animals like cattle, dairy cows, chickens and turkeys. Also much of our corn is an export to other countries.

But now with our governments support we are diverting much of our corn production away from food to be used in the production of ethanol…..What happens to a commodity that experiences a shortage? Why yes boys and girls it gets more expensive…..

So now that so much corn is being used to make ethanol less is available for food, specifically food for farm animals.
And what is available is getting much more expensive to buy meaning it is more expensive to raise those farm animals. Animals that produce food we eat or are produced for food. Of course we could all go vegan and not eat meat…but sorry I don’t like tofu burgers.

What this means then is that food that is made from corn or fed on corn is going to cost more. In 2007 the price of eggs has gone up 29 percent. Mainly because the cost of corn based feed has surged because more of the U.S. crop has been diverted to ethanol production.

But prices of beef and milk have also risen dramatically. This years Thanksgiving turkey will most likely set you back a bit more also. But we should expect other products to increase in price also. Things like cheese, bread and cereals will have to go up to as corn is used more for ethanol.

So in the near future expect to see food prices continue to rise as more and more corn is used to feed our cars instead of ourselves….another fine example of our government and environmentalist “knee jerk” reaction to a bigger enery problem and not understanding the “unintended consequences” of their actions.

I was listening to some of the campaign promises by the two on the liberal or progressive (read socialist) side of the fence. Both candidates seem to be falling over each other trying to have the most social give aways.

One of the programs they both want to tax us more for, is socialized…I mean medical coverage for everyone. You know the same coverage the UK and Canada have. It’s so good that people come here for medical treatments that they can’t get in the UK or Canada. But that isn’t what I wanted to talk about…

I wanted to talk about personal responsibility as it relates to the above…….I was having dinner last night with my wife and another couple. My wife and I are very health conscience. We exercise regularly and apply moderation to our diet. The reason I say moderation is because we are not health nuts, we are just watchful of our diets.

Well at the next table are a family of 4. Now I’m not trying to be funny but their combined weight could easily make 6 or 7 normal weight people. So while we are there this family consumed and unbelieveable amount of food with an equal amount of soft drinks.

Now it isn’t my responsibility to point out or even care about how anyone might abuse their health. But if the two democrat presidential candidates are going to advocate socialized medicine which we will have to be highly taxed for.

Shouldn’t people be required to at least try to live a healthy or healthier lifestyle to keep costs down? Shouldn’t there be some personal responsibilty for the folks getting “free” paid by us health care?

If some of us are going to pay taxes out the wazoo, those that are benefitting should at least stop smoking, drinking to excess and maybe lose that extra 50 to 100 pounds. Maybe they shouldn’t look at it as something
to do for better health. Maybe living better could just be a thank you for those of us that just might end up paying for some folks medical care.

And then maybe we will dodge the bullet and get a president that won’t give away everything on the planet to get elected…….he will only give away half of everything.

Some people are getting together to try to force oil companies to lower prices by purchasing gas from only independent gas stations.
Unfortunately buying gas from one company and opposed to another will make no difference. The cost of gas is a multi-faceted issue. One part is supply and another part is economics and the value of the dollar.

First supply…About 70% of the oil we consume for all uses including gas is imported from various countries mainly the OPEC ones. We even import about 13% of our gasoline now. The resaon is because we as a society have chosen to not develope our own sources of oil. We have allowed overblown fears of various kinds to stop oil development in Alaska and offshore along our own coasts. At the same time other countries will be drilling 30+ miles off the coast of Florida to get oil we can’t go after because of environmental fears. Now I’m not saying we should abandon environmental controls that would be stupid. But we should also not allow unfounded environmental fears stop us from doing activities that will help develope new resources.

So because environmentalists have strangled our oil industry from exploration and our government has no leadership the oil companies must purchase oil from very unsympathic countries. The OPEC countries have no incentive to increase production because they have a captive buyer. We need it and they have it. Why would they give up the golden goose…which is us and other oil dependant countries. Now we can all sit around in forums and do a collective hand wringing and make symbolic statements about where to buy or not buy gas. For the most part is will be like picking the fly poop out of the pepper…..it won’t make any difference. Also there is only so much demand that can be reduced. Gas is only a part, diesel, propane, kerosene, heating oil are all from that same barrel of oil. So while we can maybe reduce our individual use of gas by a few gallons it is limited.Our entire economy is dependant on oil in some form or another. Either in the manufactruing process or creation of many items we use. Also in the distribution of those items. How many things do you buy are shipped via trucks to the stores you patronize?

Another factor is the falling dollar. Since oil contracts are in dollars as the dollar falls it takes more dollars to buy the same amount of oil. And since there is a finite amount of gas in a barrel of oil the higher the price of a barrel the higher a gallon of gas. The recent mortgage industry meltdown has been a huge factor in the dollars free fall. Mainly because other countries have invested here and are bailing out because of that and other mis-steps by our government. with the Feds prining money like there is no tomorrow it is making things worse. The more there is of something the less it’s value….think dollar. One thing about the oil companies. Some here complain about the profits…..remember an oil company is not some fat cat somking a cigar rolling in the money. Oil companies are us…they are in our 401k. They are Grandma’s retirement fund and in a unions investment vehicle. So when you beat on the oil companies you are beating on us.

The gas problem is not going to be fixed with you or me buying 5 less gallons a week because we rode a bike to the store. It is going to take some leadership in Washington in conjunction with the energy industries. And that will happen only when we elect leaders instead of figure heads. Whoever is elected this Novemember will provide no more leadership on energy than the last 4 presidents.

We need a comprehensive energy plan. With some of the following activities:

Develope our own sources of oil, in Alaska and offshore. To begin to rid oueselves of OPEC.

Higher subsidies either through tax breaks or purchasing assistance to increase home solar use.

Develope a standard nuclear electrical generation plant and use it where there is not hydro-electric capabilities. (France generates 70% of their electricy through nuclear plants) We are at least as smart as they are and can do this safely.

Use more wind farms where they can be used even if a bird or two run into the blades.

Continue developing hybrid and fuel cell cars because we are never going to go back to horse and carriage or ride bikes to work.

I know some of these are controversial, but we are not going to have any success unless we move away for gas and natural gas as a prime enery source and more to alternatives……In my humble opinion

I am a big sci-fi fan. I love old black and white movies because movies then had a plot and didn’t rely on special effects. So I recently watched one of my favorites, it was The Day the Earth Stood Still. In the movie, Klatu the man from outer space caused the whole planet to shut down electrically for 30 minutes. This caused everything that had any reliance on electricity to stop and thus disrupting all societies worldwide.

After the movie I saw a news report that oil had gone to 102 dollars a barrel. With that we could soon expect 4 dollars a gallon for gas. I thought we are rapidly approaching a time when this country could stand still because of high gas prices. Now for you liberals and environmentalists I want to say prices are not high because of Bush. They are not high because we are in Iraq or Afghanistan or any other region. They are high because OPEC can charge whatever they want and we will pay it. They won’t increase production because they make billions on us. Why increase production and give up the golden goose..us!. The high gas prices take huge amounts of money out of our economy, money that could be spent on products and services that keep other Americans working. But the high prices take a toll in other ways also. They drive up the cost of shipping products, which forces the manufacturers to raise prices to offset shipping costs. Products we manufacture cost more like plastics, rubber and anything that has or uses oil in its production. So your tires will cost more. Those toys for you kids also.

Oil prices are also high because we will not develop our own sources. They are high because we have gutless politicians that will not tell the radical environmentalists to go take a flying leap. We have activist judges that go along with the environmentalist in blocking anything that even resembles drilling, mining or anything that resembles oil or resource development. We won’t build a single new refinery, to refine that 102 dollar oil.
They are high because we have an electorate that is more interested in what Britney did than what our legislators are doing or not doing. Developing fuel efficient cars is great, but we are not going to replace 300 million cars overnight. And this doesn’t even account for the many thousands of large transport trucks.

So when we are paying 5, 6, 7 dollars a gallon, don’t blame it on Bush. By then we will have another president anyway. Don’t blame it on Clinton, Obama or McCain either, although they are part of the problem and will be no part of the solution. No the blame goes right where it belongs. Who is that you say….just look in the mirror. We are the problem, we let it happen.

Are we taking this “pc” thing to far….to the point of killing our country?

I know we have all heard all the new ways to talk about anything so we don’t hurt anyones feelings or offend anyone. Although the last time I read the Bill of Rights, I didn’t see any right to not be offended or have hurt feelings…..

I was watching a morning “news” show and they were interviewing two congress members. One of them had said that the terrorists will be “dancing in the streets” if Obama is elected President. The other congresswoman was totally offended that this person would make such mean and offensive statements. The congressman said that because Obama said he would immediately pull troups out of Iraq, that the terrorists would see this as a sign of our defeat and would dance in the streets.

Seems logical to me…..If you quit would not the other side think they won? duh!

The congressman also said that some in the middle east would also celebrate because of Obama’s middle name..Hussein. And in the middle east that name has different conotations than here in the U.S. Again she was offended that this congressman would disparage Obama’s name that way.

What way? Hussein IS his middle name. And if you have forgotten that just happens to be a very important name in Islam. So wouldn’t followers of Islam both radical and not find that name a good thing for their side??

Again seems logical to me…

So just more examples of the “pc” thing running this country off the rails. Because we can’t hurt anyones feelings we are actually hurting our way of life because we cannot say things the “way they are”.

It’s time we go back to straightforward speak like this….your kid doesn’t have ADD they are a freaking brat that you created. Which btw…they need their butt spanked once in a while.
They are not undocumented workers, they are illegal aliens. They are not freedom fighters…they are Islamo-facists terrorists.

There are way to many “pc” ways of avoiding hurt feelings or being offended to list, but we have all heard them. So in an effort to stop “pc speak” I will refrain from it and use “straightforward speak” from now on.

And while we are at it…..can we get off the global whinning train. Global warming is a hoax and Al Gore is a joke getting rich off it!