More on "Dubya's At It Again"

Following up on my first post "Dubya's At It Again," this was released just today regarding drilling for oil off the nations coasts:

...According to the federal government's own Department of Energy, drilling off America's coasts would not have a significant impact on domestic oil production or prices before 2030. And off-shore leasing wouldn't even begin before 2012...

...Most of the U.S. offshore oil, almost 10 billion barrels, lie off the coast of California. But at the current rate of U.S. consumption - about 20.7 million barrels a day - that would be burned up in 16 months...

(and I love this one!)

...Experts believe that currently restricted areas … could eventually produce up to 18 billion barrels of oil," Mr. Bush said in a recent speech.

On that quote, my first question is,"Who paid for the 'Expert Opinions,' and why is the opinion not one of assurety? It is common practice in many industries to conduct research to determine what is correct, beneficial, etc, and what is bad, dangerous, unhealthy, etc.

In commisioning this research, the company wanting the information will hire a firm that will give them the results they (the 'fact finding' company) want. In other words, the results are skewed from the beginning. Mr. Bush seems to advocate this same 'fact finding' to support his call for oil drilling. Notice the words "...could eventually..." Anyone who has followed politics can recognize this jargon as basically saying, "...well, the oil might be down there, and if it is, it will take a long, long time to get it out."

Mr. Prez is still adding on to the Texas-sized pile of horse poo that is already sickeningly deep. I still maintain that his one interest is for $$$. The same articles I read on this alluded to the fact that if the oil actually hits the market in the next 22 years or so, its impact might well be as much as an entire two-bits--yep, a whole quarter. Whoopy-Dooo!!!!

Let's all jump up right now and gleefully yell our praises to the big Oilman from Texas. Billions in assured tax breaks, exemptions from established Environmental safeguards, and a profit windfall fall for every hire-up associated with the exploration, drilling, refining, and selling of the petroleum products.

The environment will get screwed; the American Taxpayer will get shafted; and the American consumers will feel the brunt of the "lower" gas prices when they spend $100 on gas to fill their car, instead of $100 on groceries to fill their stomachs. Isn't it about time the government put some real money into energy research instead of shoveling it towards companies (in the form of tax breaks) that already could care less whether or not you can feed your family?

(Write your Congressional Representatives, Please!!!)

The Obesity Scapegoats

Over the last twenty years, the average American waistline has expanded to widths not previously known. Both men and women, young and old alike, are getting bigger, rounder. Recently, the US Dept. of Health stated (and I'm paraphrasing here) that we are in the midst of an obesity epidemic, the likes of which this country has never seen.

As has gotten popular over the same twenty years, the average American is looking for a scapegoat to blame for their gluttony, or at the very least, their poor dietary choices. Lawyers have been entrenched here or there, going after this or that industry. People are actually suing restaurants like McDonalds for making them fat.

The basic problem here is what I have already alluded to...people looking for a scapegoat. Rather than facing the REAL issue, consumers are turning to a less painful path--that of blame. It's so easy to blame this or that. It's convenient to label people into easily identifiable demographic groups so as to squarely place blame here or there.

My problem with all of this is (or should be, at least) highly apparent: Where is the PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY in this entire argument? No one made the Average American eat an endless list of foods at a particular restaurant. No one told them to chow down thousands of grams of saturated fat every day. These people ACTUALLY CHOSE to take in the foods they ate. Their very own personal choices led to their historic weight gains.

Sure the advertising of various foods blitzes everyone day after day. The smells can be almost intoxicating. But the real issue here is still personal choice. Yet, the government, lawyers, and [a large] number of individuals are trying (and succeeding) to blame the fast food industry for the extraordinary weight problem besetting this country.

(A little soap boxing here) I've got news for everyone who falls in this category...YOU MADE THE CHOICES THAT LED TO YOUR WEIGHT! NO ONE ELSE ATE THAT FOOD FOR YOU! NO ONE DEMANDED YOU INGEST ALL THAT FAT, AND ALL THOSE CALORIES! YOU CHOSE TO PUT THESE THINGS IN YOUR BODY, SO STOP BLAMING OTHERS FOR YOUR CHOICES!!!

Do you see my point? People are simply looking for excuses to justify the choices they made which led to the weight gain and subsequent health related issues. Personal accountability is completely lost. When we teach children as they grow, they learn the natural consequences of poor decisions. As adults, those same children are learning that they don't have to be held responsible for choosing things which are a detriment to themselves.

It's far easier to place blame and go after a monetary award than it is to take a good look at yourself and admit that you haven't made the best choices when it comes to food. Personally, I think its a very sad statement about us as individuals, that we are allowing others to pay (both literally and figuratively) for the choices we have been making all along; for allowing others to pay for our mistakes and poor judgement.

Pro Holdouts

Where, in this great land can you decide that you won't report to work; that you can tell your boss that you won't work unless he pays you more money; and that you will stay home until your demands are met?

I don't know about you, but I'd be out of a job really quick. Employers simply don't tolerate that sort of whining, insubordinate behavior from their employees. It's counterproductive, and is a tremendous detriment to the company.

There is however, one industry where this is not only allowed, but is nauseatingly common. I'm talking Professional Sports. In particular, Football. This is the one sport that outdoes all the others in a pathetic dance of money for play. Don't get me wrong here, I am all for athletes making money; but there are two things wrong here.

First, the exhorbitant salaries being paid out are ludicrous, at best. Second, these athletes (I say that as a general term only) seem only to care about money, and making more of it than the next guy.

Let's look at the first issue--salaries. Pro football players are in camp 1 month (plus a couple of weeks in the Spring), then play 16 regular season games over the course of about 4.5 months. So, they actually work about 7 months a year, aside from appearances, instructional camps (for which their usually paid), etc.

Now, say a player earns $5M (million) every year. That's a little over $700,000 per month for each month worked. That breaks down to $175,000 per week worked. That breaks down to $29,166 earned for every day of work.

Not a bad living (Duh!!!). Plus there are any endorsement deals, playoff monies, appearance fees, etc, etc, etc. Now, I know many of you will be screaming about revenue sharing, Union contracts, League advertising incomes, owner wealth, etc.

For me, what it comes down to, is a large number of pro players make more for a single day of work, than many hard-working Americans make in an entire year.

Which brings me to issue number 2...

...Athletes who demand more money.

Holdouts drive me crazy. These players want an ever increasing piece of the proverbial pie. They seem to be so caught up in their quest for money, that they forget a basic rule of working...you have to actually show up.

When a company contracts with another company for work to be performed, that company expects the second company to actually perform the work to the best results, and also expect them to fulfill the contract to its end.

With pro players, that same expectation is thrown out the window. With one, two, or even three years remaining on a contract that THEY AGREED TO, players will demand more money or they won't show up for work....And they get it!!! The owners generally cave in at some point because they want to field the best team possible which sells more seats, generates bigger ad revenues, etc.

Any parent who has endured whining from their kids will understand this point: Giving in to the whining of a child only teaches them that they will always get what they want if they whine loud enough, for long enough. Owners have a lot of whiners on their hands, and give into their cries way to much. They set this dangerous precedent years ago when free agency began to prosper. Now it's a common (and expected) practice on both sides.

I'm not saying that all professional athletes are this way. I've known a number of wonderful men who did indeed play out their contracts to the best of their abilities. They should be the ones we admire. They should be the role models for our children. But because they don't whine, or make a foolish spectacle of themselves, their incredible contributions are never mentioned or are overlooked at the very least. These are the players who should be the best rewarded, the most recognized when it comes time to sign or renew contracts.

After all, isn't a professional athletes' contract about 'play for pay?' When will the league owners collectively say "Enough!" and refuse to give into these athletes who think they deserve more money than the next guy? Let these whiners fulfill their contracts, then conduct some professional negotiations to increase their pay based on how they performed throught the duration of their contacts.

But, that is in an ideal world, where professional whiners don't really take advantage of their pushover employers and cry that they just aren't making enough money. Poor whining babies. I feel really sorry for them that they just can't make ends meet on $5M, $10M, or more a year.

...It's A Mystery...

This one absolutely baffles me. Over the past 4 years, the price of oil has multiplied 300+% for the same 44 gallons of product that were selling for $36-$40 previous to the current (and ongoing) speculative run-up.

Naturally, as oil has risen, the price per gallon of processed fuel has also risen. Along the way, we have all become familiar with the record profits being recorded by nearly every oil company quarter after fiscal quarter.

Now, along the current trajectory of the oil costs, there are fluctuations in the average price per barrel. Oil goes up, gas goes up. Oil goes down, gas stays up.

Did I get that right? Well, not exactly. The price of gasoline definitely rises exponentially every time a barrel of oil costs more. It's not uncommon for the American consumer to see a .05, .10, or even .15 cent overnight (or intraday) jump in a gallon of gas. However, once up, that same gallon of gas takes days or even weeks to retreat even a few cents; even when the barrel price has retreated by dollars.

Further, oil is traded 1 month ahead of the actual purchase (or order fill) window. For example, oil contracts traded today will come due in late August. That is, delivery from the supplier to the oil company happens approximately 30 days from the time the contract (xx number of barrels at $xx) was purchased.

So, when we see a run up in oil that won't even reach the pumps for at least 30-45 days, why are we (the consumer) being instantly strapped with huge, sometimes daily increases at the pump?

But the really baffling question for me, is, why does the price of gas jump when oil costs more, but the price of gasoline per gallon either stays the same, or takes literally months to decline, even after oil has fallen significantly? This makes no sense to me, and is an unjustifiable mystery.

I once heard a conversation on the radio about the oil costs vs gas costs, and the host was talking about how oil companies tell people they just don't understand the ecomonics of the whole thing. He (the radio host) told his audience "Minds infintely greater than mine might understand it [the whole oil thing], but this whole system just doesn't make sense." I completely agree with that viewpoint.

While the oil companies do have an obligation to their shareholders to perform well, run smoothly and efficiently, and return some money to their stockholders, why, in this era of 300+% energy inflation, do they charge what they do for a gallon of gas? They could charge $1 less, and STILL have huge profits.

The late, great columnist Jack Anderson wrote an article a short time before his death in which this subject was the topic. He quoted a long-time friend of his in the oil industry who stated that a gallon of gasoline costs no more to produce [at the time] than it did 25 years before...about .25 cents.

My question again...why does the price of gas stay at a higher level even after oil per barrel drops? It costs the refiners hardly anything to convert each gallon. The price jumps when oil rises, but it almost refuses to come down. Why? What incomprehensible ecomonics are in motion that is so tough to explain? Why can't the oil companys sprout a conscience and actually take less profit so the public isn't so hard-put to meet their food budgets, let alone any other type of budget?

I'm not going to call for some boycott because those just don't work. Everyone fills up either before or after the boycott. The only real damage inflicted is upon the station owners who lose pump and convenience store purchases.

Just think about this. Ask yourself what you might be able to do to help even a little bit. I certainly don't have the answers, but I'm sure that someone in the oil industry, with a mind infintely greater than mine, might be able (or at least attempt) to justify the actions of the companies holding every American household financially hostage.

And the Winner Is...

Today, I read an asotonishing headline on MSN. It read, "Who'll win the NFL's most volatile division?"

What?!!! The teams are barely in training camp, and here's a sportswriter remunerating over the winners of the NFC North...for the 2008 season.

Excuse me? Have any teams played a single down? Has there been any win-loss records for the new season? I'm sorry...what was that? The season hasn't even started?

Any sports fan with half a brain knows that anything can happen over the course of a season. Nobody would have guessed that the up and coming Seattle Mariners would win a record-tying 116 games in 2001; or that the Red Sox would overcome a 3-0 deficit to advance to, and then go on to win the World Series.

My point here is that no one can predict who will win a division more than 6 months from now. There are too many variables such as injuries, the schedule, player enthusiasm (or extreme ego), weather, etc, etc.

This goes for any sport. A month or so before this years' baseball All-Star Game, I began to see who was in what position for the 'wild-card' spot in both leagues. Excuse me?!!
There were more than 82 games yet to play, and 4 more months to go. But the sportscasters, perhaps desperate to increase viewership, are talking about pennant winners in late May!! What's wrong with this picture?

How many times have we seen teams do the August bull-rush, and others do the September-swoon? Again...too many variables.

My personal approach is to just watch it all unfold. The excitement will naturally be there. In mid-September things are pretty much set--unless of course a swoon occurs...a make-it or break-it time for players and fans alike...and damned exciting, too!

I only wish the sportswriters and broadcasters would swoon, and all their hot-air predictions get carried away like the dreams of so many professional sports teams when they fail to live up to all the pre-season hype heaped upon them by the salf-same sports writers and broadcasters who months before predicted their teams' path to glory.

We're All Just Americans!

Muslim-American; African-American; Korean-American, etc....We're all just Americans!

But wait...according to the pc police, that isn't true. Nope. If you are of African descent, you are an African-American. If you came from Japan, you are a Japanese-American; If you are from Italy, you are Italian-American.

Ok, I'll stop. You get the point.

My issue here is that all the enthicities, religions, etc. make up who we are as a country. However, groups that are 'out there' want to constantly remind us that we are individuals to the point of ludicrousy.

Pop Quiz: If you are a citizen of the United States of America, are you American...Yes, or No?

Why qualify the answer? You either are an American, or you are not.

The pc labels so blithely tossed about these days teach us more about segregation than integration. Why should we distinguish our heritage (no matter how far back you go to "the old country") above our citizenship? Our histories (as people) teach us where we came from, and the road traveled to where we are today. They are wonderful for learning, growing, and appreciating the trials, struggles, and triumphs of those who came before.

But when we place our [past] cultural heritage above our current citizenship, and isolate ourselves behind labels and pride, we are only isolating ourselves from learning about each other, and helping one another to excel, and to move forward.

I am of Swedish descent...a mere 4 generations removed from the land of my great-grandparents' birth. Am I a Swedish American? No way. I am red, white and blue--through and through. I grew up seeing the racial divide of the late 60's and early 70's. My best friend at the time was of African descent. I didn't care. He was my friend.

But when I see group after group of whatever special interest (or ethnic background) to which they belong single themselves out by saying "We're (this or that) American," I just cringe. At the same time, I am saddened that we, as a country, have allowed ourselves to be labeled demographically apart from each other.

Yes, we should all be proud of where we come from. Aside from the Native population, we are ALL immigrants (most by choice...others not). Our differences constitute what makes this nation great.

But above being proud of where we came from, we should be far more proud to be an American; to be a citizen of THE greatest country on the earth. I hope that one day, the pc police will go the way of the dinosaur, and instead of being reminded of our differences, we are all able to hold our heads high and be proud to be an American. No qualifiers, no addendums. Just American.

Dubya Is At It Again

Well folks, it looks like Dubya is at it again. This time he has eliminated the Presidental Ban on off-shore drilling [of oil, natural gas] against the wishes of Congress, and most (if not all) of the affected Governors in the Lower 48. (yes, he still has to convince Congress to make a similar move, but the very nature of the repeal is very telling.)
Why? Well, HE states it is to help relieve oil prices and reduce dependence on foreign oil.
...Good one, Mr. Prez...
Did he forget to mention that we won't have any usable oil for at least ten years? Or that this will do absolutely no good in lowering the current speculative run-up in the world-wide oil prices?
OF COURSE HE DIDN'T!
Mr. Bush is feeding the American people a pile of horse poo the size of his beloved Texas.
What's really behind this desire to drill off-shore? Well, remember everyone, Mr.Bush made his fortune in oil. His administration has shown throughout the past eight years that oil, energy companies, and special interests are more important than the desire of the American people, and the safety of our environment. He first showed this right after he took office when he scrapped the strict environmental regulations on power and industrial plants that had been placed to assure cleaner air for everyone.
Next, his friends at Enron suddenly created an energy shortage in the Pacific Northwest that made Enron (and Ken Lay and cronies) billions--a shortage that did not exist at all until Dubya took office.
Further, our most hated president (according to all the polls) eliminated the roadless forests act that was enacted as the result of the polling and input of some three million Americans.
Yes, our President is seemingly doing this not for the benefit of the American people. In my opinion, it is a very thinly veiled attempt to put more money into the coffers of the oil companies--friends our beloved Dubya has rubbed elbows with for years. And don't think he's the only one in his administration either.
Our Secretary of State, Condaleeza Rice once sat on the Board of Exxon. She even has a Super Tanker named after her. (Yeah...True!).
This is about money--plain and simple; and it seems that our President will do whatever he can to guarantee he and his cronies (a term aptly used by Lee Iacocca) have a huge, steady income for years.
Money...it makes this President go round...

An Introduction

Hello out there.
I created this blog as an outlet to the incredibley ludicrous things I see going on around me on a local, regional, national, and worldwide basis that just don't seem to make sense.
These will be subjects that may or may not matter to you, but are nonetheless important to everyone in that even the little things can affect us all.
I am a male, age 45, college educated, and pay close attention to the events that are happening all over whether it is local, or on a world stage. The things I write will seek to establish truth of the matter, with the occasional personal viewpoint. Whether you [the reader] agree with me or not, the points I make will still be valid, and should be a reason to pause and think about so that somehow, somewhere, things might start to change for the better, and our world a little less idiotic.
Now, I know that some of you reading this blog will say that my knowledge on a particular subject is lacking; well, that's fine. I don't claim to be an absolute authority on anything. I am simply pointing out things which are foolish, stupid, or otherwise don't make sense.
I will never try to convince anyone on my points of view. You choose to believe what you want. Again, I am merely stating what I see as the idiocies that surround us all.