Debit cards, Confederate Flags, Gas Prices and Terrorists

Well folks, the world is continuing its downward spiral into insanity today.   All you have to do is peruse the headlines on any of the major news sources to see that.   Let’s take a tour of the nonsense that’s going on today.  Click on the blue text to access the news story.

In this article on CNN.com,  $50 spending limit, JPMorgan Chase is reported to be considering restricting debit card transactions to as little as $50, because new banking  rules aimed at protecting the customers from excessive fees would limit their ability to charge customers.   As more and more Americans have moved away from using credit cards (and the ridiculous fees associated with them), opting instead for the more manageable debit card, banks are seeing their cash cow get smaller and smaller.  Poor banks, don’t they realize that if they force us back to using cash, they won’t get any fees at all?  My wife and I already have freed ourselves from credit cards.  We don’t have any, nor will we ever have them again. We use our debit cards for almost every purchase we make, believing them safer than cash.  If the banks want to play this game, I have no problem going back to cash.  More and more places will not take checks these days, and many of the one that do will run the transaction in much the same way a debit card is used.  They process it, debit your account immediately and if approved, they hand your check back to you right then.

Personally, I think relying on the cash you have in your pocket is a good thing. If more people could resist the impulse to whip out that credit card and by something they don’t need, they’d be a lot better off.  If we replaced our paper money with coinage, it would be virtually fire proof, would cut costs at the mint, make forgery harder to do, and make it easier for people to keep their money in a safe or other location at home.  Who needs banks when you have a cookie jar, right? On a serious note, limiting transactions   to such a small amount will only serve to drive customers to use cash, thereby depriving the banks of any fees.  What are they thinking? With today’s gas prices, I couldn’t even get a fill-up on my truck with a $50 limit.

Here’s some more stupidity: Confederate flag costs man his job.  Found this one on Fox News.  Apparently an Oregon school bus driver has been fired for displaying a Confederate Battle Flag on his vehicle. Not the school bus, but his own personal vehicle.  According to the article, the flag was in violation of a school policy that prohibits symbols that could be offensive to minorities.  I suppose that if a group of Islamic students who support the Taliban complained, the US Flag would have to come down as well.  When did we become a nation of “minority rule”?  These days, if a thousand people gather together, and 999 of them like something, and one person complains, the thing must be removed. How did it get to be this way?  What if it offends the 999 who like it to see it removed?

Here’s another from CNN: Gas Prices .  In this one, the author brings to light that most of Europe laughs when they hear Americans complaining about high fuel prices.  Seems that gas ranges from $7.50 to $10 a gallon there.  But you know what?  I don’t care what Europe pays for gasoline.  If you take the taxes off that their own governments have imposed on fuel, they pay less than we do still. If they want to do something about their gas prices, they should reflect that when they go to the polls.  Well, in the nations that allow them to go to the polls, anyway.  We still have that option, at least for now.

Speaking of nonsense, here’s the latest casualty of “global warming”.  Got this at MSNBC:  Coffee prices up due to global warming.  One Columbian farmer interviewed in the article says his farm’s production is down 70 percent from 5 years ago and that now his sons may not be able to go to college. Global warming hasn’t seem to have reached Brazil yet though, where production is actually on the rise.  Apparently the coffee plant is very particular, and even a half degree difference in temperature will cause detrimental effects and a 24 hour rainy spell can cause irreparable damage to the crop. Farmers are traditionalists, and are resistant to replanting fields with disease and weather tolerant strains, even though they are already in wide use throughout the world.

The article briefly makes mention that fertilizer prices have skyrocketed, and that that has dented yields as well. I suspect that this is the main culprit, but that’s only my own opinion.   If the farmers have cut the amount of fertilizer due to the costs, the plants will not produce regardless of the weather.  If they have sufficient nutrients in the soil, they will be healthier and more tolerant of changes in the weather.

Then there’s the bit on AOL News about a teacher who had to resign after some of students found some x-rated films she made about 20 years ago.  This is the second time she’s had this problem come up.  In 2006, she lost teaching job in another state for the same reason.  There was nothing illegal about the movies she made, according to the article, and she has no criminal background, so many people question why something that happened 20 years ago would be a basis for firing a person.  So should it?  She’s been on “Doctor Phil” and talked about it, she’s openly admitted doing it.  Since then, she’s gone to college, improved her life and herself, so how long should this haunt her? People always raise the “morality” issue when it comes to stuff like this, but I say “let he among you without sin cast the first stone”.   She’s turned from that life, but yet the “moral” people of the world still condemn her. Is that the Christian way to be folks?  Seems like I remember something about a thing called “forgiveness” in there somewhere, what’s happened to that?  Come on, get over it.  She did it, admitted it, and moved on with a new life.  If she can’t put it past her, why not go back to it?  She could make a lot more money with a porn site than being a teacher, and no one would care in the porn business that she had once been a teacher!

Every carrier is running news about the Libyan Civil War, though none of them have the cajones  to call it that.  I keep seeing words like “uprising” and “civil unrest” .  Come on folks…there are a group of people using guns, rocks, sticks and anything else they can get their hands on to overthrow the government in their nation.  That government, in response is using as much military might as it can muster to stop it, including troops, automatic weapons, tanks, aircraft and tear gas.  People on both sides have been killed, many are hurting. All the while, the international community sits on its hands trying to figure out what to do.  Well, the answer is simple.  You leave it alone, as long as it stays contained in the Libyan borders.  If the people of Libya want to throw off an oppressive regime and form a democratic republic, that is their right to do so. No one can give it to them; no one can show them the way.  They must do this on their own.  For democracy to flourish, for freedom to have any meaning, it must be fought for, paid for in blood by the people who want it.  It must be their own hard won victory that brings it about.  You can see a good example of how well this works in Israel and the United States.  Both these nations fought their way into being against tremendous odds.  Yes, they both had help from other nations, but only after they had begun the fight on their own.  The free and independent nations of the world stand as such because not only is freedom dear enough to die for, but it is dear enough to kill for as well.  Our presence in Iraq for more than a decade proves that you cannot give freedom to a people. They must wrest it from their oppressors themselves if it is to be a true and lasting victory.  Was Saddam a threat to the world that needed to be eliminated?  Yes, I have no doubt.   He was a threat not only to his own people and his neighbors but the entire world.  The invasion should have removed him, thrown down those loyal to him, and then we should have left and let the Iraqi people sort it out for themselves.  If they don’t want freedom bad enough to pay the price to keep it, we shouldn’t pay it for them.  As the biggest superpower in the world, we have a measure of responsibility to help maintain peace and order in the world.  We have the right and an obligation to defend ourselves and aid our allies if other nations unjustly war against us or them, but internal struggles such as those in Libya now should be hands off until it threatens to spill onto the world stage.  Yes, there will be tragedy and atrocities. It will require that the major powers in the world cooperate to keep outside influences to a minimum, but it must resolve on it’s own, whichever side is victorious.

The worst thing that can happen is for it to become another Iraq, or Afghanistan, or Viet Nam, where opposing superpowers use the peoples of those countries as pawns in their own contest of wills.  Afghanistan is such a mess that the Soviet occupation in the 1980’s failed, and our own has not been exactly a success.  The Soviets pulled out in 1989 if memory serves, and the chaos left behind gave rise to the Taliban. It remains to be seen what the result of the American invasion of Afghanistan will accomplish. Begun in 2001 after Al-Qaeda terrorists attacked the United States on Sept. 11 of that same year, the occupation of Afghanistan continues to this day.  Current plans call for a possible withdrawal of American troops in 2014. The results of American intervention in Iraq remains to be seen, and no one can describe the war in Viet Nam as a success for either side, although there are those that claim victory after the Americans pulled out.

Is the world safer from terrorism because of these actions? I would like to say that it is, but sadly, I can’t say that with certainty.  It has slowed the terrorist organizations down, and made it harder for them to train and recruit, but there will never be an eradication of terrorism.  Unfortunately, there will always be those who are determined to control, at any cost, the lives and destinies of others.  Some, like Adolf Hitler, will find their way to the halls of power through seemingly legitimate means.  Others, like Osama bin Laden, will hide in caves and deserts, aided by those individuals or governments who either fear him or profit by his activities.  The best that we can hope for is to detect and disrupt the activities of these people and the governments of the world that support them. 

Charlie Sheen, Congress, and the end of the world

Let’s see, today is March 8, 2011.  What do you suppose was going on one year ago today?  Lets see if we find out.

Seems that Iraq was trying to hold elections, and terrorists were blowing up bombs and killing people to keep them from going to the polls. Looking at today’s news, the only thing missing is the elections.  They are still at it, people are rioting , terrorists are planting bombs in shadows.  No progress, just more death.   And we went to war for more than 10 years to change this….how?

The nation of Chile was devastated by a powerful 8.8 magnitude earthquake a few days prior to March 8, 2010 (actually on Feb. 27 of that year). This tragedy left lots of folks dead, injured and homeless. Today they got a scary reminder.  A 6.2 magnitude quake rattled northern Chile this morning, but so far there have been no reports of injury or damage.

The stock market a year ago today was seeing some gains and the DOW closed above 10,500. Everybody thought that was a good thing.  For the last few days, the stock market has been headed back toward that mark in response to the skyrocketing oil prices and civil war in Libya, but no one thinks its good time.  Last time the arrows indication the market’s moves were green, but lately they’ve been red and pointed down.   At the time of this writing, it appears that the market has regained some of its losses over the last few days and the DOW is above 12,200.  We’ll see how long it stays that way.

Speaking of skyrocketing oil, crude at the time of this writing was at $104.76.  A year ago today it was $68.01. Last year gasoline prices were around $2.67 or so here in Arkansas, today I noticed they had climbed to $3.45.  We’ve definitely had change in this regard, though not in a good direction.  Oil and gasoline rose to well over four dollars in July of 2008, and was one of the major causes of our economic disaster that year.  High energy prices and an over extended housing market brought the American economy to its knees, and in spite of propaganda to the contrary, it’s still not on its feet completely.  If gas spikes that high again, it may bring it down for good. Opening drilling in our own oil fields was dismissed then by our President because it wouldn’t help the crisis. Said it would take years to get to, so there’d be no point.  Well, had we started then, we’d be 3 years closer to it than we are now and rising oil prices might not be the crisis it is now.

Other news from a year ago?  Well it doesn’t really matter. There’s unrest in the mid-east, but there has been for what, 6000 years or so?  The faces and names change, but the stories don’t.  Same for Hollywood. Today it’s Charlie Sheen, a year ago it was someone else burning out on cocaine or anorexia or some other nonsense.  Tomorrow, it will probably still be Sheen, but eventually he’ll be replaced by another out of control life going down in flames.  Our economy is crashing or recovering, and our politicians…well, status quo seems to be immovable.  They continue to waste tax dollars at amazing levels.  Wisconsin state politicians have even found a better way to do that…they go hide in Indiana [edit...a reader tells me it was Illnois, not Indiana, sorry.]  I could understand a day or two to make a point, but they’ve carried it well beyond the legitimate protest point and should in my opinion be relieved of their duties and replaced.  Time to stop screwing around and solve the problems.  They don’t want to be part of it, fine. Stay in the other state.

Come on folks…elected officials work for us.  If you had made as big a mess at your job as these people have, you’d have been fired, and rightly so.  So, ok, we haven’t been paying attention, so we share in the blame. We’ve neglected going to the polls and participating in the process and these folks have been allowed to run amok.  Yes, boys and girls, it’s our fault for not taking them to task before this, so go to the polls on the next chance you get and send them a message.  The recent turnover in the House of Representatives should have served noticed that we were paying attention again, but it obviously has not.   We obviously need to send a stronger nudge.   Either they work for us, and I do mean FOR US, or they don’t get to keep the seats.

Working for us means making choices in our behalf that we approve of and that are in the best interest of the country.  Take for instance, this push by the Obama administration to get electric cars into development.  I agree that an alternative to petroleum powered cars must be found, but I don’t think that the full electric battery powered car is the answer.  It could be a stop gap, but it will never be a permanent solution.  Americans are a people on the move.  We go where we want, when we want and none of us are willing to give that up.  Electric cars severely limit this ability.  To just get back and forth to work, they might be ok for those who live in the city and can drive at low speeds to get to the market and to work and such.  What happens when it’s time for a vacation? If you live in New York and decide to go to California, it will take nearly a month in your electric car just to get there, assuming you can get the full 100 miles or so that they all tout as a cruising range.  If you find that funny, lets do some math.  Google Maps suggests three routes to get from New York City to Los Angeles.  One is 2790 miles, the second ins 2778 miles and the third is 2810 miles.   All three are close enough to call it 2800 miles.  If you can only drive 100 miles a day, you’re talking 28 days to get there.  In a normal car, it would be about 56 hours if you average 50 mph.  If you take your time and only drive 12 hours at a time, you’d be there in 4 ½ days. You’d also have to figure out some way to overcome the frustration of only being on the road for 2 hours at a time as well, and hope you find a place to stay with a recharging station for the 16 or more hours it will take to recharge. While that’s going on, you’ll be on foot or at the mercy of cab drivers  to get to you things to do while your car sits at the hotel and sucks up electricity.  You would have to save up a lot of vacation time, and a pile of money to stay in hotels for two months.

Alternately, you could take some sort of public transportation like an airline or train or maybe even a bus.  Airline could have you there in a matter of hours, with a great deal of aggravation (getting groped, irradiated, etc by the TSA) and expense.  A train would probably get you there in a week or so assuming you had access to rail service where you live and a bus could probably get you there in 2 weeks.  They stop at every town they come across, remember.  Traveling cross country via mass transit limits your options considerably as well.  In your car, if you see a sign that says something about the world’s largest mushroom, you can take the appropriate exit and go see it if you wish. On a bus, train or plane, that ain’t happening.  You can always get off at the next scheduled stop and back track, if you can find a way, or perhaps rent a car which you’ll have to do with any of these methods once you reach your destination. Sounds like a great time to me.  In fact, I have experienced this.  We loaded up and flew somewhere once, but I didn’t rent a car.  We had booked a hotel right on the beach near all the attractions so we thought we’d be fine on foot or occasionally using a cab.  Well, we had a good time on the vacation, but we’ll never do that again.  Every time we got in a cab it was 40 bucks.  At one point I even considered buying a couple of department store bicycles to use during our stay.  Would have been far cheaper than the cab fare we doled out.  Ever since then, we’ve had a method of self transport when we’ve gone anywhere.  

At any rate, why would we pursue the electric car so vigorously, when there is an alternative that is very similar to what we do now?  No, I’m not talking about ethanol, though that is at least a renewable energy source.   I’m talking the hydrogen fuel cell powered vehicle.  Something similar to the Honda Clarity.  It can be driven like a normal car, at normal speeds and has a range of some 300 miles or so before it needs refueled.  It refuels like a normal car, in that you can pull up to a hydrogen dispensing unit, refill your fuel cell and be on your way in about 10 minutes, as opposed to 16 hours in a plug in electric. Its only emissions are heat and water vapor, so it’s very clean to operate.  Its manufacture does no more damage to the environment than a normal car, and is much less damaging than the plug in electric in that respect.   So why is there so much interest in and push for the plug in electric?  Why not build hydrogen refueling stations and develop the means to produce, transport and store hydrogen safely instead of fooling about with battery powered cars?

Our President has demonstrated a desire to transform America into something more….European.  He likes socialized medicine for some reason. Heaven knows it’s been a failure in every country that’s tried it.  Europe has a much more extensive rail system that we do, and he pushes hard for that, even though Amtrak has been a money pit that has never been profitable. The English rail is the butt of endless jokes even by the English.  If electric cars are eventually mandated, that would force people to use the rail system for longer distance travel, so maybe that’s why he’s so interested in it.  Factories and other employers here would have to become much more forgiving of people coming in late if that becomes a reality, because the trains in Europe are by reputation seldom on time. Still, he could claim success with the rail projects if other means of transportation were as neutered as the electric car.

I for one am not interested in making America more European.  We did not become the world’s greatest super power by imitating our European neighbors.  Not that there’s anything wrong with Europe, I think it is a marvelous place, steeped in centuries of culture and history that is absolutely fascinating.  Nevertheless, 235 years ago this nation decided to do things its own way; to leave behind the old ways and forge ahead on its own.  Sure, we made mistakes along the way. We made some enemies too. But we made a great many friends, and have risen to be the shining example of just how successful a nation can be.   When disaster strikes, we can, have and will offer aid to any nation, friend and foe alike.  Our success is slipping away, however, because we have tried too hard to not offend, to be politically correct, to become multicultural, multilingual, even apologizing for our successes.  Well, to that I say “bollocks”.  We need to climb back up on top, stop that nonsense and make our economy thrive, and put our own ingenuity and inventiveness back to work to solve our problems ourselves.  That’s not going to happen riding around in electric cars and bullet trains.  Sure, we’ll make some enemies by being successful, but they’ll get over it.  If America falls, the rest of the world will fall as well.  The entire planet will descend into chaos and the nut jobs of the world like Imadikkahed (or whatever his name is) in Iran will wage war after war of oppression, till there is nothing left.  If America falls, it truly will be the   End of the World (click to listen).