Author Archives: Commentary about the Blue Marble

“Pride Goeth Before the Fall”

13 Saturday Mar 2021

Posted by in Texas Pride

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           Texans consider themselves better than most of us in the other forty-nine states. Most Texans still think life is like it was 150 years ago. Republicans are anti-everything and control state government. Democrats have a few enclaves of power in cities but have not had a governor since George W. Bush was elected Governor. The legislature has been Republican controlled for decades, too.

            Most Texans consider themselves to be independent and are against anything which they consider impinges on theirs or Texas’ rights. The lack of regulation and the independent culture caused their recent problems. A decade ago Texas was advised what needed to be done to avoid another loss of power caused by cold temperature. They ignored it and the calamity in mid-February resulted. The advice was to insulate and join regional grids.

            Some politicians blame wind turbines for the disaster but the real problem was power plants using natural gas lost their supply when the liquids brought up with the gas in wells froze shutting the gas off. The coal plants needed water to produce steam. Their problem was the pumps pumping water to produce steam froze and the coal piles froze from the moisture. Another problem was some of the plants were down for maintenance and refueling during what was supposed to be a low demand time.

            Politicians blame the grid operators but they are directed as to what they can do by Texas legislature. They are prohibited from connecting to regional grids which could have supplied them with adequate power. Even updating and some maintenance were considered too expensive. Their pride and culture caused the fall. As they do after every disaster, they plead for Washington and the other forty-nine states for help.

Endless Wars

08 Monday Mar 2021

Posted by in War Planning

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            “Endless Wars” have two meanings. The one people use most is a war that goes on and on like Afghanistan. I don’t remember anyone using that term for Viet Nam. Although we had won it, we didn’t know it, and left before a satisfactory conclusion.

            The endless wars I refer to is what our past, current and future enemies have learned from our involvement in Viet Nam and Afghanistan. Iraq might be added to the list. One thing that those wars show is our involvement in fighting a war has a time limit. If an enemy can maintain a conflict long enough, the United States will come up with some agreement the enemy won’t abide by. It will usually be done without consulting with our local allies. The locals we worked with are usually imprisoned or killed when we leave.

            The current agreement with the Taliban is for them to not have anything to do with Al Qaeda or to give them sanctuary. Al Qaeda has been seeping back into Afghanistan already. Another provision was to do no fighting or to expand their territory. Both of those terms have already been broken. The Taliban have already killed hundreds of soldiers, police, and civilians who protected towns or worked with us.

            Military strategy is based on the past battles and wars. As technology has changed the way we fight wars with less advanced enemies, simple ways and mass foot soldiers hiding within civilian populations have become a winning strategy.            

As much as we would all like to get out of Afghanistan sooner or later we will be in another one. If we leave this one without a satisfactory ending to us, then we can expect an endless series of endless wars.

Trading Tax

08 Monday Mar 2021

Posted by in Taxes

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            Many Representatives, Senators, and organizations have proposed a transaction tax on Stock and Bond Traders. I don’t make many trades each year, but it will have some effect on my finances. I favor a five cent per hundred dollar trade for two reasons.

            Reason one is the tax is a financial tax levied against those with money to invest. It is a tax solely on finances of those who have usually arrived at their level by benefiting from the activities of the federal government’s borrowing. The money gained from the tax should go to paying down the National Debt. It may allow for more borrowing but language could be added limiting it. The tax would be a start to going back to the Clinton-Gingrich income tax structure to make America Debt Free!

            Reason two is such a tax would go a long way to equalizing the stock and bond markets by decreasing high speed trading based on a few cents per stock. The tax would decrease the volatility and volume making the markets more stable and an even playing field for the average investor like me.

            All those against the tax don’t want to give up their advantages. Senators and Representatives — do something you are not accustomed to doing — ignore lobbyists and massive contributions and pass a tax good for all Americans.

Dumb Ideas Accepted

01 Monday Mar 2021

Posted by in Dumb Ideas

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            Who came up with the idea to not shake hands or fist bump during a respiratory pandemic? Their idea is to halve the distance between noses with an elbow bump. Granted virus could be spread with a handshake, but far less likely with a fist bump than getting noses eighteen to twenty-four inches apart.

            Who came up with the idea for the Federal Government to not distribute personal protective equipment to the states but cause them to run up cost competing against each other? Same applies with the mishmash of who gets the vaccine and where. If you can stand it, North Dakota will vaccinate anyone whether or not they are residents. Florida did the same thing for a few weeks to attract snowbirds from the northern states, Canada, and Europe. The decision got people to stay down for several weeks to boost the economy. Year -around residents protested being left out.

            Of course almost all drivers in the United States have been subjected to an extremely stupid idea that has become some ill-conceived regulation. That stupid idea is the passenger side outside mirror that says “objects in this mirror are closer than they appear”. Is it so you can see the license number of the vehicle you are about to meet? Why put a mirror on a vehicle that is undependable.

            An extremely dumb and destructive idea was invented over thirty years ago to allow people to transfer massive amounts of data from one place to another. Of course the purely sensible internet was destroyed by becoming the vehicle which social media uses to spread lies and personal information. Now truth and privacy are gone and perhaps gone forever.

            The last idea may cause the downfall of civilization but the rest are just dumb ideas that are accepted or thrust upon us.

Fair Share Taxes

01 Monday Mar 2021

Posted by in Illinois Taxes

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            My State Senator, Sue Rezin, and her Republican colleagues have been complaining about the proposed state budget. Governor Pritzker countered by asking the Republicans to put forth their own budget so it could be examined. They have refused to do so. I have always found it is far easier to criticize if you don’t have a better idea.

            I think it is time for both parties to join together and tax state retirement checks at the time they are issued. I have been unable to learn how much it would bring into the treasury. By deducting the tax at the time of distribution, the tax would be levied before it sent to pensioners in or out of Illinois. This tax would impact our family income because my wife gets a check each month from the teacher’s pension.

            I asked a state Supreme Court judge if it would be constitutional. The judge had recently ruled on the constitutionality of revising the retirement plan as being illegal. He agreed taxing the proceeds did not affect the plans since the tax was outside the plans.

            Fairness dictates we all pay our fair share. I suggest the proceeds to go to pay down the pension debt. It will take years to pare it down. The state would continue to pay the amount specified but the pension money would reduce the Thompson/Edgar ramping increase, if not eliminate it.

            Whether other retirement plans would also be taxed is up to the intestinal fortitude of our elected Representatives and Senators. I guess both require guts and Springfield seems to be short of tackling the problems — they just complain.

Lights Out in Texas

20 Saturday Feb 2021

Posted by in Climate Change

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            Texas Governor Greg Abbott has tried to blame solar and wind power generation for the power outages. Perhaps the solar farms were snow covered for a while before it slid off or the solar unit melted it off. Abbott said the windmills froze and wouldn’t rotate. Could it be because they don’t use the same oils and designs used in northern climes?

            He was angry at the company managing the state-owned electric grid for its failures. The grid can’t produce power. It just moves it around Texas. Most of Texas generation is from fossil fuels. Northern state’s fossil plants insulate their piping so they don’t freeze. Texas doesn’t. Their gas fired plants apparently draw from gas and oil production wells and not from man-made underground storage and above ground tanks as we have. When the oil and salt water in the lines at the wells froze, they lost their supplies. The coal fired plants shut down because their feeding equipment couldn’t handle coal that had froze solid. Their one nuke plant had one unit down for some undisclosed reason. Probably for refueling as winter usually has a less need for power.

            A decade ago a smaller cold snap had created a small disruption. Outside consultants were brought in for advice. Their report advised insulating the plants as well as updating and expanding the grid. It also suggested connecting it to surrounding grids as a back-up. All of this would cause the state to spend its own money, increase customer bills, and cause the power and production companies to spend money on those improvements. The report was mostly ignored.

            Texas is controlled by Big Oil and other powerful companies which don’t want state interference causing them to spend more and create regulations in a state that is abhorrent to regulations.

What Does Putin Know?

18 Thursday Feb 2021

Posted by in President Trump

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            The FBI and NSA have said Russia interfered in the 2016 Presidential election in favor of Trump. The same with the 2020. They didn’t do anything with the votes – at least that’s what the FEDs say – directly but they put out thousands of pieces of misinformation disparaging Trump’s opponents. When Trump’s appointees say it was Russia, why does he continue to deny it?

            The Solar Wind cyber intrusion was done by Russia according to all the letter agencies here and in Europe. Why does Trump continue to deny Russia’s involvement? He says China, Iran, or North Korea did it. Why not the truth?

            Why did Trump meet in the White House with two top Russian diplomats with nobody on our side except an interpreter whose notes were destroyed? Only later the interpreter wrote down what she could remember and then got them approved by Trump. Why the secrecy when he meets with Russians and has the room full of people when meeting with others?

            What do they know that has Trump protecting them when they get caught doing something against our country? Is his job to divide our country and destroy our Democracy? If you haven’t wondered then you are one of the grape Kool-Aid crowds.

Lead the Mob to Stay In Power

18 Thursday Feb 2021

Posted by in Uncategorized

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            There’s a story during the French Revolution of a man who was standing in a front alcove with another man. The second man asked the first if he would join the mob coming down the street. The first man said he would lead it when he could find out what they were upset about.

            I doubt the story is true but it does explain a lot of people we elect to office. They want to be elected for many reasons but I fear many just want the position for vanity. Many may start out to work on some perceived inequity they wanted to solve but then can’t give up the perks and “respect” of the office. To stay in office they sell themselves to their party’s line of propaganda even if it conflicts with their original intentions.

            Senate Minority Leader McConnell voted to acquit Donald Trump and then issued a scathing attack on him saying he is morally and perhaps criminally responsible for the January 6 attack on the Capital Building. His proclaimed reason for the vote was Trump was no longer in office thus allowing him to sidestep a guilty vote. So why did he vote for acquittal? He wanted to continue to remain the Minority Leader and highest ranking Republican in Washington D.C.

            How many of the people who talk about fiscal responsibility vote for big expensive projects in their districts and states or in trade for a vote. If their base suddenly wants something else then the office holder will get in front and lead disregarding the legality and morality. That’s why they keep getting re-elected.

            Find out what the people want through polls and then use the results to make the hook for their campaign. The modern day Frenchman looking to lead the mob.

Keystone XL Snake Pit

18 Thursday Feb 2021

Posted by in Keystone XL

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            Some issues are like sitting on a fence with rattlesnakes on one side and cobras on the other side. The Keystone Pipeline is one such issue. News junkies remember the Canadian town that had its center burned out when tanker cars carrying oil sand oil exploded killing many residents. We also remember several derailments which contaminated streams and land. Trucking the oil is less dangerous to the environment only because of volume.

            Oil pipelines do leak and finding the leak takes time to find until it surfaces and by then thousands of gallons may have escaped. The pipeline leaks usually occur in older pipes but a flaw in the pipe or welding could cause an early leak. No matter how intensive the testing, not all defects may be found and repaired on a thousand miles of pipe. Much of that distance is sandy soil over the Oglala Aquifer.

            The oil sands oil is kept highly viscous with an additive allowing it to be easily pumped through a pipe. When it arrives at some refinery in Louisiana or some foreign country what happens to the additive? Is it separated and sent back, burned off, or dumped onto the ground?

            The problem for environmentalists is more than the two options above. The oil sand producers have been trying to get the First Nation people to allow them to lay a pipeline across the mountains to the inside passage fiords. Imagine loading spills, ballast dumping, or a shipwreck in those pristine waters!

            Sooner or later a pipeline will be built because the oil sand projects will continue to produce oil. Biden and environmentalists need to decide which is best for the planet. Unfortunately, it should be the Keystone and we hope we don’t get snake bit.

So Far, So Good

04 Thursday Feb 2021

Posted by in Climate Change

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            Finally we again have a President and an administration that is going to try to save humanity. Biden said “If it isn’t too late to save us from the worst effect of climate change…”. His question is critical to life on Earth/

            The projections worrying him are for the conditions in 2100 without considering what conditions will be in 2150 or 2200 is like the analogy of someone falling off a building and saying “so far, so good” with each floor. The question for us is how high the building is. Is it one floor and we can limp away, or two floors and we can crawl away with a few broken bones, or maybe three floors with too many broken bones to move, or four floors with a cracked skull and internal injuries? Projections for 2100 are for four floors of damage. Beyond 2100 is like falling off the fifth floor to splat on the pavement.

            Biden is right in the question. We are already experiencing long term droughts broken by a heavy rain or two before resuming, greater numbers of storms and hurricanes, warmer winters, and flora and fauna moving farther north. Glaciers around the world are melting. The seas are rising and flooding of cities is already happening. His question is this. Is it like a two or three story building, or are we just passing the top floor of a skyscraper saying “so far, so good.”