Movie Lines

28 Tuesday Mar 2023

Posted by in Politics

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        Some of the best statements I have ever heard were in movies. I like Steven Segal’s action movies and at the end of “Above the Law” was a really thought provoking statement. “Whenever you have a group of individuals who are above any investigation, and who can manipulate the Press, Judges, and members of Congress, you will always have groups that are above the law.”

            If a person thinks very much about those words it is easy to see how it applies to today’s political scene. We have a former President who is an expert at manipulating people and the press. He has broken many, many laws during his lifetime. He has broken many contracts and broken people who sued. He has conned people into believing his lies and fabrications. He has ridiculed on people who fully support everything he says and does. He has used other people’s money to start a news social media site. His followers do as they are commanded by him or his minions. He demands total loyalty to him or he destroys them in his or their platforms causing those who don’t obey to cower before him, usually in public.

            The judges he appointed to Federal Courts are already trying to protect him. The first may have been the Florida District Judge who tried to keep the FBI from looking at or releasing any information about his secret documents. She was overturned and admonished by the higher court. He thinks he can be protected in any Federal Criminal case even if he has to go to the Supreme Court. He has said just that!

            Go back and reread Segal’s statement and see if you think he is right.

Damned if We Don’t

28 Tuesday Mar 2023

Posted by in Inflation

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        Apparently the Right, Left, and Center agree on one thing and that is we are too dependent on China and other countries for too many commodities and manufactured goods. When we started to try to recover from the Pandemic it became very obvious how much America depends on China to supply us with vital items used by our Military, businesses, and the public.

            Pictures of huge storage lots of cars without Taiwan and Chinese chips, tens of thousands of containers sitting on ships off our over stressed ports, and China’s reaction to the Pandemic by closing the manufacturing plants and cities showed we are too dependent on Asia for our “normal” life.

            The answer to solving the dilemma is easy to see and to solve. We must “On-shore” the materials used to manufacture the items. The problems with the “On-shoring” is finding workers in the needed areas or even finding the millions needed. Finding already trained people is almost impossible so higher wages is required to get immediate help. For those plants being built thousands of craft people are needed now and they aren’t in the building areas so higher wages need to get them to move to the area for months. Building the plants may take years. Allowing time to train permanent workers that will be difficult to find and for the housing to be built for them. Those plants being built in low wage states will have to change to get workers to move in to work!

            Housing, food, and other items will increase in price significantly. That is called inflation! The Federal Reserve says it is better to increase unemployment by cutting investments and consumer demand.

            “On-shoring” is the direct opposite of what the Fed wants so “Damned if we do?”

Do We Need to “Woke” Up?

28 Tuesday Mar 2023

Posted by in Woke

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        Why do some people use the term “Woke” instead of “Liberal”? If they said they were against liberal policies then the response would be you must be against Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, Child Labor Laws, Worker Protections and Water Protections, and numerous other “Liberal” laws and regulations. The list is so long just about every voter is affected in a positive way and someone wanting to get elected can’t afford to alienate everyone.

            I have questioned the term since I first heard it and without getting an actual answer from left or right leaning people. If they don’t know what it is then how can Governor Ron DeSantis make laws in Florida against it? How can people be so gullible as to be persuaded to be against something they can’t define or even know what it is?

            In the past people have explained their dream and people knew what they were responding to and how they could help make it happen. Think LBJ, JFK, and MLK and their dreams to inspire Americans and others around the world.

            What dream does Florida’s dictator inspire with “Woke”? He keeps using it as if we really know what it is about and we don’t. It must be bad or he wouldn’t be so scared of it.

17 Friday Mar 2023

Posted by in Authoritarian

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Who Decides Your Rights?

    For many years several conservative Republicans have gotten off track by deciding what Americans can do if it agrees with their narrow philosophy or can’t do if it doesn’t agree. Their quest to make American into their image has caused their leaders to swerve towards authoritarianism. The Governors of Florida and Texas are great examples of increasing power to dominate their people. Both Governors have total control of the legislative and judicial branches so they can pass any laws they want.

      Governor Ron DeSantis took away the authority given to Disney to locate in Florida because it disagreed with his executive orders to continue to allow life styles he disagreed with. Other companies have found governmental problems in Florida if they don’t fund his campaigns or if they fund his opponents.

      Now the “Red States” have decided any abortion is illegal even if a resident of their state gets one in another state. Twenty-three of those states are trying to restrict the sale by a drugstore or reception by mail of a safe abortion pill that has been used for decades. Texas is trying to make the drug illegal in all fifty states!

        What happened to individual rights as a major plank in the Republican platform?

Sweet Freedom

17 Friday Mar 2023

Posted by in Ukraine

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America is becoming divided over a simple question. Do we support the people of Ukraine who were invaded by Russia so Vladimir Putin’s dream of a Russian Empire is fulfilled or do we side with Putin and stop supporting a nation trying to exist? There is no middle ground.

      We know Past-President Donald Trump is a supporter of Vladimir Putin as a tyrant and in control of his country and President Xi Jinping of China. Trump openly said he admired Kim Jong Un’s control over North Korea. Some Republican’s are openly saying we should not be helping Ukraine or shouldn’t be spending as much money on aid and weapons as President Joe Biden has promised. When talking heads on right wing networks start to influence their viewers it empowers Putin to keep killing Ukrainians in the trenches and in their homes.

      There is only one phrase that such behavior warrants and that is being called a “Putin Supporter.” If these people can’t support a people’s freedom then, they should leave this freedom loving country. If they are just doing this to gain some political advantage then, they should be condemned and scoriated by all Americans.

      Make your voice heard because if Putin can’t be stopped now, where might he invade later and perhaps cause a larger war. If he is able to get away with this invasion will Xi decide he can take Taiwan and Nepal? Will Putin’s example allow some other country to invade their neighbor? This behavior must be stopped Here! And Now!

Divisive People

14 Tuesday Mar 2023

Posted by in Dev isive Leaders

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        Georgia’s Representative Marjorie Taylor-Greene has proposed that the Red States (Republican) should separate from the Blue States (Democrat) on an economic level. What she fails to realize or just wants to excite her followers is those Red States get more money from the Blue States than they send to it.

Tens of billions goes to repair or build their infrastructure and military bases. Billions more go to subsidize the poor and underpaid residents in those states. Red States have a greater percentage of those people than the Blue States do. Billions more go to Red States after floods and hurricanes.

Red States criticize the Federal Government for the activities of the EPA and other regulatory agencies; agencies which make their states healthier and more livable.

Maybe the Congressional budget office should do a quick little research project on what would happen to Georgia if all the military bases were closed, all the Federal funds for infrastructure was retained, Federal offices were moved out, all the Federal Agencies was pulled out of Georgia Airports, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and Supplemental Aid was removed. I bet her constituents would kick her out within hours of it being publicized. One thing about the right wingers or radicals, they will turn on their leaders in moments.

Authoritarian or Dictator

14 Tuesday Mar 2023

Posted by in Authoritarian

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        Republican Governor of Florida is Ronald Dion DeSantis with aspirations to be President of the United States. Said during a speech in Las Vegas, “We do not want an authoritarian to be President. We want someone who listens to the people and will do away with the “Woke culture.”

I see two conflicts with his campaign talk to engage the right wing of his party. One is Florida has never had a more authoritarian governor. If any Floridian of either party spoke against him or his policies he makes them suffer. Disney World is only the most famous example. He has gone after schools for what a teacher has done, libraries for books he didn’t like, Democratic voting areas by reducing the number of polling sites causing long lines and then closing them before those in line could vote.

Another conflict is the majority of Americans like “woke” – whatever than encompasses. Most Americans believe in science over stupidity and lies. Most Americans feel schools should be secular and teach truth independent of government. DeSantis just specified all schools teach the evils of communism one day each year. They are also restricted from teaching any subject he doesn’t like or deems immoral. Those who fail to comply with his demands will be punished.

I guess being an Authoritarian means being a dictator to some and a father figure to others. A minority wants the former and may vote for him but the majority fear government morality controls and won’t vote for him. It will be interesting to see how much money he gets from Big Business which does not want to reverse their plans.

Nazism

08 Wednesday Mar 2023

Posted by in Hitler, Nazi, Politics

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        Nazism is a con game using fears of other people and ideas to spread hatred and divisiveness. One of its ploys is nationalism. Adolf Hitler used it to divide Germany. He said the reason Germany lost the war was because the elites and rich capitulated. In addition he blamed the Jews for the loss and the disastrous economy. Notice the nationalism, divisiveness, and an objective to blame it all on – the Jews.

            Nationalism is wrapping one in the country’s flag or coming up with a new one and parading it around the streets. Hitler’s second and last attempt to gain power was playing the politicians against each other and then denigrating the winners who weren’t completely loyal to him.

            His loyalists spread lies in the press, on the radio and in meetings. The constant harangue caused millions to believe their ears and eyes and not listen to their brains and commonsense. Remember “The Big Lie” consists of telling the same lie over and over and people will finally believe it in spite of their commonsense.

            A great many countries today have groups who use Nazism in an effort to gain political power or to denigrate groups of people. Many of today’s leaders are experts on utilizing its tactics to control their people. Putin of Russia, Xi of China, and Kim in North Korea are in control of their countries with a host of others trying their best. Some countries in danger of being added to the list are Iran, India, Israel, Poland, and Hungary.

Maybe you can think of other people using the tactics of Nazism to gain power in our country.

Carbon Storage Projects

08 Wednesday Mar 2023

Posted by in Carbon Storage

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        I thought a little hands-on knowledge and experience on the carbon sequestration would be helpful to the readers. After graduating high school in 1965 I ran a water flood project near Carmi, Illinois for the summer. My father had been operating it since its start but had a heart attack. I ran it until I had trained my brother-in-law and started college. My brother was an engineer for Halliburton and designed water and air flood systems in Wyoming and Montana. We had many conversations on this topic.

            The truth is no project is going to be completely fail-proof. Just because the formation held hundreds of pounds of pressure when it was full of petroleum and methane doesn’t mean it will hold carbon dioxide injected into it. They held the grains apart and when removed the formation was compressed causing cracks to occur in the formation and in the caprock over it. Injection of water or air under a cracked caprock will cause the injected matter to seep or gush upwards to higher formations. Parts of Texas have collapsed several feet.

            The flood I ran got its water from a well about two hundred feet deep in a very permeable strata. We added some liquid soap to aid the water to push remaining petroleum to extraction wells. After a few years people living over a mile away complained of soapy water. The petroleum formation was 1,800 feet deep.

            If that had been carbon dioxide instead of water the people would have had free carbonated water!

            This is a great way to save the planet’s ecosystem as long as it isn’t used to extract petroleum as is being done in Oklahoma and Texas. Those projects should not get any tax benefits from carbon storage legislation. Temporary storage is when you drink a Coke or Pepsi.

Press for Answers

04 Saturday Mar 2023

Posted by in Journalism

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        Why do people interviewing candidates never ask the obvious questions? When candidates say they will cut taxes and expenses why don’t people ask for detailed cuts instead of non-specific cuts? Voters should know specifics. Both of the remaining mayoral candidates in Chicago are going to make streets safer but don’t say how. The CPD is under a federal restriction now. Again, what does either of them specifically plan to do?

            When they don’t answer keep asking the questions! Asking doesn’t just pertain to Chicago mayoral candidates. The last cycle was a constant we will cut taxes, we will cut expenses and we will make America safe. They are careful not to say what they really will do because nobody will press them until they get specific.

            I pressed U.S. Senator Paul Simon once, but he kept dodging giving a straight answer frankly. A woman raised her hand. He acknowledged her, and she said he should answer my questions. He didn’t run out of the room but it was a very fast walk while saying he had another meeting. Many in the audience said they wouldn’t vote for him again.

            Be an intelligent citizen and voter. Seek real answers – not the dribble candidates and office holders feed you.