Midwest Ramblings 

Please Get Some Help

Cindy Sheehan has become the poster child for the antiwar movement. While her grief over her son’s death is certainly understandable it seems grief has turned into something approaching mental illness. Does she really think she is honoring her son, who volunteered to be in the military, by protesting outside the President’s ranch? Now she says she will refuse to pay her taxes and claims the cause of terrorism is Israel in Palestine. http://drudgereport.com/flash3cs.htm Does she realize that what the Arabs consider Palestine is essentially all of Israel? Apparently she has now taken the same position of the terrorist group Hamas and the deceased Arafat. Unfortunately she has become a vivid example of what happens when someone lets tragedy take over their lives. Grief and anger are certainly normal responses but she has let it turn into a deep bitterness that will end up destroying her life. It is telling that many others of her family are asking her to stop. In all sincerity she needs professional help.

Where's my luggage?

10,000 pieces of luggage are missing at Heathrow Airport after the strike . http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/transport/article305761.ece
Yet another reason along with long lines that I prefer to drive.

Gas Skyrockets

I guess gas in some areas in the country is over 3$ a gallon. Here unleaded regular is hovering between 2.39$ and 2.49$ but I expect that it will go up, perhaps even today. A few things to wonder about: The 66$ a barrel for oil is in the futures market. What are the oil companies actually paying for oil today? Exxon reported huge profits last quarter and a large reason for that has to be the difference between what they are paying for the oil and what gas is being sold for. For some reason the price of gas is pegged to the futures market instead of the real cost. This is a huge windfall for the oil companies. I am not one of these big business haters but the oil companies have always bugged me. When the price of oil goes up gas rises immediately, when it goes down the decrease comes slowly. One time they tell you “well, we have to pay the higher prices to replace the gas being used today so that is why prices go up right away” but then they tell you “well, we have already paid for the gas in the pump so we have to charge based on that”. They get you coming and going.

Nationally we need to change some things. First, part of the problem is refining capacity. It has been a couple decades since new refineries have been built yet our demand continues to increase. There needs to be more refineries. Make the approval process easier. Begin drilling in the Artic Reserve. That should be a no brainer yet the caribou worshippers have managed to keep it from happening. You can have both oil and caribou. There are also plenty of places of the US coast where environmentalists have stopped oil development. Those reserves need to be tapped. Different parts of the country have different legislated gasoline additive requirements which increases the cost of refining and decreases distribution efficiency. Is all that really necessary? The increased availability and practicality of hybrid cars is a good thing but they are still to pricey for most people. Perhaps tax credits for consumers that purchase them would be a good incentive.

It is amazing the economy is doing as well as it is under these conditions but eventually there has to be an impact.

The Great White Father

The NCAA in its infinite wisdom has decided to ban teams with “offensive” nicknames or mascots from hosting postseason tournaments or playing in postseason games unless the offending names and symbols are covered up. Of course this only means those with Native American, Indian or whatever name you choose. This is ridiculous. Has the NCAA nothing better to do? If an individual school chooses to change, as some have, then that is their business. By the way apparently it is impossible for those of European ancestry to be offended. I doubt there will be an outcry for Notre Dame to change from the Fighting Irish or any schools with Vikings as a nickname to change. The NCAA has apparently decided to take the paternalistic role of The Great White Father. For instance the Seminole tribe in Florida has officially endorsed the use of the Florida State Seminole’s name but the NCAA in its role as the Great White Father knows better and has decided as the Great White Father that the Seminoles are being demeaned and offended but they just aren’t sophisticated enough to realize it. Hopefully the NCAA gets sued over this.

Peter Jennings and the dying of the MSM

Most of course have heard of Peter Jennings death. Of course the media spare no effort in deifying one of their own. However it can be looked on as an appropriate end point of the mainstream media’s dominance. Dan Rather self destructed, Peter Jennings died and Tom Brokaw retired managing to keep a shred of dignity. At one time nearly everyone sat down and watched the evening news. Even though I knew I was being manipulated I watched because it was the only game in town. Now with wall to wall cable news there is no need for an orthodox evening news show for most people. Newspaper circulation is plummeting. I canceled mine a while ago because of poor service and that I just didn’t have the same need for it anymore. The days of the traditional newscast are nearly over and the mainstream media doesn’t seem to see it.

The downside to this news explosion can be seen in the Natalee Holloway case. Of course her disappearance and in all probability death is a terrible thing however it has been 2 months and we still have all day coverage. We have sensationalism of all too tragic of news.

Banks and Illegal Immigration

I read yesterday where banks are trying to make inroads in the illegal alien community. They are trying to offer home loans and other banking services. A few observations: First, having worked in the credit industry for many years I wonder how someone with no to minimal credit history, in all likelihood below average wages and a limited residence history would qualify for a bank home loan. Secondly if they do I can only imagine the interest rates that would have to be charged to cover the inevitable high default rate. It sounds like yet another way for banks to take advantage of people and make a bundle doing it. Thirdly banks are federally regulated. Apparently there is no regulation against this. Well, there should be. Banks should not be in the business of enabling people to break our immigration laws. Some would say “law enforcement is not the bank’s job.” We already make banks part of law enforcement. The Patriot Act requires banks to do certain things. Banks are already required to report certain types of transactions to the IRS. It is just simply wrong for banks to be enabling illegal immigration.

The Hall of Fame

Watched most of the football hall of fame inductions today. The story of Fritz Pollard was fascinating. He should have been inducted long before now. Dan Marino and Steve Young certainly deserved to go in on the first ballot. There could not be two more contrasting styles yet both played at the highest level. It just shows that the argument about whether a pocket passer or a running quarterback is more effective is moot. Either one can win championships.

A common theme in both speeches was team. It was not all about them but about their teams as well. It was a good lesson for football and life in general. None of us gets to where we are by ourselves. None of us can be totally self sufficient if we are going to be truly successful in our personal or professional lives.

It has been a few years since I have gone to the Football Hall of Fame. It is about time to go back.

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Football season is here. NFL preseason has started and college camps are opening. I now have something to do at 1pm on Sundays now. As far as the NFL goes until someone beats them the Patriots have to be the favorite. I look for the Eagles to be contenders again and I think that a rededicated Brett Favre is going to put the Packers in contention. The Colts will also be in the mix. My surprise team is the Bengals. They may have turned the corner. Carson Palmer looks like the real thing and they have a lot of surrounding talent on offense. I expect the defense to improve enough to put them in the hunt.

Everyone wants seems to want to hand the National Championship to USC. Not so fast! I expect a championship game of Ohio State and USC with OSU winning. Defensively OSU will once again have one of college football’s best. Offensively they will be a much different team than last year, especially early last year. With two good quarterbacks, perhaps the best group of receivers in the nation and an experienced offensive line they should be explosive

60 Years Ago

Today is the 60th anniversary of Hiroshima. The historians and moralists still battle over whether it was the correct decision. War is inherently inhumane and to argue whether a particular act was inhumane seems incongruent. Perhaps in an odd way Hiroshima prevented more uses of atomic and nuclear weapons. People having seen the results there saw it inconceivable to use them again. Now we face the specter of the nuclear menace again, this time through either terrorism or a rogue country such as North Korea or Iran where the rules of normal civilized society do not apply. The results of a nuclear weapon today would dwarf the two bombs dropped in Japan. Even one detonated in the US would shut us down and have horrendous consequences around the world. If nothing else it is reason to take the terrorism threat seriously and not dismiss it as the results of paranoi

Knee update

The specialist confirms my wife’s knee is just a bad sprain so it will not require any surgery but it will take around a month or so to heal. Hopefully it is better for our trip to Canada in a couple months. She is going to close her office and will be looking for another line of work. With this happening and the lease expiring it is as good a time as any