Who Really Gets Hurt By Environmentalists?

The enivro-nazis have a little trick they want to pull over us. They want what amounts to a penalty on people who drive "wasteful vehicles" or in other words, SUVs and trucks. What these people fail to realize is that alot of people have a very legitimate reason to drive such vehicles. It could be that are in an industry they need a truck. Construction, agriculture, maintenance, transportation, lawn care, and many other industries need their trucks. A big tax on these would be a devastating blow to the men and women already struggling to fill their gas tanks and still turn a profit. What about the people who have a large family? My Aunt and Uncle have 7 kids and drive a Chevy Suburban. I doubt anyone in their right mind would try to fit 9 people into a little hybrid tin can. Another Aunt and uncle have 8 kids and drive a Ford Clubwagon. It is not wasteful for these people to have large vehicles, it is not only practical but necessary. Churches, Schools, and Boys and Girls Clubs often use large "wasteful" vehicles to transport people around, to those get taxed too? What happens if a carpool group uses a larger vehicle? Do some people get breaks on this tax? if so, who decides it? Will it become a method for legislatures to "buy" votes from the "gimme culture" so prevalent in America today? Do some people drive larger vehicles than they need? perhaps, but many people need the larger vehicle, and it is much less wasteful for one Suburban to be on the road than three or four Civics.

VP options...

My friend and I were discussing possible McCain VP choices the other day, and the standard names (Huckabee, Pawlenty, etc.) came up, but then he brought up a strange possibility-- Joe Lieberman. At first this seems like a daring, but logical strategy, Lieberman is one of the more conservative democrats (sad to say), he and McCain have been in congress together a long time, and McCain could capture some swing votes that way. Knowing there had to be a reason not, I turned it around in my head a bit, and came up with this: its been tried, and failed. In the original form of the United States Constitution, the winner of the Electoral College became president, and the runner-up became vice-president. This failed so badly that the constitution was amended in 1804, a mere seventeen years after being adopted (12th amendment). The twelfth amendement does not require the two offials be from the same party, but the reason was due to the political infighting of the day. in fact, it was so bad that at one point the Vice-President shot the treasury secretary in duel. (Go ahead, make a Dick Cheney joke.) Another very obvious reason against Lieberman is the issue of succession, if McCain were to die or otherwise be unable to hold office, Lieberman would then become president. Not such a good idea. The last reason I came up with is very practical, many hard right conservatives are at best skeptical of McCain, if he chose a democrat running mate, they would see it as a final act of treason against their principles, a metaphorical slap in the face and McCain would lose their votes. On the other hand, if he chose a more conservative Vice-Presidential nominee, The right would see it as an act of conciliation, and McCain would be able to ensure their votes, while being able to keep his moderate facade. After all, McCain may be the left of the right, but he is still infinitely more conservative than BH Obama, and I think most of the right-wing will confirm it on election day.

Why People Are Conservatives, and Other Random Thoughts.

I hate people who don't really know anything, or even really care, about issues but call themselves liberals. They are really conservatives because they don't care enough to challenge the status quo. A very simple definition of a conservative is a person who is happy enough with how things are that they don't agitate for change. The people who are apathetic are therefore conservatives. This is different from being lacking compassion.

If somebody asks you to sign a petition to get a 3rd party candidate on the ballet, sign it. Election laws are very unfairly tilted towards only allowing the two traditional parties on the ballet. A plus to getting Nader and company on the ballet is that they will take votes away from the two left-wing nuts still duking it out for the democratic nomination.

I saw diesel prices hit $5 per gallon today, and up go the farmer's costs and therefore food prices.

I really don't understand what the feminist movement is all about.

Illinois is going into emergency legislative session again if they don't agree on a budget by the end of the week, and as much as I would love the federal government to adopt a balanced budget amendment, this scares me what would happen on a national scale.

Illegal Immigrants are criminals, and should be treated as such.

Gas Taxes

Something to think about, the Federal Government charges an 18.4 cent per gallon tax on gasoline, and a 24.4 cent per gallon tax on diesel. State taxes averaged 21.5 cents per gallon NOT including sales tax. 11 states charged additional sales tax (link). The average U.S. gas price as of May 19th 2008 is $3.791, and they have gone up in the last few days, and probably will keep going with the holiday weekend (link). Working with the number of $3.791, with a moratorium or repeal of taxes on gasoline, the price would be down to about $3.391 for a national average. This would be a huge boost to the economy, since it would cause prices across the board to fall slightly, and therefore drive up demand. Everything that is sold in the United States uses some gasoline at some point in its' production, transportation, and inputs; which also require gasoline. Lowering prices of gas by forty cents would lower production costs of food, shipping costs for all goods, costs for services, and government costs. This subject is also discussed here. Illinois adds a 6.25% sales tax to a 19 cent per gallon flat tax, which using the numbers you just saw, puts it right at an average 3.792. Some states have a higher flat tax, and others charge more sales tax. Cut the taxes, and boost the economy. Even if income taxes needed to be increased to make up the revenue, the psychological effect of lower prices will make it worthwhile.

The Activist Judges Ignore the People Again, Part 2

These guys just don't get it! This time it is in Virginia, where a panel of judges from the federal appellate court wrote a 31-page document to try to justify the fact that the law they declared unconstitutional was nearly identical to a federal law the Supreme Court upheld. The law in question was not even attempting to overturn the precedent set by the Roe vs. Wade case. which any law could legally do, but rather was a ban on late-term, partial-birth abortion. Almost everyone can agree that late term abortions are inhumane, because with today's medical technology, almost any child in the third trimester has a chance to live. This case is just another example of the few trying to subvert the will of the many. Part 1 Story

An Opportunity?

Ted Kennedy has cancer. As much as I dislike the man's policies, It is horrible for any human to be given that diagnosis. I am not celebrating the fact that he has a brain tumor, but it does open an opportunity for the conservatives in Massachusetts. In all likelihood, unless his chemotherapy goes remarkably well, his senate seat will be vacated within a couple terms as he decides to concentrate on other things, or God forbid, if he were to pass on. This is a chance that has not been nearly as available with the popular incumbent. Hopefully, someone can find some good in this very human tragedy and a conservative can win Kennedy's seat. The one thing I fear is that Kennedy will retire but essentially name his successor, and the people of Mass. will unquestioningly follow. Of course, if we had term limits, he would have been out of the senate a long time ago.

edit "some good can come out of the very human" has been changed to "someone can find some good in this very human" because I think it better conveys my meaning.

Oil, Gas, and the Supply Side of Things.

Easiest way possible to lower gas prices is sitting on the floor of the Gulf of Mexico, under some caribou in Alaska, and sprawling across Texas and Oklahoma.

Thats right, we drill our own damn oil!

The most basic tenets of market economies are the Laws of Supply and Demand. Therein you can find the following principle: As supply increases, price decreases as the market tends toward equilibrium. Restated, this means that if we increase the amount of oil in production, gas prices will tend downward. This is without the 1970's style lines at the pumps and violence over severely rationed gas. This self-same idea is behind GWB's requests that the Saudis raise production, or risk facing a partial embargo (military goods)as a sanction. More OPEC production would drive down the prices, but we would still be dependant on a foriegn nation, and anytime they wanted, they could cut production and raise prices back up. In order to ensure independence we need to increase drilling on US soil. There are massive amounts of oil in Alaska, including but not limited to, the wildlife refuge. The Chinese are drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, there is no reason we could not drill alot more there. There is even oil under US territorial waters. Scarcity of oil is the reason why prices are so high, so by increasing it's commonality we can drive prices down. In America, gas prices are highly inelastic, because a massive number of people live in rural areas, and even our metro areas are often so spread out that public transportation and bicycles are often literally impossible to use as alternatives. If you can use them, great and more power to you. I live 7 miles from the nearest town, there is no other option than to drive. The other issue with high gas prices is that it drives the prices of everything else up. No matter what, every good you purchase, and many services rely on fuel. Shipping, fertilizers, farm equipment, and even public transportation require
fuels.

A good explaination of basic economic theory can be found here.

The Activist Judges Ignore the People Again

The activist judges in California don’t care what their people think. In the manner typical of the left, the voice of the people was ignored (i.e. a matter passed by direct vote) in a 4-3 split decision by the State Supreme Court. The people of CA decided to ban homosexual marriage. The supreme court decided the people don’t matter. Activist judges are incredibly annoying, they are the liberal way of circumnavigating the sea of popular opinion and ending up in the puddle of pseudo-intellectualism. I don’t care what your views on the issue of “gay marriage” are, The will of the people, not the will of 4 judges is what should be enforced. Every time a “landmark” court case like this occurs, I am incredibly saddened, because we all just gave up our voices. The Roberts court seems to have promise, but we have a long way to go for them to just be doing their job- interpreting, not writing laws.

Freudian slip?

Barack Huissen Obama stated the other day that during his tour, he has visited 57 states. Unless he's planning on annexing part of Canada and/or Mexico, we have 50 states. Obama's representatives have been saying that he made the mistake because he was tired. That's a possibility.

However, there is another possibility.

This could be a Freudian slip... There are 57 Islamic states...

Coincidence?

Nancy and Harry

Pelosi and Reid are the respective leaders of their branches of congress. As such they have considerable authority and clout to affect the prices of gas if they wanted. Why don't they? Is it like Bill Cunningham claimed, that they are doing nothing in hopes of sabotaging a republican presidential run? Those two need to take the lead on getting energy prices down.

Code Pink Proves Why People Think They Are a Joke

Code pink is bringing out their witches. Yep, witches. I thought this was a joke at first. For their Mother's day rally, they are having a "Witches, Crones, and Sirens day. The idea is that they are going to cast spells to impart wisdom to end the war. I don't know who at the recruiting centers (their favorite place to stake out) has the power to end the war. I thought the guys with that power were in caves in Iraq and Afghanistan, and on a ranch in Crawford TX. Seriously, individual troops can't end it, only the leaders of the participants can. This is really just Code Pink's latest little cry for attention, since nobody cares about their rallies in the media. Berekley's College Republican Chapter has been counter-protesting Code Pink, and the Berkley CR Activism Chair said "We try not to do anything embarrassing." She added, "We're just going to stick with our regular thing because we have lives and they don't." The best part of this is the quote from the Marine Recruiter:

"Ironically, it's actually helped us by putting our name out. We're now well known. And people know who we are, and where we are, and they come in to talk to us about enlisting. They've gotten us the publicity that we could've never afforded to pay for ourselves," Wheatcroft told FOXNews.com.

"Just in the last three weeks, 10 people came in looking to apply, looking to become Marine officers, and that's much higher than normal," he said.

God Bless America, and the Troops

Link

Say yes to tax cuts on gas.

Ok, Its been awhile, Moving home and all that took up some time, and my internet access is limited now.


I read an article today about how Illinois has a proposal for a gas tax moratorium before the General Assembly. This sounds great to me, and it's only about 5% and only for 3 months, so it is not drastic, but a few cents add up. The thing is, the moratorium faces strong opposition from people who don't think that it will work, and people who think it will just drive up prices and oil company profits because more people driving more of cheaper gas. Here is why they are incorrect: most of Illinois is rural, so people will drive the same amount because they cannot go without it. Even more than a consumer benefit though, corporations and especially small business will benefit because they have to pay less for shipping, to obtain raw materials, and for some, the high fuel prices directly affect them, such as truckers, movers, and anyone who needs to be mobile. Retail needs people to come and buy their merchandise, which is more likely with cheaper gas also. Even a few cents per gallon of savings goes a long way when multiplied by a fleet of trucks. Another benefit is to make vacations more affordable, which is great for some economies dependent on tourism. Plus, in a capitalist system based on profit, the goal of the oil company is to make a profit. The current Governor and GA have already proven that they don't understand the economy, so I doubt they will pass this, they can't even balance the budget.