|
|
|
|
|
    
|
OUR SEEING EYE DOG |
|
I wrote about our dog last month and several commented on it. Some people don't care much about sailboats and cars, but they like animals. So I added an extra page to this website about
|
|
150 YEARS OF US OIL PRODUCTION |
|
July 23, 2009 Blog
My father-in-law was born near Titusville, Pennsylvania, where Edwin Drake drilled the world’s first oil well on August 27, 1859. Next month we celebrate the 150th anniversary of that historical occasion.
Pumped oil was much easier and cheaper to produce than whale oil, and although refined by primitive methods, it had a higher quality. The discovery of “black gold” led to a boom that surpassed the California Gold rush of 1849. Almost overnight, 40,000 whalers and 700 whaling boats were put out of business and within three years, the price of oil fell to a mere 10 cents a barrel! The wooden barrels were worth more than their contents!
Until 1900, oil was used for light, medical purposes and for lubrication. A side product of the refining process, called gasoline, was considered a dangerous nuisance and simply dumped into the river! It wasn’t until the invention of the automobile 30 years later, that good use was found for gasoline. Whales were perhaps saved from extinction, but many fish died in the river! Environmentalists accuse cars of polluting the cities, but in reality, the automobile drastically improved life in the cities. Before the arrival of motor vehicles, they were plagued with filth and disease due to the accumulation of horse manure.
For seventy years, America was the world’s leading oil producer. In 1926, we produced a total of 770,824 barrels of crude oil and by 1936, production had climbed to about 1.1 millions barrels.Two years later, American oil company prospectors discovered large oil reserves in Arab nations of the Middle East. This discovery transformed poverty stricken nations into the wealthiest in the world. Americans were not concerned, for US production continued to rise until it reached more than3 million barrels by 1966.
In 1976, American oil production declined for the first time to just under 3 million barrels a year. Foreign crude oil imports rose to nearly 2 million barrels in that year! The Carter administration became alarmed at this development and founded the DOE on August 4, 1977.
Can anybody out there tell me what DOE stands for? Well, if you don't know, you are not alone. It seems strange that we've spent several hundred billion dollars in support of an agency the purpose of which few people can reveal. And even fewer care.
DOE stands for Department of Energy and its purpose is to lessen our dependence on foreign oil.
13 years after the DOE was instituted, the New York Times reported on January 18, 1990:
"America's oil production suffered its biggest single-year decline ever in 1989, falling by more than half a million barrels a day, the American Petroleum Institute reported yesterday. Imports surged to make up for the drop in domestic oil production. As a result, the nation's dependence on imported oil rose to a near-record 46 percent of demand last year, the highest level in more than a decade."
Except during the first years of Ronald Reagan's presidency, annual US Oil production has ALWAYS been less than the previous year (no increases and cumulative decreases in production) since the establishment of the DOE.
It is now 2009, 32 years later, and DOE's annual budget is $25 billion. The DOE has 16,000 federal employees and about 100,000 contract employees.
Pretty efficient, wouldn't you say?
And now we have turned banking, insurance and auto mfg. over to the government? Health care is next!
|
|
40 YEARS LATER |
|
July 16, 2009 Blog
Today was a special day in history. Exactly 40 years ago, Apollo 11 blasted off from Cape Canaveral with Neil Alden Armstrong, Michael Collins and Edwin Eugene 'Buzz' Aldrin Jr. on board. Four days later, Armstrong and Aldrin became the first humans to walk on the Moon. Armstrong uttered those now famous words, "One small step for man; one giant leap for mankind."
Another Kennedy also made headlines 40 years ago today. Ted Kennedy drove his car off a bridge at Chappaquiddick, Massachusetts following a night of heavy drinking. Mary Jo Kopechne was traveling with him. Kennedy was an excellent swimmer and managed to reach the shore safely. Mary Jo (2 days older than my wife) drowned a few days before her 29th birthday.
 Ted Kennedy, five of his pals and six women known as the "Boiler Room Girls" were spending the weekend together in a cottage. All five men were married but their wives were not present. They said they were just having a party to thank the girls (all single) for helping with Robert Kennedy's political campaign. Robert had been set up to become the next in a dynasty of Kennedy Presidents. Third in line, would be Ted Kennedy. Robert was assassinated, which means Ted moved into the #2 spot.
The would-be next President staggered back to where the others were still partying. Two of his friends drove to the scene of the accident while Kennedy went to a hotel. At 9:00 AM Kennedy reported the accident after his car was discovered.
Just one week later, Kennedy pleaded guilty to leaving the scene of an accident and was given a two-month suspended sentence. Perhaps Ted's conscience still bothers him because last week, he asked Obama to deliver a letter to the Pope, requesting prayer.
Cape Canaveral was renamed Cape Kennedy in honor of John F. Kennedy, whose goal it was to reach the moon by the end of the 1960s.
Chappaquiddick is more difficult to pronounce and spell than Canaveral, but for some reason, they never changed the name of the obscure bridge that Ted Kennedy made famous.
|
|
I AM NOT ASTROTURF! |
|
July 15, 2009 Blog
Here is an article from Sunday's "Parade Magazine" which was inserted into many newspapers across our nation.
Are 'Grassroots Activists' For Real?
While drafting major legislation on energy policy, health care, and the economy this term, members of Congress have been bombarded with phone calls, letters, e-mails, and petitions from constituents. So-called grassroots campaigns are often effective because they’re thought to represent the will of the people. But what politicians—and many ordinary Americans—may not know is that some “grassroots” movements are actually sophisticated marketing campaigns financed by businesses and special-interest groups.
For example, Patients United Now (PUN), a group focused on health care, claims to be composed of “patients just like you” who are shocked at decisions being made in Washington by “big companies, lobbyists, and politicians.” In fact, PUN is a project of the Americans For Prosperity Foundation, launched by David Koch—a wealthy industrialist who opposes efforts to expand government-mandated health benefits. Another group, American Rights at Work, advocates making it easier for workers to unionize. It is funded in part by the AFL-CIO.
Craig Holman of Public Citizen, a consumer-advocacy organization, calls such campaigns “ astroturf,” not grassroots, and says they “typically adopt populist-sounding names that belie the fact that they are bankrolled by large corporations, trade associations, or ultra-wealthy individuals who have little in common with regular Americans.” At present, grassroots movements are unregulated and not required to disclose the interests behind them. Some politicians, like Sen. Bob Bennett (R., Utah), think that’s a good thing. “The First Amendment guarantees freedom of speech,” he says. “People should be able to speak out without having to register with the very government they are seeking to change.”
— Sharon Male
This is a public response to Parade Magazine (see my July 9 blog about one-way communication):
To the Editor,
PARADE Publications
Dear Editor:
I subscribe to a New Jersey daily newspaper and therefore receive a copy of Parade Magazine.
I am very upset with our present government for spending our grand children's money without permission or Constitutional basis. Obama, Congress, and the Senate were duly elected to office and I am subject to their legal powers even when I must often disagree with their decisions. But as an American, I still have the right to protest.
Much of the American media has chosen to be silent or supportive of the government's actions. Instead, it chooses to belittle and mock any who protest as pawns of "sophisticated marketing campaigns financed by businesses and special-interest groups."
For more than two centuries, the American news media has generally been fair in hearing and expressing the voice of minorities and listened to both sides of issues. The media has historically been critical of politicians and government bodies that ran roughshod over minorities. In recent years, headlines were constantly filled with attacks against policies and actions of the George W. Bush White House, but it treats the Obama regime like the proverbial sacred cow.
Politicians and the media have been bombarded lately by telephone calls, letters and emails protesting the fact that OPM addicts are running - sorry, ruining our country (OPM= "Other People's Money"). Even if some grassroots organizations are "actually sophisticated marketing campaigns financed by businesses and special-interest groups," it is unfair and slanderous to contend or insinuate that millions of Americans, who take the time and run the risk of protesting, and possibly facing reprisals or being labeled as potential terrorists, are unknowingly duped by fake grassroots organizations.
I am proud to be one of those "ordinary Americans." I don't speak for any grassroots organization, nor am I "astroturf" (fake grass) as Craig Holman claims. But I do protest, write letters and call my representatives, and I pay for my blog from my own pocket.
|
|
RENT or BUY? |
|
July 13, 2009 Blog
For nearly four decades we lived in Europe and rented. We could have paid for two homes with what we paid for rent, so we looked forward to retirement in America and owning our own home.
But we made the mistake of retiring in New Jersey. You can never own a home in NJ. Even if you pay cash for it or pay off your mortgage, you still have to pay 5% of the your home's value every year. It's called property tax. If you have owned your house 40 years, you paid for it three times. Once to the seller and twice to the government.
Renting in Europe was a bargain!
|
|
ONE WAY COMMUNICATION |
|
July 9, 2009 Blog
I am weary of one-way communication. This website is all one-way in spite of the fact that I added my email address which benefits spammers. I would like to add a form so people can comment on my blogs. I seek correction as well as compliments.
I tried to set up a response form but it didn't work. I typed my desire into Google and got a bunch of websites that offer help "absolutely free" - until you download a program and discover that it is a trial version that runs out after using once. And they now have my email address and hound me daily to purchase their products. I try to "unsubscribe" but these people ignore such requests.
The media is all about communication -- one way of course. You can listen to the radio or television but you can't respond other than smashing the device with a hammer. The media has websites with links for people who want to subscribe or advertise, but none that can be used for a response to something they broadcast or print. Some have a telephone hotline where you can report newsworthy events, but there is no live person taking the calls.
It's the same with commercial establishments. They want to sell but do all in their power to keep people from bringing back defective products. When you are dissatisfied with service, ask to speak with the Manager. He or she is never in. Employees don't like you to speak with them and managers don't like to be disturbed by complainers.
We are on the "Do Not Call" list but we get many calls from solicitors and politicians who are excluded from the rule. It is usually an electronically recorded message and the Caller ID says, "Unknown Name - Unknown Number."
Churches are not much different. They call it a "fellowship" but you sit in a pew looking at the hair or lack of it on the person ahead of you, listening to whoever is up front. In most churches it is permissible to shout "Amen!" In some you can get up and dance, but don't try to start a discussion by asking the preacher to explain that last point. If an usher doesn't tell you to please be quiet, a hundred staring eyes will make you feel unwelcome.
Recently I drove to Newark Airport to pick up a visitor from the Czech Republic. I know how to find the airport but thought it would be nice to have my GPS telling me where to go even if I often argue with it. I went to the menu and clicked on "Places" and then "Air Transportation." I typed in Newark but nothing came up. I typed "Airport" and got a long list of airports, but not the largest on the East Coast. I finally gave up. A more knowledgeable person found it later under "Liberty International Airport".
About a third of all TV commercials in the Philadelphia area are from auto dealerships in Turnersville, NJ. Obama & Co have shut down the ones that didn't contribute to his campaign, but there are still many more in Turnersville. Try finding Turnersville on a Garmin GPS! I tried to find a way to notify Garmin Maps of these deficits but Garmin only has a one way street when it comes to communication.
|
|
|
