Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different outcome...

As crime in our country goes off the charts and people no longer feel safe in their homes, guess who is responsible for all this? Simply, it's those who continue to vote the same old party lines, regardless of who is running, and keep the same idiots in office election after election. No matter what political party people are associated with, you, and you alone, are responsible for how the country is, and is headed.

California has turned into a cesspool over the years and it's simply because of those in power that keep being returned to office again and again. Homelessness, crime, taxes, over-regulation, has destroyed what was once the most successful state in America. 

 

The border has turned into a free for all with terrorists and violent gangs coming over carte blanche, released into the country with no hope they will ever turn up for their hearings. It's not conjecture, but fact. Criminal gangs from other countries now prey on the suburban communities that were once the bastion of safety and security.

 

Lack of accountability for crimes has turned our justice system into a joke. Between no bail laws, catch and release policies, judges and prosecutors who abandon their oath to hold perpetrators accountable for their actions the system is more than broken. Crime on the streets has mushroomed into proportions that were un-thought of years ago. Felons released with no bail and commit additional crimes on the day they are released. That includes those with heinous crimes that end up back on the streets before their arrest papers ink is dry. Children shooting and stabbing other children and adults, pre-teens with guns bought off the street, car jackings every day, mostly by armed teens, people willing to shoot a law enforcement officer on simple traffic stops, police hamstrung and unable to do the jobs they were sworn to do. And it gets worse every day. 

 

Things will not change until the people decide they have had enough. If the voters don't put their foot down and stop this spiral into destruction, I shudder to think where we will be headed next. 

 

The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different outcome. Voting for the same people and expecting a different outcome is also insanity. It's up to the American voters to stop the insanity.

Memorial Day 2023

 

Memorial Day…

 

 

I won’t say happy Memorial Day because while it’s a weekend for enjoyment for many, for others it’s a solemn walk down a memory lane remembering those who were lost in so many wars and conflicts. Friends, family, brothers, sisters, mothers and fathers. While the mute white crosses and bronze markers stand silent in cemeteries worldwide, and are names engraved on monuments, countless others remain in sort of a limbo due to the ravages of war on their physical and mental health. Still living but who also sacrificed in ways that will ultimately mean their demise. Those are the living dead from wars gone by. 

 

Our freedom was not won by the mouths of politicians, but on the blood and self-sacrifice of those who were prepared to give all for a cause. Politicians start wars; heroes fight them. And when they come home they have to fight not only the politicians for their due, but fight that damned war over and over again in mind and body.

 

Every day is Memorial Day sometimes...

 

 

Whittling away the American dream one sliver at a time...

As I watched a program last evening on how the diversity equity and inclusion mantra has impacted our schools, it dawned on me this is the exact road to socialism that is envisioned by the Democrat far left. Schools dropping honors programs where the gifted and intelligent children thrive and succeed, because those programs are not inclusive to those who do not strive to achieve. The twisted logic is to force everyone on the same level regardless of talent and ability; in other words, lower educational standards to the least intelligent child in the class.

At least one school has withheld honors certificates from the students that needed them for college admissions so that all, including the non-achievers, would have an equal college application possibility. Punish those who overachieved in search of equity and inclusiveness. Create additional divisiveness in our children, feed them lies that will separate them from their parents, make achievement a bad thing.

Spending tax dollars to tell children that any sex is okay and you can change sex preferences at a minutes notice is abysmal. No, it's sick. A boy decides he identifies as female today and wants to use the girls bathroom and is allowed to do so although tomorrow he may identify as male? A male with male genitals is allowed to use the girls locker room because he identifies as a transgender female? What the hell is this "identify" crap anyway. If I identify as the President of the US does that mean I can move in to the White House?  If I identify as the Pope can I sit on the throne in Rome? This entire gender bending is not only immoral and outrageous but sickening as well. There are two sexes, male and female. Period. The new buzzwords "gender dysmorphia" is a nicely coined phrase that used to be called mental illness!

People who worked hard and earned their wealth are now the bad guys; those who sat on their collective rear ends on the public dole are now considered the heroes who deserve everything at the expense of those who worked for it. Home ownership is gained by work, not welfare. Moving up to a nicer home and neighborhood is by hard dedicated work, not some government gimme program. Regardless of color or national origin most intelligent people strive to be better and have better. Government programs just destroy that spirit.

 

Imagine working many years to achieve home ownership in a nice community, only to be told that simply because of that work ethic and savings you are an elitist and not inclusive. So the government will force lower income people into your neighborhood, using your tax dollars to subsidize down payments, help them relocate and settle, all in the name of diversity and equity. No consideration to what that does to a community, no consideration that people's work and living standards widely differ and you worked to get here while they did not. Then when those who move in allow their living standard, or lack thereof, to become a scourge on the community, many people will flee and the entire community dissolves into a ghetto. The government will then buy up homes, rent them as Section 8 and other subsidized program housing and increase the lower socioeconomic residency. Think that's a harsh statement? Look at the suburbs where the original homeowners fled because of HUD and similar housing programs and look at the before and after photos and videos. The ghettos in major cities just didn't happen by themselves, the government in it's wisdom was the driving force behind that.  

I see this as becoming a two class country with the filthy rich and the lower class. Middle class is being eroded with costs and inflation and the government mandates. Forcing people to buy all new appliances they cannot afford to meet some nefarious energy goals, while not fixing the national grid to handle the surge. Ceasing use of natural gas appliances including furnaces, stoves, dryers and hot water heaters, and forcing replacement with electric at huge costs that will never be recouped by consumers, even if they can afford to make the changeover, which many cannot. Doles to help low income families move into upper class neighborhoods in the quest for inclusion, when most of those who cannot afford homes also cannot afford to maintain them. Government speaks of moving people to better living accommodations improves their living standard....looks like they never looked at what the huge expensive public housing became when populated with lower socioeconomic groups. They turned brand new apartments into shit boxes in short order and then complained the units were not habitable. I'm sure there were toilets and sinks in place when built, but residents taking them out and selling them seemed to be a regular occurrence. And no, the cockroaches were not an integral part of the build either, they came with the tenants. That is fact from someone who inspected those buildings when they were still halfway livable. 

We are at a crossroads in America. Our government has run amok with a system of installing misfits in key positions, trampling all over the rights of taxpayers, outrageous spending and give away programs, and trying to destroy the very fabric of society as we knew it. Those who continue to vote Democrat simply because they always have voted that way need to wake up and see what is happening. If they don't care about themselves they need to think about their children and future generations who will inherit this country.

 

This is one time in my life I am glad to be old and will likely never see the outcome of these asinine policies and mandates. But my children and grandchildren, and yours, deserve better.

 

 

When green isn't green at all.

 

Be prepared for many dark days and nights ahead

I have been reading about the push to 100% electrification in America and much of the world. With all those pressing for a "greener" planet, in their fervor they have lost sight of the big picture. Let's look at some points the fossil fuel haters never seem to consider...

1. Battery production is a dirty process. Mining for minerals to make the batteries scars the earth and the damage to the environment is significant, not to mention the child labor in many countries used to mine the minerals. 

2. Recycling is touted but there is little recycling taking place for batteries, solar panels or windmills. In fact, studies show that it costs thirty to forty dollars to recycle just one solar panel and that produces just two to four dollars of recoverable materials, so recycling is a losing proposition. Windmill blades are an alloy that currently cannot be recycled so there are thousands of those huge blades laying in scrap piles with no place to recycle them at this time. Batteries, in some cases, can have individual cells replaced, but manufacturers of vehicles are using the battery packs as structural members of the cars, meaning they will not be replaced and as of now, those vehicles will become scrap at the end of their electric service life. Recent articles show a seven year old electric vehicle selling for eleven thousand dollars used, will require a fourteen thousand dollar battery replacement, but none are available as the manufacturer discontinued replacement batteries and none are available on the aftermarket. So what we have is a giant useless paperweight.

3. We have gas appliances in our homes because gas is much cheaper than electric for most appliances. In the rush to curtail natural gas usage, and make everything electric, nobody seems to understand the huge increase on our already fragile electric grid when we move to all electric. Remove gas hot water, cooking, heating, clothes dryers and replace those with electric gobbling devices and it will severely impact electric availability.  For example...Electric dryer 4000 watts, electric stove 2000 watts, electric tankless water heater 8800 watts, electric home furnace 15,000 to 50,000 watts. Considering the average home duty cycle, on the low end that will add several hundred dollars to a family's electric bill and further tax the grid. In many areas we struggle to maintain the lights on due to lack of grid capacity, along with aging infrastructure. It's sad but comical to know that when the grid needs additional power the electric companies rely on gas fired "peaker" generating plants or the lights would go out!

4. Solar and wind power is great except when it's snowy, rainy, dark or the wind doesn't blow. In Texas their windmills froze several winters ago when it was inordinately cold and they could not deliver power. Homes froze, pipes burst and it was a general mess.  Also this year in Texas, there was a huge temperature inversion with no wind so they again went dark. Solar panels have a finite life span, usually 20 to 25 years so they need replacement as well. The cost and the recycling or lack thereof is again a problem. Nobody seems to care about this.

5. To add insult to injury the electric companies charge a minimum fee to solar users which in our area is currently ten dollars or the equivalent of about twenty six kilowatts at the .39 cents per kWh we currently pay in a tiered system first tier. (We have the highest electric rates in the nation). The utility wants to increase that to thirty five dollars or about ninety kilowatts minimum. So, why give the utility all that extra money for nothing when we can simply use more electric to offset that charge? And, since we send any excess from solar back to the grid, and are paid less than what we are charged for incoming electric, just quit conservation and use more electric which will result in the same bill? Once again, those on the headlong rush to go green have no clue about the backside of this quest. Solar was the carrot at the end of the electric bill stick but that carrot has withered away.

6. The cost for families and industry to turn from fossil fuels to electric will be huge. People who heat their homes with oil or gas will be forced at some point to change over to electric, and those costs for a new furnace will be enormous. Same with stoves, water heaters and clothes dryers. Looking at current pricing of those items it will cost about ten thousand dollars or more for the transition to electric and the bills to operate those appliances will be increasing as well. If there will be subsidies for those who have to make the change, the costs will simply be divided and borne by the taxpayers yet again. There is no "free lunch" for anyone but the utilities and the government in this deal. And large industrial users will have an even bigger challenge...grain dryers for example use natural gas and converting to electric would shut most down. No grain means no food, folks. But the politicians never think of these consequences.

7. California has decided no new fossil fueled vehicles can be sold as of 2035. Only electrics or non-fossil fueled vehicles will be allowed. Yet they have zero ability to charge all those vehicles and won't have anytime in the near future. Imagine an apartment complex with a thousand vehicles, which is about normal for a four to five hundred apartment complex. How will they get enough chargers, how will they put one in every parking space, how will they meter the electric, and what will that do the already sky-high rents? Then consider that many chargers on current networks are out of order, won't charge properly, won't charge every vehicle configuration, are vandalized, etc. And how will the already fragile grid handle that increased load? And of course all the new electric buses, trucks, trains, and other vehicles that will further impact the grid. Nobody wants to talk about that like there will be some magical unicorn who will grant us unlimited power for all the new "green" needs. 

I am not against recycling, renewing, reusing and some green energy. But dictating the ways and means you will be forced to go green just is not a survivable future for America. The powers that be have turned their backs on the dirty energy that goes to make the green elements, the sad labor practices, the filthy air and landscapes in countries that make the "green" energy products we import, the closing down of nuclear power plants instead of solving the waste nuclear fuel issue. Every politician wants to be seen as a green savior but when they find they will be very cold sitting in the dark, it will be a sad moment of truth. Politicians and over zealous tree huggers seem to have no consequences for what they do to the country. They get fat and rich while in office, take no responsibility for their bad choices, have no consequences for their actions, and just leave the rest of us to deal with their blunders. 

Another giveaway for votes and another taxpayer burden

The Biden administration just announced a student loan forgiveness program but cannot tell us the actual cost. 300 billion to perhaps 600 billion, but what the hell, it's the taxpayers money so why should the Washington crowd care. They hired all those new IRS agents to beat down the lower and middle class so they may be able to eke a few dollars out of struggling taxpayers to fund the debacle. 

I paid for my children's college education each semester, working two and three jobs when necessary to assure they had a quality education. They never had student loans hanging over their heads as they moved into a productive adult life. I never had student loans nor did I use the GI Bill for my own education. To be honest, I started college too late and my eligibility for the GI Bill had expired long ago. So, in my thirst for knowledge I obtained multiple degrees in my chosen field of endeavor, all the way to a Doctorate. And worked full time in doing so, studying at night and on weekends, and raising a family too. All this on a single income family.

So why are those who took student loans able to receive ten or twenty thousand dollars in loan forgiveness on the backs of taxpayers? And why this burden for many taxpayers who never went to college? Those who sought careers in jobs not requiring a college degree and who were, and are, highly productive members of society? Those who paid their own way through college and are now being required to pay strangers way as well? Why are those who took worthless degree paths like Political Science and Liberal Arts and other courses that they will never get a career in getting a debt payment? Why is the person who took 12 years to complete a 4 year degree and spent the student loan funds on cars, booze and parties getting relief of a debt they legally owe? 

It's all to garner votes for the mid term elections. It's a giant taxpayer funded ploy to give the warm fuzzies to a class of people who don't deserve the taxpayer funded "gift" in the hope this will sway them to vote Democrat. 

The current administration has gone off the rails in reckless spending and is adding to not only inflation, but the grief of American taxpayers who foot the bill for all of this nonsense. Try telling a family that is struggling to keep the roof over their head and food on the table how paying someone else's bills is helping them. Try telling working people that they need to pay more and more for people who don't pay. It's akin to that family eating beans and paying for someone else's steak dinner.

This is like a giant welfare system devised by the Democrats in Washington, the prelude to a socialist society. Take from those who earn their money and give it to the whiners who not only don't work for it, but don't deserve it either. 

America as we knew it is gone...

 

 

Government logic...

I believe everyone has heard the tale of the Dutch boy who put his finger in the dike so that the town would not be flooded. Well, here is a twist on that story:

1.The dike (dam) has a leak and a little boy puts his finger in the hole to stop the leak. 

2. Government officials are notified about the leak.

3. Government refutes the problem is theirs and does nothing.

4. Government blames the boy for the hole and files charges against him for damaging public property.

5. Boy removes finger from the hole as he is arrested and the town is threatened once again.

6. Government asks for solutions to repair the hole.

7. Government refuses the Republicans answer to plug the hole with cement which will stop the leak.

8. Government forms a committee of highly paid "experts" to study the problem.  

9. Town is flooded and town asks FEMA for assistance. 

10. FEMA hires several hundred people to study the problem as the flood waters rise.

11. FEMA "experts" come up with a solution. 

12. FEMA hires five hundred people at $50 per shift and with full benefits, who will each take take 15 minute shifts putting their finger in the hole.

13. FEMA goes back to Washington smug in their solution.

14. The Democrats raise taxes to cover the disaster costs, charge every person in town five-thousand dollars in new taxes, and convene a panel to study why the Republicans didn't plug the hole sooner.

And that, my friends, is why the little Dutch boy no longer helps and why everything the government gets involved in costs so damned much.