From our financial crisis of late, everybody should grab their wallets when so-called experts preach about this or that. Yes, I'm sure that there are true experts, but it is to the point that when Congress want to go one way, we should run the other way.

In Sunday's Crossroads section of the newspaper Jerry Resler makes a very lopsided argument for spending more money on something that people don't want, regional high speed rail. I would be a person that such a system is targeted for. In my business travels, I travel to many of the destinations shown on the map that accompanies the article.  This week I am in Nashville for a conference. I drove there. A coworker flew even after spending thirteen hours at a terminal in his last travel. Had I gone to the same one, I'd have beat him home driving rather than flying.

Both the rail system and flying present the same problem when you get to the last stop. You have to get to your destination from the terminal.  Take a bus? Never! Besides, I usually have a computer, projector and other stuff that you just can't take on a bus and then walk several blocks because the bus doesn't stop near where I'm going.

Cars are going to be the primary people mover for many years to come. Fantastic traffic control systems are being developed that will lead to automobile trains operated by communicating computer systems from car to car. Even today, we have communicating GPS navigation systems being introduced that can reroute other so equipped cars around slowdowns.

Railroads have a place for the future. Rail can move freight better over long distances than trucks. Lets not waste money on passenger trains when personal transportation is where the money should be spent!

In the past I've criticized new construction as putting a load on our dwindling water resource. This, even though the business that I'm in is dependent on new construction. Briefly, I don't believe that long time residents of the city or county should be put in the same boat of inconvenience to accommodate development and expansion. Those dwindling the resource should be the ones to carry the load. Water wise, this would be prohibiting watering lawns, gardens and washing cars in new developments except with water gathered from cisterns or other non-aqufier sources. On site water recycling of gray water should be included with conservation efforts.

Preparation for the diminished used of petroleum should be implemented in the the building code too.  Electricity is the energy of the future. We will power anything with a petroleum engine with it and we will heat our homes with it. As an expert in the heating and cooling business, I can see gas furnaces going the way of oil furnaces in the next twenty years. Honda has shown a natural gas powered fuel cell generator to recharge electric cars and provide power for the home's electric furnace and heat pump/air conditioner. For those of you with hot water heat, there have been electric powered boilers so don't feel left out.

GM will be introducing the electric car, the Volt, which will run entirely on electricity, recharge at home if desired, but have gasoline back-up so you don't get stranded. In my needs, the electricity range is adequate for most all of my driving around. So the Volt can replace one of my cars and the other can be the guzzler used to pull the boat and so forth.

The building code should anticipate the plumbing changes and increased electrical service needs of the near future and require that it be install NOW in new construction and remodeling of existing homes and buildings.