I wrote about 'slippery slopes' back on October 15th.  It seems that things have gotten progressively worse since then.  We are, if we permit it, deluged with bad news.  That can take a real toll on us if we permit.

I know it isn't happening this often, but seemingly I read about another 'intervention' on a daily basis.  This morning I learned that you and me have bailed out Citibank with $20 billion of our dollars and more to follow that in the form of protecting that company against some $300 billion of bad investments.

We have been pummeled over the subject of the 'big three' automobile companies and what it is we need to do for them and their employees.  This one particularly hits home since we have relatives who could be adversely affected depending upon what is or isn't done.

We know people who have had significant losses in the stock market over the past several months.  Obviously the word 'significant' has a different meaning to each of us.  If we had a million dollars and lost half, that would be 'significant'.  If we had five hundred dollars and lost half of that, that would be just as significant if not more so, as I suspect you'd agree.

I read about our president-elect and a new multi-hundred billion dollar 'bail out' program that he wants ready for his signature by the time he is sworn in as our next president.  I read about the price of turkeys being higher this year. Thanksgiving Day is upon us and I imagine that many are questioning what it is they have for which to be thankful.  Even though we live in the greatest time in history and in 'the land of plenty', we sometimes seem to have problems finding things for which to be thankful.

It really seems that we have to search for our daily dose of "feel good".  Yes; I do believe that we need some "feel good" daily or we risk becoming deadened to the things about us that are good.  Some of us find that dose of "feel good" in the scriptures; some of us find it in the beauty of nature; some of us find it in the kind words of a friend; some of us find it in the giggles of a youngster; some of us find it in books or art or music; some of us find it in the warmth of the touch of a loved one; some of us find it having done a good deed for another.

Some of us, on the other hand, feel good only if we're able to buy things, or if we can dine at the best restaurants, or if we can sip an expensive wine each day, or if we can feel superior to a neighbor because our house is bigger, or our automobile is larger and more expensive.

In our present economic situation, it will be much easier to find our daily "feel good" if we can do that in a non-economic sense.  It isn't always easy to make that transition; I know that from having been on both sides of this equation.  But, it is well worth the effort that is required.  Some of us will find ourselves learning or re-learning how it is to live on less; some of us have already begun that learning process.  Very few of us will be able to avoid some level of 'less' during this period in our nation's history.

But, we don't have to go without that daily dose of "feel good".   

This is a very nice little slide show set to music that might give you a bit of an uplift for the day after the elections.

Click here.

Hope you enjoy it.

After the morning's comments, maybe this will help calm us a bit.

Recently I was diagnosed with A.A.A.D.D. - Age Activated Attention Deficit Disorder.

This is how it manifests: 

I decide to water my garden.  As I turn on the hose in the driveway. I look over at my car and decide it needs washing.  As I start toward the garage, I notice mail on the porch table that I brought up from the mailbox earlier.  I decide to go through the mail before I wash the car.  I lay my car keys on the table, put the junk mail in the garbage can under the table, and notice that the can is full.  So, I decide to put the bills back on the table and take out the garbage first.

But then I think, since I'm going to be near the mailbox when I take out the garbage anyway, I may as well pay the bills first.  I take my checkbook off the table, and I see that there is only one check left.  My extra checks are in my desk in the study, so I go inside the house to my desk where I find a can of Coke I'd been drinking.  I'm going to look for my checks, but first I need to push the Coke aside so that I don't accidentally knock it over.

The Coke is getting warm, and I decide to put it in the refrigerator to keep it cold.  As I head toward the kitchen with the Coke, a vase of flowers on the counter catches my eye-they need water.  I put the Coke on the counter and discover my reading glasses that I've been searching for all morning.  I decided I'd better put them back on my desk, but first I'm going to water the flowers.

I set the glasses back down on the counter, fill a container with water and suddenly spot the TV remote.  Someone left it on the kitchen table.  I realize that tonight when we go to watch TV, I'll be looking for the remote, but I won't remember that it's on the kitchen table, so I decide to put it back in the den where it belongs, but first I'll water the flowers.

I pour some water on the flowers but quite a bit of it spills on the floor.  So, I set the remote back on the table, get some towels and wipe up the spill.  Then I head down the hall trying to remember what I was planning to do.

* * * * *

At the end of the day:

the car isn't washed; the bills aren't paid; there is a warm can of Coke sitting on the counter; the flowers don't have enough water; there is still only 1 check left in my check book; I can't find the remote; I can't find my glasses; and, I don't remember what I did with the car keys.

Then I try to figure out why nothing got done today, I am really baffled because I know I was busy all day, and I'm really tired.

I realize this is a serious problem, and I'll try to get some help for it, but first I'll check my e-mail...

All this is courtesy of a very nice young lady who directs the choir in our church and who included this in an e-mail she sent to our home this morning.  Don't blame me!

The Journal Sentinel released its report for the latest period and the news was a continuation of the trend that has been apparent for many newspapers nationwide.

The Sunday edition dropped 3.8% and the weekday edition dropped 3.9%.  My family has become one of those that dropped the weekday edition at our renewal a week or so ago.  I now find my daily news using JSOnline during the day and settle in with a lap full of newspaper on Sundays.  I have had the tactile sensation of a newspaper in my hands for nearly so long as I can remember, and I confess that I miss that experience.  As stated in a much earlier Blog, I delivered the La Crosse Tribune for several years while growing up near that city so I'm accustomed to having smudged fingertips from the newsprint.

I was frankly surprised during a recent meeting of Bloggers when I asked the group nearest me about their subscriptions.  I was in the minority since most had already dropped their print editions.

The newest iteration of JSOnline is improved and more easily navigable from my perspective.  I suspect that more and more people will make the decision to discontinue their daily print edition.  The users of JSOnline continue to increase and the new version should assist that migration...if that is desired by the Journal Sentinel organization.  They find themselves in a bit of a fix.  On the one hand, they want to be in a leadership position as the shift continues.  On the other hand, they need to find ways to boost their revenue stream to offset the loss of subscription money and advertising dollars, and the advertising doesn't seem to have kept pace with the shift from print to electronic media.  Part of that is obviously about the economy, but to what effect may be hard to measure.  If GM and Ford and Chrysler continue to become shadows of themselves, and if their major dealers either go out of business or downsize, advertising dollars will get more and more scarce.

I believe that much of this movement has been driven by the rising prices caused in large part by the price of oil and all things related.  Newsprint is among the real cost increase issues for publishers.  That goes away when printed newspapers are no longer printed.  The leap from the historic "paper", though, is not assured to be successful; we see the struggles of the majority of publishers across our nation.  Those that have significantly diversified, as has the Journal Sentinel organization, should have a better outlook as this migration continues, but nothing is certain in today's economy.

People costs are also a significant factor and we've seen the staff cuts that have been made a couple of times so far.  I suspect there is little if any fat left, so that future cuts will be felt in the overall quality of the effort.  There are those who would claim that is already an issue and that this may be hastening the outflow of subscribers.

Milwaukee is by no means an isolated phenomenon in this regard.  The New York Times and the Los Angeles Times both saw continuing declines.  The old stalwart "Christian Science Monitor" has just announced that it is going to end publishing a print paper by next April.  There will be many more casualties before this storm has calmed.

If you've watched the Fox News Channel chances are good that you've seen Judge Andrew Napolitano, the dapper and perpetually happy senior judicial analyst for Fox News.  He has written a piece titled "Most Presidents Ignore The Constitution" that appears on the Opinion page of today's Wall Street Journal.

He writes about the 2001 Public Radio interview of Barack Obama where Obama was lamenting that the civil rights movement had become too 'court centered' and therefore failed to cause 'reparations' for past abuses.  That, of course, serves as quite a bombshell so far as future implications if he is elected and presuming he has the same thoughts today that he held then.

I thought, however, that the balance of the opinion piece was quite interesting as Judge Napolitano discussed how the majority of presidents of our country have ignored the Constitution and forged ahead as they desired.  Roosevelt caused agriculture to be subjected to a "Soviet-style central planning" process and rejected arguments that this was unconstitutional.  Roosevelt said that the Constitution was "quaint" and that it was written in the "horse and buggy days" and predicted that the public and the courts would agree with him according to Napolitano's article.

Napolitano cites that Jefferson, Jackson and Cleveland were the exceptions he recalled who didn't ignore the Constitution.

As we move into the next presidency, regardless of who wins, I'll have to remind myself that most have ignored our Constitution whenever I feel the current President has crossed the line.  He probably will have crossed the line, and appears to have had a lot of company over the history of our country.

We have survived even with the intentional ignoring of our Constitution...but it doesn't seem right no matter who ignores that document.  Where will it end, if it ever will end?

I received an e-mail containing the following quotations and thought it simply had to be in front of as many readers as possible as we approach perhaps the most important election in my lifetime.  Much food for thought follows:

• Suppose you were an idiot.  And suppose you were a member of Congress, but then I repeat myself.---Mark Twain
• I contend that for a nation to try to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle.---Winston Churchill
• A government which robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul.---George Bernard Shaw
• Democracy must be something more than two wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for dinner.---James Bovard, Civil Libertarian (1994)
• Foreign aid must be defined as a transfer of money from poor people in rich countries to rich people in poor countries.---Douglas Casey, classmate of Bill Clinton at Georgetown
• Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys.---P.J. O'Rourke, Civil Libertarian
• Government is the great fiction, through which everybody endeavors to live at the expense of everybody else.---Frederic Bastiat, French Economist (1801-1850)
• Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it.  If it keeps moving, regulate it.  And, if it stops moving, subsidize it.---Ronald Reagan (1986)
• I don't make jokes.  I just watch the government and report the facts!---Will Rogers, Humorist (1879-1935)
• If you think health care is expensive now, wait until you see what it costs when it is free.---P.J. O'Rourke
• In general, the art of government consists of taking as much money as possible from one party of the citizens to give to the other.---Voltaire (1764)
• The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of the blessings.  The inherent blessing of socialism is the equal sharing of misery.---Winston Churchill (1874-1965)
• What this country needs are more unemployed politicians.---Edward Langley, Artist (1928-1995)
• A government big enough to give you everything you want, is strong enough to take everything you have.---Thomas Jefferson, Virginia Patriot (1743-1826)

 Some things, it seems, never change.

The following words are variously attributed to both Abraham Lincoln and to Rev. Wm. J.H. Boetcker (circa 1916).  Without debating from whom they flowed, I thought it very important that these be shared during this particularly important election season.

You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich.

You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong.

You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift.

You cannot lift the wage earner up by pulling the wage payer down.

You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatred.

You cannot build character and courage by taking away men's initiative and independence.

You cannot help men permanently by doing for them what they could, and should, do for themselves.

Powerful words and powerful thoughts, indeed!

I have long enjoyed my copy of a book called The Portable Curmudgeon and use its 'modern' definition in my Blog overview.  The book was compiled by a fellow by the name of Jon Winokur and is published by the New American Library.  Following are some curmudgeonly comments that struck me over the past few days:

On Politics and Politicians:

"Anybody that wants the presidency so much that he'll spend two years organizing and campaigning for it is not to be trusted with the office."     David Broder

"A politician is a person with whose politics you do not agree; if you agree with him he is a statesman."      David Lloyd George

"I once said cynically of a politician, 'He'll double- cross that bridge when he comes to it'."  Oscar Levant

"Being in politics is like being a football coach; you have to be smart enough to understand the game, and dumb enough to think it's important."     Eugene McCarthy

"All politics are based on the indifference of the majority."     James Reston

"Nothing is so admirable in politics as a short memory."    John Kenneth Galbraith

"You can fool too many of the people too much of the time."     James Thurber

"When I was a boy I was told that anybody could become President; I'm beginning to believe it."  Clarence Darrow

~~~~~~~~~~

My family reads quite a bit of fiction and really appreciates the Germantown Library and the folks who provide the service we receive.

One of the things I find I occasionally need is the name of additional authors since I tend to read a whole lot faster than my favorite authors can write.

You may have already found this if you, too, consume books like we do, but here is a great website that provides you with the names of authors most similar to the one you key in for the search.  The closer the name is to the name you've entered (that hovers in the middle of the screen), the more similarities you find in the works of each.

Here is that magic link!

I had a conversation earlier today with an associate on the subject of secure e-mails.  As we digressed he opined that he believes people born after a certain time have actually evolved to the point that they are more capable of absorbing technology.  I'm a bit of a skeptic on that count...but I can't quite put it out of my mind entirely.

I've been blessed with grandkids and marvel at their nearly immediate grasp of new technology.  And, they could do this even before they had the ability to read instructions.  It is as if they simply continue with a variety of key strokes and suddenly have learned how to navigate as they desire.  They have an uncanny ability to instantly recall these links even after they have not used this information for weeks and weeks.

There are those of us who, like me, have to use technology regularly or risk forgetting how to use it.  I have to pause every once in awhile to recall the password that permits me to post a Blog.  And, of course, every IT person in the world tells us we can't write the password down on a 'sticky' note, and glue it to the monitor.  That still seems an efficient, if not very secure, way for me to recall these things.

There is, I'm told, software that manages multiple passwords thus permitting the user to "remember".  Unfortunately, I forgot where I wrote the name of that software down...and probably would end up angry while trying to install it even if I could remember where the note was made.

This is all very frustrating and embarrassing for me since my business is Internet-based...and since I have become a Blogger.

On a more serious note, I marvel at where we've come so far as technology is concerned and I wonder where we'll go in my lifetime.  I remember reading a futuristic tome many years ago that referred to a human being 'hardwired' through implantation.  That doesn't seem at all "futuristic" any longer.  It probably has already occurred, in fact, and I'm simply unaware.

There...got that off my chest.  Now how do I make this magically appear on the GermantownNOW site?

Guest Blog - Pete Hoell, Vice President, Germantown Kiwanis

"I am currently a member of the Germantown Kiwanis group and we are in the process of investigating a community project.  As a Kiwanis organization, our primary goal is to support children through grants for activities and projects, scholarships, donations for children's programs and other miscellaneous children's activities.

Some of you may be familiar with Kiwanis as our primary fundraiser is the July 4th Festivities here in Germantown.

The project we are now investigating is to raise funds and finance the construction of a band shell at one of our fine parks.  Possibly at Fireman's Park to enhance the July 4th event and many other events in the park.

We do understand that there are other groups in the community who are working on projects like a Performing Arts Center and a Community Pool.  By Kiwanis choosing a band shell, that does not mean we feel these other projects are any less important.  We do feel however that the band shell project is much smaller in scale and could also be a great venue for the other groups to host fundraisers for the other fine community projects.

We are in the investigative stages of this project and would like to know how the community feels about a band shell.  For the interest of being brief for this blog, I'll refrain from listing all the benefits we have identified.  But to name just a few, the band shell could become a destination for music and other performing arts entertainment.  It will provide children an opportunity to share their talents and to entertain our community and its visitors.

While we are on the topic of the Germantown Kiwanis, we are always looking for new members.  The only requirement to become a member is the desire to help kids.  If you are interested in becoming a Kiwanis member, call the Kiwanis/July 4th phone at 262-424-4457 for more details.

Pete Hoell, Vice President, Germantown Kiwanis"

~~~~~~~~~~

Thanks Pete.  I encourage readers to make comments to help the Kiwanis determine your feelings.  Obviously, their projects are funded without taxpayer dollars.

Lincoln's 200th birthday will see new 2009 pennies issued.  That raises the question as to why we still have pennies.  Is it to weigh down a lady's purse or cause a man's pocket to bulge and jingle?  Is it to fill all those glass jars in which people collect their unused pennies?

A Cox News Service article by Chris Megerian discussed some of the facts regarding pennies.

In answer to the question posed in the headline, a penny minted in 2007 cost 1.7 cents but the U.S. Mint has gotten that cost down to about 1.4 cents today.

A penny in 1857 had the buying power that a quarter has today.  I've not seen anything in recent memory that could be purchased for a penny, and I probably wouldn't want it if it were only a penny.  On the other hand, I used to covet pennies because, as a kid, I could buy all kinds of candy at the corner grocery store with a few pennies!

It seems to me that we have outlived the usefulness of the penny.  It should be eliminated and we should simply re-price things and round up or down to the nearer nickel.  There used to be a half-penny but that was eliminated in 1857.  We really ought to 'get with it' and make this happen.

There have been attempts in Congress in both 2002 and in 2006 to eliminate the penny, but both attempts failed.  The U.S. Mint produced 7.4 billion pennies last year.  At a cost of 1.4 cents each, that comes to over $103 Million if my long-hand math hasn't been lost completely.

I know that doesn't sound like much to our members of Congress, but it sounds like a whole lot to me!  Especially for a coin that we simply don't have to have.

I am troubled as I have not been for some time.  I received word late this past week that a friend had chosen to end his life rather than to go on.  He was human, as are we all.  He had suffered some losses and enjoyed some victories in the course of his life, as have we all.  I had no idea that this news might ever be provided with his name attached to it.  Then, I suspect we seldom do have that thought until too late.

He was divorced, as are nearly half of the people in our country today.  He had four children.  He had engaged in faith-based initiatives to help others.  He played golf with a group of friends and acquaintances.  He traveled to visit other friends and acquaintances occasionally.  He seemed in good health having emerged from prostate surgery a few years earlier with no appearances of trouble, at least as we who knew him were aware.

I had listened to a most inspirational speaker this past week, as well.  And he told his audience that he had, at one point in his life, had a shotgun barrel in his mouth but decided to not take his life that day.  I must say that this is, today, a powerfully inspirational speaker who brings tears to the eyes of even the toughest audience members.

I cannot, in my small human mind, find the answers to why.  Why do some come to that precipice and jump, while others, at the last moment, turn away and find other solutions?

I hope and pray that I'll never have to learn that for myself.  And I pray that my friend has found the peace that must've eluded him on this earth.

Goodbye.

I recently picked up the copy of one of my favorite little books and re-read it.  It is "All I Really Need To Know I Learned In Kindergarten"  written by Robert Fulghum.

Here is everything we need to know:

• Share everything
• Play fair
• Don't hit people
• Put things back where you found them
• Clean up your own mess
• Don't take things that aren't yours
• Say you're sorry when you hurt somebody
• Wash your hands before you eat
• Flush
• Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you
• Live a balanced life - learn some and think some and draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work every day some
• Take a nap every afternoon
• When you go out into the world, watch out for traffic, hold hands, and stick together
• Be aware of wonder

The only thing I can think of that probably needs to be added is "put the seat down" after "flush" if you're of the male persuasion.

I opined a few weeks ago about the state of newspapers across our country.  Much has gone into causing the problems faced by most of the major newspapers in the United States.  Increased costs for much of what makes up a newspaper are largely the fault of this dilemma.

This morning the "new" Milwaukee Journal Sentinel debuted in its 'smaller' size.  The Business section has been reduced largely be eliminating the full financial report in favor of stocks of local interest.  The 'B' section that was formerly tailored to various locales has been changed to the "Local" section providing a little news about most of the outlying area.  Other changes have been made but these struck me as the most visible.

Marty Kaiser, Editor, was featured on the cover page explaining the changes and the reasons for those changes.  The essence is that revenues continue to decline while expenses continue to climb.  That combination obviously cannot be permitted to continue if the newspaper is to have any hope of survival.

My intent is not to "pick on" newspapers in general or the Journal Sentinel in particular.  I believe that Journal Sentinel leaders are doing that which they think will help stem the tide of red ink.  I'm not sure they have any other choices.  Two rounds of voluntary buy-outs and involuntary lay-offs have already come and gone.  I suspect that at least one more will come again before this has been finished.  Whether or not those actions will be good or bad ultimately remains to be seen.

Similarly, the reduction in size/content may or may not be part of the solution.  It could prove to have been part of the problem before all is said and done.

This effort is meant to recognize that much of the content has been available on websites for some time.  It recognizes that advertising dollars are moving to where the readers are and leaving those places where readers are frequenting less and less.

I wonder if the latest changes in content on the printed page will help stem the flow or if it will end up exacerbating the problem by moving more people to the Internet more quickly?

We'll not know that answer for sometime, but I suspect that we will ultimately learn the answer.  I am happy about one thing:  I do not have the responsibilities of trying to operate a newspaper on my shoulders.  I would not wish that on my enemy at this point in time.

I wrote a year ago about my friend John and his battle with cancer.  John and I had shared many cigars and many thoughts during that time.  Another mutual friend was also very attuned to John's battle in that his father had similar issues and had appeared to have won at least the first round with surgical removal of a small tumor near the pancreas.

I have just learned that Joel's father is now fighting what is most likely the last battle he will have in this life with the progression of that 'small' tumor.  Joel is with his father, also Joel, in Arizona as this is written.  He says that his Dad has lost some 70 pounds since Joel last saw him and is heavily medicated.

Joel is watching and waiting, helplessly, as his Dad wages a courageous struggle, as he lets his loved ones know that he loves them and as he acknowledges their love of him.  Joel is going through what so many of us either have gone through or will go through.  We watch as a loved one is slowly taken from us; we wish that it be quicker; and, we wish that it wouldn't.

We feel selfish; we feel helpless, we feel our need for faith; we pray that the suffering will end...but we wish this would all just go away and that everything would be as it once was.

And then, reality confronts us yet again and we realize that we should never go to bed angry with anyone we love for we have no guarantees that we'll ever have the opportunity to say we're sorry...at least in this life.  And, we reflect on the lessons we learned from our loved one, and we recognize that we are the teachers of our loved ones by our examples and our words and our deeds.

Our thoughts and our prayers are with you Joel and Joel Jr. and with your families.

Our neighbors in Mequon have scheduled a discussion for this evening concerning the use of 'small electric vehicles' on streets with speed limits as high as 35 miles per hour (MPH).  The Mequon Police Chief appears to be in favor having sought ordinance language that would permit this.

These vehicles apparently have a top speed in the 20 to 25 MPH range, are four-wheeled and likely have the necessary lights and equipment to be qualified to operate on a city street.

We have more and more scooters and small motorized bicycles on the streets now that gasoline prices are rising.  Those are difficult enough to see and cause slow downs.  Those are typically operated by young people or younger adults.  My real concern is the operation of such vehicles by senior citizens who may or may not have the reflexes, vision, flexibility and strength they once did.

Cyclists may take me to task but I don't make the same connection with this proposal.

I am torn with my internal debate on this subject.  I am now a senior citizen by definition; I don't feel like a senior but that may come along soon enough.  Members of my family have gone through the process of losing their personal freedom by being unable to drive.  That is a most painful and, probably, humiliating process.

I think of the old fellow (now anyone who is more than twenty years my senior) from Iowa who, feeling he needed to see his brother near Richland Center one more time, rode his John Deere lawn tractor on the shoulder of roadways making his way on that trek.  I see those who have personal disabilities riding around the sidewalks on their electric scooters.

But, the idea of these, essentially, golf carts with lights and a horn traveling on Pilgrim Road or Mequon Road (where speed limits are 35 MPH) is something I can't quite square.  I would be very fearful that accidents would either involve those vehicles or be caused by the distraction of those vehicles.  Autos and trucks are now traveling at speeds up to 10 MPH greater than the posted speeds on those routes.  Imagine a golf cart being overtaken by a pickup truck that is traveling at twice its speed.  Imagine the sudden braking and the chain reactions.  Imagine the lawsuits.  Imagine the personal injury or deaths.  Imagine the 'road rage'.

How will such a vehicle fend for itself on the round-abouts being placed here and there?  What if the driver chooses to travel at even less than the maximum speed of the vehicle.  Imagine a 10 or 15 MPH golf cart going down Mequon Road at 4:00PM or at 7:30AM.

How will drivers of standard size vehicles maintain lines of sight so that they can identify and avoid these vehicles.  Full sized vehicles can "suddenly appear" where we didn't see them a moment earlier.

I know I may regret having stated this position if I ever find myself being forced into immobility, but it just seems fraught with problems.

Cigarette Taxes...

The state raised cigarette taxes to $1.77 per pack and promptly budgeted/spent all the new money that would bring in.  The only problem is that this 230% increase in the tax rate only generated a 48% increase in the tax money received!  Now, we're stuck with a lot of people circumventing the tax entirely by buying cigarettes out-of-state or over the Internet.  And, we have added to an already staggering budget shortfall.

Makes a lot sense, huh?

~~~~~

Clean Air Act Gone Wild...

One of my favorite agencies, the EPA, has decided that it now has free rein over so-called greenhouse gases.  This came to pass as the result of a 'namby-pamby' U.S. Supreme Court decision last year that didn't go quite far enough to ward off this rampant agency.  EPA has now released its Advanced Notice of Proposed Rule-making, an ANPR in the jargon, and this is astonishing.  EPA would regulate airplanes, trains, ships, boats, tractors, farm and mining equipment, lawn mowers, garden equipment, portable power generators, fork lift trucks, construction equipment and logging equipment.

EPA estimates that more than 500,000 new permits will be required.  Among the supposed new requirements are these:

• Lawn mower standards:  "...each application could require a different unit of measure tied to the machine's mission or output-such as grams per kilogram of cuttings from a 'standard' lawn for lawn mowers."
• Truck speed standards:  "Speed limiters are generally available on new trucks or as a low cost retro-fit..."
• Single family homes become polluters:  "...we believe that small commercial establishments...and indeed, a large single-family residence could exceed this [CO2 pollution] threshold."

All of this means that our taxes go up exponentially since the EPA will be forced to grow staff and facilities to handle this new found mission.  And, it means that we'll all pay more for products and services.

And, none of this was ever the intent of Congress nor has it had the opportunity to inject itself to this point.

~~~~~

Compact Fluorescent Bulbs...

Regular, nice old incandescent light bulbs (starting with 100 watt bulbs) become illegal to manufacture in 2012.  The National Center for Policy Analysis (NCPA) points out that this means we can forget about spending 20 cents or so for the old bulb while buying the new CFLs for something on the order of $3.00+ (remember that these are usually subsidized today).

While CFLs save energy, they have costs associated with them that make all this really questionable:

• The average lifetime is not 10,000 hours, but "up to 10,000 hours"
• The energy savings and lifetime of CFLs has been exaggerated in some applications
• The CFL only achieves the claimed efficiency if burned continuously for long periods
• If left on for only 5 minute periods, the CFL will burn out just as fast as an incandescent bulb
• CFLs dim over their lifetime and do not deliver what is promised

And, we're adding mercury to the environment which supposedly will be handled by proper disposal.  Yeah, sure!  How many of us has disposed of a burned out CFL improperly already?  How is that ever going to be policed?

~~~~~

Clean Water Restoration Act...

The EPA is back again.  The original Clean Water Act of 1972 had gotten to be very broadly interpreted under various EPA rulings.  "Navigable waters" had morphed into isolated wetlands, dry lake beds and drainage ditches, for example.  Now, two Democrat members of Congress have introduced the bill named in the title.  It would replace the phrase "navigable waters" with the phrase "waters of the United States"  This means "all waters subject to ebb and flow of the tide, the territorial seas, and all interstate and intrastate waters and their tributaries, including lakes, rivers, streams (including intermittent streams), mudflats, sloughs, prairie potholes, wet meadows, playa lakes, natural ponds and all impoundments of the foregoing".  Reason magazine, August/September 2008

If this bill were to pass in its current state, it would very likely result in massive new regulations for boaters, fishermen, hunters, and even conservationists.  This act would leave it to the courts to decide what constitutes "waters of the United States".

Thanks to Ronald Bailey for writing the article "Feds in a Fishbowl" in Reason.

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Anti-Meat Campaign...

Finally, from the Heartland Institute, this on global warming activists' latest efforts.  They are launching new efforts to restrict meat production and consumption, building on prior efforts to restrict various agriculture activities that supposedly would reduce 'greenhouse gases'.

More on this can be found on the worldchanging.org website.

If we continue to have a ban on drilling more oil, we won't be able to buy meat anyway, so maybe this isn't as bad as I first thought.

Maybe we really do have too many crackpots in Congress...or too many people are being paid through campaign contributions and don't have the commonsense necessary to sort out the good from the crazy.

We've discussed the plight of newspapers before and we're witnessing some of those repercussions in our local marketplace.  The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel is involved in the second 'force reduction' in a short span of time.  It made known its intent to reduce its staff and gave people an opportunity to opt out before they began the process of determining how many more had to be released.

I noted that the Los Angeles Times will now be run by a man who has no newspaper experience at all.  The new publisher is a fellow named Eddy Hartenstein and he gained his reputation as the CEO of Direct TV.  He will be the fourth publisher in that position since 2000.  That is yet another indication of the real battle going on within the newspaper industry to find the formula required to be profitable in the era of The Internet.

Even the owner of the USA Today brand is now cutting some 1,000 jobs in its local news organizations while supposedly protecting the staff dedicated to the USA Today publication.  That organization, Gannett, also owns some 23 TV stations.

The amazing plight of newspapers has been caused by a decided lowering of the advertising revenues, the life blood of that industry.

The Journal Sentinel has also suggested that it is in the midst of deciding how to reduce the size of its weekday newspapers while it enhances its on line efforts.

The Internet has revolutionized this industry just as it has impacted so many other aspects of our daily lives.  "Google" has become a mainstay and it didn't exist a few years ago.  We are in the throes of some of the most significant changes in how we get our information since Mr. Guggenheim invented the press.  I doubt there is anyone in the newspaper industry who has a solid idea of where to go and how to get there.  To the contrary, the hiring of a non-newspaper person would suggest just the opposite.  The hope at the LA Times is that somehow this newest 'miracle worker' will make the right moves.

While this is disconcerting to many, and disrupting the lives of many, it is one of the most exciting times to be imagined.  We are all, in our own way, part of a historic change in something that had been seen as sacrosanct until a short while ago.

I have been polling people informally over the past few weeks to see how they gather their news.  I am finding that more responses today center on the Internet.  For example, a person told me over the week-end that there are no newspapers in their home.  They go to JSOnline for their news "fixes".  "Why pay for something you can get for nothing?" might be the way to describe the current problem confronting newspapers.

Oregon has had government involved in health care for quite a few years.  The state electorate also approved the concept of state sanctioned suicide several years ago.

Recently, the board that reviews the medications that are approved for state residents made a determination that was controversial...in my mind if no where else.  The board, in essence, said that, given the cost of a certain medication, it would approve suicide for this patient but would not approve use of the medicine given its relative newness and the lack of convincing data as to the outcome.  It had essentially set a price on the human life involved.

Today I read the story concerning Denver Children's Hospital and heart transplants in infants that use the heart from another infant that died a 'cardiac-related death'.  This differs from a heart harvested from a brain-dead infant in which that heart is beating until removed from the donor body.  A decision has been made that the donor that has been pronounced dead and has been in that state for only 75 seconds, is a valid heart donor for purposes of this new program.  The earlier line that had existed required death be determined only after some five minutes during which time the heart did not re-start itself.  In this instance, the length of time a person had been deemed 'dead' had been reduced to assure that the harvested heart had a decent chance of functioning in the new body.  The three cases in which this approach has been employed resulted in three infants alive today.  The decisions to withdraw life support were made by the parents in all three instances.

We know so much more today than we did a decade ago.  We can do things from a medical perspective that were impossible then, and these procedures have become commonplace now.  We are, in this area, pushing the envelope as it has never before been pushed.

I know there are at least two sides to these issues.  I have good friends whose daughter lives today because of transplanted organs that were available on a timely basis.  I can't even begin to comprehend being placed in the middle of such decisions, and I earnestly hope that never befalls me.

And this leads to my general question:  Is there a line we dare not cross?  If so, where is or was that line?  Am I comfortable with an appointed board making life and death decisions about me?  Who among us can claim the right to make such a decision?  How do medical ethicists deal with these kinds of issues?

I don't profess to have the answers to these questions.  If you do, and you're willing to share, I'd appreciate your comments.

As we watch the Summer Olympics, we see the pageantry and the heroics of the athletes from around the world. 

We don't see the oppression that has persisted for centuries in China and that continues to persist under the very noses of those who are walking the streets of Beijing.

TV cameras and microphones have been installed in all the taxi cabs and are remote controlled by the authorities to be sure that no one says or does something threatening to the regime.  130,000 police and soldiers are present ostensibly to protect the attendees.  They also help assure that the opposition will be suppressed during the games.

300,000 Chinese citizens augment the 130,000 people mentioned above as additional eyes and ears.  Reporters are subject to censorship.  Passports are summarily pulled from some reporters who have sought to broadcast by telephone back to their home countries.  That is a subtle form of reminder that the regime is in complete control and that one shouldn't forget it.

Against this backdrop, the President stood aligned with Chinese protestants this morning to deliver a few words of support.  We don't know what kind of persecution will follow when the reporters and TV crews leave, but we can remember the Tienanmen Square episode of a few years ago and draw upon those scenes of brutality to get some idea.

China is China.  Nothing more and nothing less.  It owns a big chunk of America.  It spies on us every day.  It works to find weaponry that can be used against us.  It still wishes to defeat us; if not on an actual battlefield, then in commerce.  We seem to forget these things, but they are critical.