Words

                                            Shamelessly stolen from one of my cousins.

Old Cowboys

Something different from the usual political rants. A part of the small Western town way of life that is still present in small pockets.

Old cowboy, living out his years, was a resident of our town. Lived in a room at a railroad hotel, conveniently located above a bar,  and across the street from an inexpensive restaurant. Most bowlegged man I ever saw. Nice man, always friendly, with Old West manners.

Railroad hotels were cheap places to sleep. Small room, single bed, wash basin in the room, and a shared bath down the hall. Nearly every town had one even if they didn’t have a railroad.

Our town had an annual Stockman’s Ball, better known as the Stockman’s Brawl, and the old cowboy was always  present. For all his bowlegs, he could really dance. He was always “scrubbed up” and well dressed by cowboy standards. Very few ladies, of any age or marital status, declined his request to dance.

As usual, towards the end of the evening, a brawl broke out in the middle of the dance floor. Maybe a dozen or so combatants. He was in the middle of it. He was trying to crawl away but every time he got to the edge, someone would grab him and toss him back into the brawl.  My mother, who had a hold of the back of my belt, told me to go pull him out. I succeeded, but then had to defend myself until the deputies broke up the uproar.

Later, the old cowboy thanked me. Of course, my mother raised holy hell with me. Just a routine occurrence at that time and place.

Going out tonight with my sister and her man to watch the professional bull riders. Her S.O. rode bulls well into his fifties and has the beat up body to prove it. Hope there is a fight. Can’t have a good rodeo without a fight. It won’t be me; too damn old and slow healing for that.

A Nation of Candy Asses

This is happening in my neck of the Great Plains. Bet you can find examples nationwide.

Developers created Prairie Center, a mega shopping complex totally dependent on wheeled traffic. Two miles away from any houses. Get themselves set up as a private government entity able to levy sales taxes at 2.25% to pay for their improvements. This money goes to the developers, not any government entity. Of course, city, county and state sales taxes are also collected. Comes to just over 10%.

Fast forward a few years. The development is nearing bankruptcy. The combination of economic downturn, location, high prices from high rents, and competition from other overbuilt commercial developments are some of the causes. What else? Their books aren’t open to the public, so we don’t know. Cynical minds suspect corruption, inflated salaries, etc. Usual suspects.

Their next move is to get their less than ten year old development declared an “urban blighted area” and apply to the cities for aid. In short, taxpayers, “bail us out.” Damned if they didn’t succeed.

http://www.ftluptonpress.com/content/prairie-center-be-considered-part-urban-renewal-area
http://www.thebrightonblade.com/content/council-approves-prairie-center-urban-renewal-area

Yes, we are a nation of candy asses. Used to be the last asset a failed business had was a law suit. Now it is seeking a public bailout. Why not? Worked for Chrysler and General Motors.

We need to let these enterprises fail. Overreach, step on your pee pee? Oh well. Short term social turmoil for long term social stability.

But WSF, consider the pain. Well cupcake, been there, done that, picked up the pieces and moved on. I’ve seen the inside of a bankruptcy court. Didn’t kill me.

Flat Tax

http://www.humblelibertarian.com/2010/06/machiavellian-defense-for-flat-tax.html


"The budget should be balanced not by more taxes, but by reduction of follies."
Herbert Hoover

Ever drive by one of the exurbia McMansions and reflect their property taxes are less than your city home? How, faux farmers.

http://articles.latimes.com/2004/apr/04/news/adna-farming4

Same folks hollering about intercity welfare breeders with their LINK cards. Solid, Republican Party stalwarts, one and all.

How about General Electric? No longer a USA corporation, totally offshore, paying zero corporate taxes. First to call on our State Department and armed forces when needed.

Guess welfare is in the eyes of the beholder. My solution, a flat, no deduction tax; individual, corporate, charitable trust, foundation, church, whatever. Ass, gas, or grass; no one rides for free.

Will there be unintended consequences. Always.

Political Rant

"The budget should be balanced not by more taxes, but by reduction of follies."
Herbert Hoover


Good news! Windows word ate my draft blog. 

Once Again, Captain Obvious

http://www.albinokraken.com/2009/02/tilting-at-windmills/

A personal dislike is complainers without a solution. People who can explain, in great detail, what is wrong but cannot offer a solution. Their job is to bitch, mine is to fix, or so it seems.

Our economy is based on the consumption of energy, mainly petroleum based, and all the “green” programs won’t, in any reasonable time, change that.  We need jobs, now, so the economic multiplier will shift to positive, not the current negative.

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiscal_multiplier

We are up to our asses in natural gas. Forget peak oil. There must be a “peak gas” but I can’t find anyone who has a number. We need to convert to gas. Hey, I’m no great original thinker. Other, notably T. Boone Picket, have put forth the idea. Seems we have something like 283.9 trillion cubic feet of proven natural gas deposits within the USA.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T._Boone_Pickens

 Any internal combustion engine will run on natural gas. Natural gas is dry, so valve wear is an issue. Proper valves need to be installed.  Unproven technology? Farmers pumping from the Ogallala Aquifer have been doing it for decades.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ogallala_Aquifer

Won’t work everywhere, in truck, etc.?  Roush Industries spent a few months running medium duty vehicles in the hottest Arizona summer and coldest Colorado high altitude winter in 2011. Call them. For around $10,000, you can convert your F-550.

Per the US Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration, in 2006 there were 244,165,686 registered vehicles in the USA.  Per the US Department of Energy, in 2007 there were 164,292 retail gasoline outlets. The incomplete figures I’ve found shows a minimum of $9,000,000,000 was given out by the Obama administration, mainly as loan guarantees, for “green energy” schemes.  That money,  spent on retrofitting retail petroleum outlets,  would be about $54,780 per outlet.  Say the average vehicle is driven 15,000 mile per year, gets 30 mpg, and gasoline costs $4.00 per gallon. That comes to $2,000 per year, per vehicle.  I’m not sure what it would cost to convert a vehicle to run on natural gas, or compressed natural gas, but propane conversion can be had for under $1,000 to shade tree mechanics.  There is less energy in natural gas than diesel or gasoline but there are many fleet managers who have done the math.

Imagine the number of jobs created by doing the conversion. The multiplier effect. The new startups; new entrepreneurs. The work for trial lawyers because of inevitable mistakes. The end of foreign oil considerations distorting our national priorities and values.

Give up liquid petroleum? No need, convert natural gas to liquid; convert coal to liquid. The technology has existed since the 1930’s and is proven.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synthetic_fuel

South Africa, facing world wide sanctions and embargoes for decades, has a robust, proven, economical viable infrastructure based on the original Fischer-Tropsch system.  Off the shelf technology, so to speak.

I’ve blogged on this subject before. My one voice, like my one vote, doesn’t mean much, but I’m voting and talking. Try to shut me up!

And finally, the Greenies. After all their rhetoric, they are proponents of genocide, the reduction of the number of humans on the planet.

Setting a Good Example

Murphy’s Law has a post, “Why can’t the whole world drive like I do?”

http://lagniappeslair.blogspot.com/2012/04/why-cant-whole-world-just-drive-like-i.html

Brought back a fond memory. Some background.

The infamous S curves on I-405 through Renton, WA has a Southbound on ramp that is tough to use as, unlike California, folks in the Pacific Northwest won’t let you merge. You will, by God, fall in behind them even when traffic is stop and go.  Those who use this on ramp know that after two or three stop and go’s, the way opens up and you get up to speed.

At the time I was driving an old ex Hanford Nuclear Plant Dodge D-150 with thick steel plate bumpers. It was a beauty, with not a single panel without a dent, paint coming off in patches, and assorted scrapes. I never bothered to register it, the plates on it were never issued to it, and the tabs were to yet another plate. If stopped, I would give the officer my business card, explain the vehicle was a trade in (not a lie, it had been traded in two years ago) that I was driving as a demo. Since I always had my personal insurance, I was more or less legal, being in the car business.

One day I was merging on I-405. There was a shiny Green Buick with Oregon plates (home of the worse asshat drivers anywhere) who wasn’t going to let me get in front of him. I continued to merge. Finally, he realized I didn’t give a shit if we collided and he backed off. For the next quarter mile he had his window down giving me the Hawaiian peace and love signal and laying on his horn. Timing the stop and go sequence, I waited for the last one, shifted into reverse, and modified the front of his Buick. Accelerating down the now open road, saw him in my mirror limping to the shoulder with coolant gushing out of his now flattened front end.

If more drivers drove like I do, we would have many more polite drivers sharing the road, don’t you think?

Damn, I loved that truck. My employer absolutely forbid me parking it in the “Reserved for the Salesman of the Month” parking spot. I didn’t want the new demo, not at a income rate of 1 ½% of the M.S.R.P. added to my taxable income.