Crazy Politico's Rantings

The Layman's Guide to Corporate Personhood.

2014-07-07T19:34:00.001-05:00

DISCLAIMER: I am not, nor have I ever been a lawyer; though I did play one at a dinner theater production in high school. And I do stay at a lot of Holiday Inn Express's.

Ever since the Citizen's United case was decided by the Supreme Court, and more so since the Hobby Lobby decision, folks are screaming about the idea that a Corporate could be a "person". The idea that five conservative justices could spin from straw this new gold standard that made companies into people.

And all of those folks complaining are wrong. We've recognized corporations and companies as persons since the beginning of America. It's actually one of the tenants of America's foundation!

With Citizen's United the Court decided that a corporation enjoys the same free speech right as an individual. Lefty heads exploded, that can't be. They were very clear in how they told you about it, too. A corporation is nothing more than an associate of people with a common goal, whether it's a non-profit or GM, the corporation exists because of the people, and for a cause. No more or less than a Union, who the same folks screaming about this decision have no problem recognizing as having a right to speech.

Planned Parenthood is a corporation, and I'm guessing that none of it's officers whom I've heard yelling about the Hobby Lobby decision would like it if they were told to shut up, they have no right to speak, as members of a corporation.

One of the founding principles of the United States is a free press. Does anyone believe Ben Franklin envisioned only individual reporters with leaflets as "the press" when he published a number of papers, and employed a number of workers on them? So to use the logic of the folks decrying Citizen's United, Franklin had no right to speak out against the government through his papers, as they were companies, not people.

So we've already shown that the 1st Amendment has been applied to corporations since our founding. What about other Amendments?

The 4th is a favorite of most folks. If a corporation is not a person, then the 4th shouldn't apply, correct? There should be no requirement for a warrant to search a company. Yet the courts have upheld since the earliest days of the country that a warrant is required to search a place of business. Even (gasp!) businesses that make a profit.

The Fifth Amendment's "Takings Clause" has also been applied to corporations. Even when it's a company who's land is taken in an eminent domain case, the government pays them for it.
And I'm pretty sure no one really wants the IRS to decide the company they work for has too much money, so it will just take it, leaving nothing for payroll. That does happen, but not until after it's gone through the courts.

The 3rd Amendment is really no one's favorite, but it has been followed in wars since our founding when there was a need to quarter troops, or transport them. The government used a lot of merchant vessels in both WWI and WWII to get troops to and from different theaters of the wars. And they reimbursed the owners for their use. As a more personal example, while attending military schools I've often had to stay at hotels, I didn't just show my ID and get a free room, it had to be paid for. But that hotel company is a corporation, so shouldn't have the government just told them to stuff it, they don't have the right to be reimbursed?

So why, people, when you can plainly see the government for over 200 years has given the rights listed "for the people" in the Constitution to companies and corporations, are you having such a fit about Hobby Lobby?

Think about the logical alternative, and you won't like it. Let's say we get to pick and chose which rights corporations are considered "people" for, and which they aren't. Who makes that choice? Do you want the Tea Party folks deciding who gets free speech this week? Probably no more than they want the Saul Alinsky folks deciding who what a Free Press really is.

Do you think anyone would start a company if they had to worry every election cycle if there was going to be a completely new set of rights defined for them by the incoming administration. The regulatory issues are already a pain, but the idea of losing your business for a new freeway with no compensation, that would probably keep you from starting it.

But, you say, if you didn't like it you could take them to court! Well, not really, because they'd probably just say your business wasn't a person, so the idea of redress doesn't apply, sorry.

That's my layman's guide to corporations being people. Think about it for a while.

Who Does The Tax Increase Punish?

2012-11-16T05:48:00.001-06:00

The wife and I had an interesting discussion yesterday about the coming fiscal cliff, or even the coming solutions to it.

The President was railing once again about the evil rich folks who don't pay their fair share, and how going back to the Clinton era tax brackets is our solution. If they just pay more, everything will be good. He didn't tell the whole story (of course). For instance, IF; and it's a big IF; everyone in those brackets paid the additional taxes he wants, it only takes care of about 2.5% of the deficit.

He also failed to mention that the Clinton era brackets wouldn't start higher taxes at $200,000 and $250,000 for couples. The 33% bracket from that era started at $150,000 and $178,000 for couples.

The biggest thing he missed though is that it's not those people that get hurt by the tax increase, that's where our discussion started. We go out for breakfast every weekend, there are about 10 or so contractors, all self employed who are in that restaurant with us every Saturday and Sunday. Most of them are actually there about 5 times a week. They all fall into those tax brackets, not because they make a ton of money, but because their business income is taxed at the personal rate.

Most would see a tax increase of about $30 per week. Not a huge deal, really. But how do they adjust for it? What if they decide that to save that $30 they just stop going to the restaurant except on weekends? Well, they each save their $30 by cutting out 3 trips a week. However, the restaurant just lost $300 a week from just that group.

Since the restaurant has 2 waitresses, 2 cooks, a dishwasher and a busboy, and isn't huge, the easiest way for them to make up for the lost money would be lay off the busboy and have the waitresses bus their own tables.So that lost revenue doesn't really hurt the restaurant, it hurts the busboy, who didn't see his taxes go up, he sees his entire paycheck go away.

Then their is the waitress. She doesn't make enough to see her taxes go up, but since these guys aren't spending $300 a week there, she loses the tips from them, even at 15% that's a $45 hit to her pocketbooks, 50% higher than the tax hit the "evil rich guys" took from the new brackets.

On a bigger scale, think about Richard Trumpka, the labor leader who, with the President, has decided "evil businesses" need to pay more in taxes. Who does a business tax really hurt?

Say the company I work for (which employs 48,000 people) had it's taxes increase by $25 million dollars. The company is profitable, but does have an obligation (by law) to shareholders to maximize their return, so they have to find a way to put that money back into their bottom line.

As an example, there is a planned plant expansion in central Illinois, but to make up the $25 million they decide to forgo it. Now, did the company get hurt by the tax increase, or did the guys Trumpka supposedly represents, the labor force get hurt? No electricians, bricklayers, laborers and pipe fitters are going to be hired to do that work. So instead of 9 months of good paying work building that new building, they get to sit in the union hall wishing they had work.

Admittedly, the current workers at the plant may benefit by getting increased overtime, but there won't be new workers hired to work on the expanded area of the plant, either.

One of the biggest problems liberals have always had is they see everything as a static equation. If I raise tax A income will go up to the government. They never look at the other side of the equation, which is that the person paying the tax has to do something to account for the lost money.

For those who've forgotten, President Clinton decided in the 1990's to punish the rich by putting a luxury tax on yachts, expensive cars and other purchases. The tax collected almost nothing, but it did manage to put a fairly large number of companies that built those big boats out of business. The rich still bought their boats, they just bought them from other countries. The only folks who were punished by the tax were the workers in the US.

About That 26 Million....

2012-02-12T07:00:00.004-06:00

The Foreclosure Settlement reached last week by 5 major banks and 49 States looks to be a decent deal for a lot of people affected by some pretty shoddy work by the banks, and a good deal for the banks since it limits liability they'd face from individual states.

There is of course, some political points to be scored from it also. In Wisconsin Democrats immediately jumped on Gov. Scott Walker for the fact that $26 million of the State's cut of the pie is going to go to cover a budget shortfall.

Newpapers jumped on it as a flip-flop, after he'd criticized a previous governor for wasting the tobacco settlement funds by putting them into the general budget to shore up a (much bigger) deficit.

Being of a generally rational mind, I though that was probably a bad idea, but also understanding partisanship, I decided to look up the terms of the settlement, and see how he could get away with such a dastardly deed.

As it turns out, it only took 1 search with Google to find out he was actually putting the money where the settlement said it should go. ZeroHedge has a nice little breakdown of how the settlement money is divided.

Specifically, from Zero Hedge:

$3.5bn will go to state and federal governments to repay public funds lost as a result of servicer misconduct and to fund housing counselors, legal aid and other similar public programs.

Wisconsin's share of that 3.5 billion is 31.5 million. Of that $5.5 million is going into various programs across the state, the other $26 million is going to the general fund, to "repay public funds". What a concept, actually using the money where the settlement said it should go.

I understand Wisconsin Democrat's problem with this; they spent years raiding transportation, retirement and patient settlement funds to play 3 card monte with the budget and make it look good. The idea of actually putting money where it is designated to go is somewhat of a foriegn concept to them.

Could Walker Recall Be in Doubt?

2012-02-08T22:17:00.002-06:00

A funny thing could happen on the way to getting a recall of Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, it might not be a "sure thing" like we've been told.

Since the ~~Union Activists~~ grass roots organizers marched to the Government Accountability Board (GAB) with their "1,000,000" signatures the media and the left (I know, redundant) have claimed that the election in inevitable. Except no one seemed to count the signatures, hell the GAB claims it's not their job.

Well, a few grass roots groups on the other side have been counting, and their math, along with some basic work from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel makes me wonder if we'll even see a recall election in Wisconsin.

A number of people, from different groups doing independent verifications of the petitions have come up with an average number of signatures per page of 4.9; sounds like a lot with over 152,000 pages submitted; but doing the math shows that instead of a million signatures, that only comes out to 750,000.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel did a randomly generated check on 500 signatures, and found with what was no more than a cursory look that about 15% of them were obvious fakes. The didn't look for duplicates or verify address or names, or go through the Verify The Recall database for folks who didn't want to be on it. Just using their number, and the verifiers rate of signatures, you are already down to 635,000 signatures.

If 750,000 is closer to the true number submitted, that means that Walker would have to eliminate 28% of the submitted signatures to have the recall effort fall short of the 541,000 they need to get it through.

How do 28% get eliminated? What's leaking out so far from the groups verifying the signatures are tales of large numbers of errors that fall out of the "clerical error" category that can be corrected. For instance, dates on signatures that fell after the document was signed as complete. Dates on the top signature lines that were done after the bottom line. Every document by Lena Taylor being wrong, with the wrong address and district listed on them.

So if the Journal comes up with 15% failing common sense checks, and reviewers find 10% of the pages are flawed due to items as above, you now only need 3% to end up with less than the necessary number. Considering news stories of people signing 80 times, or people who've signed up on Verify the Recall who shouldn't be on the list being there, 3% won't be hard to come up with.

The thought of exploding unionista heads if the GAB is forced to say that there aren't enough valid signatures makes for some sweet dreams.

Wisconsin Senate Passes Budget Bill

2011-02-26T04:18:00.002-06:00

The Wisconsin Senate passed a budget repair bill, on a straight party line vote, with no input from the minority party, no floor debate between the parties.

Confused? That was May 12, 2008. About an hour after a conference committee made up only of Democrats and Governor Jim Doyle's staff came up with a repair bill it was brought to the Senate floor, and voted on with two readings, no amendments allowed, and no input from the minority party. The bill passed on a 17-16 vote with 0 Republicans voting for the bill, and 1 Democrat voting against it.

The GOP knew they'd lose the vote, and knew there was nothing they could do about the bill, but did their jobs and voted. Then, in 2010 they beat the Democratic party over the head with it to take control of both chambers and the governors mansion.

The Wisconsin Jewish Conference has a nice summary of the bill and timeline of it's passing, and the vetoes the (then) Governor used to reshape it.

State Representative (now State Senator) Leah Vukmir had this take on the bill. It's a warning from 3 years ago that this year's day of reckoning was coming.

That folks, is how our Democracy works. If the current bill is so flawed, the Democrats have about 18 months to sell that case to the voters, and take back control and undo the bill. I think the problem is they know the majority of the voters like the bill. In 10 or 12 months they won't be able to show that it wasn't a workable solutions, and that the state is still spiralling out of control.

Illinois Budget Solution Found!

2011-02-22T20:44:00.001-06:00

The solution to Illinois' budget woes (another 8.5 billion in debt) has become clear since last Friday. Tourism is the answer. If we can get enough states to follow the lead of Wisconsin; as Indiana did today; and export their Democratic representives to Illinois in a few months we should be able to make a lot of extra money on hotel, restaurant and transportation taxes, helping to fill that shortfall.

Abandoning Wisconsin's Unions

2011-02-20T07:58:00.001-06:00

Wisconsin's public employee unions are being abandoned by the media. Not the Glenn Beck/Rush Limbaugh media, instead liberals like Time Magazine's Joe Klein and The Washington Post's Charles Lane have dumped their support for the unions and their methods.

Klein kind of summed up the irony of the moments:

I mean, Isn't it, well, a bit ironic that the protesters in Madison, blocking the state senate chamber, are chanting "Freedom, Democracy, Union" while trying to prevent a vote?

After the Tuscon incident of only a few weeks ago we were all worried about civility in politics. Suddenly Madison has opened some left leaning journalists eyes, showing them their own group is as uncivil as any. John Jagler on Twitter points out that staffers at the capital in Madison have been told not to wear ties to work, evidently to avoid them being used to to assault them.

Lane points out the hypocrisy of the left coming out so quickly:

This is hypocrisy on an epic scale. I can't think of a more overwhelming refutation of the claim that incivility is the unique province of the American right -- as opposed to what it really is and always has been: a two-way street with both right and left lanes. No wonder so many Americans in the broad center of the political spectrum are turned off by both parties and their sanctimonious "bases."

Both at different points call out the Ed Schultz/Rachel Madow wing of the left for spewing false information, having it proven false, and refusing to acknowledge it.

President Obama, during the health care reform debate last year reminded us, as do Klein and Lane, elections have consequences. Though listening to the President this week you'd think he doesn't agree with that idea anymore; or at least the consequences when they aren't the one's he'd like.

The New York Times points out, it's not just Wisconsin going after public sector unions; though Walker is going farther than others. California and New York, led by liberal icons Jerry Brown and Andrew Cuomo are both attempting to reign in their unions lavish pay and benefits packages also, looking at 8 and 10% pay and benefit cuts. They didn't really mention Chris Christie in New Jersey, who's also gone after the pay and benefits packages, in a much more vocal way.

While the Times isn't quite as blunt as Klein and Lane, read the undercurrent of their article and you see little sympathy for the union's position.

Back to the President's (earlier) thought that elections have consequences. The whole reason Wisconsin flipped both chambers of their legislature and the Governor's office was simple, the people are tired of living in a tax hell. A big chunk of that hell is the personal income tax, which is still higher than neighboring Illinois' after a 66% increase in the Land of Lincoln.

The people saw that the only job growth in their state was in government employment, and realized it's an unsustainable model. Many probably looked at their neighbors to the south and saw that kind of dysfunction heading their way if something wasn't done, soon.

If more recent (than 2 months ago) evidence is needed, again, look to Illinois who did increase taxes considerably, but still has to borrow nearly $9 billion to pay it's past due bills because they didn't do anything about their spending when they jacked up taxes.

The Union's Real Problem

2011-02-18T07:08:00.005-06:00

Anyone watching the news in the last few days has seen the sleep ins, protests, and general unrest in Madison, Wisconsin.

The cause of the consternation is the "budget fix bill" proposed by the Governor, Scott Walker, that would require union members to pay 5.8% towards their retirement, and 12% (up from 6) of the cost of their health care premiums.

It would also restrict collective bargaining to wage packages only, other currently bargained items would fall under the same state laws (some of the most restrictive in the country) that non-represented employees are covered under.

If you spend a little time reading the articles, and especially the comments, in places like the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel you'll see many union members commenting that they'd be happy to bargain for those concessions, but not have them rammed down their throats.

I believe them, I think a good chunk would agree that they right now have a sweet deal that they can't justify to their friends in the private sector. At the same time, they don't want to lose their collective bargaining leverage on other issues, which I can't blame them for.

The problem is, it's not the rank and file pushing the issues, it's the union leadership, and frankly, they'd cave on the whole thing except for one small provision in the bill. That provision makes Wisconsin essentially a right to work state. It forbids the deduction of union dues from paychecks, and requires annual certification votes by members.

Once people start writing checks for due, it becomes personal. They start wondering what exactly they are getting for the money. When it happens unions generally fold, because workers doing their own cost-benefit analysis figure out they aren't getting much for that check.

They also don't like this because for years they failed to unionize many public employees. During the eight years of Jim Doyle's administration a number of laws were passed that took that choice from the workers, and put them in unions without a vote by anyone but a Democratic controlled state legislature.

How did they manage that? It was actually easy, just find a group of non-represented workers who work in an area with a union presence; the University system's admin and some support staff for example; and reclassify their positions into a group that's already represented. Voila! You suddenly have thousands of new dues paying members without needing a vote by the affected people.

So when you listen to the news reports about AWOL legislators, protesting teachers, and sick-outs, keep in mind that the rank and file union members probably aren't the biggest obstacle in Madison, the union leadership and their reduced funding is.

Sell Your Stocks December 14th

2010-12-03T10:39:00.003-06:00

With Congress messing around with extending the "Bush Era Tax Cuts" there is a stock market crash being brewed that could wipe out any gains you've seen this year.

Unless Congress acts before then, on January 1st the capital gains rate will go up from 15% to 20% for most people who claim them, and from 0% to 10% for the lowest two tax brackets. This means that folks will look to realize any gains in 2010 to avoid the higher taxes. Don't believe it, look back to the 1987 increase.

Here's my thought, I'm pretty sure that those rates are going to jump. Why? To get a compromise to get none of the personal income tax rates raised the GOP will have to give in on something. Capital gains taxes are the easiest, because the general public doesn't understand them, and doesn't think they pay them.

So December 15th looms as the big day for the market; for a bad reason. That is the day most options contracts are due, which means people who have an options contract, and will realize a gain, will probably sell it instead of hanging on. Think of all of those getting dumped in one day....Uh Oh.

So, if you want to avoid the Christmas Rush so to speak, sell on the 14th when the market will be teeting on the edge instead of fully falling. But sell if you want to get a lower rate on the gains. Or, you can hang on to the stocks, and hope that in 2012 there is a change in Senate and Whitehouse occupants that would restore the lower rates.

A Bielema Dig?

2010-11-20T22:04:00.004-06:00

I believe Bret Bielema, head coach of the University of Wisconsin football team took a dig at his critics today. Not to a reporter, but on the field of play.

Last week Wisconsin rolled Indiana by a score of 83-20, and many national media pundits were up in arms about that score. Many complained that Wisconsin still passed the ball in the fourth quarter, with a huge lead. They didn't mention it was 3rd and 4th string players still scoring on Indiana, only that Wisconsin kept scoring. Evidently the players were supposed to take a knee after any gain of more than 2 yards to give Indiana the ball back.

This week Bielema took a shot at them by calling 29 straight running plays in the second half against Michigan (31 if the victory formation is counted). They still scored four more times, with only 1 pass in the half. The message was pretty simple, run, pass, whatever, the defense has to stop us, and they haven't been able to lately.

Bielema would have been justified throwing this week, Michigan was making a run and got to within 2 scores a couple of times. They continually stacked the box with nine men. They still ran, and still scored.

LSU, Stanford, TCU and Boise State will all be looking at the films from the last two games; those are the most likely opponents for Wisconsin come bowl time. My guess would be each will hope one of the others gets to play the Badgers.

Thank A Veteran Today

2010-11-11T18:22:00.002-06:00

Today is Veteran's Day. When you see one, thank him or her for their service.

My daughter put her thoughts on the day into a poem.

Look around and see the beauty,
Take a look at the joys we have,
Be amazed at what we can do,
Think of what it took to have all this.
Our freedoms, our rights, our lives,
Stop and think of why you enjoy a life as such
A man, a woman, a father, a mother,
A son or a daughter gives their life each day
A life taken so another can be fulfilled
Freedom isn’t free, but fought for and died for
To the men, women, fathers, mothers, sons, and daughters
Thank you for paying for our freedom,
You are not forgotten,
You are not forsaken,
Thank you for the lives that we enjoy today.
**Stop today and thank a Veteran for the lives we’ve become accustomed to**

Apple Has Become What It Despised

2010-11-05T14:40:00.004-05:00

As I read Steve Jobs lately, extolling the virtues of the iPad/iPod/iPhone and their company controlled markets and development, I realize that his company has become what it claimed it hated back in 1984.

One of his companies big complaints in 1984 was there was no way to customize your PC. Everything was as "Big Blue" said it would be. The Mac was changing all of that with a customizable desktop and easier way to do things.

Now today he sings the praises of every iPhone and iPad having the exact same look and layout.

As a guy on his second Android phone I will say I like the customization. The standard Android setup on my Samsung model was alright, but I wanted a little more. I could add it myself through skins, or whatever. Those are verboten in the iStore, Apple controls the look and feel. Now with my HTC unit I like the 5 main screens and some of their included widgets. Who knows, I may look at Motorola next.

Now I'm looking at Tablet's. My first reaction to the iPad is cool, but too big, too expensive. While Jobs hates the idea of a 7 inch screen I actually like it compared to the 10" screen on an iPad. If I want to use it as a reader, not just a PC replacement 7" is just about right. 10 is too much to lay in bed with (shut up ladies).

Unlike some folks I don't see a tablet PC as a replacement for my notebook or desktop. More of an augmentation. Nice to use to quickly check e-mail, surf the net etc., but not great for doing anything major, real keyboards still work better for that.

So, now I'll wait until after the xMas rush and then start looking. Having looked at the iPad, I know I won't be getting one of those.

Note to the Tea Party

2010-11-03T16:17:00.004-05:00

Dear Tea Party Folks,

I'll give you credit, last night you won some good victories. You also left a few seat in the other guys hands because of your candidates.

Contrary to the Tea Party/Libertarian philosophies, politics is as much an art of dealing with the distasteful when necessary as it is standing always on one set of principles. If you don't believe that, just look at that huge delegation from the Green Party in congress, or Libertarians for that matter.

Sometimes, and in some places, you are going to have to accept that a "mainstream GOP" candidate is going to BETTER represent your agenda than the Democrat who's sure to win against your next Christine O'Donnell.

No one wanted a Sharron Angle to win more than me, I despise Harry Reid. But the fact is, I never doubted that she'd lose. Nevada is full of good GOP candidates, and you picked the loser.

Again, you get credit, you did better than the Kosite Netroots in 2004, when all of their candidates went down in flames. However, you still have a bunch to learn about politics.

Note to the GOP

2010-11-03T13:57:00.002-05:00

Dear GOP,

Last night you won some resounding victories in the election. Four years ago you got your clocks cleaned, and now have made up that ground and more in the House. However, you only control one branch of government, not 3, and will have to do some compromising.

As much as the Tea Party folks want you to repeal anything President Obama has signed in the last couple of years, you can't. What you can do is modify some of it. Some folks in the party might cringe, but you'll have to find some common ground with Obama and Reid if you want to do anything.

Secondly, if you haven't noticed, this is the 3rd election cycle in a row where America has voted for "change". So, doing nothing, or worse; obstructing everything; will probably have you leading the charge out of town again in 2012.

The truth is you have about 16 months to actually accomplish anything. After that we start hitting early caucus' and primary elections for 2012, and as this year proved, nothing happens from the start of the primary season until after the election. No one wants to cast a vote that might kill them come November.

Note to the President

2010-11-03T13:43:00.004-05:00

Mr. President,

Having just read through your remarks today, I have to ask, were your exit pollsters also pushing Proposition 19 in California?

Listen, when you lose over 60 seats in the House, and the #1 reason given by voters is that the government has gone too far with health care reform and spending, you should listen. Instead, I see a guy who may think doubling down in the next two years is a good thing.

I don't believe for a second the entire health care bill can be removed, you've still got a veto pen, and Harry Reid in charge of the Senate. However, you are going to have to scale it back. If not, you're party becomes the "Party of No" come 2012, like "No Senate, No White House".

Secondly, don't listen to Robert Reich. Yeah, he's smart in some ways, and somehow survived Clinton's move to the center. But if you take his advice and continue to tack left, you'll find no help anywhere. There are a number of Senators in your party who have to live through 2012, they won't if they side with you on more far left agenda items. (Ask Russ Feingold how it worked out for him).

Finally, guys like Tom Daschle and Trent Lott are going to start offering you advice on how to not only get along for the next two years, but possibly thrive. Listen to them. You may in your heart of hearts believe you are the smartest guy in the room, but they are the most experienced; and one thing I've learned in life is that a lot of degrees don't always make you the best for the job, but a lot of experience usually does.

Hey

2010-08-29T21:26:00.000-05:00

Hey, I almost blogged yesterday.

Still Here

2010-08-06T22:24:00.004-05:00

I'm still alive and kicking in case you are wondering; at least the 6 a day who still check.

Quite honestly, politics has become boring. Grandkids and jogging, those are getting more fun. Politics, not so much.

In fact, I'm still awake because the daughter is bringing the whole family up for the weekend. So I'll have all 4 of my grandkids, plus the in utero fifth visiting me tomorrow. That will be fun!

Just to make sure some extra folks read this, I'll say something controversial.

Ron Paul is the Ralph Nader of the right. Except I'm not sure Ron, running as a libertarian; could get enough votes to keep the party on the ballot a second cycle.

Going Down to the Crossroads

2010-06-26T08:05:00.003-05:00

I'll be heading out shortly for Eric Clapton's Crossroads Guitar Festival.

Little Bro and I are looking forward to 12 hours of incredible music. I'll let the rest of you know during the show with a few posts.

2010-06-24T21:46:00.002-05:00

This is why I love having grandkids. My Grandson John is playing with Grandma Politico (or The Lovely Wife), watch what happens when he realizes there is a camera on him.

Close the Locks

2010-06-24T15:02:00.003-05:00

Asian Carp have been found in Calumet Lake; within 6 miles of Lake Michigan, past the electric barriers in the Chicago Ship and Sanitary Canal that are supposed to keep them from getting to the lake.

A few months ago the President and the Interior Department, along with the courts; shot down a multi-state effort to get the locks on the Chicago Canal shut, to keep the carp out of the Great Lakes.

Now, considering the barrier isn't working; and using the President's own logic on the environment; it's time to shut the locks. You see earlier this week the Government cried in court that the BP disaster should require that all other deep water operations be stopped, just in case. So, shouldn't we also shut the locks? Shouldn't we protect the 7 billion dollar a year Great Lakes fishing industry from the Asian Carp? Just in case there are more of them this side of the barrier.

Here's the problem with doing the right thing, it would end up costing a folks in the shipping industry, who use the canal to get goods to and from the Gulf coast via the canal, Des Plaines River and the Mississippi river. There are other methods, such as rail, or other directions, like the St. Lawrence Seaway, but they are more expensive and take longer.

That would get pressure put on Chicago pols by folks who usually give them lots of money, the unions that work those shipping barges. Politicians hate to have their donors hold back money, so they will pressure the Interior Department to keep the locks open.

So, while the President tells us how much he wants to avoid an ecological and environmental disaster on the Gulf Coast, he will ignore an impending disaster in the Great Lakes area to avoid pissing off part of his money base.

When Rome is Burning

2010-06-20T06:14:00.002-05:00

If you are the CEO of BP, and your companies figurative Rome is burning, playing the fiddle, or racing a yacht; is a bad PR move.

Ignore the fact that the day before the media was telling us; on a regular basis; that Hayward had screwed up so bad testifying before congress that the Chairman and board relieved him of many of his duties, and all of them relating to the Gulf Coast disaster.

So, with no pressing matter on his plate, Hayward did what a lot of us would do, decompress. Except that isn't allowed when there is a catastrophe going on. He's supposed to be doing SOMETHING about that oil leak.

I'm not exactly sure what he should have been doing about it yesterday. With no authority from the Board of Directors, and probably not a degree in anything that would make him helpful on scene. I guess maybe he should just go sit in a lawn chair on a Louisiana or Mississippi beach, stare at the water, and cry.

More Spill Laughs

2010-06-19T05:33:00.004-05:00

Watching the coverage of Tony Hayward (BP CEO) in front of a House subcommittee the other day made me crack up. It's easy to see who in Congress has no clue about how the "real world" works whenever they question a corporate executive.

First off, the folks in DC should be happy Hayward showed up. Only PR outweighs legal concerns; and when a government says they are conducting a criminal investigation normally (ask Bill Clinton) you don't answer questions to the folks doing the investigating.

The shock and outrage over the fact that a CEO didn't know what type of cement or steel lining sleeve was used on one of hundreds of wells being drilled doesn't show an out of touch CEO; it shows an unknowable group of questioners.

The truth is, CEO's can't know, and shouldn't know, every minor step going on with every project their company is running. That isn't what they are supposed to do, and if they are that involved in the minutia of daily operations, they are probably failing at their bigger job of actually running the corporation.

The other laugh is the e-mails; or more accurately, the portions congress has seen fit to release to paint BP in a worse light.

I would be dollars to donuts that the head of my department doesn't know that I worked on a machine for the last couple of weeks that I've labeled a nightmare (as was the deep water horizon well); a hermaphroditic bastard step child, and many other unprintable names. My department head is only about 2 steps above me. If he doesn't know that, why would the CEO? The truth is the machine was all of those things, and I was still confident that I would get it working, there was no reason to go above my manager with that information.

Go find anyone who works on one of a kind things; which each drill operation like that is; and they'll tell you such euphemisms are used regularly. And most of the time not reported to the guys at the top of the food chain. Engineers and workers vent all the time, and the boss doesn't need to hear it.

Does all this mean I think BP or Hayward is blameless, no not at all. BP cut corners, and should face some stiff fines from it. Their safety practices on this and other jobs does need to be looked into. But Congressional grillings only meant to sensationalize the whole incident are no more helpful than the Presidents group of smart people who have yet to come up with an idea on how to fix this.

The Spill Won't Make A Difference

2010-06-17T05:06:00.004-05:00

I got my laugh yesterday, and proved my point that the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico isn't going to get Americans to rush away from an oil based economy.

One of the folks I see regularly; who I believe would live on tofu and sprouts; was almost giddy with excitement over the possibility of us moving to alternatives to oil.

So I asked how she got to work. (Here answers in italics)

The answer was "my car".

Why not take the bus?

I live in the country; the nearest bus stop is 2 miles.

Why not ride your bike to it?

I have a lot of stuff I have to bring, and what about the weather?

Why not have hubby drop you off?

He doesn't leave for work until 6:30, he'd have to go 90 minutes early.

Why not move closer to the city, so you would be able to get a bus or train easier?

We like it where we are.

And therein lies the problem. Even the tofu crowd likes their houses in the 'burbs where public transportation is hard to use due to time and distance. You're not going to get rid of cars; the biggest oil users; until we figure out how to get to work from our little acre in the country.

They love the idea of electric cars until you remind that they have to be recharged, which is going to require more power plants. "Hydrogen!" they proclaim, until they realize the only economical way to hydrogen is through drilling for natural gas and cracking that, since getting it from water uses 4 times more energy than you recover.

Don't even get into the longer distance transporation of people and goods. Then you need trains, semi-trucks and aircraft. There isn't a good alternative for them other than oil based fuel.

Stop Doing Studies

2010-05-27T04:14:00.003-05:00

The slow drip of unintended consequences of the new health care law keeps going. The only fix for the drip is repeal it would seem.

What's the latest? Another study showing that the promise that "if you like what you have you can keep it" isn't going to be true.

Employer Survey Sees Health Costs Rising points out what those of us who've spent our lives in the real world, not government or academia said during the debate. Costs are going to go up, and companies are going to cut something to keep the bottom line healthy. The cuts will come at the expense of employees.

How certain are the cuts? Well the survey looked at 661 companies with a median workforce of 5600 employees; these aren't "small businesses", they are the big guys. 74 percent said they were going to have to cut employee benefits, or raise their employees direct costs because of the fiscal impact of the law.

43 percent that provide retiree health care said they would be cutting or completely eliminating those benefits.

Now I'm pretty sure if someone in the media actually asked the White House about all the studies showing that most every promise made during the debate will be broken the White House response would be to quit doing studies.

Epiphany Time

2010-05-12T21:12:00.003-05:00

Last night I was exercising at the hotel and felt pretty good. I did a little over 20 minutes on the treadmill and then about 300 yards in the pool. 300 doesn't sound like much, but if you are out of shape, it's a painfully long distance.

Tonight I figured on the same thing, or very similar amounts of time. While on the treadmill I sped it up about 0.5mph faster than last night after about 15 minutes. At the 20 minute mark, when I thought I'd be quitting, I decided I wanted to watch the duct taped car on Myth Busters, so I stayed on the treadmill for an extra 10 minutes. And didn't feel like I'd done too much, which is good.

So I changed into my swim suit and hit the pool. About lap 10 of 20 (to get to 300 yards) I started thinking about what my goals need to be in this new health kick. There is the obvious goal of not being back in ICU with a sandbag on my groin holding the sutures down. But that's too obvious. A healthier heart? That's pretty simple. What I needed was some concrete goals that are attainable, but not easily.

I need something to push me, something to make me push myself a little harder when I want to take a day off.

So the longer term goal I came up with, which is an 18 month (from my heart attack) goal is to be down to 185lbs and wearing a 32 waist pant again when I take the wife to Hawaii for our anniversary.

That's about a 55lb weight loss, and 5-6 inches off of my (currently fat) waist. I'm figuring that I should hit that goal earlier than that, so about 3 months should be seeing if I'm capable of sticking with it after I hit the goal.

Shorter term; by this anniversary; I'd like to be down to 210, which is attainable if I keep some diet and exercise discipline. It's about 3/4 of a pound per week of weight loss, which is not a bad target.

As I kept swimming; 15 more laps instead of 10; and while I walked 10 cool down trips around the pool I kept repeating the goals over and over. It wasn't a "convince myself I could do it talk", it was more of the coach drilling the team on how a certain set of plays should work. This is something I know I can do, I just have to drill me on it each day at rehab, or in a hotel gym, or taking a walk with the wife.

I know I want to do it because of that obvious goal up above. And because I really don't want to see "that look" on the wife's face again when I get put in the back of the meat wagon.