Memorial Day 2012

A great man, 149 years ago said it better than I can.

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate — we can not consecrate — we can not hallow — this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us — that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion — that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain — that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom — and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

~ Abraham Lincoln, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, November 19, 1863

H/T to Sondrakistan for the picture

Coal is not as dirty as politics

The American electrical grid is built and managed by separate companies that contract to supply power to a consortium of local power companies. Each year they hold a capacity auction in order to determine how much power the companies they contract with will require in the future and to set the price that the companies will pay for the electric needs they anticipate.

The transmission company that services the 13 Mid Atlantic states recently held an auction to determine the 2015 needs and prices, and the results are upsetting. For 2015 the market price will be $136 per megawatt. In 2012 the price has been $16 per megawatt…that’s an 850% increase in cost to the user.

The reason for such a startling increase over such a short period of time is defined by one word, Regulations. New regulations have been issued that are the result of Obama’s war on coal and other energy producers. The EPA has mandated that by 2015 all coal plants must install “Maximum Achievable Control Technology”, a vague term and an equally vague set of goals. This requirement, because of aging power plants that are difficult to upgrade will remove an estimated 14,000 megawatts of coal generated power from the national grid. In addition the administration has announced that will not issue permits for any future coal powered electrical plants.

The bottom line is that the cost of everything that uses or is produced using electrical power will in 3 years time be increased by a factor of 8.  Everything we buy or use will cost more and there will not be an increase in magnitude in your take home pay. In short this is much more than a “tax the rich” scheme, it’s a stick it to the masses program that will beggar our economy.

The local paper is bunk

With a tip of the hat to Mr. Ford and his comment about history "Newspapers are bunk"

This Sunday morning I bought, as I usually do, a copy of the local bird cage liner. A paper called the Kansas City Star. Since we moved here I’ve grown accustomed to having each page of the paper be at least two thirds ads and what news that the paper sees fit to print are either one inch snippets of words that never give you any information because there is not enough space in one column inch or the obituary section that usually runs about three and a half pages. Today’s front page was taken up with a puff piece concerning the travails of a county coroner after a tornado struck his town. The piece rambled on for some four pages all the time avoiding the simple fact that the coroner was doing the job he hired on to do and doing it with compassion and competency. Certainly newsworthy, but maybe worth about eight column inches in the Metro Secion (which the Star no longer prints)

With Europe dissolving into economic anarchy and the euro fast disappearing as a viable instrument there was not one mention of that fact in the paper and nothing was said that the G-8 leaders were all in DC trying to persuade our government to bail them out just as we did our financial institutions a couple of years ago. And of course no one mentions how well that exercise turned out for the average American. Chaos is here, looking us in the eye and the local media doesn’t even see it!

The editorial section usually complains about pot holes and students without school provided breakfasts and other than the opinion pieces  never discusses national events. They do have the obligatory conservative writer but they normally assure that his thoughts do not conflict with the paper’s biases. And that’s what passes for new and information in this region.

In a refreshing change of news and information we last week  spent a few days in Washington DC and took the opportunity to read their paper of record because, to our satisfied surprise the Washington Post still contains news and information. Each day we could read several sections of the paper, and each section contained pages of news that informed us of events in the nation and around the world. It was so refreshing that we are considering ordering the paper for delivery by mail. Despite the Post’s political slant it does print actual news and we are starved for news while living in the information desert of Kansas City.

At least by getting a real newspaper I'll be able to read, learn about and comment on real events in the world we occupy rather than on the price wars the ads seem to focus on.

Keeping out of Mischief

This coming week will be a busy one. This evening I've got a group mediation concerning a Boy Scout Troop, scouts being threatened and concerned parents who can't agree on which scouting summer camp the kids should go to. It should be an interesting end to what is shaping up to be a long day.

The really busy time will come later in the week when My Lady and I travel to Northern Virginia for the wedding of our youngest son. At long last his lady has persuaded him to tie the knot. Scott in in his 40's so it's about time.

Travelling to Virginia by air will expose us (pun intended!) to the TSA and their idea of transportation security. And with the way airlines schedule their routes these days to go from the center of the country to Dulles airport we will first have to travel to Dalles TX in order to get our flight to DC. In other words we will fly about 2,000 miles in order to effectively travel about half that distance.

But the wedding is worth the hassle and this is the first time in several years we have been able to go somewhere and do something together. I'm looking forward to spending personal time with my lady.