It's Still Sweet Living in Texas

“Rising Cost Of Living Hits Home Buyers, Working Poor” was the byline printed in the Bozeman Daily Chronicle. This is the local paper here in Bozeman, MT. According to the statistics that they gathered the overall cost of living is 1.9% above the national average. The housing costs are 12.8% higher and climbed 3.4% between the 3rd and 4th final quarters of last year.

Average cost of a home in Gallatin County is $285,750
It says that a 3 Bedroom condo can be had for “as little as” $160,000.

The median, not average, income in Bozeman is $46,000, but almost 30% of the people earn less than $25,000 / yr.

The last time I checked, the average cost of a home in Texas is about $140,000 with median incomes being significantly higher than $25,000 / yr.

Let’s also not forget that Montana has the highest state tax in the country. Dollar for Dollar, I’ll still take Texas.

Walking on Eggshells

Lately, I am losing my patience for walking on eggshells around my friends. I have a handful of good friends. And of that handful, for whatever reason, lately, they have all been borderline testy, stressed, emotional, you name it. Maybe it's global warming. Maybe it's something in the water. Maybe it's the gravitational pull of the moon.

Now, I'll be the first to admit I have a bit of a harsh personality. I tell it like it is. I tell you my opinion. I do not always posses the ability and fortitude to know when to keep my mouth shut. And if you are going to hang out, you better have thick skin, but I expect it back just as much as I dish it out. this is not new. But lately, about five or six of 'em are all hypersensitive and have been for a while.

I can deal with one or two of 'em, and for a week or so...but when it starts dragging out for months and I literally cannot be myself I start having trouble maintaining patience. I guess we'll just have to see how it all works out....

Airline Passenger Bill of Rights

First off, thanks to Bling! for sending me these links. Check them out, then come back!

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070215/us_nm/jetblue_congress_dc
http://www.opensecrets.org/news/airlines/index.htm
http://www.astanet.com/govaffairs/trav_rights.asp
http://www.thetravelinsider.info/2005/draftpassengerbillofrights.htm

This was my general response (in an email) to Bling!, but I thought it made sense to post it here, too. We all should be very careful when we ask the government to become involved in our private affiars. Any time we start to place restrictions and regulations on our lives it is very difficult, if not impossible, to have them removed.

Those are some interesting reads, mostly notable is the last link which outlines the "bill of rights."

The one thing I take issue with is that I am against federal involvement in private enterprise. The exception is when it involves public health / safety issues.

Have I been affected by almost everything listed in these links? The answer is yes. Do I think that the government should impose legislation that penalizes the airlines for it? I'm not sure. I'd say "no" with the exception of stranding passengers in unhealthy or unsafe conditions. Being "trapped" on an airplane for an unusual length of time certainly qualifies a condition as being potentially unsafe (water, food, being able to use the restroom, etc. are all compromised) and unhealthy (physical and psychological trauma).

But for all the other stuff, I think it should come down to free enterprise taking the reigns. Passengers will choose airlines with the best fairs, and best accommodations. It's why airlines like Southwest continue to do so well while some of the others flounder.

I think it's a tough call either way and I find myself on the fence for the most part. I can easily see the airlines losing millions of dollars if this legislation is passed. I also think that if the airlines are forced to abide by these regulations then their argument of an antiquated traffic control system is valid. I also think there should be some provisions in there for conditions that are beyond the airlines control. Weather, or the fact that ground control won't allow them to move should allow the airline to file grievance against the airport ground control as they will certainly have passengers filing grievances with them.

Powder Hound!

Yesterday I went snowboarding again. It was the first time since I had been back in TX, so figure that was at least two months without riding the board. My friend, Dusty, and I were supposed to head to Jackson Hole and Grand Targhee. As luck would have it a huge snowstorm blew in and turned the roads to crap. Now, this is not like the "blinding white outs" we get in Texas. This is a true snowstorm. Not a blizzard, mind you, but far more snow than you have ever seen if you haven't gotten out of the south.

Dusty and I drove about 60 miles into the storm before deciding not to go. We figured with the dump we were getting that it would take us at least six hours to get there (normally about a four hour drive) in the dark, the roads would freeze, we could save money by not going, and it should be pretty good at Moonlight.

Turns out, the day was borderline epic. We got there right after the lifts opened. The first thing we noticed is that neither of us had ever seen that many people at Moonlight. That's fairly significant when you consider we went religiously for two years straight. But the sun was out, it wasn't too cold (in fact, we were getting hot), and there was fresh powder everywhere!!!!

Needless to say we spent plenty of time playing back in the trees on the sides of the runs. It's amazing but we found plenty of "snowfields" even late in the day that had NO tracks at all!! So Dusty and I still cut fresh tracks, and even on the runs the powder was soft and fluffy, not crusty.

The worst part was the long lines at the main lift. Let me explain that Dusty and I are spoiled. I timed the lift line (longest I had ever seen at Moonlight) and it was less than 10 minutes. Some lift lines at major resorts are over 30 minutes. We ended up flipping over to the other side of the mountain just to avoid them and found plenty of good runs and powder, without the wait at the lift lines.

At lunch time, I even found Jorge's twin brother Juan. We had a nice lunch and played in the powder until our legs were so shot we just couldn't safely board anymore. What a great day!

A Brief Quote

From A Soldier of the Great War by Mark Helprin.

"What is it? It's the overwhelming combination of all that I've seen, felt, and cannot explain, that has stayed with me and refused to depart, that drives me again and again to a faith of which I am not sure, that is alluring because it will not stoop to be defined by so inadequate a creature as man."

Doing the Budda

Or at least trying to cook like he does. Budda brought his pit home on Saturday and we threw down with substantial quantities of artery clogging meats. Since I haven't been around we probably haven't done this in about two years.

I cooked four racks of ribs, some brats, four chicken halves, a brisket, and some onions w/garlic. This all started Friday night with prepping all the meats. It takes a while to skin, block, cut, chop, tweak, and prep everything. I even tried brining a few chickens (which I had never done).

On Saturday Budda had the pit fired up early in the morning. Unfortunately, the wind picked up to 30mph gusts and we fought it all day. Optimally, we cook at about 225-f. With the wind, it was hard keeping the pit up to 200-f. Because of this, it was hard to get the meat as tender as we wanted it. The flavor was spot-on, but it could have been more tender. As a general rule, ribs are ready when you go to pick up a rack and the bones just slide out of the meat.

We had a few folks show up and bring various side dishes. Plenty of beer and Jack Daniels were consumed along with various forms of simple gambling games. Surprisingly enough we didn't play any poker, but stuck to basic things.

The Grand Total of food? Four (or was it five?) briskets, eight racks of ribs, a pork loin, about a dozen brats, four chicken halves, a ton of skirt steak (rib scraps), and more side salads and stuff than you could shake a stick at. After eating, cleaning up a bit, and hitting the hot tub I finally crawled back in bed at about 1:30 am, completely wiped out. Another pit day down, and I hope there are more!

Al Gore Ducks Northeast Blizzard

Here is an article that was forwarded to me by my friend, Phil (not the same Phil that authored the article). Thanks Phil! I'm not sure I agree with everything written here, but it does have some interesting analysis and theories.

Analysis: Al Gore Ducks Northeast Blizzard

Phil BrennanThursday, Feb. 15, 2007

As a blizzard of snow and ice pummels the Northeast after trouncing the Midwest, and waves of Arctic cold fronts drop much of America below sub freezing weather, the $64,000 question is, Where is Al Gore?

Gore claims that global warming is an immediate problem facing the United States and the world, and places like New York and Chicago could feel like Caribbean haunts. If there is any doubt that God has a sense of humor, it has to be dispelled by a headline in Wednesday's Drudge Report: "House hearing on 'warming of the planet' canceled after ice storm."
He followed up with this: "Save it for a sunny day: Maryville Univ. in St. Louis area canceling screening of Al Gore's 'Inconvenient Truth' because of a snowstorm."

What must have evoked the loudest laugh in heaven is the notion that if global warming is really occurring, puny mankind is going to overcome it by legislation and business regulation that would strangle the U.S. economy and be overseen by the super efficient United Nations. [Editor's Note: Read more about how Al Gore and his friends spin and fib about global warming -- Go Here Now.]

In a NewsMax.com column, I made a prediction that was greeted with scorn by the promoters of the global warming theory. One even called me "evil."

Here's what I wrote: "Within the next 24 months, some areas of the U.S. will have 20 feet of snow falling in just one storm." This was around the time parts of Japan got hit by a 13-foot snowfall.

Last month Colorado had about 20 feet of snow fall in little more than a week's time. Now areas of northern New York State are reeling under more than 12 feet of snow.
Picture a person 6 feet tall with 6 feet of snow above the top of his head, and you'll get an idea of what a dozen feet of snow amounts to.

My prediction was based on a very simple fact. Over the past two years, areas of the United States, including New England, had twice experienced rainfall of 20 inches in a single storm.
If 20 inches of precipitation fell as snow, it would total 20 feet.

And there are solid reasons why an area that got hit with 20 inches of rain in the summer and fall would be a prime candidate to experience 20 feet of snow in the winter, especially if levels of precipitation are rising.

And precipitation levels are rising — for a very good reason.

The world's oceans are being heated by underwater tectonic activity — underwater volcanic eruptions and blisteringly hot magma seeping up from cracks in the sea floor.

The heated ocean water creates high levels of CO2 that it sends aloft along with huge amounts of moisture. That moisture becomes precipitation — rain in the spring, summer, and fall, and snow in the winter. Increased amounts of moisture in the upper atmosphere equals increased amounts of precipitation.

The hotter the oceans, the more water vapor sent heavenward and the heavier the precipitation. This explains the large number of record-breaking rainfalls we've been seeing in the past couple of years — with as noted above, areas of the United States getting 20 inches of rain in a day or so.

As for that dreaded greenhouse gas, CO2, atmospheric levels of which now exceed 400 parts per million (ppm), it is important to note that paleological records show that every time CO2 levels have exceeded 300 ppm there has been an ice age. Every time — without exception.

The same records show that there have been a series of ice ages over the past 5 million years, naturally occurring every 100,000 years, with about 90,000 years of glaciation followed by about 12,000 years of interglacial climate.

The last ice age ended about 12,000 years ago. Clearly we are in line for the next period of glaciation. But more about that later.

Suffice it to say that unless Al Gore has managed to repeal a demonstrated law of nature, the iceman cometh. The befuddled Gore keeps blathering about how the oceans are being heated by global warming, instead of the warming being created by the oceans, as the facts clearly show.

On his Web site iceagenow.com, Robert W. Felix provides the following information about ocean warming as a result of hydrothermic activity under the seas. "A new type of volcano may be heating up the floor of the western Pacific Ocean," says an article posted on National Geographic News and on Yahoo. "Scientists suspect the new volcanoes occur at cracks in tectonic plates caused by stress as the plates slide past each other. A group of small volcanoes called petit spot volcanoes has been discovered far from the tectonic-plate boundaries (like mid-oceanic ridges) that often spawn volcanoes, earthquakes, and other geologic activity.

"Geoscientist Naoto Hirano's team believes that the source of these volcanoes is melted rock from the upper mantle, which has been squeezed through cracks in the tectonic plate above. This type of [activity produces] tiny volcanoes, possibly now active, on the old, cold subducting Pacific plate,' said Hirano from his office at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla, California. 'This petit spot volcano theory suggests that this type of eruption can occur wherever the oceanic plate is flexed. These small volcanoes may be widespread on ocean floors where the mantle just under the crust is squeezed out by tectonic forces when one plate moves under another, the researchers explained.

"'Dubbed "petit spots," these new types of volcanoes are difficult to spot using satellite technology. Specific geophysical and sampling expeditions would have to be carried out in order to locate them,' Hirano explained."

Scientists working in the southern Atlantic Ocean have found a 407 degree centigrade hydrothermal vent, the hottest yet known on an ocean floor. Expedition leader Andrea Koschinsky of International University in Bremen, Germany, and her team found the hydrothermal vent just south of the equator on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge at a depth of 2,990 meters. The vent is located on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, where the African and South American continental plates are moving apart at the relatively sedate rate of 3.2 centimeter a year. In the Pacific, by comparison, the Pacific and Nazca plates are speeding apart at some 15 centimeter per year.

German-American researchers discovered more hydrothermal activity at the Gakkel Ridge in the Arctic Ocean than anyone ever imagined. The Gakkel ridge is a gigantic volcanic mountain chain stretching beneath the Arctic Ocean. With its deep valleys 5,500 meters beneath the sea surface and its 5,000 meter- high summits, Gakkel ridge is far mightier than the Alps. Two research icebreakers, the USCGC Healy from the United States and the German PFS Polarstern, joined forces in the international expedition AMORE (Arctic Mid-Ocean Ridge Expedition). In attendance were scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry and other international institutions.

The scientists had expected that the Gakkel ridge would exhibit "anemic" magmatism. Instead, they found "surprisingly strong magmatic activity in the west and the east of the ridge and one of the strongest hydrothermal activities ever seen at mid-ocean ridges." The Gakkel ridge extends about 1,800 kilometers beneath the Arctic Ocean from north of Greenland to Siberia, and is the northernmost portion of the mid-ocean ridge system. To their surprise, the researchers found high levels of volcanic activity. Indeed, magmatism was "dramatically" higher than expected.

Hydrothermal hot springs on the seafloor were also far more abundant than predicted. "We expected this to be a hydrothermally dead ridge, and almost every time our water measurement instrument came up, they showed evidence of hydrothermal activity, and once we even 'saw' an active hot spring on the sea floor," said Dr. Jonathan Snow, the leader of the research group from the Max Planck Institute.

Remember, that "magmatism" is red hot magma seeping up from the ocean floor. It's like putting a burner under a pot of water.

In short, heated oceans are warming the globe and setting up a scenario that includes among its consequences more and increasingly violent hurricanes, tornadoes, and blizzards.

In 1979, Genevieve Woillard, a pollen specialist in France, concluded from detailed studies that the shift from a warm, interglacial climate to ice age conditions at the beginning of the last ice age, some 100,000 years ago, took "less than 20 years." Her observations of the decline of European forests led her to conclude we may be in a similar period of rapid climatic change.
Research has shown that this 20-year period is one in which Mother Nature wreaks havoc on humanity.

If the unchallenged results of the work of Woillard and others who studied past ice ages are any indication of the pace of glaciation, once it starts, the transition period is a mere 20 years or so. And we may be well into that 20-year period now. Woillard estimated that the period before that final 20 years — when the earth began gearing up for an end to the interglacial period — could be as long as 150 years and as short as 75 years."

According to Woillard's studies and those of other paleological climate researchers, the transition between interglacial and glacial periods is one of increasing violence — more volcanic eruptions, storms, earthquakes, and other natural disasters.

We are being bombarded with horror stories about how the arctic regions are warming and the polar bears are disappearing (actually their number numbers have increased by some 20,000) but we are not informed by Mr. Gore and his acolytes as to how a warming arctic region can continue to send more and more record breaking cold waves southward, creating the incredibly frigid weather much of the northern U.S. is shivering under.

If your refrigerator is running low on freon it will not keep its contents cold. If the arctic is our refrigerator, and the refrigerator is rapidly running out of coolant, how can it create colder and colder weather fronts?

The mechanics here are simple. The earth is getting warmer in some areas thanks to the heat being given off by the seas – picture standing next to a pot of boiling water – you'll feel the heat. Stand next to a heated ocean and you'll feel the warmth. That melting ice in part of the arctic regions is probably the result of hydrothermal activity in the Gakkel Ridge under the Arctic Ocean.

When that warm air coming north from the tropics meets the frigid air coming south from the pole, it creates violence. And the hotter the air from the south and the colder the air from the north, the more violent the collision will be. Tornadoes, violent storms, and blizzards are some of the results.

This process feeds on itself. As the amount of atmospheric moisture increases more precipitation is sent poleward, resulting in more snowfall to build heavier and heavier polar ice packs which fail to decrease in summertime because the cloud cover created by the moisture-laden air transported from the tropics prevents any thawing.

As the ice packs grow deeper and heavier, more magma is squeezed out and sent toward the equators, creating more volcanic activity, which spews more and more volcanic ash into the upper atmosphere, along with enormous quantities of greenhouse gasses. This results in greater and greater amounts of moisture-laden clouds being sent poleward. And so on.

As the glaciation process continues, winters will get longer and longer; that's colder air reaches farther and farther toward the equator. Summers will get shorter and shorter, and growing seasons will slowly vanish.

Areas previously blessed with temperate climates are transformed into subarctic regions, and the subtropics turn colder and colder.

And all this can happen in a matter of a very few years. So few, that the world may very well learn that the interglacial period has been replaced by the glaciation process before the end of the next decade — or even earlier.

On his Web site, Bob Felix cites facts ignored or lied about by the global warming alarmists. He shows that despite their claims that the worlds glaciers are melting, fully 75 percent are actually growing.

In response to claims that oceans levels are rising and threatening to drown New York City, he shows they are actually falling.

Finally, what mankind faces now is not glaciation burying cities under miles of ice – that's tens of thousands of years away. In our immediate future is the beginning of the process which starts with a bang – that 20-year interim period I think the record shows we are now experiencing. The effects will be more or less immediate, and there is nothing we can do to stop it. If I'm correct in all of this, we'll know it over the next couple of years.

As for the current media fed hysteria, let me finish with this: Vaclav Klaus, President of the Czech Republic, told the publication "Hospodárské noviny," a Czech economics daily, that "Global warming is a false myth and every serious person and scientist says so. It is not fair to refer to the U.N. panel. IPCC is not a scientific institution; it's a political body, a sort of non-government organization of green flavor."

"Other top-level politicians do not express their global warming doubts because a whip of political correctness strangles their voice."

[Editor's Note: Read more about how Al Gore and his friends spin and fib about global warming -- Go Here Now.]

This makes me Sick!!

I just saw an infomercial for this and I about puked. Its disgusting and I'm so mad I can't even continue to write about it.

Chain Emails

A friend of mine sent me one of these chain emails things. I hate these things. I hate chain emails. I absolutely abhor the ones that tell you to forward it on because something will happen, and they tried it and it’s true! Well I can tell you that of all the people that I know that forwarded me these emails they are neither rich, nor surrounded by beautiful naked women.

In any case, this is one of the ones that you are supposed to fill out and then chain-mail off somewhere else…..ad naseum. But, I decided to answer it on here…and I didn’t have anything better to write about at the moment.

Enjoy.

1. What is your occupation? Consultant / Engineer / Instructor
2. What color are your socks right now? White w/grey toes
3. What are you listening to right now? Nothing, but I was on a Frank Zappa kick earlier today
4. What was the last thing that you ate? Sushi, with Bling!
5. Can you drive a stick shift? Of course!
6. If you were a crayon, what color would you be? Whichever one that you want, but can’t be found at the moment!
7. Last person you spoke to on the phone? Grasshopper
8. Do you like the person who sent this to you? Yes
9. How old are you today? 35
10. Favorite Drink? Dr. Pepper
11. What is your favorite sport to watch? hockey - GO STARS!
12. Have you ever dyed your hair? yes
13. Pets? An imaginary dog named Rufus.
14. Favorite Food? Cajun
15. What was the last movie you watched? Syriana
16. Favorite day of the year? I don’t really have one.
17. What do you do to vent anger? Depends on how angry I am. I might blog, call a friend, jam on my axe, play sports or just hit something!
18. What was your favorite toy as a child? My bike
19. What is your favorite, fall or spring? I like them both, but for different reasons.
20. Hugs or kisses? Can I get the bonus package?
21. Cherries or blueberries? Blueberries
22. Do you want your friends to e-mail you back? no
23. Who is most likely to respond? I’m not emailing this out.
24. Who is least likely to respond? I’m not emailing this out.
25. Living arrangements? Own a home, alone
26. When was the last time you cried? I can’t remember
27. What is on the floor of your closet? Just shoes
28. Who is the friend you have had the longest that you are sending this to? I’m not emailing this out
29. What did you do last night? Had a beverage with Budda, then watched Syriana, then read a book for a while, before surfing internet porn and crashing out
30. Favorite smell? No comment!
31. What inspires you? No simple answer will do, here!
32. What are you most afraid of? That there is nothing after death
33. Plain, cheese, or spicy hamburgers? How about spicy with cheese? Can’t I have it all?
34. Favorite kind of dog? I like labs, golden retrievers, JRT’s, and good ‘ol mutts.
35. Number of keys on your key ring? Which key-ring? My bike key ring has 3 keys, my truck key ring has 3 keys, and my boat key ring has 2.
36. How many years at your current job? 7 years
37. Favorite day of the week? Saturday
38. How many states have you lived in? 1, technically.
39. Favorite Holidays? I’m not big on holidays, perhaps the 4th, and memorial day.
40. Ever driven a Motorcycle or heavy machinery? Yes on both counts.

Body Worlds Exhibit

A friend of mine and I went to see the Body Worlds exhibit at the Dallas Museum of Nature and Science. The exhibit features real human bodies in various anatomical exhibitions. There are five sections of the exhibit covering skeletal and musculature, the nervous system, the digestive system, the cardiovascular system, and the reproductive system.

Understandably, I can see how some people would see this as morbid but I can assure you that there isn't anything macabre or morbid about the exhibit. I was fascinated at this glimpse into the intricately complex, and yet fragile, human body. This is not something that people outside of the medical industry would normally be exposed to. At some times it was a little surreal.

The bodies and displays are all created using a technique called Plastination. I wished there was a little more information on this at the exhibit as I found it truly fascinating that they could preserve selective tissue in this manner. Here is a quick Wikipedia link on it: Plastination

Aside from the obvious fascination with the human body I was also very impressed with the displays themselves. There was a certain creative and artistic eye, along with the scientific and technical ability, to create the displays themselves. Beauty, even in death, is truly not lost.

Body Worlds is a tour and has been running for over 10 years. If you do a look up on it you can see when they are coming to a museum near you. The one in Dallas runs until May 28th. I suggest you get tickets in advance as we almost didn't get it.

As a final note, I'd like to again point out that these are real human bodies. These are people that donated their bodies to science and the pursuit of knowledge and education. I have the utmost respect for their charity and thank them.

It's Mudbug Time!

Yes, once again it's that time of year where these little critters are lovingly harvested from the swamps of Louisiana, carefully transported in little burlap sacks, bathed in salt water baths, and then thrown into a pot of boiling spices, corn and taters.

I love eating bugs. Though you can eat them a multitude of ways, my favorite is a good old fashioned boil with plenty 'o spice. There is nothing like eating tail and sucking head while getting tiny little cuts all over your fingers, and drinking a cold one.

To that end, I'm trying to keep my eyes open for any specials in the area for bugs. Right now, the best price I have seen is $3.99 / lb. at Razoos during happy hour (or all day on Wed.). Usually there will be a few good deals around here down to the $3.00 / lb. range, or an all-you-can-eat deal that gets the price down substantialy for one that has some time to kill and doesn't mind eating 5 to 10 lbs worth of the little buggers.

I'll do a boil later in the season when it warms up and being outdoors is more accommodating, but for now keep your eyes peeled (pun?) and let me know if you see any!

Hard Hitting Video On Immigration

I just watched a video on immigration statistics produced by Numbers USA. Numbers USA is an organization that focuses on the problems of our ever-expanding population in America. As most of us are probably aware, a majority of this population growth is immigration. As much as I have heard a lot of numbers thrown around, this video is an excellent visual presentation representing those numbers. It's about 14 minutes long, but I strongly urge you to watch it.

The Great Corn Rush

I was reading my recent Forbe's magazine and it had an article on ethanol as an alternative or supplemental fuel source. Naturally, the article focused on the investment and financial benefits of this as it is Forbe's magazine. Their bottom line was that investors may come up short as so many people have now bought into the frenzy that they are going to exceed the short-term demand for ethanol. They also mention that it may stabilize as most candidates on both sides are pushing for more legislation that would increase the demand for ethanol.

I'll give them kudos, though, for at least mentioning two vital aspects of all of this:
1 - ethanol mixed with gasoline burns less efficiently than gasoline alone. It's about 2/3's as efficient as gas. So, while you may be burning ethanol instead of gas you still have to burn more gas!!

2 - there haven't been any conclusive studies that show what the potential environmental aspect of all of this are.

Let's back up a moment. The two main reasons to look at ethanol are that it's cheaper than oil, and that it burns cleaner.

But the cost of ethanol is on the rise, and as I've already pointed out you still have to burn more gas. Let's also look at some other factors. The ethanol that we use is made from corn. Corn has a considerable environmental investment: water, fertilizer, and land. How much water and fertilizer does it take to produce any useful amount of ethanol? My dad did some rough calculations and what he came up with is that if we were to try to replace gasoline with ethanol there wouldn't be enough land in the U.S. to support all the corn crops. What about the tractors and combines that are used to plant and harvest the ethanol? Those run on diesel. Then there is the manufacturing of the ethanol, which also burns other types of fuels.

The bottom line is that nobody is really sure what impact this is having on the environment and the economy. The only thing that seems to be sure is that someone, somewhere, is making a lot of money off of the political ramifications of this. It certainly seems like another "benefit" of scaring the crap out of everyone with global warming and the exhaustion of fossil fuels (which really wouldn't happen in our lifetime, our kids lifetime, their kids lifetime, and their kids, kids, kids lifetimes).

Why Ride 20 Miles to get a Dr. Pepper?

Because I can. That's why. It was 66 (f) here today and I just had to get on the bike to take it for a quick flog. The sun was shining, there wasn't much (if any) wind, and I think I even heard angels singing at one point.

It's supposed to turn yucky again by the weekend. I might as well take advantage of the nice weather while I can.

Democrats Have a Double Standard

Here is an article by Mike Gallagher that my friend Phil sent to me:


Democrats have a double standard on raceBy Mike GallagherFriday, February 2, 2007
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After it was confirmed on tape that Democratic Senator and presidential candidate Joe Biden did, indeed, say that Barack Obama was one of the first mainstream African-Americans seeking national office who was “clean” and “articulate”, even my Democrat wife predicted Biden’s political demise.

“He’s done”, said my Denise with a sigh. “There’s no way any presidential candidate could get away with something that awful.”

Democratic presidential hopefuls, Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del., left, and Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., talk on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 31, 2007 during the committee's hearing on Iraq. Later Wednesday night Biden parried with Comedy Central's "The Daily Show" host Jon Stewart over his controversial description of Democratic rival Sen. Barack Obama as "clean" and said he had called the senator to explain. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

Related Audio:
Christopher Hitchens, Eric Cantor

I wish I believed her.

It’s not easy living with a wife who gets excited about Democrats like Obama and Hillary and the rest of them. I’d like to say that she suffers from some kind of post-traumatic stress syndrome or another type of malady that would constantly make her so wrong when it comes to political matters.

But I’m resigned to sharing the rest of my life with a beautiful, smart, funny, loving woman who happens to vote for the wrong ticket practically every time.

So when she confidently predicted that the sky would fall on Biden, I’m afraid she’s probably wrong about politics once again.

You see, Joseph Biden isn’t some southern Senator like Trent Lott who made the mistake of wishing another southerner like Strom Thurmond birthday greetings. Biden is a yuppie, northern elitist Senator from Delaware who is destined to get a pass for his foot-in-mouth debacle.

Not even Barack Obama himself had the stomach to call a bigot a bigot. Perhaps Obama, basking in the adulation of a fawning media, simply wanted to avoid the controversy altogether. Maybe Jesse Jackson, yes THAT Jesse Jackson, just wanted to extend the hand of Christian brotherhood to a presidential candidate who would make a comment that made him sound like a Grand Dragon of the Ku Klux Klan.

But the real likelihood is that no Democrat has the guts or integrity to condemn one of their own.

What a slap in the face Biden’s racist rant was to every African-American and decent person who heard him. How disgraceful to suggest that most blacks aren’t articulate or clean and it took a guy like Obama to finally come along and speak in a complete sentence while even appearing to shower and shave regularly.

Every prominent black American had a duty to condemn Sen. Joe “Grand Wizard” Biden of Delaware. Instead, they wimped out and failed the test.

That test is pretty easy to pass. Democrat or Republican, one does the right thing. It was not right to run Trent Lott out of his leadership post when all he did was try to make 100-year-old Strom Thurmond, a former presidential candidate, feel good about himself by saying Thurmond would have made a great president.

It was not right for Democrats to maliciously accuse President Bush of hating black people so much that he intentionally delayed rescue efforts in New Orleans.

And it is certainly not right for anyone to excuse Joe Biden for suggesting that there’s a real scarcity of articulate black leaders who bathe regularly. Incidentally, as I predicted, Biden’s pathetic defense is that he didn’t mean clean as in using soap and water and deodorant, he meant clean as in “clean as a whistle”, no corruption, no skeletons in his closet. So I guess Biden means that all the other black candidates for president – from Rev. Jackson to Shirley Chisholm to Alan Keyes and others – were just a bunch of crooked, corrupt black scoundrels.

Wow, that’s some defense, isn’t it?

Biden’s grinning, hyena-like performance on Jon Stewart’s cable TV show featured the Delaware Senator suggesting that everyone is focused on his use of the word, “clean.” No, Senator Klansman. It was your use of the word “first” that makes your comments so damning.
This story is a defining example of the fundamental difference between many Republicans and Democrats. When a Republican like Mark Foley screws up, we show him the door. When a Democrat implodes, other Democrats make excuses and spin and deny the truth, all in order to defend the indefensible.

It’s called a total lack of character. And every single Democrat – or Republican, for that matter – who fails to condemn Biden’s hateful, hurtful comments should be ashamed of themselves.
I suppose I’m not particularly surprised that few Democrats had the guts to say the right thing about Sen. Joe Biden. But there was at least one Democrat who did: my wife.

Maybe there’s hope for her yet.

Mike Gallagher is a nationally syndicated radio host, Fox News Channel contributor and guest host and author of Surrounded by Idiots: Fighting Liberal Lunacy in America.

Nationality Vs. Ethnicity

I was having dinner with one of my black friends the other night. We were engaged in a conversation and she said that her nationality was "African-American." So I said, "I thought your nationality was American." Clearly it confused her as I got a blank, deer-in-the-headlights response.

Has the left screwed people up so badly that they no longer realize the differences between where you are from and what your ethnicity is?