Out with the old…in with the new
I was a firm believer in using experience to train others for the future but recent years with the financial issues and all of the corruption in our government going on, I no longer believe that to be true. As frustrating as the bailouts and other unnecessary uses of tax payer funds may be, Americans are missing the underlying issues of replacing greedy, corrupt people with more greedy and corrupt people. For example, as Governor Palin steps down as Governor of Alaska, she will be replaced with the Lieutenant Governor of the state. To most this makes sense, that is to people that don’t pay attention to 30+ lawsuits brought against Mrs. Palin for corruption. Does it make sense to replace someone who was just found, by a independent investigator, to be corrupt with the person that reported directly to that person? Only if you want more of the same, I for one don’t.
To be honest, I am sick of our society putting people in charge of businesses and our Government to replace the very people they have learned how to be ”successful” from the most corrupt, greedy, and discriminatory people. I am not so much frustrated with the fact that these people are this way, no matter what anyone says MONEY and POWER will rule the United States, it doesn’t matter who leads the country.
I know there are ways to fix these issues, but who would want to listen to people like me that want a BETTER country for our children? No one, not one single politician or business leader. Who would want to replace corruption with someone that has not been in that position and believes in honesty, integrity and accountability? Take a look around, every product you buy, every television show you watch, every news article you read, every person that cuts in front of you in traffic or in line, and every young child that screams and begs a parent to give them what they want and the parent gives in to them because they don’t have the time or they don’t care enough to show their child they right way, this is what has become normal.
So once again, who am I to judge? I am only a person that believes in accountability, understanding, integrity, and honesty, the very type of person that big business does NOT want around as things may have to change and people may have be accountable.
Waste Of Time
We waste so much time trying to figure the right way to do something that by the time we make a decision it’s already too late. Don’t people in general understand that if decisions are made by only one person instead of a group people might go home from work on time, might get to see their families more, and might have less stress? I am assuming not because people are working longer hours, there is more emphasis on collaborative decision making and people have more stress.
I wonder when people in this world are going to start paying attention and quit believing everything they are told?
How to change a life.
As I get older, I realize that life is more than just being wealthy, busy, and materialistic. The important parts of life fall under the “Change a persons life” catagory. How many people think this way? How many want to but feel pressured by society to have that materialistic wealth? I am excited to say I believe that the first question involves a large number! Sadly, I also feel the second question involves a very large number. I am interested in getting as many people as possible to comment on this post and also encourage everyone to change a life. Changing a life doesn’t have to be doing something large or expensive, on the contrary, it is most likely the least effort and money you will put into something in your life. This can be done by saying “Hi” to someone on the street or someone who looks in a bad mood, open the door for someone, or, when your in a bad mood or frustrated, help somone else smile. These little gestures can change more than one life, most likely it will also change yours.
The Oil debate
There has been differences in opinion when it comes to the short term and long term benefits of beginng to drill for oil in places that are off limits now. The areas that I am referring to are the Arctic shelf and off shore drilling in the United States. The most informative article I have found can be found here : http://www.theoildrum.com/node/4215
Some highlights of this article state that “
If legislation is passed to permit drilling in areas which have previously been off limits, it will be at least 7 to 10 years before we can expect new production (Transcript 15:43). If new production is far from existing pipelines, as is often the case, new production is likely to be at least 10 years away. This long time period is required because of the many steps involved. ” According to the article.
Also, “A reasonable estimate of the timeframe for oil production in these new locations might be 2018 to 2040 if we start the process now. If we delay for say, another 20 years, the production window might be 2038 to 2060. Who is to say what the world will look like then? If we don’t start now, there is a good chance we may never be able to access oil in difficult locations.”
Do we really know how much is out there? Not really, the article states “
According to API (Transcript 23:17), we really don’t know how much recoverable oil is available. There are some published estimates for various pieces–coastal oil, OCS-48 states oil, Alaska-offshore, Alaska-ANWR–but none of these is very big. At this point, we haven’t done any on-site research to see what is really there, using today’s equipment. We don’t know if there are some fairly good sized fields that we have overlooked. It is possible that the estimates are too high, but without looking, we really don’t know.”
Interesting, so what do we do for a short term solution? The article suggests “
We have pipeline systems both for transporting oil to refineries and for transporting refined oil to consumers. The pipelines exist within the 48 states and Alaska. As production from existing wells diminishes, the amount of oil flowing through these pipelines will drop below their planned operating levels. Additional production from new sources will keep the pipelines operating longer, and give at least of chance of business close to normal, if not business as usual. The issue of minimum operating levels is raised in a recent EIA analysis of ANWR.”
There is much more information in this article so I would suggest taking a closer look at it. It sounds as though this will solve the long term issues, but will not ease the short term tension.
Reference:
http://www.theoildrum.com/node/4215 retrieved on August 1, 2008
Awards for the Obvious
Because I find humor in most of what the media wastes its time on, I now have decided to introduce the “jskaul captain obvious” award that will be awarded to those who have nothing better to do than point out the obvious. This first award goes to the author of an article titled “McCain tries to sow doubts about Obama” from this link http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080731/ap_on_el_pr/angry_mccain
It’s not the content of the article that makes me laugh, it’s the fact that someone did an analysis of the percentage of ads for a one candidate that targets the other. I was thinking that, because of the “dirtiness” of campaign’s in the United States, it would be normal for one candidate to target the other. I am pretty sure that I need a job that does this sort of analysis…I wonder what that person was thinking when they decided to find out this percentage? It was probably between naps on the couch.
