The blue collar/poor getting bent over an oil barrel

Aside from the fact that this piece could benefit from the attention of a good editor (it tends to wander and it should be more concise), its author does have some excellent points about the reaction of the masses to ever-increasing fuel prices. I also think he nailed the intelligence, or lack thereof, and mindset of blue collar/poor folk. (The blue collar/poor live on a perceptual versus a conceptual level; they always have and always will. That's a big part of the reason why they are blue collar/poor. They're not bad people when compared to, say, criminals, but after having supervised them for eleven years, I view most of them as little more than bipedal organisms devoid of any interests beyond sports, alcohol/drugs, junk food, empty sex, gossip, and goldbricking. Hey, I come from that background, although I've tried to lift myself a bit higher than it, so if you don't like my criticism, tough.)

Here's the link to the piece, followed by a few excerpts from it. How Will Gas Prices affect the Blue Collar/Poor.

*****

There is a lot of talk about how gas prices affect stock brokers, middle-class homeowners, corporations, and people who can afford Hummers. But how much can the blue collar/poor take? Where do they stand in all this? What are their views on the gas prices? Will they eventually start rioting? What will make them riot?

Now we must not take into consideration the science, the geology of Peak Oil nor take into account the price of a barrel of oil when discussing blue collar/poor people's view on oil. The only thing that affects them is price. They have been trained to be consumers, they view themselves as consumers. They view this problem in terms of consumption. All they see and feel with their hands empirically is that they are having less money to spend on things they want like vacations, four-wheelers, new car stereos, and intoxicants. They see that their raises have stopped coming or not being as large. They can see that their employers are trying to get by with less employees.

They do not concern themselves with stocks or geology. This is not because of America's education system or even because of apathy particular to the American character. There is no point in history where the workers and peasants were intellectual geniuses. [Emphasis DAL357.] The fact that they know how to read is a first in human history. If we had a limitless supply of resources perhaps in two hundred years they could have advanced to the point of being rational, empirical and logical. (Probably not though, if there were limitless or alternative resources for 200 years the world would probably end up being completely owned by Wal-Mart.)...also...20 percent of American adults do not know how to read above a fifth grade level.

The Blue Collar/Poor View: There are three main views.

1. Gas prices are so high because corporations are doing it to make a profit. They do not understand economics and that the ways to make a profit are through cheaper machinery, cheaper labor, advertising, and coupons. It is absurd to raise the price of a product by 100 percent in one year. That will only cause a decrease in sales. Most blue collar/poor have no idea how capitalism works.

2. There is oil in Alaska and in the gulf and “tree-huggers” will not let us use it. Even though the science shows that there isn't that much oil there and it is expensive to get it out and refine.

3. I have heard many white males say that it is because of the blacks in Nigeria and the Arabs who hate American freedom. (The racist theory of oil prices.)

*

Why gas prices are so high is abstract, too distant. Blue collar/poor people live small lives, very empirical lives. They are trained since they are little by their blue collar/poor parents to only care about what is around them. It must be noted that that the blue collar/poor way of life does not require thought or truth. They grow up in public school getting told what to do, their parents tell them what to do, then they get a job where they are told what to do. It is not a necessity to read above a fifth grade reading level. If there is any reading at the blue collar job it is usually in one or two word phrases. A trucker looks at the address, the cook looks at the food ordered. There are no paragraphs to be understood, no three page memos to be read. We have to recognize that reading a single word is different than reading a sentence. A single word is an object. A sentence is a thought. Their jobs do not require thought. Why they are not a thinking/analyzing people comes directly from their environment.

*

Blue collar/poor rely on television like 1250 A.D. Europeans relied on the church. The television tells them what to do, what to think, what to purchase. They go to the television seeking answers on love, relationships, family, work, what kind of hand soap to use, what shoes to wear, where to buy lumber, what outfits look the best, how to cut their hair. We have to view the television's influence on blue collar/poor people's lives like Islam is to the Arab. The television completely engulfs their existence. We know from Communist countries that people do not react well when their religion is taken away. But unlike religion television can't be practiced in secret locations.

*****

Although some of his facts seem a bit off, he does have an excellent grasp of the psychology/incomplete thinking of the blue collar/poor.

Take care.
DAL357

Rapid movie review: Iron Man

The son and I went to view the latest sign of intellectual deterioration in this country, the recently-released "Iron Man," a couple of weeks ago. (Okay, maybe the "intellectual deterioration" comment wasn't fair, at least for this particular piece.) Considering the genre, it was actually a pretty decent movie, mainly due to Robert Downey Jr.'s performance as the title character. The movie did drag a bit in the beginning, but it picked up the pace as it progressed.

If you have kids, they'll probably like the flick, as did my seven-year-old boy, and taking your kids to see this movie is really the only reason any adult should be in the theater. Well, that plus that delicious theater popcorn (sans, of course, the Pennzoil lubricant they pump on it upon request with heedless abandon...YUCK!).

Take care.
DAL357

P.S. Although I've known of her for some time, I never really took notice of Gwyneth Paltrow before. Sheesh, she is terminally cute in this movie!

Sign o' the times

You know money must be getting tight when people are resorting to eating this.

*****

Sales of Spam rise as consumers trim food costs

By EMILY FREDRIX, AP Business WriterWed May 28, 4:06 PM ET

Love it, hate it or laugh at it — at least it's inexpensive.

Sales of Spam — that much maligned meat — are rising as consumers are turning more to lunch meats and other lower-cost foods to extend their already stretched food budgets.

What was once cheeky, silly and the subject of a musical (as Monty Python mocked the meat in a can), is now back on the table as people turn to the once-snubbed meat as costs rise, analysts say.

Food prices are increasing faster than they've risen since 1990, at 4 percent in the U.S. last year, according to the Agriculture Department. Many staples are rising even faster, with white bread up 13 percent last year, bacon up 7 percent and peanut butter up 9 percent.

There's no sign of a slowdown. Food inflation is running at an annualized rate of 6.1 percent as of April, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Spam's maker, Hormel Foods Corp., reported last week that it saw strong sales of Spam in the second quarter, helping push up its profits 14 percent. According to sales information coming from Hormel, provided by The Nielsen Co., Spam sales were up 10.6 percent in the 12-week period ending May 3, compared to last year. In the last 24 weeks, sales were up nearly 9 percent.

*****

Oh well, I guess it's better than starving. I have nothing against SPAM for camping trips, hunting trips, etc., but I think I'd rather go vegetarian than eat it regularly. YMMV.

Take care.
DAL357

We, the oblivious

Wouldn't it be something if the candidates displayed this much insight into the massive problems now battering America and addressed the following points squarely and honestly while campaigning? Please read the following op/ed piece to reference what I'm talking about.

*****

Wake Up, America. We're Driving Toward Disaster.
By James Howard Kunstler
Washington Post, Sunday, May 25, 2008

Everywhere I go these days, talking about the global energy predicament on the college lecture circuit or at environmental conferences, I hear an increasingly shrill cry for "solutions." This is just another symptom of the delusional thinking that now grips the nation, especially among the educated and well-intentioned.

I say this because I detect in this strident plea the desperate wish to keep our "Happy Motoring" utopia running by means other than oil and its byproducts. But the truth is that no combination of solar, wind and nuclear power, ethanol, biodiesel, tar sands and used French-fry oil will allow us to power Wal-Mart, Disney World and the interstate highway system -- or even a fraction of these things -- in the future. We have to make other arrangements.

The public, and especially the mainstream media, misunderstands the "peak oil" story. It's not about running out of oil. It's about the instabilities that will shake the complex systems of daily life as soon as the global demand for oil exceeds the global supply. These systems can be listed concisely:

The way we produce food

The way we conduct commerce and trade

The way we travel

The way we occupy the land

The way we acquire and spend capital

And there are others: governance, health care, education and more.

As the world passes the all-time oil production high and watches as the price of a barrel of oil busts another record, as it did last week, these systems will run into trouble. Instability in one sector will bleed into another. Shocks to the oil markets will hurt trucking, which will slow commerce and food distribution, manufacturing and the tourist industry in a chain of cascading effects. Problems in finance will squeeze any enterprise that requires capital, including oil exploration and production, as well as government spending. These systems are all interrelated. They all face a crisis. What's more, the stress induced by the failure of these systems will only increase the wishful thinking across our nation.

And that's the worst part of our quandary: the American public's narrow focus on keeping all our cars running at any cost. Even the environmental community is hung up on this. The Rocky Mountain Institute has been pushing for the development of a "Hypercar" for years -- inadvertently promoting the idea that we really don't need to change.

Years ago, U.S. negotiators at a U.N. environmental conference told their interlocutors that the American lifestyle is "not up for negotiation." This stance is, unfortunately, related to two pernicious beliefs that have become common in the United States in recent decades. The first is the idea that when you wish upon a star, your dreams come true. (Oprah Winfrey advanced this notion last year with her promotion of a pop book called "The Secret," which said, in effect, that if you wish hard enough for something, it will come to you.) One of the basic differences between a child and an adult is the ability to know the difference between wishing for things and actually making them happen through earnest effort.

The companion belief to "wishing upon a star" is the idea that one can get something for nothing. This derives from America's new favorite religion: not evangelical Christianity but the worship of unearned riches. (The holy shrine to this tragic belief is Las Vegas.) When you combine these two beliefs, the result is the notion that when you wish upon a star, you'll get something for nothing. This is what underlies our current fantasy, as well as our inability to respond intelligently to the energy crisis.

These beliefs also explain why the presidential campaign is devoid of meaningful discussion about our energy predicament and its implications. The idea that we can become "energy independent" and maintain our current lifestyle is absurd. So is the gas-tax holiday. (Which politician wants to tell voters on Labor Day that the holiday is over?) The pie-in-the-sky plan to turn grain into fuel came to grief, too, when we saw its disruptive effect on global grain prices and the food shortages around the world, even in the United States. In recent weeks, the rice and cooking-oil shelves in my upstate New York supermarket have been stripped clean.

So what are intelligent responses to our predicament? First, we'll have to dramatically reorganize the everyday activities of American life. We'll have to grow our food closer to home, in a manner that will require more human attention. In fact, agriculture needs to return to the center of economic life. We'll have to restore local economic networks -- the very networks that the big-box stores systematically destroyed -- made of fine-grained layers of wholesalers, middlemen and retailers.

We'll also have to occupy the landscape differently, in traditional towns, villages and small cities. Our giant metroplexes are not going to make it, and the successful places will be ones that encourage local farming.

Fixing the U.S. passenger railroad system is probably the one project we could undertake right away that would have the greatest impact on the country's oil consumption. The fact that we're not talking about it -- especially in the presidential campaign -- shows how confused we are. The airline industry is disintegrating under the enormous pressure of fuel costs. Airlines cannot fire any more employees and have already offloaded their pension obligations and outsourced their repairs. At least five small airlines have filed for bankruptcy protection in the past two months. If we don't get the passenger trains running again, Americans will be going nowhere five years from now.

We don't have time to be crybabies about this. The talk on the presidential campaign trail about "hope" has its purpose. We cannot afford to remain befuddled and demoralized. But we must understand that hope is not something applied externally. Real hope resides within us. We generate it -- by proving that we are competent, earnest individuals who can discern between wishing and doing, who don't figure on getting something for nothing and who can be honest about the way the universe really works.

James Howard Kunstler is the author, most recently, of "World Made by Hand," a novel about America's post-oil future.

*****

I can't say I'm totally convinced about the Peak Oil Theory just yet, but it is something that bears serious, substantive discussion. All I know is that current oil production is not meeting (and perhaps cannot meet) demand and that's cause for great concern.

Take care.
DAL357

Memorial Day

If I recall correctly, Memorial Day's original purpose was to honor those who fell in battle for America, a purpose which has since been usurped by Veteran's Day. Today, Memorial Day can be a day to honor/remember both fallen soldiers AND family and friends who have gone on ahead of us. I know that I'll be heading to the cemetary sometime today to honor my mother's memory, for she truly was a person worthy of honor and respect, and I miss her dearly. I always will.

Take care.
DAL357

Ours is not to reason why, ours is just grow or die

Long ago, when I was in my teens, I remember remarking to an acquaintance about how our economy was/is built upon a grow-or-die model. This is fine if it’s natural growth, but it seems we have growth artificially stimulated via interest rates, taxes, and other incentives.

Producers, of course, like growth, but they only have the power of persuasion through marketing and advertising to attempt to keep it going. When we get to politicians*, however, we get to the real culprits. Because of their penchant for giving unearned money to the least productive elements of society, and of financing unnecessary pet projects for their home districts, and myriad other wastes of hard-earned capital, we have inflation, the bane of the welfare state, and the real impetus for never-ending growth.

With this in mind, is it any wonder why this incessant focus on growth is so important to the powers that be? Without growth, the steamroller of liabilities politicians have created that’s always just two steps behind the economy would overtake and crush it. With this sword of Damocles hanging over the economy, the normal rhythms, the ebb and flow, of an economy must be suppressed at all costs.

In any free, unfettered economy, if you could find one in the Western world today, natural, healthy up-and-down cycles occur over a given period of time. The down-cycle is just as necessary as the up-cycle, for the down-cycle gives time to gain perspective, marshal resources, and cull weak businesses and bad debt, thereby making the entire system stronger and more resilient. When the down-cycle is not allowed to function, the entire system is weakened in the end, although artificially prolonging the up-cycle may obscure that fact for a while. But the down-cycle can’t be suppressed forever, and when it does reassert itself, the effects will be brutal and the entire system less able to tread water until better times, which can/will result in a death spiral to a depression if further measures are taken by politicians to prematurely get back to the up-cycle.

Do you remember the massive fires in Yellowstone National Park that occurred in the late 1980s? These fires were so intense that no amount of effort by firefighters could stop them; they were forced to let the fires burn themselves out. Do you know why the fires occurred? Because of many decades of a US Forest Service policy to quickly extinguish any and all fires, which on the surface seemed fine, but in reality allowed underbrush to get so thick that when a fire did start in overgrown areas, it would be too hot and strong for any human effort to handle. This is exactly what happened, and the resulting conflagration destroyed old-growth trees which might have made it through milder fires, leaving thousands of acres that resemble the moon’s surface (I’ve been there and I've seen it with my own four eyes).

Now, extrapolate what you’ve just read and apply it to an economy that’s never allowed to have smaller, debris-clearing fires. What do you think will happen when, someday, a fire starts in an economy weakened by government interference? If you said, “Far more devastation than would have happened had the natural cycles been allowed to function,” you get it. If you didn’t reach this conclusion, you need to think more deeply; you also need to stay away from the voting booth this November, because you’re likely to do more harm than good.

Take care.
DAL357

*I’m not letting those who voted for the politicians off of the hook. An electorate that believes in a candidate's promises/abilities to circumvent reality is, ultimately, at the root of the problem.

Overlooked treasure

You know you have too many guns (yes, this is possible, and it's also relative) when you have forgotten how sweet a well-tuned S&W Model 19 handles because you've been busy with other shootin' irons. After a silhouette match last Saturday, I put 50 rounds of my .38 Spl. handloads through this great gun and was instantly reminded of what a pleasure it is to use. The gun points naturally, it's balanced, easy to shoot, and accurate.

I traded another gun (4" S&W Model 25 in .45 Colt) for this one some years back and I've never regretted it. The Model 25 was a fine gun too, but its large frame didn't fit my hand nearly as well as the 4" Model 19 does, and, to be honest, the .45 Colt cartridge recoiled a bit much for my tastes, although I have no problem with the recoil of my 1911 in .45 ACP.

Whoever owned the gun before had an exquisite job done on the trigger; I could be wrong, but I doubt it came from the factory in its present form. According to my research, the gun was made in the mid 1980s, so I guess it could have come from the factory with such a great trigger, but if I had to bet I'd wager that it has some post-factory work in it. The trigger is smoooooth and it doesn't stack at all. It definitely puts my late-'80s Python to shame with its factory trigger, which ain't bad, but nothing like the Model 19.

If you ever get a chance to acquire (legally, of course) a S&W Model 19, do NOT hesitate, jump on it--immediately! I doubt you'll regret it, but if you do, they are in high enough demand that you should get your money back quickly by selling it. The 19 is the the pinnacle of functionality and finesse in a revolver and all true revolver fans should still be lamenting its passing from production.

Take care.

DAL357

P.S. The photo shows an example of a Model 19, not my particular gun, nor is that my hand holding it.

Bummer

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

Take care (snort!).
DAL357

That'll show 'em!

This is newsworthy?

Wis. man won't buy gas for 31 days, maybe longer
Fri May 16, 3:37 AM ET
Brian LaFave couldn't care less how high gasoline prices climb these days — he's parked his pickup truck and is refusing to buy gas for a month, possibly longer.

"The goal is to not use one drop of gas for 31 days," LaFave said, calling it his personal stand against the oil companies.

Now LaFave, 31, is riding his bicycle or walking everywhere he goes. He won't even let friends pick him up unless they already planned on being in the neighborhood.

"If they're not going out of their way, I can take the ride," he said. "But if they're going out of their way, then ... I'm still consuming gasoline so it kind of defeats the purpose." LaFave started the effort May 11. He bikes to his third-shift job at Aldrich Chemical in Sheboygan Falls, a 9-mile commute.

"I did like a practice run ... two days in a row to make sure I could do it," he said. "I'm not in the greatest shape. The mornings are the worst. It feels like it takes forever. I get like a mile down the road and I want to die."

It's a big change for someone who put 300 miles on his truck the week before he stopped driving it.

LaFave fills out a chart each day listing how many miles he bikes, the destination and the gas price that day, among other things. He plans to compute his savings and donate that amount to a charity that provides food to children in Africa.

"I think just with the gas prices being so high, everybody complains about it but no one ever really does anything about it," LaFave said. "People continue to drive nonstop and not think about it, but I just wanted to take a stand and say, `I'm not gonna pay this much money for gas.'"

I’m not sure what’s more dumb: the guy being reported on or the fact that this story ever saw the light of day.

Look, LaFave, your little stunt, based on incomplete knowledge, aka ignorance, doesn’t amount to anything. The abiotic theory of oil aside, there’s only so much crude oil available and the demand is outstripping supply (worldwide demand is 87 million barrels a day vs. production of 85 million barrels a day). I’m sure you’re well aware, LaFave, as a resource becomes more scarce, its price will increase if its demand doesn’t slacken. That’s part of what’s going on today, along with an inflated dollar, courtesy of the Fed., not the vilifying rhetoric the politicians spew: the greed of oil companies.

And to AP, the press agency that put this story out, was it a slow news day? I know, I know, you had to fill up space and there’s no better way to do it than with a cheap, populist story about one ignoramus’s fight against the system. You really are at one and in touch with the common folk, aren’t you?

Take care.
DAL357

What's good for the goose...

Here's a snippet of a story whose implicit message is how disrespectful and cloddish U.S. troops are to the Muslim religion (authoritarian social system might be a better description).

BAGHDAD - An American soldier used a Quran, the Islamic holy book, for target practice in a predominantly Sunni area west of Baghdad, prompting an apology from the U.S. military, a spokesman said Sunday.

American commanders then launched an inquiry that led to disciplinary action against the soldier, who has been removed from Iraq, Buckner said.

Hmmm. That probably isn't the type of behavior U.S. troops should engage in to win the hearts and minds of the locals (as if that's possible there), and the following is no excuse, but what about this?

While Muslims have responded with deadly outrage to the now-retracted report by Newsweek of alleged Quran desecration by U.S. interrogators, there was little outcry three years ago [2002] when Islamic terrorists holed up in Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity reportedly used the Bible as toilet paper. http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.printable&pageId=30366

I really don't need to make a comment, for I am sure you are intelligent enough to see the hypocrisy here. One thing I will say, though, is that just because some credo happens to be printed upon paper with ink and bound together with glue does not make it holy. Paper and ink are mere materials for the communication of ideas, and nothing more. (I could extend this line of thinking to people who think flag burning should be banned in this country, but I'll let that dog lie for now.)

By the way, I wonder what size groups the soldier was getting.

Take care.
DAL357

Gun magazines (not the gun rag type)

Whew! Have you checked the prices for Glock magazines lately? I hadn't for a while, but I just checked only minutes ago and they look like they're headed for the moon, no doubt in speculation on the outcome of the presidential race (though I'm sure the Fed further cheapening the dollar hasn't helped). If you ever thought of getting another full capacity magazine for your Glock, you'd better do it ASAP.

Then again, maybe it won't be that bad. Part of me keeps thinking this is just marketing hype to raise prices. I keep hoping that the pending SCOTUS decision on the Heller case will throw a monkey wrench into the plans of the gun/magazine grabbers and it won't matter who gets into the White House because they'll be hamstrung by the high court's ruling. But only time will tell if that's mere wishful/fanciful thinking.

To paraphrase/co-opt a saying, real Americans already have their magazines. Of course, a few more couldn't hurt, could it? If you really are in need of more full-cap. magazines, be they for a Glock or any other type of firearm, you might want to at least consider springing for them soon. It's better to err on the side of caution than to cry later.

Take care.
DAL357

Free advice!

Let’s revisit some basic driving techniques for getting the best MPG from the ever-more expensive gasoline you buy.


1. Take advantage of gravity by using every hill you crest, whenever practical, to shift into neutral and coast. This assumes, of course, you have a manual transmission--it might work with an automatic, but I’m not sure.

2. Drive no faster than 60 on the highway, at least for trips of less than an hour. I know the road gets monotonous when tooling along at 60 for hours on end, but for relatively short commutes, it really helps mileage.

3. Try to keep your vehicle moving, even if it’s only a couple miles an hour, rather than coming to a complete stop at red lights. This takes a bit of practice, and it’s not always doable, but it is worth your time.

4. Slightly over inflate your tires. I keep my tires inflated to three pounds over the recommended pressure, and I check them every two weeks, although weekly wouldn’t be overkill, especially in cold weather.

5. Accelerate at a moderate pace. If you have a tachometer (I do not), I have heard it should not rise above 2000 RPM when you accelerate to get the best mileage.

6. Get a tune-up. I’ll have to admit this is one I need to do ASAP. I bought some high-performance spark plugs to be installed when I do get the tune-up; we’ll see if they were worth the extra cost.

7. Use synthetic oil, which is supposed to make for slipperier engine-part surfaces and, hence, less internal resistance. According to experts, this will translate into better mileage. I haven’t tried this one yet.

8. Change your air filter regularly. I did notice a tiny bump up in mileage when I changed my air filter.


That’s about all I can think of. If you have anything constructive to add to this list, please post it in the comments section.

Take care.
DAL357

These are the good old days

I’ll get right to the point: I’m officially going on record as saying that the overall trend to life in the future in America for the average citizen will be one of increasing difficulty. Sure, there will be periods of (false) hope where it seems as if things have stabilized and/or improved, but those times won’t last. Discretionary income will become an ever-shrinking part of the average budget as Americans strive to take care of the basics.

What can be done to prepare for this calamity? Probably the best thing is to keep an open mind and not to believe that a certain standard of living is your birthright. Be as flexible and self-reliant as possible and don’t look to government for answers, at least not correct answers. America will survive what’s coming, but she will be forever changed by it. Whether that’s good or bad in the long run will be for historians to ponder.

One more thing: I don’t believe this will be a sudden paradigm shift. Rather, it will be a gradual one occurring over a period of years, maybe decades. Come to think of it, it’s really been going on for quite a few decades already, we’ve just been able to cover it up via adding a second income to households, spending every penny of savings, and finally willingly accepting massive amounts of debt. But we have come to the end of our financial rope and there is no more room to maneuver. The piper is at the door demanding payment and he will not be denied.

Take care.
DAL357

P.S. The photo above has absolutely nothing to do with the text of this post, I just thought it would be nice to look at while contemplating the comments contained herein.

P.P.S. Hey, cheer up, it's not the end of the world. Those with at least a passing acquaintance to history know that things change and nothing good--or bad--lasts forever. It's just the way it is. Clinging to the memories of good times will only poison your outlook on the future and blind you to new opportunities.

You know, less really IS more.

I’ve been in the simplifying mode for a while now and I’ve been able to pare down my belongings to a manageable level; I still have a ways to go, but I’m making decent progress. Things I’ve parted with include, although not in toto, books (some gun books, old college textbooks, etc., but not any of the classics--God forbid!), exercise equipment, clothes, mementos, many pounds of old gun magazines, a bunch of scrounged range brass I never would have used anyway, some old Lee reloading equipment, and a few--GASP!--guns.

Why am I doing this? As I get older, I have begun to see the futility of chasing after fulfillment and happiness through the acquisition of stuff. Having a very few quality things that I really need/use and blowing off what the marketers tout as the latest and best brings a lot of contentment. What a (seeming) paradox that I get more peace of mind from fewer possessions than I do from many.

Life sure is funny sometimes, especially when you take the time to view it from another perspective.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some more stuff to set free.

Take care.
DAL357

Say it loud, "I'm tasteless and proud!"

These so-called humorous items, known as "Truck Nuts" or "Bumper Balls," have been around for a while and I've actually seen a few indviduals adorn their vehicles with them, no doubt thinking they are making a statement. Well, they are making a statement, but it's probably not the one they think they are making. When a person puts something like this on their vehicle, they are truly showing the world not only what tasteless morons they are, but also that they feel they have no obligation as adults to allow children to stay children for as long as possible. The sexualization of children begins far too early anymore and products like this are one of the reasons why.

Of course, if you were to confront a person who uses this product with this idea they would likely become indignant and rant about free speech and their rights, and if we were talking about government intervention, they'd have a point. But I am not talking about governmental repression of speech, thought, or action. I am talking about common decency, something becoming more and more uncommon all the time. I am talking about self-censorship and the wisdom to not only know the boundaries between good and bad behavior, but why those boundaries are essential for a civilized society.

We truly are living in the age of the common man, as Jeff Cooper called it, where slobs in both dress and action are looked upon as examples to emulate and folks with a bit of self restraint and manners are looked at as dupes, fogeys, prudes, and hopelessly out of date.

Take care.

DAL357

Intelligent boobs

Study shows breast-fed children are smarter.

Here's a headline that's popped up before on a subject that's been out there for a few years now. My wife and I happened to believe in the benefits of breast-feeding before our son was born and said wife undertook that labor of love for 18 months. We are both glad she did. Our son is now smarter than his parents (just ask him), even though he is a mere 7 years old. Seriously, though, he is doing really well in (charter) school and his observations on some of the absurdities of life surprise me for a child of his age. (Don't ask me to recount one because I can't remember one off of the top of my head; I wasn't breast-fed, obviously.)

Of course, this doesn't mean that a child without the potential for intelligence in the first place can become a genius if he's attached to a teat for the first year or so of his life, but every little bit helps. The story goes on to point out that mothers who do breast-feed their babies tend to be more involved in their children's upbringing, so that might explain at least part of the disparity between breast-fed and non-breast-fed babies.

But I have a feeling that the main reason is the perfect nutrition human breast milk provides for a human baby. It gives everything in precise amounts a growing infant needs and nothing he doesn't (assuming, of course, the mother eats a balanced diet and doesn't use drugs/alcohol while nursing). Cow's milk is for calves, and it doesn't fit the human baby nearly as well as mother's milk. Only a bunch of over-educated fools (those educated beyond their intelligence) could believe otherwise. And don't even get me started on that chemist's concoction known as formula.

One other benefit I've read about over the years is the lower incidence of breast cancer among women who have breast-fed their children. This only makes sense, as that's what they're there for, contrary to the popular notion that breasts exists for men to salivate over and rate. Speaking anecdotally, my own mother did not breast-feed any of her three children--although she wanted to try it my father forbade it, mainly because he thought it was low-class(!)--and she ended up dying of breast cancer at the relatively young age of 64. Whether or not this was related to eschewing nursing, no one can say definitively.

Perhaps I'm missing something, but I don't see any downside at all to breast-feeding, with the possible exception of the convenience factor, which a good breast pump and a little planning can alleviate. Let's hope more women take up this vital part of child care; we sure as hell could use all the smart people we can get in this world. Lord knows there are more than enough dumb ones around, and they seem to be multiplying exponentially, to the detriment of the species.

Take care.

DAL357

Just another commodity

After ruminating on the subject for quite some time, I've finally reached the point of publicly disseminating my thoughts. And just what subject might that be, DAL357? The employment of illegal aliens/immigrants.

Labor is a commodity, nothing more or less. As with all commodities, its price will--or at least should--fluctuate with the supply of it and the demand for it, and in a free market, it would. A person should be free to sell or proffer his labor to any employer he likes, just as an employer should be able to accept or decline his offer. For example, perhaps an employer is offering a wage too low, in which case the prospective employee decides to look elsewhere. Perhaps the wage the job seeker wants is too high, in which case the prospective employer says no. If no one is coming to work for a company, the employer will eventually figure out that the price he is offering is too low and raise it enough to attract labor. If a job seeker can't find work at the price he demands, it may dawn upon him that the price he demands is too high and adjust it accordingly. Eventually, over time, both prospective employer/employee will reach a wage point on which they can both agree and the deal will be consummated.

The above is the way things should work in an unfettered economic market. It is a beautiful system that works extremely well, but it is wholly dependent upon both parties being free to pick and choose. Problems arise when outside (coercive) forces give either party a bit more weight than the other. The delicate dance of wages offered/accepted between employers/employees is upset when a third party dictates who must dance with whom.

That is the situation faced today by both employers and employees. Why would an employer choose to hire a person who is not in this land legally? Cost, plain and simple. Labor is one component in the production of a given product/service and if an employer can get that component at a lower cost, why would he spend more if he didn't need to? Do you routinely spend more for a product than you need to? If not, why then demand that an employer do so?

American workers, as productive as they may be, carry with them a lot of hidden costs that employers must bear (FICA/income taxes, medical benefits, the attendant bureaucracy needed to administer all of this, etc.). This is true of all labor, be it repetitive/menial or white collar. When we track it back to what is responsible for the high price of American labor, we find government mandates and regulations, of course. But that's too easy an answer to leave it there. Who is responsible for putting the government we have in place? We, the American people, are, via our insistence on wearing economic blinders, living as if life has no limits, and generally eschewing reality. (By the way, unions have done their fair share of elevating the cost of some American labor to ridiculous heights, but they have steadily lost influence over the years and are much less of a factor today, although the inflated-wage damage they've left in their wake is still with us.)

Those with a thorough understanding of libertarian principles (notice the small 'l') should not only understand, but be actually cheering the innovative ways some employers are circumventing the high cost of labor. Just like safe tax shelters/dodges, hiring off-the-book labor is another way of weakening the massive, liberty-consuming, beast government has become.

"But," you ask, "how will I make a living if there are folks willing to work for a lower wage than I?" as if it is an employer's obligation to pay you a wage that meets your needs. Perhaps you will have to adjust your spending to meet your wage. I realize that's anathema to a lot of people conditioned to believe that they're entitled to a certain level of prosperity, but that's the way it is. Who promised you a rose garden? Things change in life and you have to deal with the vagaries life throws in your path. If you want to make more money, make yourself more valuable to an employer than Jose Gonzalez by learning a skill/trade in demand and not relying on the government forcing an employer to hire you at an inflated rate merely because you were born here. Forcing an employer to hire available labor at the highest cost rather than the lowest cost is un-American.

Take care.
DAL357