Way Cool Corvette

June 27, 2008

I’ve been preaching this for a couple of years now and my message is starting to get a little attention (for good reason).

Local TV news recently had a feature on people in Jonesboro, Arkansas that were moving to within walking distance of their jobs because they could no longer affford private vehicles with gasoline at about $4.00 a gallon (down the road we’ll all look back to $4.00 a gallon as a bargain).

Now gasoline ain’t the only thing going up.  Fuel prices are raising the costs of everything, especially food.  Fertilizer costs triple what it did just 3 years ago.  Herbicides (like Roundup), insecticides and other pesticides have risen at the same rate. And moving anything across country by truck now costs 5 times more than it did 5 years ago!

Where do you move to when you can no longer afford to buy food?

Some will move back to a small amount of rural land and manage a bare survival lifestyle - probably without electricity, natural gas or even local water.  Just a pump, an outhouse, a fireplace and a few candles.  

Others will riot and demand the government feed them, and they won’t stop at demanding just food, they will want cheap gasoline again.  There’s no royalty to ignore them and suggest they eat cake; politicians will respond.

To make a long story short - WAR is coming too.

Here’s some easy to make predictions -

1. Urban and surburban land and housing will suffer severe declines in value - and this is real property for all uses.  The age of the personal vehicle is almost over.

2. Shipping by rivers and railways will return as the principal mode of moving goods (and People) over distance.  Land near ports and railways will increase in value.

3. Expect to spend 50% or more of your income on food in the future.

4. Rural land values will soar.  A family could survive on 5 acres. $20,000-25,000 an acre on land now selling for $2,000 an acre may seem to be a bargin.

5.  Look for a lot more horses and mules.

6.  Can you say 19th century (if we are lucky!)?

At least in the movies, when people get really hurt or scared they revert to calling for their Mamas.

That is about the way I feel when I think about Barack Hussien Obama becoming President of the USA. 

I am hurt that the people of the USA are so ignorant and stupid that this individual would even have remote chance at becoming President.  Promising change is probably the oldest and lamest of political campaign speeches and that is all he offers - a promise of change.  How many times in my lifetime has a candidate that promised change failed to deliver?  Duh try 100%!  Can you call anyone anything but stupid who believes Obama can or will change anything?

Then again, I am scared he really will make changes.  Wouldn’t Obama be the ultimate, deep cover Muslim terrorist?  Osama would be very proud!  But, maybe this guy with the Muslim name really isn’t a Muslim?

Then maybe just because my parents were Scotch/Irish and I have a Scotch name, then I am really not a Presbyterian?  Do you need to see my Ordination Certificate as an Elder? What’s the old saying “If it looks like a duck, etc. then it is a duck!”?  Well, Obama certainly looks like, dresses like, talks like and acts like a Muslim. 

Do you need a reminder it ain’t the Presbyterians that are flying airplanes into skyscrapers, bombing embassies and volunteering to become suicide bomber martyrs?

OK, lets just say that Obama completely rejects his Muslim family background (does anyone ever really do that?).  He certainly isn’t rejecting the fact that he is black.  Is the USA ready to “change” to black culture (maybe a stretch for the word).  Here’s a comical look at a possible Obama cabinet -

Muhammed Ali - Chief of Staff, ’cause Barack, he be thinkin’ he lack the way Ali thinks, plus he wants a fightin’ Muslim close alla time,

Snoop Dogg - Secretary of Black Pride, ’cause this country needs to recognize it were blacks what made it what it am today,

Michael Vick - Secretary of the Interior, ’cause be be good wif animals,

Mr. T - Secretary of the Treasury, ’cause he got most de gold anyway,

Dennis Rodman - Secretary of Defense, ’cause he knows “d”

Ophra Winfrey - Secretary of State, ’cause she paid cash for it (and she got back),

O. J. Simpson - Attorney General, ’cause he knows the legal system,

Majic Johnson - Secretary of Health, ’cause he knows aids from personal experience

Most of the new ambassadors will either be from the Harlem Globetrotters or NBA teams - they travels a lot already

Starting to see how change can get scary fast?

Lets look at the history of black leadership.  Post-colonial Africa for example…lets see… we have genocide, poverty, famine, endless conflict, terrorism, greed, dictatorships, corruption, decline and failure (for a start).

Now would you rather see the changes of a Muslim Obama or a Black Obama?

I won’t even get to the reasons for my suspicions that he is the Anti-Christ.

I wonder how much a one way ticket to New Zealand costs?

McCain, not the brightest or best, kind of a George Bush on steriods with guts and experience, and less tainted from wealth.  He really seems sincere and honest.  I will probably vote for him.

What about Huckabee?  If he gets the nomination, I’ll definitely be on my way to New Zealand.  Huckabee’s hero is George Orwell’s 1984’s “Big Brother”; Huckabee wants only to have the government control everything we do, say or think.  You can take comfort in knowing he can only take 100% or your pay for taxes.  I live in Arkansas and pay more taxes to the State of Arkansas due to Huckabee than I do to the US government. 

Hillary is OK by me.  I don’t like her, but she will probably be good for the economy like her husband was.  Republicans always want to “fix” the economy and they always screw it up, like Reagan did with the tax reform act of 1979, which really screwed everyone except the very wealthy.  Hillary won’t change much and that’s what business loves - stability.  Let business figure out the rules of the game, don’t make any changes to the rules and they will take off and run. Watch the deficits disappear and the DJIA hit 20,000 with Hillary.

Here’s my checklist on most “issues” -

Economy - I like a “do nothing” that leaves the free market alone,

Iraq war - dumb move originally (Jr.’s way of trying to fix his father’s legacy of pulling out too soon), but the Muslims are the religion currently in a period of insanity (The Christians had the Crusades, the Inquisition and the Witch trials, to name a few), and we need to have a presence in the region as countries like Iran and Saudi Arabia could go off the deep end at anytime, in short, we need to plan to stay until sanity returns (would you have us pull out of South Korea with the nuts in the Noth there?).

Abortion - the fewer personal decisions made by the government the better as far as I am concerned;however, I think the biological father should have a significant part of the decision - I think he should be able to ask for 100% responsibility for his child, so its a one of three choices decision, not one or the other.

Guns - hell yes, anything you want, anytime you want it (or just like it is now for criminals),

Foreign Trade - What foreign trade? There really needs to be an import tariff on manufactured goods to bring back some manufacturing to the USA.  A 1.5 to 1 Euro to dollar ratio is a good start.

China - USA in the 1950s; they will be the world power of the next 50-100 years or more,

Religion - anything or none is fine by me (keep it to yourself please), except Muslims (see above, currently an insane group),

Migration - Pay migrants to cross the border into the USA, tattoo a social security number on their forehead and make them pay taxes; require all to read and write english; then ban all spanish language in eduction and government and wait one year then pay a $5,000 dead or alive bounty on any alien not registered or not paying taxes.

Welfare - zero

Global Health - free to all USA citizens, all health professionals must provide 5 years government service at the median wage level.

Veteran’s Benefits - Double Social Security benefits to all foreign war veterans beginning at age 55.  Front of the line preference for all health programs.  Full Social Security benefits to all surviving spouses of veterans.  Same benefits as active duty military for reservists immediately upon activation to active duty.

Anything else?  

Editing almost seems vain to me.  I can type pretty fast, but often drop words, misspell words or make gross punctuation errors.  Rarely do I enter anything that does not need some editing.  However, I seldom change my content much whenI do editing.

For this blog site I have chosen to do almost no editing.  Not many people will ever see it and I could not care less what most who do read it think of my spelling or grammar.  The only care I really have is whether or not the reader understands what I am trying to communicate.

Oh, and computer spell checks and grammar checks are just too tedious.  I find the two most common buttons I use on a checker program are “add to dictionary” or “ignore rule”. 

Along a related line, I find it amusing now that the BBC channel on cable TV now has an advisory for USA viewers to turn on the captions so that the british actors on their shows can be understood.  The BBC says many people in Great Briton use this feature as they can’t understand their own spoken language on BBC as well.

Maybe I need to attach an audio to my blogs?

About 7 years ago I hurt my shoulder while playing golf.  It was the same pain you get when you throw a baseball or football too hard before you loosen up; some people call this throwing your arm out. However, this lasted for six months or so and I tend to learn quickly, so I stopped playing golf to avoid doing that pain again.  To give you an idea of how long ago it was, my golf shoes had steel spikes.

Well, then I had a series of thyroid problems, several heart attacks and then three years ago a serious vehicle accident that broke one should and really messed up the other shoulder, so I haven’t been back to golf until last Saturday.

I did what I often do and that is I forced myself into a commitment to start playing golf again.  I rejoined the local Country Club, bought a new golf cart, and ordered me some new golf clubs (a driver and a putter to start); and I did all of this without knowing if I could even swing a golf club.  keep in mind that my left shoulder remains numb, stiff and in moderate pain 24 hours a day.

However, I have learned that when I do something that really makes my shoulder hurt badly for several days, then when it eases back, it seems to be better than before I hurt it. 

Anyway, I hit a small basket of balls and played 9 holes Saturday, played 9 holes Sunday and played 9 holes yesterday evening.  So 27 holes in 3 days and I have actually made a few pars.

Last night when I quit both of my shoulders and arms were hurting badly, I mean severe pain from my wrists to my shoulders, such that I didn’t want to move them at all for several hours.    

My ultimate goal is to make Tiger Woods look like a total duffer in a few months, but my first goal is to be able to play 18 holes without stopping due to severe pain.

I had a bad case of allegies a few weeks ago and my eyes turned blood red and, of course, felt like they were full of sand. Upon looking at them in the mirror, I discovered a gross looking puffiness on the left side of my left eye.  I thought it was related to the allergy attack and might be something like a plugged tear duct and some tear fluid had backed up.

The first doctor said use some prescription cortisone eye drops to stop the inflammation and the swelling should go down.  Three weeks later no progress.

Second doctor says its like a hernia in the eye lining that lets the cushioning fat layer surrounding the eye protrude, and can happen anywhere around the eye.  Two causes - injury or old age, and I had no injury.  Oh, the humiliation…

Anway, eye surgery in a couple of weeks to get my eye fat hernia fixed.

I also have drooping skin over my upper eyelids, you know the kind that sort of overlaps and rests on some peoples’ upper eyelashes.  I found out that this is an easy fix for a plastic surgeon and insurance will cover it as it restricts your vision.  Anyway, I figure that if I can survive one eye surgery, I can survive another, so later this year I’m going for plastic surgery too. 

Maybe I should get butt implants too???

I am having some custom T shirts and Jackets made to wear when out in teh Way Cool Corvette.  Yes, it really exists.  I found an airbrush artist who can do the Ed Pink type cartoon drawings that were commonly seen in the 50’s and 60’s (these exaggerated features of the car and commonly had some bug eyed monster driving, if you saw one, you would know what I am talking about - assuming you are over 30 that is).

I have some proofs of drawings, but can’t seem to find a way to post drawings or photos.  I guess I need to call in some favors to get this done.

Look for some drawings of the Way Cool Corvette soon.

It was 112 degrees in Evening Shade, Arkansas yesterday.  Yes, its a real town in Arkansas in the foothills of the Ozarks and not very far from where I live.  However, its nothing like the Evening Shade of the TV series starring Burt Reynolds. 

Its been hot, humid and dry (no rain) now for about a month here.  And every day in the past two weeks or so it has been over 100 degrees. 

I once lived in Tucson, Arizona and later in Phoenix, Arizona. I recall playing golf one afternoon at Star Pass TPC when the high was 114 degrees, but it doesn’t compare to the heat in the South when you add in high humidity.

I lived in New Orleans once too.  I recall stepping outside my downtown office building to walk to the French Quarter for lunch on a summer day and being soaked in sweat in a half block.

But then I should be used to it.  I was born and raised in Memphis, Tennessee and being right on the Mississippi like New Orleans, the summer temperatures and humidity were higher than in New Orleans (Memphis doesn’t have the Gulf of Mexico next door to moderate temperatures in the summer).

Just read Neal Stephenson’s nine books in three volumes - Quicksilver, Confusion and The System of the World.  Well Done!  Just the thing for those of you interested in English & European history.  Excellent characters.  A bit heavy on preaching his personal beliefs, but OK in the context of his characters.  It was enough that I bought a couple more of his works.  Be careful when buying; the 3 hardback volumes are being reissued in 9 seperate paperbacks.

Incredible story.

Violates probation 3 times, 30 minutes late for court. 

Idiot sheriff releases her because she’s upset.

I’m sick of rich and famous people getting short time in the “country club” facilities. 

Paris should have had her sentence doubled for each probation violation, including the contempt of courst shown by being 30 minutes late.

P. S. I do not understand Paris’s appeal; she’s not very pretty, she has no personality or talent and she’s unpleasant.   

Lest ye of little faith in me believe I have no real basis for saying that global warming is an idealistic fantasy and that if there is no credible support for alleging that humans are the cause for any global warming, I think I need to expand on my previous comments.

I believe I pointed out that there have been no “global” temperature observations for much more than 50 years at best.  Last night I saw the proven idiot, Al Gore, on TV claiming there was scientific proof that an increase in C02 (carbon dioxide) always lead to an increase in temperature (from holding in the sun’s heat) and we had proof of this having occurred for “thousands” of years; they then show a graph which showed for several thousand years that there was a very good coorelation of CO2 levels and “mean earth temperature” apparently somehow the data for this graph was derived from a single sample of ice in the antartic.

Lets put that to analysis - I claim to be an educated person and have numerous successfully completed university courses to my credit in mathematics, especially statistics.   

The earth has an approximate circumference of 25,000 miles (this is fairly common knowledge).  The formula to determine circumference is 2 x Pi x R = Cir; so solving for R(radius) I get about 3,977 miles.  Next I want the surface area of a sphere (close enough), which is 4 x Pi x Rsq = Sur and I get about 200,000,000 square miles for the earth’s surface.

Now I live in a state with a surface area of about 40,000 square miles where I know the temperature can vary 10 degrees or more from one corner to another and would balk at using the temperature from any one spot in the state as a fair sample for all of that 40,000 square miles, but I would be willing to accept one temperature from any spot in each of the four corners as a fair sample from that 10,000 square mile corner.

Now to get a reasonable measure of the mean temperature of the planet earth I would want a sample from a random spot from each 10,000 square mile parcel of surface area on the entire planet; that would be 20,000 concurrent samples.

I am 100% certain no one has ever gathered this information; never!

Now lets say instead that we sample the samples and take a random sample of that population of 20,000 parcels of 10,000 square miles each.  For that size population and a high level of confidence I would want 200 completely random samples, but to do that each and every one of the 20,000 possible areas would have to be available for selection.  Is there anyone foolish enough to believe that anyone has ever even attempted to take 200 random, simultaneous samples from all of the 20,000 parcels of 10,000 square miles each on the earth? Or anything remotely close to that?

Meteorologists get their readings from where people are, or their sensors are, and they may or may not use accurate tools, they may or may not be simultaneous, they may or may not be recorded accurately, etc.   My point is that their observations even today are extremely limited, not random and subject to a huge amount of human error.

One, two, ten, twenty or fifty completely perfect random samples would still not be enough to get an acurate mean earth temperature; thus, it has never been done.

Thus, we have no basis for saying its warmer or colder now for the planet as a whole, except in extreme general terms such as “its warmer now than during the last ice age”.  Duh, that’s a big help.

Now lets analyze Al’s graph.  CO2 increases and decreases show a high degree of correlation and Al Gore says “See that proves it”.  Guess what Al?  The first thing they teach students about scientific research is that correlation doesn’t mean causation.  If he believes thata there is causation, why isn’t Al saying warmer temperatures cause more CO2?  Animal’s breathe in oxygen and breathe out CO2; is it reasonable to think that when there are more animals, there is more CO2 being generated. 

Is there more animal life when it is colder or when it is warmer Al?  have you ever heard the expression “the dead of winter?” or seen every type of animal imaginable begin to reproduce and multiply each time it warms.  Isn’t there a possibility that heat causes CO2 to increase, instead of CO2 causing heat to increase?  I won’t even bring up thunderstorms in the summer causing fires and more CO2.

So the CO2 levels are going up at an unprecedented rate.  Well Al there are almost 7 billion humans living on the planet now and all are breathing out CO2.  There are also more cattle, sheep, goats, dogs, cats and other domestic animals now on earth than ever before to feed and please those 7 billion humans and they are breathing too.  Compare that rate of increase in human population to your CO2 and see if there is a correlation there too.

I haven’t seen any real “science” applied to this matter yet, just a lot of half-baked hypotheses.  History should tell us that until someone really does the science (and a lot of this is still faked) 99% of all hypotheses will be proven wrong.  People in 100 years will compare Al Gore to those who knew the world was flat. 

Al if you murdered half of the people alive today and every other kitten and puppy alive, you could cut CO2 levels.  Wouldn’t you be the seen as the brilliant visionary then?  What you don’t want to talk about global warming anymore?  Hey Al, where are you going?  You know you can’t hide on the internet even if you did invent it.  Just think of it, you would make Stalin and Hitler pale in comparison to you.  Here’s you a slogan “Everyone (but me) must die so I can claim to have saved the planet”.  However, once all the foolish humans are dead, you will have no one to worship you.