A Crazed Start

2010 is upon us and it's an exciting start to a new year. What will the year bring? Using history as our guide we'll get a new beginning full of promise, hope and certainly the unexpected as well as the crazy, bizarre and demented behavior of those around us. In past years others have documented this type of behavior (e.g., the Darwin Awards) and, of course, you have to ask, "What were they thinking?". The usual response?" It seemed like a good idea at the time!"

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6 Billion & Thriving?

Devastation. Destruction. Extinction. Oblivious to the end the human plague marches boldly forward covering the planet and consuming all that stands before it. Rising from near extermination it's a powerful epic struggle for survival whose heroic success has unfortunately sown the seeds of our own demise. As Pogo has astutely observed, "We have met the enemy and he is us."

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Consumption, VAT’s dat?

I've written before about the plight of American industry, how this plight affects the country and its industrial base, and how it can possibly be addressed. I'll not repeat those arguments here but instead focus on just one aspect of that plight. Sadly and regrettably learn more »

Abortion, Contraception, Morals & Rights

Rancor, character assignations, and selfishness that, unfortunately, is what I all too often find in trying to research these contentious issues and the situation saddens me. For some time now these issues have bothered me. I couldn't (still can't fully) sort out the various issues from the sound bites and PR slogans. Hoping to gain enough insight (more...)

Regulation or Strangulation

Personally I prefer my food to be healthy and not poisoned or contaminated and products that are reasonably safe which will not blow up, catch on fire or otherwise harm me or my children. Thus I'm all for some official (and effective) cultural/economic regulation as long as it doesn't strangle the economy. read why and how

Gas Wars and Woes

Yes grandma Oddball and I are old enough to remember gas price wars. Real price wars not like these wimpy wars shown in the accompanying picture and in those days the wars included give aways like drinking glasses, free maps and restrooms. These gas stations are pikers compared to the prices we remember. When we lived in Idaho (1960s and 1970s) gas prices were typically $ .309/gallon (yes, just 30 cents/gallon!) and at the peak of the price wars the price dropped to $ .179/gallon (back then the 9/10 cent tax surcharge was actually a significant amount). Ah, the good old days when there was real competition not the pseudo-monopolistic situation we find ourselves facing today.

The Naked Economy

"Look, the economy has no clothes", we marvel as we watch unemployment grow, watch our life savings evaporate before our eyes, and see crisis after crisis evolve.

"What? " you protest. "Things can't be that bad. Don't we know more than ever about running an economy. Surely this is really just a minor bump and those in charge will fix things! In fact aren't things starting to get better."

Oh yeah, you go on believing that fairy tale and while you're at it buy some swamp land in Florida to retire on. As Abe Lincoln once said, "You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can't fool all of the people all of the time." Maybe so, but apparently you can fool the people for a long time, long enough it seems to create an economic disaster.

It’s just a theory

"It's just a theory," dismissively, even derisively uttered often accompanied with the phrase "not a law". How often have you heard that remark and why does it frequently evoke such strong emotional responses? In fact, just what is a theory and what is a law?

Throw the Rascals out!!

Banks in trouble, high unemployment, poor paying jobs, the housing market in shambles, credit crunches, our infrastructure falling down - the list goes on and on and on. What an economic mess we're in. And I think it is much worse than is reported. Why? Well, let me elaborate: