Fixing the Gun Problem

       I am sure this post will stir up some emotions.  Gun people seem to be for or against.  It is cut and dried and no middle ground. To me the best kind of personal security system is the one pictured above.  It will not be in a drawer when you need it and properly trained will react without your command or conscience being an issue.  Having spent thirteen years in the Army and ten years of it overseas I know what guns can do.  Before one gets emotional on me.  This plan does not restrict the right to own guns.  Not even the big magazines.  It creates a system of accountability and it makes those who want and have the guns pay for the programs to ensure their rights.  Send a copy of this to your Congressman.  If not you may get a law you like a lot less than this one.

               A Comprehensive Gun Solution

     To fix the gun problem America needs to deal with the real problem.  Today in America there is a lack of willingness to accept blame and to give everybody a break, especially criminals.  The gun problem needs to be dealt with by Federal laws.  The right to have a gun is given in the Constitution and should thereby be a Federal offense.

   Controlling the size or type of weapons will not reduce the crime level in America.  Several serial killers and mass murderers in American history never used a gun.  Jeffrey Dahmer, Ted Bundy, and Timothy McVeigh never used guns to inflict injury.  They fell through the cracks in the system back then and still would. 

    The gun industry provides jobs which are needed in America.  The problem is not what kinds of guns are available, but who and how people have access to them. The first thing that needs to be addressed is who has access to guns.  Then the punishment system needs to be modified to reflect the seriousness of owning and using guns.  There needs to be a set punishment for certain crimes.  They need to be enforced with no plea bargains being allowed.  You commit the crime you do the time.  My views may be harsh but they are fair if they are enforced without favor.  These laws all need to be Federal crimes and punishment done in the Federal prison system.

    Here are some suggestions that will go a long ways toward realistic solutions.

1.  Commission of a crime with a gun should be a Federal offense and carry a minimum five year sentence. Regardless if anyone is injured.  Just the presence of the gun at the time of the crime would require enforcement

2.  Shooting someone in the commission of a crime would carry a ten year mandatory minimum sentence.  If injuries are suffered by anyone the time should be adjusted to be comparable with the suffering of the victim.

3.  If anyone is killed in the commission of a crime the minimum sentence is life in prison without the chance of parole. 

    Number three may sound harsh but the victim who is shot does not get a second chance at life.  Knowing there is a set penalty for a crime might stop some from committing a crime.

4.  Anyone who possesses, uses, transfers a licensed weapon without a proper permit and title transfer will receive a minimum one year sentence.

      Number four means if a person with no background check, no permit to own a licensed weapon or with a criminal record is in possession of a gun they can be charged. 

5.  Threatening a person with bodily harm while using a weapon of any kind is grounds for a one year prison sentence.

     The second part should deal with gun ownership.  This nation was liberated from England with single shot weapons and it was preserved as a nation with single shot weapons.  Single shot weapons properly handled can save a life or shoot game to provide for the needs of the hunters family.  These are the kinds of guns that are guaranteed under the Constitution.   Guns that are muskets, shotguns, bolt action, lever action or pump action require a pause between shots.  Generally these are not the weapons chosen for mass murders.  They are often used in crimes of passion however.  These guns should not require a permit or a license of any kind.  This would preserve the rights granted under the Constitution.  Guns should be divided into two classes. The weapons mentioned above would be Class 1 weapons.  The weapons that follow in the next paragraph would be Class 2 weapons.

     All revolvers, semi-automatic pistols and rifles, and all automatic weapons should require a permit for ownership.  These would all be considered class two guns. The permit should require both a background check and mental evaluation.  It should be kept on permanent record.  All of these weapons should be licensed just like a car with a reasonable annual fee.  They should have a certificate of title and the title should be changed anytime ownership of the said weapon takes place.

    Anyone having three or more weapons should be classed as a collector. Collectors should be required to keep all their weapons under lock and key.  The weapons and the ammunition including magazines should be should be required to be in separate storage units each having its own key.

    Some of the funds raised by this program could be used to teach gun awareness and handling in the schools.  This would reinforce the understanding of why we have a second amendment.  It could be combined with an understanding of the American Constitution and history. The classes should also teach ethics and values dealing with the use of guns.

   Finally and mainly the funds could be used to put bullet proof doors on American Schools and classrooms.  A card lock system that restricts the entrance to any school except by a designated door should be put in place.  The system should be able to lock all classrooms from the main offices.  A system similar to those used in most motels and hotels in America should be installed.  This could be used to restrict intruders from entering a classroom without the proper card.

     This system does not take away any rights.  It does provide for a system of control and accountability as to who has weapons.  Penalties could be put in place for having a weapon without the proper paperwork also.  The system of permits and licenses could be put in place retroactively without violating the Constitution or the ex post facto laws.  Slaves were long term held property and their status was changed by use of the Constitution and all were freed.  Regardless of their standing before the war, all blacks received freedom.  This would be similar in nature.

Budgeting 101, Share With Your Congressman

                Budgeting Requires Discipline and Accountability

        Budgets do not start with what you want to spend.  They start with what you "have" to spend. When you have figured out how much you have to spend you take 95% of that sum and divide that by the number of pay periods you have in spending time frame.. Then it is a matter of developing priorities. You decide what you have to have as part of that 95%. The 5% that is left will have to be divided up to pay off any overages over a fixed amount of time.  Anything above 100% of that total number must be eliminated.  You can not afford it.  It is called living beyond your means.  This problem must be solved.  It is not done by writing hot checks or by spending other people's money.  That is the part of budgeting that Congress has no clue about.

      Living beyond your means is not acceptable behavior.  The first thing you do is see if any of the things in your budget may be eliminated, delayed or substituted for something in the 5% expenditures..  Everything in the budget should be necessity items.  Tax breaks for corporations and individuals that do not apply to every American equally are the first things that need to go. Every expenditure should be accounted for individually.  It should stand on its own. If it does not it is called pork and needs to be cut. Money for the Alaskan Fishing Industry needs to go.  A few minutes on the internet can produce a long list of what pork projects look like and how they come to be in the budget.

      What is needed is a spending test.  Does what is being proposed benefit every American equally? Could every American equally benefit? A good example is disability benefits. All Americans may qualify for it, but that does not mean all Americans receive it. If a person does qualify for disability there are clear guidelines as to how much they will get. Does where someone live eliminate them from the benefit? This test should be applied to every dollar spent.

     Only two things should be exempt.  The first is Veterans Benefits as they gave the ultimate price and invested their lives in this country. The second is Social Security.  It is an account that was paid into by the working class Americans. The money for that program is their own money.  They invested in the system. All other programs and expenditures including government salaries and pensions should be on the table.

      Another rule that should be imposed is that unless money is requested it can not be appropriated. There is presently an attempt to budget 2.5 Billion dollars for 10 cargo aircraft. Which is about $250 Million dollars per plane, which is insane. The Department of Defense did not request the funds.  Someone submitted the proposal and incorporated it into the budget request.  How about a 4.5 million study on the feasibility of burning firewood.  Then there is $17 million dollars for the International Fund for Ireland.  I am sure that benefits a lot of Americans as it is spent in Ireland.  Finally how about $26,300,000 for gym memberships on one Naval Base.  The list could go on and on. Not all the requests are for millions and millions of dollars.  Many are for just a few thousand dollars. An example of total extravagance and waste is $57,000 to buy gold embossed playing cards for Air Force 2.  The simple question of why and who benefits could or should have eliminated many of these from the budget.

      The problem is there are no guidelines on how money is spent or how it may be appropriated.  If there are guidelines they are not strict enough and are not being followed.  I am sure 80% of all Americans would vote to eliminate all the expenditures I listed above.  The problem is that Congress does not account to the American public. As long as they get some pork for their districts, their constituents will be happy and reelect them.

     The lack of accountability applies to both sides of the aisle.  The Democrats are not giving up any pork they have already gotten.  The Republicans on the other hand are not about to appropriate any money to pay for wars and benefits they already have spent.  They did not fund the wars, but they refuse to appropriate the funds or taxes to do so.  It is bit hypocritical on their part.  The whole situation is totally out of hand.  Someone needs to make the politicians realize the money they are spending is not theirs to spend.  It is the taxpayers money.  The taxpayers need to "demand accountability."  One way to accomplish that is give the President a line item veto and then demand he use it.

     With the present system, once it is in the budget it is spent.  Regardless of how stupid the expenditure is.  Giving the President a line item veto will let us at least know who to ultimately blame for the fiscal incompetence we are seeing in Washington.  The President may give lip service to wanting a line item veto.  The reality is that he does not want the responsibility.  He benefits as much as Congress  from the status quo.  

     The trick is that there is no one who wants to be accountable in Washington.  Under the present system no one has to be or is accountable.  That is the perfect storm for Congress and a perfect nightmare for the taxpayer.  When the economy finally collapses as, it is guaranteed to do if things continue the way they are.
All the politicians will say it is not their fault.  They will say to their constituents look what I did for you.  The problem is they need to be held accountable for what they are doing to America.  They are destroying it and and the American way of life.

      Freezing the budget and demanding accountability is going to hurt.  As a history buff and being well read on the Great Depression.  I can say earnestly that unless things change we are headed into another Depression.  The problem is that in the 20's the government was solvent and banks and big business were the problem.  Today the government is not solvent and neither are the banks and big business.  A Depression today will make the one in the 20's look like a cake walk.  It will be longer, harder and far deeper than the Great Depression was.  So stick your head back in the sand if you do not care what happens, but it will happen.

Mayans Were Wrong, But There Is A Worse Threat

                                  Protecting America from Itself

   What If A Natural Event Worse Than Katrina, or Worse Than The Tsunami That Hit Southeast Asia Hit America.  What If A Man Made Event Worse Than 9/11 Were To Happen To America.  Read On Cause It Could

       What would happen if the people found out the government had been warned of just such an event?  Even more important, what if the government had been informed how to significantly reduce the human loss and suffering in such an event and did nothing.  Well that is exactly the case today.  Not only could the damage be minimized to a major degree it could create new jobs in the course of implementing the solutions to reduce the cost in lost life and suffering. It is not wasteful spending. It is called preventive maintenance and can save a lot of money and lives in the long run.

       America is at risk of exactly that scenario.  We are at risk of literally being torn in two as a nation.  In could happen in a way that most Americans do not realize.  Most know we are in an economic crisis. Many also know we have serious problems in the job and housing markets.  America’s infrastructure is in dire need of repair and upgrading.  On top of all that, there is an energy crisis facing America.  What many do not realize is that there are solutions to many of these problems. If those threats are not bad enough we also face the possibility of a physical disaster of unimaginable dimensions. A situation which if it happens in the wrong season, would place the entire eastern half of the United States at risk of starvation.

       Most people have heard stories of the Big One.  Most think of California when they hear the phrase.  However there is another area of America just as prone to earthquakes. It is also possibly at much greater risk than California.  Especially if you look at the history of the area mentioned.  It was the site of the largest and most violent earthquake in American history. The quakes happened between December 16, 1811 and February 7, 1812.  There were four major quakes during the period estimated to be between 7.2 and 8.1 in magnitude. It is an area known as the New Madrid fault zone.  The fault lies in the area where Tennessee, Arkansas, Missouri, Kentucky and Illinois come together along the Mississippi River. Land displacement was so intense that supposedly the Mississippi River flowed backwards. A new lake was formed which is called Reelfoot Lake in what is now Tennessee. The earthquake was felt strongly over an area of over 50,000 square miles and moderately over an area of almost 3 million square miles.  This compares to an area of 6200 square miles of moderate shaking from the Great San Francisco earthquake.  Reportedly chimneys fell as far away as Maine, sidewalks cracked in Washington, D.C., Church bells rang in Boston, Massachusetts and Toronto, Ontario, Canada.   The damage was so severe the Governor of the Louisiana Territory, later renamed the Missouri Territory, George Lewis of Lewis and Clark fame requested federal relief for the New Madrid residents.

     There is another situation that may play into the magnitude of the quake if it comes. Almost everyone has heard of an event called a pole shift.  That is a situation in which the magnetic poles switch from the North Pole to the South Pole.  Anyone who has ever played with a couple magnets knows that when you try to push the like poles of two magnets together they will repel each other.  One or both will quickly shift apart unless restrained. The reason I mention this is that the earth is experiencing significant polar changes.  While many scientists agree pole shifts happen and have happened in the past.  What they do not agree on is exactly what happens when the event occurs.

      Why mention this at all.  Most everybody has heard of the prediction on the Mayan Calendar and the end of the world as we know it in December 2012.  We now know that turned out to be a Y2K type event.  Well I came across some interesting facts which are rather disturbing.  The north magnetic pole at the turn of the century was moving but at a minor rate of just 4 to 5 kilometers per year.  However over the last twenty years or so the pole shift has accelerated considerably to almost 50 kilometers per year.  Scientists have not figured out why yet.  Knowing what happens on a smaller scale, my question is could it happen the same way on a grander scale?  If it can or does it could make for a major problem.  The line at which a straight line would project from the North Pole to the South Pole goes virtually right down the Mississippi River.  Points on a compass are measured east and west of that imaginary line. If you are in the eastern United States the needle on a compass will be pointing left of true north.  If you are in the western United States the needle will point to the right of true north.  So could the earth turn upside down?  The Bible says it will.  The Bible also said that the depths of the deep (ocean) are broken up, long before mankind had a way of knowing or verifying the matter.  When you put all these facts together the rest of what I have to say becomes much more significant.

       So what is the significance of all this.  First let me explain my qualifications to make the statements I am about to make.  I spent thirteen years in the military.  Ten years of it working in military logistical support and twenty years as an over the road trucker.  During that time I hauled produce, poultry and other meat products.  My military experience taught me to be on the lookout for, what if, scenarios.  Looking for and trying to anticipate and minimize the unforeseen things that can happen to interrupt supplies.  Also I am a bit of a history buff.  My home is in the area affected by the New Madrid Fault.  So several things together caused me to come to the conclusions I am about to explain.  Being married to an X-migrant worker for almost forty years I have seen the produce industry from several sides.  As a business owner (trucking) I had opportunity on many occasions to talk to other business owners.  I watched a man who had years of experience at farming, fail when he tried to enter the produce business.  A big part of the reason for his failure was the high cost of energy to heat the greenhouses.  They hired Mexicans, but many of the Mexican families no longer follow the crops.  They are getting out of the fields. In my wife's family all thirteen kids left the fields. Three went to college, four went into factories and some work in other administrative type jobs.

       Getting back on subject if an earthquake of the magnitude of the 1811-12 ones were to hit the same area today it could destroy many of the bridges across the Mississippi River.  So what is the problem with that?  Well if I have counted right there are twenty nine bridges across the Mississippi River between Minneapolis and New Orleans.  Of these twelve are interstate bridges.  The rest are older two lane bridges.  Having crossed many of them I question their ability to survive a major earthquake.  They are so narrow two trucks passing on the bridge usually costs one vehicle or the other one of its mirrors. You either hit each other’s mirrors on the middle side, or smack the passenger side on the bridge structure.  It happened to me three times over twenty years.  After a while I learned to fold my mirrors in alongside the truck body before crossing those bridges.   

    Seven of the interstate bridges and over half of the old two lane bridges are in the New Madrid earthquake zone.  They could be expected to suffer major damage in the event of an earthquake.  Living as we do today in the era of terrorist bombers it made me wonder what would happen if a team as determined as the 9/11 terrorists and as well thought out.   Decided they wanted to literally cut America in half.  It could be done with not that many truckloads of farm fertilizer rigged into bombs. Remember Oklahoma City?  That was only one fertilizer bomb.  It was only about two tons of explosives.  Imagine the effect of say fifteen to twenty tons.  Suddenly the eastern half of the United States can’t receive its daily rations of produce, meat and poultry to name just a few things. It would totally disrupt the American economy to say the least.  Maybe I had too much time to think as a truck driver, but so do terrorists.  The 9/11 bombing did not happen overnight.  They planned it for years.  Taking the time to train the pilots go through dress rehearsals and plan every detail.  Well semi-tractor trailers are much easier to get than an airplane and do not require a lot of training to drive.  Thousands of them are stolen every year along with their cargo.  A combined and coordinated attack would be devastating.  However there is a way to diffuse both threats.to America and make a major step towards energy independence in the process.     

     In the event of an earthquake disaster many of the power plants in the area are considered at risk.  There are ten major power plants within a fifty mile drive of my home. Many of my friends and associates make a living hauling coal to power plants.  From the Mississippi River and east there are hundreds of power plants I am sure.  Not all will be in danger of destruction by the earthquake.  In fact the power plants may be a means of saving America in case of such a situation.  The problem is the solution has to be put in place far in advance of the crisis situation.  The technology is already available and simply needs to applied to the power plants.  Regulations may need to be changed.  That should be a minor problem though.  If the government keeps on its present path we will be in a Depression that makes the Great Depression look like a cake walk. That is another topic though.

      At present most of the produce that goes to markets on the east coast and New England states, especially in the off seasons up north, comes out of Florida, California and Mexico.   All of these suppliers are thousands of miles from the

markets they are serving.  It does not have to be that way.  The hundreds of power plants all through the Midwest and North Eastern states could be upgraded.  They all have abundant supplies of energy that they burn to generate power.  The "heat" goes up the chimney and is wasted.  To power companies the heat is simply a byproduct.   With very slight modification the plants could capture much of that energy and use it to heat greenhouses built in proximity to their power plants.  Going even farther aquaculture could be developed to raise fish for local markets.  This helps in several ways. First thousands of trucks do not need to run clear across America just to deliver some produce.  Each truck running from California to say New York City burns between 500 and 600 gallons per truck going one way. It uses the same amount going back.  You multiply that times the thousands of trucks that are making the trip and you are talking millions and millions if not billions of gallons annually.

       It is an amazing experience to see. Every Sunday night hundreds of thousands of trucks from all across the country converge on the major routes leading into New York City and New England.  All of them have the goal of being on the East Coast at between six and eight AM.  The tempo starts building in early afternoon, by midnight it is over three hundred miles of bumper to bumper big trucks filling both lanes and moving as fast as traffic will allow.  In the company I started out with we called it “Sunday Night on the Pike” and believe me it is an experience.  The only thing worse is leaving Florida on the last day of the Christmas and New Year holiday and heading north.  It is bumper to bumper twenty four hours a day from Miami to Boston.  Somehow I managed to do that three times over twenty years and it is something to definitely try and avoid.  I did it once in rain.  It turned to ice about D.C. and a blizzard by the time I got up into northern Pennsylvania.  I will never forget that trip.

       There are hundreds of intermediate markets that need serviced also.  Look at a map.  All those cities represent people that need to eat.  Building thousands of greenhouses across the country shortens the supply lines and creates local jobs.  The technology is available and the engineering modifications required are minimal.  The energy and cost savings to America would be immense.  It would make a major stride in moving toward energy independence.  It would create jobs upgrading the plants, jobs building and maintaining the greenhouses, jobs for workers to grow the plants, pack and ship them to local markets.  It will take good management and eventually the power plants would see a return on their investment.  The key is to keep the energy cost low so it is economically feasible.

Another benefit is that it would lessen the wear and tear on America's highways,     

      If anyone is interested I have several more of these brilliant ideas on my blog.  It is http://rictheturtleryan.blogspot.com/   If you would care to check them out or read some of my other outside the box ideas.   This idea has been sent to the Obama Administration two times since he took office and also to several Congressmen.   Either they do not care.  Or they are too busy arguing with each other to read their mail.  

                           

Driving With Zero Fossil Fuels

     Some people may think the title to this article is impossible.  It's not.  Implementing it will be harder than most anything the average person ever did.  Why you ask?  Well you are not only taking on the big oil but the Federal government.  If you develop a car that runs on compressed air, your taking on the whole system.  Oil companies own big pieces of the automobile industry and they are definitely going to be against it.  The government will fight you for a different reason.  If no one buys gas, no one pays fuel taxes.  If no one pays fuel tax how does the government fund highway repairs.  So oil companies and the Federal Government have a vested interest in making sure air powered cars do not happen.

     The wheels in many minds are already spinning and asking, "How do you compress the air without electricity."  The answer is you don't, but it is the source of the electricity that makes it a Zero Fossil Fuel vehicle.  You simply use renewable sources such as wind and solar to generate the electricity to power the motor that makes the compressor work.  You may need some sort of battery storage to get enough electricity.  The neat thing is if the system is built right it can run and put air in storage tanks for use when needed.  A banked air system with big enough storage can refill the air tanks on the present air powered car designs in about three minutes.  About the same as pumping a tank of gas.  The range of air powered cars already designed and on the market is 120 miles at 70 miles per hour which is as good or better than most electric powered cars.  The neat thing is you can carry a small fuel powered compressor with you to provide air to get you home in an emergency.  That is not the case with an electric powered car.

    If you might be interested here are a couple of links so you can see a couple of the systems that are presently out there.  The links are short YouTube videos so you can see how they work.   The first is where French technology is at and the second is where the United States is at with the technology.  We are definitely behind the curve on this.  I think the college kids who built the one in the second video used some type of air powered impact wrench to provide power.  I can not really tell, but it is what it looks like to me.  My attempts to contact the people in the video have not been very successful.  Anyhow the first link explains a lot about how it works.  Link for the French car   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uRpxhlX4Ga0&feature=related     and here is the video link for the American system  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBeky4EuyBc

     There is quite a difference in the level of technology.  My present goal is to build me a small four wheel version I can use around the area I live in.  I only need about a ten mile range to go to town and back and I am sure with some trial and error I can build myself a system that will meet my needs.  As I sit here typing and looking out at the foot of snow on the ground it makes me see one downside to the air powered car.  With no combustion or cooling/heating system how would you provide heat.  From my years in the trucking industry I know there is a battery operated heater that runs on diesel fuel.  It will run for up to eight hours on just over a gallon of diesel fuel  They are totally efficient and they work.  I'm back.  Didn't even know I was gone did you.  Anyhow the heating system would be a very simple issue to fix. I think I would definitely go with one that runs on diesel and then I could make my backup compressor run on the same thing and only have to have one tank.  Running an alternator should be no problem.  So most of the systems I need are already on the market.  All I need to do is create my own power source and the web and YouTube offer hundreds of variations

    Developing the whole system could be kind of pricey.  The upside of the system is that it could be adapted to take me totally off the grid and be energy self sufficient.  In event of a major or mega disaster that may not be a bad position to be in.  If you read my 4/25/2012 blog... Worse than Katrina.  It offers a couple of scenarios that are not that far out there and which definitely could or may happen at some time in the future.  Having been a Boy Scout as a youth, their "Be Prepared" slogan has helped me in planning things all the course of my life.  At least this offers some ideas on how to beat the system and help protect the environment at the same time.  I encourage to share this with your like minded friends.  While I have been read in 62 countries my numbers are not that big, but they are growing.  I appreciate the time you spent reading this and invite your comments.

Creating Jobs, It's Not Rocket Science.

      Sometimes writing is a very frustrating thing to do.  Especially when you hear people whining about something and show them an answer and nobody responds.  Over the last four years I have sent President Obama and several of his department henchmen ideas to not only create jobs.  Also ideas to save energy and balance the budget all in one stroke of the pen. Of course that was too much common sense for them to swallow. What I wonder is how many other Americans are doing the same thing and being ignored.  Members of Congress do not listen any better.  They say they know that we need jobs, but when you offer them a sensible way to provide them they ignore it.  Maybe it is because it will not line their pockets with money that they are not interested. The secret solution is K.I.S.S. __ Keep It Simple, Stupid

    So where did I come up with all this knowledge.  Serving my country, driving cross country and hanging around for 60+ years.  Oh and having been self employed most of my life.  I survived my last years in trucking simply by learning to conserve energy, cut costs and get the most out of every mile my truck moved.
Those simple guidelines helped me see the solutions to America's problems.  Being honest I did not figure all this out by myself.  Several trucking friends steered me in the right direction.  Applying what they said and combining the best ideas to get the maximum savings was the key.

    So what is this wonderful idea? Stop wasting energy and get the absolute maximum use out of every energy dollar spent.  If you drive much and go past power plants you will see tons of energy going up into the sky.  Many plants have cooling ponds or lakes where they recycle the water they use to get rid of the heat. These are usually really good fishing lakes.  So what does all this have to do with creating jobs and balancing the budget?  It is really pretty simple.  Power plants generate immense amounts of heat.  They have to get rid of that heat whether it is sent up the smoke stack or into the cooling pond.

    Here is a crazy idea, what if we create a way to use that heat to save energy.  How do you use the heat.  You utilize it in industries that need that heat.  In Evansville, Indiana the Mead Johnson Company created a project that will save tons of carbon and greenhouse gases from being emitted into the air.  They started the project by switching from coal to natural gas. That move ended the need to get rid of 2500 tons of coal ash. Which means it also eliminated many jobs hauling coal. The down side is the lost trucking jobs. The up side is all the emissions from the trucks are also being eliminated.  Living in coal mining country I can see there is a price to being paid for switching to natural gas.  That was not the end of the Mead-Johnson project.  Natural gas went so well they built a pipeline from the local landfill to their plant.  They started using the methane gas from the landfill which means they reduced pollution considerably.  A professor I talked to at Pennsylvania State University said that burning methane for energy emits far less carbon into the atmosphere than letting it just release itself into the atmosphere.

    The next step is figuring out what to use all that lost heat energy for.  How about to heat greenhouses.   Most of the produce consumed in America comes from the California, Mexico or Florida at least for about six months out of the year it does. That means that hundreds if not thousands of trucks cross the country burning fuel at the rate of five to six miles per gallon.  Hundreds of trucks show up at the Hunts Point Market several days a week. That is just one market.  Multiply that times hundreds of cities and hundreds of markets that  must be serviced and you start to see the picture.  Millions and millions of gallons of fuel hauling food to the markets.  Well what if large greenhouses were built near all the power plants around the country.  It would create a use and demand for all that wasted energy that is going up the smoke stacks.  It would also create jobs building, maintaining and running the lines to the greenhouses, not to mention the greenhouses and the laborers to plant the crops.  Yes it will hurt the people in all those distant regions that ship the crops and haul them, but it will save money and energy on the other end.

     What would it take to get it going.   It would not take much conversion.  The main thing would be to give the power plants an incentive to invest the time and energy in making the changes.  The government could give a tax break to the power companies for each job created. Notice that no government money was spent. Once the program gets under way it will create jobs (tax income) hauling the materials to build the plants.  It will create jobs providing materials (tax income) to run the greenhouses and it will create jobs hauling the produce to local markets (tax income). Notice that it indirectly generates lots of tax money to pay down the deficit, not to wastefully spend.

     Yes some jobs would be eliminated but others would be created.  The nice thing is that these are jobs that can not be outsourced to foreign countries.   How good the jobs pay will depend on how the government promotes the development through positive legislation.  This is just one of several energy saving ideas that I have.  I will be posting others as the year goes along.  I invite and encourage you to share this with others.  Especially your local legislators.

     There is always a price for progress.  If Henry Ford had weighted what would happen to the horse and buggy businesses would he have not built his cars. His invention eliminated as many jobs as it created.  That is the same thing happening with the technology being developed in this day and age.  Robotics and computers make it much simpler and cheaper to make manufactured goods.  However neither one will replace the need for labor in a greenhouse and people will always need to eat.  They may make it easier, but they will not eliminate the need for manual labor to do the work.  It is time for America to say how can we do, what we do better.  Efficiency can create jobs as well as eliminate them.  That was proven by Henry Ford.  He went against the tide in his day and provided the laborers in his factories with salaries which would enable them to buy the cars they were making.  What a genius he was.  He not only created a product, he created a demand for the product.

     Ford sold part of the stock in his company to get started.  Later in his career he paid an astronomical price to get those shares of stock back and have total control of his company.  He then built his own parts plants and did everything "in house."  That decision was reversed somewhere down the road and when the 2008 market collapse happened Ford was on shaky ground even thought they never borrowed any money from the government.  If the other companies failed so would Ford because they were dependent on outside sources for parts.  Hopefully America can learn something from that before it is to late.  All the out sourcing may have a price down the road.  America better wake up.  The above ideas are a step to get us headed in that direction.

   If you would like to read some additional incentive, read my 4/25/2012 blog. America May Be Facing A Disaster Worse Than  Katrina.  It lays out a couple of scenarios that inspired me to see the need for what I am writing about in this blog.  Soon to come articles.  Renewable Energy Powered Cars, yes a car that uses no fossil fuels, not even electricity.  Updating the American Trucking Laws and Industry to help us become energy independent.  While I have been read in 62 countries, the best way to get the word out that there are solutions to America's problems is if you share with friends.  I encourage you to get involved in helping save America from itself.  Our politicians certainly are not going to do it, without being pushed into it.

Simple Solutions That Will Solve The Deficit Problem

     With all the problems facing America a couple simple spending standards might solve a lot of problems. It came to me that the big problem of the deficit is that nobody on Capitol Hill understands one minor rule.  The money they are spending is not theirs.  It is OUR MONEY, the people of the United States of America, and should be spent accordingly.  Every expenditure needs to be weighted in relation to it's benefit to all Americans.  If an expenditure is not going to benefit every American, it is not a valid expenditure.  It is not governments's job to subsidize the Alaskan fishermen.  It is also not a benefit to every American to spend money on NASCAR. It is also not a benefit to every American to study the mating habits of bears in the wild. It is also not the governments job to enforce moral standards that evidently half of America disagrees with.  Prohibition did not work and it was repealed.  It is time to quit trying to enforce morality via legislation.  It does not work. However, It can be taxed very effectively.

      There are to many expenditures that do not benefit all Americans directly or indirectly.  There were big arguments over building the Interstate Highway System. The guideline behind building the National Interstate Highway System was that it would benefit all Americans. There are a number of other things that could be fixed to the benefit of all Americans and improve our infrastructure.  Many could be done by private industry with the only government involvement being the removal of restrictive regulations.  Regulations that keep businesses from developing new programs.  Even giving businesses tax breaks if they can show the benefit to all Americans and how it will help create jobs.

     My blog of 4/25/2012 America Under A Threat Worse Than Katrina, shows some events that could not only happen in America, but sooner or later probably will, also steps America can be take to reduce the loss of life and hardship the described events might cause in America.  The blog is not simply to scare people, it is something that can happen.  I also offered solutions and ways to reduce the effects of such an event.  My thirteen years in the military logistics system and twenty plus years in the trucking industry gave me the insight to see the potential dangers.  In military logistics we had to look at all of the possibilities and find solutions.  This was not always dealing with real problems, but also the "what if" problems. Our job was to make sure that we had no logistical failures when it came to supporting our troops in the field.  Twenty plus years going up and down America's highways helped me see a lot of "what if's"   After 9/11 I became very serious in looking at the tactical weaknesses.  Unfortunately I see many weaknesses that terrorists could easily exploit and that we are not prepared to deal with.  Mainly because we are not looking from the point of view of people who place no value on life.  That is why no one considered the insanity of using commercial airlines as flying bombs.

     The point of the blog was not to promote the fear, but to provide workable solutions as I did in the article.  Ones that create jobs, and not at government expense.  It would also reduce our dependence on foreign oil.  At the same time it would help reduce the impact on the environment.  This article was sent to President Obama's offices.  I do not see him using it to create the jobs that America needs.

     Getting back on track, the problem is how the Congress spends our money.  Cutting benefits programs that help Americans that need help is not the answer.  Going through the budget and making a straight and flat tax system.  Eliminating the loopholes and subsidies for big businesses and making every penny count by making sure it helps all Americans equally.  The governments subsidizing people sitting on their ass is not a wise expenditure of "OUR" money.  It should be spent creating infrastructure renewal and development.

      The recent shootings in Connecticut opened my eyes to a couple possible revenue solutions.  Let's license all automatic and semiautomatic weapons annually just like cars. Let's create a permit system that has to be renewed every so often with background checks.  I forgot to mention all single shot weapons, bolt action, pumps and single action revolvers are exempt from license and permit requirements. These are the same kind of weapons that gained our independence and preserved our nation.   How about doors with card locks so only those that have a proper card can even gain access.  Note I would use the money generated to make more secure schools.  How about doors with card locks so only those that have a proper card can even gain access. I did not arm the teachers with this scenario.  This could raise billions of dollars.

      How about ending the futile and wasteful "War on Drugs" and legalize and tax the heck out of them.  Let those who abuse the drugs pay for the programs to deal with the "addicts."  People which will not and are not being helped by building more and more prisons to incarcerate them.

     Raise the taxes on alcohol and make it a self policing program that pays for the mayhem caused in America by the drunk drivers.  Finally how about a tax on gasoline to be dedicated to fixing the infrastructure.  I have talked to hundreds of Americans and most say they would not mind paying a few cents a gallon to fix infrastructure if that is what the money was actually used for.

     The average American understands the problems and is willing to make sacrifices, but not while others abuse the system.  The taxes on the programs I mentioned could help balance the budget.  If the funds raised just continue the present system of wasteful spending most Americans will not support it.  The only thing that will bring America back is the creation of jobs.  That is the only thing that got America out of the Great Depression.  It took the building and arming for World War II to accomplish it.  It is easy to see how it worked.  We do not need a war, but we do need a commitment to making America the world leader in industry that made us great.  Many of the inventions today eliminate as many jobs as the create because of advanced manufacturing techniques.  One of the biggest helps America could ever put forward is a program to "BUY  AMERICAN"  When I go shopping I look for American products.  Yes buying American may cost a little more, but I know I am helping another American when I do.  That is why the bleak economy is not being felt as bad as it could be.  Americans are helping other Americans.

     We need to end the stupidity that outlaws American products like the light bulb.  What company benefited from that little deal.  How many Congressmen got their pockets lined.  Long ago I quit smoking and eating candy bars because the cost outweighed the benefit.  The recent demise of Hostess and the end the "Twinkee" as an American Icon says a lot about why America is loosing the battle in world markets. The leaders of Hostess got their million dollar bonuses.  Even though they may not have a job anymore.  Unfortunately that is the same mindset that is running the Congress of the United States.  They do not have a clue what their duties in relation to the Constitution are.  They are to busy lining their pockets and pigging out on pork.  As long as they keep thinking it is "THEIR MONEY" they are spending common sense will not prevail.

      Balancing the budget will only happen when the Congress of the United States realizes that any expenditure that does not benefit "EVERY AMERICAN" is pork. They will have to make it a very lean and efficient government if they are going to get the budget balanced.  A balanced budget will require the removal  of almost 6 Trillion dollars of expenditures.  That can be done without cutting entitlements.  The trick is understanding what is pork and what is necessary for the Welfare of the American people.  Yes some entitlements might be trimmed, but it should be done in a way it does not hurt Americans who have a real need for help.  It is Congresses duty to provide for the WELFARE of America.  The Constitution says so. Providing for the needs of individuals is a duty under the Constitution.  Providing for the needs of corporations, banks and the wealthy at the cost of the individual is not their duty.  They simply need to ask who is benefiting before they sign the check.

      When making any expenditure, each Congressman needs to ask, "Does spending this dollar benefit every American, or have the potential to benefit every American that might become eligible for this program."  If the answer is no, it is not a valid expenditure.  Simple but it works.  It is how almost every American balances their budget.  So should Congress.