Category Archives: Opinion

Once Again Experts Get It Wrong

Who are these “experts” who keep getting monthly job numbers wrong? Once again the “experts” have been surprised by job creation data that didn’t go the way they thought it would. According to reports our “experts” expected to see a net increase in September’s job numbers. Somewhere around 24,000 jobs created. But oh no, the actual numbers came in negative; 39,000 jobs lost.

This trend has been going on for a couple of years now. Officially things are supposed to be getting better, but when the actual data comes in it’s obvious things are getting worse. On top of that, when you look at the quietly issued “revised” data, it’s even worse. And our main stream U.S. media keeps towing the official line.

As a result of today’s jobs numbers, the big money players are hoping the Federal Reserve will ease up even more on monetary policy. Basically the big money players want the Federal Reserve to lend them money for free, while we continue paying outrageous interest rates to the big money players.

The International Monetary Fund even downgraded the anticipated growth of the U.S. economy. Why? Domestic consumer spending is going to continue to drop. Why? Significant domestic job creation is not happening. The IMF pointed out that there was a continuous difference in projected economic activity and actual economic activity. In other words, our “experts” keep getting it wrong.

Also, for the first time I’ve ever heard, Canada’s economy is now better off than ours. The IMF’s exact phrase is “relatively buoyant”, compared to the U.S.

Well, what-a-know. Canada!

Vote Local, Screw National!

Elections are coming up. Local, state and national. Which elections affect you the most? Local of course! Those City and County buffoo… officials affect your day to day life directly. Your State Legislature also has a direct impact on your life.

The Federal Congressional gang does impact us, but indirectly, by coming up with Federal domestic (national) laws, policies and regulations. Then there’s the  President of the United States. He can plead with the Congress, and then sign into law, or reject by veto, anything Congress sends his way. Meaning his impact is as indirect as the Congress. The President’s true authority is in Foreign Affairs, not in Domestic Policy.

So why do so many people in the U.S. vote during presidential elections, and so few vote during non-presidential elections?  Here’s some statistics from the most recent General Elections: 2008 presidential elections saw 56.8% voter turnout, compared to 2006 non-presidential elections of only 37.1% (www.infoplease.com). In fact, since 1970 voter turnout for non-presidential elections has remained stuck in the upper 30% range.

Those stats are the average for the whole country. How about locally? Here in Bannock County, Idaho, in the May 2010 Primary Elections only 22.97% of registered voters voted (www.co.bannock.id.us).  Hopefully many more people will vote in the up coming General Elections.

I hope it’s more than the 2006 non-presidential General Elections. In that year the state wide voter turnout in Idaho was in the 40% range (elections.gmu.edu). You might think that’s not bad, but compare that to the 50-60% range for the 2008 presidential elections (elections.gmu.edu). I’d like to see 60% turnout in general non-presidential, local elections.

Stop putting your hope into the Congress and the President of the United States! Send a big message to Washington D.C. by putting your voting power where it will have direct impact on your home state and your hometown. Lets see huge turnouts for local elections!

Fall is Here

Leaf Fall. Chubbuck, Idaho.

Today, twelve days after the official start of Autumn,  the trees in my yard started dropping their leaves. The family across the street has a tree that starts dropping it’s leaves before Fall officially begins. His front yard now has a nice thick carpet of leaves, and his tree still has plenty to drop.

The other day I was talking with someone who expressed concern over the start of Fall. They believe we’re still in Summer. They miss the Fall colors of Virginia. But, when I tried to explain that Fall has begun they didn’t believe me. I explained the Equinoxes and Solstices, but no, it couldn’t have anything to do with the alignment of our solar system.

Now, Sunday, October 3rd, the day a cold front was going to come in, and yet again it hasn’t and it’s warmer than usual. For weeks our local weather forecasters have been predicting a cold front from Canada, yet week after week that prediction is blown away by hot air from California. That’s climate change for you, but, it hasn’t stopped the trees from dropping their leaves.

Don’t blame climate change, did you know the reason for the Autumn leaf fall is because of less sunshine, not temperature changes?  And the further north you go in latitude, the greater the difference in available light (compare Southern California to Idaho).

Fall began officially/astronomically on September 21st. How about Halloween? Maybe the person I was talking with wasn’t wrong? Some historians say Halloween was the ancient Celtic celebration of the end of Summer and beginning of Fall. It’s also interesting that Halloween is almost the half way point of the official Fall season.

Alien the Cat, Ready for Halloween.

Traditionally, here in South East Idaho, Halloween is the beginning of our really cold weather. Funny watching trick or treaters in their costumes, bundled up so much you can’t really see their costumes. Some people feel Halloween is a sign that Winter has begun. Others think Thanksgiving marks the beginning of Winter. The official start of Winter is the Winter Solstice, which is December 21st.

Is there really an ‘official’ start and end to the seasons? Should we go by the alignment of the Earth in relation to the Sun? Should we go by noticeable and lasting changes in the weather at different times of the year? Does it depend on where you are on the planet? Is it worth the argument? I’m just glad to live in a place where there are noticeable changes to the seasons. Have a Happy Happy!

Red Cross Hummers. Why?

Brand new Red Cross Hummer seen in the Fred Meyer parking lot in Pocatello, Idaho.

General Motors has been donating Hummers to the American Red Cross since 2004, along with a lot of cash ($100,000 in 2004). GM claims the vehicles help with disaster response. I can see the Hummer H1 as practical for this, but the H2 & H3 are among the most impractical  SUVs out there.

Why not deck out one of GMs big four door 4×4 pickups with all kinds of rescue gear, that would be more practical. Are the H2s & H3s meant for rescuing the upper class in style?

This is just another example of the lack of wisdom in our corporate leadership. Oh, but wait, I bet GM got a huge tax write off for doing this. A tax write off for an expensive vehicle that was seeing declining domestic sales (a little more than 9,000 in 2009 compared to almost 56,000 in 2007). Oh, isn’t General Motors the company that got bailed out by U.S. taxpayers (yes, they did pay it back, at least on paper).

Here’s better news; the Hummers aren’t even made anymore. The Chinese government rejected plans to buy Hummer, and GM officially ceased production this year (apparently the last Hummer H3 left the production plant in May 2010).

So the question now is; is GM going to continue to donate vehicles to the American Red Cross, or was it just a way to write off their unsold Hummers? If they do give the ARC more vehicles I hope they choose a more practical truck.

Europeans Strike! Who Cares About Terrorism?

Europeans were told that a Mumbai style terrorist attack in Europe was foiled, do they care? Hell no! Why? Because, according to strikers in Latvia, people are dying because of the drastic measures undertaken by their government to deal with their crashing economy. In other words, Europeans are more afraid of their governments than random terrorists.

Today, people in France, Spain, Belgium, Ireland, Greece and several other countries not mentioned in U.S. media, went on strike. What happened to the economic recovery? A former European Union commissioner is quoted as saying “The party is over…”. European governments want even more drastic belt tightening, increasing the burden of paying for the partying of political and business leaders upon the average European taxpayer. No wounder Europeans are outraged.

Is this a sign of pending doom for the U.S. recovery? The same caca del toro is happening with our leadership here in the U.S. Where are the mass strikes? Are we so afraid of our leadership that we’d rather continue playing along with their war on terror game?

The real terrorism is being waged on the average U.S. worker, by corporate America and their puppets; our political leaders. Let me give you an example: When my son was 17 he got a job working for a movie theater here on the east side of Idaho. His first two weeks he put in 90 hours. We though he was going to get overtime pay, nope, not under the Fair Labor Standards Act. According to the Idaho Department of Labor, movie theater employees are number 5 on the list of jobs exempted from overtime pay.

We also learned that Idaho employers do not have to provide breaks under Idaho state law. My son was told that he would be fired if he was caught taking a break or eating, even when he worked 8-9 hour shifts. Here is what Idaho says: “IDAHO LAW DOES NOT REQUIRE
1. vacation, holiday, severance or sick pay;
2. a discharge notice or a reason for discharge;
3. rest periods, breaks, lunch breaks, holidays
off or vacations;
4. premium pay rates for weekends or holidays
worked;
5. pay raises or fringe benefits; or
6. a limit on the number of hours an employee
can work per day or week for employees 16
years of age or older.”

Visit labor.idaho.gov

Wake up America!

Issues with the U.S. education system, and how to fix them -Opinion

The United States has been facing an education crisis for the past 10 years, getting worse, and worse.  Now, 2010, many are thinking of ways to fix the education system.  However, most arguments are for one of three probable issues; techers, students, or administration.

Teachers

From my experience in school, more and more of the good teachers are getting fired, retiring, or quitting.  These teachers mostly get replaced with teachers that either care less about teaching, and more about their paycheck, or are very opinionated in their teaching.  There are the good teachers, those who know what they are teaching, how to teach it, and keep their own personal views and life outside of school, out of the classroom.  Then there are the bad teachers, who like to add their own view, talk about their personal life while teaching something, don’t know or care about what they are teaching, don’t know how to teach what they are teaching.

Students

While I was in school, most of the students with me seemed to care about their studies, and tried to get good grades.  Even those who didn’t want to be in school, tried to get at least D’s.  However, there were those who frankly didn’t care.  They didn’t care either because of drugs, laziness, or even, they were so rich, they didn’t ever have to have a job.  I don’t see this as an issue in the education crisis.

Administration

This is a big one I have seen.  Rules are set in the aspect of money, not how well the teacher can teach with that rule in effect.  Administrators get paid too much.  When the superintendant of one school district gets paid more than the governor of the state, there is money getting thrown away that could be spent for education.  Administration does not have to do what a teacher does, their work is much simpler.

How to fix it all

First off, teachers need to be taught how to teach in the real world, not like how one of my high school teachers told me, “…they told me that the students are craving for someone to teach them, and they come to school ready to learn.”

This is obviously not the case.  Teachers also need to know how to teach their subject, and care about that subject or teaching for that matter.  More time needs to be spent teaching the information, and not review the past year, or “teaching how to learn”.  Teachers also must not get mad at a student for being an open atheist, or dressing a way the teacher does not like.  Teachers are there to teach a specific subject.  If the teacher is teaching “how to be like the majority of the populous” or “Ethics”, then fine, but in math, who cares what the student is wearing or thinking.

Administration needs to be reduced, drastically.  Administration came into the picture in the mid to late 20th century.  We got along just fine without it.  That is basically it for Administration.  More power to the teachers.