Who’s House? Comrade Run’s House!
MXC is probably the funniest thing on TV. If you haven’t seen it… there’s this show in Japan called “Takashi’s Castle” where colorful contestants run through obstacle courses. It’s neat. But most American’s don’t speak Japanese, so Spike TV dubs over the commentary of Takashi’s Castle, inserts some scatalogical humor, and bam.. you have “Most Extreme Elimination Challenge”, or “MXC”. It’s hilarous. It almost made me forget the utter attack on the American system of free enterprise launched by Senate Democrats today.
“People we represent are hurting, the companies you represent are profiting,” say Vermont Senator Patrick Leahey. Well no shit Patty-boy… that’s what business are supposed to do! It kills me how much Democrats - like Clinton - think profits are somehow evil. They seem to forget that corporate and individual profits are what provides the tax dollars they get to redistribute. And… oil companies are hot targets right now. In absolute terms, they are seeing huge profits. In terms of margins, they’re barely breaking even.
Eh? How can you make billions, yet barely break even? It’s simple, and it’s called “profit margin.” Oil companies only do slightly better than grocery stores on average, where profit margins are between 2% and 4% on $2 Billion in volume. Oil companies are seeing “record profits” that put them between 5% and 10% on volume of $200 Billion in volume. The only reason either of these industries survive is because everyone eats, and most people drive. Don’t like it? Drive less, and go on a diet. But instead, people are only consuming 1.4% less gasoline, and aren’t eating any less food - and god knows, we American’s could use a diet.
Sure… Exxon/Mobile saw $405 Billion in revenue, but like you or me they have bills to pay. At the end of the day, they only have $40 Billion left over and there are 5,280,000,000 people with their hands out asking for a piece. (They’re called shareholders.) So before you begrudge a company for actually making money for people smart enough to buy their stock, look very closely at the brand you’re pumping into your tank of your gas guzzling SUV, and think hard about that as you race around town from stoplight to stoplight.
So there’s this concept of profit margin, and what is really obscene? Altria, parent company of Phillip Morris - the fine folks who give us cigarettes - make a tidy 17% profit. Microsoft, who has a virtual monopoly on operating systems, has $175 Billion in revenue and a 27% profit margin. Oil companies move over - that’s really evil. Google, whose unofficial motto is “Don’t Be Evil” made a tidy $25 Billion on 17% profit last year.
By the way… while you’re thinking, consider this: most OPEC countries are members of the WTO. But OPEC is an illegal cartel under OPEC rules.
Okay. I give. Everyone else has been whining about the price of gas, and I’ve kept to the notion that “hey… it’s cheaper than walking.” But a few days ago, I nearly broke $60 to fill my car up. And my car doesn’t get the greatest mileage. I can eak out 23 mpg city if I drive like Miss Daisy. So I’m a little upset, which means the rest of you are probably stroking out. Let’s first ease our collective tension with… some Run DMC and Russian Red Army break dancing.
Yeah… it’s like that.
So hear we are three decades after the Gas Crisis of the 1970’s. Only this time the problem isn’t that there are a bunch of Arab oil barons angry at us. The problem is that our dollar is weakened, global demand for gasoline is higher than ever and our refinery capacity is continuing to decrease. Oh, and we got complacent after a few years and started going back to “bigger is better” and “more power, less economy” modes of thinking. Don’t get me wrong… I drool over the site of a 1972 Hemi 442 ‘Cuda. I’d love to have one. I wouldn’t commute in the thing.
So everyone is feeling pinched. Enter the wingnuts who want us to save on gas (as opposed to solving the supply problem) by hypermiling. What is hypermiling, you ask? It’s pure stupidity, I answer. A nicer explanation would be ‘changing your driving habits to maximize mileage.’ Some of the tips make sense, like don’t drag race between lights or keep your tires inflated. Some tips range from stupid to patently unsafe.
One example… keeping your tires at proper inflation helps reduce the rolling resistance. Some hypermilers take a step futher by over-inflating their tires. The bulging tread makes for a smaller contact patch. Less rolling resistance still, true… but also less grip when you go into a corner or need to slam into the brakes. Another dumb hypermiling tactic? Drafting 18 wheelers. Folks, in spite of what you might think, those trucks can actually stop pretty quickly. If you’re up their butt when they do an emergency braking maneuver, you may wind up underneath them. Then there’s turning the engine off and coasting down hills. Take note before you try this: without your engine, you power brakes and power steering will be without power. You’ll literally need to stand on the pedal to stop, and you’ll need to get some leverage before actually turning the vehicle.
Saving gas starts with smart shopping. Use exactly the fuel specified for your car - that is the fuel your cars computer is expecting, and may not be able to burn higher or lower octanes as efficiently. Also… gas is gas is gas. Brand doesn’t matter when you’re buying regular unleaded. There is a difference among premiums, but not in the part of the gasoline that makes it go. Rather, it’s in the detergents added to keep deposits from forming. (Those deposits, incidentally, are forming because you’re using a higher octane fuel than your engine is able to completely burn.) Do not - I repeat - do not tailgate. Every time you step on your brakes, you’re turning the kinetic energy of your car into heat energy in the cars brake pads and rotors. That’s energy you can’t get back. Rather, leave a few car lengths - one for every ten miles per hours you’re driving - between you and the next car. That way if they surreptitiously tap the brakes then go, you can just let off the gas and let them increase the distance. Also, don’t accelerate too quickly. The amount of energy used to accelerate a car is at least the square of the energy used to keep it at a constant velocity. Also, if you’re looking at cars - opt for something light weight and go for the manual transmission. After acceleration and maintaining speed, the greatest portion of fuel consumption comes from mechanical losses. Manual trannies are simpler and transfer power more efficiently.They’re also lighter, which means less mass to acclerate. Don’t worry about aerodynamics. Although much hyped, the truth is that at subsonic speeds, a brick has only slightly more trouble parting the air than a super sleek wedge shape. (A 747 doing mach .8 sips fuel comfortably, while an F-14 Tomcat - a Mach 2.5 fighter - gulps fuel. The difference? The Jumbo Jet was specially designed to operate smoothly at that spead, while the Tomcat was designed to slice through the air at supersonic speeds.)
Whatever you do… stop blaming the oil companies for the price of gas. You’re the one buying the product… you’re the one driving demand. They’re entitled to make money.
As the three contenders for the Office of the President of the United States come closer to that hallowed Tuesday contest, there is an 800 lb gorilla in the room. And it’s sitting next to the Republican nominee, who is quite comfortable with that notion. It’s the war. Not simply the war in Iraq, but the Global War on Terror.
Let’s not forget that while the bloodiest and therefore most objectionable portion of this war is taking place in Iraq, it has other theaters. The obvious other hot spot is Afghanistan, which has received little press attention since the rise of the Iraqi insurgency. Then there’s Pakistan, where non-uniformed special forces and CIA operatives are working alongside the Pakistani army seeking to expel Taliban militants, often without anyone realizing that they’re American. More than a few hundred US Army Rangers and Special Forces teams are stationed in the Philippines advising and engaging in direct action operations against al-Qaeda backed Abu Sayaff militants. A half-strength-sized battallion of US Marines are in Djibouti at the US Central Command headquarters that is operating out of a former French Foreign Legion facility leased by the Djibouti government. In Sierra Leone, Liberia, Nigeria, Yemen, Qatar, Kazakhstan, Singapore, Thailand, Columbia and Panama (to name a few), rough men stand ready to visit violence on those who would harm us*. The 800 lb gorilla has a long reach that for six years has kept a very determined enemy occupied while US intelligence services have foiled every skilled attempt to bring Islamofascist violence into the heart of America.
Both Democrat contenders for their party’s nomination oppose the war on some level. (The degree of their opposition and their dedication to ending the war on terror changes on a month-to-month and audience-to-audience basis.) Their willingness to champion an end to the war has taken the back burner to safer issues because each one of them knows two facts: the first is that the rhetoric of disengagement is far easier than the act of disengagement. If either Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton become President, they will face hard choices and the very real possibility that we are now inextricably engaged in a fight for the survival of the American way of life. Whether by unwillingness or incapability, if either candidate fails to bring the promised swift-end to the war, they not only lose their credibility but do irreparable harm to their own party, a party which almost as old as the country itself. In ’staying the course’, they then face issues of their suitability (or lack thereof) to function as Commander in Chief not only because of their glaring lack of any military connection (by service or relation to a service member), but their historical disdain for the military**.
The gorilla is sitting next to McCain for a reason. McCain has respect for the gorilla. McCain is old friends with the gorilla. As a pilot who ’successfully intercepted a surface-to-air missile with his A4′, then was captured, tortured and held during the Viet Nam war, nobody can argue that he has first-hand experience of the horrors of war. With one son having returned from Iraq where he served as an enlisted Marine, and a second son due to graduate from the US Naval Academy and head to Iraq, McCain also knows the pain of being a parent who faces losing a child to the war. This makes his stance on Iraq credible and unassailable by critics.
For Democrats, now is the time to forget the war and hope that if they ignore it, the 800 lb gorilla will leave the room before the convention.
*With all due deference to George Orwell.
**Hillary’s recent slander of the Marines with her bogus “I went to a recruiter” story is trumped by a 1996 account where she ordered Marines from HMX squadron (responsible for maintaining the Presidential helicopter) to act as waiters at a fundraiser given at the White House… in full dress uniform.
This post could also be titled “Why I’m Still A Republican (In Spite of Everything).”
The big breaking news today - outside the mainstream “drive by media” that is - is that none other than CBS News has outed Clinton in a bold faced lie. Those of us who look at the Democrat leadership with a sense of disappointment know that Hillary is “a congenital liar” (with all due deference to Bill Saffire). But this is the first time a major media organization has called her bluff and actually put out video documentary evidence of Clinton’s brazen willingness to fabricate a version of reality bordering on the schizophrenic.
Switching tacts… I think the timing is curious. Is it perhaps to refocus criticism on the beleaguered Clinton camp and away from Obama? Or are elements of the mainstream media joining Rush Limbaugh’s Operation: Chaos effort? Let’s face it; Democrat infighting is fun for Republicans, means more ad revenue for media organizations and has only one downside - it damages the credibility of elected officials with the average American voter.
Meanwhile… as Obama and Clinton empty their war chests and bask in the free negative media attention (and remember, even bad news is good news in the media world), McCain is raking in the cash. Fund raiser after ridiculously-overpriced-spaghetti-dinner fund raiser, McCain is stockpiling funds, solidifying once-questionable alliances and strategizing his final push for the White House. With the very real possibility that the Democratic race might only be resolved at a convention caucus, McCain could wind up standing on a fat pile of cash by the time Democrats know who to put their money behind. That leaves just over two months to win or lose.
I’m a Republican, mostly because I’m not a Democrat. More than anything else, I’m a political junky who loves to watch politics unfold like fat white trailer trash breeders like to watch Jerry Springer. When it’s all said and done, I’d rather have a stodgy old guy like McCain (war hero, statesman, et al) than a Hillary (liar) or an Obama (closet cracker-hater with no actual political experience).
Speaking of people I don’t want for President… Ron Paul is still fighting the good fight. I like Ron Paul. I think he’d make a good President because he stands on Principle and not on Pragmatic Dogma. You admire these people. When la revoluçion comes, you drag these people into the streets and shoot them in the head with a pistol. But you do that because they’re dangerous to both the establishment and to anti-establishment elements. They don’t fit in, can’t be corrupted and can’t be controlled. Were Ron Paul not slightly crazy - and his legions of acolyte supporters not completely unhinged from reality - I would still be supporting him. Alas, there is no room in modern American politics for such things as integrity, honesty and earnestness. The K-Street Lobbyists see to that.
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