Whose Interest?

Barrack I HATE AMERICA Obama made an announcement last week rejecting the Keystone Oil Pipeline.

Obama's Rejection Of Keystone Pipeline

The reason White House gave for not finishing the project was:

"The Keystone XL pipeline would not serve the national interest of the United States,"

Notice I said finishing the project, not doing the project.  Several hundred miles of pipe line have been laid.  Millions of dollars of private money have been spent.  The project was waiting on some final sections of pipeline to finish up and connect the Alberta Oil Sands with refineries in Texas, Oklahoma, Illinois and Nebraska.

The project was OK'd some time ago.  This is about finishing a job, not starting one.

How is it that exactly that the; "The Keystone XL pipeline would not serve the national interest of the United States,"?

To answer that we need to answer another question, "What would be the result of finishing the Keystone Pipeline"?

The Pipeline would:

• Deliver crude oil and other petroleum hydrocarbons from Canada to the United States
• Pipeline delivery would have a lower marginal cost than trans Atlantic or trans Pacific shipment of crude
• Pipeline delivery would have a lower marginal cost than rail transport of the same quantity of petroleum hydrocarbons from Canada
• Pipeline delivery would have less of a environmental impact than other shipment methods
• Pipeline delivery has a statistically lower chance of a major accidental spill
• Canada is a trading partner with the US that buys as well as sells products here
• Trading with Canada doesn't have the political and military encumbrances that trading with various parties in the Middle East does
• Importing from Canada is more cost effective than importing from other countries, potentially reducing the price of gas at the pump for most Americans.

If Keystone was finished who stands to lose out?

• Companies that ship oil from the middle east
• George Soros
• Companies that ship oil from Canada
• BNSF-owned in large part by Warren Buffet
• Companies that currently produce and ship oil in the middle east and their partners
• The House of Saud
• HAMAS
• Halliburton
• Companies who would have to compete with a lower marginal cost for raw oil products
• People who want gas to sell for over $8 a gallon in order to make less efficient technologies viable for ideological reasons
• Those eager for the economic harm of the United States
• Every member of the Democratic Party
• Obummer

Those lists are no where near conclusive.  Who stands to win if the pipeline was built?

• The companies who have invested in it
• The companies who sell oil and gas products delivered by the pipeline
• Consumers who would enjoy lower or more stable prices at the pump
• The recipients of Canadian mineral royalties

"The Keystone XL pipeline would not serve the national interest of the United States,"

Not true, it would serve some Americans and Canadians very well.  The ones most "helped" by marginally less expensive petroleum hydrocarbons are unfortunately not the ones who count in Obama's book.

GFF--Sundry

We've got a couple of stories this week.

Warning:
If you haven't finished all your hunting for this year, you might want to skip watching the video on the link for this story.

Baby Deer Refused To Leave Side of Man Who Rescued It

You watched it anyway didn't you?

I'm not sure if how I'm going to like the next Star Wars installments.  Oh, I'm going.  I saw them all as a kid and I'm going to go.  I'm not sure I'll take my son to see them.  We'll have to see about that.  That's not the point.  Growing up Star Wars was the coolest thing on the big screen, which is why this story got my attention.

Star Wars Director Grants Dying Man’s Wish, Just In Time

The Force was strong for Daniel Fleetwood. The Star Wars fan with terminal cancer wanted to see the latest sequel in the movie series before it went public in December–and his wish was granted last night. He and his wife were treated to a private screening of the unfinished movie.

The 32-year-old Texas man whose house is packed with Star Wars memorabilia isn’t expected to survive until the film’s opening date of December 18.

Mark Hamill, who plays Luke Skywalker in the movies, tweeted his approval.

“I just read this and am elated for Daniel & his family!”

I'm no Jedi and I don't play one in the movies either, but I approve too.

I caught this story and I thought it worth posting.

This CEO Urges His Workers to Take 6 Weeks Paid Vacation

The boss at this Los Gatos, California-based company is telling his 2,200 employees to take six weeks of vacation every year, just like he does — and he’ll pay them to do it.

“I take a lot of vacation and I’m hoping that certainly sets an example,” Netflix CEO Reed Hastings said Tuesday. “It is helpful. You often do your best thinking when you’re off hiking in some mountain or something. You get a different perspective on things.”

We've known for some time that employees who take between 4 and 6 weeks vacation each year are more productive and more profitable.  The Europeans have proven this.  Some how Americans have never caught on to the fact that rest and relaxation makes work more productive. 

Good news out of Detroit:

Michigan High School Students Are Volunteering As Pallbearers For Homeless Veterans

In addition to club meetings, band practices and football games, University of Detroit Jesuit High School and Academy teens are also signing up to serve as pallbearers for homeless veterans.

Six students recently volunteered to be pallbearers for three dead homeless veterans.

Senior Joshua Gonzales is one of the student leaders who helped develop the program. He said this new opportunity for students is "meant to help dignify and respect the human being."

The students' initial plan was to carry the caskets for homeless individuals, said the Rev. Karl Kiser, the school president. But after working with local funeral home A.J. Desmond & Sons, the students narrowed their focus to the largest group of homeless people in need of the pallbearing service: unclaimed veterans.

More than 50 students attended the first training session at the beginning of the month, a number that surprised funeral director Kevin Desmond, who said he expected no more than 20.

It has to be Heavy

There have been ups and downs in my fitness quest.  Some things are a learning process. 

I started off with a program "guaranteed" to loss weight.  That program had me lifting six days a week doing lots of exercises each day.  I lost some weight.  Then I switched to the Strong Lifts program.  That worked.  I lost weight which was good.  More important I was gaining strength and feeling great.  That made it easier to stick with. 

As I started hitting strength goals I started slacking off.  I knew I needed to get cardio in so I could be in shape for hunting season.  Except I hate cardio.  So I slacked off some more telling myself that as long as I was hitting one heavy set I would be OK.

Well I wasn't OK.  It's not even close to OK.  Half a years work can be undone in six weeks slacking off. 

Last night I made up my mind to start lifting heavy sets again.  I only got through 2/3's of what I had been doing previously.  This morning I am sore.  Its a good kind of sore.  My body knows it was worked.  More importantly I know that I'm ready to work hard again.  Underneath the soreness is a feeling of physical accomplishment.  Even though I didn't do everything on my list (no dead lifts) I did something worthwhile.

I know that there are lots of exercise and weight loss programs out there and that folks like them.  I think I'm learning that, for me, I need to lift heavy weights.  I'm told that old guys shouldn't try to max out cardio and push for maximum lifts.  That's probably wise.  I'm probably in that category of old guy.  In order to lose the weight I want, I'm going to have to incorporate cardio, with heavy lifting and a disciplined diet.

The plan now is to stick with the Strong Lifts program, with a minor modification.  Once I hit a strength goal with an exercise, I'm not going to try to exceed it.  I keep doing all my lifts at that weight for all the sets.  Then on my rest days I'm going to add what I'm calling my 3 tens.  I'm going to do 10 min's each of elliptical, treadmill and rowing machine.  The plan is to increase those times as my endurance increases and to utilize some of the HIIT programs that are available on the equipment.

On the diet front, I'm a sugar junkie.  I'm going to work on cutting that out.  It's also the eating holidays so we'll see how that goes.  I've already started doing this but since I haven't got a full week in yet, I'm going to count 90 days starting this Sunday and then reevaluate.

BJW

GOD to ST. FRANCIS:
Frank, … You know all about gardens and nature. What in the world is going on down there on the planet? What happened to the dandelions, violets, milkweeds and stuff I started eons ago? I had a perfect no-maintenance garden plan. Those plants grow in any type of soil, withstand drought and multiply with abandon. The nectar from the long-lasting blossoms attracts butterflies, honey bees and flocks of songbirds. I expected to see a vast garden of colors by now. But, all I see are these green rectangles.

St. FRANCIS:
It’s the tribes that settled there, Lord. The Suburbanites. They started calling your flowers ‘weeds’ and went to great lengths to kill them and replace them with grass.

GOD:
Grass? But, it’s so boring. It’s not colorful. It doesn’t attract butterflies, birds and bees; only grubs and sod worms. It’s sensitive to temperatures. Do these Suburbanites really want all that grass growing there?

ST. FRANCIS:
Apparently so, Lord. They go to great pains to grow it and keep it green. They begin each spring by fertilizing grass and poisoning any other plant that crops up in the lawn.

GOD:
The spring rains and warm weather probably make grass grow really fast. That must make the Suburbanites happy.

ST. FRANCIS:
Apparently not, Lord. As soon as it grows a little, they cut it-sometimes twice a week.

GOD:
They cut it? Do they then bale it like hay?

ST. FRANCIS:
Not exactly, Lord. Most of them rake it up and put it in bags.

GOD:
They bag it? Why? Is it a cash crop? Do they sell it?

ST. FRANCIS:
No, Sir, just the opposite. They pay to throw it away.

GOD:
Now, let me get this straight. They fertilize grass so it will grow. And, when it does grow, they cut it off and pay to throw it away?

ST. FRANCIS:
Yes, Sir.

GOD:
These Suburbanites must be relieved in the summer when we cut back on the rain and turn up the heat. That surely slows the growth and saves them a lot of work.

ST. FRANCIS:
You aren’t going to believe this, Lord. When the grass stops growing so fast, they drag out hoses and pay more money to water it, so they can continue to mow it and pay to get rid of it.

GOD:
What nonsense. At least they kept some of the trees. That was a sheer stroke of genius, if I do say so myself. The trees grow leaves in the spring to provide beauty and shade in the summer. In the autumn, they fall to the ground and form a natural blanket to keep moisture in the soil and protect the
trees and bushes. It’s a natural cycle of life.

ST. FRANCIS:
You better sit down, Lord. The Suburbanites have drawn a new circle. As soon as the leaves fall, they rake them into great piles and pay to have them hauled away.

GOD:
No!? What do they do to protect the shrub and tree roots in the winter to keep the soil moist and loose?

ST. FRANCIS:
After throwing away the leaves, they go out and buy something which they call mulch. They haul it home and spread it around in place of the leaves.

GOD:
And where do they get this mulch?

ST. FRANCIS:
They cut down trees and grind them up to make the mulch.

GOD:
Enough! I don’t want to think about this anymore. St.Catherine, you’re in charge of the arts. What movie have you scheduled for us tonight?

ST. CATHERINE:
‘Dumb and Dumber’, Lord. It’s a story about….

GOD:
Never mind, I think I just heard the whole story from St. Francis.

Conversation With a Bureaucrat

I had opportunity to speak with a Federal Bureaucrat last week.  The conversation was ordinary, non-political small talk.  That was until he started complaining about how broke his employer is and how rough its making his life.

I tried, I really tried to keep my mouth shut.  I was at work, on my employers dime, and my employer does business with the government.  Do not upset the apple cart.  Do noootttt....

Him:  "You have no idea how hard it is to get by on a G-15's pay".

Me:  "That's like what, only six figures right?"

Apparently he missed the sarcasm in my voice.  Unbelievably he thought I was commiserating with him.

Him:  "It's a little better than that, but they cut my overtime and per diem waay baack".

Me:  "Maybe your boss should cut back on all his extra curricular activities."

The conversation morphed into a discussion on Obummers habits and the fact that according to the person I was speaking to it costs several million dollars for him to leave the White House to go anywhere.  Little excursions like playing golf can set the tax payer back $16 million an outing.  The president only does that between 2 and 3 times a week.

Not part of my conversation, but lets do some math.  Assuming 2 times a week and $4 million a pop (keeping this estimate at the low end) and only golfing 48 weeks a year, that works out to:

48*8years = 384 weeks * 2times a week = 768 golf outings * $4million per outing = $3,072,000,000 for golf.

Mark Knoller an "expert" on Obama's golfing pegs a much lower number of outings through this last August, 247 rounds.  Again that math looks like:

247 rounds * $4million per round = $988,000,000

Gee that's a lot better, not quite a billion bucks for O's golfing.

Take your pick, between roughly 1 and 3 billion dollars so Obummer could hit the links.  This isn't counting all the private vacation trips for his wife and girls or his normal vacations.

There are over 100,000,000 Americans out of work (labor participation rate).  There is another huge but unreported number is the underemployment rate which peaked this last year at 16.2%.   Out of the 218 million people working,  35,316,000 of them are working at jobs that the are overqualified for and probably underpaid.  I'm in that number.

For the record a GS-15 pay rate scale STARTS  at $101,630 and goes up to $132,122.  I didn't know that, I had to look it up.  This guy lives in West Virginia.  The average annual household income in that state is $40,034.  I can't imagine how he's managing to scrape by.

What does he do that he is so unfairly paid?  He is in Wyoming this month to draft provisions to decrease coal mining productivity and artificially increase compliance cost as a precursor to shutting down our domestic energy production.

Dépayser

What is normal?

There are a lot of ways to answer that question depending on how it is approached.  The social sciences define normality one way.   A statistician defines it slightly differently.  Erma Bombeck defined normal as a setting on the clothes dryer.

Some time ago our church had an evangelism campaign.  That effort brought into our church some people whose background was radically different than our normal church members.  The person I spoke to yesterday was one of these folks with the radically different life experiences.  I'm going to call that person "AP".  (Anonymous Person)

AP had a messed up childhood.  Followed by a messed up adolescence.  Which resulted in a chaotic young adulthood.  During AP's life the state was involved.  Due that involvement AP became institutionalized in the sense of expecting social workers, programs and whatever bureaucratic initiative was en vogue to "fix" or "improve" AP's life.

AP has now spent about 10 years in church and even married a life long church member.  During that time AP would seek out advice from other church members and ignore it.  It didn't matter what the subject was, money, child rearing, relationships, etc.  AP wanted advice but when that advice didn't fit AP's view of "normal", it was disregarded.  This created some conflict at church. 

Most folks are happy to help out with a listening ear and a bit of advice.  When the person asking for advice goes out and promptly does the opposite, its a bit of a slap in the face.  When AP would go back and want to talk about how things were an absolute train wreck the people who listened patiently before, were less than enthusiastic.

That became AP's pattern.  Ask advice.  Ignore advice.  Experience train wreck. Wonder why people weren't as friendly about talking about the absolutely predictable train wreck.  Experience people pulling away.  Rinse and repeat.  Add to that cycle some complaining about how being married and earning an income disqualified AP from getting all the social welfare services previously enjoyed and you get the picture.

Well, not the whole picture.  AP was growing in faith and love of the Lord.  One other thing, AP could be counted on to help out with just about any and every project at church.  Sunday school, VBS, taking the teens to a youth rally or bible camp, AP was game for any and all church related activity and would pitch in.

Good heart, willing to help, growing faith and predictable drama and personal upheaval.  That was AP's new church normal.  Recently AP experienced another train wreck.  In fairness I don't know how anyone, including AP could have seen it coming, at least not without a lot of information that most folks wouldn't have.

This last train wreck involved one of AP's kids.  This situation is causing AP to question the previous "normal".  It's taken several years but now the reevaluation of "normal" is under serious consideration.

As humans our world view is a big part of what we call normal.  As long as things are going along the way that we expect there is no reason to change course.  As long as there is no real discomfort, there is no reason to question "normal".

Unfortunately we see this truism mostly in its absence.  It's easy to look at a situation that is sub-normal and see the deficiencies.  An organization, such as an employer, that has a sub-optimal management or operating structure is easy to spot, from the outside.  The same holds true in government, formal education and a host of other human endeavors.  Discomfort and pain is almost always a requisite for humans to object to what they have come to expect as normal.

The enlightened man seeks a higher state of normal.