More on Self Serve Gasoline

As my regular readers know, I am against the New Jersey law that prohibits self-serve gasoline in NJ. I am now in South Carolina and I can tell you that the argument that our prices are cheaper even though we don't allow self-serve are false. The price of gasoline is as the same or cheaper here in South Carolina than in NJ even though their state tax on gasoline is higher. This means that full service costs us more in NJ but it being subsidized by the state government in the form of lower fuel tax. This is ridiculous!! Our roads could use the higher income and our consumers could use the break in prices.

I've written my state representatives and only Rep Gordon responded. He felt that he needed to support the current regulation against self-serve "for safety reasons". Apparently he feels that the people of New Jersey are stupider than those in 48 other states around the country where they are smart enough to put a gasoline nozzle in their car's fuel tank without setting it on fire. Is that how little he thinks of his consituents? Maybe it's time that we remove him from office!! Maybe it's time for us to remove all of them in the NJGCA's pocket!!

Thoughts anyone?

Meet your Presidential Match

Click on this link and go to ABCNews' "Match-O-Matic" site. While it certainly does not remove your obligation to research your candidates, it does give you some interesting insight into who you might want to look into further. It also gives you an idea of who you might not "click" with. I was surprised to find that the two men that I was most intrigued by, John McCain and Rudy Giuliani, did not make my top three.

The "Candidate Calculator" is another interesting (and perhaps more in depth) site.

Give them a whirl and see who your match is....

Thoughts anyone?

Is it too late?

View this movie and post your thoughts:

http://www.usawakeup.org/

The consumer speaks

So Circuit City has released its third quarter results and guess what.....they suck! Their sales declined 3.1% company wide and 5.6% in stores that have been open over one year. It's just under a year ago that they stunned the country by dismissing 9% of their workforce in a single day, with no warning. I said then that the consumer must speak out about how unfair and unwise that was. It seems that many across the country agreed with me and we have stayed away from Circuit City in droves.

I am hoping that those governing corporations across the country are paying attention to what happens when you summarily dismiss your most experienced employees across the board and callously destroy lives like that. While I'm not so naive as to believe that everyone stayed away from Circuit City for moral reasons, I do know that there are others that, like myself, have stayed away for exactly that reason. Whether you stopped patronizing Circuit City because you don't like what their management stands for or because you don't want to deal with an unmotivated 18 year old part-timer who doesn't know an HDTV from a weed-wacker (nor could he care), kudos to you. Keep it up and watch the end of Circuit City.

Thoughts anyone?

Click to give

In the past few days I've become familiar with things that I had hoped I would never know up close and personal. I'm familiar with the different forms of chemotherapy for breast cancer. I've learned about HER-2 and Herceptin and the almost magical effects it has on cancer. I've learned about "chronic" (aka incurable) cancer and how we "regulate" it. It's not been something I would've volunteered for, but it is a wakeup call.

It's made me acutely aware of the fact that I am quite thankful that my employer has very good medical insurance. I'm thankful that I don't live in Hillary's world where the government decides whether my wife's condition is "worth the cost" of what it would take to treat her. I'm sorry for those whose wives don't have good or even any insurance and I can't imagine the emotional pain and anguish that causes. I know that we need to help them.

It's also made me aware of how we need to celebrate and enjoy each day and quit waiting, saving, and counting towards retirement or "some day". I know that's trite, but it doesn't become apparent unless you make it so.

It's also made me aware of how amazing medical technology is. This leads me to my last point, if you have a minute, please visit http://www.thebreastcancersite.com/ to help fund mammographies for those who can't afford it. While you're at it, check out his affiliated sites such as thehungersite, and theanimalrescuesite. All of these are legitimate as verified by our friends at snopes.com.

Thoughts anyone?

More good news from Iraq

I came across a story from the AP entitled, "US Offers Iraqis Service Jobs" which details a program by the US Military in which they employ local Iraqis to begin working on sanitation, rebuilding, and security. They are paid $300 per month which is great wealth to some of these men who have been out of work for years.

The program is modeled after the successful "Awakening Council" idea which pays locals to provide security against the insurgent movement. These councils have provided income and security in many of the towns throughout the country which has led to a 60% drop in violence since its inception last June.

This is similar to the concept of the New Deal program instituted by FDR during the Depression. The idea is to provide a "hand up, not a hand out". It will improve the lot of those in the community and it will pump income into the local economy. Most importantly, it will allow those proud and intelligent men to provide for their families once again. The work is not glamorous, but it is honest and it beats getting paid to be a suicide bomber.

Finally, the US is making strides towards removing itself and it will be able to look at its work with pride. It will have taken down a dictatorship and left a growing democracy. Let us hope.

Thoughts anyone?

Genetics gone crazy

I have been reading Michael Crichton's "NEXT" and have become more bothered by the growing field of gene therapy. Although some of it is fiction, he regularly sprinkles news stories about interesting events in the field of genetics. I highly recommend this book as a springboard into the world of genetics and genetic ethics.

One of these interesting stories is about research showing that Neanderthals were actually smarter and better looking than the Cro-Magnons which we are currently taught to believe were the "next step" in evolution. The researcher, Peter Frost, has apparently posited that the Neanderthals were more like the ideal Aryans, tall, blonde, blue-eyed, and smart. This lead me to check out some of his research and it is very interesting and quite possibly controversial if people outside the genetic world actually read it.

The book and the website are both worth reading, but be prepared to be scared. The things being done in genetic research are scary. For example, did you know that "designer" animals are being created for the purpose of art? Did you realize that they have actually created wings for pigs? Did you know that certain universities have tried to use the power of eminent domain to make people give up their genetic material?

Read and learn.

Thoughts anyone?