Conservative Side of Life - Articles - Zimbio

Blowin II

Wed, 15 May 2008 13:17:00 GMT

posted by ShamanWind

I hope you read the entire article concerning the implementation of Wind energy. If you noted facts such as the year 2030, twenty five per cent of energy, and the grid does not like wind nor solar energy, you will see there are numerous flaws in the concept of a quick or long term fix.

Today I turned on the weather which shows the south getting pummeled by storms with heavy rain. In case you have been so engrossed in the political process you’ve not watched real news, this year has been very wet and unseasonably cool in fly over country.

After a few minutes of hearing about Atlanta weather for the next decade I switched over to MSNBC. Their format seems to be to collect as many idiots as one can get on a set and let them show their ignorance. One such brilliant bit, ‘John Kerry didn’t do well in West Virginia but I think John Edwards will help Obama with working class voters.’ And where did you get your degree in ignorance? Let me guess, Harvard or Yale?

For those not so quick to spot liberal’s running from the mouth—If John Kerry with John Edwards as running mate did not do well in WV, how does John Edwards help Obama? Duh!

There was a time I watched Tucker and “funny lips” on Microsoft Television. Then they dumped Tucker and funny lips mathews went into the tank for Obama. Now I swing by, from time to time, in the afternoons to catch some dribble. Funny lips, as my wife calls him, grew up in the JFK era-- since he has been searching for Camelot. The limp lipped commentator thinks he has found it in Obama.

Politics has worn me out. My energy level is about on par with a wind generator in the jungle. The serious part of this discussion, while politics is serious, remains there is no quick, inexpensive, nor easy solution to our energy situation. The left wing politicians tell us that as soon as they get into power, energy will be cheap again.

In several blogs regarding energy, I have outlined the lack of a solution beyond individual responsibility. In yesterday’s blog the reference to Google’s eSolar doesn’t offer a solution only more borderline technology. If one takes responsibility for themselves, then it becomes much less complex.

One can build or buy a solar hot water heater for a beginning. From there a savings plan will be needed to buy alternative energy sources such as solar voltaic or wind generators. If you believe that individual responsibility can help you or even save you, then it’s best to research your area for suitable alternative energy sources.

In the area we live, there is almost zero chance to make wind energy effective. One can go to http://www.eere.energy.gov/windandhydro/windpoweringamerica/wind_maps.asp for an outlook of wind in your area. As you can see much of the U.S. lacks wind enough to run a generator. One can source state maps for the actual wind velocities in your area. To start a wind generator it takes from 8 to 10 mph wind. One will need sustained winds over 10 miles an hour to keep it running. There are not many places in the U.S. with those wind speeds for an entire day.

With solar one faces the same challenge—location. What the politicians do not tell you, most of the U.S. is not suitable for wind nor solar energy. To find out if you have a chance-- http://rredc.nrel.gov/solar/old_data/nsrdb/redbook/atlas/serve.cgi.

Start with the national maps, then move to the state maps for both wind and solar energy. We live in an area that is at best border line for wind. Border line as in there may not be enough wind to start a generator on an average day. Remember the sun shines and the wind blows everywhere, but not every day and not all day. To make alternative energy effective one must have at least enough to start and run a wind generator to gain any energy. The politicians do not want you to know the facts on alternative energy.

Solar is entirely different. A solar hot water heater can be effective in reducing energy bills. Passive solar will produce excellent alternative heat source on sunny days with minimal investment compared to either wind or solar. Reducing the amount of heat entering the house in the warm period can also reduce energy costs dramatically.

As mentioned in the yesterday’s article, the grid is aging and will need to be replaced. My suggestion is-- plan now to have some source of alternative energy and do not depend on the government to save you. Having enough energy to run lights and a few appliances a couple times a day is better than being totally cut off.

With life comes responsibility. We are charged with taking care of our young until they are old enough to care for themselves. As a responsibility we should also equip them to make their way in the world.

I grew up in a different time and place than most. We had no electricity, nor running water for the first four years of my life. The government provided us nothing, we existed on our own, on a small patch of ground in the country. Very few people have the luxury of understanding what life without accessories will be like.

If you rely on politicians and governments to solve the problems you may well be left without.

Last month our electric cooperative’s manager had an editorial. His statement—within the next one to two years some people will be without electricity if the legislature acts on bills before it now.

Information is the enemy of the socialism.

Mayans--

Sun, 19 May 2008 23:36:00 GMT

posted by ShamanWind

Mayans, Where did they go?

Surely, you must be caught up in the new Indiana Jones movie hype? If you are not, Sci-Fi channel ran the Jones trilogy both Saturday and Sunday. Following Sunday’s night’s they had a two hour special on the Crystal Skulls around which the movie is reportedly built. The History Channel ran a competing show on real Indiana Jones types.

There are numerous believers in the Skull mythology and the backgrounds of the skulls and the Mayans are fascinating. Once a great culture of Central America the Mayans as an organized civilization ceased to exist.

Why? One could probably find many speculations, but we will never know unless Indiana finds a lost book. One theory I have is “human sacrifice.” No culture that practiced human sacrifice has survived.

Another more practical one is urbanization. Life in the jungle is tough even today. When the culture reached a level of architecture and agriculture which allowed for urbanization people flocked to the cities, much as they have in our recent history.

When the Spanish arrived with Small Pox and other diseases, the people were easily infected and conquered in large urban areas not built with invading Europeans in mind-- a small oversight in the Mayan’s otherwise brilliant historical achievements. They had a very advanced calendar, outstanding architecture, art, and a written language. For the time and geography they were very exceptional. Today all that is left are a few descendants and some old ruins.

Had the Mayans stayed in the jungle, they would have survived the Spanish, much as the indigenous peoples of South East Asia survived all the invaders. Anglos do not far well in the jungle. We are not genetically suited for jungle life. We are of the cold, damp climate. Our human traits are best adapted to getting through tough winters. In addition, the diseases would have had less impact on small groups moving away from the attacking Spaniards.

The Crystal Skulls remain a mystery as do many things on our planet which came from civilizations before us. One thing is common, they did not survive the test of time. In our arrogance we pretend to understand their history from small snapshots of the past.

That arrogance, like those involved in human sacrifice, can only lead to our demise. Indiana Jones may have rescued us from the Nazis but he seems to be marching to the tune of the socialists along with the rest of Sillywood. Maybe it’s time for a new character who understands more about history and less about exotic drug cocktails and sexual aberrance.

Fire Up the Jet!

Wed, 8 May 2008 14:34:00 GMT

posted by ShamanWind

Why Can't We All Just Get Along?

As you can see the birds like a little separation too. The left side mostly yellow bird is a male, the lower right is a female Finch. The male turns yellow at mating time. As you can see it is mating time here. How about where you are?

Today I received an email from a military group to which I belong. A photo of a couple of guys in uniform back in the 60’s which is when I was in, reminded me how good my life has been. How blessed I have been and how great my life is today.

These two small wonders are outside our living room window. The preceding “Bully” blog has a picture of a hummingbird perched on a feeder outside the screen porch on the back of the house. We live in the middle of the woods and the number of species of birds is staggering. While I have lived in rural areas before, never have I seen as many varieties as here.

Despite the health issues which have pushed back my five year plan, living here feels like being on vacation. After three years we still marvel at the surroundings. Originally, the land was cleaned up for a group of nudists. Their plaque sits on the dish rail in our kitchen. No, we have not seen the ghosts of any nudists. In my opinion, only a few people look really great completely nude. Therefore the lack of nude nymphs and satyrs prancing about is a blessing.

A few days ago, I downloaded WinAmp. For those who do not know it is similar to iTunes, which for those completely out of the loop both store and play your mp3s as well as offer internet radio stations. At this moment, I am listening to Sky FM New Age World. The station has national ads in a very limited number. The best about internet radio is the lack of idiots.

Yes, I was one of those over inflated idiots, but it does not mean I have to like them. LOL. Many may view me as still one of the over inflated idiots. Life isn’t perfect, but I am doing the best I can to offer perspective missing from most of the offerings liquid and static.

Today, I bring to your attention, Boris Johnson. I have a dog named Boris, he is a handsome lad, full of energy and always has a smile for me. Hopefully Mr. Johnson will prove as fulfilling as my dog. Boris Johnson was recently elected mayor of London, England.

What makes Mr. Johnson’s election startling is his political affiliation and country of origin. He is a Tory, (conservative) and a U.S. citizen. One might consider an English Tory to be just as liberal as our Republicans. Apparently, Mr. Johnson breaks with the liberal bent of today’s conservatives, even in his own party.

The refreshing news comes in that he has considered running for President of the U.S.A. How much could a man who believes in small government, individual rights with some international understanding bring to our government?

Obama left Indonesia at 11 or so and Hawaii as a teenager to attend Occidental College in California. Look it up if you want to see how underprivileged he is. It is a place rich kids go on the West Coast if they are not Ivy League material.

Obama does not have middle class roots nor much of an American experience in his formative years. Try expatriate, communist living in a Muslim country for a full spectrum of his political-cultural basis.

Time will sort out Mr. Johnson and his future on the U.S. political scene. One can only hope the move away from Western Democratic Socialism being played out in Europe will move across the pond. As will the move away from the free reign given to multi-culturalism.

Today’s news had an article on the state of a Minneapolis newspaper. Seems the very liberal leaning paper is bankrupt. The decline of print media saddens me on one level, in that I grew up in a generation that read the morning and evening paper.

I being the lout that I am read the morning and evening paper at the table while my family ate. Today I realize the error of my ways. Mea Culpa, Mea Culpa! Also, I subscribed to magazines such as Esquire because of the news and features. Reading has always been a part of my life. Now the internet fills that void, but it’s not the same as sitting at the table with my Wall Street Journal spread out, espresso in hand searching for information relevant in my life.

My taste for espresso began during my time in Berlin-- as did my love of continental food. Berlin was blessed with many immigrants who opened small restaurants. The food was great and the prices very low even for a G.I. We are talking small, neighborhood places. Almost any place in Berlin was reachable by mass transit, a system lacking in most of the major U.S. cities which amplifies the energy problem.

In thinking about our future, I wonder how soon it will be before the downfall of broadcast tv? Why do we need it? With the socialists set for ascension in January 09, how long will it take for the European model free apartment, food and satellite to arrive?

Now you know why the French elected Nicolas Sarkozy, they are tired of providing a complete living for those who do not wish to work. The interesting part is those are the people that riot in France, the one’s getting a government provided existence.

The door is open, the fresh, damp air drifts in. My mastiff is staring out, looking for anything which might threaten us. They are amazing animals, generations of protectiveness bred into them, yet they can be as gentle and intimate as a child. Sometimes I wonder if she ever grew out of being a puppy.

On the bully front, a new sheriff has arrived in town in form of an Orchard Oriole. Not just one, but many have migrated north to visit our nectar feeders. With all my best U.N. intentions, I was prepared to move a feeder to the other side of the house and maybe add another when the Orioles arrived.

As director of my own little wildlife U.N., I am beside myself. Now the big male bully Oriole swoops down to chase the poor defenseless hummingbird male away. What’s a liberal to do? As a tyrant my best option is to take all feeders away and let them fend for themselves. A liberal option is to negotiate with the head of the Oriole clan and seek a peace agreement for the defenseless hummingbirds.

It is mating season, so time is of the essence. A day delayed might mean the loss of a few potential young hummingbirds to over populate the area as a defense effort. As a democratic leader I should call a meeting of my liberal friends. The best meeting site this time of year would be Vail, Colorado, but the global warming thing gone haywire makes it too chilly. Las Vegas has some days in the 80’s, plus we can gamble on the government expense accounts while we are there. Fire up the Air Force jet, I am onboard with that.

Love those Elites—

Mon, 6 May 2008 21:40:53 GMT

posted by ShamanWind

This is from Michelle Obama’s stump speech printed on Powerline.

“Barack Obama will require you to work. He is going to demand that you shed your cynicism. That you put down your divisions. That you come out of your isolation, that you move out of your comfort zones. That you push yourselves to be better. And that you engage. Barack will never allow you to go back to your lives as usual, uninvolved, uninformed.”

This comes from a woman who is bitter that her SAT scores were low but attended the Ivy League’s Princeton and Harvard. My SAT scores would have been too low to get into Harvard if SAT had existed at the time. I have been called an elitist. For me that is a compliment. After all I am just a redneck boy who got lucky a few times.

The only way I will crack the millionaire’s club is through the lottery. I do not attend fancy functions, I hate them. One might call me anti social because of my love for solitude. Which is in some part stimulated by my dislike of phony people.

While my pedigree may be more upscale than either of the Obamas, I am far from being privileged. One would never confuse me for an elite if they saw me in a pair of five year old shorts and a even older tee shirt covered with dust and grime from mowing. My vocabulary, while vast compared to children of today, palls in comparison to a Harvard educated lawyer. While they may hold educational advantages, they are in the dark when it comes to understanding how the world works.

Living inside a bubble of the educationally crippled the Obamas, the Clintons and others of the socialist persuasion do not understand what makes us tick. God, Guns and Grandma for starters, throw in Chevy, Ford, Mom and apple pie. We are pretty simple humans with simple needs, but we know what we like.

Apparently the majority of the U.S. likes elites. The media says that we recoil from them, but look at the past presidents. GW Bush Yale grad, MBA graduate from an old money family as was his father GHW Bush. In case you haven’t priced estates on the coast of Maine, small fish need not apply for a loan.

While WJ came from humble roots, he attended Yale, was a Rhodes Scholar in the UK. He ran off to the Soviet Union during his did not inhale days. That little side trip still bother me. When you take off the glitter, WJ is a bubba, a down home car salesman with few equals. His wife may have come from middle class background but she attended one of “the” girl’s schools, moving on to Yale law, hardly, the path of the middle class.

As someone once said to me, I would never think of sending my child to an Ivy League school the best I could hope for them is the state university. That is middle class, that is what most of us aspire to for our children. Few of us are lucky enough to have our children attend the crème de la crème.

Prior to GHW, we had a true man of the people, Ronald Reagan. No wait he was a movie star turned politician, so he wasn’t really an ordinary man when we elected him. The populus elected a movie star as their leader. Once again the majority chose style over substance.

Finally we strike gold, Gerald Ford. Yes, the butt of many, many jokes and jabs. A Michigan University, ex-football player turned politician. According to a friend of mine, who cared for his dogs, Ford was a very nice man. Yet, he was much maligned by the media as being dim witted.

Then there was Jimmy Carter, who came from Georgia and humble roots. Before becoming president he was an admiral in the Navy. That is a very powerful position, but he achieved that and more without an advanced start afforded Ivy League education.

If you think I am off base, try Al Gore. Graduated from Harvard after attending St. Albans school in Washington D.C. Al’s father was a U.S. representative and Senator which explains why Al was in D.C.

Following Gore as the democrats Candidate against GW was John Kerry. Kerry’s mother was part of the Forbes family. John spent his summers on the estate in France. As an undergrad Kerry attended Yale and became a member of Skull and Bones. An association to which both GW and GHW Bush belong.

So, what do you think now? Still think U.S. voters abhor elitists? The facts are the facts and there seems to be an affection for those of privilege. Maybe it’s time to start at the grass roots and find some real people to send up the ladder.

In the meantime the selection is between two Ivy League graduates and a third generation military man. McCain grew up in D.C., attended the Naval Academy where he would have flunked out had he not been the son and grandson of Admirals. He may consider himself a man of the people but his second wife is worth over $100 million. That takes him out of the common man status.

Good luck--

The Great Divide by Two

Mon, 13 May 2008 18:52:00 GMT

posted by ShamanWind

I know this will not be read by any legislators because math makes them crazy. Wasn’t there a movie “Beyond the Great Divide?” I think we have past the great divide and come up on the double great divide. Get it yet? Okay, if the Great Divide is between conservatives and liberals, then the dividing of the current form conservative and liberal parties known as republicans and democrats will soon be divided again. We have the republicans pretending to be conservatives but they are not, so when they split there will be the stupid wing with their leader McCain. The conservative wing has yet to fully emerge but it will not be Gingrich, he too has gone over to the dark side.

Ron Paul is too far out to be a leader of a major party. Huckabee is too religious, while he may be a great guy, he’s too tied to the evangelicals to attract most of the non-religious conservatives.

Interesting, that the three legged stool known previously as conservative platform—social, financial, and foreign has fractionalized even more. The social conservative segment is run mostly by the evangelicals, but there are many social conservatives who do not believe religion is a basis for decision making in government. I do not consider religion in my politics. For me religion and politics are completely separate issues.

With the democrats the divide is in the coalition. Previously the democrats were a tightly knit bunch of faction all vying for a piece of the government pie plus the base which was middle class citizens. WJ and HR have separated out the minority based citizens and taken the middle class. What fool would think that a coalition of the remaining factions could win a general election-- The left wing liberals that’s who.

The person strong enough to break with the two party system and appeal to middle class voters with culturally conservative views will be the new party. My fear is that the Clintons have already figured that one out.

By 2012 we could see Hillary Clinton the head of a middle class, populist ticket. Heaven save us, because I believe that she is as socialist as they come. Being Machiavellians they will do what is necessary to win and that is the goal. If her negatives are just too high, they might even run a fresh young face.

The democrats are totally devoid of leaders. There was only one person, Bill Richardson, who actually had any qualifications to run a government. In allying himself with the Obama, that position will be closed to him on a Clinton backed ticket—silly man.

While we have yet to see a political struggle in the republican party, I believe it is waiting to happen. January 2009 we might see an announcement from the Clintons to start a new party. If that happens, the conservatives will be required to respond. The republicans can no longer claim any ground as conservatives. Not one left in their ranks would fit into my definition of a Federalist.

We need to bring government back to the people. That begins at the local level. Even though a president could not change broken government, he with leadership in the legislature could return governance to the states. The next ice age will probably arrive before that happens.

Time now to think local politics and what to call the new conservative party. Names? Ideas? A previous blog had the yellow Gadsden Flag. Today’s is the Navy Union Jack which flew in 1775 and 1776. The flag was reinstated in 2002 to fly during the current War on Terror. What better flag for a new political party than this to remind our nation we are at war with an idea and that we must be united if we are to sustain.