The Best Job In The World

Well, I was scheduled to run the Visteon account for Wednesday through Friday (Chrysler's Warren truck assembly), but one of the drivers for Haas Overhead Door in Wauseon Ohio was having chest pains in Pennsylvania on his way back from the east coast. So my boss called me last minute and asked me to hold tight as they figured out just what to do. The driver was going to a clinic and depending upon what the doctor found, I may have been needed to go out on a one way car rental and retrieve his truck. My boss said that they thought of me because they needed the best of the best for the job! Anyways, they decided to put me onto another Haas run for today and tomorrow, by then they should know if they need for me to go and retrieve the truck on Sunday.

I have recovered trucks before for another employer. I once recoved a truck and the female driver that was in it! She was wigged out on something. She was on eastbound I-80 just west of  the Wyoming border in Utah. I had to bring them both back to the main terminal in West Valley City, a northern suburb of Salt Lake City. I felt bad for her. She was paranoid about losing her job. I tried to calm her down. The company did have a zero tolerance policy, but they also offered rehab for substance abuse. It was kind of a second chance program. I think that she had other issues however, because she just could not stop obsessing about losing her job.

It was the first Volvo that I had driven, and it was loaded to the max. The jakes in that thing were the crapiest set I had ever had the displeasure of using. It was wierd shifting it also, had to rev the engine way up to about 2200 before even thinking of grabbing the next gear up, else it wasn't going to go in it (with or without the clutch). I was trying my damnedest not to soil my pants going down those mountains into SLC and I had to remain calm and cool so as not to set her off, and all the while try to calm her down. Talk about your multi-tasking! Did I mention that it was after dark also?

What is cool about the route that they gave me for today and Friday is that it runs me right within 5 miles of my Mother's house in Canal Fulton, Ohio. So I parked the truck at the TA at Portage Road and I-75 and called Mom up. She came out and met me at the restaurant. She had just eaten, but I was starved. So she kept me company while I ate and then we went back to her house for a visit. She wanted help learning how to use her new laptop computer.

Tomorrow morning early, I have to deliver my last stop in Dover, Ohio and then I make a pick up in Gnadenhutten for the return trip to Wauseon. I love this job. Where else can anyone get paid to visit with family members that live in another state!

It is nice to visit with Mom, but she is a chain smoker, and I have bad asthma. So I will visit with her for a while and then have her take me back to the truck for the night. I can only take so much. Three cigarettes ago I wasn't wheezing. Now my throat is sore and my voice is hoarse and raspy. I fare much better under the mildness of mere deisel particulates at the truck stops than with the durress of second hand smoke. 

Commercial Drivers Are Latest Victims of Liberal Obama Administration.

Driving is by definition an exercise in multi-tasking. You have to operate the vehicle safely, obeying all traffic laws while reading street signs, traffic control devices, addresses, other drivers for clues as to what they are doing or are going to do, and watching out for pedestrians all at the same time. that's why Transportation Secretary, Ray Lahood's edict that specifically bans text messaging on cell phones while driving commercial motor vehicles or buses is silly.

There are varying degrees of excellence in any profession. There are "A" grade engineers and there are "C" grade ones. There is a large continuum between the "A" and "C" grades of every profession. There are even those among the population who for some reason, are passed along with even lower grades; those who border on failing with "D" and "F".

Even an "A" grade operator in any profession will occasionally have a bad day where his performance slips to a lower level. So for the government to say that it is against the law to multi-task while driving any kind of vehicle is an oxymoron.


So what is next? Should we ban smoking while driving? Should we ban playing the radio while driving? Should we ban looking at a map or atlas while driving? Should we ban eating cheeseburgers and fries while driving? Should we ban drinking a Coke while driving? Should we ban shaving or putting on makeup while driving? Should we ban talking on a cell phone hands free while driving? Should we ban talking with a passenger while driving? Should we ban singing along to the radio while driving? Should we ban disciplining unruly children while driving? Should we ban eating pistachios while driving? Should we ban reading a book or newspaper while driving? Should we ban conducting business with others while driving? Should we ban planning vacations or surprise birthday parties or family meals while driving? Should we ban thinking about what we will watch on television tonight while driving? This is still America isn't it? Should we ban being human while driving? I guess that we should all become little robots during the time that we are driving.



How in the world does Ray Lahood expect law enforcement to actually enforce this decree? Distracted driving is a problem that continues to grow as our lives become more and more complicated, especially with the advent of newer technologies. But I think that the emphasis here is misdirected. Instead of criminalizing "texting", we should be reinforcing the values of common sense in executing the multi-tasking required of driving any vehicle. 


I have made and sent politically satirical texts while driving big rigs on several occasions. But not while driving in heavy traffic. Not while driving during rush hour. Not while driving in the city. Not while driving on two lane roads. Not while driving in adverse weather conditions. Not while driving on unfamiliar roads. Certainly not while backing. Not while moving through any parking lots. There is a time and a place for everything, and common sense should guide us as to the proper times for each thing. That does not mean that one can never "text" safely while driving a commercial vehicle, nor does it mean that any commercial driver cannot text while "on duty".


This is a prime example of what a bloated, out of control, appointed bureaucracy that has become a de facto part of our government thinks about you and its attempts to subjugate you as they force their agenda upon you. These unelected and unaccountable officials view themselves as the preeminent purveyors of the civil society. They issue laws without open debate with or consent of the people. There is no checks or balances on their power. They answer to no one. This is the danger in the growth of the forth branch of our government. And under Obama, the growth of the bureaucracy has been massive. He has grown it more than all previous administrations combined. The only growth of our economy of late has been in government. There has been no growth in the private sector.

The result of all this massive governmental growth is continued invasive intrusion into your personal lives, and continued erosion of your liberties and freedoms. And so by edict of a bureaucrat you have lost your freedom to text while behind the wheel of commercial vehicles and buses. If Ray really had his way, he would have even banned talking on the cell phone (even hands free) for everyone who drives any vehicle. But that would never have flown with the public. So once again the Obama administration has sought to demonize and victimize yet another market segment; commercial drivers. This clown has to be a one term wonder folks. Let's make sure that happens please.

Implications of Supreme Court Decision in Citizens United vs. FEC

It has certainly been a bad week for the Obama administration. On Tuesday, the people of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts sent a powerful message to Washington D.C. by electing conservative republican Scott Brown to the senate seat formerly held by senator Ted Kennedy. And then there was the stunning decision handed down by the Supreme Court on Thursday.

The case revolved around a movie on demand that Citizen's United offered as Hillary Clinton was trying to win the democratic nomination for president. It was a scathingly critical documentary. Citizen's United was not given a "media exemption" and the release was blocked by the Federal Elections Commission under campaign finance laws, specifically the McCain-Fiengold law.

David Fossey of Citizen's United was left with no option but to sue the FEC. David won with Thursday's decision. Although it was originally brought as a narrow issue regarding only the release of the video on demand offering from Citizen's United, the winning argument came from the lawyers for the FEC. Justice Samuel Alito asked the lawyer for the FEC "if the documentary was in book form, would the FEC still have banned it?" Of course, the lawyer said yes, that the FEC had that discretion to ban it even if it were in book form. This did not sit well with the conservatives on the court regarding the first amendment and free speech.

The majority opinion, written by justice Kennedy and joined by Cheif Justice John Roberts, and Justices Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas, and Samuel Alito is a new treatment for corporate speech and spending. Kennedy worte, "By suppresing the speech of manifold corporations, both for profit and non-profit, the government prevents their voices and viewpoints from reaching the public and advising voters on which persons or entities are hostile to their interests".

While the left is furiously scrambling to draft legislation that would curtail this by placing limits on corporations who hold federal contracts, this November's elections will possibly be quite different from before. The gloves are off now. No longer are businesses handicapped against expressing opinions that favor them.

But what is good for business causes profits to increase. As business profits increase, businesses grow. As businesses grow, they will need to hire more employees. In essence, what is good for business is good for the economy and what is good for the economy is good for jobs. And jobs are what is foremost in the minds of the people these days. So as distasteful as the left finds this decision to be, the people stand to be the biggest winners here. No longer are campaign messages the sole property of the far left Political Action Committees (PACS) who are well funded by leftists like billionaire George Soros.


No longer is prosperity a victim of the far left agenda. No longer is prosperity a victim of environmental extremists. Now, the playing field has finally been leveled. Thank God!

Polarizing Ideologies

I heard an audio bite from Martha Coakley today on Rush Limbaugh's show. She stated that our health system was broken because it actually treated people who were ill, instead of preventing the illness which was too costly to treat after it had established itself. Rush capitalized upon another aspect of the comment, the openness of the left to willingly impose their crazy ideology upon the rest of us regardless of the majority being against them. While that was very true, the part that caught my ear was the flawed idea that we have the capability to detect all illnesses before they happen and that the left views ill people as a financial drag on society because of the costs associated with treating them to make them well again.

As Rush likes to call it, "the Universe of Lies" that the left lives in was made painfully evident by the clueless remarks of a hapless Martha. As if we have the technology to predict who will come down with whatever illness before hand and prevent it from happening is absurd. Where is that crystal ball at? I would like to know what the next set of lottery numbers are!

As people age they are more susceptible to illnesses. As people age the probability of contracting an illness increases. It is a mathematical certainty that nearly everyone will at some point in their lives suddenly find themselves battling some illness. It could be cancer, arthritis, dementia, MS, Heart disease, allergies, asthma, diabetes, or many others. Some of these diseases have genetic markers that predispose certain people towards contracting them, but even that is not any guarantee that they will come down with whatever it is.

No, the real intention of the left was inadvertently exposed in Martha's comment that it was too costly to treat people who already were battling some disease. That is why the left really thinks that their rationing of health care is a sensible, rational, and reasonable thing to do. After all, it is the responsible thing to do. I mean, all of you people who dare to actually be ill, should do the right thing and reject treatment, to save society money. You who are ill, should die responsibly, and quickly so that the rest of us can have the easy life with well paved roads and bridges to drive on and higher unemployment benefits for those who are out of work. You who are sucking up resources by treating your illness, are being irresponsible bad citizens. You should be thinking of the potential benefit to society first.

This is the twisted thinking that plagues the rabid leftists in the liberal horde. It is warped to say the very least. I can't think of a better example of egalitarianism and yet they will sell this bilk all day as compassion. It is elitism and nothing else. They try to package it as compassion but it does not pass the smell test. They would have two classes in society if they got their way, theirs for the elite and yours for the rest of the dregs. That is how they view the world; through a warped prismatic lens that is their heart. These stalwarts will never change. They represent about 20% of the population. Another 20% feels that nothing they can do will make a difference, and so they sit on the sidelines doing nothing. The do nothings will not change either. It is the remaining 60% who can be swayed either way. Those are the ones worth the effort of reaching to change their minds to make a positive change. That 60% can be persuaded that conservatism is the answer.

For Jackie; Please Keep All Comments Clean!

To commenter Jackie; I am not quite sure how you got misogyny out of my recent post, "The Smell of Desperation", (which was about the imminent political defeat of "tax and spend" liberalism in Massachusetts), but nothing could be further from the truth. I love women, and respect all life from the unborn to the elderly. I knew two complete sets of my own Great Grandparents for the first 18 years of my life! The reason that I did not publish your dissenting comment was strictly the language used. I have published dissenting comments before, in fact, I welcome them! For future reference, please keep the language clean, so I can publish your comments whether you agree with me or not. Thank you.

The Smell of Desperation.

The blood is in the water now. the Massachusetts senate race between Democrat Martha Coakley and Republican contender Scott Brown is one of the most closely watched races in recent history. The fate of Obamacare rests upon the outcome. Obama just finished stumping for Martha in Boston. He was shouted down twice by a man and his son who were opposed to the support for abortion in Obamacare. The hecklers were removed, but Obama was clearly unnerved by the incident, probably because his teleprompter wasn't loaded with a contingent quip against such moral objections. He actually walked away from the podium for a moment, and when he returned struggled to remember where he was in his rhetoric, amazing!

All of the polls show that the defeat of Obamacare is imminent with the crescendo of common sense that is building in Massachusetts to deliver the crushing death blow at the ballot box soon. The very fact that Obama is there stumping for Martha, is proof that they are running scared. Obamacare is on the ropes and with Brown's win, we can knock it clear out of the ring.

Obama talked about his idiotic idea of a special tax on big banks to "recover TARP funds" that were given to them. What a load of crap. The treasury department forced them to take that money. They were not "given" it! Most of them did not even ask for that money. And most of them have paid that back already. All this will do is make any transactions with potential borrowers more expensive which will crimp lending by driving demand down even farther than it is now. In a time when they want to encourage lending to grease the wheels of commerce, this makes no sense. This just shows how very little Obama and his administration really understand about the free market and how it works.

He spoke about equality, which the left frequently does to try to frame their argument for increasing the size and scope of government and its increased intrusion into everyone's lives, as a humanitarian endeavor. This is of course, hogwash because while all are created equal, (having equal rights and intrinsic value as human beings) not all have equal talents, or are given equal opportunities by God. And so this is the tactic that they employ without fail. They are so predictable. Wrong, but predictable.

The President started his speech stating that he did not know much about the record of Scott Brown, and then he spent the rest of his time attacking it! That is pure desperation!

The public has had enough of politicians attitude of "tax and spend" from both parties. But it is the liberal democrats that have ratcheted that policy up exponentially since just last year. The tipping point has been passed, and the liberals are not aware of it yet. They will get the message loud and clear soon enough though. It started a while ago with Virginia, and New Jersey. It continues with this month's senate race in Massachusetts, and it will surely continue this November elsewhere..

Keep the faith folks. We are going to defeat Obamacre and so much more before it is all said and done with.

The True Cost of Bottle Deposits.

I recently found out that Michigan is losing five and a half million dollars per year on its bottle deposit program due to bottles that were purchased out of state and returned here. To understand how this works, I followed the flow of money logically.

First of all, lets understand just what the bottle return deposit system is. All plastic and glass bottles, and aluminum cans that contain carbonated beverages have a ten cent deposit placed on them by our state government. 

1) This deposit is collected by retailers from consumers and handed over to the state. 
2) The bottles are returned to retailers through machines that issue receipts to consumers. 
3) Consumers exchange the receipts for cash at retailers.
4) The retailers collect and aggregate the receipts and exchange them for cash with the state.

The whole system adds costs to products. Bottles must be handled by retailers. It used to be that a human being did this in the beginning. This person had to collect the bottles and cans, issue receipts and separate them for the recyclers who picked them up. Retailers had to hire a person who did nothing but handle returns. The free market came up with a solution to this by introducing collection machines. There are separate machines for glass, plastic and aluminum. So separation is performed by the consumer as they are returned. And the counting of the returns and issuance of receipts is now automated. The machines require minimal attention and can be maintained by current employees.

The machines cannot differentiate between out of state bottles and cans because it merely reads a bar code that has only product information in it. Retailers are not required to accept for return, brands that they do not sell. So cans and bottles that were purchased out of state that do not have the deposit on them, can easily be returned in the machines. So money is siphoned away from the state by people who have exploited this loophole. I call it the Kramer loophole, after the famous episode of Seinfeld in which the wacky Kramer teams up with Newman to run a postal van full of bottles and cans from New York to Michigan to turn them in for money.

Evidently, the count of out of state bottles and cans returned in Michigan is fifty five million per year. This would equal the five and a half million dollars that is lost each year on Michigan's bottle return program. So, in order to keep the environment free from aluminum cans and plastic and glass bottles, Michigan is spending five and a half million dollars each and every year.


Does this sound like a good use of public funds to you? I grew up in northeast Ohio, and I never saw a blight of aluminum cans or plastic and glass bottles littering the environment. Ohioans, collect the cans, crush them, and take them to the scrap yards who pay the current market price for them based on weight. Also, they turn in plastic and glass when they recycle the cans. In Ohio, there exists a culture of recycling. They also recycle cardboard and paper. In fact it has always been a common thing to do as a way to raise funds for local schools. I can remember my grade school and high school having a "paper drive" with one or two roll-offs placed on the property which community residents were encouraged to fill with used newspapers and magazines. The paper collected was turned in to the paper recyclers and money was issued to the schools based on the tonnage collected. 


In Ohio they spend far less than five and a half million per year to promote this culture of recycling. They do place occasional adds on television and on billboards to maintain this culture of recycling, the environment is cleaner, and the cost to the public is far less.


Meanwhile back in Michigan, the cost of the bottle return system to the taxpaying citizens of Michigan is bigger than just the deposit on the bottles and cans. Because the program pays out more than it receives, the funds must come from somewhere. Typically it comes out of the general fund leaving less for other uses like road maintenance. This has helped create a structural deficit in state finances and it must be addressed. The typical response of our government is to tax more heavily. They have raised taxes on rental cars, and hotel rooms and bed and breakfasts, because they reason that these are typically paid by nonresidents to try to make up for the shortage. But this is a shortsighted fix because about 60% of the 5.5 Billion dollar Michigan tourism industry is fueled by locals. This hurts the tourism and hospitality industries which are involved with tourism. This causes more job losses in a state that can not afford to lose any more jobs!


This is a prime example of why government intrusion into the lives of citizens no matter how well intentioned, can have disastrous consequences for the economy as a whole. It is very interesting to note that the one mention of the free market in this article is a positive one while the same can not be said of government solutions to a problem.

Smell the Truth of New Year's Eve 2010

As a pool driver I work on many different accounts. Some I like better than others, but it is all work that pays. Recently I did a run for a company that provides research animals. They breed them and ship them all over the country. I have done a few runs for them before, but this one was different. The other times it was rodents, rabbits specifically. Rabbits are shipped in cardboard boxes that are stapled shut and they have enough food and water for a 24 hour trip inside each box. So as a transporter, you never actually see the rabbits nor have to handle them. You are transporting boxes of live animals.

This time however, it was a canine load. beagle puppies in large crates. Ten crates each with three pups in them. I had to water them every 12 hours. And when I got to the destination, I had to help the client unload them. I had to handle each one of the 30 pups, handing them over to workers at a pharmaceutical company where their fate was uncertain. I did not ask what would be done with or to them. I just handed them over, got a signature on the shipping papers and left for the nearest motel.

By the time that I finished delivering the pups, except for the 4, twenty minute power naps that I took slumped over behind the wheel of the Ford E-250 van on the way there, I had not slept in 48 hours. I was beyond tired. But when I laid down and closed my eyes I could not sleep because I could instantly smell those pups, their Eukanuba food, the puppy poop in the cages, and I could hear their cries. Then I thought about how it must have felt to have been one of the Jews that worked for the Nazis in the camps processing fellow Jews in with the ever present stench of the ovens permeating the air.

How inescapable the truth was then. One can lie by deceit or by omission but that assumes that lies are always perceived by ear. Body language can also conceal or give away your intentions because it relies on trained eyes to read it. But you cannot lie by smell! Even scented candles really aren't what they purport to be. Sure they smell close, but you can tell they are imitations.

I cried for about an hour before taking my allergy medications for the night and then going to bed. That is how I spent my New Year's Eve as 2009 changed into 2010.

I once heard that the reason that men have shorter life spans than women is because we simply internalize these kind of stressors. We don't talk about them with anyone else and as a result it eats us up inside. The price we pay for this coping mechanism, is a shorter lifespan.