Petrochemical Fuels, Their Uses, Facts and Myths.

There is an email that has been circulating around the web that implores readers to fill their gas tanks early in the morning while using the slowest setting on the pump. The reasons that it gives for doing so are false. As an informed worker in the transportation field, it is incumbent upon me to set the record straight regarding these myths.

This email has been circulating for some time. While the temperature component of delivered gasoline or other aliphatic hydrocarbon fuels via a closed pipeline system is true, the low vapor pressure and high volatility of gasoline does not account for significant losses when fueling your car at the pump regardless of pumping speed. Moreover, most pumps are calibrated with a temperature compensation component.

Not all pumps have vapor collection and return on them. Only newer pumps in certain areas that mandate them do. The largest contributor of gasoline vapors and other unburnt hydrocarbons in the atmosphere does not come from fueling or operating your vehicle, it actually comes from tanker truck accidents that occur while delivering fuel to gas stations or leaking underground storage tanks!

Gasoline is highly volatile but only burns within a very narrow range of vapor concentrations. Gasoline has a lower explosion limit of 1.4% by volume and an upper explosion limit of 7.6% by volume. This means that gasoline vapors mixed with atmospheric air at concentrations below 1.4% by volume will fail to ignite because the mixture is too lean, and gasoline vapors mixed with atmospheric air at concentrations above 7.6% by volume will fail to ignite because the mixture is too rich.

Gasoline is more volatile than diesel oil, Jet-A or kerosene, not only because of the base constituents, but because of the additives that are put into it. The final control of volatility is often achieved by blending with butane. The Reid Vapor Pressure (RVP) test is used to measure the volatility of gasoline. The desired volatility depends on the ambient temperature. In hot weather, gasoline components of higher molecular weight and thus lower volatility are used. In cold weather, too little volatility results in cars failing to start. This is the reason behind differing blends of gasoline for each season.

In hot weather, excessive volatility results in what is known as "vapor lock", where combustion fails to occur, because the liquid fuel has changed to a gaseous fuel in the fuel lines, rendering the fuel pump ineffective and starving the engine of fuel. This effect mainly applies to (older) camshaft-driven (engine mounted) fuel pumps, which lack a fuel return line. Vehicles with fuel injection require the fuel to be highly pressurized, to within a set range (usually an extremely narrow range). Because camshaft speed is nearly zero before the engine is started, an electric pump is used. It is located in the fuel tank so that the fuel may also cool the high-pressure pump. Pressure regulation is achieved by use of a pressure modulator that returns unused fuel to the tank. Therefore, vapor lock is almost never a problem in a (newer) vehicle with fuel injection.

In the United States, volatility is regulated in large cities to reduce the emission of unburned hydrocarbons. In many of those large cities, so-called reformulated gasoline that is less prone to evaporation, among other properties, is required. Most countries simply have a summer, winter, and perhaps intermediate limit.

Volatility standards may be relaxed (allowing more gasoline components into the atmosphere) during gasoline shortages. For example, on 31 August 2005, in response to Hurricane Katrina, the United States permitted the sale of non-reformulated gasoline in some urban areas, effectively permitting an early switch from summer to winter-grade gasoline. As mandated by EPA administrator Stephen L. Johnson, this "fuel waiver" was made effective until 15 September 2005.^[9]

Modern automobiles are also equipped with an evaporative emissions control system (called an EVAP system in automotive jargon), which collects evaporated fuel from the fuel tank in a charcoal-filled canister that is usually located inside the engine compartment while the engine is stopped and then releases the collected vapors into the engine intake for burning when the engine is running (usually only after it has reached normal operating temperature.) The evaporative emissions control system also includes a sealed gas cap to prevent vapors from escaping via the fuel filler tube. There is also a myth around "stuffing" your car with gasoline which says that the extra gasoline just evaporates into the atmosphere. As you can see, that would be an impossible thing in such a closed system. Modern vehicles with OBD-II emissions control systems will illuminate the malfunction indicator light, (MIL) "check engine" or “Service Engine Soon” light if the leak detection pump (LDP) detects a leak in the EVAP system. If the Electronic Control Unit (ECU) or Powertrain Control Module (PCM) detects a leak, it will store an OBD-II code representing either a small or a large leak, thus illuminating the MIL to indicate a failure. Some vehicles can detect whether the gas cap is incorrectly fitted, and will indicate this by illuminating a gas cap symbol on the dash.

Energy content (High and low heating value)

Gasoline contains about 35 MJ/L (9.7 kW·h/L, 132 MJ/US gal, 36.6 kWh/US gal) (higher heating value) or 13 kWh/kg. This is an average; gasoline blends differ, and therefore actual energy content varies from season to season and from batch to batch, by up to 4% more or less than the average, according to the US EPA. On average, about 19.5 US gallons (16.2 imp gal; 74 L) of gasoline are available from a 42-US-gallon (35 imp gal; 160 L) barrel of crude oil (about 46% by volume), varying due to quality of crude and grade of gasoline. The remaining residue comes off as products ranging from tar to naptha.^[10]

Below is a chart that compares the volumetric and mass energy density of some popular fuels compared with gasoline (in the rows with gross and net, they are from ^[11]):

        

Fuel type	Gross MJ/L	MJ/kg	Gross BTU/Gal (imp)	Gross BTU/Gal (U.S.)	Net BTU/Gal (U.S.)	RON
Conventional Gasoline	34.8	44.4	150,100	125,000	115,400
Autogas (LPG) (60% Propane + 40% Butane)	26.8	46				108
Ethanol	21.2	26.8	101,600	84,600	75,700	113
Methanol	17.9	19.9	77,600	64,600	56,600	123
Butanol	29.2	36.6				91-99
Gasahol	31.2		145,200	120,900	112,400	93-94
Diesel(*)	38.6	45.4	166,600	138,700	128,700	25
Biodiesel	33.3-35.7			126,200	117,100
Avgas (High-Octane Aviation Gasoline)	33.5	46.8	144,400	120,200	112,000
Jet Fuel (Kerosene Based)	35.1	43.8	151,242	125,935
Jet Fuel (Naphtha)				127,500	118,700
LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas)	25.3	~55	109,000	90,800
LPG (Liquefied Petroleum Gas)				91,300	83,500
Hydrogen	10.1(at 20 Kelvin)	142			130

(*) Diesel is not used in gasoline engines, so its low octane rating is not an issue; the relevant metric used for diesel engines is the cetane number because it is burned by a different process called detonation instead of the deflagration process that occurs in other internal combustion engines.

As you can see from the above chart, Ethanol (Cornahol) and Methanol (wood alcohol) have a higher octane rating (RON) than conventional gasoline (which only means that it burns hotter and cleaner) but has a significantly lower energy density as measured by both mass and volume. This lower energy density coupled with the highly corrosive effects on internal combustion engine parts makes its use as a large-scale replacement fuel for conventional gasoline very impractical without massive government subsidies, which is a hidden tax on all taxpayers. The highly corrosive effects of both Ethanol and Methanol require that it cannot be pumped through a pipeline structure; instead, it must be trucked to market further increasing costs to bring it to market. The highest energy density based on mass in order goes Hydrogen, Liquefied Natural Gas, Aviation Gas, Autogas (LPG), Diesel, and then Conventional Gasoline. What makes Hydrogen impractical is that it must be stored cryogenically to achieve the highest energy density by mass (note the temperature of 20 Kelvin in the chart).

The real tricks to adopt are maximizing your driven mile efficiencies by combining your trips and carefully planning your route for the least miles driven. Avoid excessive idling. Alter your driving habits to avoid jack-rabbit starts or excessive (hard) acceleration. Slow down gradually well in advance of intersections with traffic control devices or signs and avoid hard braking situations; this means no tailgating! Proper tire inflation and vehicle maintenance including regular oil changes will help you to control your expenditures on gasoline. Carpool when possible, and simply avoid all unnecessary driving. Beyond that, the prices we pay at the pump are primarily driven by environmental, geopolitical, and market forces that are largely beyond our individual control. How or when you fuel your vehicle is of very little consequence to how much we pay for that fuel or the efficiencies that we can achieve in the grand scheme of things.

Economics, Eugenics and Population Control

I was reading the latest edition of Imprimis from Hillsdale College the other day. Imprimis is latin for “in the first place”. Hillsdale College is a private college in Hillsdale Michigan that has never accepted one dime of government funding. You can not attend there if you can not pay for it by yourself, they will not accept “Pell Grants” or Stafford loans which are backed by the government. They promote conservative principles in regard to governing our country and that includes monetary policies as well.

The article was an adaptation from a speech by Seth Lipsky, the founding editor of the New York Sun delivered at the Hillsdale National Leadership Seminar in Poenix Arizona on Feruary 16, 2011. It was titled “The Floating Dollar as a Threat to Property Rights”. It focused upon the valuation of money in regards to pay for federal judges.

According to the Coinage Act of 1792 the value of a dollar was fixed at 371 ¼ grains of pure silver (this was based on a coin in wide use at the time called the Spanish milled dollar). Now the article failed to mention the conversion factors for grains to ounces so let’s first consider that convention. Precious metals are measured in Troy ounces. There are 12 troy ounces in one pound. One troy ounce is equal to 480 grains. Therefore, the original value of the American Dollar was .7796875 Troy ounces of pure silver. At today’s spot value of silver ($37.83 per Troy ounce), that original dollar was worth $29.50 in today’s dollars! My, how our dollar has devalued over the 219 years since it was introduced. I wondered, why has this devaluation occurred and what could be driving it?

In making comparisons of values over time, there are several factors to account for.  Everyone has heard about inflation. Inflation is defined as the situation that results from when there are too many dollars chasing too few goods. It is easy to understand this from a simple supply and demand view. When there are many people with money and there is not enough goods to go around, some people will be willing to pay more in order to acquire one or more of the goods available for sale. This is one of the natural mechanisms that operate in free markets to maintain equilibrium. The opposite situation would be an example of deflation but it operates in the opposite direction forcing prices lower, although in reality supply is adjusted to cancel this effect. But are there other significant drivers involved with inflationary pressures on an economy besides supply and demand? By the way, supply and demand principles apply to both sides of the economy, the goods and services sought, and the actual monetary supply (the amount of money in circulation at any given point in time). And then there are the monetary policies that act to moderate access to the money supply (interest rates, laws, access to credit, regulatory barriers etc.). We have heard of easy access to money causing “bubbles” and tight access to money causing businesses to close resulting in job losses (both conditions often have roots in well-intentioned albeit misguided administrative policies).

What occurred to me last night in a dream was that nowhere have we heard much of the effects of overall global population growth on monetary policy as it relates to currency valuations around the world. Let’s consider for a moment the fact that there is only a finite supply of the various precious metals. There is only so much gold on the planet, only so much silver, and only so much platinum. Let’s assume that most of these precious metals have been found, mined, and refined and are in circulation already. As the global population continues to increase over time, the value of currencies based on precious metals must naturally decrease.

If all global currencies were backed by precious metals, then overall poverty would be on the increase because of dilution of monetary values due to the increasing population growth. To combat poverty, progressives like FDR started the United States down the path towards a fiat currency. Nixon finished what FDR began by completing the removal of our currency from the gold standard in 1971.

Now that we have a floating currency the effects of global population growth in general and United States population growth in particular on our monetary devaluation have been lessened somewhat. What remains is regulation of the monetary supply through the FED and natural market forces with market forces being the more influential of the two.

In 1800 the estimated global population was about 1.125 billion. Today’s estimate is 6.9 billion! This explosion in population is a good argument for fiat currencies as a way to keep many people from falling into poverty. However, even Jesus told us “the poor will always be with you”. Perhaps there is a better way besides monetary policies to combat poverty that we just have not yet considered.

This article up to this paragraph was taken from an email that I sent to family members about two weeks ago. What makes this remarkable is that the very next issue of Imprimus that I received just the other day had an article in it Titled "The Not So Dismal Science: Humanitarians v. Economists" that completely validates my supposition that there is in fact, a better way to raise people up out of poverty than just monetary policies!

What was particularly interesting was how the enlightened humanitarians referenced in the article were all in favor of population control instead of encouraging economic opportunity for all as the great economists of the day were! Why this was particularly poignant to me was how my own mother responded to my original article. She said that she was a believer in population control. She said that we should actually support an effort here in America to control the population!

I couldn't believe what I was hearing! I reminded her about what Hitler was all about with his campaign to exterminate the Jewish race. How that an American atheist named Margaret Sanger picked up the hitleresque mantle of eugenics and focused it like a laser on the black race here in our own country. I reminded her how China's hideous experiment in population control was wildly skewed against females and led to rampant human rights atrocities.
Every one of my examples was also referenced in this newest article of Imprimus and well as a few others. Like the mass forced sterilizations in India, which caused the political backlash that ousted Indira Gandhi from power. 
I am outraged at the mere thought of any semblance of population control. I couldn't believe what my own mother was saying! It makes me wonder sometimes if I could actually belong to the postman! How could I have come from those loins?
It is nice to be validated and vindicated by this article taken from the speech of William McGurn delivered at Hillsdale College on March 3rd 2011. William McGurn is the Vice President of News Corporation and writes a weekly "Main Street" column for The Wall Street Journal.
You can view the latest article in Imprimus at the following link http://www.hillsdale.edu/news/imprimis.asp 

Aimless and Leaderless; American Greatness Adrift on a Sea of Ineptness.

Well the back-benchers have finally taken up the thread that I planted last July about Obama's lack of leadership. What was it that Nero was doing while Rome was burning? It seems that Obama has bested that; while northeastern Japan lay in ruin with nuclear reactors burning and exploding, thousands of her citizens missing and feared dead, he decides to duff a few holes on the links. It is painfully obvious to anyone with a heart where his priorities are.

I am ashamed to call Obama my President after having acted in such an aloof and callus manor towards our brethren in Japan. I am not at all surprised by it, just completely ashamed of it.


I will reiterate what I stated last July, this man is not a leader. A great orator perhaps, but great oration is hardly a valued leadership skill. Being decisive, compassionate, resolute, and humble enough to get personally involved are highly valued leadership skills. George Bush 43 had leadership skills in spades despite being a fumbling orator. Moses had a speech impediment, but God used him to lead his people out of Egypt  (historically factual).


God help our nation; we have installed as our leader, a foolish man who is a great orator (when the teleprompters are working). He is more interested in the pomp and circumstance associated with the office of President than in leading. He is self serving instead of selfless. He is far more interested in broadcasting his bracket picks for the final four than in leading the free world, or supporting those around the world who desire to be free. He is far more concerned with how he is perceived on The View, Leno or Letterman than in being a leader. Perhaps he should have chosen to go into broadcasting arts instead of politics. He has had more face time on television than all other Presidents combined since the advent of the medium! Every time when it really counts, this damned fool just punts instead of going for it on fourth and long.


When political instability in the middle east threatens our energy supply and our economic recovery (or overall condition), this clown sits on his hands instead of oiling the process of permitting for domestic drilling operations. Then he simultaneously declares that windmills and solar energy will save us from our dependence upon foreign oil. He is woefully out of step with the will of the people, and completely out of touch with reality.


This clod is a bumbling idiot with real power. That makes him one of the most dangerous men on the planet. He is the real life version of Inspector Clouseau only he never actually gets it right, his handlers merely give his fantastic ineptness a somewhat plausible spin (at least in the eyes of those deceived liberals he counts as his base, the poor saps).

I'm not laughing, but I am praying.

The late night comics are just regurgitating what their writers pen, and they do get laughs for sure. But when it comes to laughing at the expense of anyone who is more than likely suffering from a mental illness, it isn't really all that funny. I am of course, talking about actor and comedian Charlie Sheen. He is a good actor, and a funny comedian in his own right, but his actions and words of late reveal a fractured mental state.

I am not a trained psychologist or psychiatrist but I have had enough first hand experiences with people who suffer from mental illnesses and addictions to know what it looks like. Even in his more lucid segments of recent interviews, I noticed during a wide shot when the camera panned back, that his feet, arms, and eyes were twitching uncontrollably which is a common sign of someone that is tweaked on drugs. Not to mention his general appearance which has gotten to be very slovenly; wearing the same dirty clothes for days, his unkempt hair, the gaunt face betrays his lack of proper diet, and his profuse sweating is indicative of the nervous paranoia of anyone on drugs. All these things, considering they are exhibited by a seasoned actor makes me think that he is bipolar and is in a manic state. If he crashes before he gets professional help, he may harm himself or someone else. 

He says that he is clean but there are very sophisticated ways to beat a urinalysis based drug test. Blood tests only test for the presence of drugs or their metabolites that are currently circulating and have not yet been excreted by the kidneys or processed metabolically by the liver. A comprehensive set of simultaneous tests of blood, urine, and hairs would be nearly impossible to beat, especially when administered and observed in a clinical environment.

The incoherent rants of Charlie are alarming. He should be hospitalized to keep him from hurting himself or others. He desperately needs a forced interdiction for his drug use, and professional help for his mental illness.

I find the lack of compassion by the public and Hollywood for this human being who is obviously suffering horribly to be appalling and reprehensible.

I, for one am not laughing. I am praying that he gets the help he needs before we read or hear about his passing or committing a violent crime as a result of his increasing manic agitation and paranoia.

Really?

The email exchange below displays just how convoluted the thought processes of the left are! In order to follow it chronologically, you have to read the back and forth threads from the bottom of this article back up to the top.

Regarding your statement blaming the “greed and mismanagement of big business” causing the economic mess. You are wrong. It was the micromanagement of the ever intrusive government through over-regulation and over taxing that caused business hiring to decline. That caused lower government revenues, which sent the then Secretary of the Treasury Henry Paulson out in the streets and at the Whitehouse microphones crying that “the sky was falling, the sky was falling. Give me, the FED and Wall Street a trillion dollars and don’t ask any questions”.

The reason that businesses are allowing or outright arranging for themselves to be bought up by foreign firms is that when that happens, their charter for incorporation inside the United States is null and void because their new owners are already incorporated in another (more business friendly) country. If our luggerheads in congress would only figure this out they could have stopped it years ago before all the damned jobs left with the businesses and their headquarters. So there are no “loopholes” for businesses that operate outside the US. Those companies are no longer American companies. The US cannot tax foreign companies! They can impose tariffs on imports, but the American consumer will not stand for that. We want inexpensive goods.

I am not clear on what you mean by “taking oil from our waters and not paying for it”. But if you mean that foreign corporations or countries are taking our oil then there is an easy fix for that. Allow American companies to drill for it instead! That generates high-paying private sector jobs, huge tax revenues to the government, and energy independence all at the same time! It would kill three birds with one stone, but what the congress has done instead, is to take away generous tax breaks for big oil companies. The oil industry views this as a disincentive and most of the companies that were operating in the Gulf of Mexico have left for other countries where they can drill, taking those high-paying jobs with them. But the dunderheads in control of the White house and Senate will not go as far as to actually encourage job growth because they are either beholden to the enviroterrorists and their lobbies, or they are just plain stupid, I can’t really determine which it is yet.

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You do not read well - - You can't have "interjections" but you seem to have trouble - or want to deflect what I say into something else - READ the words below that I changed to red & USE your head:  Where did I stop reading - when you started name calling - so you figure it out how much I read. It was interesting till I got to the point that was rude & belittling -& that's where I quit. I was done & I remain done. And there will be no further discussion on economics or politics - -you DON't handle it in a way that causes me to want to participate - I just want to be done with it.  

Amen, over & out.

----- Original Message -----

Your comments brushed on politics, but the main topic involved economics, a subject which I know rather well. Macroeconomics is a topic that I excel in as graded by institutions of higher learning.

Have you bothered to Google “The seven stages of currency” or “the seven stages of empires”? I am not talking off of the top of my head here. Do the research for yourself and see what has been historically documented throughout the world!

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Do not refer to my president as an idiot or clown or any other belittling name.  I don't engage in name calling & you better not with me.  THIS IS WHY I CAN"T STAND THE WAY YOU COMMUNICATE POLITICS - as if you're some damn radio talk-show host - RUDE & a pompous ass.  I do not like it & I hate you for writing like that. Once again - You've lost my interest. I stopped reading right there - NO MORE POLITIC talk - - - - - I "tested the waters" & you failed - again.

If you can't carry on a converstation about political issues in an adult, polite, matter of fact manner - AND YOU CAN"T -

then we're back to what it was NO POLITICAL TALK BETWEEN US.

----- Original Message -----

As a country, we need to stop spending so much. The cuts they want in the house are quite reasonable, but in reality it will never fly in the Senate because the democrats still have a majority there albeit somewhat smaller now. And then the President himself will veto it. What will end up happening is that neither “side” will get all that they want and there will be compromise. Personally, as a country we are broke. The fact is that we are spending way more than we are collecting in revenues. The reasons are many, but chief among them is the lousy economy has forced many businesses to either close, or lay off personnel. That means corporate tax revenues as well as individual income tax revenues are way down, and our government just keeps on busting the budget higher and higher with increased spending. At some point, our creditors (those who purchase our debts through the fed issuing bonds and treasury notes) will stop purchasing them and we will have a currency that has failed because it has no backing. Our currency was taken completely off the gold standard in 1971. Since 1971 we have operated with a fiat currency. If you look throughout all of recorded human history, every single time that a country or empire took its currency off a standard (went to a fiat currency) the currency failed within forty years. Fiat currency has a historically documented 100% failure rate. You do the math yourself, 2011-1971=40 years! Guess what is right around the corner!

There are seven stages to currencies in any empire (country) and they are;

1.      Currency is sound because it is backed by a standard, usually a precious metal like gold or silver.

2.      As a country starts to develop both socially and economically, it implements social programs and many layers of public works such as the “New Deal” implemented by FDR.

3.      As the economy grows and affluence builds a larger middle class, political clout in the world grows and the empire funds a massive buildup of its military. (we spend more on defense than any other nation, and we have for many decades now)

4.      At some point the empire puts its military to use exploding expenditures (we are the de facto world’s police).

5.      in order to finance the military costs, it is necessary to steal the wealth of the citizenry by replacing their sound, asset backed currency with fiat currency that can be printed in unlimited quantities. Inflating the monetary supply devalues the fiat currency and allows easier repayment of debts, it also introduces price inflation into the economy.

6.      The increased monetary supply burdens the economy with price inflation and people start to loose faith in the currency.

7.      During this last stage, people have lost so much faith in the currency that there is a massive exodus from currency into precious metals. Ask yourself, why has gold been experiencing an unrelenting rise in price for over the past six years? And why are there so many television and radio commercials for different businesses that will help you to purchase gold or silver? The exodus from the fiat currency into precious metals always immediately precedes the complete collapse and failure of the fiat currency.

These seven stages have happened around the globe in the same order usually within a forty-year time span (from fiat to failure). This fiat to failure cycle has happened thirty times around the globe in just the past 100 years. It is also what destroyed the Roman empire! The Romans started a gradual decent into fiat currency (just as we have done). Originally their Denarius was made of pure gold. However, gradually over time the gold content was reduced to just 0.02%. Within forty years of that extremely low devaluation (creating a fiat currency), the empire crumbled from within.

We are currently between stages six and seven. So now is not the time to spend like drunken sailors on programs that we simply cannot continue to afford. What happened in Greece, will (not if) happen here. All the damned pet pork projects need elimination. No more funding of the “Arts”. No more grants for studying the effects of Prostitution, or whatever other ridiculous idiotic crap some lobbyist or special interest dreams up. No more grants to protect the great horned toad or whatever stupid idiotic environmental cause some bleeding heart champions. We are broke. We can’t afford it anymore, period. It is time to cut up the damned credit cards and pay down the damned debts we have now. Stop incurring new debts. Obama and his 111^th congress exploded the public debt (forget Wall Street, let them twist in the wind). This idiot in the Whitehouse and his former goon squad in congress have spent more than all other administrations combined since the formation of our blessed nation! And they did it in just two years! They have seriously damaged, crippled even, our economy and our nation. They have perpetuated the new norm; high unemployment, high crime, high anxiety, homelessness, and high despair.

This clown in the Whitehouse is a criminal for his crimes against humanity, his own people! What is coming is going to make the great depression look lame!

By the way, the unemployment rate inside the city limits of Pontiac has reached 33%. I am sure that it is even higher in Detroit proper.

Public employee unions have become a favorite target of public ire lately and rightly so because they enjoy high wages, high employment growth, many paid holidays, Cadillac benefits that cost them little or nothing, and defined benefit pensions while the rest of society pays the tab for it all and suffers far less generous remuneration for far more arduous labor. I hope like hell that Wisconsin and Ohio are victorious in breaking the damned AFLCIO. I have had two private union jobs in my life and I ended up firing the unions in both of them. And it was a good thing that I did. I earned more money and did not have to pay the monthly extortion to the union, plus I kept all the same benefits that I had in the union. When you have a sound work ethic, you don’t need some union to do your bidding for you. I did not like the fact that a union gave any of my (forced) dues to political candidates that I did not personally support either. We here in Michigan finally have a conservative majority. We have a former businessman (CEO) as a republican governor, our congress and our senate are both controlled by republicans and now we are finally getting down to the real business of cutting our wasteful spending (that the former democratic criminal bitch Governor Jennifer Granholm initiated and perpetuated). Michigan will be another battleground state in the near future.

The Organizing for America organization (Obama’s political campaign apparatus) is in full swing in creating an image in Wisconsin. They have bussed in hundreds of thousands of “rent a mob” protesters, while the silent majority there watches in horror as grown men (all democratic state senators) act childish and shirk their responsibilities to govern by being present to vote on important issues. They should be arrested for dereliction of duty, or failure to perform and tossed out of office. They are cowards. They are attempting to evade responsibility by traveling out of state and staying away in a futile attempt to make the budget issues just go away! That is the very definition of childishness (infantile) if you ask me. Wisconsin is broke, Michigan is broke, the whole United States is broke. It is time to stop the madness of continued frivolous, wasteful spending.

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Just read these last two email you sent. My cats too often get comfy in one of the dog cages!

I don't know what will ultimately happen - but, the house of Representatives have passed so many

cuts & some were for unemployment stuff - - I hope this doesn't come to actually pass as it will

have to go to the Senate &/or there's a good chance it will get a veto.  They also killed anything

to do with the clean Air Act & the EPA - - there goes the air, water & land quality!  Watch out if

you have any breathing issues 'cause the EPA will no longer even be able to report the quality of

the Air!  (I really can't see the President not passing out a veto on this as it is so extreme while not

addressing two other areas:  (1) no more tax cuts for wealthiest 2% of country & (2) no more tax cuts

for BIG Business that manufacture out of country + HR1 the Continuing Provision took out the oversight

in place that monitors & sees to it that that all the companies that got government stimulus money -

pay it back with interest & are not doling out big bonus payments instead + the off shore deep water

drilling that takes oil from our waters are not paying a dime for it.  They voted to just do away with

anything environmental & kept everything pertaining to business as "status quo" claiming that global

warming is just a theory - without acknowledging that their beloved "trickle-down effect" from

BIG BUSINESS is also JUST a theory!  And one that certainly wasn't working so hot as evident from

the mismanagement & greed of big business which led to the economic mess.  The house was in a

war of Economics vr the Environment.  The problem I have with worrying about not leaving a huge

debt for our children & grandchildren is this:  Without good Air, Water, & Land - crops & livestock foods

are threatened and our children & grandchildren, whose health is also at risk, - cannot eat money! 

I'll take good health over money in my pockets. 

Anyway - the jury is still out on all of this stuff - & I just hope the middle class & poor are not made to bear

the brunt of whatever justifications are ultimately used to shore up the fiscal mess.  We could end up as

another Egypt if this country divides too severly between rich & poor with no viable middle class.

----- Original Message -----

Look who took over Lyndi’s crate! Boy was she surprised when she tried to enter!

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Unions; Public vs. Private

The union showdown in Wisconsin is drawing public ire for the following reasons. The unions being targeted in Wisconsin are government employee unions (public servant unions), not private sector unions. The right to collectively bargain that is at issue is for benefits only, not for wages. So the left stating that it is all about busting the unions is at best, disingenuous. The passage of the bill will not take away their right to bargain for wages and it only affects public sector unions, not private unions. It gives the government the freedom to amend the pension plans going forward and to address the projected shortfalls. It addresses the very real problems associated with a defined benefits pension plan. The projected shortfalls in pension funding are real and that is what this bill will fix going forward.

This bill does not alter collective bargaining rights in any way for private unions. It does weaken the government employee union's political influence, such as monetary support for candidates by reducing the size of their coffers. it does this by discontinuing the automatic payroll deductions for union dues. In this way, only those union members that actively send voluntary contributions as dues will be funding the unions. Not all members of unions appreciate the ways in which their dues are used to support political candidates that they may or may not personally support.

It is because of that single provision that President Obama weighed in on the subject. And he did much more than just weigh in, he is actively participating in fomenting a contrived opposition. His political campaign apparatus known as "Organizing for America" has bussed in thousands of "rent-a-protesters" and had signs professionally printed up for his rent a mob. He is afraid of losing his base. The very unions that handed him the Presidency are under direct assault and he is lashing out at the attackers. Those attackers just happen to be ordinary citizens and politicians that are fiscally conservative and this will come back to bite him and it is also going to be very damaging to the democratic party in general.

Unions served a valid purpose years ago, but they have outlived their usefulness as attested to by the rapid decline on overall union membership over the past few decades. In fact, the only unions that have grown at all are public sector unions. And lets face it, these people are supposed to serve the public not have the public serve them. They get loads of paid holidays that most do not get. They get great benefits that they pay little or nothing for. They have job security that most do not. They have higher average wages than most. What makes them feel so entitled as to organize into labor unions at all? They do not suffer the ills that prompted the advent of unions in the first place.

You see, government should run more like a business. If it did perhaps unions would have been a necessity years ago, but not now. The elected politicians pass laws that the bureaucracy implements. Where is the "management to labor" relationship? It doesn't exist! So why do they need a union to begin with?

Common Sense Wins The Day!

Federal Judge Henry E. Hudson ruled Monday, in a case brought forth by Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, that section 1501 of the Obamacare bill was unconstitutional. That section is the one that outlines the individual mandate which requires private citizens to purchase health insurance or face fines and other penalties. This is significant in that without that provision in the bill, it essentially has no teeth. Without the individual mandate, the bill is dead.

Most people expect that it will go to the fourth circuit court of appeals and eventually to the Supreme Court. In his ruling, "It is not the effect on individuals that is presently at issue -- it is the authority of Congress to compel anyone to purchase health insurance," wrote Hudson, who was appointed to the federal bench in 2002 by President George W. Bush. "Every application of Commerce Clause power found to be constitutionally sound by the Supreme Court involved some form of action, transaction or deed placed in motion by an individual or legal entity. The constitutional viability of the minimum essential coverage provision in this case turns on whether or not a person's decision to refuse to purchase health care insurance is such an activity," he wrote.

Not that I am against reforming our health care system but Obamacare was the wrong way to go about it. For instance, it does nothing to address costs. It merely addresses coverage for everyone. And there are unintended consequences already cropping up as well. Just recently, pharmaceuticals have announced that they will no longer be able to give deep price discounts on orphan drugs to children's hospitals across the country because of provisions in the law. Orphan drugs are drugs that are used to treat rare conditions that affect less than 200,000 individuals inside the United States. Drugs are classified as Orphan drugs by the FDA. By existing law, orphan drugs must be made available to chidren's hospitals at a deep discount. a few pharmaceuticals lobbied aggressively for the new provision in Obamacare and it was put in at the last minute. So the most vulnerable amongst us, the ones least able to pay for these expensive drugs, have been given the cold shoulder. 

Orphan drugs are just one of the many bad aspects of Obamacare. Lets hope that the bill goes down in flames fast as it should. Thank God for Ken Cuccinelli, Judge Henry Hudson, and common sense. The United States needs more heroes like them now.