TO DRILL OR NOT TO DRILL

I just saw the results of a nationwide poll today asking the question “To drill or not to drill?” 70% favored immediate drilling wherever oil might be found. 20% did not and the rest were not sure. 54% favored the immediate opening of the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge for drilling. I hope our lawmakers are paying attention. Those who choose to defy the vast majority of the people in favor of a few loud mouthed financially well healed contributors do so at their peril.

We all would like to see alternate sources of energy. I wish I could operate my car using fuels other than gasoline. That will probably be a reality in the future. But it is not reality today. If left unchecked, energy cost will continue to rise until our very standard of living is threatened. Heating our homes, feeding our families, flying across country for business or pleasure, delivering goods to all parts of the country, the mail, anything and everything is being negatively affected. That would all change if our Congress gathered up some courage and opened up the necessary areas for oil exploration.

So who is standing in the way of this vital opening up? Who stands to gain if America is brought to her knees? How is it possible that a few morons in Congress who are financially beholding to the environmental lobby can so negatively affect our country? Right now most of them are hiding. With the poll numbers now available, an accounting will soon be made however. They will no longer be able to hide.

What is the argument for keeping the status quo in Alaska? Some say the caribou will die off. Absolute nonsense. Today with the Prudhoe Bay pipeline, caribou are flourishing. They have even chosen to do their calving near the pipeline because it is more comfortable for them. They argue that this is a pristine area of the country. It is pristine in the same way the surface of the moon is pristine. It is pristine in the same way the floor of Death Valley is pristine. It is pristine because it is uninhabitable. Ask any Alaskan what they think about drilling in ANWR. They will quickly tell you to get at it and soon.

This essay seeks to pose the question, “What is really going on?” Rarely are things as they seem. Especially when it comes to the Congress.

Is this an environmental issue or is it strictly financial? Is there a movement afoot to bring America down? Who owns these congress people who would stand in the way of our very security? What do they stand to gain? Do people really think they can turn this country into Europe and everybody would get around on bicycles? Do they see the future as cities swarming with people but with no exhaust fumes? Do they see the mountains as quiet streams and trees solely there for their pleasure?

I have a big reality for them. This is not and never will be Europe. If Europe is so great, why are their citizens trying to escape and come here? Our cities are not built in circles around the train station. The vast majority of our citizens cannot walk or bike to work. We could not begin to provide public transportation sufficient to handle the numbers of people it would have to move.

Are these liberal congress people who would defy the will of the majority of U.S. citizens in the pockets of the oil companies? I don’t know. I just know that something is definitely wrong with the system as it is right now.

To those who say that even if we did start drilling today, it would take ten years for the oil to reach the market. That is probably true but if we started today, oil prices would tumble until all of the speculation was eliminated from the price. OPEC can’t drink their oil and they also can’t stand the competition of our producing our own. If you care about the future of this country, put some heat on your Congress person. There are no more acceptable excuses. The new mantra is open it up and start drilling now.

Ron Scarbro June 23, 2008

HOUSTON, WE HAVE A PROBLEM

The democrats are in a trick bag. That is what we used to call situations which usually wound up with tricky endings. First they have accomplished something they have wanted for some time. They have a black candidate for President. Their second accomplishment is they have a female candidate for President. This is where it gets tricky. These two candidates are of course opposing each other, and they are doing it vehemently. One of them has to lose.

Let’s look at the problem. To date, in this primary, Hillary has been able to hang on to her accepted constituency. Those would be blue collar, lower income, older, union members, etc. Obama has been able to attract the young, upperly mobile, college educated, liberal, etc. The problem is that elections for President are based on the votes of the Electoral College, not the popular vote. That means states must be won in order that their Electoral College votes go to that state’s winning candidate. The primaries should serve to identify a candidate who can carry big Electoral College states in order to win a general election.

A close examination of this primary shows that Hillary has won the big states but Obama has won the others. To date he has a majority of the pledged delegates to the convention, which would make him the presumed candidate for the Democratic Party. So vicious has their contest been however, that many Hillary voters have said they wouldn’t vote for Obama under any circumstance. The same is true of course for Obama voters regarding Hillary. Hillary has said that Obama cannot close the deal. He cannot carry the states he must carry in order to win a general election. Obama supporters have clearly said though that if Hillary pulls a fast one in order to get the nomination, they will either stay home on Election Day or, heaven forbid, vote for McCain.

So now the talk is of Vice Presidential selection. Consider that you are Obama and you had to choose Hillary for the second spot. Can you imagine a White House with Bill Clinton sitting on the sidelines with his wife as Vice President? Me either. Can you imagine a White House where Hillary is just a quiet subservient member of another Presidents cabinet? Me either. What is much more likely is an all out battle at the convention for the top spot.

The democrats have gotten themselves into this mess for some very honorable and high minded reasons. It just wasn’t supposed to happen all at once. Based on the aforementioned facts neither can win a general election. Hence, the trick bag.

For me and other like minded people it is a great show to watch. I suspect that John McCain is smiling all the way to the election. I am smiling with him.

Because this is my blog I will now offer my opinion of this next election. This world is too dangerous to turn over the reins of this government to a very young, untested, first term liberal senator. It is also way too dangerous to hand to an inexperienced junior senator with no military background and no track record of any success at anything. To me the choice is clear. I will go for age and wisdom every time over youth, exuberance and inexperience. While John McCain would not have been my first choice, compared with the other two, he is the only choice.

Ron Scarbro May 26, 2008

THE CRYSTAL BALL

I am a regular reader of Dr. Walter Williams. He is the head of the economics department of George Mason University. He writes a weekly column on line. His column can be read at

http://www.gmu.edu/departments/economics/wew/articles.html. Two weeks ago he wrote about the speculation that has in the past passed for science. These are but a few examples of that speculation he wrote about.

In 1969 environmentalist Nigel Calder warned, “The threat of a new ice age must now stand alongside nuclear war as a likely source of wholesale death and misery for mankind.” C.C. Wallen said, “The cooling since 1940 has been large enough and consistent enough that it will not soon be reversed.” Paul Ehrlich had several predictions. Among them, in the 1970s hundreds of millions of people would starve to death. Between 1980 and 1989, 65 million Americans would die of starvation. By 1999 our population would plummet to 22.6 million. By the year 2000 England would not exist. I remember also he cancelled his personal life insurance because he didn’t believe the earth would be around when he got old.

In 1975 the Environmental Fund took out full page ads warning, “The world as we know it will be ruined by the year 2000.” In 1939 our own U.S. Dept. of the Interior said American oil supplies would last only another 13 years. In 1974 the U.S.Geological Survey advised us that we only had a 10 year supply of natural gas. According to the American Gas Assn. there is today a 1000 to 2500 year supply. The predictions went on and on with nothing but speculation and the ability to get some one to publish them.

Let’s look at today. More doomsday predictions from wild eyed speculators. This time of course it is global warming. As always it is man caused. Polar bears are dying off. Ice is melting. All manner of devastation awaits us if we don’t listen to these experts and change our ways.

This brings me to the news media. News media should report news that has happened not speculation on what might happen. The garbage that passed for news 30 and 40 years ago was just that, garbage. News reportage today of possible outcomes of global climate change should be on opinion pages not reported as news. People would be wise to remember how such speculation in the past from experts panned out.

It makes me question the validity of experts in general. In any criminal trial both the prosecution and the defense call experts to prove their cases and the experts always see the facts in opposition. Could it be that theirs is just an opinion and it is for sale to the highest bidder? Just a question.

If you follow our economy, you will notice there are always reports coming out with the expert’s guesses of what to expect from unemployment, trade deficit, inflation, and all manner of speculation. Of course when they miss, and that is most of the time, they are surprised. Our financial markets rise and fall on this nonsense. It occurs to me that we would have much more stability in the markets if we just waited for the reports instead of guessing what they will be. Silly me.

So what is my point here? Speculation is not news. Speculation is not fact. Speculation is guessing. These prophets of doom should be seen for what they are and not be taken so seriously. Their opinions have no more validity than yours or mine. Governments should not accept prophecy as reality, and media should not accept it as news. As Dr. Williams asked in his column, what should the government have done 30 years ago to combat global cooling? What should the British government have done to preserve their country? How much should they have spent to deal with these guesses? Just some more silly questions.

Ron Scarbro May 19, 2008

PRESCRIPTION DRUGS, T.V. STARS

If you just landed on Earth from outer space and turned on a television set, you would swear that the vast majority, if not all, men in America suffer from erectile dysfunction. It also would appear that no one can possibly sleep without the latest prescription aid. It goes on and on. There are indigestion cures, gas attack aids, constipation cures, and all manner of helpful medicines available from your nearest doctor. This then begins to describe the problem here. They are available not over the counter, but from a prescription written by your doctor.

A question has occurred to me. Just how much of the cost of prescription drugs is represented in the advertising of those products? The next question is why is it necessary to advertise a product that no one can legally buy without the written authority of the medical profession? There is currently an inquiry going on in Washington where our esteemed Congressmen are trying to figure this out.

I don’t know about you, but I pay my doctors a great deal of money to know what is the best medicine for me. I expect them to do the research. I expect them to read the literature. They have many years of formal education and continue to learn of the latest advances in medication. The last thing on earth my medical pros need is my suggestions as to the proper method and treatment of my ailments. I tell them where it hurts and I leave the rest up to them.

Those among you who know me, know that I am a capitalist in every aspect of my being. I believe producers should be able to market their product in the best way they know how. If they think advertising on TV works for them, then I don’t have a problem. But, and it is a big but, I cannot legally buy their product without someone else’s consent which is based on license, education, and other legal authority. In my thinking advertising just becomes another added cost of an already overpriced product.

I have asked my doctor about this and she says that she really doesn’t pay any attention to her patients who suggest various medications based on their advertisements. Personally I’m glad she feels this way. I cannot understand how any competent physician could give any credence to uneducated opinions from patients who only know what the ads tell them. Plus the disclaimers in the ads are often in the smallest of small print.

This then is the deal. Prescription medication is getting more and more expensive. How many millions of dollars are spent advertising these medications? I believe the drug companies should be looking for ways to reduce their costs of production rather than adding to them. If I could diagnose my medical problems, I wouldn’t need to pay a doctor to do it for me. If I could then go to the nearest pharmacy and buy any drugs I felt I needed, prescriptions wouldn’t be necessary. Of course the reality is I can’t. Even if I were a physician I wouldn’t diagnose myself.

The only other question I have is this. How does the couple in the erectile dysfunction ads always find two bathtubs out in the middle of a field just waiting for them? And why do they need them? And what does that have to do with e.d.? Oh well, I guess there are just some things better left to the imagination.

Ron Scarbro May 12, 2008

LIVE LIKE YOU ARE DYING

I recently received an e-mail with a poem by Erma Bombeck. You will remember her as a bright, funny, writer and columnist. This week is the twelfth anniversary of her death from cancer. The poem I was sent was written by her after she learned she was dying. I won’t include the whole poem but it basically dealt with the proposition if you had your life to live over, what would you do? I suspect that this takes on a whole new meaning if you know you are dying. In her piece she wrote that she would burn the flowered candle before it melted down in the store room. She would eat popcorn in the good living room. She would listen as her grandfather rambled on about stories she had heard before. There were many more things she would change or do differently, but I think you get her thoughts. Of course we can’t have our lives over.

Tim McGraw had a record out a while back that was titled “Live like you are dying”. The poem and the song were powerful messages. This essay hopes to challenge you and me to do just that. Live our lives as if there were no tomorrow. There is no guarantee that any of us will be here tomorrow.

Are you on a diet? I am. In fact I have been on a diet for about thirty years. I just keep getting bigger. Are you saving the good china for a special occasion? We are. It sits in the china cabinet and gathers dust and we eat on the everyday plates. We have beautiful crystal glassware that I have never had a drink from. Any time we buy something, we always think of the practical nature of the purchase. How long will it last? Will it have any residual value?

Are you putting off a trip? Would you like to see someone whom you haven’t seen for a long time? Are you trying to make your old beater car last another hundred thousand miles? Are you holding a grudge against someone you would really like just to sit down and talk to? When it’s ten o’clock at night and your mate wants a blizzard from Dairy Queen, do you fuss and fume? I heard once that life is short, eat dessert first. Good advice.

We have all lost close friends and loved ones suddenly and without warning. As our lives go on, it will continue to happen.

I have a neighbor who is fond of saying that he has never seen a hearse pulling a u-haul trailer. That is his way of saying that you can’t take it with you.

Here then is the message to you and to me. Live as if you were dying. Eat from the good china. Enjoy your life. I have said before and I’m sure you all have heard life is a terminal condition. This essay is not about death however. It is instead about life. If you knew you had a week to live, what if anything would you change? Would you burn the candle you have been saving for a special occasion? What is a more special occasion than your life? Would you take that trip to see someone? Would you eat that hot fudge sundae? Would you turn off the TV news and just listen to the silence? No this essay is not about death. It is for sure about life. Live it.

Ron Scarbro April 21, 2008

THE FUTURE OF THE MEDIA

The media is all atwitter. The reports are that Katie Couric is to be removed from her position as anchor of the CBS evening news. Of course all of the usual suspects have weighed in on the reason. The biggest reason they opine is that she has not been accepted because she is a woman. America is what Elton John recently called a country of misogynists. To any who care that means women haters. Others have said that CBS is having some difficulty paying her salary of some fifteen million dollars a year and still finishing up in last place in the ratings. Still others have said that television news is lagging behind the internet as the prime source of news for the American consumer. Some of these reasons may have some validity.

Consider this. The New York Times has been laying off a vast number of people citing reasons that ad revenue has been lowered by competition from the internet. The Los Angeles Times is reported to be in the same boat. I have heard the same about any of a number of newspapers. We are being told that newspapers are a dead issue for the future because people don’t want to spend the time or the energy reading the news.

Then there is Air America. This is the self described liberal alternative to the conservative radio networks. They apparently believed that their side wasn’t being given proper time and space on the air waves. It seems that they hadn’t heard of NPR or other ultra liberal forms of media that were available to the American consumer. Their experiment however failed. They have since filed for bankruptcy protection. It appears that there was not a huge demand for their liberal opinion of the news.

So, what is the reason for all this uneasiness in the liberal media? Are the causes of their difficulty as defined by them true? Or is something else going on?

I don’t watch Katie Couric or CBS for any reason with the possible exception of an occasional sporting event. I don’t care for their agenda. I have never believed they just reported the news. My opinion is and has been that they report their view of the news. They report what they want the news to be. I dislike Katie Couric not because she is a woman, but because she preaches an agenda that doesn’t square with my opinion of America. The fact that both she and CBS are in difficult times may be just because of these facts. It is possible that the real America may be very different from the country they see from their northeast newsrooms.

How about the New York Times? Personally I wouldn’t wrap my rotting fish in that newspaper for fear the fish would be contaminated by the experience. How they continue to be the so-called standard of news is beyond my understanding. They and their ilk are and will continue to suffer from their own miscalculation of the American people.

Air America doesn’t even need much mention. It will continue to be an asterisk in the media because of these same miscalculations.

Contrary to the opinion of the northeast media elite, America is not a liberal country. America is not the country they see from their Manhattan cocktail parties and social gatherings. The real America is much more down to earth. Fox News Channel says “We report, you decide.” The problem with that is the same as with all news reporting, they decide what they report.

I don’t care if these big media companies fail and disappear. Someone else will come along. I don’t even care if Katie Couric falls on hard financial times without her fifteen million dollar salary. I will continue to get my news from many sources and sort it all out and make my own decisions. I recommend for you the same, and if all else fails, you can just read my blog.

Ron Scarbro April 14, 2008

CONSPIRACY IN THE THIRD GRADE

An event was reported last week which should get all our attention. When closely examined this event might just demonstrate a wide array of ills which affects and infects our society. The news story I am talking about was the conspiracy of a third grade class in Georgia to kidnap and kill their teacher.

If you hadn’t heard, a “special needs” third grade class was accused of attempting to hurt their teacher. Their plan was to kidnap her by hitting her in the back of the head with a crystal pitcher, handcuffing her, tying her up further with duct tape, and then stabbing her with a steak knife. The little conspirators decided among themselves what each would bring to the event and then what job each would have including a clean up crew for all the blood. Cute, huh?

The reason for this action was reported to be in retaliation for what the students believed was unreasonable use of authority by the teacher who told one of these precious little darlings to get down from standing on a chair. That sure sounds like a good reason to kill your teacher to me, how about you?

A closer examination of this crime reveals some interesting things. First it points out the absolute imperative that classes be small. This class had a total of eleven students. If there had been thirty or forty, they might have been successful and the teacher would already be dead. The conspiracy included nine of the eleven students. It unraveled when one of the non-conspirators ratted the others out.

Of course none of these children has been subject to arrest because, as everyone knows, eight and nine year olds cannot be held accountable for their actions because they cannot possibly know right from wrong. Well this is where I start to part company with conventional thinking.

I admit that I don’t really know what constitutes a special needs student. It probably is a catchall phrase that allows schools to lump together hard to manage kids and kids with questionable home lives. By separating these children from everyone else, that automatically stigmatizes them. That becomes a social ill.

Next, these kids don’t appear to understand the meaning of the word respect. They cannot come to terms with authority. What do you suppose is their parent’s understanding of authority and law? It wouldn’t take much imagination to believe that the parents are individuals who defy police, ignore law, and generally live their lives on the edge.

Don’t get me wrong. I do not believe that having these miserable parents in any way excuses the actions of their precious offspring. Whether Georgia punishes these children or their parents for this crime or not, one thing is sure, we will have to revisit these very same little hoodlums again for their next crime or crimes at some time in the future. We can only hope that someone doesn’t have to die when we do.

It seems that discipline has disappeared from the lexicon of schools. Those undisciplined little imps are then inflicted on the larger society to create what havoc they can until they are eventually caught, convicted, and spend the rest of their lives warehoused at the taxpayer’s expense in prison.

Parents and schools are not doing their kids any favors by not allowing them to learn from their mistakes. These children in Georgia must be held to account for their actions as well as their parents. We either solve it now or we surely will have to solve it later.

Ron Scarbro April 5, 2008