Global Warming

We need a new name. Global Climate Change or Global Temperature Change. It is a fact that slight warming of the earth can cause ice to melt and some islands and low land areas to experience a flood that will swamp or devour the land. It is also a fact that temperatures on Mars are rising also. We know that humans are putting harmful gases in the air. By reducing the amount of trees we are also not eating up the carbon dioxide and possibly cutting into our oxygen supply. Scientists seem to only say human activity is creating a warmer earth. Is this true. It does help. We do contribute. Way back when we did away with aerosol cans. Aerosols in the upper atmosphere deflect sunlight and cool the earth. Were we creating global cooling?

I think it is time we keep up with our environment. I believe in global warming. It is a fact. Earth is heating up. Many plants and animals will thrive in a warmer planet. Humans live longer and as a population, grow more during warm planet times than cold planet times. We need to take care of what we can. I think we need to create the "green energy" not for global warming, but for less oil bought from the middle east. Nuclear power and reprocessing of spent fuel rods in the US is the quickest way. Wind power can't be relied on. How many more dams can be built? If we reprocess spent fuel rods we will cut down on the nuclear waste that exist within our country. Not a bad thing at all. Many people will point to the two nuclear problems that have existed in the world. Three Mile Island and Chernobyl. Three Mile Island had a reactor meltdown, no major radiation increase was detected outside the facility. The reactor safety measures built into the facility properly contained most of the radiation. That should be viewed not as a failure, but as a milestone. Chernobyl is not the same. Radiation cloud circled the planet. It raised radiation levels in West Richland Washington where I was living at the time. The Nevada desert can be turned into a large solar energy plant. Hopefully with all the new windmills and solar energy that we are about to build birds will avoid the propellers and stay away from super hot solar panels and tubing.

One other note. Stop clear cutting land and burning of trees. Fire breathes oxygen and breathes out carbon dioxide just like humans. Trees breathe in carbon dioxide and breathe out oxygen. More humans equals more carbon dioxide. We as humans produce a greenhouse gas. Trees counter it. When we burn a tree we turn oxygen into carbon dioxide. Obama has it right, but power companies will charge much more than $150 a year. We need to use less oil. When it comes to power generation we use coal and natural gas which is abundant in America. We need to change driving habits. Businesses need to allow more workers to Telecommute. Changing of driving habits will have the largest effect.

Steroid Accusations and HGH in MLB

I know for many years it was easy to say that players were using steroids and we know who the culprits were. Sosa, Bonds, Conseco, and McGuire. We knew they used PED's. Its hard to say current players are using them when they get tested though. I was watching a game and saw that some blogger accused Ibanez of using them. As a Mariner fan I always knew he was good. Going to a hitters park made me pick him up for Fantasy Baseball. I knew his numbers would improve greatly. The biggest issue I have is with HGH. When a test for HGH is viable it needs to be administered without anyone knowing it is being given. Then when the test results come back surprise they are caught. Since most players know it is hard to detect I believe it is the current PED (Performance Enhancing Drug) of choice. I am not an expert, but I coach youth baseball. These kids look up to MLB players. They loved Sosa, Bonds, and many other cheaters. I also am disappointed in ARod. While I don't think his performance improved much, he played more games at Texas and didn't need as many off days. That helped his overall numbers. Lets make sure that our youth are aware and not going to take this same road. Testing needs to start in High School and somehow needs to be affordable. PED use can not be tollerated at any level.

Scout Camp

My two boys are in scouts. My youngest is not too much into it, but enjoys camping and some of the activities. He would rather do sports than scouts. Anyway I took both boys up to scout camp and they had a good week. The youngest learned first aid, weather, art, fingerprinting and horsemanship. The older one citizenship in nation and world, swimming, art, fingerprinting and horsemanship. He also got a qualifying archery score. This was a good camp. When I was a scout there were not nearly as many merit badges as now. I think that makes it easier for the kids to do stuff they are interested in.

A lot going on in the world. I saw that Obama's went on a date. I have no problem with that and I also saw they went to Paris. I don't really have a problem with that. But with the deficits that we are running I don't want my tax dollars to pay for their world tour. They deserve a break and to spend time together. I don't think they need to spend all their time in DC, so its not a problem to me. I am curious though with all the complaining about Bush being in Texas if things will be different for Obama. Here is the funny part. In today's world you can work from anywhere. Why would the President be any different. If he needs a night out and thinks of a solution for N. Korea then that is good. I just don't want tax dollars running up deficits that my grand kids will have to pay at the expense of Obama's family world travel.

Make A Wish

I have a niece who is handicapped. She has had over 40 brain surgeries. She has died on an operating table more than once. Until this weekend I had never seen her. My brother lives in Utah and the Make-A-Wish foundation sent my niece to Orlando to Disney world. Due to my kids being in school I decided to go down and visit. Me and my kids spent one day at Magic Kingdom in Orlando. It was the first time any of us had seen our niece. She is blind and has many other issues. This charity provided them with food, lodging, tickets. The whole family had a good time. I could see how the one child who needs so much attention has made things difficult on the other children. They have become independent and have learned to ignore everything going on around them. It is difficult on the whole family, but I did notice how this experience made a difference. All the kids had fun. My kids enjoyed their day. We got to do almost all the rides and a few of them more than once.

Charitable contributions must be saved as a tax deduction. It is charities like this that would suffer if the tax codes were changed. I know Bush was opposed to any tax changes that would eliminate the home interest deduction and the charity deduction. Our tax code is complex. We as citizens are taxed very little. Health care is one reason why and our corporate tax rate is one of the highest. I don't know all the answers, but people who make over $200,000 which is 5 times higher than the average person could use a boost in their taxes. Especially now that our government owns banks, AIG, Auto Manufactures, etc. Should Americans buy GM and Chrysler now. I contend that since they own those companies as taxpayers they should consider it. Car companies and the union should fight to save jobs. Pay cuts is a normal way around that. Why we pay people two times the national average to put tires on a car on an assembly line is crazy. A $20,000 per year pay cut would keep them well above average, but in a better situation.

Remember to support charities. My brother told me that this one week helped his family greatly. That it helped them to have fun and get away from all their worries. My niece can't speak. She has a trachea and is on oxygen 98% of the time. But you could see her smile on the rides. The motion and sounds made her happy. What a difference our donations can make in the life of one child or one family.