NASCAR: No help here

Believe it or not, typical NASCAR race attendance is 100,000+, although some races, such as the Daytona 500 host twice that many.


There are typically forty (40) cars in each race.


Let's assume that the average race distance is 300 miles ... they range from 150 miles to 500 miles. If 40 cars drive 300 miles, that is a total travelled distance of 12,000 miles (40 x 300).


If each car averages three miles per gallon (a very realistic number: I know, I've been there and done that), the race will turn 4,000 gallons of fuel into polluting exhaust fumes.


If 100,000 fans drive to the race with an average of two people to a car, that means 50,000 cars drive to each race. Let's also make a WAG that their average driving distance TO the race is twenty-five miles. Since most chose to drive back home after the race, that's another twenty-five miles. This means that 50,000 cars drive 50 miles to see the race and return home. That is a total distance travelled for all cars of 2,500,000 miles - TWO MILLION FIVE HUNDRED THOUSAND MILES! (50,000 x 50)


If those 50,000 cars average 25 MPG (Somewhat optimistic) they will consume 100,000 gallons of fuel!


Bottom Line:

Forty race cars burn 4,000 gallons of fuel in order to attract 100,000+ fans who, in turn, burn 100,000 gallons of fuel to see the race.


Seems pretty dumb, to me ... and this is just for ONE race! There are dozens of NASCAR races each year.


Gas shortage - Smash shortage!

Is "The Fix" in?

The following is from a good friend of mine who is a staff writer for one of the largest newspapers in the US. (NOT a liberal or conservative newspaper)
The observation made seems reasonable to me.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~//~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sent: Thursday, July 03, 2008 11:09 AM
To: roger@daisley.com
Subject: re "president" item

The other night I watched some very smug OPEC types being asked if they would increase oil production. When they answered in the affirmative, the reporter next asked if they would bring down the prices and they laughted as if to say surely you jest.

I think they are doing this to ensure a certain person will be in the white house next year and after he's been elected they will lower the cost and all will go back to normal with "their man" leading the USA.

Welcome to Toastmasters

I received the following piece as an email today. I thought it was interesting enough to share on this site. Whether you agree, disagree, love or hate it ... it does make for interesting reading, don't you think?

Welcome to Toastmasters, June 13, 2033. That's right: 2033!

Today Rick Campbell, one of our senior members at age 87, is here to reminisce a bit and give us a history lesson. He says he is so old that he learned to drive an internal combustion engine car (remember those) with a manual transmission. He once owned a typewriter. He remembers when bicycles had one speed, phones had two-party lines, and cameras had something called film. As incredible as this may seem, he says that when he was young, it was common for people to smoke in restaurants and public places. He is from a different time; almost a different world.

I'm sure all of us are far too familiar with the tragic events of 2010, so Rick is not going to plow that fertile field again.

Instead, he is going to give us a personal look back at the conditions which led up to that fateful year, in a speech titled '2010 Was Not A Good Year To Be President.'

As we look back on history, it appears that some Presidents had an easy ride --- times of growth and stability. Teddy Roosevelt, Warren G. Harding, Dwight Eisenhower, JFK come to mind. Those were good years to be President.

Others were elected just when the Republic was facing terrible crises: Abraham Lincoln, Woodrow Wilson, Franklin Roosevelt, George W. Bush. They rose to the occasion, even though they were controversial and widely hated while in office. Not such good years to be President.

Just a few years prior, in 2008, the country began foundering. We were in the sixth year of the Iraqi Occupation, and the economy was flat. The mainstream press clearly wanted a Democrat elected. Although we didn't know it until some years later, oil producing nations had colluded to secretly buy their own oil on the open market, driving oil prices to shocking levels above the true demand price- reaching a high of $162 a barrel in October, 2008, just before the general elections.Their purpose was simple: to effect regime change in the United States. And of course, the U.S. economy was already in a real estate slump and also suffering the curse of stagflation; slow growth and high inflation. There were a million home foreclosures. Independent truckers went under by the thousands. Airlines failed. Airlines with names now long-forgotten: United, Delta, Northwestern, American. All now merged, of course, into the one lone U.S. carrier we love so much: Southwest.

Against this backdrop of weariness of the war on terror, and economic distress, the American people were ripe for a demagogue, and they certainly got one in Barrack Hussein Obama.

He and his running mate Kathleen Sibelius inspired them with vague notions of hope and change; of a world in which diplomacy settled all international problems, of free universal health care, of abundant alternative energy, of peace and love. It was a vision too good to resist. The Republican nominee, a name you probably haven't heard in years. Anyone remember him?

Yes, it was John McCain, an obscure Senator from Arizona had no clue how to run a national campaign, and a platform nearly as liberal as Obama's. The selection of Condoleeza Rice as his running mate looked brilliant at first. Unfortunately, black voters viewed her as white, and women voters viewed her as one of the guys. Even so, the McCain/Rice ticket would have won the election if it were not for the fact that 16 percent of conservative Republicans voted for [Anyone remember?] That's right, Bob Barr, another name that's a footnote in history.

After Obama's narrow win, thanks to recounts in Broward County, Florida, the country was positively giddy. A Democrat House, Senate, and President. At last an end to gridlock in Washington. Camelot! When Congress convened in January, 2009, the 44th President of the United States did something unique in history: he made good on his campaign promises.

Certainly most Americans never really thought he was serious during the campaign. But whether because of inexperience, idealism, or simply incompetence, he followed through. In Obama's first One Hundred Days, the Democrat Congress passed his initiatives, and he signed them into law as he said he would. He repealed the Bush tax cuts, and increased capital gains taxes. He enacted a windfall profits tax, and instituted price controls on gasoline and diesel fuel.

He passed universal health care, which added an additional 10 percent tax increase on all working Americans. He signed the Immigrant Amnesty bill which created 12 million new citizens instantly, each with entitlements.

He closed the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, and summarily released all the detainees. He repealed the Patriot Act, and cut funding for espionage, and eliminated all terrorist listening and wiretaps. Most important, he began the complete and immediate withdrawal of all American troops from Iraq. He ignored the advice of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who wanted to retain bases in Kuwait and Qatar. Instead, he went with the recommendation of Secretary of Defense Dennis Kucinich, and ordered all troops back to U S. soil.

Viola! In One Hundred Days, by May of 2009, it was all done, and the vision was complete. He did exactly what he said he would do. And so it was in the summer of 2009 that things began to unravel for Obama. Of course, the economy needed a tax cut, not an increase, and unemployment quickly rose to 12 percent. Even attorneys and economists were put in the bread lines. Hard times were here! Price controls on gasoline immediately led to shortages and gas lines.

The global cooling trend we have seen for the past 25 years first became obvious in 2009, exposing the CO2 global warming fraud. People were justifiably angry. Federal deficits increased massively because thousands of baby boomers, facing job loss and much higher taxes, simply gave up and took social security.

Although the superb U.S. health care system was thrown into disarray, the bright spot was the creation of the Federal Department of Health care, and the immediate hiring of 250,000 administrators, inspectors and auditors, the only job growth in any economic sector in 2009.

By February 2010, the U.S. military withdrawal from Iraq was complete. It was a very expensive undertaking. And then in March, the gradual Shiite insurgencies from Iran turned into a true Iraqi civil war. In May, Iranian tanks crossed the border and quickly took Baghdad. Although the exact number is not known, at least 230,000 Sunni Iraqis died as we stood by and did nothing. Iran also quickly moved into undefended Kuwait. President Obama did exactly what he said he would. He sent Secretary of State Maria Cantwell to Tehran to meet with Iranian President Ahmadinejad. After two weeks of high level talks, the United States agreed to allow Iran to retain Iraq and Kuwait to create stability in the middle east, with the understanding that Israel would not be disturbed.

Cantwell returned to Washington, and explained the agreement in her famous speech, in which she proudly noted that the Obama administration had finally achieved 'peace in our time' in the Middle East. So there was some surprise at the rocket attacks on Tel Aviv on August 14th. President Obama said, 'This is not the Ahmadinejad I knew.' The Obama administration decided it would be de-stabilizing to take sides in the conflict, and approximately 29,000 Israeli civilians died during the summer and fall.

American Jews were appalled at the inaction. Yes, in 2010 most American Jews were Democrats, but because of 2010, they are solid Republicans today. As awkward as it was, everything might have turned out all right for the Obama administration going into the fall mid-term elections of 2010, if it hadn't been for the dirty bomb in the Port of Long Beach. The administration had cut funding for the inspection of containers, because they felt it showed a 'lack of trust' in the international trading community.

It wasn't really a very big bomb, and thank goodness, not a real nuclear device, but nonetheless it contaminated some expensive real estate --- Newport Beach, Palos Verdes Estates --- and ultimately caused the death of 14,000 Americans. People were especially annoyed that Disneyland had to be closed for decontamination.

And so, in the midterm elections, Republicans regained control of both the House and Senate, and the rest is history. The impeachment proceedings against President Obama for 'failure to protect and defend' were swift and nearly unanimous. Vice President Sibelius resigned. Newly-elected Speaker of the House, J.C. Watts, became the 45th President of the United States. But you know the rest of the story well. Republicans finished the war on Islamic fundamentalists, largely by aiming ICBM's at Mecca and Medina.

No Democrat has been elected President since. Republicans have held both Houses of Congress. History of Western Civilization and Economics are now taught in all public schools, and in English only. Marriage is defined as one man and one woman. And there are border fences, north and south. We old codgers remember the ancient Confucian curse: 'May you live in interesting times.

'Well, 2010 was an interesting year, but it was not a good year to be President.'

Well ... DAH!

A poll this week indicates that 76% of the American people want off-shore and ANWR oil drilling to begin right now. Sounds pretty reasonable, doesn't it? After all, it is obvious that we are becoming more and more indebted to foreign countries that are not our friends.

The democratic presidental candidate say's: "No, we should NOT start increased drilling right now because (get this ...!) it would not change the price of gas at the pump RIGHT NOW." Well ... DAH!

It seems clear to me that, once again, the democrates would much rather CONTROL our lifestyle, rather than upset the tree huggers.

Oil Prices: Corporations and ECON 101

Let's get a ground rule established: The oil companies are NOT government owned, controlled or regulated. (Maybe they should be ... and might just end up that way if world oil supplied become critical.) They are operated as a public corporation and BY LAW must act in the best interest of the stockholders - NOT the consumers! What does "best interest" mean? It means, for example, that Exxon/Mobil is required to run the business in a manner that produces the most return to the stockholders.

What would happen if Exxon/Mobil decided to be benevolent and cut retail gas prices and be a "good guy?" The first thing that would happen is the stockholders would find a group of attorneys with vicious sharp teeth and sue the "you know what" out of Exxon/Mobil. The cause of action would be that Exxon/Mobil was not acting in the best interest of the stockholders and therefore, the stockholders were losing money to which they feel entitled.

Regardless of all the investigating, posturing and pure BS by the current crop of political guru's, there is NOTHING they can do to adjust the prices charged by Exxon/Mobil ... or Nike, for that matter. Yes, the politico's can reduce taxes or change environmental regulations which might make manufacturing the product easier and cheaper, but the bottom line is still the same: They charge what they want and if you don't like it - don't buy it!

I hear that some politicians recommend suspending federal gas taxes for a period of time, possibly through the summer. Consider this: Let's assume that the current price of a certain grade of gas is $3.75/gal. If the Fed's cut the tax by $.50, then the same gallon of gas should be $3.25. Ahh, but wait a minute: So far, albeit with loud complaints, we're currently paying the asking price of $3.75 and using virtually the same amount of gas. So if the price suddenly drops to $3.25, with tax suspension, Exxon/Mobil, acting in the best interest of STOCKHOLDERS, knows full well that if they raised the price of gas, so that the consumer is still paying $3.75/gal. the stockholders profits will be even greater and the consumer will complain even more - but will continue to buy virtually the same amount of gas! Same amount of gas, higher prices, more money for stockholders - good deal! Buy Exxon/Mobil stock. (I do!)

ECON 101, clearly states that the best price for any goods or services is the highest price you can charge before the customer starts cutting back on purchases. Even then, the best price for maximum return to the company is that price where there actually is some cutback in demand. Bottom line: Until the gas consumer actually cuts back in purchases, which so far is negligible, the price keeps going UP!

Where the government can act, is in the case of an "Enron type" of market manipulation. This seems likely, but my guess is isn't. Enron was acting in a stealth mode, thinking they could could get away with it. With all the spotlights on the oil companies, it would take a "village idiot" mentality to try to manipulate the market. Ain't going to happen ... no need for it. The consumer just pumps more money right into the pockets of all the stockholders.

Do I need to say it again? The government is impotent in bringing down gas prices. Don't believe the BS the politico's are tell us.

Why Return To The Air Force Academy?

The following was sent to me in an email and I feel it is important to make available to others.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~//~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

First year cadets at the Air Force Academy are allowed
to leave the Academy without penalty up through the end of
first-year Christmas break.

Those who decide to come back are assigned paper to write on why they chose to return. Here is one young cadet's masterpiece, which has begun to be widely publicized...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~//~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Why return to the Air Force Academy after Winter
Break?

Joseph R. Tomczak Cadet,
Fourth Class United States Air Force Academy

So after our sunburns have faded and the memories of our winter break have been reduced to pictures we've
pinned on our desk boards, and once again we've exchanged T-shirts and swim suits for flight suits and camouflage, there still remains the question that every cadet at U.S.Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs has asked themselves at some point: Why did we come back?

Why, after spending two weeks with our family would we return to one of the most demanding lifestyles in the
country? After listening to our 'friends' who are home from State or Ivy League schools chock full of wisdom about how our war in Iraq is unjust and unworldly, why would we return? And after watching the news and reading the papers which only seem to condemn the military's every mistake and shadow every victory, why would we continue to think it is worth the sacrifice of a normal college life?

Is it because the institution to which we belong is tuition- free?

Anyone who claims this has forgotten that we will, by the time we graduate, repay the US taxpayer many times over in blood, sweat, and tears. Is it because the schooling we are receiving is one of the best undergraduate educations in the country?

While the quality of the education is second to none, anyone who provides this as a main reason has lost sight of the awesome responsibility that awaits those who are tough enough to graduate and become commissioned officers in the U.S. Air Force.

I come back to the Academy because I want to have thet training necessary so that one day I'll have the incredible responsibility of leading the sons and daughters of America in combat. These men and women will never ask about my Academy grade point average, their only concern will be that I have the ability to lead them expertly; I will be humbled to earn their respect.

I come back to the Academy because I want to be the Commander who saves lives by negotiating with Arab leaders... in their own language.

I come back to the Academy because, if called upon, I want to be the pilot who flies half way around the world with three mid-air refuelings to send a bomb from 30,000 feet into a basement housing the enemy... through a ventilation shaft two feet wide.

Becoming an officer in today's modern Air Force is so much more than just command; it is being a diplomat, a
strategist, a communicator, a moral compass, but always a warrior first.

I come back to the Air Force Academy because, right now, the United States is fighting a global war that is an
'away game' in Iraq - taking the fight to the terrorists. Whether or not we think the terrorists were in Iraq before our invasion, they are unquestionably there now. And if there is any doubt as to whether this is a global war, just ask the people in Amman, in London, in Madrid, in Casablanca, in Riyadh, and in Bali.

This war must remain an away game because we have seen what happens when it becomes a home game... I come back to the Academy because I want to be a part of that fight.

I come back to the Academy because I don't want my vacationing family to board a bus in Paris that gets blown away by someone who thinks that it would be a good idea to convert the Western world to Islam.

I come back to the Academy because I don't want the woman I love to be the one who dials her last frantic cell phone call while huddled in the back of n airliner with a hundred other people seconds away from slamming into the Capitol building.

I come back to the Academy because during my freshman year of high school I sat in a geometry class and watched nineteen terrorists change the course of history live on television.

For the first time, every class currently at a U.S. Service Academy made the decision to join after the 2001 terror attacks.

Some have said that the U.S. invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan only created more terrorists... I say that the attacks of September 11th, 2001 created an untold more number of American soldiers; I go to school with 4,000 of them. And that's worth more than missing a few frat parties.


(U.S. Senator Wayne Allard (R-Colorado) had Cadet
Tomczak's essay read into the Congressional Record, and at a meeting of the Air Force Academy Board of Visitors he presented Cadet Tomczak with a framed copy of the essay.)


"If you want to kick the tiger in his ass, you'd better have a plan for dealing with his teeth."

/Tom Clancy

Dinosaurs

The Clinton's act like they have an "entitlement" to the White House ... and if everyone would just relax and stop "picking on Hillary," the coronation would would proceed as planned.

And, Oh Yes, she would bring about the changes we "need:"

1) A universal health care plan she botched a few year back ... and a plan there is NO WAY the nation can afford.
(The "Talk Is Cheap Plan.")

2) Start pulling the military life support out of Iraq and put not only our country in mortal danger, but also add great risk to the rest of the free world.
(The "I Know Better Than The Top Military Plan.")

3) Never mind that Bill and I have made over 100 Million Dollars since leaving the White House, we're going to help the poor.
(The "Talk A Good Story Plan" aka: "Say Whatever It Takes Plan.")

4) Promote honesty in government. Juice up the "Landing under fire and dodging bullets in Bosnia story," later admit it was error and now watch an out-of-control Bill, just yesterday, trying to convince us that Hillary was just tired and the "Bullets and Fire" fable really was true.
(The "I Can't Remember Plan" aka, "The Vince Foster Plan.")

5) Be there at "3AM, when the phone rings" to solve massive problems.
(The "Hillary - Give Me That Phone Plan."

6) Deal with troublesome world leaders when she can't even deal with her "Bill Problem."
(The "What Do I Do Now, Bill, Plan.")

Give me a break!

"The dinosaurs were the last to know they were doomed."