Where does my gas guzzler go?

I have been in quite a quandary few the past several years. I bought a full size pickup truck at a time in my life when home renovations, moves and obligations made it somewhat of a necessity. Then I felt guilty when I was using this same truck to simply take kids surfing or to football practice. I am getting about 15 miles a gallon fuel efficiency and it makes me crazy. I think about it all the time. I would rather drive a hybrid or better yet a fuel cell car and I have looked into buying something different to do my part. Then I think...what happens to my truck? I haven't removed a gas guzzling, carbon emitting behemoth from the roadways. I have just become a greater consumer and passed my truck on to the next guy who can't afford a new truck. Maybe that guy drives more than me, maybe he doesn't keep the tires inflated properly and the engine tuned and the gas mileage on that truck goes down. Then what have I solved?Nothing. I think we have to be smart about how we approach the changes we make and not buy into the trendy advertising. I might not be as cool as the soccer mom who traded in her Tahoe for a hybrid Highlander, but that Tahoe is still on the road. My truck is parked in the driveway and I am putting the miles on my bike when I can. You can't get greener than pedal power.

Trendy Green

How cool is it that it is now "en vogue" to be environmentally conscious!?! What used to get even normal people who chose to recycle or discuss environmental issues a deep sigh and a roll of the eyes from the vast majority of everyday Joe's and a completely deaf ear from the political juggernaut that runs the country; is now the buzz word for every company, politician, actor, neighborhood busy body and even preacher ("the Earth was God's gift to us and we are charged to be good stewards of it" and so forth). I know there are some die hard (dare I say it) tree huggers out there that are upset that Barak Obama and Subaru and many others of their ilk are touting there dedication to the environment to the cheers of the masses while those of us who have tried to carry the banner for decades reap none of the glory and our heroism for the planet remains unsung.

But I'm okay with that.

I would rather the huge spotlight cast by TV commercials and stumping politicians be on raising peoples' awareness for the damage we do to our country and planet every day and somehow changing the public's view of massive consumption and "use all you want, we'll make more" mentality than on the same old rhetoric that makes good sound bytes but never really get changed anyway. At least if they don't keep their promises on the environment there will still be converts in the masses that heard what they said and may make changes in their lives and hopefully there will be enough of those that conservation will become the norm.

So what if it's trendy now. We all know trends will pass. But hopefully, where we settle will be better that we were.

Please recycle- forward this blog.

A vote for a 3rd party is not a waste

I believe America is in desperate need of a serious third party. We need something to break the status quo of what is going on in Washington. We have two parties that are so hell bent on opposing one another just for the sake of opposition that there is nothing getting done. I truly believe that there are good representatives in Washington that want to rise above the rancor of party politics and do good for our country. But I also know that the two major parties are so entrenched with the lobbyist that there is little resistance to being sucked in by the spoils of being elected and essentially selling votes for favors, nepotism, vacations and cold hard cash. I think a third party could shake things up and get things moving again. At least then whatever party was on the outside could run on a platform of honest government that votes and leads in the peoples' interest and mean it. Once a party falls to the ills of preferential politics then at least there will be two others struggling to remove the corruption. Now all we have is a code of silence between opposition parties that are afraid to expose the corruption of the other for fear of revealing their own skeletons.
We have to vote our conscious and not be afraid of wasting a vote. If enough people "waste" their vote we may start to get some momentum for the Reform Party, or the Green Party, or the Libertarians. I know different is not always better but like the old saying goes, "Keep doing what your doing and keep getting what you got." I'm for getting something different.

Why the Fair Tax can work

The Fair Tax Act has been rumbling around congress for more than a decade now and seems to gain traction every now and then just to be shelved until the next election. It seems like a radical idea- scrapping the entire taxation system of a global superpower- but it wouldn't be that hard to do and it would work and take a lot of problems and throw them out like the proverbial baby with the bathwater except in this instance it would be a good thing.

Aside from doing away with the most dreaded government entity, the IRS, and saving the billions of dollars a year that it costs for the agency to wreck peoples lives, the Fair Tax Act would solve most peoples' problems with the illegal immigration and drug dealer problem. Most people are less worried about illegals taking their jobs than they are about the financial burden these people put on the rest of us through government services. People resent the fact that most of these workers get paid under the table (even though it is rarely a living wage) and then they don't pay taxes but do send their kids to school where they need special attention, or go tot the doctor they can't afford and the burden is left to the taxpayer. Well, if the Fair Tax were enacted, everything these people buy in the US would give them an opportunity to pay their share. Moreover, the drug dealers, prostitutes, strippers, gamblers and scam artists that make loads of money illegally and spend it lavishly would also be able to pay taxes they don't already. It is estimated that the illegal vices underground is a $1 trillion/year business that goes largely untaxed. With the Fair Tax Act in place every pair of new shoes you see on a drug dealer, every piece of bling-bling on someone who makes half a million a year on - oh I don't know- dog fighting, or every private jet purchased with cocaine proceeds would fund our infrastructure, schools, and even our police forces and DEA. They would be paying the people to come and prosecute them.
I know people see flaws in the Fair Tax Act all the time but our current system is broken and something has to be done. Frankly, this isn't the best idea for me and my family and it would raise how much taxes we pay because we are heavy consumers but I don't mind paying my share as long as everyone else is too.