A Brand New Progressive Idea

Posted on 15/09/2012 by Grumpa Joe

The same message repeated often enough becomes truth. “Tired old ideas that don’t work” has been the theme from the beginning of President Obama’s quest for the White House. The problem is he is using tired old ideas that have been proven multiple times not to work. So why does he continue to pursue them? It is simple. His ideas will lead the country toward his goal of making AMerica a Socialist nation. He truly believes his daughters will be better off if told by big government exactly what they can and cannot do in their lives. He believes they will be better off giving the fruits of their labor to big government to distribute as it sees fit. He truly believes his daughters will be better off under his women’s health initiative to control their sex lives. He truly believes you and I will be better off if we split the pot with Uncle so he can fly around the country to make speeches about Republicans who propose to use the same tired old ideas that don’t work.

 

 

I am a Republican and I propose a new idea that Progressives have not come up with yet. It is the type of idea that will catch fire and move the movement ahead with the speed of light, except for one thing, they will not buy into it. It is too simple for the complex Progressive brain to comprehend.

The Chicago teachers strike got me to thinking about all the money we spend to teach kids nothing. The problem is that we are paying the wrong people. We should pay the kids minimum wage for the hours they attend school. If they complete  homework and/or put in extra study hours at school they are get overtime.  To make school even more interesting, students will get a cash bonus if they legitimately pass the advancement requirement to the next grade level in reading, writing, arithmetic, US history, and Civics.

Teachers get paid for each pupil who advances legitimately.

I bet that even though this plan gives a ton of money to the students, that we would come out ahead and end the need for the Department of Education. Think of it, with money coming in for attending school, the kids could afford to eat at home and pack their own lunches too. That is another savings. This program is not welfare folks, we are paying the kids to learn. It is child labor. If they don’t learn to read, write, math, history, and civics they learn the facts of life that others who do learn more will advance.

I could go on about the positives in this plan but it would only become overbearing. It is simple enough for even the most challenged teacher’s union boss and politician to understand.

Now, isn’t that a great Progressive idea? Lets hurry and trash the Constitution so we can use it.

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A Main Stream Shift In Opinion

Posted on 10/09/2012 by Grumpa Joe

A billboard along a highway in America

A friend sent me a news article by Scott Paulson a contributing reporter to CBS News. Mr. Paulson relates that he went to see the movie ‘2016’ to decide for himself what the hype was about. Surprisingly he came out wondering what the heck is going on in America.

He comments  “Yet, I’m glad I saw the hyped-film because it was more informative than I had thought it would be and included less propaganda than I had predicted. If anything it was nearly too informative.”

Another quote from the article , “Fact after fact is put forth which shows that President Obama definitely has many skeletons in the closet that have not been released prior to the nation’s trust in him with the Oval Office.”

I beg you to read this article written by a mainstream media reporter. At least there is one in the group we can listen to.

“2016: Obama’s America’ Movie Is Disturbingly Necessary”

You will not be sorry you read this article.

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What Is Your Happiness Index?

Posted on 04/09/2012 by Grumpa Joe

2012 Monet Vision

This data came to me from a friend by e-mail. I’ve seen it many times before, but this time it struck me funny. Do people really understand what they are doing to their cities? Do they care, or do they move to the suburbs to get away from it? Running isn’t the fix to the problem it is a part of the problem. We must stay and defend our turf. It has taken me sixty years to understand this phenomenon.

I ran from my childhood neighborhood to a more modern neighborhood thinking I was better than old houses and small lots. I wanted fresh air and the country, so I moved to a suburb where the lot sizes were barely double what they were in the city neighborhood. The closest shopping was three miles away. There were no public buses, and worse yet, the distance  between taverns was five miles. The small town politics rivaled those of Chicago. There really wasn’t any difference in graft. The tax rates were higher than Chicago, the services were fewer.  It took me twenty-nine years to move from that town.

Now, I live in Frankfort. I don’t really care how big my property is, big or small is okay, The taxes are gigantic, the rules are stupid and many. The town is designed for travel by car with little regard for pedestrian traffic. Shopping is central with one super market within a 2 mile drive. It is nice, but is it worth a thousand dollars a month in tax to live here?  Not really. I could just as well live in the 100-year-old house I was born in, or in the second house where we raised our kids, and be just as happy. In the meantime, I abandoned two really close-knit neighborhoods for a third really expensive one without advancing my happiness index one iota. So look at the data below and analyze where you fit today. What would have happened had you not abandoned the town where you grew up?

TEN POOREST CITIES

City, State, % of People Below the Poverty Level
1. Detroit , MI 32.5%
2. Buffalo , NY 29.9%
3. Cincinnati , OH 27.8%
4. Cleveland , OH 27.0%
5. Miami , FL 26.9%
5. St. Louis , MO 26.8%
7. El Paso , TX 26.4%
8. Milwaukee , WI 26.2%
9. Philadelphia , PA 25.1%
10. Newark , NJ 24.2%

What do the top ten cities (over 250,000 population) with the highest poverty rate all have in common? 

Detroit, MI (1st) hasn’t elected a Republican mayor since 1961.

Buffalo , NY (2nd) hasn’t elected a Republican mayor since 1954.

Cincinnati , OH (3rd) hasn’t elected a Republican mayor since 1984.

Cleveland , OH (4th) hasn’t elected a Republican mayor since 1989.

Miami , FL (5th)has never had a Republican mayor.

St. Louis , MO (6th) hasn’t elected a Republican mayor since 1949.

El Paso , TX (7th) has never had a Republican mayor.

Milwaukee , WI (8th) hasn’t elected a Republican mayor since 1908.

Philadelphia , PA (9th) hasn’t elected a Republican mayor since 1952.

Newark , NJ (10th) hasn’t elected a Republican mayor since 1907.

Einstein once said:

‘The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.’

It is the poor who habitually elect Democrats yet they are still POOR!

You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich.

You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong.

You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift.

You cannot lift the wage earner up by pulling the wage payer down.

You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatred.

You cannot build character and courage by taking away people’s initiative and independence.

You cannot help people permanently by doing for them, what they could and should do for themselves.”

I am Grumpa Joe and I approve this message!

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Was the Grid a Campaign Promise or a Lie?

Posted on 21/08/2012 by Grumpa Joe

Yesterday, I raved about the Newsweek article titled “Hit the Road Barack.” In this article, Niall Ferguson points out that Obama broke a promise to build a modern electrical grid. Concurrently, I received the statement shown below from my electricity supplier. Note the amount of electricity being generated by various forms of fuel. Granted this distribution is from Illinois, but I believe it will be similar for all fifty states. In Illinois we burn coal to supply 45.6 % of our electricity. Our second largest fuel is Uranium 238 (Nuclear Power). Illinois has a heavy concentration of nuclear power, and has been a leader in this area since nuclear power came on the scene. There is a lake between Channahon and Morris, Illinois where spent fuel glows with an eerie blue light underwater.

So what did our president decide to do? He made good on a campaign promise to break the back of the coal industry in AMERICA. President Obama professes his home town is Chicago, Illinois, yet he threw the Illinois coal mining industry under the bus. There is enough coal under Illinois to provide the total energy demand of the USA for a hundred years. How large will the hole be that remains after removing a hundred years worth of coal? Certainly it will be large enough to throw the Chicago and State of Illinois Democrat machine in forever.

Think about this, where will you get half of your electricity when coal is gone? Will it be from nuclear? Not a chance. It takes ten years and a boat load of money to build a modern nuclear power plant. Will it be wind power? Look at the numbers below and tell me how many windmills can generate that much electricity. Illinois already sports way too many ugly windmills and I cannot imagine what the countryside will look like if we got half of our power from wind.

Will it be solar? Not in the Chicago area, our cloud cover from Lake Michigan makes the Chicago area one of the least effective solar power areas in the world.

Will it be from hydro-power? Not likely, since we don’t have waterfalls or raging rivers in our state.

Most likely, we will get it by converting coal plants to natural gas. The cost of converting that many coal-burning plants will be expensive. Oh yes, we will continue to burn coal, but it will be expensive. Face it, our electrical bills will rise faster than the deficit.  So, what has all this have to do with the new grid?

Fuel Distribution

When I first heard about a new electrical grid, something very robust and flexible came to mind. The grid would have to accommodate attacks from foreign powers without shutting down the entire country; the grid would work like the internet. The idea for a new grid comes up each time we have a blackout of major proportions.

After reading a bit about the new national grid I have learned that the need is not driven by national security at all. It is President Obama’s Green Energy Policy driving the need. When the USA finally achieves the goal of replacing hydrocarbon fuels with sustainable green energy like wind, solar, geothermal, and hydro a very flexible grid is needed to accommodate energy feeds from all these sources. On a windy day, when every windmill is running at peak, the new grid will feed the electricity all over the country. In the daytime, the solar panels will kick in, and feed the need. At night, when there is no solar, and very little wind, the grid would allow feeds from generating plants.

Can you imagine how many windmills and solar panels it will take to feed our electrical appetites?  I see every house in America roofed in solar panels, with the siding also generating electricity. Our lawns will be silver with solar panels. Each house will have a huge battery in  the basement to store excess energy for power on cloudy, windless days. We will need a degree in electrical management to run our in-home electrical needs like turning on light bulbs. What we don’t use will feed into the new flexible energy grid.  I almost forgot, windmills will top the same solar clad home.

I’ve said enough to show that the green energy thing is a giant wet dream being fed to the Sheeple of America for making the Green Energy lobby in Washington very happy. When every public building and house in America sports a windmill or two the new national power grid might become a reality. The real reason for the green energy policy is to pave the way for the Cap and Trade business of paying fines for exceeding CO2 emissions. The fines will go into an International Carbon Bank led by insider bureaucrats for distribution to countries who do not generate CO2. Of course the bureaucrats will feed their pockets with the free flow of carbon money coming in.

Who ever fed President Obama these ideas has used mind altering substances, and is having grandiose Dreams From Obama’s Father. Perhaps in one-hundred years the green energy thing will become a workable reality, but now it is a huge lie being forced on us as an excuse to steal  our money.

Green Energy for the White House

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Anton Chekhov’s Three Sisters

Posted on 05/08/2012 by Grumpa Joe

Ora Jones as Olga in “Three Sisters”

This week our little theater group attended the last of a five play series titled “Three Sisters.” The play is by Russian playwright Anton Chekhov. Steppenwolf ensemble member Tracy Letts adapted the work for an American audience. The subscription this year featured stories that were in some way connected to war. All were very good, but two of them were outstanding. Three Sisters is one, the other was “The March” a story about the Civil War.

I’ve seen two Russian works in my life. The first an opera, and now this play. Both impressed me as being somewhat oppressive. The long cold winters in Russia must make people morose. I don’t recall the name of the opera anymore, but I do recall the ride home from the Lyric Opera House. It was an October night and Chicago experienced its first heavy snowfall. Being so early in the season, there were no plows to clear the roads. The leaves were still on the trees and the snow heavy and sticky. Tree limbs and whole trees came down from the weight. We made it home, but the memory of the opera is dim in contrast. I do remember the entire set being in black and white. The background setting for Three Sisters was in black and white.

Writers proclaim that plays by Chekhov were “born for ensemble.” Tracy Letts certainly gave us an adaptation that is perfect for the Steppenwolf ensemble. The story had moments of comedy, pathos, sorrow, longing, and life emotions. The actors became the characters and were quite believable in their roles.

If you get the chance to see this play do. My little theater group came a way rating “The Three Sisters” the best of the series.

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