Common cents

Do you remember the bill of goods sold to you recently about the mining bill in Wisconsin. The one that

Supposedly just makes a few regulatory changes and hurts noone. The one the republican/Walker controlled senate says we have to pass in order to create jobs? "It's about jobs. Wisconsin needs these 800 jobs. How can we sit back and not do anything we can to help create jobs in the current employment conditions?" Do you remember that.

If you believe that bill or anyone in the senate had anything to do with creating jobs, you are sorely mistaken. YOU have been fooled by a publicity stunt geared to generate false support. While the bill will help to create 800 jobs, jobs that could already exist if the mining company had just followed the current regulations, (unless there is something environmentally dangerous to hid which could be disastorous), it also comes with a trade off :

• Increasing the potential for allowing groundwater, the source of most Wisconsinites' drinking water, to be polluted.
• Allowing our most sensitive wetlands to be filled in with mining waste and other materials.
• Capping the amount of money that the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) can collect from a mining company for reviewing their permit. (Which by the way will COST the state MILLIONS)(can you say higher taxes)
• Denying citizens the certainty of contested case hearings. (More accurately, denying individual rights)

So, while the above statements are arguable, it is not my intention here to debate the merits of the mining bill law. Rather I am challenging the premise that the republicans did this solely so they can create jobs. Now, how am I going to do that. Well, first I am NOT going to make unsuported statements of opinion. I am going to present a few facts which challenge the notion that the republican senate is all for job creation.
If the senate is for job creation as they say, then anything that comes across their desks which could  create or save jobs would be fair game for passing. Right? At least anything which would have the same or less potential to do harm to our environment as the mining bill should be passed. Right? I mean, in the interest of jobs?

Well think again. In an article written for the Wisconsin State Journal, Clay Barbour writes the following:

"Buried in a regulatory reform bill proposed by Gov. Scott Walker earlier this week (January) lies a provision that wind energy insiders say could shut down 12 wind farm projects, cost investors billions and essentially kill the industry in the state."
Additionally he writes:
"It would in essence shut down wind energy in the state," said Denise Bode, CEO of the American Wind Energy Association. "It is one of the most onerous regulations we have seen."
Bode said that, if passed, the measure would shut down 12 wind farm projects worth about $1.8 billion. Those projects, which are in various stages of planning, could produce about 950 full-time jobs for one year, she said.
SIDEBAR: That 1.8 Billion would be SPENT in Wisconsin.
SO, there you have it, the senate passes a questionable bill environmentally in order to "Create jobs". About 800 jobs if I remember correctly. But then proposes a bill which will KILL 950+ jobs (did you notice that's more than the mining bill) will have no environmental impact to speak of, and will give us cleaner cheaper energy, completely contrary to the mining bill.
There you have it, they are either lying about the jobs in the mining bill or they are hypocritical, and by they, I mean ANYONE who can think along these same lines.
Can anyone explain to me why republicans and conservatives have a bias against clean energy. The end result here is that instead of having those 950+jobs here and creating clean energy we can sell, you know for money/!, those jobs will go to surrounding, more environmentally friendly states. Then we will have to spend MILLIONS more to make up for what the mining companies are not paying for, we will spend millions more on unemployment for the new and existing jobs already in the wind industry, we will loose BILLIONS in spending in our state which would boost our economy and create thousands of other jobs, and we will have to SPEND MILLIONS more to PURCHASE our energy from the surrounding states.
This is not rocket science here, its not even coal mining science, its common cents.

Links to the article quoted in this blog:
Read more: http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/local/environment/article_0fbc9ae4-20ad-11e0-91b4-001cc4c03286.html#ixzz1nESSIvnS
Read more:  http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/local/environment/article_0fbc9ae4-20ad-11e0-91b4-001cc4c03286.html#ixzz1nERzghYb

Chapter 1 - Title TBD

Exerpt from a book I am concidering writing about my experiences as a divourced Dad. What do you think?

Many of those close to me would say “it’s not right.” They would caution me about going forward. I did not listen to them. In fact I dismissed them. I reasoned that they just didn’t know what I knew. They didn’t have all the facts. They were making reasonable statements which were no where near interfering, but from where I was standing they just didn’t know what I knew. At the time I was using this reassurance to support my decision to move forward, but if you really examined ALL that I knew, not just the selective memories I was choosing at the time to support my position, there was much more support for their conclusion than mine.

Manifesto of a Fat Person

I am Fat. There, I said it. I used the F word. I am Fat. I do not like being fat. I do not accept being fat. Those are masks for the world; more for those who do not know me than those who do. Those who know me know that I wish for more. I wish for small, I wish for less, but they accept me as I am. They do not accept that I cannot be less, they accept me as I am, and there is a difference. Inside, I never accept that this is who I am and it cannot change. Yes, there are times. Times, after a long hard battle, A battle I really thought I would win. When I am tired and disappointed more for my loved ones than myself. When depression and failure are closest; “I CAN NOT DO THIS!’ “I AM A FAILURE!” But you know I am not. I am a fighter. I need to accept the failure for what it is. It is not a weakness. It is not about whether I was serious about winning the fight. I am always serious. I am always thinking about the next move. Even as those words “cannot” and “failure”, leave my mouth, they leave a bad taste. A taste I cannot tolerate. More that anything else, even being Fat, I cannot accept failure. So I rest, and regroup. It may look as if I am doing nothing to change my disposition. But I am. I am thinking. I am gathering information. I am regrouping. I am rebuilding my armor and arsenal, for I know the fight will come again.


I am a person of God. I know that the body is the temple of God. I have never been unaware. But, I am also a sinner. I indulge where I should not. I do not intend to indulge. However I do not defer responsibility. Just like any other sin, I repent. I ask for strength, I plead for this cross to be lifted. Maybe, just maybe, for me, it is not about losing weight. Maybe it is after all about the fight. Not the victory, but the battle. Maybe, my fight isn’t necessarily for me, but for another. Maybe, when I fight, another sees and gains strength. Another begins to fight also, and while I am without success, another is victorious. Maybe, I am not to be small or less, but to be more, strong, defiant, determined. Maybe I need to fight this fight for myself, in order to help others fight for themselves. Maybe this is Gods plan after all. Maybe God wants me to know that I truly am his child. My temple may be in disrepair, but my sanctuary, my heart, is pure with love for God.

I will fight again and again. As a fat person, I know more about being thin and healthy than those for whom it comes naturally. When the battle is over, and I go to be with my lord, and this imperfect temple is replaced with a perfect one, I will be victorious, because I never lost sight of my true purpose. This imperfect temple is “of” this world, and I am not. I am “in” this world. I will leave this world and join the sanctuary of the Lord forever.

But until then... In this world...I will fight on... For my soul.

Anyone know a good repair man?