Stock Market and Political Commentary

New Vehicle Costs 10 Cents per Day

A new vehicle is now on the market which costs less than 10 cents per day to operate according to the company.  It uses batteries which will run 24 hours on a dime's worth of electricity.

See the video

 

RWG

Are Presidential Polls Skewed by Technology?

Back in the good old days most of folks had a single phone in their house and even some of those were on a party line.  For those too young to know what that means, imagine if you had to share your cell phone with 2, 4, or even 8 people depending on the size of your "party line".

The question is, what effect is technology having on pollsters ability to contact a random and representative sample of likely voters? 

In our house we have caller ID and normally do not answer any calls unless we recognize the number.  If it is important we figure the people will leave a message.  So the question is whether these types of technologies would be more likely to be in the homes of one party or the other, and if so, how that would skew the results.

And the latest trend seems to be that people are dropping their home phone and simply having a cell phone.  Again it is not clear how easily these folks can be contacted based on phone records and various laws against commercial calls to cell phone users. 

We'll find out next week how accurate or far off the mark these national polls were in 2008 and perhaps get some insight into whether the new technologies played a roll in the accuracy of poll results.

RWG

Bold VP Choice for Obama

Written on 08/20/08

The democrats are encouraging McCain to make a "bold choice" for VP.  What they mean by this is for him to pick a Pro Choice candidate or even a previous democrat like Joe Lieberman.  They know this would hurt his chances of winning the election.

I say Obama should make a "bold choice" for VP, namely John Edwards.

He always is quoting the scripture about "the least of these", etc.  This would be a chance for him to cite bible verses on forgiveness as he makes his announcement.

It would demonstrate once and for all that this man is indeed a Christian who takes his religion seriously.... although he can no longer talk about the church he attended or the pastor he listened to for the past 20 years.

Anyone can make a mistake; perhaps Obama was not listening that closely to all that yelling coming from the pulpit... give the man a break!

Edwards made a mistake.  How do we know he didn't just accidentally go to the wrong hotel and wrong room back on July 21st of this year... give the man a break!

Barack, take my advice.  Select John Edwards as your VP to demonstrate to the world that you are loving and forgiving Christian who not only talks the talk, but also walks the walk.

RWG

700 HP Electric Supercar

Written on 07/03/08

Is it real?  If so, it is more evidence the revolution is coming.

http://editorial.autos.msn.com

RWG

Reparations for Slavery

Written on 08/02/08

The idea of reparations for slavery is an idea that won't die an easy death and is back in the news.  Given that I personally have never been a slave owner or a part of it in any way I'm naturally resistant to this idea.

However, in the spirit of compromise and to help Obama with this sticky problem in his quest to unify the country and yes even the entire world, I hereby propose the following:

For those who feel their lives would have been much better if they had not been born in the United States of America, we the people of the United States will offer the following Government program for reparations:

    1.  A one-way ticket back to the person's country of origin or country of their choice, wherever that might be*

    2.  A revocation of this person's citizenship**

    3.  A sincere apology for the hardship and lack of opportunity they have endured in the United States***

Program Notes:

*No cash would be offered, only one way transportation tickets.  All expenses would be paid to include baggage and household goods in line with what military personnel receive when being reassigned to an overseas location

**The person would no longer be a US citizen and would be subject to arrest should they try to come back and establish a residence or work in the United States.

***The sincere apology would be issued as they board the ship or plane along with our best wishes for a better life in another country where they will have more freedom and opportunity.

---------------------------

Of course they will have to choose carefully before deciding where to go because in so many of the countries around the world, particularly in Africa, rampant poverty, genocide, and unhealthy living conditions are the normal way of life.

This being the case our new government program should probably offer some travel brochures with basic facts about the countries they want to live in before they make this irrevocable decision.  Like all government programs this one should never end and always be available to citizens of the US regardless of race, religion, or ethnic origin.

RWG

Proposed Energy Solution

Written on 08/01/08

Months ago I asserted that Barack Obama is an airhead.  I didn't make this charge jokingly or lightly; it was simply clear to me the man is a zero when he gets away from the teleprompter and  many of his statements are actually laughable.

Let's look at the latest evidence to support my claim. In a speech yesterday Obama said the following:

"We could save all the oil that they're talking about getting off drilling if everybody was just inflating their tires and getting regular tune-ups. You could save just as much."

Even in ordinary times this would be an idiotic statement, but only a true airhead thoroughbred would make this type of statement as a Presidential candidate during a time when gas prices are $4+ a gallon and energy costs have become the hotbutton issue of the campaign.

Yesterday for the first time in this campaign I heard someone in the media use the airhead label for Obama.  It's now becoming so obvious it can no longer be ingnored.

Just keep talking Barack... just keep talking without your teleprompter and the American people will make their judgement in November. 

RWG

New Phone Invention

Written on 06/19/08

I saw this on TV today (Magic Jack) and for $20 a year you can have local and long distance phone service.... most folks would save about $300 to $500 a year with this device because they could drop their service with AT&T or whoever their current carrier is and still have use of their home phone. 

I've not tried it yet, but it might be worth your time to take a look.

 

http://www.magicjack.com/3/index.asp

 

RWG

MPG 100 Auto?

Written on 02/08/08

Can you imagine what would happen if a 1 billion dollar prize was offered by the Federal Government for the most fuel efficient car that was practical to drive?  I say we could do this for two categories; one would be for gasoline and the other would be for completely new fuels such as hydrogen.  The results would be astounding I think.

 

Two billion is about a $7 investment for each person in the US.  If the prize money resulted in only a doubling of fuel efficiency (I think it would  be more) this would save most families at least a 100 times the original investment in a single year.

 

This is the type of investment that would pay big dividends to the people.  Instead the dullards we have in Washington can only think of ways to make it harder for families to make ends meet by increasing taxes on fuel, etc.

 

What do you really get for that?  Their ideas will simply add a burden to working families and then take the money and spend it on pork, e.g., bridges to nowhere, etc.  My way would pay big dividends for everyone year after year.

 

I would do this in the name of national defense since much of our military challenges stem from oil producing nations in the middle east.  Since national defense is one of the actual responsibilities of the federal government, unlike health care and education, this would actually be in line with the constitution.  This is similar to the reasoning Eisenhower used to build the interstate highway system.

 

http://editorial.autos.msn.com/landingpage.aspx?cp-documentid=450035&landing=hybrids&topart=hybrids&icid=364

 

RWG