Engage USA

The Oil Company Spin Machines are at full throttle...

The quote below is their latest BS. Essentially their argument is that they don't make as much as Goggle as a percent of revenue.

The fundamental difference between Oil and Goggle is that Oil is commodity that we are required to buy. Their is no comparative commodity that yields 8% net on revenue (don't farmers wish otherwise).

Goggle provides a service to America that makes this country a better place, empowers people with access to information, and ultimately is a choice...consumers can choose not to Goggle. They can't decide not to drive to work, heat their homes, and our economy requires Oil to transport goods.

For their part, the oil companies have been emphasizing that they make far less money on each dollar of sales than many other industries that aren't being excoriated for their capitalism.

Taken together, Exxon, Chevron and ConocoPhillips made a profit of $8.19 on every $100 in sales. In contrast, Internet bellwethers Google Inc., Yahoo Inc. and eBay Inc. collectively turned a $19.20 profit on every $100 of their combined revenue.

Unabated mergers, a contrived and controlled shortage and a bought and paid for congress/exceutive branch. It's time of 21st century pitchforks and torches.

Goggle Empowers, Exxon Subjugates

Exercise your limited power of choice in two ways;
For May, buy no gas or oil from Exxon-Mobile
In June, buy no gas from Shell
In July, buy no gas from Conoco Phillips
In August buy no gas from Arco
Whenever possible buy from independents even if they get their product from one of the majors.
Send a signal and wreak havoc on their cash flow!

In November vote for anyone who will engage these manipulators and promotes a real "get off the dino juice" policy.


Engage USA

Five Things that make too much sense to ever happen...

Since common sense and pratical solutions rarely find any meaningful support in Washington, I thought I'd take a moment and document them in cyperspace hence placing them in digital time capsule for later review. I suspect in 2016 not only will these still not have gotten any meaningful attention, the issues behind them will be at a more dire level.

1) Secure America's Borders...rather than toss this issue into the politcal noodle salad of immigration reform. Simply take the necssary steps to bring integrity and control over who is entering the nation. Most polls show this simple statement has an over 80% approval within the American public.
*Since we are being reminded how impractical it is to deal with 12 million illegals, might it make sense that we keep the number from growing?
*We have spent nearly 500 billion in Iraq as a "war on terror" strategy, can't we scrimp out about 12 billion to secure the borders from terrorist here at home?

2) Use Excess Big Oil Profits to fuel an alternatives program. Rather than allow Big Oil to ride the profit wave unabated, cap the profit at 2005 levels and use the excess to fuel research within the private sector, universities and other think tanks to get us out of this strategic, economic and national security rat hole.
*India and China will drive Oil to new highs for the next twenty years.
*2600 energy mergers have made any semblence of competition here at home non-existant.

3) Give Parents Control to chose their education provider. Yes, vouchers...we are bleeding jobs from both ends. 600,000 jobs lost in the last 6 years in the automotive industry. Importing engineers and software designers from India, China and elsewhere. U.S. companies relocating their white collar jobs, skilled labor jobs and their financial epocenters. We must unleach the power of the private sector to change the public education paradiagm. Leaders in future-centric industries should tell us what they need and we should design world-relevant education.

4) Flat Tax...Your 1040 form should have 5 lines.
1) How much did you make last year?
2) Multiple line 1 by "x"
3) Enter answer here _____
4) Enter your total withholdings for this year here______
5) Subtract line 4 from line 3 and enter your tax/refund due here______.


5) Cap Health Care Litigation to $250,000. Establish an independent medical review program for all providers. Provide basic health care requiring co-pays for all services except preventative care. Socialists? maybe, but let me ask you....which person in the country doesn't deserve access to affordable health care. BTW; don't look know but people who can't pay get cared for today, the difference is you pay for it when you and your insurance company pay $40,000 for hip replacement surgery...(In Singapore the costs is 6K in Africa 2K). Get the artificial costs out of health care or we will spend the next 50 years making Pfiser, Exxon and Blue Cross rich and we'll all be poor.

Engage USA

I Brake for Bean Counters

Let's face it,...we are hosed when it comes to the issue of fuel prices. There are too many forces aligned against us including;
*2600 energy mergers since 1996
*India's and China's increasing needs for oil
*Weak-Willed Democrats and Corporate Centric Republicans
*Lack of any plan to get off the dino-juice

However, if you would like to have at least the illusion of being an empowered consumer making free-will choices and impacting the market try this;
For the entire month follow this formula...
May don't buy any gas or oil from Exxon/Mobile
June don't buy any gas or oil from Shell
July don't buy any gas or oil from Arco
August don't buy any gas or oil from Chevron

It may not have any impact at all, but you'll wreak havoc on their cash flow processes and drive the bean counters crazy.

Of course, you will have to share this with about 75 million of your best friends.

Is it me, or did we lose alot of our good thinking time now that it takes less time to put $20 in the tank,...I try to leverage free time anywhere I can find it. That fuel meter sure spins alot faster than it used to.


Engage USA

Busby Ad will Backfire

Call me Polly Anna, but I was hopeful that the first Congressional Race of the season would be an example of what elections should look like. Unfortunately, while the primary was almost absent of negative ads (two notable exceptions), the early part of this campaign portends for rough water ahead. The recent RNC funded anti-Busby ad (suggesting she is soft on child porn) is not only an example of the worst in campaign tactics; it isn't even a smart move politically.
Imagine for a moment that a friend and co-worker of yours were "arrested" on some horrible charge. Would your first instinct be?
a) Assume he/she is guilty and separate yourself from the person
b) Hope that some terrible error had been made and speak to the facts about the person you know to be true

Either way, most of us would hope that our friend was innocent until the facts bore out otherwise. This is the crime Francine Busby is guilty of. As a lifelong Republican, I would tell you that in a similar situation, I would make the same decision and my friends would expect me to, as I would expect that of my friends. If my friendship was found to be miss-guided after the facts were flushed out, then I would march in the line of the castigators, not before.

Politically, what numb nut decided that any voter would watch that ad and look at Francine Busby as someone soft on child porn? It actually says to me that the Republicans are struggling to find real issues to engage Ms. Busby on.

Here are some tips for my misguided RNC friends...

The district has been, is and will continue to be conservative and predominately Republican, despite your poor strategy with the ad. The influence of the DNC and Move On groups is the Achilles heel of the Busby campaign. No voter wants carpet baggers entering their community and influencing their politics. Fortunately for the Republicans the Democrats have failed to find the music that sings their praises with the public. The GOP has benefited as being the "better than the alternative" party. We (the Republicans) need to aim higher than just jumping over the low bar set by the DNC.

Ads such as these bring parity to the race, here in San Diego and across the Nation.

While I do not support this ad, had nothing to do with its creation...Ms. Busby has my apologies...I am embarrassed to acknowledge the Republican endorsement trailer on the ad.

I will be supporting Mr. Bilbray in this election, but will advise him and others to "just say no to B.S. ads"!



Engage USA

We Lack Border Acumen Everywhere

It is tragically ironic to me that our failures at home and abroad have at least one thing common. Our ability to restrict insurgent mobility in Iraq and our inability to protect the home land from illegal immigration (worker-bee, social service siphon-bee, and terrorist bee alike) begin with our failure to secure borders.

One of the key arguments between Rumsfeld and Powell was the post War plan. Powell who was not an advocate of our action, but like any good soldier suggested that "if" we were intent on entering Iraq, we would need nearly 500,000 troops to A) secure the border and B) provide safety and security to the population. Our unwillingness to secure the Iranian and Syrian borders has costs lives and prolongs the process.

The Bathist are resisting the formation of a government (understandable given their past subjugation of 90% of the country)
If we pulled out of the cities and change the mission to securing the borders to prevent further outside influence, we might just push the Sunni's and Secular Bathists to a more pliable position. Pay backs a bitch ain't it!

Here at home, our failure to secure our borders and ports puts the nation at risk both economically and from a national security standpoint.

The good ship S.S. United States has a breach in her hull. The Captain and Crew (President and Congress) are top side looking at the water coming in and arguing the various merits and usefulness of H2O and what if any bailing methods we should employ. I may be just a dumb farm boy from Delaware, but my view is we just need someone to go downstairs and plug up the hole.



Engage USA

Got Gas? Lee Raymond Retirement Gets Pumped Up

As we enter the summer driving seasons and $3+ gas, retiring CEO Raymond (Exxon Mobile) can cruise around without worrying much about the cost of fueling his various vehicles. 2600 energy mergers and a manipulated commodity market gave Big Oil enough dollars to give Mr. Raymond a nice retirement package.

Big Oil is insulated from price swings in Crude,...how insulated are you feeling these days?

When there is a frost in Florida or California,..the price of OJ goes up...we all understand that, but the grower doesn't have a record year as he/she has less product to sell. The grower doesn't own the production, distribution, processing, wholesaling and retailing of the commodity.

Here is the relaly big difference,...if OJ gets too high, you and I can buy Cranberry juice, but we don't have an alternative to oil.



http://adelphia.net/news/read.php?id=12731014&ps=1014&cat=&cps=0&lang=en

Why do Demo's only want "choice" in coffee and abortions?

The world continues to shrink and there is no policy or strategy that can delay - or offset this force. We are not preparing our children to successfully compete in this smaller, tougher and less American-friendly world. The world they will inherit is likely to be more complicated, increasingly competitive, and no-doubt challenging.
We all cherish our children’s future and we ask ourselves the same question: Are we doing enough?
American employers are exporting jobs to India and China and they are also importing skilled employees like engineers, software designers and other “white collar” positions.
There can be no more poignant indictment of our failure to prepare our children to compete than the fact that American mothers and fathers passing over there own and opting to hire outside the U.S. to fill their employment needs.
We can spend time questioning the wisdom and loyalty of these companies, but they are required to make decisions that serve their needs and the needs of their shareholders. They are hiring skilled labor because our educational system has been “called to action,” but given inadequate tools to produce the necessary product. Formal education’s primary goal is not to culturally indoctrinate, socially re-engineer or morally re-program our youth, the mission is to prepare tomorrow’s adults to successfully engage the world as it is, not as we would like it to be.
Teaching has been, and continues to be, an under-appreciated and noble profession. Teachers are selfless, and pivotal, to our long-term economic and strategic livelihood. Teachers carry the privilege and the responsibility to shape our children’s collective future.
Parents carry the sole responsibility to direct the development of their children. Parents cannot be asked to subjugate this role to the state. Parents should have access to choices when they invest in their most important of decision: the education of their children.
How inane is it that we have virtually unlimited choices as to where, what and how to buy our morning coffee, but have virtually no say or options as it relates to the awesome impact of K thru 12 education?
Given the challenges of the day, and the increasingly competitive make up of a shrinking world, does it seem prudent to artificially constrain educational choices? Is it not incumbent on us to unleash the extraordinary power of the American business machine to provide compelling and powerful choices in education?
Vouchers have been made the educational “dirty word” by those who fear the consequences of accountability that every other industry recognizes as reality. We haven’t moved the discussion far enough towards choice. Unleashing the power of accountability, results-oriented compensation and the ingenuity of private enterprise can only improve our educational relevance. To help us collectively secure the nations economic future we must:
Abandon the current paradigm. More specifically, we should allow parents to direct their tax dollars dedicated to educational pursuits in a “voucher-like” fashion. Public institutions that are providing adequate education have nothing to fear, and those that don’t would have a reason to catch up.
We must improve teacher compensation, but tie such increases in compensation to the results their efforts achieve. In short, bonuses are just as appropriate in the educational industry as it is in other parts of the private sector.
We need to partner with key leaders in industries that are future-centric. Knowing what these industries need relative to educational preparation is step one in designing “world-relevant” educational curriculum.
Internships should not be reserved for the medical industry. Conjoining classroom education with “hands-on” application of that education will accelerate our youths ability to “hit the career path” sprinting.
Finally, religious-based educational institutions can be part of our menu of choices. Their potential contribution cannot be left out of the power-of-choice equation simply due to feeble arguments about church-and-state separation. These schools could receive voucher compensation for the percentage of their curriculum that delivers the secular basics all students must have.

Who is taking care of Whom?

Despite the excessive Congressional influence of supposed experts (i.e. lawyers, doctors, HMO's and pharmaceutical companies), far too many citizens - nearly 45 million - find themselves without access to basic healthcare. Many of our citizens are at risk just because they change jobs.
Healthcare dollars are squandered to pay for things that have nothing to do with providing actual care. Too much litigation, too much effort, and too many costs are squandered by providers who have to constantly cover themselves from potential law suits. Ask any nurse how much of their day is filled with non-healthcare functions.
Perhaps the "experts" and the "obstructionists" should just get out of the way and let the citizens have a shot at fixing this. We can find the solution to provide access to reasonably priced health care.
Here is a look at my plan that would lower costs, raise accountability, and allow ordinary citizens access to basic and reasonable health care services:
Removing the artificial costs of healthcare by capping litigation damages to a pre-determined formula based on loss by a neutral and non-industry invested body.
Employ an independent medical performance review program that monitors, rates, re-trains and disciplines medical providers when medical mistakes are made. In other words, remove bad doctors and retrain them - don't just raise their insurance rates.
Create a national basic healthcare access program for the uninsured that requires co-pays by the patient for all treatment except for preventative health care procedures.

Choking on Dino Juice

We are paying too much for our fuel and this is not good for our economy and certainly not good for our household budgets.
India and China are dramatically increasing their consumption of this finite resource. To be solely dependent on oil to fuel our economy is inherently dangerous for our economic health, our strategic interests, and our environment.
The oil companies have insulated themselves from price swings and continue to pile-up record profits on the backs of the consumer. We are not insulated, nor have we been allowed to play our legitimate role in the free market as discriminating customers.
We must return true market forces to the industry by:
Having the Department of Justice review the pricing practices and conclude if the Big 5 oil companies should be broken up into smaller identities, or at least be barred from being involved in all aspects of the market process.
Dedicating the federal tax on gasoline to fuel a "race to alternatives" program. This program should have the same sense of purpose as the dedication our country had during the Space Race of the 1950's, '60's and '70's.
Writing federal anti-price gouging laws that hold the station owner and oil company CEO criminally liable anytime gas prices are artificially raised during a time of disaster, natural or otherwise.

Border Sanity Por Favor

The political tactics of divisiveness are tearing open the wounds of hate, bigotry and myopic self-interests. It is time that San Diegan parents and grandparents stand up and demonstrate an example for our children and our leaders. We must set an example that displays collective wisdom, pragmatic problem-solving and unity to address an issue that impacts all of us.

Whether you are a natural-born citizen, an immigrant who came here and became a citizen or currently an undocumented resident of this land we share one common bond…we all cherish our children’s future.

Let us set aside the matter of immigration for a time, and address the singular issue of border integrity and National security.

Make no mistake we are at war with an enemy intent on doing this nation harm. This enemy spares no one in their misguided quest to advance an agenda through death and destruction. Their victims include non-military citizens…women and children. The young and old, the defenders and the defenseless are potential victims of these religious zealots who have long ago de-famed and rejected the tenets of their own deity. They intend on killing your children and mine.

During this time of war, regardless of your politics on immigration reform we can agree that terrorists can use our vulnerable southern border as an unsupervised port of entry. We cannot wait for the transporters of tools and terrorists with their agenda of hate, death, and destruction to our nation.

We have witness far too often the reactive nature of our government that engages issues clumsily and ineffectively after a major event. The lesson of Katrina is the lack of acknowledging predictable potential dangers and failing to prepare. Planning and preparation are more important and effective that reactive regret. Our governments (local, state and national) failed to prepare, were too slow to act and then overspent and clumsily reacted after a major city, built under sea level within the historical path of hurricanes finally was hit. Motivated by political fear and regret, and belated not public service our Government has spent and continues to spend irresponsibly to repair damage to lives and property. Having a lucid plan for evacuation would have served the citizens of New Orleans much better.

We cannot wait for Al Qaeda to attack El Paso, Yuma or San Diego to recognize the current threat. We should prudently protect our homeland from predictable events. We owe our children the safety of prudent protection, not prove our love after an attack with grandiose and belated symbolism.

You and I as parents must reject the politics of divisiveness and assert our power as citizens. We must unite and demand that our leadership immediately provide the funding and action necessary to secure our borders. We must provide the infrastructure, technology and man-power to protect all of us (citizens, new citizens, soon to be citizens, and temporary guests). We must secure the border as a nation defense reaction to the reality of the War on Terror.

Let us defer the debate about immigration just long enough to focus solely on the Nation Defense Imperative of securing our borders. We have been at risk for nearly 5 years. Our President, the Congress and the Dept. of Homeland Security are charged with the responsibility of providing for the common defense. We have allowed them to provide common-rhetoric.

Our Nation has the skill to accomplish anything we collectively decide to pursue. America can and must secure the border while providing dignified, safe and legal access to this nation of immigrants.