Heard about the suds smuggling going on up in Washington State? The eco-Nazis got together and got a law passed that banned all phosphates in detergents. But like most of what passes for “science” from the green crowd, somebody failed to do their homework. Turns out while phosphates may be bad whilst going down the drain from a dishwasher, they serve a useful purpose – they make the soap clean the dishes better, especially where locals suffer with hard water. No phosphates – no clean dishes, which means that the natives have to wash their dishes several times over to get ’em clean. Now I ask you – what’s more harmful to the environment…phosphates and a normal number of gallons of water used per dishwasher load, or no phosphates but three to five times the gallons of water used. You don’t have to be Kevin Costner to figure out that the world ain’t made of potable water. Take it from me here atop a caprock in the Texas Panhandle, water is a precious commodity. Using less water is better than trying to keep what goes down the drain from being a little impure. (Hint: That’s what we have water treatment plants for.) [Read more…] about We’re From the Government, and We’re Here to Help.
entitlements
Defining what’s “essential.”
Barack Obama, from his podium deep inside The Office of the President-Elect (?!), announced today that his administration would conduct a full and complete review of every government program, determine which ones we need – and which ones we don’t – and then cut funding to everything that’s not essential.
Bravo!
I’ve frankly been waiting for someone in power to do that for years. I’ve advocated a zero-based budget process since the Clinton years. It’s encouraging to hear the President-Elect talk about doing just that.
There’s just one, teensie, tiny little ol’ problem.
Who defines what’s “essential,” and what’s not? [Read more…] about Defining what’s “essential.”
Taxing Our Intelligence.
Like taxes? We all pay them. Come election time, every politician claims we pay too many. It’s just, the parties like to play with just who “we” is. To the right, “we” is everybody. To the left, “we” is comprised of the “middle class” and “the poor.” In the interest of truth, justice, and the American Way, I’d like to try and dispel some myths about taxes.
Let’s start with the biggest myth of all – that you can tax one group without affecting another. The guys on the Left would have you believe that the Bush tax cuts benefited only “the rich” or as they like to say “the top 2% of Americans.” Obama says he wants to lower the taxes on two-thirds of Americans – a “middle class” tax cut. He wants to raise taxes on the “richest Americans” to make them pay their “fair share,” and to raise corporate taxes, so that by sticking it to the corporations, he can fund his entitlement programs. [Read more…] about Taxing Our Intelligence.