Spain backing away from bankrupt policies that the US is rushing to embrace

Spain and many of its European neighbors are coming face to face with the realities of paying for a utopian nanny state, aka: socialism.

With 190 billion in staggering debt, Spain is being forced to make economic decisions that make sense, in order to continue on without suffering economic collapse.

One of those decisions is to start to privatize their government run healthcare system.  Madrid proposes selling off the management of six of 20 public hospitals and 27 of 268 health centers. Of course this has sparked outrage from the unionized government workforce, who sees a threat to their lifestyle.

Spain, like many similar socialized countries, has a heavily unionized public sector which drives much of its economic policy.  Spain’s unemployment rate is around 25%, yet last year, civil servants earned 30 percent more, on average, than the rest of Spain's workers…. Those wage disparities are similar to the US ratio.

For instance, according to figures released by the transport ministry, 135 air traffic controllers earned  $830,000 per year while 713 earned between $476,000 and  $715,000.  In addition, the controllers can retire at the age of 52.  

But the new right of center government is trying to crack down on this abuse and bring some fiscal sanity to Spain.

Other economic problems facing Spain are their heavy investment in “green energy” or renewables, that were made by the previous Socialist government.  This has not only proved to be an economic blunder, but a job killer as well, with every Green job wiping out 2.2 jobs in conventional industries. See: Spain's Green Disaster a Lesson for America - CBN.com

The new Spanish government decided to cut all Green subsidies for new renewables projects, a move that has effectively killed Green energy in Spain. The government will also start to tax renewable energy.

As usual uneconomic wind and solar industries were kept alive by Green subsidies, costing billions a year….in other words totally unaffordable.  If government subsidies are cut, the companies pushing this flawed technology go bankrupt.

Even Germany a far stronger economic engine than Spain, is buckling under its investments in “renewables” See:  Germany says solar is path to bankruptcy

They say a smart man learns from his mistakes, but a brilliant man learns from others mistakes.  Does that axiom translate to countries as well?

As we can see from Spain and other european countries in debt and teetering on bankruptcy, their economic model doesn’t work, it is right there in our face. 

Yet for the past 4 years our government seems intent on following this path.

A frequent visitor to the White house has been Richard Trumka, head of the powerful AFL/CIO.  Trumka has bragged repeatedly in the past he is in touch with the White house every day.  Trumka along with the leaders of the SEIU/AFSCME unions have focused on recruiting ever-growing numbers of government workers who benefit from higher taxes and bigger government.

The administration has been highly partisan in its support for organized labor and has appointed members to the NLRB who are fiercely pro union and very anti business.

The provisions in Obamacare heavily favor unionization of the healthcare industry, which does not bode well for containing medical costs. As a side note, Obamacare did nothing to curb the multi billion dollar medical lawsuit industry. Some say lawsuit abuse adds  as much as 40% to the cost of healthcare.

America under this administration has “invested” billions of dollars in renewable energy/green energy, with spectacular failure as a result.  We have read about the 26 dollar a gallon bio fuel the navy has been forced to purchase. We have also become familiar with green company names like:  Fisker-Solyndra-A 123 Systems- Tester and Ener 1 who are synonymous with bankruptcy.  This does not count billions in grants and subsidies that are put on the backs of utility rate payers who pick up the tab of subsidized wind and solar expenses in the states.

President Obama was just elected to another 4 years as President.  We are speeding towards government run healthcare as Obamacare kicks in.  The President seems to have a fixation on converting the country to green energy, so it seems the spending in that area will continue unabated, even though there are no breakthroughs in the underlying failed technology.. 

Will America learn from the European model?

The World Almanac is the bible of the well informed

World Almanac 2013

The 2013 edition of the World Almanac is out; my brand new copy arrived in the mail last week.

As I thumbed through the thousand fact filled pages, I realized nothing like this is duplicated on the internet.  Even in these days when most of our knowledge can come through our computer screen, there is no comparison to the feel of a book that you can easily leaf through. To research on the computer everything that is found in the World Almanac, would take years.

America has been able to trust the information contained in the World Almanac since 1868, when it was owned by Pulitzer.  The first edition was 100 pages and focused mainly on New York issues. Since then it has branched out to national and international, with coverage of every nation on earth.

I have had a relationship with the World Almanac since I was a child, I always took for granted all of the knowledge compiled in it as reliable and the last word on any subject I could think of. I never thought about talking to the principal behind the production of such a monumental work, until I was contacted by their publicist and asked if I would like to talk to their senior editor.

 I was able to spend time with the senior editor of the World Almanac, Sarah Janssen and ask her a few questions about this impressive work of knowledge. Of course anyone associated with the compilation of this much information,; I have deep respect for and would never challenge them in a game of trivial pursuit…ever.

Sarah and I both shared the common bond of reading the Almanac since we were children; she just took it to another level.

Sarah, you cover everything,  from the US economy to the Pro Rodeo Cowboys Associations championships; there must be tremendous pressure to check your facts… “We thoroughly investigate all new information and send it out to an independent party for verification-separate from our original investigation. It’s a double blind device to ensure accuracy.”

There is so much in this book, how do you gather this information? Most sources are very receptive to giving the World Almanac information.  We have been around so long and we have standing relationships built up over decades.

“Every edition has a copy of the US Constitution, a history of the world in 30 pages or less, plus the granular information people look for such as phone numbers, addresses and websites for places.  We try to pack as much information as possible between the book covers.”

You thoroughly cover our election process as well and explain quite clearly how it works: “We have all results if this last election in this latest edition as well as all of the information on the 2012 Academy awards, we try to cover everything.”

How do you compare yourself to an online search engine where you can get information for free? “About half of the information found in the Almanac is available for free in online search engines.  Our value is in the curation and reliability of the information we provide.  All of our statistics are in one place and you can rely on everything we print.”

Do you have electronic versions of the World Almanac? “Yes we do have versions available for Kindle,  iPad or any electronic device you would like to load it on.”  “We also have online content available by subscription for schools and libraries.”

Sarah also reminded me that the World Almanac has a presence on Twitter and Facebook as well.  Something the Pulitzer family could have never envisioned when they printed the first Almanac 144 years ago.

The World Almanac is a must have for every household.

Once again Hillary Clinton requires “suspension of disbelief” to believe a concussion prevents her testimony

Previously, when asked to testify in the Benghazi murder investigation of our personnel, Mrs. Clinton claimed she was busy on a pre planned wine tasting trip to Australia.   

This time, just before she is scheduled to appear at the re scheduled date, she claims she has a “concussion” and will not be able to face questioners. 

This latest excuse will run out the clock on her term as Secretary of State.  She has said she will agree to testify at a “future hearing,” but declined to say when that date would be.

Hillary and her allies in politics/media, reinforce the impression they believe Americans are stupid, don’t care and suffer from Alzheimer’s disease…by the collective yawns in the main stream media, perhaps they are right.

But this is Hillary; she has a track record of putting out whoppers.

Hillary has skated through countless tales that would stretch the incredulity radar of anyone ambulatory and conscious enough to have a sense of propriety and end the careers of most public figures.

But that’s not the criteria for those in the media and politics that hold Hillary to a different standard….she gets a free pass on all of it.

But these last few months should raise the hackles on all Americans who care whether their officials have any shred of integrity or accountability.  In this case, Americans were murdered and many were wounded.  Authorities who are trying to get to the truth of this horrific event are being scoffed at by this administration, including Hillary.  This is not a joke and many American citizens are outraged by the utter disregard they feel the victims are being given. See Benghazi should end careers

Americans want to know why American embassy and staff were left basically defenseless.   Who made those decisions and why?  Even though every other country had removed their embassy staff because it was too dangerous…ours remained vulnerable as a target for Al Quaeda on the anniversary of 9/11.

Why repeated calls from the murdered Ambassador for more security, were ignored…Even on the day of the attack 9-11-12 he put out a call for additional security.

Why were US armed forces and personnel in the vicinity of Benghazi told not to come to the beleaguered consulate while it was under attack?  Who gave that order?

Why were nearby fighter aircraft not called in to aid in the defense of the consulate? The Navy SEALs at the consulate had laser technology that could have guided precision air strikes and broke the attack.

Why have high ranking US military personnel in that part of the area, been summarily removed from their posts and are not testifying?

Why are the wounded Americans in the attack being kept away from investigators and not able to provide their eye witness testimony?

After 3 months we still have no answers and to let Hillary and this administration off the hook by not having to testify under oath,  is a slap in the face to all Americans. 

New gun restrictions will not prevent tragedies like the Connecticut school shooting

Parents and community of Newtown come to terms with the massacre

Yesterday’s tragic mass shooting of 20 children & 6 adults, has brought out the inevitable calls from around the country to make laws restricting gun ownership.

Many Europeans and Australians decry Americas violence and say we must restrict guns. But America is not a tiny country, just one state, California, has a population bigger and more diverse than most of of these small countries. Australia has less population than the state of Texas.

America is a huge melting pot of cultures, races and religions.  We are very diverse geographically as well; with intensely populated urban areas, to sparsely populated rural areas and everything in between.

When you read the statistics, America is a violent country….But 99.9% of the legal gun owners in our country are law abiding peaceful people and never use their firearms for violence. Sometimes Americans have used the firearms to protect their families, see Brave Mom. Yet we have a small segment of our population that skew our statistics.

If you took the city of Chicago out of Americas gun crime statistics, it would change the perception. Chicago has the strictest gun laws, yet they are besieged with violence. 

As far as laws go, last time I checked, it is illegal to discharge a firearm in many urban areas, it is illegal for a felon to be in possession of a firearm and it is illegal to murder someone.

But idealistic lawmakers might use this latest tragedy to try to pass a law to restrict gun ownership….i.e.: Never waste a crisis 

Even if they outlawed them, guns would still be readily available. Our borders are like sieves; guns drugs, terrorists, criminals and illegal immigrants easily pass through, even though there are strict laws against them.

So sadly and tragically, mass shootings will occur in spite of laws passed by well meaning lawmakers.

The Aurora Colorado theater, site of a mass shooting where 12 people died and 58 were wounded, advertised itself as a gun free zone…The only theater in the area to advertise that fact.  Did that play a role in the shooters decision to pick that location for his killing spree?  You bet, he knew no one would shoot back.

Colonel Hassan, the American jihadist, who methodically gunned down his fellow soldiers at Fort Bliss Texas, killed 13 and wounded 32, before he was stopped.  He opened fire confidently, because he was a coward and knew they were unarmed and could not fire back.

The killer at yesterdays tragic shooting at the Connecticut school, most assuredly knew no one would be armed among the school personnel, it is not allowed, he was safe.....It was declared a "gun free zone."  If there was a possibility of a legally armed employee on those school grounds yesterday, would that killer have picked this school for a target?

Israel was beset with mass shootings for a time in its past.  That little country tried beefing up its security forces to prevent them from happening.  They stationed more soldiers and police….but were not able to station enough everywhere. It wasn’t until Israel loosened its gun laws and encouraged its law abiding citizens to carry concealed and unconcealed firearms; did the mass shooting end.

If the demented loners, who go on killing sprees, knew there was a possibility that someone amongst their targets would fire back, it would prevent these mass shootings.

Because at heart, these killers are cowards and want total control of the script for their final 15 minutes of fame…Just the knowledge that one legally armed citizen may be among the planned victims…would disrupt the plan.

Attorney Mark O’Mara will make NBC and the Florida prosecutor pay for their parts in the hi-tech lynching of George Zimmerman

The accused George Zimmerman

 If it had been up to NBC and the prosecutor in the Trayvon Martin shooting, George Zimmerman would have already been seated in Florida’s notorious “Old Sparky.”

Edited and doctored tapes of a 911 call between George Zimmerman and police dispatchers by NBC news, were used to make it look as if George Zimmerman was a racist and his shooting of Trayvon Martin racially motivated.

On top of that, just released colored photos of George Zimmerman, right after his confrontation with Trayvon Martin, graphically show a bloodied and battered George Zimmermanm.  A stark contrast from the previously released black and white photos by the Florida prosecutor that did not show the extent of Zimmermans facial injuries.

This type of evidence should have been willingly given to Zimmermans legal team by the Florida prosecutor.  But it took months of legal maneuvering to get these pictures, which hugely bolsters Zimmermans account that he acted in self defense.Even famed legal expert Alan Dershowitz thinks the prosecution against Zimmerman has been acting unethically. See Dershowitz

If the public and Zimmermans defense team had access to these photos originally, many legal experts doubt charges could have been rightfully filed against Zimmerman in the first place. There is absolutely no doubt that if these color photos of  Zimmermans beaten and bloodied face taken shortly after his confrontation with Martin would have been revealed, it would have defused the racial tensions that were boiling over.

But fortunately for Mr. Zimmerman, a brilliant attorney has come to his defense and is unraveling the web of innuendo, slander and withheld evidence being used against him.  Mark O’Mara has taken command of this case and will make sure George Zimmerman isn’t the state of Floridas, or main stream medias, sacrificial goat. See previous Trayvon Martin story

In a lawsuit filed a few days ago against NBC, the Zimmerman legal team stated:

"NBC saw the death of Trayvon Martin not as a tragedy but as an opportunity to increase ratings, and so set about to create the myth that George Zimmerman was a racist and predatory villain."  "Because of NBC's deceptive and exploitative manipulations, the public wrongly believes that Zimmerman used a racial epithet while describing Martin during the call to the dispatcher on that fateful night," the suit says.

The lawsuit accuses NBC of sensationalizing/manipulating a "racial powder keg that would result in months, if not years, of topics for their failing news program, particularly the plummeting ratings for their ailing Today Show."

The edited recordings included “multiple deletions, removed intervening dialogue between Zimmerman and the dispatcher, and juxtaposed unrelated content "to make it appear that Zimmerman was a racist, and that he was racially profiling Trayvon Martin," the lawsuit says.

If Mark O’Mara can prove his charges against NBC, we hope he can get a huge payday for his client as well as himself.  NBC got caught trying to pervert the news we receive and manipulate public opinion.

If it is found that the Florida prosecutor willingly withheld crucial evidence in order to weaken George Zimmermans defense and cast him in a false light, then Mr. Zimmerman should demand justice for himself.

We saw another prosecutors office try to railroad innocent people into prison with withheld and manipulated evidence, in order to make a name for himself and gain political favor. North Carolina District Attorney Ken Nifong  was disbarred and put in jail for withholding evidence that would have proved Duke Lacrosse team members to be innocent of charges.

Attorney Mark O’Mara is no slouch and is probably already sounding the alarm bells in this case against his client. What other evidence has this prosecutor failed to provide him in his defense of George Zimmerman?

A 20 ton dead whale ends up on a limousine liberal beach. Will they let nature take its course?

Barbara Streisand woke up to the smell of nature at work this morning. As she breathed in the usually refreshing salt air of the Pacific ocean lapping at the beach below her stunning beachside Malibu mansion……

Rolling in the surf line, just upwind, was the rotting carcass of a dead fin whale.

Wildlife authorities think the whale, on the endangered species list, might have had a collision with one of the ships that ply the coastline.  But the fact remained; this is a lot of nature to have going on in your front yard.

The exclusive surf side community is home to Streisand, Bob Dylan and many others in the Hollywood entertainment industry.  This is ground zero for those who embrace and fund every “green” cause and proudly drive their Prius to show how pious they are about it.

Of course Barbara and her family could shift residences into the adjoining and interconnecting two other seaside mansions she owns, to try to avoid the smell of nature at work.  But it seems the prevailing wind graces each residence equally.

Although rare for California, this particular stretch of beach is private. According to Carol Baker from the Los Angeles County beaches and harbors commission, the homeowners have responsibility to the high tide line and the state has control of the tide lands.

According to Cindy Reyes, executive director of the California Wildlife Center,

Los Angeles County lifeguards planned to try to pull the 40,000-pound carcass out to sea.  

But fire Inspector Brian Riley said that won’t work.

"The carcass is embedded in the sand and impossible to tow free,"  "Burial at low tide will be difficult as well as land removal. It's in an area with bad access."

It will be interesting to see if red tape will be cut in order to facilitate this “rescue.”

Will these residents get special dispensation from the usual quagmire of interconnecting environmental agencies, coastal commissions, building departments, fish and game, harbor traffic safety and every other local, state and federal ABC agency you can think of?

Meanwhile, residents of La Jolla,  a community south of Malibu, have been petitioning the state and federal authorities for months, just to let them wash off rocks in the ocean near their community.  

The rock strewn shores have become home to large groups of protected species who deposit large amounts of their feces.  Evidently the stench is unbearable.  But environmentalists and government regulators are adamant about disrupting the natural order of things.  This part of the California coast is home to a more politically conservative group of residents.

With the violent death of the fin whale, a capital environmental crime has been committed.  The whale is an endangered species; shouldn’t a full scale investigation be conducted before the body is even remotely considered to be moved?  Where is the environmental CSI team?

This talk of bulldozing up a California beach in order to bury the carcass or move it is another assault on almost every environmental nerve ending.  Where is the moral outrage?

If this were a true “green community,” and the residents were really concerned for the environment, they would let the whale carcass stay where it washed up naturally and let nature take its course for the next year.  The whale would provide badly needed nutrition to the local marine animal/bird community. 

Letting the whale carcass stay and decompose naturally, would also make an environmental statement louder than any horn from a Prius could make. 

What are the chances? The answer is blowing in the wind.

Many students don’t know what it takes to turn on the lights in their classrooms

When I went to grade school, one of the first field trips our class made, was to a hydro electric dam.

After the hour ride, the bus parked and we were taken for a guided tour through a maze of machinery, deep inside the main power generating operations of a massive hydro electric dam. 

I never forgot that day, as the manager of the complex proudly explained how electricity was produced by water turning the blades of the huge generators and how it flowed through power lines to everyone in the community

This education was provided at an early impressionable age and gave me the basic knowledge of how power is produced and relayed to every home and factory in America. We went on to learn, with coal, oil, gas, or nuclear; the principle was the same…Produce energy at an affordable price to power our modern society.

We also learned that protecting the environment was important, as stringent controls were put on our power producing facilities.  Soon the skies of our cities were clear as those laws took effect. We all breathed easier.

But something happened in intervening years and a new message has come out to our children.  Instead of taking a field trip to a local power generating plant to see how wonderful modern power is for our country, children were treated to an Al Gore movie. His movie, “The Inconvenient Truth,” shows the earth is on the edge of an environmental disaster caused by the very fuels that power our society.

 Although Al Gore has been preaching disaster for many years and claimed his version of climate science is settled “science,” ……Thousands of scientists/physicists/phd’s/ meteorologists and others,  very much disagree with his facts. See it here

So why did many of our public schools decide to force our young children to watch the Al Gore climate movie without first questioning the truth of his science?  That’s a good question and needs to be answered. What is the agenda? 

 Since the Gore movie was released in 2006, it has been shown to millions of school age children and portrayed as scientific fact.  It has scared them.  It leads them to believe that fossil energy is evil and the use of it will mean the destruction of the earth. Read: Polar bears thriving, Al Gore melts down

Along with the anti fossil fuel message;  a line of thought set on the destruction of many of our hydro electric dams is starting to creep in.  The dam destruction is done in the name of restoring our environment to its original condition…before the presence of modern man spoiled it.

Of course nuclear power has been maligned so long it will never get over the stigma of being non earth friendly.

 That leaves us with wind/solar/bio fuels and unicorn dust to power our modern society. Which if past performance and present technology demonstrate, there is a dark and bankrupt future in store for our country.

An interesting video was sent my way a few days ago.  These are University of Chicago students who are speaking about having their school and other institutions divest themselves of fossil energy investments. See it here

As you can see, they lack an understanding of what comes next.  What approved method of power will take the place of our carbon based energy they are so fearful of? 

These kids were freshmen in high school when they first viewed the Al Gore film and it seems they never got an alternate message to it.  I’ll also suppose they never were able to take a field trip to a local power generating facility to see exactly what it takes to turn on the lights and heat their homes.

Perhaps it's time to revise our school curriculum's, to be more rounded and show the other side of the war on our energy sector...Just what the consequences will be if our country "divests itself" of our fossil energy.