Who Needs Sex Education?

The latest legislation passed by the Democrats in St. Paul is a real corker. Our Democrat friends are now requiring MORE sex education in our schools, the one thing our kids seem to know about BEFORE the classroom. The legislation requires that there be an EMPHASIS on abstinence, whatever that means.

What appalls me most is NOT the fact that our kids are being fed information by teachers who may or may not share my values (although that concerns me). It’s NOT even that once again the legislature is making decisions that are better made by parents and the local school boards (although this concerns me). What really pops my cork the most is that the legislature used their valuable time to discuss this, AT ALL!!! I am also galled by the knowledge that once again, they are requiring one more non-academic class where no reading, writing, or arithmetic is being taught! If there are many more of these non-academic classes, we will soon be faced with two alternatives: 1) Shall we require 14 years to finish what is now K – 12? 2) Shall we require year-round school? Somehow we are going to have to squeeze in a little learning.

Now, let’s talk about cost. Our representatives continue to promise us “property tax relief.” How are they going to accomplish this promise if they continue to heap mandates on the local schools? Who pays? Property taxpayers, that’s who!

The legislature’s idea of property tax relief is to raise income tax, raise gas tax and raise sales tax and give some of it back to the local governments. That’s like giving a dying man a transfusion from one arm to the other with a leaky hose!!!

Please, Mr. Kalin and Mr. Olseen, come to your senses!! Stop playing politics and get to work on the real issues facing Minnesota and Chisago County.

Start talking about real education. Start taking about real health care reform. Start talking about wasteful spending. Start talking about really CUTTING taxes. And Jeremy, start paying property taxes, yourself!

OK, I’m going to take a deep breath now!

Carbon Dioxide: Part 17

Kill the beetles. Plant a tree—no, many trees.

The forests of British Columbia are being attacked by the mountain pine beetle. This catastrophe creates a double whammy. The trees that die can no longer extract carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and the decaying trees release CO₂. The release over a 21 year period is so large, the Canadian Forest Service estimates it is equivalent to 5 years of emissions from all forms of Canadian transportation.

The annual production of CO₂ by the beetles is almost as much as that caused by Canadian forest fires each year.

So now we have something more to worry about. The kids in school back in the ’50s and ’60s had only a nuclear attack to fret about. Now they have the BEETLES that affect CO₂. That puts things in perspective!

Expect some massive government program to help, all in the name of CO₂. Assuredly, this and similar problems have been attacking the forests since time began and we have somehow survived. Even Gaia survived! Amazing! Back then, no one cared about the impact of carbon dioxide, but now it is cast in terms of CO₂ and sounds so much worse.

Previously, such devastation would have been measured in terms of lost lumber and logs and its effect on construction costs. The new fad is carbon dioxide and nothing is said about the lost lumber and logs. Under this new rubric, government will intervene to stop this non-human cause of CO₂, the production of which is probably inconsequential.

One gets the impression these global warming adherents are like kindergartners making new discoveries and letting their minds run wild. True science demands much more sober observation and much less alarmist speculation.

Rep. Jeremy Kalin, Al Franken, Sen. Olseen & DFLers

Rep. JEREMY KALIN was all smiles as he enjoyed the warm embrace of AL FRANKEN & other DFLers at a house party hosted by the Senator RICK OLSEENS at the January 13, 2008 event showing on the Chisago County DFL website.

AL FRANKEN is a candidate for the U.S. Senate seat held by Minnesota's senior Senator Norm Coleman.

FRANKEN HAS BEEN MUCH IN THE NATIONAL NEWS IN RECENT MONTHS BOTH IN NEW YORK AND CALIFORNIA FOR TAX RELATED FAILURES.

OLSEEN, KALIN, FRANKEN & FRIENDS

Representative JEREMY KALIN is shown on the Chisago County DFL website beaming with happiness as he enjoyed the friendly embrace of none other than AL FRANKEN at a recent DFL house party at the Olseens hosted by the Senator Rick Olseens.

Senator Norman Coleman, senior senator from Minnesota, holds the seat for which Franken is a candidate. You may recall that Franken is currently in the news from New York to California for certain tax related failures to pay - 17 states included now according to the Saint Paul Paper on April 30, 2008. Nice buddy for Kalin & Olseen to chum around with!

The Four Horsemen

Source.

Burning our food to redistribute energy has caused food shortages, at least in part, around the world (for a few of many articles click here, here, here, here, and here).

The global warming that was supposed to be lessened by the burning of ethanol has been absent this winter and spring so that planting of crops has been delayed according to this Strib article. An abnormally late spring means delayed planting which equals a reduced crop which will affect food shortages.

It should be obvious to anyone with intelligence that there is something seriously wrong with burning food to create fuel. Yet our political leaders have compulsively lit the matches, by requiring a certain percentage of ethanol in gasoline. Knowing full well that the ethanol complex would not begin or survive on its own, they approved subsidies to support it and import taxes on foreign ethanol.

In doing so, our political leaders have demonstrated a great lack of wisdom. Economic foolishness governs the day when they cannot understand that subsidies for ethanol will increase the price of corn which increases the price of food. Tax based subsidies create market place price increases which are taxes in the final analysis.

Environmental foolishness reigns when they cannot understand that there is an energy loss and pollutant gain when creating ethanol from food stocks.

Nutrient foolishness abounds when these politicians cannot recognize that burning food is not good public policy.

This foolishness is just the tip of the iceberg of stupidity found in government that determines to control every aspect of our lives. Ronald Reagan astutely observed, "The nine most terrifying words in the English language are: 'I'm from the government and I'm here to help.'" Sadly, foolishness does not avoid Chisago County. Rep. Jeremy Kalin (D-17B) wrote a year ago:

"Senator Rick Olseen and I worked with landowners, farmers, and our County Board to secure a $200,000 state grant to study building a prairie-grass cellulosic ethanol plant in Chisago County. This could bring dozens or even hundreds of new jobs to our community and provide economic opportunity for local farmers, without sacrificing our food sources."

Cellulosic ethanol is untested and undeveloped, but our Representative and Senator itch to spend our tax dollars on it. Kalin thinks it can be developed ". . . without sacrificing our food sources." I doubt Kalin thought that one through. Prairie grass can grow on more marginal acres than corn or soybeans, but that percentage of increase is small.

Then too, if prairie grass is successful, farmers would try to increase production by adding fertilizer, which is an addition of energy. And who is to say that acreage for food crops will not be diminished by prairie grass production? If the straw and stalks of wheat, oats, barley, etc. are used to produce ethanol, then that eliminates the vegetation that is returned to the soil for the next harvest of food crops. That requires more fertilizer (and energy) to replace the waste vegetation.

While the state’s cellulosic ethanol program is young, it won’t be long before it too will be subsidized just like corn ethanol is.

Instead of locking us into looking for the elusive perpetual motion machine, legislators need to encourage nuclear generation (which is illegal in Minnesota) and drilling in known American oil reserves. Government needs to get out of the way, let the generous supply of known energy resources be used and let the private sector develop new energy sources. The "help" of politicians is rarely help. It usually creates drastic unintended consequences and costs billions of dollars.

The Dems

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“Sixteen months after it started in glory, the Dem fight has fallen to Snob-ama vs. the Obliterator, the Unelectable vs. the Unlikable. Yuck.” Read more....

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Olseen/Kalin/and the DFL use a stock Cover-up Speech & Explanation

Senator Rick Olseen (DFL) & Representative Jeremy Kalin (DFL) have a stock "explanation" and "excuse" that they regularly use to attempt to cover up their own failures and incompetence in representing us in the Minnesota legislature.

In one way or another Rick and Jeremy, and the other DFLers in the legislature, use that stock "explanation and excuse" every time they meet the public or write their columns for the hometown media. They say "the Governor failed . . . ." Or they say that they are "disappointed that the Governor . . . . "

Hey, Rick and Jeremy, your pointing out the other person's shortcomings is just an old worn-out political trick that has been used as a convenient way to cover up your own failures.

After all, your DFL currently has the majority in both Houses of the legislature and so for the DFL it can't get any better than that!

And so it is inexcusable, Rick and Jeremy, that you simply aren't getting the job done for us back here at home.

Local Legislators Failed The Grade

"THE NEWS FROM THE LEGISLATURE IS NOT GOOD." (capitolized for emphasis)

(The above comment is a direct quote from the North Branch Independent School District No. 138, Minutes of Working School Board Meeting - April 23, 2008 issue, page 16, ECM Post Review newspaper)

Long-time former North Branch school board member Senator Rick Olseen and Representative Jeremy Kalin who claims several years high school teaching experience have flunked the course as legislators representing the educational interests of this area's schools.

T Bill to be Adjusted

The $6.6 billion Transportation bill (HF 2800, 4th Engrossment) had the following language regarding an increase in the vehicle license tab fees:

15.19 EFFECTIVE DATE. This section is effective the day following final enactment,
15.20 and applies to any annual additional tax for a registration period that starts on or after
15.21 September 1, 2008, through August 31, 2009.

The language of the bill could be interpreted to limit the increased license tab fees to be applicable for one year. The DFL failed to recognize this limitation when they passed the bill, but is now setting about to make sure this increase in license tab fees is permanent. They have inserted the following language in HF 3800, 1st Engrossment:

58.25 Sec. 6. Laws 2008, chapter 152, article 3, section 1, the effective date, is amended to
58.26 read:
58.27 EFFECTIVE DATE. This section is effective the day following final enactment,
58.28 and applies to any annual additional tax for a registration period that starts on or after
58.29 September 1, 2008, through August 31, 2009.
58.30 EFFECTIVE DATE. This section is effective the day following final enactment.

You can find this information at Minnesota Democrats Exposed. This change must be passed to collect the higher vehicle license tab fees after August 1, 2009.

Senator Olseen had contended with Commentator Pat Tepoorten that the T bill would cost taxpayers a small $37 per year for the increased gas tax as if that is the only tax increase. A whole bunch of DFL supporters lined up behind him.

Most everyone will also pay more for their license tabs. Of course that was already in the bill that was passed, but Olseen didn’t own up to it. Well, now Olseen will own up to it in a round about way when he supports this change. Of course he won’t acknowledge it publicly.

The T bill will cost the average person a whole lot more than $37 per year. It has been estimated that the increase for license tabs will cost Minnesota drivers $1.979 billion over the next ten years.

Most of us knew Olseen was blowing smoke in Tepoorten's face and ours. Olseen gets his comeuppance now. Sometimes things have a way of sneaking up on a politician and biting him in the behind!

Drunk Driving

FLASH!! News reports just declared that "Minnesota has one of the worst drunk driving records in the nation." Of course there is a rational explanation: the DFL tax burden is driving people to drink!!!

Dems on the Defensive

It all started with the Post Review’s Pat Tepoorten’s well-written, easy-to-comprehend opinion piece on the Transportation bill. There was some lively interaction with his commentary and each others’ comments, but no one answered Tepoorten. Among other points, Tepoorten said the annual cost of the T bill for a family of four is $500.

Senator Rick Olseen retorted to Tepoorten, saying he should report the facts, but Olseen failed to show that Tepoorten did not have the facts. Olseen asserted the cost for the average driver is $37.

Then R. J. Proulx took Tepoorten to task for making ". . . it sound like the measure calls for a one-year tax hike of $6.6 billion." Proulx failed to read Tepoorten’s clear presentation that he was writing about a $500 yearly cost. Tepoorten broke it down to an understandable amount for a family of four.

Robert G. Walz next minimized the cost by supporting the few pennies gas tax increase in the Transportation bill while attacking some Republicans who did not support it.

Joe Johnson argued for paying that measly $40 extra per year.

Carl Hasselquist just loves more taxes.

Meanwhile, Wade Vitalis, Kalin’s campaign manager, kept after Tepoorten in the comments section without ever coming close to engaging his commentary on the $500 annual cost.

Recognizing that the Democrat letter writers were stuck on the $40 figure as the annual cost of the Transportation bill, Bob Barrett pointed out there is a much higher cost than $40 for a family. His letter generated considerable interaction in the form of comments appended to his letter. However, no one answered Barrett’s or Tepoorten’s contention.

Then Mic Dahlberg, a retired Chisago County engineer and director on the Chisago County DFL executive board, contended his two-car family will pay about $71 per year. He debunked Tepoorten and Barrett’s estimate of a much higher figure with a whole lot of party line obfuscation.

And now once again, Bob Barrett tries to get these Democrats to acknowledge they are misrepresenting reality by grossly understating the true cost of the T bill to a family of four.

Kudos to Tepoorten and Barrett. For too long, the Dems have owned Chisago County and the press. Now that truth is being written and published, the Dems come out in full force to line up behind their Senator. Neither Olseen nor his defenders can admit the T bill will cost a whole lot more than his declared $37 per year. They just don’t want us to know how much it will actually cost taxpayers. It’s obvious Tepoorten and Barrett struck a nerve when all these Dems get in defensive mode!

Tepoorten and Barrett are clearly the hands-down winners in this debate. Thanks guys. And thanks to these Dems for the rants. It makes great reading to see how Dems avoid reality! In their haste to defend one of their own, they forgot to do some simple math. If every one of Minnesota's 5.2 million people paid $37 annually for 10 years, that would provide just $1.924 billion against the $6.6 billion. That's a measly $4.676 billion short of making payment.

The Dems compulsion to use fuzzy math leads them to be dishonest with numbers. It also makes them fiscally irresponsible.

That Kalin/Olseen Kouple in the Legislature

Kalin and Olseen went to Saint Paul - sent to Saint Paul by the voters of this District with (we must add) the massive financial and other assistance from "outside" forces (take a look at the funding sources for their campaigns and you will see who really elected them!) - big money always votes in any campaign.

Kalin and Olseen went to Saint Paul promising the "folks back home" that they would bring home the bacon so to speak - they were going to bring back the "goodies." But what have they brought back so far? They have brought back mostly the "baddies" - bad things like the massive gas tax increase and all the other garbage attached to the vaunted "transportation" bill - watch out in the future if you buy a new vehicle or when you renew your next license plates and a whole bunch of other undesirable increased costs.

Kalin and Olseen went to Saint Paul and brought home the stalled North Branch bridge project (remember how they crucified former State Representative Peter Nelson for allegedly "doing nothing" about the bridge!) Well, the bridge is still not replaced.

In addition to the largest legislative salaries in State history Kalin and Olseen are also pulling down the largest per diems in the history of this State - ($96 bucks a day for Olseen as a Senator and $77 bucks a day for Kalin as a Representative - essentially just for "showing up for work!"

They say that the Republican elephant has a long memory - we wonder if the DFL jackass is similarly endowed?

Carbon Dioxide: Part 16, Olympic Torch Emissions

In a previous post, we observed a fact of burning propane. When a molecule of propane is burned, the hydrogen atoms are replaced with oxygen atoms which are 16 times heavier than a hydrogen atom. When the C₃H₈ propane molecule is burned, it becomes 3 molecules of CO₂. The new product weight jumps from 44 units to 132 units, an increase of 3 times because oxygen is 16 times heavier than hydrogen. The extra weight comes from the oxygen.

The ABC and Slate articles cited before are preoccupied with the large weight of carbon dioxide that is produced from burning jet fuel and propane in the torch. On the other hand, they totally ignore another byproduct of that combustion.

Burning propane produces water as well as CO₂. What is the weight of water produced? Besides the 3 atoms of carbon being combined with oxygen, the 8 atoms of hydrogen also are combined with oxygen. These 8 atoms of hydrogen are combined with 4 atoms of oxygen to produce 4 molecules of water (H₂O). Here is the math:

3x12 + 8x1 = 44 units of weight for C₃H₈ source

3x12 + 6x16 = 132 units of weight for CO₂ byproduct

8x1 + 4x16 = 72 units of weight for H₂O byproduct

132 + 72 = 204 units of total weight of the byproducts

So the 44 units of weight of propane become 204 units of weight when burned, forming carbon dioxide and water. All hydrocarbons, when burned, produce CO₂ and H₂O. Al Gore and Company are hollering about the carbon dioxide and its greenhouse effect that increases global warming. The two articles cited above are typical. They do not say anything about the water that is produced when hydrocarbons are burned.

It’s hard to condemn water. How can anyone classify it as a poison which they do for CO₂? It just wouldn’t fly, would it? So they ignore it, but water vapor has a greenhouse effect just as carbon dioxide does. Both molecules trap heat, restricting its flow into space. An equal amount of CO₂ is more effective in trapping heat than H₂O is.

When propane (C₃H₈) is burned, there are 4 molecules of H₂O that are produced and 3 molecules of CO₂. However, this situation immediately after burning propane does not stay that way for very long. The balance in the atmosphere comes to an average ratio of 60 times more water than carbon dioxide. So water has far more influence on trapping heat around the globe than carbon dioxide does. In fact, water vapor accounts for at least 90% of the earth’s greenhouse effect.

Yet we do not read much in global warming articles about the much larger greenhouse effect of water. But it’s coming. Here is a headline: EPA Seeks To Have Water Vapor Classified As A Pollutant. There will be a tax on water produced by combustion.

We are doomed. Every tree that we plant to aid carbon credits and lock up CO₂ for a few decades through photosynthesis will eventually rot naturally. As the wood decays, it slowly gives off CO₂ and H₂O. So we will need to plant more. And then there will be more to rot!

It’s rotten to be on the Goracle’s treadmill. I can’t wait for that to be verboten.

The Peter Principle and Kalin/Olseen

The Peter Principle is a description of people who "rise to their level of incompetence." That is what has happened in the case of Representative Kalin and Senator Olseen. In short, they are way over their heads in the Minnesota legislature - they have risen to their level of incompetence. Oh, they were good candidates all right. They smiled "purty." They attended all kinds of events. They got their pictures "took" in all kinds of situations. They campaigned hard. Kalin boasts that he knocked on some 10,000 or so doors. He supposedly wore out several pairs of shoes doing so - the number of pairs worn out varies by which story you read. And, yes, they got themselves elected.

But then the Peter Principle took over. Kalin and Olseen simply can't do the job for the District. They seek to cover their incompetence by being "disappointed with the Governor" for almost everything that comes along. They don't comprehend the fact that a Governor doesn't pass any bills. Only the legislature passes bills.

Meanwhile "back in North Branch" the bridge is still not built. "Back in North Branch" the Post Review headline for the April 16 issue reads ominously "NB schools: 3 phases of cuts = ouch." "Back in Chisago County" the roads are busting up." And on and on the litany of "incompetent" representation in the legislature continues.

Carbon Dioxide: Part 15, Olympic Torch Emissions

Slate reports that a gallon of Olympic torch fuel, propane, produces 12.669 pounds of CO₂. National Geographic News confirms the fuel is propane.

If you are an intelligent and inquisitive reader, you probably realize propane is lighter than water which weighs 8.3 pounds per gallon. How then can a gallon of liquified propane, which weighs 4.2 pounds, produce 12.669 pounds of CO₂? You can find the explanation in chemistry term here, but I will explain it in more layman terms.

Look at the two dimensional and three dimensional structure of a propane molecule here. Each molecule of propane (C₃H₈) has 3 atoms of carbon and 8 atoms of hydrogen. A carbon atom is 12 times heavier than a hydrogen atom, which has a weight of 1. The carbon in a molecule of propane has the weight of 36 units and the hydrogen has the weight of 8 units for a total of 44 units for the entire molecule.

When this molecule of propane is burned, the hydrogen atoms are replaced with oxygen atoms which are 16 times heavier than a hydrogen atom. When the C₃H₈ propane molecule is burned, it becomes 3 molecules of CO₂. The new product weight jumps from 44 units to 132 units, an increase of 3 times because oxygen is 16 times heavier than hydrogen. The extra weight comes from the oxygen. Here is the math:

3x12 + 8x1 = 44 units of weight for C₃H₈

3x12 + 6x16 = 132 units of weight for CO₂

So a 4.2 pound gallon of propane becomes 12.6 pounds of CO₂ when it is burned. The 12.669 pounds mentioned above in the article is correct. So yes the reports are accurate. That is how much CO₂ is produced when a gallon of propane is burned.

The same thing happens when you burn gasoline on your drive to work. The carbon dioxide produced weighs more than the gasoline. Your jet ride on vacation does the same thing. Heating your home with propane, natural gas, fuel oil, coal, wood, or corn does it. Burning a candle does it. Any hydrocarbon used as a source of heat will produce more weight of carbon dioxide than the weight of the hydrocarbon that is burned. It is a law of the physical world that cannot be changed. Without this production of the heavier amount of CO₂, we will not have heat. The global warming nuts might not like it, but it’s a fact of life that cannot be changed.