Let's Moo-ve!

Image:  Newsweek Magazine

BREAKING NEWS:  February 20, 3:23pm

Reported by the WeeklyStandard.com site - "White House Credits 'Let's Move' for Halting and Reversing Childhood Obesity Trend"

Today the White House credited Michelle Obama's three-year-old “Let's Move” initiative with halting and even reversing a thirty year trend of increasing childhood obesity, a trend that has led to what the Centers for Disease Control has called an epidemic.

A press release from the Office of the First Lady announced details of a "two day nationwide tour" at the end of the month to celebrate the third anniversary of the program that promotes exercise and healthy eating habits to young people.

Michelle was so delighted with her efforts that The White House's "Office of the First Lady" issued a press release.  No, I'm not making this up.  There is apparently an "Office of the First Lady". 

Seriously, STOP laughing - I am NOT kidding. 

Check this out:

Yes, the First Lady of the United States is going on a three-day Nationwide Tour beginning February 22nd, 2013 to celebrate her personal success... 

Success in taking food out of...  Little children's mouths. 

Sorry Billy.

The First Lady's upcoming itinerary includes 'really important places to go' to celebrate her work on behalf of 'making American children hungry':

February 22nd, 2013 -  "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon", "Good Morning America" with Robin Roberts (to be broadcast on February 26th), and the "Dr. Oz" show, joined by Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan for a segment to air on February 28th. 

They're going to make a MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENT about bringing physical activity back into schools.  (Hey kids, remember when you're parents told you that THEY had to walk two miles uphill (both ways) in a foot of snow to school every day?  Guess what?  It's your turn!  Because it'll save gas, save the planet, and work off any 'remaining' paunch you have now that Mrs. O. has turned your Beefy Burritos into a nice, filling, Quinoa and Tofu salad!  Yumm-O!) 

February 27th, 2013 -  Hey, speaking of Yumm-O!... 

Let's go to the actual press release for this one:  "First Lady Michelle Obama will join TV personality and child nutrition advocate Rachael Ray to highlight the new healthy school lunches that are now being served across the nation. Thanks to the bi-partisan Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act, championed by Mrs. Obama and Ray, and signed into law by the President in 2010, the 32 million students who eat lunch provided by their school are now seeing more fruits, vegetables, low-fat or fat-free milk varieties, and whole grains; less saturated fat, trans fat, and sodium; and proper portion size on their lunch trays."
 

To assure the safety of the Rachel Ray, Michelle Obama, and the film crew, no students will be on hand for this event.  According to one anonymous White House staff member, "We were originally going to have the children involved, but many of them were weak, others appeared to be extremely violent, and a few others kept nodding off as we attempted to film them during the course of their normal routine. 

 

Many of them had this sort of weird 'look' in their eyes...  We were happy to get out of the Elementary School alive!  Those kids looked, well they looked really MEAN and HUNGRY.  If you ever merged the DNA from the mutant-hill-dwelling characters from the original "The Hills Have Eyes" film with those brain-chomping zombies from the "The Walking Dead" TV series - yeah, it was a lot like that.  We threw them some raw steak (and hobbled a Republican to slow the kids down) and we ran back to the Obama Bus - it was really scary..."

 

[Okay, so I made that last quote up, but it doesn't mean it DIDN'T happen, now does it?]

 

February 28, 2013 - First Lady Michelle Obama will return to her hometown of Chicago to make a major announcement to bring physical activity back to schools.

 

The First Lady will be joined by Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, NIKE, Inc. President & CEO Mark Parker, Dominique Dawes, Gabby Douglas, Allyson Felix, Bob Harper, Bo Jackson, Colin Kaepernick, Sarah Reinertsen, Paul Rodriguez, Serena Williams, a surprise musical guest ["Weird Al" performing, 'FAT' live?] and thousands of Chicago area teachers and students at the event hosted by the American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance (AAHPERD) and the Alliance for a Healthier Generation.

 

In an effort to showcase the benefits of daily excercise, school children between the ages of 7 and 14 will be released into the streets of Chicago.  Then, at exactly 1:18pm a mock gun battle between the Crypts and the Bloods will erupt (including actual Assault Weapons provided by the Department of Justice!) - we'll see who the quick kids are...  They'll be the ones who return for the 2:00pm Quinoa Quiche Buffet.  The other children will learn the hard way that being overweight in Chicago...  Can KILL. 

Just another valuable life-lesson provided by your Democratic Party! 

 

[Yeah, I did it again.  Why?  Because Conservatives have been accused by Democrats and Liberals of wanting to kill the sick, the young and the elderly for years.  The irony, of course, is that the Party of the President is all for abortion, assisted suicide, Obama Care Death Panels and is for putting light bulbs into your homes, which have high levels of 'mercury' (which, by the way, CAN kill you).  So, I guess, I'm not sorry at all with my brief writing excercise above.]


There are additional upcoming dates of course, you can read about them HERE if you like.  Frankly, I'm done following the First Lady around on her "Yeah, I did that" Tour, 2013.

I would, however like to end with the following...

Two questions spring to mind:  

First, can the First Lady take credit for the fractional decrease in the weight of school-aged kids?

Second, can the President of the United States personally take ALL the credit for accomplishing this worth-while goal?

If you ask me, the second alternative is the more-likely than the first.

Why? 

Bluntly stated, there are more school-aged children living in poverty than there were four years ago. 

From the Huffington Post: "After climbing four years in a row, the U.S. child-poverty rate essentially held firm in 2011, the U.S. Census Bureau announced on Wednesday. In 2010, the child-poverty rate peaked at 22 percent. In 2011, census officials found that 21.9 percent of American children are living below the poverty line. The overall poverty rate held steady as well. According to the Census, 46.2 million people, or 15 percent of the population, live in poverty."

With almost 22 % of American Kids living in homes with incomes below the poverty line, I guess fewer parents can afford the Cheesy Poofs made famous by the South Park Kids?

In fact, could we not credit the President with this weight loss, instead of his wife?

I know a lot of folks who are eating at home and no longer going out to eat since the Summer of Recovery began in 2010.

Yes, it's been a very, very, long summer...  And according to the MoosRoom's resident Groundhound, it appears that now we're in for four years of a National Double-Dip Recession winter.  (One dip down, another on the way!)

Photo:  AP
"Yeah, a little more to the Left - Super!"

Well, winter, of course, unless you get your own private jet, multiple vacations, and private lessons with professional golfers in warmer climes while your wife takes the girls skiing...

Maybe Recovery Summer did actually begin in 2010 and everyone except the President, Joe Biden, and Congress missed it?
 

"Unable to overcome the shame of the 'Bunny Ears', Bo Obama took his own life
by breaking and eating 17 CFL bulbs from the President's Oval Office..."

And, as an aside, has anyone seen 'Bo' lately?  I'm worried about that dog.   

ObamaCare: "How Sweet It Is!"

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Images similar to the above have been used to 'sell' the benefits of the governmental takeover of health care in America (referred to as the "Affordable Care Act", or in the common vernacular, "Obama Care").  A smiling child, a hopeful face, a pink and white scarf indicating an unnamed ruinous disease work together to elicit a desired emotional response from me, you, and other folks who view the image. 

Is this imagery by chance?  No.  Marketing is not an 'accident'.  Market research, focus groups, and even taste-tests determine the product marketing you will see publicly in ads, in print, online, on television, and ultimately in your grocery store.  If you think back to the mid-1980's you may remember the "New Coke" marketing disaster.  This adventure-in-marketing WAS a nightmare for the Coca-Cola Company.  It went on to become a case study into what NOT to do regarding new product introduction - so if nothing else, it was a 'learning thing' for generations of marketers to come.    

So am I saying that New Coke and (New) Health Care Act experiences are related?  The answer to this question is a combination of 'Yes', 'No', and, gulp, 'Maybe'.  I'm thinking that all three apply currently, but we're not far enough into our personal experience with the Health Care 'Big Gulp' to know which answer will continue to be 'most' correct in the future.   

Since passage of the Affordable Health Care Act, you haven't been forced to drink the entire new product formulation as yet.  Sure, you've seen the marketing (both pro and con) surrounding the law, heard how it was passed (dark rooms, cigarettes, money exchanging hands) and you've already begun paying some of "New Health Care" costs (higher company-provided health insurance rates) to boot.  You may have formed an option as to what Affordable Health Care will taste like when it is fully distilled, bottled, shipped and poured into your glass.  But if you haven't...

Get ready, as the bottle is open and it is coming your way.  Some Americans have already been involved in their very own 'Taste-Test'.  (Well, you may be if you are the parent of a smiling, hopeful, pink and white head-scarfed girl who is already sick and YOU haven't filed the required paperwork PRIOR to March 2nd, 2013.  You'd better make sure that your 'I's are dotted and your 'T's are crossed.)     

Here's a taste for you...  Get ready to sample the new blend of Health Care preparing to sweep the Nation. 

Begin "New Health Care Act" taste test - now.

Photo:  Mother Jones
Card-Carrying Lackeys:  Useful

The WashingtonPost.com, February 15, 2013:  Funds run low for health insurance in state ‘high-risk pools’

Tens of thousands of Americans who cannot get health insurance because of preexisting medical problems will be blocked from a program designed to help them because funding is running low.

Obama administration officials said Friday that the state-based “high-risk pools” set up under the 2010 health-care law will be closed to new applicants as soon as Saturday and no later than March 2, depending on the state.

But they stressed that coverage for about 100,000 people who are now enrolled in the high-risk pools will not be affected. 

[MoosNote:  I'm sorry, but didn't someone say something earlier about 17 MILLION Americans needing access to these high-risk pools?  Oh, that's right, this is the program which is Market-Testing the new program is being done - this is a TEST program to see how effectively the government can handle the needs of the sick in advance of the ACTUAL program.  This is a TEST MARKETING trial...  NEW Coke, anyone?]

...

The program, which was launched in summer 2010, was always intended as a temporary bridge for the uninsured. But it was supposed to last until 2014. At that point, the health-care law will bar insurers from rejecting or otherwise discriminating against people who are already sick, enabling such people to buy plans through the private market.

From the start, analysts questioned whether the $5 billion that Congress appropriated for the Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan — as the program is called — was sufficient.

Initial fears that as many as 375,000 sick people would swamp the pools and bankrupt them by 2012 did not pan out. This is largely because, even though the pools must charge premiums comparable to those for healthy people, the plans sold through them are often expensive.

But it was also because the pools are open only to people who have gone without insurance for at least six months. The result is that, while only about 135,000 people have gotten coverage at some point, they are proving far more costly to insure than predicted.

...

“What we’ve learned through the course of this program is that this is really not a sensible way for the health-care system to be run,” Cohen said.

Of the original $5 billion, about $2.36 billion remains available for the last three quarters of 2013 — enough only to continue coverage for those already in the pools, according to administration estimates.

The law gave states the option of either administering their pools directly or allowing federal authorities to operate them. In 27 states that have chosen direct management, applications for new enrollment can be accepted only through March 2. In 23 states and the District, where the pools are operated by the federal government, only applications received through Friday will be considered.


Two words:  Death Panel

I'm not sure why those particular words sprung to mind, but for some reason - they did.  And when the spirit moves you...  Move with it - lest you be left behind.

Key take-aways from the Department of Health and Human Services' Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Test Marketing of the Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan:

• Participation of 'Test Market Participants' is being shut down early due to a lack of adequate funding from the Feds - a government agency running out of money?  Who saw THIS coming?
• Participants of the New Health Care Program have found that coverage in this test is "often expensive" - making it hard for them to afford it (please remember the name of the legislation we're discussing - the "Affordable" Health Care Law)
• Gary Cohen, director of the Department of Health and Human Services’ Center for Consumer Information and Insurance says, “What we’ve learned through the course of this program is that this is really not a sensible way for the health-care system to be run.”  Please keep in mind that HE is the guy running it.  Mr. Cohen puts the 'SUE' in "Career Suicide".
• Cohen also said, “My responsibility is to work with the appropriation we have.”  So while he watches the money run out, he's not requesting any more from his Superiors....  [Death panels, anyone?  You know, it just sounds, 'right', doesn't it?]
• Keep in mind that this was a 'Test' of fewer than 135,000 Americans.  What happens when the other uninsured folks show up at the door?  Doing the Math fast and loose in my head, this means that there will be 169,865,000 showing up on January 1st, 2014 looking for coverage in a program for which the director says, and yes, I am paraphrasing, from Bullet 3 above, "Don't work too good for you."?

Image:  Wikipedia

Okay, so you're wondering, "Dude, how did you get from New Coke to New Health Care?"  Well, there's more, you can keep reading if you like, or get out and enjoy your day.  Your call, as I'll wrap this up in a moment.

Excerpts from "New Coke Case Study":

Battered by competition from the sweeter Pepsi-Cola, Coca-Cola decided in 1985 to replace its old formula with a sweeter variation, dubbed the “New Coke”.  Coca-Cola spent $4 million on market research.

 

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[Your government spent $5 BILLION in their pre-existing condition 'test' - Federal Government WINs in spending test!  But also FAILS in execution of program.]
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Blind taste tests showed that Coke drinkers preferred the new, sweet formula, but the launch of New Coke provoked a national uproar. Market researchers had measured the taste but had failed to measure the emotional attachment consumers had to Coca-Cola. 

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The promised 'sweetness' of the New Coke product was not enough to win over consumers who had bought into the original 'brand' of Coca-Cola.  In blind 'single' taste tests, cola drinkers preferred the taste of...  Pepsi Cola.

What Coke didn't understand was that in tests involving larger quantities of both colas, consumers preferred Coke over Pepsi when consumed in 'mass quantities'.  A little Pepsi was 'okay' but in larger quantities they found the formulation too sweet.

Coke was the standard by which all colas were historically compared to, it was consistently good, and had a history that most Americans knew.  Shoot, Coke even copyrighted the Red and Green of Santa's 'suit'.  When you can pick out the colors for Santa Claus in advertising for years to come - yup, you've got a good thing going.  Then, of course, in an attempt to regain lost 'Market Share', executives at Coke messed with its recipe, and the rest, as they say, "Is history". 

To tie in with today's conversation, consumers may be emotionally attached to the concept of 'Free' (sweeter) health care since President Obama focused on Health Care prior to and immediately following his election.  Consumers (i.e.:  you, me and everyone we know) haven't experienced full implementation of this "New Health Care" as yet.  Thus far they've only gotten thimble-sized tastes of Obama Care and haven't had to 'drink from the fire hose' with 2014's full deployment of  the 'We have to see what's in the law now that we've passed the law' version of the legislation.  

Nationalized "New Health Care" has already happened in Canada, Great Britain, and Romney's home State of Massachusetts.  Is health care still as 'sweet' as it used to be in those 'former' Test Markets?  Well, I could ramble on, but since I don't live in any of these places, you might want to read articles written by people who actually LIVE in Britain, Canada, or Massachusetts.  My gut tells me that people will find this "New Health Care" as cloyingly sweet as New Coke drinkers did back in the mid-1980's.  A taste is 'okay' but unless you're used to mainlining sugar or high fructose corn syrup, 12 or more ounces of New Coke is like drinking pure syrup (with carbonation!). 

So, what to do?

If history were to repeat itself...  (again, quoting from the article linked above)...

The change to the world's best selling soft drink was heard by 81 percent of the United States population within twenty-four hours of the announcement. Within a week of the change, one thousand calls a day were flooding the company's eight hundred number.

Most of the callers were shocked and/or outraged, many said that they were considering switching to Pepsi. Within six weeks, the eight hundred number was being jammed by six thousand calls a day. The company also fielded over forty thousand letters, which were all answered and each person got a coupon for the new Coke.

 

The difference here of course is that the Coca-Cola Company is a business, and not a Federal monopoly.  Management at Coke knew they fouled up and responded by fixing the problem while making their firm stronger and acknowledging that they fouled up. 

Shortly after the debacle of New Coke, "Coke Classic" was introduced, the public was happy, Coke market share improved and then a several dozen years later Michael Bloomberg told everyone that they could only drink 16 ounces of Coke at a time in 'his city'.  

Don't get bummed, it's just the way government IS.  It's what they dooooooooo!  They have to protect us from ourselves.  We are not smart enough to know what's good for us.

And this is why we need to send all the 'smarter than US' folks back home from Washington and let them take care of their own families.  This would be an extremely 'affordable' move for the Nation.  I was hoping that there were enough of us to begin this in 2012, but, three Million Republicans who voted for Freaking John McCain decided to sit out the 2012 election.  If not for you guys, we would have been saying "President-Elect Romney" in the days following the election.  Thanks for that, you no-good Pepsi drinkers.   

As for myself, I prefer me and my wife to make the important decisions for our family.  Perhaps one day we can rediscover the passion and outrage surrounding the switch of Coke to 'New Coke' and apply it to our health care options for the future, maybe we can do what the Supreme Court would not?

Simply gut the Affordable Health Care act.  Why? Because based upon what I've read, seen, and heard, the word 'Affordable' does not apply.  And, the guys running this 'taste-test' says that his way is 'no way' to run a program.

Just a thought.



Image:  Politifake.org

The King's Speech - 2013

Photo Credit:  Businessweek.com

The laptop is fine.  While two weeks have passed since I've spent any 'quality time' with my environmentally-friendly HP computer, it woke up quite easily this morning.  At least, it awoke more easily than I did. 

In case you're wondering, "How can I purchase an 'environmentally-friendly HP Computer'?", it's really quite easy.

You buy it.

You put it on your son's desk.

You plug it in.

Then, you leave it turned off for two weeks.

It's just that easy!

Writing anything about the President's State of the Union Address from earlier this week?  

Um, not so easy.

In the spirit of full-disclosure, I watched neither the President's Speech nor Marco Rubio's (water-boarding) rebuttal immediately following the President's Address to the Nation.  I didn't need to watch.  I've seen enough bad comedy to know that when a guy dressed as a clown is walking along a wide sidewalk with a single banana peel on it, his foot MUST step on this lone, singular peel, and he's going down, typically with bad music playing in the background. 

For those familiar with the concept of the literary concept of 'foreshadowing', in this case - WE are the clown, and the PRESIDENT is the banana.

Sorry, all other images of clowns slipping on bananas were copyrighted.
And who's got that kind of money?  Although, this works too, I think.

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This is the King's Speech
(Well, the more factually 'interesting' sections of it at least...)

OBAMA:  "After years of grueling recession, our businesses have created over 6 million new jobs."


MoosNote:  Obama starts his count not when he took office, but from the point in his first term when job losses were the highest. In doing so, he ignores the 5 million or so jobs that were lost on his watch, up to that point.
 
Private sector jobs have grown by 6.1 million since February 2010. But since he became president, the gain is a more modest 1.9 million.

Also not included in the above calculation are the 3 MILLION plus workers who have been dropped from the Workforce by the Bureau of Labor Statistics because they are no longer 'looking for work'. 

If these workers were included in the current Unemployment Rate calculation, unemployment would surpass 10.4%.  Our workforce participation rate is the lowest it's been since 1981, following the failed policies of President James Earl Carter.

...

OBAMA:  “After shedding jobs for more than 10 years, our manufacturers have added about 500,000 jobs over the past three.”
 
The Washington Post Notes:  Obama again is cherry-picking a jobs number. The low point for manufacturing jobs was reached in January 2010, and so there has been a gain of 500,000 jobs since then. But BLS data show that the number of manufacturing jobs is still 600,000 fewer than when Obama took office in the depths of the recession — and 1.8 million fewer than when the recession began in December 2007.

Moreover, growth in manufacturing jobs has essentially stalled since last July.

...

OBAMA: "We have doubled the distance our cars will go on a gallon of gas."


MoosNote:  As discussed in several previous posts by yours truly, newly mandated CAFE standards are poised to double the required mileage of vehicles...

By the year  2025.

Saying that this has already happened is like me saying that I've lost 40 pounds because I'm planning on going on a diet - within the next dozen years. 

When I was a kid, we'd call that a lie.  As a guy in sales, I'd call it a 'stretch'.  As a human being, yeah, I'd probably still call it a lie.  

...

OBAMA: "Study after study shows that the sooner a child begins learning, the better he or she does down the road. ... And for poor kids who need help the most, this lack of access to preschool education can shadow them for the rest of their lives. ...

Every dollar we invest in high-quality early education can save more than $7 later on — by boosting graduation rates, reducing teen pregnancy, even reducing violent crime."

The Associated Press Notes:  Dozens of studies have shown Head Start graduates are more likely to complete high school than their at-risk peers who don't participate in the program.

But a study last year by the Department of Health and Human Services that found big vocabulary and social development gains for at-risk students in pre-kindergarten programs also found those effects largely faded by the time pupils reached third grade. The report didn't explain why the kids saw a drop-off in performance or predict how they would fare as they aged.

MoosNote:  Yes, we must make sure that we have control of the children's minds by the time that they are four years old. 

Hey, haven't I heard this somewhere before?

The education of all children, from the moment that they can get along without a mother's care, shall be in state institutions at state expense.  -- Karl Marx, 1843

Oh yes, it appears that I have.

...

OBAMA: "I urge this Congress to pursue a bipartisan, market-based solution to climate change, like the one John McCain and Joe Lieberman worked on together a few years ago.

But if Congress won't act soon to protect future generations, I will. I will direct my Cabinet to come up with executive actions we can take, now and in the future, to reduce pollution, prepare our communities for the consequences of climate change and speed the transition to more sustainable sources of energy."


MoosNote:  President Obama could not get this legislation passed back in 2010 when Democrats controlled both the House and Senate.  Why?  Because even members of his own party believed that the legislation was, for the lack of a better word, 'stupid'.  Yeah, let's just go with 'stupid' for now.   Personally, I get nervous whenever I hear that John McCain 'reached across the aisle' to work in a Bi-Partisan manner with anyone, be it Ted (may he rest in peace) Kennedy, Joe Lieberman, or Russ Feingold. 

Senator McCain,  did you ever stop to wonder why we have President Obama giving the State of the Union instead of you?  You've heard of the San Andreas 'Fault' right?  Well, this POTUS is John McCain's 'Fault'. 

In essence, the President is saying that he will do whatever he wants (or can) without the cooperation of the duly-elected representatives of the People (a.k.a.:  Congress).  While I'm quoting other folks here, another thought tugs at my mind begging for release. 

Ah, here it is now...

The meaning of peace is the absence of opposition to Socialism.  -- Karl Marx

Thanks so much for this, Mr. McCain. 

I'm moving on... 

"Just keep swimming, just keep swimming."


...

OBAMA: "Real reform means establishing a responsible pathway to earned citizenship — a path that includes passing a background check, paying taxes and a meaningful penalty, learning English and going to the back of the line behind the folks trying to come here legally."

The Associated Press Notes:  The seemingly stern admonition that illegal immigrants must go to the back of the line, often heard from the president, doesn't appear to have much practical effect except in the most obvious sense. Everyone who joins a line, whether for a movie, a coffee or citizenship, starts at the back of that particular line. It's not clear he is saying anything more than that illegal immigrants won't get to cut in line for citizenship once they've obtained provisional legal status.
 
Like those living abroad who have applied to come to the U.S. legally, illegal immigrants who qualify for Obama's proposed path to citizenship will surely face long waits to be processed. But during that time, they are already in the U.S. and will get to stay, work and travel in the country under their new status as provisional immigrants, while those outside the U.S. simply have to wait.

...

OBAMA:  “We buy … less foreign oil than we have in 20 [years].”


The Washington Post Notes:  The Energy Department has cited a host of reasons why foreign oil imports have declined, noting the main reason was “a significant contraction in consumption” because of the poor economy and changes in efficiency that began “two years before the 2008 crisis” — in other words, before Obama took office.


In the end:

The President takes credit for everything.

The President takes responsibility for nothing.

Leadership is hard.

Hey President Obama!  Why not take a vacation away from the Wife and Kids (they're going skiing!)?  We'll pay for it all!!!  No problem!  You can even learn how to golf (this, after you've played more holes in four years than GW Bush did in eight) - but hey, learn from a PRO this time!  Maybe Valerie Jarrett could help hold your club!?!?

The glow of the speech begins to fade, the Nation limps on, and the critically necessary reporting begins...

Marco Rubio takes a drink - film at 11:00. 

I love capitalism.

It's the other 'ism's' I have a problem with.


Party on!

 

Have a nice day. 

"Hello, I'm from NASA, and I have gas... Oops, sorry Tommy."

A recent scene from one of Al Gore's Nocturnal Fantasies...
 

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In case you were wondering, the image above is not some Science Fiction prediction of the future by the SyFy Channel.  This image faithfully represents the future of cargo transport in development today. 

The future they say is, 'Now'. 

It began in 2013.

Oh.  And, um, sorry Tommy...  (More on this shortly)

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TUSTIN, Calif. (AP) — The massive blimp-like aircraft flies but just barely, hovering only a dozen feet off a military hangar floor during flight testing south of Los Angeles.

Still, the fact that the hulking 230-foot-long Aeroscraft could fly for just a few minutes represents a step forward in aviation, according to the engineers who developed it. The Department of Defense and NASA have invested $35 million in the prototype because of its potential to one day carry more cargo than any other aircraft to disaster zones and forward military bases.


The airship is undergoing testing this month at Marine Corps Air Station in Tustin, and must go through several more rounds of flight testing before it could be used in a disaster zone or anywhere else. The first major flight test took place Jan. 3.

...

The lighter-than-air vehicle is not a blimp because it has a rigid structure made out of ultra-light carbon fiber and aluminum underneath its high-tech Mylar skin. Inside, balloons hold the helium that gives the vehicle lift. Unlike hydrogen, the gas used in the Hindenburg airship that crashed in 1937, helium is not flammable.

The airship functions like a submarine, releasing air to rise and taking in air to descend, said Aeros mechanical engineer Tim Kenny. It can take off vertically, like a helicopter, then change its buoyancy to become heavier than air for landing and unloading.

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Pretty cool huh?  A 'lighter-than-air' ship into which the Federal Government has invested $35 MILLION into the prototype - wow, that's great!!!

But. 

Hmm.

Didn't I read something recently about 'Helium'?  You know, the gas used to lift this beasty off the ground?

Oh, yes.  I see that I did...

A helium enrichment plant above a helium reserve in Amarillo, Tex. PHOTO Credit NY Times

NY Times.com, December 19, 2012:  AMARILLO, Tex. — One chain of party supply stores in Texas and Oklahoma was forced to make a cut worthy of Scrooge: no more balloons donated to charity events. A gated community on Lake Erie in Ohio that had handed out balloons to children at a Fourth of July parade for decades did not give out a single balloon this year. 

...

A global helium shortage has turned the second-most abundant element in the universe (after hydrogen) into a sought-after scarcity, disrupting its use in everything from party balloons and holiday parade floats to M.R.I. machines and scientific research.

...

The shortage is the result of a complex interplay between commercial gas companies and the federal government, which maintains an underground helium reserve northwest of downtown Amarillo that produces roughly 30 percent of the world’s helium.

Experts say the shortage has many causes. Because helium is a byproduct of natural gas extraction, a drop in natural gas prices has reduced the financial incentives for many overseas companies to produce helium.

...

“The shortage is due to demand exceeding our ability to produce helium,” said Sam Burton, assistant field manager for helium operations for the federal Bureau of Land Management, which operates the reserve in Amarillo. “Typically in the past, there’s been enough helium in the distribution system that the end consumer never saw the problem. This has been an extended shortage, and all of the helium that’s been in the supply chain has been expended.”

...

The federal government’s role in helium production began in the early 20th century. The Army and Navy prized the gas as a nonflammable alternative to the explosive hydrogen that was being used in observation balloons and airships. By 1925, Congress had created a helium program to make sure the gas would be available for national defense.

Though the government’s role has been scaled back since then, it continues to dominate the market, effectively setting the global price and supplying enriched crude helium for sale to private refineries and plants via a 450-mile pipeline system.

In October, the Bureau of Land Management raised the government’s price for crude helium to $84 per thousand cubic feet, up from $75.75.


Huh.  That's weird.  I didn't know that the Federal Government pulled the collective balloon 'strings' on the Nation's helium supply.  Did you?  Even weirder is the fact that they are investing in technology which may, or may not, be able to get an ample supply of helium for in the future.

There are other questions which spring to mind on this sub-20 degree February night:

1. I thought the government HATED natural gas and anything to do with the depletion of fossil fuels?  I assumed this because they won't allow anyone else get natural gas on Federal Lands for the past few years.  This being the case, how have the Feds been dredging up the Helium for the past eighty-plus years?  From the article quoted above:  "helium is a byproduct of natural gas extraction"  So it's okay for the Feds to pursue natural gas extraction but no one else?  Wouldn't this be considered a monopoly?  And, aren't business, or product monopolies, 'bad' things?
2. A more pressing issue tugs at my freezer-burned consciousness:  Who will fulfill the needs of our CHILDREN?  Yes, children around this great Nation are being deprived of the simple joy associated with colorful latex and myler balloons on their special day!  How will the 'most helpless among us' feel knowing that they CANNOT have balloons at their party because...  THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT IS SAVING ALL THEIR HELIUM (and LOVE) FOR - NASA?  Oh, the horror...  
3. Generations of children will have their self-esteem damaged beyond repair - at the hands of a monopolistic, evil government Space program (which, surprisingly, doesn't go into space any longer).
4. As we turn our Nation's technology clock back to the good old days of cholera, plague, smallpox, and rickets, I wonder why this Administration continues to invest in technologies of the past?  Consider the following: 
1. Windmills for energy generation - 12th Century. 
2. Lighter than air vehicles - 18th Century. 
3. Electric cars - 19th Century. 
4. I thought the President's theme for the 2012 election was 'Forward!', not 'Back!' (to the Future?)

Doc Brown - Obama Administration's "Wayback Czar"

Sure, I know there's a lot of 'other stuff' going on in the Nation lately, but what about the children?  Can't we have a bit of love for THEM???  What about THEIR happiness?

Why does this Administration HATE children and LOVE Natural Gas extraction?

I want to know.

No.  I don't need to know.  But these CHILDREN must know - since they'll be paying for the $35MILLION we borrowed from China for most of their adult lives...

Yes, for the sake of the children, President Obama, I'm pleading with you...

Make more gas.

Um, helium gas. 

Make more helium gas.

Thank you, and good night.