loPEZ Dispenser

It never ceased to amaze me how flippantly the term “art” is thrown around. Recently I remember reading about one guy’s art exhibit that featured a bunch of people running around the museum and set intervals. This story, however, takes the turd, I mean cake!

American artist Paul McCarthy’s latest exhibit is a turd of epic proportions. Yes, he created a giant inflatable dog turd. It is claimed that this turd is the size of a house (which rivals some of the ones I’ve found in my daughter’s diaper). Rather unexpectedly the turd took on a life of its own when it decided to break free of the earthly bonds that were holding it at bay.

The turd terrorized the local town and left a path if destruction in its wake knocking down a powerline and destroying windows at a children’s home where it decided to end it’s journey.

Lets hope that the Oscar Wilde aphorism, “Life imitates art far more than art imitates Life” doesn’t ring true here, because I certainly don’t EVER want to see a turd the size of a house.

Good Day.

UPDATE: I found a picture!

We are all feeling the sting of the current economic situation. While things aren’t that bad, certain areas have felt the pinch more than others. We all probably hesitate before we turn the ignition to our car and question whether we really need to go anywhere.

I have never felt prompted to write my government representatives. My wife worked for a US Senator for a little while and she was partly responsible to read and log such correspondences. But times are rough and I felt inclined to put to paper what I was feeling. I drafted the following letter. I have not yet sent it but I plan to send it to both of my US Senators very shortly. If you feel so inclined, you may also send this text to your Senators.

Dear Senator,

I’m not one to normally write letters about political issues; however, what America is experiencing right now is approaching a tipping point that could have catastrophic consequences for all citizens.

I am a well educated, hard working professional. I even make a decent living working as an Electrical Engineer. Times have become tough for everybody and even with my salary I find that it is harder and harder to make ends meet.

With gas and groceries at record levels I fear for the future. I was recently investigating home heating oil prices for the coming season and the companies are all predicting prices to be in the $5-7 per gallon range. This is double what I paid last year! I make too much money to qualify for any assistance programs yet the burden is still there.

I know one of the hottest topics in politics right now is Global Warming and renewable energy. While I, personally, do not believe that man is the cause of any climate change we may be experiencing, I do believe that we should do all we can to be good stewards of our environment. With that in mind, I want you to know that I support our quest for renewable, clean energy. I advocate the construction of new nuclear power plants to lessen our dependence on fossil fuels for power generation. I believe that alternatives to gas powered vehicles should also be further pursued in our quest to lessen our dependence on foreign oil.

That said, I am also a realist. Being in technology I see the progress that is being made in these areas. While it is exciting and shows promise we are still a long way away from a widespread solution being implemented to a point where things change. The obstacles, both politically and practically, are huge. A sweeping change to automobiles would require a widespread change in infrastructure (think of gas stations). Electric cars would need places to recharge, which means there will be further demand on our power infrastructure. My point here is that while I am hopeful that we can change, relief is not just around the corner.

There is no perfect solution to the current fuel crisis. I don’t pretend to understand the economic and political drivers of the oil market but I do believe that it follows Adam Smith’s principle of supply and demand. Developing nations have greatly increased their demand in the last 10 years but the supply out of the Middle East and South America has not increased proportionally. I’m sure that this is no news to you. Research has determined that here in America we have years and years worth of oil right beneath our feet. In addition, we have more coal here than we know what to do with! The problem is that we are unable to access our own natural resources because of current policies in effect.

I urge you, as my US Senator, to please consider sponsoring and/or supporting legislation that will allow us to drill for our own oil and lessen our dependence on terrorist, communist, and rogue nations. I am fully confident that our American ingenuity will allow us to do this safely, cleanly, and with minimal impact on our environment. Additionally, I ask that you support the construction of new nuclear power facilities and new oil refineries.

I have a feeling that if Congress votes to allow drilling on American soil once again drastic things will happen immediately. First, OPEC will sense an upcoming flood of new oil to the market and the market will react due to the anticipated new supply. We are OPEC’s largest customer and they will do what it takes to retain us as customers. They will either boost production or drop prices or both! I think this would happen nearly immediately, providing much needed relief to many Americans. Second, once we have our oil (it would take a few years) we could lessen our dependence on oil from people who are not our friends. Third, we would continue our quest to find alternative energies so that the technology and infrastructure would be in place long before we run out of our own oil.

With the upcoming presidential election I am not confidant that these decisions will be made in time to impact this winter’s oil prices but I do ask that when they are made, you vote accordingly, offering much needed relief to all Americans.

With a deep love for America,

Daniel Lopez

I wrote this letter weeks ago. Here is what is funny. Look at the second to last paragraph. Just a few days ago President Bush said in a speech that we need to DRILL, DRILL, DRILL! In the 2 days following oil slid down $16 a barrel. Remember, Congress hasn’t yet done anything! No drilling has started or is even planned yet! Just the mention of drilling causes the market to react to a future increase in supply! I gotta say, I called this one…

The tides are turning people!!! After a very successful documentary, an Academy Award, a Nobel prize and lots of press Al Gore and his IPCC team’s warming has slowed. His movement has been losing steam for quite some time. Recently a few studies have come out that throw ice on the idea of man-made warming.

The first study was from members of the American Physical Society, a group representing nearly 50,000 physicists across the world. This group previous considered the evidence for man-made global warming “incontrovertible.” Now the group has done an about face. All it took was for a few of the members to question the methods used by the IPCC to evaluate certain factors that they say are a root cause of warming. I’ll let you read the article.

The second article was from a group of Australian scientists who are predicting a 20-30 year cooling cycle. These guys subscribe to my theory that global climate tracks closely with solar activity. Apparently the has been less active than usual lately and will continue to do so.

Finally, there is the third article. This one is the funniest to me and it does support man-made global warming, but not in a way that would think. Supposedly Europe has seen higher than average warming when compared to the other continents. A scientific study performed in Germany has found that the temperature increase is not due to greater carbon emissions, rather it is because of cleaner air! In the 80’s many nations enacted clean air legislation to get rid of some nasty pollutants. Well it turns out that these pollutants may have acted as a shield by blocking some of the sunlight. Now that the air is cleaner this sun filter is no longer present and the surface of the earth in these areas is brighter than it was.

Regardless of these studies, those belonging to the religion of climate change will dismiss them and continue on with their scare tactics and fearmongering. The glaciers could take over the earth and these people will still not admit that they were wrong.

With elation, have a cool day….

It’s great to live in Philadelphia! Being the birthplace of our great nation, Philly prides itself as a place founded on the ideals captured in our beloved Constitution. Being the day before Independence Day I thought I’d tell you a story about something going on up here.

There are times in our history when mistakes are made. Laws are passed that maybe don’t fully take into account the freedoms granted to us by our Constitution. In times like these action must be taken. It is our duty as citizens to uphold and protect the ideals that so many have fought and died for in our 232 year existence as a nation. We have a mechanism in place via our judicial branch that allows us to challenge contradictions and injustices in our own laws. There are even many organizations out there which provide assistance to those who need a louder voice.

Today, the city of Philadelphia is under assault by one of these laws. In April, the city passed a law that by it’s very nature is so heinous, discriminatory, and utterly unfair that citizens are in an uproar! Some say that at it’s core this law violates the First Amendment’s guaranty of free speech. Three citizens of our great city Mike Tait, Josh Silver and Ann Bourlais along with the Institute of Justice have had enough of this injustice and have filed a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of this law.

So what is this law the the city so carelessly passed? According to the new law, beginning in the fall, all Philadelphia tour guides must take (and pass) a history exam and pay a fee to become a city licensed tour guide. Violators of the law would face a fine of $300. This law applies to all city tour guides including NPS guides, Duck Boat and Bus tours, carriage rides, and even foot guides. CAN YOU BELIEVE THIS INJUSTICE!

The city claims that this action was taken to ensure that all tour guides are providing proper and historically accurate information to the tourists that visit from all over the world. According to a local news article:

“The city of Philadelphia is trying to claim that is has the power who may speak and who may not and under our Constitution, that’s simply unacceptable,” said Robert McNamara of the Institute of Justice.

The group believe the new regulations would have a negative impact on small and independent businesses.

“What’s next? Are you going to start licensing comedians to guarantee the delivery they have is funny,” Boulais said. “Where does it stop?”

So let me clarify this. These people are claiming that their free speech is being violated because the city wants them all to be licensed. Let me tell you people something. Even the food cart operators have top be licensed. The city is not stopping these people from speaking. They can say whatever they want whenever they want. However, if they are being payed to provide a service (a business) then information they provide needs to factually accurate. This has nothing to do with free speech. It has everything to do with being qualified for the job.

Lets re-frame this. Will the city or state give me a plumbing license without passing the plumbing exam? NO! Will I be able to practice law without passing the Bar exam? NO! Can I practice medicine without passing a medical exam? NO!

NO! NO! NO! Freaking IDOITS! What a waste of time and my tax dollars. I love the quote above about comedians. What a poor analogy. You aren’t paying a comedian to give you accurate information.

So could my company be sued for not hiring a person who doesn’t have the job qualifications for the job they are gunning for? Of course not!

Are these people so lazy and stupid that can’t study for a history exam that they should already know the answers to? If they spent half the energy studying as they have put into this stupid lawsuit it would be no problem. I’d actually love to take the test and see how I stack up based on what I know right now. Can anybody arrange that?

I am sick and tired of our judicial system being so tied down by stupid lawsuits like this. These people should be responsible for ALL court costs associated with these ridiculous suits if they lose them…and this one will be lost. Maybe that would make them think twice.

So Happy Independence DAY!

In my toilsome fight against global warming alarmism one question is usually posed to me. It is usually something like this:

“If global warming is fake as you say, then why is there so much fuss about it? Where is the motivation?”

My response is short and to the point. “Follow the money.” In most political games all you have to do is follow the money to see the real drivers of the system.

On great thing about a democratic society is capitalism. Even at a time where we are paying $4 for a gallon of gasoline I am hesitant to suggest that the government get involved. At a time where billions of our tax dollars are going to support welfare and other special interest programs where is the line drawn between capitalism and socialism drawn? Is it that much of a stretch to label these programs as a form of wealth redistribution? Don’t get me wrong here. I am not against these programs (so long as they are managed properly–we all know they aren’t) and I’d hope that if I ever fell on hard times that my government could help bail me out. Still, no matter how you frame it, this is taking money from taxpayers and giving it to those who don’t pay taxes.

So what does all this have to do with Global Warming? Our friends across the pond (that’s England I’m referring to) have suggested a new scheme as an effort to curb their carbon output. Some members of Parliament have suggested that each citizen be given a carbon card. Each year this card would be loaded with credits. Every time you fill up your gas tank, pay your electric bill, or take a flight anywhere you have to swipe you carbon card and an amount is debited. If you are an excessive carbon user you can then purchase credits from those frugal carboners to offset your lavish lifestyle.

Lets re-frame this a little bit. I am a successful, hardworking, middle class, family man. I live in the suburbs with my wife and 3 kids in a decent sized house. I have to commute to work every day in my car. I have to heat and cool my house. Occasionally, I like to take well deserved trips to get away from it all.

Now take the Smiths, a blue collar family with 3 kids. They live in a small apartment in the city within walking distance (or able to use public transportation) of most locations they need to go to. They don’t own a car and are rarely ever able to take flights anywhere.

Naturally, my family is going to use much more carbon than the other family. So, because of my lavish lifestyle I have to buy carbon credits from the Smiths. Explain to me how this is not wealth redistribution? It amounts to a luxury tax in the name of reducing carbon.

If you read the linked article above, the author acknowledges that there are many kinks that would need to be worked out before this becomes feasible. I’d like to add to the list. What about weather? Since I live up north in the cold, my heating bills would far outweigh those of somebody in the south. Would there be a regional adjustment? What if I am a business traveler and have to fly every week? Do those credits come out of my allowance or my companies? Who determines how many credits I get to begin with? To children get the full amount? Is it age adjusted?

Perhaps hitting the nail on the head, the articles author pointed out that “There is huge potential for fraud.” If our governments can’t properly run the programs we already have then the idea of a program on this scale is frightening. I’ll be praying for you England. Good Luck.