It's Easy Being Green

Being green takes many forms and flavors. You can reduce pollution in local creeks and lakes by using compost instead of fertilizers. You can save water by choosing a lawn that doesn't require (much) watering. You can forego having pets or children because they require food and fart CO2 and CH4. You can spend 1000s on a solar panel that might maybe if you're lucky one day pay for itself.

One of the main areas though where you can think big on being green is how to reduce the energy you use each day. 

Taking a look at the big picture looks something like this:

Just like when budgeting when trying to save, you should start with the big pieces. And when talking about Energy Use in the United States the big pieces are Electric Power and Transportation.

Electric Power:

When looking at your home you can do things like change the lightbulbs, or get more efficient appliances, or upgrading from a plasma TV, and while they help some the actual benefit is not nearly what the companies that market those products would lead you to believe (those 3 are responsible for only about 25% of home energy usage). 

Q: So where does the majority of power go in your home?

A: Heating and Cooling (cooling's the big one in Texas)

Step 1: Adjust the temperature. 

In the summer one thing that can have a large affect by getting screens, opening windows and using fans. You might well save 30% on your bills.

This winter one thing we used was small space heaters in the rooms we were in (living and bedroom) instead of heating the whole house. The heaters paid for themselves within a month, and by the end of the winter we were not only more comfortable than any year prior, but we had also saved about 30% on our heating bill.

Q2: But even that is just an incremental adjustment. So how can I make a big change?

A2: Get a smaller house. Even the greenest of homes if it's very large will suck way more power than a smaller and less efficient home. 

Step 2: Live in a smaller house

We actively made the choice to live in a smallish 1000 sqft home, and while we have a 20 year old AC, and single-pane windows, and no insulation, I'm continually baffled at hearing about how much some other coworkers who live in ginormous houses spend on electricity. Despite that they have the latest split-unit ACs, double- or tripple-paned windows, and great insulation. The simple fact is if you're trying to heat and cool a 3000 sqft house it is going to take a lot of energy. But if you have a tiny house it will only take a tiny bit of energy to heat and cool.

There are other 'green' benefits too. Such as 60 sqft of tile for your bathroom is way less expensive and greener than having to buy 600 sqft. You're not filling room upon room with new furnishings, and since most small homes are older you're not destroying land to put your house on it.

Transportation

The US is built for cars, I get that. There's not really an easy way to avoid them, but there are a few things you can do.

Step 1: Live, work, and play in the same area. 

If you have an hour commute you're using a lot of fuel. For comparison person A drives a Prius and lives 40 miles away; person B drives a jacked-up monster-truck wannabe and lives nearby-ish at only 3 miles away. So who's being greener? In this case the monster truck actually produces both less smog and less smug.

Step 2: Use alternative transport when possible

While not possible for everybody I try to bike in a few times a week to improve my health and stretch my gas money. Additionally though, think about not using your car when you're at home. Can you walk to that store instead? Can you bike down to that bar you like instead of drive? (Plus you'll be less likely to worry about cops on the way home) On the weekend can you make a day-long excursion downtown on your bike instead of driving? (Think of how much time you'll save trying to find the elusive free street parking!)

Every time you choose to leave a 3000+ lbs piece of steel at home you're saving that much fuel, and often you're getting to spend more quality time with the people you're traveling with, getting some exercise, and soaking in the city and sights around you.

Conclusion:

When it comes to energy usage if you're going to go green you should aim for the big targets. And often it's the choices we make of where and how we live that really have the greatest impact.

Way to Stay Classy Fox

Headline image on Fox News the morning after the election:


Headline read in the order that your eyes naturally take you:
Obama, A World of Trouble, He Savors Victory.

Seriously Fox News, you couldn't hide your disdain any better than behind some blatant suggestiveness of your graphics? This is plain childish.

Yes We Will!

For the first time since I've been a voter I can finally say that the candidate that I voted for won, and won big.  I'm so happy, this is the first time in years that I can look at the letters USA and feel pride in who we are and what we can do as a country.

Tonight was one of the few nights where I felt like we really saw the best in people*.  McCain's speech was eloquent, kind and respectful.  It represented everything that I was sad this election lacked from him.  It was the first time he showed his heart, and in it you saw a good man and not an angry old person.  If only he had been that way the whole election instead of being a pawn of the Republican party, then this might have actually been a close race.

As for Obama's speech...wow.  I hope that we can become the country that he sees.  I'm blown away by statements showing real appreciation for his call from McCain, understanding that the US isn't alone in this world, pointing out how we can make our country better, and setting guiding principles for how we can take this country forward into the next 100 years. 

Now I am looking forward to seeing how the Obama administration is going to be pulled together, I think he will pull together some of the finest moderate minds that this country has ever seen and will actually respond rather than react to things going on in this world.  The only part that scares me though is the number of pardons and crap that the Bush administration is going to run through on the way out.  People that are criminals on both the governmental and business sides of the coin in all the crap that has happened this decade will simply skate away with Billions in blood money and a pardon in their pocket.

With this election finally our nation can move forward.  Finally we are no longer in the stagnation of a lame duck president & congress.  Finally we can take the steps that have been needed for so many years and begin moving forward to reassert ourselves not as a great power, but as a nation that is great.

God Bless the USA and I commend you on the decision you made tonight.



*Except the booing scumbags at John McCain's speech...what a bunch of loosers...must have been the Palin supporters.

SAT & Politics

God:Country::Capitalism:Socialism

Both can work well on their own, but mixing the two bastardizes both to where they can no longer perform the function they were made to do.

The Big Caucus

So somehow I went from being a republican to being a democrat delegate for my precinct in under 23 hours.

Per yesterday's post I decided to vote for Obama, here's how it went down:
Being a libertarian at heart it means I agree with democrats on personal privacy issues, and agree with republicans on fiscal issues. Unfortunately there really isn't a thing in the republican core that's fiscally conservative anymore other than the rhetoric. I also decided I couldn't vote for Paul or Huckabee because they didn't stand a chance and a vote for them was a vote for nothing, and I couldn't honestly back McCain unless he was running against Clinton*. So I voted for the candidate that I agreed the most with on the most issues. That would be Obama.

Now if there's one thing I love in life it's getting a deal. And well, the democrats had one heck of a deal going on. If you placed 1 vote on Tuesday, then you could actually get at least 50% more free for just showing up in the evening! So, because I wanted my 50% or more upgrade I headed over to our local precinct and caucused with the people in my neighborhood.

Things were absolutely crazy. There were almost 500 people all crammed onto the 1st and 2nd floors of a nursing home. Nobody knew what was going on, nobody had a PA, and it was pretty much just contained chaos. Finally after about an hour of standing around they let us outside, split us into Hillary and Obama groups and let us sign in to prove we were at the caucus. Now that sounds all simple and all, but it wasn't. It took about 2 hours for everything to get sorted out. You can read about it more over at the wife's blog, which is similar to Mrs. Juicebox's experience, which is similar to the craziness Kelly experienced, which is similar to the craziness about 10 other friends experiences.

One thing that really impressed me though about being on the Obama side of the caucus was how diverse the crowd was on his side. Never before have I seen so many people of such different background so enthusiastic about a single cause. There were old ladies, young babies, punk with mohawks, young guys in business suits, crazy liberal vegans, big bellied old white guys, hispanics, blacks, asians, whites, multi-racial babies... It really blew me away that all these people are all excited enough about something and believe in something so much that they're willing to sit outside in the cold for hours with nothing to entertain themselves simply to do what they could to show their support for this change that they believe in. Change is that word that has been thrown around by the media as if it's pointless, but they are SO wrong. Change is the fundamental harbinger of good that exists. Nothing can grow without change, nothing can move without change, no injustice can be righted without change. Now what is that change? That's harder to define because there is a different definition for almost everyone. Obama has blown me away by his ability to unite so many people and I can't wait until he gets a chance to do that one a bigger level.

Well, as far as the caucus went it ended up getting sorted out that of the 454 people caucusing, 2/3 were for Obama and 1/3 were for Clinton. Our precinct was allowed to send 63 delegates to the county convention to represent the voters in our precinct. So of the people left, the wife and I decided that we wanted to try to be one of those delegates. And what do you know, we're now official precinct delegates for the democrats!/? So now I get to do my part to not only represent Obama and help bring up his delegate count so that Hillary hopefully does not 'win' Texas, but I also get to play my hand in helping to make decisions in what the Democrat Party of Texas' decisions are at the local convention. And the cool thing is, in effect I get to help bring the democrat party towards my own libertarian leanings. If not, then at least I get to see and be part of our political process something that definitely intrigues me and will help me to grow as a person. Plus, like I said earlier. I like deals, and this turns my 1 vote into something like 1.7 votes if not more...now that's a deal you can't find anywhere else**.

*As a side note. Hillary's supporters are proven over and over to be amongst the old and the poorly educated. I can think of no better reason to advocate a stronger educational system in our country than to simply point out how amazingly obvious her placating is and the fact that only a person without a good sense of judgment due to a lack of a decent education would believe that drivel. I really think the lack of a good system of education is largely responsible for a lot of the ills of our society on a personal and political level.

**Unless you're a super-delegate.

Primary Dilemma

Primary Dilemma:
Should I vote for the person I believe has the best plan, and I know will lose and be discarded with a smile? Or should I vote for the person who is not my ideal, but who I think could make a positive impact on our country and world?

So a quick run through of the candidates:

• McCain - Honest man, but I don't like anything he stands for other than no torture.
  
• Huckabee - Great on FairTax; unfortunately, he mixes God and politics too much.
• Paul - Best ideas out there, but the US is too far gone to benefit...we like our lobbyists too much.
• Clinton - Do I need an explanation?
• Obama - Only person who seems to understand the 21st Century and has a lot of plans for little steps to move us forward.
  

I think it's those little steps that will be the real key.

But for this election? I have to go with Obama. The repubs don't respect Paul period, so while I could make a protest vote against McCain, it would simply fall on deaf ears.

So that leaves making an actual difference in the margin of Obama over Clinton. And if that happens, Obama will be president...period. If it ends up being Clinton vs. McCain...I'm voting libertarian or writing in my favorite superhero.

So tomorrow, voting for Obama (for those seeking substance, look here), then I'm going to Caucus and while Caucusing I'm going to do what I can to help push some local actions like eliminating toll roads on existing highways. Mostly I'm just looking forward to actually making some forward progress in this country instead of simply slipping further and further behind in the world...and maybe I'll help to make a step in that direction.

Star Trek was Right All Along

Thanks to my step-mom generously giving us her copies of Star Trek (Seasons 1-4), we have slowly been working our way through the seasons as the ripples of the writer's strike continue to cause our television to suck even harder than it normally does. Now your median episode of Star Trek is probably a 3.5 out of 5; however, there are some amazing episodes of where you wonder how they were able to spend that kind of money on the script, where the characters show honor or disgrace, where the plot is strange and familiar at the same time.

Recently we watched an episode The Drumhead, which could have been written based off of the political headlines of this past week. Essentially the plot follows a situation in which a person on-board the ship is found to have committed espionage. But it is known that there is likely another traitor onboard...and that's where suspicions start to rise, rights start to shift towards conditional privileges, and individuals are presumed guilty without trial.

I love this dialog between Picard and Warf about the importance of security versus the importance of protecting an individual's rights:

Picard: The 7th Guarantee (info) is one of the most important rights granted by the Federation. We can not take a fundamental principle of the constitution and turn it against a citizen.
Warf: The Federation *does* have enemies. We must seek them out!
Picard: Ah yes. That's how it starts. But, the road from legitimate suspicion to rampant paranoia is very much shorter than we think. Something is wrong here, Mr. Warf. I do not like what we have become.

What I love about this, is that the issues looked at in that episode are such pressing issues even today. Just this week even there's been a very interesting case of the FISA bill. Essentially you have a piece of legislation that looks to protect those who were complicit and willing to assist in the denial of an individual's rights. Now granted, the rights were only violated in a mild way. And there was the looming doom of 'terrorists'. However, once you start to give in to these fears and infringing on rights for protection's sake, you lose the very essence of what makes the rules, the system of government so great. You lose a piece of your collective soul when you give into fears like these to perpetrate a crime against another. Or in the words of Picard, we are taking a fundamental principle of the constitution and turning it against our citizens.

Picard: With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censored, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably. ...The first time any man's freedom is trodden on, we're all damaged.

What makes me even sadder is that we have elected officials that are meant to represent what we believe, who are there to make sure that our voices are heard. But they too are on the site of poorly-thought action. They are willing to give up whatever possible to make us 'safe'. As a great example, look at how hard my local congressman (who is elected only because of shady districting) fights to ensure that the rights of individuals are trumped in the name of security.

McCaul's Statement on FISA: "America [is] in its greatest time of need, in a time of peril, in a time of war."

If you read through 'Representative' McCaul's statements you'll see so much partisan pandering, illogical argumentation and complete avoidance of the real issue at hand. In this case the reason for that is because while it may feel right and you can even word the position to sound right, the truth is it's not right. You should never infringe on our rights, even if what the person does is scum...you have no right to violate their privacy unless subject to proper judgement that that is the call that needs to be made. I understand the world has changed, that progress needs to happen, that our current system goes the speed of a 19th century process when we're in the 21st century. So address those issues. Make a law stating that information needs to be retrievable for 1-7 days (in volatile, easily erasable memory). If the information is important then a warrant could be obtained in that amount of time and enacted. But don't overstep boundaries, don't allow one person to hold all the control, don't give some 'benevolent' force the power to choose right and wrong, don't throw away all our rights because somebody makes you feel scared, don't give people that knowingly did wrong a get out of jail free card, and don't pretend that nothing is in skirting our freedoms.

It's sad that these sorts of issues will continually crop up. But part of freedom is uncertainty. Part of living in a truly free world is that there are more than our friends walking amongst us. Part of living in a land of liberty means that somebody will choose poor associations, bad allies, and perhaps even harbor ill will. But to run around assuming the worst in people and seeking guilt is a dangerous proposition with dire consequences. In closing, I'll let Picard sum up my thoughts:

Picard: We think we've come so far. Torture of heretics, burning of witches, is all ancient history. Then, before you can blink an eye, suddenly, it threatens to start all over again.
Worf: I believed her. I... helped her. I did not see her for what she was.
Picard: Mr. Worf, villains who twirl their moustaches are easy to spot. Those who clothe themselves in good deeds are well-camouflaged.
Worf: I think... after yesterday people will not be so ready to trust her.
Picard: Maybe. But she, or someone like her, will always be with us. Waiting for the right climate in which to flourish, spreading fear in the name of righteousness. […] Vigilance, Mr. Worf. That is the price we must continually pay.

CNN/YouTube Democratic Debate

I was just watching the CNN/YouTube Democratic Debates, and I just saw the best debate question ever posed.



As a whole the candidates cracked me up. When asked about global warming they all agreed that it was real and dangerous. Then when asked about their travel plans all but 1 of the candidates admitted to taking a private jet.

When talking about schools they tell us that we need to trust in public schools. Then when asked where they sent their children over 1/2 of them provided some sort of excuse as to why their children went to private schools. Why not just admit that private schools are better and you took advantage of the opportunities presented to you?

Here's my overview of the candidates:

• Kucinich - He really believes what he says. While I may not agree with him, I respect him.
• Clinton - Too polished. Will probably end up with the nomination though because of her rehearsed answers to everything.
• Obama - Charismatic, but not quite as smooth on his feet as necessary.
• Biden - Reminds me of old-college fraternity person from the north east...will never make it and has some bad ideas while trying to take more credit than he deserves.
• Dodd - Not pretty enough. Mediocre ideas, but nothing new.
• Edwards - has a fighting chance. Nothing unique, but not as detestable as Hillary.
• Gravel - My favorite candidate by far. Proponent of the fair tax and school competition, didn't pander to emotions in his answer...basically no way in hell he'd get the Dem nomination because he actually tries to think.

Here's another fun question while we're at it:
Remy's Question on Taxes: YouTube/CNN Debates

Who is Really in Control?

While watching the news lately you can see all sorts of information about the effort being made by the 2008 presidential candidates to raise funding for their campaigns. What's ridiculous is the amount of money they will need to move forward. The figures are astounding, in the 10s-100s of Millions of dollars. I wouldn't be surprised if the 2008 candidates end up spending about one billion to get elected.

But all of that money made me start thinking a bit about where it all comes from. I know that I'm not spending that much. And I know that many of the issues that are pursued in this country do not really reflect the desires and opinions of the majority of the people in this country. The groups that really stand to benefit from the policies of the government (either Republican-led or Democratic-led) are the huge corporations and organizations that exist in this country.

But why are the bills created to benefit those companies? When you look through the constitution you do not see the government as being created "Of the businesses, by the businesses, and for the businesses." No! The government is intended to be "Of the People, by the People, and for the People." Granted all people are ultimately employed by some business, but the government should remain a solemn entity that represents the needs of its citizens. It's concerning to me though that these huge campaigns that are run, and the focus of our political system (both on foreign and national policy fronts) are centered not around the needs of the people upon which the system is built, but on the desires of corporations and organizations which cannot even vote.

When looking for the reason for anything in this world, the simplest place to start is to look for where the money is flowing. If you look at the political class, it does not take a genius to realize that most of the money in our political system comes from organizations and corporations. Naturally then it follows suit that since these are the largest portions of monetary flow for our government officials that they will be most interested in making policy for whoever lines their coffers.

However, when you think about the root, just how many votes does a corporation have? How many votes does a union have? How many votes do illegal aliens have? How many votes do other governments have? Not a one. Not a single vote. So why is it that we continue to allow them to contribute to a system that is not created for them? Why do we continue to make policies that benefit corporations that contribute to campaigns? Why is the minimum wage raised everywhere except for where one business runs their operations and their headquarters just so happen to be in the same district as the speaker of the house? Why (since the 1970s) do we only fight wars where we can later extract or leverage some natural resource? Why was there a mandate put out declaring that all adolescent girls are required to take a vaccine produced by a company that contributed to a governor's campaign? Why are toll roads being created throughout Texas even when large pieces of the projects were already publicly approved and funded? These interest can at best help the electorate in some abstract and probably intangible way; however, they can directly be seen as helping Corporation X in Senator Y's district. When looking at situations like this I think it's very appropriate to use Occam's Razor, and you'll quickly see where the truth lies.

One of the greatest things that I think could happen in this country is to create a complete and total ban of any corporation or organization from donating to any political campaign or cause. But how would those organizations be able to affect national policy? Well, they could have education campaigns to individuals in their organizations/company and then the people in those organizations can make the choice as to what to do or who they want to contribute to. It's way overdue that something be done so that we the people can actually control the government that we created. I truly believe that by eliminating corporate and organizational contributions we could level the political playing field a bit and our politicians would be forced to listen to those who donate the most to their cause...which would just so happen to be the same citizens that vote for them.

While we're at it maybe introduce a policy similar to the tech industry's 'do not compete' clause stating that all government officials cannot join a lobby or head a group they've funded for 5 years after leaving their office. That way they don't start making off the books deals that roll-over at a later date.

Poly-Ticks

Alright, I'm on a political bent, so you'll have to bear with me.

Really excited about Ron Paul running for president. A guy like this would do AMAZING things for this country. Too bad most of America is too dumb to understand what needs to be done, and he's not your mainstream Republicrat so he's getting no coverage whatsoever in the media. But the good news is he's gaining a lot of support thru the internet, and who knows, if I can convince some people that can convince some people...could become something real.

Death and Taxes. The only sure things in life. Question is are you so sure about why you're paying them? According to this interesting documentary (America: Freedom to Fascism). While certain lawyers may disagree (ahem) with it, the fact remains if you cannot clearly point out where a law is and why it exists, then you cannot enforce such a non-existent law. Why don't we just implement the Fair Tax instead of our current overly complex system that provides too many loopholes for those with the money to evade it?

RTfB Act. I really think that one of the worst parts of our government is the ambiguity and ridiculous length of what members of congress say they approve of. When a bill is 1000 pages long there is NO way that you could have the ability to read, much less comprehend what you're voting for. Not only that, but much of the language of laws is deliberately worded so that it's so ambiguous that nobody can understand it (much like credit card contracts), that way the authorities that be can really do whatever they want and claim that the law is actually on their side. I really applaud DownsizeDC for trying to get this off the ground. Yet again, probably will never make it, but if it does...expect great bad things like abolition of Habeas Corpus to be a thing of the past.

Other ideas in the pipeworks that I like. A law that would only allow one topic to be addressed per bill proposed. And having automatic runoffs or making the house of representatives reflect the voting percentages of the electorate on a per party percentage (like in the Netherlands). Whatever happens in this country the first thing to do is to take control of our currency, shift taxes so that they do not punish production, and then create laws that force it to where Congress can only really do something if it's VERY important or relatively simple to accomplish. Not that any of this will ever happen though...unless we can somehow get Ron Paul in for president. What would be really interesting is if Hillary gets the Dem nomination, and Paul does not get the Rep nomination, then to have a Paul/Barrack ticket...now that would get America interested in the race and prove on both their parts that they are more concerned with helping America than with partisan politics. We'll see what really goes down though.

[Edit March 23, 2007]
One more great link.
A Visual Guide to Where Your Taxes Go by Death and Taxes

Are You Good Enough?

Recently I purchased Neal Boortz's book Somebody's Gotta Say It and ran accross this amazing quiz in one of the chapters. The quiz can be found online here:

The Boortz Citizenship Quiz

And this is why I love this guy. You may not agree with all of the points, but man...they really make you think. And I'm ashamed to say there's a good chunk of the questions in there that I really don't know anything about or completely understand. - It would really help if there was an NIV or NAS version of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. -

Just in case you're too lazy to check out the list here are a few of the questions that really made me think.

• If our Constitution provides for equal protection under the law, why, then, does the Voting Rights Act only apply to certain states who were held in political disfavor in the 70's?
• Where in our Constitution does it specifically state that only U.S. citizens may vote for the office of President of the United States?
• Why were the words "under God" placed into the Pledge of Allegiance?
• How many times can the word "democracy" found in the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution?
• How many times can the word "democracy" found in the constitutions of any of the 50 states?
• If two wolves and one sheep vote on what they're going to have for dinner what do you think the menu will look like?
• Do you have a choice as to whether or not you pay Social Security taxes? Why then do they call Social Security taxes "contributions"?
  

The wife and I actually had a really great conversation trying to figure out the 'right' answers to some of these. And we ended up having a lot of fun discussing these issues. That's one of the best things about being married to her...just when I think I know her inside and out I just keep learning more.