I like to reply to comments if I feel it is proper.  It is through these replies that I have decided to make a second part to the Cash for Clunkers posts.

I really have no other opinions to add to the matter, but some interesting calculations.  Someone made comment “in what world is the economic impact of increasing your mileage by a trivial amount (as low as 4mpg) enough to offset the pollution, energy, and cost of designing, producing, shipping, test driving all these new cars.”

The following is my response:

Doing some quick math (We’ll run through two different scenarios here)

We are assuming a person drives 15,000 miles per year and that gas costs $2.61 (national average found today), and the old car was getting 20 mpg. Also let’s assume the average life of a car is 10 years (very conservative estimate)

Old car @ 20mpg
15,000 miles / 20mpg = 750 gallons per year

Assuming everyone buys a car that increases the minimum 4mpg to 24mpg and receives the $3,500 discount.
$3 billion / $3,500 = 857,142 new cars
15,000 miles / 24mpg = 625 gallons per year
750 gallons – 625 gallons = 125 gallons saved per person per year
125 gallons * $2.61 = $326.25 saved per person per year
$326.25 * 10 years = $3,262.50 saved per person over car’s life
125 gallons * 857,142 cars = 107,142,750 gallons saved total per year
107,142,750 gallons * $2.61 = $279,642,577.50 saved total per year
$279,642,577.50 * 10 years = $2,796,425,775.00 money saved over car’s life

Now, Assuming everyone buys a car that increases the minimum 10mpg to 30mpg and receives the $4,500 discount.
$3 billion / $4,500 = 666,666 new cars
15,000 miles / 30mpg = 500 gallons per year
750 gallons – 500 gallons = 250 gallons saved per person per year
250 gallons * $2.61 = $652.50 saved per person per year
$652.50 * 10 years = $6,525.00 saved per person over car’s life
250 gallons * 666,666 cars = 166,666,500 gallons saved total per year
166,666,500 gallons * $2.61 = $434,999,565.00 saved total per year
$434,999,565.00 * 10 years = $4,349,995,650.00 money saved over car’s life

I’m not going to talk too much about those numbers but that measly “trivial amount” as you say of fuel adds up very quick.

Each barrel of crude oil (42 gallons) makes “19.6 gallons of finished motor gasoline” (http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/ask/gasoline_faqs.asp#gallons_per_barrel)

In 2008, the US imported 4,726,994,000 barrels of oil (http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/dnav/pet/pet_move_impcus_a2_nus_ep00_im0_mbbl_a.htm)

So in the first scenario, we are saving 107,142,750 gallons of gas per year. This equates to saving 5,466,467 barrels of crude oil / year. This means that we could import about 0.12% less oil.

In the second scenario, we are saving 166,666,500 gallons of gas per year. This equates to saving 8,503,392 barrels of crude oil / year. This means that we could import about 0.18% less oil.

I didn’t know the results of these calculations before writing this post and I just figured them out while writing, so my initial impression is, that’s less than 1/5 of 1 percent! Not much! Keeping in mind that these are the two minimum scenarios, I guess it is still pretty decent for being part of a stimulus plan.

Closing … Cash for Clunkers isn’t a way to get us off foreign oil (which I think anyone could have said quite confidently beforehand) but it is a pleasant side effect.

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Here is what the government website has to say about their program:

The CAR Allowance Rebate System (CARS) is a $1 billion government program that helps consumers buy or lease a more environmentally-friendly vehicle from a participating dealer when they trade in a less fuel-efficient car or truck. The program is designed to energize the economy; boost auto sales and put safer, cleaner and more fuel-efficient vehicles on the nation’s roadways.

Recently my Dad took in our older Jeep Cherokee and came home with a Honda Fit Sport.  He is very excited about the purchase of his first ever brand new (not just new to him) car.  The car is very nice and gets 35 mpg which is monumental compared to the Cherokee which was lucky to get near 10 mpg.

This program has been so popular, that it was looking like the fund would run dry by the end of this week.  That is until today when the Senate announced that “it is likely” there will be a $2 billion extension by the end of this week (MiamiHerald.com).

On the radio and in the online news recently I have been hearing and reading a lot of debate about the quality of this Cash for Clunkers plan.  There have been arguments saying that maybe we should have a “‘Cash for Cluckers’ program and pay people to eat chicken” (Jeb Hensnarling R-Texas).  There have been debates over whether this plan is actually helping the environment or is building a new car causing more pollution than the old not fuel efficient car (FOX News).

And let me tell you, it just boils my blood.

First off … Mr. Republican from Texas … How does comparing chicken and cars even come close?  Oh wait … is it because clunkers and cluckers sound similar?  Seriously … I don’t think you made it to the House by making stupid immature remarks like that.  Such a completely irrelevant analogy can only be attributed to you being swept away in left / right politics.  If you are going to debate a topic, I suggest you grow up past 2nd grade literary antics.

For all the folks who are wondering if the Cash for Clunkers plan is really helping the environment by causing less pollution … my first response is, who said it would?  In the paragraph quoted above from cars.gov, never does it say that the goal is to make less pollution, but it does say to get people more fuel efficient cars.  And secondly, the people who are questioning the environmental impact of this plan are only thinking short term.  Please note the following list:

• People who buy cars with great gas mileage are more likely to buy cars with great gas mileage in the future (speculation)
• Better gas mileage makes an immediate impact on our reliance on foreign oil
• Last I checked this is a stimulus plan that has the benefit of putting more environmentally friendly cars on the road, not the other way around

Really what it comes down to is the fact that this stimulus plan is stimulating the economy (at least the car economy).  Ford just posted first monthly increase in sales in two years (NYTimes)!  Finally, there is something that came out of Washington that people can really look at and say: “Wow, that plan really works!”  But of course politics as usual makes a giant fuss.  If it was the Right that implemented this plan, I am sure the Left would argue argue argue against it too.  That is how Washington (annoyingly) seems to work.  It is great that the government was smart enough to put a spin on a car stimulus plan that says you will get the discount if you purchase more fuel-efficient cars and not just any car.  The side effects of this program are and will be monumental.  Really, I challenge anyone to give me a real reason why this program should not be in place and/or extended with the additional $2 billion.  Ready set go …

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So yeah, apparently Palin has apparently signed with HarperCollins to tell her’s and Alaska’s story.  Oh, and guess what… HarperCollins just happens to be owned by Rupert Murdoch, surprise surprise…. grrrrrrr

Anyways -

When the word memoirs comes up, I always think of an old person writing about their life.  They are typically writing about at least a part of their life that has just come to a close.  Does this mean that Palin is closing up shop in Alaska?  But maybe memoir is not the best choice of words for what she will be writing, though.

Sarah Palin was quoted stating that “There have been so many things written and said through mainstream media that have not been accurate, and it will be nice through an unfiltered forum to get to speak truthfully about who we are and what we stand for and what Alaska is all about.”

It just seems to me that this is not the point in life where Palin should be worrying about memoirs.  She is calling a defensive formation out of the play book by using this unfiltered and (as she forgot to mention) non-confrontational medium to give her thoughts.  Throughout the presidential race we saw her get slammed by the press many times for not being prepared on various issues (cue Katie Couric interview), and by using a book, she is not being put on the spot for impromptu and unrehearsed responses.

As 2009 has progresses, Palin disappears from the spotlight more and more.  If she has politics on a national scale in her future sights, I think she is making a wrong turn with these ‘memoirs’.  She should be working night and day on issues that are relevant to her constituents and in turn, all Americans (and yes… Joe the plumber).  This way, when it comes time to be back in that spotlight, she can come out and say, “Well golly gee, while you all were poking fun at me and my family, look at all that I accomplished”.

Eh… I think Sarah Palin is just one big $ to anyone in the media.  If you walk down the street and said the name Sarah Palin to people, I bet most would smile or give a little chuckle.  She just isn’t respected like she should/needs to be.  I hope the book deal does well for her, I really do.  Heck, I’m drawn into the drama that is Sarah Palin’s political career as well… just make the book less than $10, and I’ll give it a read.

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You have been warned.

Nonsense, yeah?  I hate how people of influence, mainly political, make no consequence predictions.  This is a prediction where if you are wrong, so what?

Let’s take for example a few days ago when our just recent Vice-President, Dick Cheney told the world that there is a “high probability” that terrorists will attempt a catastrophic nuclear or biological attack in coming years (link).  This is the perfect example of a ‘no consequence prediction’.  If in the next few years, an attack lands on the United States causing terrible disaster to everyone, and the recovery is not picture perfect, Cheney will be right there to say: “You remember back on February 5th of 2009 when I warned about this?”

Now if in the next few years nothing happens, we all live happily day to day worrying about nothing more than what flavor of Icees to eat, we will have forgotten about Cheney’s warning.  No one will speak up a few years down the road and say “Cheney was wrong!”  This is because no one will care.

The only negative affect on Cheney is that if he wants to make another large-scale prediction, it may not be taken to be as credible.  But for Cheney, if there is a nuclear/biological terrorist attack in the ‘upcoming years’, which I think is a fairly safe prediction for most any person right now, he gets celebrated for his insight.

I get the feeling this occurs a lot in Washington.  Especially during the elections.  People will make some random comment in an interview, and then years down the road it will be pulled up and used to show the insight that individual had so many years ago.

So here is what I say (and you can quote me on it):

Tomorrow, an asteroid might hit Cincinnati, Ohio.

If I am right, I get the biggest, “I told you so” EVER!  If not, I’ll just continue making my predictions.

… stupid politics

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1. I cast my vote for Barack Obama on November 4, 2008
2. I am a Christian that is pro-life, so yes, I believe abortion is wrong

Now that we have those two tidbits out of the way our talk can commence.  During my normal daily/hourly run down of the Google News headlines, I came across this article titled, “Under God: Priest Calls Vote for Obama a Mortal Sin”.  This article is located in the “On Faith” section of the Washington Post / Newsweek.  The article is a quick read and really kind of mind boggling.  Rev. Jay Scott Newman proclaims that:

Voting for a pro-abortion politician when a plausible pro-life alternative exists constitutes material cooperation with intrinsic evil, and those Catholics who do so place themselves outside of the full communion of Christ’s Church and under the judgment of divine law.

Persons in this condition should not receive Holy Communion until and unless they are reconciled to God in the Sacrament of Penance, lest they eat and drink their own condemnation.

So here is what I think.  I think that abortion is awful.  I think that you are killing a person.  I think it should be illegal to get an abortion.  Now some will argue, what if it comes down to the mortality of the mother woman having the baby that thing inside of her? (yes, how are you going to word that sentence so that you are not calling the woman a mother or the thing inside of her a baby?)  But, believe it or not, this post is not meant to be a pro-life/pro-choice rant, this post is about politics.

When I cast my vote for Barack Obama, I was not casting a vote because I believe abortion is ok.  In the same light, I don’t agree with President-elect Obama on a number of issues.  If he and I agreed on every issue… I think I might as well be running for President if those are the issues that get you elected.  When voting I (in my eyes) had two choices, John McCain or Barack Obama.  Being an independent, I started my political research with the mindset that either candidate could win my vote.  I watched news, I read articles, I really did my research.  And I decided overall, that Barack Obama is the President that this country needs, not John McCain.

Four years ago I proudly cast my vote for President George W Bush.  Want to know why?  President George W Bush is pro-life.  That’s right, that was the only reason that I cast that vote.  It was my first presidential election and I was overwhelmed by all the political hype.  I went with what I knew.  And the great thing about it is, that’s ok.  It is just fine for people to cast their vote for a candidate for one specific topic if that’s how they choose.  This election, however, after seeing no progress, nor really any mention about our pro-life president trying to change things with regards to abortion, there are other issues at hand.  I would not be able to just look at the one issue of abortion and feel confident that just because I agree on that one issue, that person should lead the country.

In my best attempt to not be too redundant here, I will finish off this post with one thought…

It is great that so many people are so passionate on the idea of pro-life.  I applaud their efforts.  A few days before the election, when Barack Obama was on campus speaking in our stadium, the sidewalks were covered with chalk drawings of hearts.  Little signs were around stating that all the hearts were to represent the thousands of abortions that occur each and every day.  I believe some of the silent protests like that chalk drawing are some of the most powerful.  But when it comes down to the country that we live in right now.  I (and I speak only for myself here) felt that there was no better choice than Barack Obama to take office.  In the grand scheme of the current state of America: economy, foreign relations, energy consumption, education, … I had to set aside the difference in abortion.

And shame on Rev. Jay Scott Newman.  President-elect Obama is pro-choice.  Every vote cast does not cause a baby to be killed. (taking a big breath and telling myself that this post needs to come to be done… so long)

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I would like to thank you for choosing Governor Sarah Palin as your vice presidential running partner for the presidency.  You see, I liked some of the words you were saying.  But the thing is I also liked some of the words Senator Obama way saying.  I will admit, I was leaning a bit more towards the Obama side of the country, but I had not made up my mind.  What I am thanking you for is helping me make that decision… and it doesn’t look good for you.

My concern, you see, isn’t the news about Gov Palin’s daughter, Bristol, and her out-of-wedlock pregnancy.  I applaud the pro-life choice.  I disapprove of the publicity the decision/(news?) has been receiving (as it seems my thoughts agrees with yours).  The candidate’s personal life can go under the microscope, but the personal life of his or her kin should not.  This morning I read an article (link) and a voter (Republican in St. Paul, age 78) was quoted saying, “You can’t judge the parent by the actions of a child, and you certainly shouldn’t judge your candidates that way.”  Yes I realize this wasn’t an official statement put out by your campaign, and it might be from some lady (Rosalie Ninas) whose kids turned out terrible and doesn’t want to take the blame, but I completely disagree with the quote.  I do not think the ‘Nature versus Nurture’ debate is all black and white, but I firmly believe that kids turn into the type of adults their parents mold them (whether intentional or not).  Kids make mistakes, and I don’t believe Gov Palin’s daughter’s pregnancy should be viewed as good nor bad for her campaign, it is just something that happened.

My concerns are not with the fact that she is a woman either, period.  I think our government needs a slap in the face wake up, and I am very happy that regardless of which party wins in November, it will be a historic moment.

My concerns are not even with the state trooper scandal investigation… well… that does raise my eyebrows a little…

My concerns are with her readiness for office.  I believe her as a person makes a very welcoming and friendly face for the candidacy, but as the school board demands of Harold Hill in Meredith Wilson’s The Music Man, “What about the credentials???”  This vice presidential candidate you have chosen has a short political history with no foreign policy experience (among other shortcomings).  Your campaign, Senator McCain, seems to be centered a great deal around foreign policy.  Yes, Gov Palin has a young, friendly, attractive face whose policies and demeanor coincide with yours, but let’s face it, you are 72 years old.

Doctors have said you are physically fit for office.  I don’t doubt their judgement at all.  But say you take office, and God forbid, something from your medical history decides it wasn’t finished, or a new something comes up and you are unable to continue being Command-in-Chef… it would be a scary day if Gov Sarah Palin was hastened to that new title.  Senator McCain, you have lots of experience, and Gov Palin has even less that Senator Obama.  You told the world Senator Obama didn’t have the experience needed to take Office as President, but your running mate needs to have that potential as well.  This would be OK, not ideal, but OK if you were younger, but I can not take that risk with my vote.

In an article from Reuters today (link), Dan Schnur, one of your aides during the 2000 presidential bid, was quoted saying, “her family difficulties could have a positive effect with voters accustomed to family problems.”  That struck a strange chord with me.  Yes, we know many, if not the majority of American families may be labeled as having ‘family problems’, but how is that a positive for your campaign???  If I were running for president and had chosen a running mate that was once in prison, I’m sure all those guys and gals in prison would be hootin’ and hollerin’.  That does not make it good.

Senator McCain, I apologize for my long winded correspondence, however, I felt like I needed to make my opinions known.  All is not lost with my vote, however close it may be.  My vote is not completely decided until I head to the polls in November.  I look forward to watching and listening to the upcoming debates between you/Palin and Obama/Biden.  It promises to be a very interesting few months on the political trail.

~ A vote in the swing state of Ohio (Jason)

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When I first converted from Windows XP to OS X Leopard, I had some favorite applications that I had become rather familiar with, such as Mozilla Firefox, Google’s Picassa, among others.  I told myself that I was going to try and use the native OS X applications at first… get the full ‘Mac Experience’.  Granted, I use Mail at work, but not at home (still with web based Gmail), it was very successful.  I started using Safari and found fantastic little things like the Find.  I love the UI for Find in Safari, I pick it over Firefox any day.  I continued to use Safari until Firefox 3 came out just recently… and now I’m back to Firefox.  Really the main reason is that I love the third party downloads for Firefox.

I also started using iPhoto to keep track of my many photos.  This has been a bit of a journey.  Prior, I had all my photos organized in a neat directory structure, but this didn’t translate to iPhoto completely as I would have liked.  However, going on 8 months into my Mac experience, it hasn’t caused enough issues for me to really spend a good bit of time to make it ‘perfect’.

The big success story is in iCal.  Prior, I had used Google Calendars for my schedule, but I wasn’t completely happy with the interface, and iCal was exactly what I wanted and needed.

But enough about the specific products, this post isn’t meant to be full of advertisements.  What I do want to talk about is the topic I started with, unity of information.  When I hooked up my iPhone to my MacBook and synced, my calendar information would be on both devices, perfect.  But this involved daily syncing… I guess that’s fine, but not ideal.  Also, what do I do about accessing my calendar on a different computer.  It wasn’t until I started my Co-Op at Apple that I got a .Mac account.  This was great, I was able to keep in sync all my devices.  But then something even better just came along… MobileMe!

Now, MobileMe has been getting a lot of heat lately with its less than stellar roll-out (nicknamed, fail-out).  This is understandable.  Apple doesn’t typically have rough transitions within products, and this one was a bit more than rough, so of course it is going to get the negative coverage.  I firmly believe there are people/press that dislike the idea of Apple being a lifestyle, so when anything goes wrong (just like in a presidential campaign…) it gets blown up HUGE.  But again… I digress…

All the bad press about MobileMe roll-out is covering up the real success story, MobileMe the product.  Pushing information to devices is amazing.  When this technology is polished, the world will be a better place.  I make an edit to an event on my iPhone and within minutes it is updated on my Mac and the MobileMe website.

But here is the thing… this in sync ‘thing’ isn’t universal.  Sure it is universal within Apple… but as much as I would prefer it… there are people who still for some unknown reason don’t use Apple products.  Apple is making strides with this, in an enterprise sense now supporting Microsoft Exchange… but there are so many areas.  There should be unity in protocol.  If I want to send an event invite to a friend on Facebook, they should be able to accept, automatically updating their Google Calendar, or their MobileMe/iCal, or both!  I should be able to receive an event invitation from a friend who only uses outlook (poor guy).

This brings up thoughts about a universal identification, which honestly I support.  I think it would be a good thing for everyone if the United States started a national identification.  We already have social security… but that’s not exactly what I am talking about.  If every person in the world didn’t have to be assigned an identification, but it could be generated from their DNA, that would be pretty sweet.  But, even thought that is a super interesting topic that I would love to delve into more right now… I could fill an entire blog with posts just about that.

Closing remarks:
I love how my information is available in all the areas I would like with ease through Apple products.  I wish it were easier to keep my information in sync with other people who don’t use Apple products.  I support a universal identification.  Let me just say though, I do not support your UID (universal identification) being tracked for web use.  I do not support it being mandatory for non-official (non-government) purposes, but I think it should be available to purposes such as that for those that don’t mind their web surfing being tracked.  This is just like how I support Bush in his wire tapping craziness… I personally have nothing to hide.  If you do, maybe we should be worried about you.

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Sitting around the dinner table with my two brothers, mom, and dad, we discuss everything on the list with not problems. We have vibrant arguments and joke about opinions and everyone is better off in the end from it, I believe. No one was ever really offended, as much challenged by the arguments brought up to certain points. At a recent dinner beyond the nuclear family, things were slightly different.

Religion was brought up in a small group which soon turned into talk of politics and our current political policies (or lack of for some of the people in talk). Once the discussion was in heat, it was then that I realized why the topic is off limits for dinnertime talk. People that I didn’t know completely all too well were standing firm in arguments that I believed to be full of something other than truthful backing, but I didn’t want to argue my views to a applicable level with fear that I might offend someone in my somewhere extended family.

I love hanging with this side of my family. They are so different and unique in respect to my other side of the family that it is refreshing at times, seeing minds tick in a different manner. I am a people pleaser, and although as of late, I have begun taking strong opinions in many matters, I don’t want to plain offend any person, especially family. I remain quiet and listen, taking in sides. Some people are stubborn and start mislabeling people… ‘you know the problem with Muslims…?’ I almost fell out of my chair. The problem with Muslims? Every single one of them? Excuse me, but do you know the problem with Americans, they waste and eat too much, sorry, I’m an American, I definitely don’t eat enough and I make a definite conscious effort to not waste. Labeling is not a good thing… just don’t do it.

I became frustrated and had to leave the discussion. I am guessing no one even knew that I was paying attention to the words being thrown back and forth, but I was, and I had to leave before I blew steam. When I get upset over something, I don’t make good arguments. I don’t speak well to public. I am a person who has to calmly collect my thoughts before going into an argument, so whenever I get all heated up and start arguing, I make terrible arguments and let the opposition win… not a good thing.

Honestly I am not sure where this post is taking me. Mostly I am just venting about the realization why people beyond a strongly knit group should not discuss politics, religion, or sex when you are in a forced friendly environment. Tensions rise. I hope I am not giving the wrong impression. I love discussing differences of opinions with others, even extended family sure, but not at a gathering. I’m not sure the proper scenario… but I’ll let you know if I ever figure that out. It is more of one of those things that you must be comfortable and respect the person you are discussing with and you know at the time.

That’s all for now… blarged: Jason

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This is a two-dimensional representation of political views (economical and social)

This is a representation of well known political leader past and present and where they stand on the two-dimensional plot

Here is where I stand… there were no surprises. I’m thinking being like Gandhi is a good thing….

Happy Fourth of July!

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Today I was reading through my blogs and ran across this article from whitehouse.gov about “Congress’s Failure to Act on Comprehensive Immigration Reform”. There is a definite somber tone in this article as President Bush puts on his fatherly voice of disappointment to talk about his wayward child, congress.

Ok… so congress doesn’t really equate to the President’s kid, but we do, don’t we?

Think about it, what he (maybe soon to be she?) says goes… he’s the commander of the armed forces and can declare war… he has power to veto any bill that comes his way… he is the head guy, big cheese, wearing the pants in our country…

My Dad did (and still does) use the guilt trip ‘punishment’ on me… its worse than anything.

If you think about him as the ‘father’ of the United States at the moment, many are missing out on the key parental demand of respect. Now I for one don’t agree with everything that President Bush says or does, but I do respect the man. If you notice in most (if not all) of my posts regarding the President, I refer to him as President Bush, or some near, respectable title. Yes, you go back and look; it has been a conscious (and sometimes very difficult) effort. You don’t hear me calling him names or referring to him as Georgie, or the ‘Big W’, or anything. He has a lot on his plate, and even though he hasn’t made all the right choices in my eyes, he hasn’t done a ‘two thumbs down’ job…. maybe only a ‘one-and-a-half’ thumbs down. Of course most negative opinions are from the war on Iraq, but I think positive accolades need to be given for his work on immigration. I really like the plan on the plate… although, apparently congress doesn’t.

This post is kind of jumping all over the place… I’m just spouting random thoughts, so if you’ve made it this far congrats, it probably isn’t going to get much better.

I’ve harped on the immigration reform many times already, but again I feel like I need to get my opinion across.

THE STATUS QUO SUCKS!

Let’s hear one person give an argument against that…. seriously.

So the conservatives think that the reform is granting amnesty to those illegal aliens already here? I don’t think it is… they have it tough to become a legal citizen… and we can’t make it impossible or else no illegal aliens will want to let themselves be found

So the liberals think that the fine is too high for the illegal aliens? They’ve already broken the law… are you the ones trying to give them amnesty?

We need something right now that is better than the status quo, and that is what President Bush has offered.

Hello Congress, my name is Jason Pawlak… I have a request… Why won’t you get off your high horses and learn to compromise…

…or else nothing will ever change.

I personally have a hard time imagining much change in the illegal aliens that are already in our country. Even with the so-called ‘amnesty’ I doubt many will let themselves be found. Our real plan should be centered on protecting the border. I’ve already given my plan there for securing the border… check it out here if you haven’t seen it. It’s a winner

Talking about politicians always gets me frustrated… grr

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