Lottery Post Journal

Watch this video and you will understand why health care costs so much in this country.

It is NOT because we need government-run health care.  No, that would be a disaster of much bigger proportions.

At least with the current system the health care industry has some ability to try and keep things under control.  (Watch the interesting solution in which a hospital pays out their own money to solve the root cause.)

If we can fix this problem — by addressing the root cause at a different federal agency — health care costs will be much more reasonable for all of us.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLJxmJZXgNI

This is what I was trying to say the other day in my blog, but sometimes it is so much more effective to hear and see it in a video.

This video does not address all of my points, but it does hit on three of them, and explains the rationale in great detail.

Only 3:41 in length.  Certainly a valuable use of the next three minutes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOpcPfAarjY

The latest fib from the environmental groups is that the oil companies have "millions of acres of undeveloped land just waiting to be drilled, and they're not doing it."

Of course, as soon as this is put forth by the environmental wackos, the brainwashed among us immediately start parroting it back to everyone, as if suddenly they've become oil scientists and geologists.

The last people these salivating people would want to ask about this "fact" of undeveloped land, of course, is the oil companies themselves, because the oil companies are evil.  (How they became evil is a mystery, but since the environmental wackos say they're evil, that's what they instantly believe.)

Do these nuts understand that practically everything they own has used oil in some capacity in order to manufacture it, most of those things directly as one of the ingredients?

Why don't they just give up their computers?  After all, they are largely manufactured from oil products, and just running a computer is accomplished with the burning of fossil fuels.

Actually I wish they would give up their computers, because they are only spreading these tall tales by keeping them on.

Why is it that the oil companies have undeveloped land?  Well, there are many reasons, the chief among them is that there is little or no oil there.

The petition at AmericanSoutions.com is nearing 1 million signatures!

There is an exciting groundswell of support for using our energy sources here at home, not only to lower our energy costs, but to reduce our dependency on countries that have leaders who have sworn to defeat us.

Let's all make energy dependency the biggest issue of the campaign, and force the two candidates to lay out detailed plans for how they will solve the problem.

A gas tax holiday is not the solution.  A short-term solution that does not address the core issue.  Supported by John McCain.

Windfall profit taxes on oil companies is not the solution.  Penalizes American companies, while foreign companies are not affected, giving unfair and huge competitive edge over American companies.  Drives up prices, rather than reducing them, because oil companies simply pass any additional taxes to consumers.   Problem becomes worse, economy sinks.  Supported by Barack Obama.

Instead, we must do the following, in this order:

1. First grow and utilitize our resources here in America, which have been untapped for decades.
   
2. Reform the futures commodity trading industry to protect oil, which is of strategic importance to every person in this country.  When energy prices go up, every single person suffers, even those who don't use much energy.  Energy drives the entire economy, top to bottom.  High energy prices means layoffs.  Low energy prices means more jobs and disposable income for every person.
   
3. Invest in more nuclear power plants, which will provide clean, environmentally-friendly power, and lower energy prices.
   
4. Invest in alternative energy production and storage, particularly advanced battery and fuel cell technology and hydrogen and other non-biofuel technologies.
   
5. Remove restrictions on the import of sugarcane-based biofuels.  The bans were enacted to protect corn farmers, but the corn farmers do not need the protection.  There is a shortage of corn, not an over-abundance, so corn prices are too high, and are continuing to rise.  This is a typical consequence of protectionist policies; the consumer is harmed.  Corn is not as efficient as sugarcane in its conversion to fuel, so we would have lower prices plus more energy.

How can you support this? 

Start by signing the petition mentioned above.

Here is the link: www.americansolutions.com

Also, find out what the candidates will offer as a solution for energy prices. 

Ask yourself:

• Does the solution offered give us more energy, and therefore drive down prices?
• Does the solution have both short-term and long-term benefits?
• Will it help or hinder the economy?
• What is your confidence that the candidate is serious about solving the issue and implementing their solutions in full?  (Talk is cheap.)

I think that "world record" thing is pretty dumb.  I guess if they're trying to make themselves look important it will be all smiles, but really, who cares?

If you want the Firefox 3 browser without all the fanfare, here's the direct link:

http://download.mozilla.org/?product=firefox-3.0&os=win&%20lang=en-US

Note: this is the official 3.0 release, not a beta or release candidate.

Important: Don't forget, if you only want to use Firefox as a secondary browser — not your primary web browser — you must un-check the checkbox during install that states "Use Firefox as my default web browser".