Gas tax, sin tax, and too much profit

Yesterday I was with a group of "Republicans" and I hear how we need to increase the gas tax, tax more "bad" behavior (ie, smoking, drinking, bad driving), and how big oil makes too much money. Whoa, that is when the room started to turn blue and I had to step out and get some fresh air.

The lady who supports increased sin taxes seemed especially supportive of cigarette taxes because smokers, she claims, are more likely to need some type of government health care. I asked her if we should increase the tax on junk food. She kind of laughed and said yes, but I do not think she understood the point I was trying to make. She was also complaining about the amount of money the oil companies make.

I know the GOP tent is supposed to be a big one, but sometimes the differences amaze me. Fortunately I have some more conservative/libertarian leaning friends and many of the bloggers to help me realize I am not alone.

Dodger Stadium

One of the few things I got to see while I was in LA was the home of (in my best Vin Scully voice) the Dodgers. Despite the fact that I have no desire to go back to LA, it would be fun to see a game there (preferably the Reds). The field and surroundings are incredible. One bad thing is that it was really hazy that day.

Back home again.... and illegal immigration

Sorry (to the two of you who read the blog) for the light blogging again lately. I was in LA again most of last week. Fortunately that will be the last trip for a while.

I have not been able to follow the news much, but yesterday when I woke up I heard what seemed to be a rally or protest going on. I could hear people talking, cheering, and chanting. Didn't think much of it until we walked from the hotel to near where we were working. Tons of people, police cars, and helicopters. Way more people than I had seen in downtown LA.

We got into the office and one of the guys there asked if we had seen the protest. He told us what it was and then I remembered the bill being discussed. Turns out there were 500,000 people there. Here is an article about it.

The protest was winding down when we went out for a late lunch and there were stacks of "Amnesty Now" (along with many others - all in Spanish that I saw) signs everywhere. There were quite a few people who had US flags, but there were also tons of Mexican flags.

I am no public relations manager, but having a large protest in the US waving the flag of a foreign country and not speaking the primary language is not going to endear many people to your cause. In fact, I did not bring it up at the office, but someone else did, and we all agreed that it seemed rather dumb. If I have a problem with the policies of the Mexican (or any other) government I am not going to go there waving a US flag and speaking English.

I have absolutely no problem with legal immigration. As many of the supporters of amnesty say - we are a nation of immigrants. However, we should absolutely not reward, encourage, or ignore illegal activities and behaviors.

The easiest thing for someone who disagrees with me to say is that I am a racist or xenophobe. Sorry, but that is simply not true. In this case, that is the cry of someone who does not have a valid argument. Quite frankly, I do not care what country an illegal immigrant comes from. If they are here illegally they should be deported. It is as simple as that. Call me cold hearted, but even in this case, the lady should have been (and was) deported. The fact that she has a family here should have no bearing. There should not be exceptions.

As a legal immigrant told me yesterday - "there is no right to live in the US." He went on to say exactly what I think, illegal behavior should not be rewarded. He took the time and proper steps to come to this country the legal way. Others should do the same.

VBC is up

Something I do not do often enough is link to the Virginia Blog Carnival. I am going to try to get in the habit of putting a link up every week. The latest edition is up over at Spark It Up!!!. Kilo has done a good job of putting it together. Head over and read a few entries.

90 second test

The April edition of Smart Money has an article about a 90 second test, called the Congnitive Recognition Test (CRT), developed by Shane Frederick of MIT "that seems to predict whether you will be good at things like managing money." I wonder what our legislators would score? That would be interesting.

Anyway, the three questions of the test are:

1) A bat and a ball cost $1.10 in total. The bat costs $1 more than the ball. How much does the ball costs?

2) If it takes five machines five minutes to make five widgets, how long would it take 100 machines to make 100 widgets?

3) In a lake, there is a patch of lily pads. Every day, the patch doubles in size. If it takes 48 days for the patch to cover the entire lake, how long would it take for the patch to cover half of the lake?


The highest average score came from tests given at MIT - 2.18. The lowest (at least the lowest shown in the table of results) - University of Toledo - .57. The overall average was 1.24.

There are some interesting results. If you get a minute glance at the PDF. Probably the most interesting thing is that men scored significantly higher on the test (average 1.47 vs 1.03). As Frederick put it "these items measure something that men have more of."

The answers are in white following on the next line. To see them highlight the text.
1) 5 cents 2) five minutes 3) 47 days.

Finally back

Not that anyone knew (or cared), but I was in Los Angeles most of last week. Defintely glad to be back home in Virginia. I did not have time to do any sight seeing, but there were a few interesting things going on. Across the street from the hotel I stayed they were filming the sequel to Bruce Almighty, which is I believe will be entitled Evan Almighty. The star of the new film is Steve Carell. We did not see any actors, but we did see the World Cable News van and some Atlanta police cars.

Also ate dinner one night at the revolving restaurant in the Westin were parts of True Lies was filmed. I really do not remember the movie much, but the elevator scenes were filmed there. The restaurant was just ok, but the view was pretty cool.

Missed the TMG Meeting

I know I am a few days late (and more than a few dollars short), but it sounds like I missed a good TMG meeting on Tuesday. Norm has a recap and Rick Sincere does as well. One of the surest ways to tell if I am busy is if I do not make it to the TMG meeting.

Some irrelevant facts and figures

Not being a native Virginian it has been fun to learn some of the things now that maybe I would have learned if I had grown up here. Do they have a Virginia History class in middle or high school? In Ohio I had an Ohio History class in 8th grade. Of course, Virginia history would probably take at least ten times longer to teach.

I always thought Ohio had a lot of counties (88). It is true that they have more than average (62.8), but Virginia has 134 counties and cities (or as one site put it, county equivalents). That ranks second behind only Texas which has 254.

Is Virginia the only state where all cities are independent? I believe it is, but I am not sure. I suppose it is because we have more independent cities that the average size of a county (or equivalent) in Virginia is the second lowest in the country at roughly 319 square miles each. Rhode Island counties average 309 square miles. The largest, not surprisingly, is Alaska where the average county (borough) is 24,565 square miles, which, is larger than the state of West Virginia.

To find out more about specific cities, counties, and/or states check out FedStats. It is a decent site with facts and figures that, I suppose, would have to come from the census. One interesting piece of info is that that mean travel time to work (in 2000) in Virginia for people 16 and over who do not work at home is 27 minutes. The nationwide average – 25.5 minutes.

Cantor breakfast (Updated)

Just got back from the Eric Cantor breakfast. I heard three different numbers, anywhere between 1000-1200 people there. Speaker Dennis Hastert was the main speaker. Also there was former Gov. Jim Gilmore, Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling, AG Bob McDonnell, and a number of senators and delegates. Senators Stosch and Stolle were among the senators in attendance. I wonder what they were thinking when Cantor was talking about keeping taxes low.....

Anyway, I'll post some more about this later, but for now I better get to work.

(Updated)
Just a little more to add. I was able to talk to Delegates Janis and Saxman for a few minutes. They are definitely two of the good guys in the House. Whitney Duff from AFP was also there. Always good to see anyone from AFP. Like Del. Saxman she is a contributor to the Cost Cutting Caucus blog. If you aren't a reader of that blog you should be ashamed.

Speaker Hastert said a few things that illustrate to me how far left Sen. Clinton is. Several years ago he was on a committee to study healthcare with Mrs. Clinton. I do not recall what the specific question he asked her was, but it dealt with why she did not like medical savings accounts (or HSAs). She said one of the problems is that people are greedy. And she feared that people would forgo medical attention for themselves or (you can see this one coming a mile away) their children in order to spend the money on other things. It would be better, she claimed, for the government to control those decisions. She is from the government and she is here to help.

I would consider myself a greedy SOB and I am not ashamed of it. I want to make as absolutely much money as possible. Does that mean I do not have morals or ethics? No. Does it mean I would sacrifice my child's healthcare for a case of beer, a pack of smokes, or maybe a big screen tv? Absolutely not. I want to work as hard as I can doing things legally and ethically to make as much money as I can. And the government should think I am capable of making my own decisions, keep its hands out my pockets, and not penalize or demonize me for being successful.

A good quote (and what is on the back of my CAPITALISTPIG t-shirt), even though it is from a movie (Wall Street):

The point is, ladies and gentlemen: Greed, for lack of a better word, is good. Greed works, greed is right. Greed clarifies, cuts through, and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit. Greed in all its forms, greed for life, money, love, knowledge has marked the upward surge in mankind — and greed, you mark my words — will save not only Teldar Paper but that other malfunctioning corporation called the USA.

Lee Brothers on the air

Flora over at UCV mentioned this also, but the Lee Brothers are filling in for Mac Watson today, tomorrow, and Friday. They are much better than Watson. If they were on everyday I would actually listen to WRVA from 3-6. You can listen online at www.1140wrva.com.

Light Blogging

Sorry for the light blogging recently. Too busy trying to make a buck and get some other non-work related things done.

Just saw that Kirby Puckett passed away, may he rest in peace. I always thought he was a good player and he seemed like a genuinely nice guy who had a great personality.

Via Norm, we see that HB 1052 died. I am not really surprised, but the fact that it did not receive one vote is disturbing.

The latest VBC is up over at I’m Not Emeril. I had meant to submit something, but did not get around to it. I have an idea for a post, but that is about it. Maybe next week.

As I posted about earlier the AK Steel union looked like it was going to strike. The union had voted to go on strike if a new deal was not reached. A new deal was not reached and the company locked out the workers.

Speaking of unions. My wife and I stopped at Kroger the other night right before they closed. There were three employees around. Two of them were off the clock and in the checkout line picking a few things up to take home. The third was the cashier.

I am not sure how they got on the subject, but the cashier was slamming their union. He said he thought unions might have had a place in the 1930s, but now they don't do squat (or another word that starts with s and ends with t) but take your money. The other two employees agreed.

Miss a Day, Miss a Lot

I was gone most of the day today and when I got back not long ago and checked Bloglines I realized how active the VA bloggers are. Makes it hard to keep up.

A few random thoughts from when I was driving today. I always search for new radio stations when I am driving in areas where I do not have a favorite. I have not spent much time in NOVA recently, but was passing through today and during the news they kept mentioning that the heat was out at Dulles. The reporter made a comment about it being cool and said that was definitely below room temperature. Hmm. I had no idea that room temperature was something that was considered (roughly) a constant. I thought room temperature was the temperature of the room you are in. So, if I am in a room that is 50 degrees, is that not room temp? And if I am in a room, can the temperature of that room be less than room temperature? I guess it can, shows how much I know.

One thing about the Wikipedia page. I love that they include the temp in Kelvin. I think it would be fun to start using Kelvin as my unit of measure for temperature, light speed for speed, and parsecs for distance. Just have to make sure I take my calculator. Everyone would think I am a nerd, but with my dumb sense of humor I think it would be funny.

Also heard a minute of the Dan Patrick show today. Former Philly Darren Daulton is a little, um, different. He is into numerology and metaphysics. He can do whatever he wants, but it kind of took me by surprise. I wonder if there was something in the water back when he played for the Phillies. That whole team was a cast of odd characters.