Mike Rowse A voice from New Mexico

This idea seems to have some merit

No it has nothing to do with a hot chick in a bikini but I thought I’d put that up to get your attention because this is actually a story about ‘green technology.’ Here is someone in the private sector coming up with an idea to resolve a perceived problem. Solar powered roads. Check out this link: http://www.consciousmedianetwork.com/video/2010/061810.htm or go to www.solarroadways.com.

WOW!!!

Epic, historic, inspiring: what can you say about John Isner and Nicholas Mahut? The two competitors at Wimbledon are going into their 3rd day of a single tennis match. The pair are competing in the first round of the championships and began their match on Tuesday. The match was suspended Tuesday night due to darkness with each having won 2 sets. A fifth set would be needed. At Wimbledon they do not play a tiebreaker in the fifth set so unlike other sets the game count is not capped at 13. To win, a player must win a minimum of 6 games and win by 2 more games than his opponent. Isner and Mahut came back yesterday and began play about 2:00 p.m. with the fifth set.

Play was suspended due to darkness 7 hours later with the score tied at 59 games apiece. This is unheard of! The match has been fantastic. The 2 men are pushing the limits of their endurance. Isner is 6′ 9″ 250 lbs and he was barely able to move while the much smaller Mahut was still chasing down balls and diving for shots in the last games played yesterday. But when it came down to it, Mahut asked for play to be suspended and Isner wanted to continue believing they could play another 15-20 minutes. Even though he was dead tired I think Isner knew how sore he was going to be today.

This is the stuff that sports legends are born of; the most games ever played before, in a set, was something like 60 and these 2 have already played 118 and aren’t done yet! They have broken records for the most of everything in a set and neither has given up yet. The 5th set alone has already lasted longer than the longest match in Wimbledon history before this one… it will be great to see it go on today. Watch it if you can.

I’m back…

I was in Santa Fe for the last several days and had a great time. You know what was even better? Not having to hear anything about GL and his idiocy for a few days. But now I’m back and ready to get going again. So stay tuned while I catch up on the news (and the truth) and we’ll get back going again.

Don’t panic!

I’m going to be on the road for a few days, playing in a tennis tournament with my wife. It will be fun but I don’t know if I’ll have access to a computer and/or internet for a few days; I’ll be back no later than Monday so be patient with me.

It’s like finding water on the moon

U.S. officials said Afghanistan could be transformed substantially changing the country and the war. It was announced or leaked today that a previously unknown series of mineral deposits has been found in Afghanistan; the value could reach $1 trillion. This is a country that had no known natural resources and didn’t really have anything anyone else in the world wanted, other than opium poppies… but now the deposits could make the country and huge international player in the mining industry. The deposits include huge veins of iron, copper, cobalt, gold and more importantly lithium. One analyst said the lithium deposits could make Afghanistan the Saudi Arabia of the lithium world. But the news could cause the Taliban to fight even harder and with the rampant charges of corruption in the Karzai government the U.S. has to be worried that the Afghan government could turn into a 3rd world dictatorship. It makes it all the more important that the war succeed and wipe out the threats to Afghanistan or at least minimize them.

Another stimulus?

Lets forget that we are getting ever larger doses and headed towards a government-centric communist state; Congress is voting this week on another ’stimulus and jobs bill.’ $190 billion most of which Congress won’t even pretend to pay for; since the last bill kept unemployment to ‘only’ 9.9% maybe this one will keep it below an even higher number. But who gets the money? Given recent track records you can bet that small business, the real engine of our economy doesn’t get much.

How about the $65 billion that was promised to the American Medical Association to buy their support for Obamacare? It was kept out of the Obamacare bill to keep the cost down; it’s in this bill. Another $47 billion in unemployment benefits for almost 2 more years; $24 billion for Medicaid payments to states; $24 billion to fund Build America Bonds; $7.8 billion for healthcare for unemployed and so on. See any real stimulus money in there? Money going to entities that history and logic tells us really create jobs? Any tax breaks? Nope, you don’t.

And get this; Jim McDermott, Democrat Representative actually said that unemployment payments are the most effective stimulus payments because each dollar spent on unemployment returns $1.64 of economic benefits. I was one class short of getting a major in economics and can’t remember which class they taught this in; is this some kind of Keynsian dream? He apparently forgets where that money comes from; how it takes capital out of the economy and the interest we are paying on it also takes money out of the economy. Are you kidding me? Unfortunately not.

So where is the money coming from? A new 24 cent/barrel tax on oil companies, which of course will flow through to the pump and you and I will pay it. That will only raise $40 billion and not only add to the cost of filling your tank but the tanks of all the trucks that move the goods we purchase around the country adding to the cost of everything else we buy. So the other $134 billion will have to be borrowed from countries that are already strapped.

Oh and how much of this is going to small businesses to help them survive, expand or hire employees? $500 million in small business loans. And those private equity and venture capital firms that loan money to businesses for start up or expansion will see their tax rate rise to 35% from the current 15% and the small businesses, the small family owned Subchapter S companies may also be subjected to higher taxes as the Democrats are considering increasing rates from 35% to 50%, because it works so well in France… Soon we will all fail and need a bail out and the government will be ‘forced’ to take us over and all industry will either be run out of the U.S. or owned by the government and that worked well for the Soviet Union didn’t it?