Shame on Congress!

The recent passing of the Energy Bill has made the priorities of our Congress quite clear to me. Over 4400 items added for individual projects spending over $16 Billion dollars in taxpayer money. What do they care? It's not their money, it's ours. And to add insult to injury there is NOTHING in the bill to help alleviate the current prices of gas we are paying now. Fuel is taxed by both the state and federal governments. For every dollar spent on gas, 31 cents is tax. Imagine if the government decided to help struggling families by saying they would reduce the amount of taxes charged on gasoline. That would have been something tangible. It may have not been a long term solution but it could have helped. Not too mention that the less money flowing into D.C. means more controlled spending (at least I would hope). Also not in the bill is anything to make sure we reduce our dependence on foreign oil. I believe the raising the minimum MPG for vehicles would be a good start. I wrote in an earlier blog my thoughts on foreign oil and with the price of oil at $65.00 a barrel it is even more poignant. our energy policies are so inefficient it's laughable. If congress really made the effort to streamline our energy needs we could reduce the cost of gas, increase our efficiency in our vehicles, reduce our dependence on foreign oil and improve our air quality by reducing emissions all by making some common sense adjustments. It seems that congress no longer listens to common sense, they listen to money and that is trouble for all of us.
If there was a way to give the President a "Line item Veto" it may be worth it. Or at the very least create an overseer committee that are not politicians but rather economists and accountants to filter through the garbage added. Better yet, take the GDP of each state, put aside a set amount of funds out of a bill to be divided up according to each states population and GDP and then make that the amount each Congressman is limited to sending back home to use how ever they deem necessary. This would create 2 things, an equal share of funds per state according to each states need and fiscal responsibility by the legislators of that state to spend the funds on real projects. For example, if a state like Arizona is getting 100 million, I bet the citizens would make sure it was used to pay for highway infrastructure, education, tax relief, or some other improvement for the citizens instead of a bridge that is not needed or a warehouse to be renovated, or even highway beautification projects. Make those who want to spend the funds accountable because lets facce it, Congress is not accountable to anyone, and that can be dangerous.
All I can say is shame on Congress and shame on President Bush for not vetoing this pork laden, inefficient, embarrassing piece of legislation. The energy bill should be named "Congresses personal spending account bill".

And that's what I think about that!

Bye bye Wright

The Wright Amendment. A rule imposed by 1 man at the behest of 3 of his major contributors to restrict flights from Dallas Love Field to anywhere outside of Texas and the 4 states directly surrounding Texas and later amended to include Alabama, Mississippi, and Kansas. An anti-competitive law that stifles affordable air travel from Dallas and protects the 800 pound gorilla, DFW. It's time for the rule to go. Proponents of the law say it's needed to ensure that DFW maintains it's role as the main airport in the region. They say it was an agreement between the cities of Dallas and Fort Worth when DFW was being built and it should be maintained. They say it's a law and shouldn't be changed. Here's what I say. Laws are made. Laws are un-made. Things change and laws become obsolete. This is one of those laws. DFW is the main airport operating over 1000 flights a day all across the nation. Dallas Love is only allowed to have up to 250 flights and will never grow to the point of challenging DFW. It's like restricting a Mom and Pop store because it could hurt the Wal-Mart 2 blocks away. Let's really call this law what is was, a favor. A favor by the then Speaker of the House Jim Wright to the 3 major airlines in Dallas who were po'd that Southwest won in every court case and were to be allowed to operate from Love Field instead of being forced to fly from DFW. In other words, the law was on Southwests' side. Southwest won in court and the only way to get even was to call in a favor from a politician. This restriction is outdated and needs to be repealed. The law is a holdback to the times when airlines were regulated by the government. When de-regulation was passed for the airline industry, Love Field was forgotten and left in that year.
Perhaps back when DFW was a fledgling airport and growing it needed some type of stimulus or protection, not anymore. It's the 3rd largest airport in the country and no longer should be afforded this benefit. Face it, if it can't survive without the protection of this law, maybe they need to look at making some changes? It's the 800 lb gorilla that was raised in a cage and is now afraid to go back to the wild and compete with the rest of the animals.
Competition is good for the consumer and even business. As with many laws made decades or centuries ago this one has become obsolete and it's time we got rid of it. If we can't change laws or adjust our rules to accommodate changing times we may as well get used to living in a world that never evolves.

Let the Hockey Season Begin

Whoo hoo! Hockey is back in town. I'm watching with interest all the changes teams are making. Of course I'm most interested in my team, the Red Wings, but there have been some acquisitions that have just floored me. Chicago got Khabibulin. That was a major accomplishment. I was hoping my guys would get him but to be real it would have taken almost a miracle for that to happen. I also just read Pronger is going from St. Louis to Edmonton. That was a surprise. Pronger still has a lot of good hockey left in him. It seems all the teams are going for 1-4 major players and then going conservative in the hopes of getting a break later on. Oct 5th is the starting date and I am looking forward to it! The schedule also is keeping the teams closer to home and having them play their regional opponent's more. They say it'll help make more exciting rivalries but I think people would rather see the teams match up against a broader spectrum throughout the year. It gives you a better feel for how things will shake out in the race for the playoffs. We'll see how it goes. Just from looking at the trades I really don't see any team that is positioned much better than any other so far. Everyone got a few elite players and no one team seemed to have faired better than any other. The only real stand out is Chicago. They made moves that have increased their potential tenfold. I guess the only way they had to go was up anyway so maybe it's not such a surprise.
We'll, I'm looking forward to seeing the season start. I'm getting my jersey out.
Game on!