The Keystone Pipeline Conflict

http://www.omaha.com/article/20130323/NEWS/703239898/1687#u-s-senate-support-bolsters-pipeline-backers

Last Friday Senator John Hoeven sent a message saying, “Approve the Keystone Pipeline or we’ll do it for you.  On Friday the Senate took a vote on the matter and the result was 62-37 in favor of Hoeven.  The 62-37 vote includes 17 democrats who have now sided with the Republican majority to approve the bill.

Unfortunately, the Senate has no power in approving the bill.  All they can hope to do it show Obama the overwhelming majority, especially among democrats, to approve the pipeline.  As for now, however, the Obama administration determines the fate of the pipeline.

It is beyond me why the Keystone Pipeline is still in the news and has not been approved yet.  The pipeline is thousands of jobs guaranteed for 2-3 years, giving unemployed Americans a chance to get back on their feet and work.  This is exactly what the stumbling American economy needs.

Obama claims to be fixing the economy, so why hasn’t he approved a bill that guarantees American jobs for an extended period of time?  Obama says he’s taking us “forward” when he refuses to approve this bill that is guaranteed to boost the economy. 

2016 is going to be a very scary America if this is the “forward” Obama is taking us to.  The bottom line is that Obama needs to approve this bill that will add thousands of jobs to the American economy.  Ask yourself: What kind of economy does Obama want us to have?  One that continues to stumble?  One with million of Americans out of work?  Obama needs to grow some balls and step up and lead this country the right way.

USPS....A Thing of the Past?

http://www.cnn.com/2013/02/08/opinion/parini-postal-service/index.html?hpt=us_t3

Starting this August, the US Postal Service will stop delivering mail on Saturdays and the delivery of first class mail. 

Unfortunately, delivering mail on Saturdays is costing the USPS more money than it is making doing it.  Less and less people are sending mail anyways these days.  Plus, the fact that it costs the same amount of money to send first class mail across the street as it does across the country, makes first class mail even less appealing.

In addition, most large corporations are using other shipping companies such as Fed-ex or UPS because of more reliability and cost effectiveness.

Some people may be opposed to ending the delivery of mail on Saturdays, but I have no opposition to it.  The fact of the matter is that the USPS is going bankrupt.  Nobody uses it and as stated before, other large carriers are taking away business.

Yes the US Postal Service was a very well oiled machine…. in the 1970’s.

This is the 21^st century and people aren’t sending letters to relatives or friends anymore.  They’re getting on their computers and emailing people.

Hmmmmm…. Let’s see.  I could send an email to my cousin and it will get there in a couple of seconds.  Or I could send them a letter, which could take up to 5 days to get to him.  I think I’ll use email.

Basically, the USPS isn’t going to be around much longer, so ending Saturday delivery and first class mail will have little to no impact on anything.

Bail Set for Attempted Council Bluffs Kidnapping

http://www.omaha.com/article/20130130/NEWS/130139988/1689#-50-000-bail-set-in-attempted-abduction-near-bluffs-school

Earlier this week, a 19-year-old Council Bluffs attempted to abduct a 10-year-old fifth grader from a Council Bluffs school.

Nathan Busse allegedly approached the little girl on her walk home from school. 

When he attempted to grab her arm and force her to walk with him, she broke free and ran her father.  Busse attempted to run but was found by the girl’s father, who kept him for the police.

Police arrived and proceeded to arrest Busse on third-degree kidnapping, assault with intent to commit sexual abuse, enticing a minor and child stealing. 

Busse appeared before a judge, who set bail for $50,000 and set a preliminary hearing for February 7.

This whole story is sick and sad but the fact that this creep is allowed bail is especially troubling and upsetting to me.

In my opinion, Busse should not be allowed bail, especially at such a low amount, considering his offense.  Why would we set bail so low for someone who is out on the streets endangering our children?

Put yourself in the position of the girl’s father. 

Your child has just been assaulted and nearly kidnapped by a random stranger.  And now a day later this creep is walking the streets again.

What would you do if that were your child?  I know I would do everything in my power to make sure that person never walked the streets again.

Boeing 787 Dreamliner Grounded Worldwide

http://www.cnn.com/2013/01/17/travel/dreamliner-faa/index.html?iref=allsearch

Last week, around the world, airline authorities ordered the grounding of Boeing’s newest craft the 787 Dreamliner, due to a fire hazard with the battery.  This Thursday the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) released an official report regarding the issue saying that the planes should not be flown until Boeing fixes the problem.  This is a major inconvenience for airlines worldwide because they now have to find planes to fly the routes that the 787’s flew. 

The grounding is a result of an emergency landing of a 787 in Japan last week because of smoke in an electrical compartment. Boeing is currently investigating the problem but there are no reports yet of how long it will be until the 787’s are back in the air. 

Many people within Boeing think that the FAA is overreacting and that the battery fire in Japan was a mere coincidence not affecting any other aircrafts.  United Airlines is the only North American airline that flies the Dreamliner and must ground the aircraft until the FAA is convinced the aircraft is safe.  Grounding the 787 is going to cause both Boeing and airline companies millions of dollars until the problem is fixed.  Boeing claims it is working around the clock to resolve the problem but how long it will take is anyone’s guess.

Although many people disagree with the FAA in grounding the 787, I think they are doing the right thing.  The FAA’s job is to ensure airplane safety and I think that they are just doing their job, even though it is a major inconvenience.

Texas to Secede from the Union

On November 6, 2012 Barak Obama was re-elected President of the United States.  Many people in this country have very strong opinions on how the government should be run and after the re-election many members of the Republican Party were furious, writing letters and posting online about their opinions.  Some 100,000 Texans however had a different idea on how to respond.

These 100,000 Texans formed a group called the Texas National Movement with the primary goal of Texas seceding from the union.  The group formed an online petition with 125,746 signatures and sent it off to Washington.  Along with that petition, many Texas residents personally sent letters to the White House calling for secession. 

To many this may seem extremely radical but look at the facts for a minute.  Texas’ economy is so large that if Texas were to become its own country, its economy would be the 14^th largest in the world.  Suddenly this extremely radical idea doesn’t seem so radical anymore, does it?  From the perspective of a Texas resident secession seems like a great idea; but looking at it from the government’s perspective it seems like economical suicide.

The facts tell you how large the Texas economy is, so just imagine if that large chunk of what is now the US economy just went away.  The already failing economy would take yet another nose-dive into a never-ending abyss that it would never be able to recover from.  We cannot allow this to happen to our nation.  If one state is allowed to secede, another will follow, and another and it will keep going until we are in the same position as we were during the civil war.  More wars and more violence is the last thing we need right now.  The bottom line: we cannot allow our country to be torn apart, especially if it means the collapse of the economy and life as we know it.