Lots of things on my mind….
I was fortunate enough to catch Obama’s speech early this afternoon, I was impressed with all that he had to say about concerning his plan of action that he intends to take for our suffering country. It wasn’t a very long speech, only lasting maybe 15 or 20 minutes, short, sweet and to the point.
He has his hands full and I wish him all the luck with all that will shortly be on his plate.
The automobile companies are really turning out some brilliant promotions in an effort to entice buyers in these troubled economic times. Each week I seem to catch wind of some type of amazing deal that these financially strapped ato companies are announcing, such as the one that I was just reading about regarding Toyota, Peugeot and Vauxhall and Honda promos and that now at an online dealer at Broadspeed.com is offering a buy one, get one free deal with their Kia Magentis models. An amazing offer to say the least.
I found this article while at Autonetinsurance.co.uk looking at insurance opportunities available over in the London, England area, just for grins and giggles. I’m sitting here waiting for the guys to show for my sump pump and leaking basement issue and have been mindlessly surfing the net, seeing what I can get into for a short time while waiting.
It is always interesting to see sites from other countries, and I always find myself learning something out of my efforts of peaking into other countries near and far. Sites from the U.K. are my favorite because I can understand the language, for the most part anyway, and maneuver around with ease such as at this site that offers all types of insurance. Home insurance, motorbike insurance, liability insurance, tool insurance, pet insurance and numerous other types that we are finding ourselves in need of these days in the 21st century.
I have been reading how the Social Security Administration is desperately trying to keep up with the large number of baby boomers that are now hitting retirement age. They are expecting to deal with the eligibility of 80 million baby boomers and are now beginning to accept applications online for quicker and less expensive processing.
One article stated that it normally takes a person 45 minutes to apply in person, while the online version takes a much shorter time frame of on the average of just 15 minutes. I can certainly see why they are changing their processing options, time is money and Social Security needs all the money that they can get their hands on with so many folks that are going to be submitting for their retirement funds that they have worked so hard for, for all these years.
I was reading an article on the Internet about how Mexico is trying to bring toxic PCB waste that was produced in Mexico to Texas to be burned. The burning of the waste would fill the air with toxic fumes that could affect the health of the people in the surrounding communities. This business about polluting the planet in general with toxic waste has got to stop! And letting other countries use our country as their dumping grounds just boggles my mind! We have enough garbage of our own, we don’t need to import it! And we certainly don’t need to import garbage that is going to risk the health of our citizens!
I sure hope that someone in authority stops that plan in its tracks!
I was reading the Internet version of the April 7 2008 issue of Time Magazine, the article titled “The Clean Energy Myth” about how the big rush to grow corn to use for biofuel is actually worsening the global warming problem and raising the cost of food. Apparently the demand for corn for producing biofuel is so high that the farmers are selling their corn to the companies that will be turning it into fuel instead of selling it to the companies that will be using it to make food. So much of the world depends on corn as a staple; this is causing hardships for them. And the profit for growing corn for fuel is so high that the Amazon jungle, which has already been in jeopardy from deforestation for years now, is being destroyed even faster than ever so that it can be used to grow corn.
I think that this is a shame on so many levels. There are other, better and cheaper plants that could be used for creating fuel than corn. So many farmers are paid subsidies to NOT grow crops, I think that those subsidies should be stopped so that the farmers will actually farm their land, or lease it to someone who will farm it. The Amazon forest needs to be protected, I don’t understand how the ownership of that works, who actually owns that property and why is he/she allowing it to be destroyed? Can’t the government of the country it is in buy it with some kind of eminent domain power and protect it from destruction?
I’ve heard that Japan has announced that it is in a recession. I think that the USA is in one too, and I don’t understand why the “officials” have not admitted to that. Our economy is really horrible and has been for a very long time! Almost every time I meet folks out on the errands that I have to run I hear that someone else that I know has been laid off, or that someone has had to close down their business because the customers just aren’t coming around anymore, or someone else has lost their house to foreclosure. It really is a very difficult time for almost everyone that I know. I think that the community is going to have to open up some more soup kitchens and homeless shelters pretty quickly!
I was really surprised to read today on the LATimes website that Yellowstone Park is going to be using snow machines to make snow in the park this winter. I guess I never thought about why in the world a National Park would even think about doing something like that? Seems to me that the Park is supposed to be all about nature, and if it snows then fine, if it doesn’t snow, well that’s fine too! But the article was talking about how making snow in the park would allow snow coaches and snowmobiles to use the park in the winter. To be honest, I’m not so sure that is a great idea or not! I don’t have anything against snow coaches or snowmobiles, its’ just something I never really thought about in the context of them being in Yellowstone! What do YOU think? I’d like your opinion!
There has been so much news coverage about the two major political parties presidential candidates, that it sometimes comes as a surprise to me when I am suddenly reminded that there ARE other candidates out there! For example, Ralph Nader is running for president, as is Bob Barr. I don’t know anything about Bob Barr at all, but I do know that Ralph Nader has been a big crusader for consumer protection. I think that Ralph Nader has good intentions, but the chances of a third party candidate ever being elected President of the USA are slim to none!
Watching the news, and reading about Hurricane Ike making its way towards land, I see that it has hit Cuba. Cuba has never seen a hurricane this bad, and the residents are making way towards safer ground as best they can. This storm is a really scary one – I am worried about what will happen when it reaches the United States. From what I understand it WON’T hit New Orleans, which is good news, but wherever it DOES land, it is going to do a huge amount of damage! I think that this is just one more example of what global warming is doing to our world. I don’t understand why the “administration” keeps insisting that global warming has nothing to do with this type of thing. I think it has EVERYTHING to do with this kind of thing!
I’ve heard of sinkholes in Florida because the water table has been so badly abused by the rapid development of the state, but I was very surprised to read on the news that there is a sinkhole in New York City! Apparently the sinkhole is in the middle of a street and is one that has been developing slowly over the past ten years, and has finally reached the stage where it would really be a danger for a car to try to drive over. The street has been closed while the city tries to repair the sinkhole and the road. Seems to me that “we” as a society ought to be taking better care of good old Mother Earth to prevent these sinkholes from happening!