| Monday, February 27, 2006 |
| Need I Say More? |
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posted by Joe Napalm @ 9:42 PM   |
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| Friday, February 24, 2006 |
| Look Over There |
It was another late night with the family and an army of Cub Scouts. So, you've guessed it, no Liberty 101 again today. Please don't tire of this brief intermission. I'm itching to continue. In the meantime I have two diversions:
1. Help me in introducing "T" to the blogosphere. You can find his blog at http://travelingthetrail.blogspot.com. If you were at Pack 584's Blue and Gold Banquet this evening (Where else would you be on a Friday night in Seymour?), T was the big guy up front. Click on the link and give him some props.
2. H&R Block messed up their own taxes (click here to read more). |
| posted by Joe Napalm @ 10:14 PM |
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| Thursday, February 23, 2006 |
| Intermission Continues |
| Still no time tonight to post, so enjoy this video (click here). Warning: You'll be humming this all day! Don't say I didn't warn you. |
| posted by Joe Napalm @ 10:27 PM |
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| Wednesday, February 22, 2006 |
| Chinese Secrets Revealed* |
Due to personal responsibilities, I will be unable to continue the Liberty 101 series this evening. While you wait until tomorrow, check out this article from StrategyPage.com:An American magazine, "Imaging Notes", recently published satellite photos, taken by commercial satellites, showing heretofore secret Chinese military installations. Of most interest were the coastal tunnels for Chinese submarines to operate from. Such tunnels were long rumored, and their existence denied by the Chinese. But there they are. An excellent way for subs to avoid air attack.
The companies that provide commercial satellite photos will usually abide by requests from nations to not distribute photos of certain areas, or not provide high resolution photos of some areas. But as more operators are out there selling their photos, competitive pressures have made it possible to get just about whatever you want. It's a whole new world, and anyone can get a detailed satellite view of it. For the direct link to the "Imaging Notes" page, click here.
* 28 days, 22 hours, and 32 minutes and joenapalm.blogspot.com is still not censored at Google Red. |
| posted by Joe Napalm @ 10:12 PM |
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| Tuesday, February 21, 2006 |
| Democracy versus Republic - Part 1 of 2 |
"I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands" -- so begins the Pledge of Allegiance. Continuing the Liberty 101 series, today I will begin to explain the difference between a democracy and a republic. And, more importantly, we will discover that knowing the difference is decidedly vital to the future of the United States.
James Madison discussed in his Federalist Paper #10 the effect of democracy. He wrote: Democracies have ever been spectacles of turbulence and contention; have ever been found incompatible with personal security or the rights of property; and have in general been as short in their lives, as they have been violent in their deaths. Theoretic politicians, who have patronized this species of Government, have erroneously supposed, that by reducing mankind to a perfect equality in their political rights, they would, at the same time, be perfectly equalized and assimilated in their possessions, their opinions and their passions. As you can see, James Madison would never have wanted a democracy as the form of government for his new nation. In fact, for fear of forming a democracy, Madison -- as well as Alexander Hamilton -- supported the formation of a constitutional monarchy.
In simplest terms, democracy is government by the majority (also known derisively as "mobocracy"). In a pure democracy, 51% rules. Therefore, democracies are free only if the people know what freedom is and are consistent in their exercise of it. If the majority of people don't know freedom or exercise it properly, then a democracy could be just as despotic as the worst dictator. Many of the sources of information that I used pointed to the forced execution of Socrates in the Athenian democracy simply because the people found him intolerable.
The biggest difference between a democracy and a republic is how each defines individual rights. Our Republic's Declaration of Independence states, "all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights." In a democracy citizens do not enjoy God-given rights, only civil rights (privileges) granted by a condescending majority. An article by Alexander Marriott in Capitalism Magazine (www.capmag.com) explains the problem with democracies concerning rights, specifically rights of the minority. Mr. Marriott concludes: In the long run, a democracy will always become a tyranny, either by majority, or if the majority screw things up so badly and a tyrant seizes power from the ensuing chaos. The overriding characteristic of democracy is subjectivism and that is its fatal flaw. In other words, reason is irrelevant, whatever the majority wants, it gets and regardless of how unprincipled or objectionable it may be. Rights cannot exist in such a system in the long run because they can be voted away on a whim at any time. Tomorrow, Part 2 or 2. |
| posted by Joe Napalm @ 12:43 PM |
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| Monday, February 20, 2006 |
| Profit versus Profit Margin |
Inspired by talk radio, today I begin a series that I will call "Liberty 101". Using my skill as the son of two teachers, I will educate my faithful readers who in turn will repeat this at the dinner table tonight.
For no reason in particular (other than it has come up several times at work), I will begin with the difference between "profit" and "profit margin".
There has been much ado about ExxonMobil's record 2005 profits -- in particular, its fourth-quarter profits. ExxonMobil reported fourth-quarter profits of $10.7 billion, up 27% over the same quarter in 2004. It's a company record and one of the largest quarterly profits in US history. In 2005, ExxonMobil reported profits of $36.1 billion.
Those sound like huge numbers especially since we're paying $2.17 per gallon of gasoline. Even some of our legislators are outraged at this obscene profit and are calling for a windfall profits tax.
But what's important in a financially competitive economy is not profit, but profit margin. In 2005, the oil and natural gas industry earned a profit margin comparable to the national average. For every dollar of sales, the oil and natural gas industry earned 8.2 cents on average. The national average of all major US industries was 6.8 cents to the dollar. Many industries had larger profit margin than the oil industry -- both banks and pharmaceutical & biotechnology industries earned 18 cents to the dollar. "Every day, the world consumes over 80 million barrels of oil," according to an ExxonMobil press release. "That's about 40,000 gallons every second. With volumes such as these, our revenues are understandably great."
In the first three quarters of 2005, ExxonMobil incurred $229 billion in expenses. That's more than the Federal Government paid in Medicare costs nationwide during the same period.
Now, the outrage shouldn't be about the huge numbers, but about this: In 2004, ExxonMobil paid more in income taxes and other taxes in the United States than they earned here. Read that again ... slowly. Their total federal and state tax expense in 2004 was $11.8 billion, compared to earnings of $8.2 billion from their US operations.
Now, go and share with others.
Tomorrow, "Democracy" vs. "Republic" |
| posted by Joe Napalm @ 8:09 PM |
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| Saturday, February 18, 2006 |
| No Subjectivity Here |
| I have a hard time watching figure skating. It seems to me that there is too much room for bias from the judges. Events like downhill skiing are objective because the racers are competing against the same standard -- a time piece. At the end of the day there is no doubt who the gold medal winner is. I like objectivity and abhor subjectivity. With that said, Bryant Gumbel is an idiot. |
| posted by Joe Napalm @ 8:18 PM |
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| Friday, February 17, 2006 |
| In The Trenches |
 "Brother-in-arms." I love that phrase. To me it means shared courage, conviction and pain -- all derived from camaraderie on the field of battle.
To my brothers-in-arms, Jesse and BJ: Thanks for lunch today. I needed it. |
| posted by Joe Napalm @ 1:15 PM |
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| Wednesday, February 15, 2006 |
| Thank God I'm an American |
...And living in a Red State; but that's another post.
Being an American has its privileges as many of you know. I visited Veracruz, Mexico, earlier this week and re-discovered it's still great to be an American. I was gone for just a few days but wanted to kiss the ground in Houston when I returned. Clean water, paved roads, and wide open spaces.
In all honesty, I felt like a good-looking blonde for a couple of days. People gawked at me, but kept their distance. When I bought Cuban cigars for the guys (they gave me $20 each for a total of $80), the guy behind the counter was blushing with excitement as he rang up 840 pesos. $80 -- not much for four of us, right? But I swear the guy behind the counter broke into a sweat. He murmured something to another clerk as I walked away. And, yes, they were Cubans; and, no, my fly was zipped.
But the most hilarious thing that happened was when my traveling partners and I were passing through the metal detectors in Houston. As we were getting dressed after passing what seemed like all of our clothes through the detectors, a gentleman behind us was asked to stop. We turned around because the security guard started laughing hysterically. He tugged a bag out of the x-ray machine, opened it and pulled out a tomahawk adorned with colorful flowers. He then held it up and asked the owner through a huge smile, "What were you thinking, sir?" Still shaking his head in disbelief, the guard then turned to his partner and said, "Omar, do you think it would be OK if this gentleman carried an ax on the plane with him?" Omar hiked up his belt and escorted the guy off into a room with one-way glass -- all of this while people are giggling and pointing. A tomahawk?! What was he thinking? |
| posted by Joe Napalm @ 4:00 PM |
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| Friday, February 10, 2006 |
| I Need More Cowbell |
OK, I'm sitting here trying to sit through the 2006 Winter Olympics Parade of Nations. Holy alphabet, Batman! Can this be any more boring? It's television's version of reading the phone book. "Can you believe we're only up to 'L'?" I mean, guys, it's great, but I could use a little more cowbell!* Bring on the Super-G!
* By the way, may name is Joe Napalm. Yes, the Joe Napalm. I put my pants on just like the rest of you -- one leg at a time. Except, once my pants are on, I blog. |
| posted by Joe Napalm @ 10:11 PM |
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| Who Has Time? |
I've been working long hours this week and will be travelling this weekend. I apologize for not updating recently.
Now, talk amongst yourselves. Here's a subject: Don't you hate it when people say, "Someone needs to do something"? |
| posted by Joe Napalm @ 1:27 PM |
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| Wednesday, February 08, 2006 |
| God Condescends? |
| Joe's notes: I deleted this post because I disagreed with the "theological" text on which I had commented. I would certainly not want to lead you astray and, therefore, have removed it completely. I promise I will be back on my "A" game tomorrow. |
| posted by Joe Napalm @ 9:41 PM |
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| Monday, February 06, 2006 |
| Alternative Minimum Tax (Watch out for this one!) |
Last night I worked on our federal income taxes. I'm always eager to do it because I love paying taxes! "Just doing my part!" No, really, I normally get money back and that's exciting. Though, I know it's flawed to loan money to the US Government interest free for a year. But I digress.
I use Turbo Tax to e-file because I like the step-by-step hold-my-hand method of entering wages, taxes, credits and so on -- and I like gadgetry. If Apple had an iPod tax-filing device, I'd probably be in the market. However, I digress.
One of the steps during the tax filing process informed me that I did not have to be concerned about AMT -- or Alternative Minimum Tax. That was the first time that I had heard of that term. So, this morning I googled AMT and found an abundance of information.
SmartMoney.com says that the AMT laws were intended to "keep the rich from living tax-free." From a poor liberal's perspective, apparently, this makes sense. The "rich" can claim childcare expenses, medical expenses, charitable donations, mortgage interest and many, many other deductions and, effectively, pay no taxes. Enter Alternative Minimum Tax. The article at SmartMoney.com continues, "[AMT] has its own set of rates and its own rules for deductions, which usually are less generous than the regular rules. Because of these confusing rules, the only ways you can tell if you owe the tax are by filling out the forms (essentially doing your taxes a second time) or by being audited by the Internal Revenue Service."
In 1970, 19,000 people owed the Alternative Minimum Tax. Over 3 million people are paying it now. And by 2009 it is estimated that the IRS will be collecting more money from the AMT than from the regular tax. The problem? Inflation. While the "regular" tax brackets are adjusted every year for inflation, the AMT brackets are not. As more and more people's income grow with the economy, more and more middle-class people get caught in the AMT net.
Those at risk are those with gross incomes over $75,000 and "have write-offs for personal exemptions, taxes and home-equity loan interest." If you gross $100,000 or more, run the AMT numbers for that reason alone. SmartMoney.com warns, "If it turns out you should have paid the AMT but didn't, you will owe the back taxes plus any interest or penalty that the IRS decides to dole out."
This whole AMT has my conservative Spidey senses tingling. But in the interest of keeping this post short and readable, I'll just say, "Usher in the Fair Tax!" |
| posted by Joe Napalm @ 11:58 AM |
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| Friday, February 03, 2006 |
| Free Prose Friday |
1. Remember "We Didn't Start the Fire" by Billy Joel? Yep, we all can hum the tune. I heard it again today on the radio and thought I'd look up the lyrics. Reportedly, Billy Joel wrote the song after overhearing a young boy say that he felt sorry for "older people" like Billy Joel because no "history" took place during their lifetime. He wrote "We Didn't Start the Fire" as an answer to the young boy's comments. The song is full of history.
The song includes historical events that span over 30 years. And they're in chronological order! The song begins with Harry Truman -- a reference to his 1949 first-ever televised Presidential Inauguration address. It ends with "China's under martial law" and "rock and roller cola wars" -- references to the Tiananmen Square massacre of 1989 and the Michael Jackson/Pepsi and Paula Abdul/Coke clash, respectively.
I wonder if any history teachers use the song as a tool. In all, I counted 119 references to historical figures or events.
2. Currently, the Joe Napalm blog is trading for $12.05 per share at Blogshares.com. Blogshares.com is a "fantasy blog stock market". I am the majority owner with 51% of the shares. Want some?*
 3. A ferrofluid is a "stable colloidal suspension of sub-domain magnetic particles in a liquid carrier." Please don't confust ferrofluids and magnetorheological fluids. Just kidding. Really, check into this at Wikipedia.org. There is even an artistic video found at Video.Google.com (not computer generated). When a magnetic field is applied to a ferrofluid the particles suspended in the fluid orient along the field lines almost immediately.
Interestingly, the US Defense Department has kept classified the materials composition of the B-2 bomber's radar-absorbing skin. The Air Force's B-2 Spirit is often called a "fair-weather jet" because heavy rain causes "discrepancies" and because the plane cannot be based overseas without expensive climate-controlled hangars. It appears that the materials that give it the ability to evade detection and tracking by enemy forces have something to do with ferrofluids.
4. I love that 5-cent bubble gum that comes in the buckets!
* All information provided "as is" for informational purposes only, not intended for trading purposes or advice. Neither Joe Napalm nor any of independent providers is liable for any informational errors, incompleteness, or delays, or for any actions taken in reliance on information contained herein. |
| posted by Joe Napalm @ 3:09 PM |
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| Thursday, February 02, 2006 |
| Birthday Wish List |
When I said that I wanted cash for my birthday, I meant Johnny Cash -- the "Man in Black". And I got it!
BK gave me "Johnny Cash: Reads the Complete New Testament" on audio CD. In fact, it is 19 hours recorded on 16 CDs! At first, I thought that it might be tough to listen to the entire New Testament being read. My Bible studies normally consist of reading a passage and then referencing and cross-referencing other passages or commentaries for a fuller understanding. I was also afraid that I would start day-dreaming and wouldn't pay attention. But I haven't found either to be the case. Mr. Cash reads slowly and clearly from the New King James Version with enough inflection to keep me interested.
I figure 30-minute drives a day means that I'll be through the entire New Testament in a little over three weeks.
Someone wrote that if God spoke "he would sound like Johnny Cash". I'm inclined to agree.
My other birthday gift was from Heather. And she, too, came through with a Cash gift. She gave me "Cash: The Legend," a four-CD compilation of the legend's songs from 1955 to 2002. Now, I can't seem to get "I Walk the Line" out of my head.
All of this leads me to think that maybe one day my estate will be worth lots more. According to Technorati.com, this blog is worth $0.00 (or nada). If I were to die tomorrow, I would expect it to be worth millions. It worked for Johnny Cash, right? Otherwise, next year I may need cash, not "Cash". |
| posted by Joe Napalm @ 7:44 AM |
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