Rick Raw: Green Machine Now Running on New Technology

By Rick Grant Commentary rickgrant01@comcast.net www.rickatnight.com

Just ten years ago, the idea of developing new technology to fuel the green machine of conservation and greatly reducing C02 emissions seemed like a far off dream. Amazingly, today, scientists have met the challenge of developing the advanced technology to make this new green frontier a reality.

To facilitate this new age of progress, U.S. politicians are gearing up to implement special taxes and incentives to replace old coal fired power plants with wind turbine fields, solar energy, and nuclear power.

The long outdated grid is being updated with new computerized equipment that will deliver electricity more efficiently and cheaply. Engineers say the infrastructure is antiquated and stressed to its limits by the increasing demand electricity. Many other innovations are being developed to reengineer the grid. This initiative is already started in many states.

More significantly, just last week, President Obama visited a factory that was converted to manufacturing wind turbines. The conversion kept the workforce in place instead of laying them off. This is just one example of the changing tide of creative thinking to save jobs and provide new employment opportunities.

Retrofitting major skyscrapers to utilize green technology has begun in earnest. The Empire State Building in New York City is presently being retrofitted to save the owners $4.4 million a year in energy costs. This project is being funded by the Bill Clinton Foundation which donated $20 million to the project. Clinton hopes that this greening of such a famous building will inspire other owners of old buildings to convert their properties. Whatever the cost, it will eventually pay for itself.

More efficient lighting has already captured people’s imagination by converting to the new energy efficient bulbs, thus saving homeowners and renters significant money in electricity costs. In fact, the old incandescent bulbs will no longer be manufactured.

Now, the widespread use of light-emitting diodes, or LEDs could cut energy consumption in half. The chips have been around for decades, but primarily to make consumer electronics flash green or red. Now scientists have learned how to make the LEDs glow in bright white which will replace most all lighting demands such as home lighting, highway and street lights, and theater lighting. Using LEDs for all lighting will dramatically cut down on energy demands across the board.

Another unusual source energy is algae as fuel. Yes, think of that slimy pond near the interstate. The green algae produces oil that can be converted into biodiesel. Yes, the technology is new and is still experimental but, in less than ten years, large algae farms will provide commercial quantities of biofuel at a competitive price. The cost of growing, harvesting, and processing algae is inexpensive compared to processing petroleum into its various by-products.

Solar energy is not a pipe dream anymore. It’s here now and connected to the grid. California companies such as Miasole, Nanosolar, and Solandra are providing more than 5 percent of the energy market nationwide. Many home owners have gone solar and are selling their excess electricity back to the power companies. Here again, the investment in solar energy pays for itself. In some states, low interest loans are available to home owners who want to convert their homes to solar energy.

The truth is, going green is no longer a crackpot idea. Since, in every case, going green saves a significant amount of money, and ultimately, it will save the planet from global warming. Hell, everyone wants to save money.

Car manufactures have been frustratingly slow in getting on the green machine bandwagon. We should have had electric and hybrid cars decades before now. However, battery technology has advanced exponentially and a serious electric car is being manufactured called the Volt that will go 200 miles on a charge. That’s enough for driving to and from work and around town. Then just plug it in until morning.

Hybrids are selling well and the hydrogen fuel cell powered car is being sold in Europe. The Norwegians built a thousand kilometer highway with hydrogen gas stations along the way. Of course, the economic downturn has crippled the auto industry. But they can use the down time to produce green cars which, when the recession is over, will be in demand.
Going green is no longer a silly slogan invented by tree huggers. It’s a bold initiative to save money, energy, and the planet. Going green is now mandatory.

Rick Raw: Evil Empire will Crumble –IRS Power Wanes as Fair Tax Intiative Gains Momentum

By Rick Grant Commentary rickgrant01@comcast.net www.rickatnight.com

For years I’ve been waging a personal war with the IRS and preaching that the Evil Empire must be eliminated. Finally, a powerful nonpartisan group of movers and shakers has come to the same conclusion. Ergo, this group has posted a website http://www.fairtax.org/ to outline their grass roots initiative. These prominent power players propose that the IRS should be dismantled and a fair tax system of sales tax put in its place. They have a bill ready to pass.

The distinguished group that formed the Fair Tax Plan include former governor and presidential candidate, Mike Huckabee, radio host and Fair Tax author, Neal Boortz, Fair Tax lead sponsor Rep. John Linder, Fair Tax bill sponsor Rep. Steve King, business entrepreneur and radio host Herman Cain, Ga. Insurance and Safety Fire Commissioner, John Oxendine, and National Communication Director for the AFFT Ken Hoagland.

Indeed, this is a serious bipartisan battle on the Hill to push this bill through the legislature and ultimately defeat the IRS collection goons, stripping them of their ubiquitous powers to destroy lives and emotionally torture people with their draconian collection methods and sweeping power to get into every aspect of a citizen’s financial background and essentially ruin a person’s life.

The IRS beast makes the Mafia look like boy scouts by comparison. Up until this growing Fair Tax initiative, the Evil Empire has run ripshod through the lives of many Americans that couldn’t keep up with the usurious interest and penalties that piled up in a short time. One can never pay off the IRS with affordable monthly payments. The balance due quadruples every month. The truth is: The IRS wields more power than the entire presidential administration branch of our government.

Recently, the Fair Tax disciples held a rally here in Jacksonville, Florida at the Landing with U.S. Reps. John Linder, R-Ga. and Ander Crenshaw, R-Fla, along with Neal Boortz as Master of Ceremonies. Hundreds of people showed up. I couldn’t be there but I am a member and strong supporter of this movement.

For many years I felt like one lonely voice in the wilderness preaching the downfall of the Evil Empire. However, I supported presidential candidate Mike Huckabee’s campaign because he promised to dismantled the IRS. I switched my allegiance to Obama shortly after Hukabee started to sound like a Baptist preacher.

The principles of the Fair Tax plan are based on common sense and fairness. It’s founded on a progressive national retail sales tax, which is directly proportional to the value of the merchandise. For example, a HD flat screen TV would cost more tax than a microwave oven.

By its design, the wealthy will pay more because they will buy more luxury goods and services–yachts, BMWs, jewelry, mansions, et al. The poor will pay less. The plan abolishes all Federal, personal, (I love the term "abolishes all") and corporate income taxes. The bill stipulates that there will be no taxes on gifts, estates, capital gains, alternative minimum, Social Security (hallelujah) Medicare, and self-employment. The tax will be administrated primarily by existing state sales tax authorities. (Say yeah, brother Fair Tax advocates!)

The Fair Tax Act (HR 25,S 296) is nonpartisan legislation. It taxes us only on what we choose to spend on new goods or services, not on what we earn. It’s fair, efficient, and transparent. It’s so simple it boggles the minds of the legions of tax lawyers, none of whom understand the 1,900 pages of the present tax code.

Of course, food items would be exempt. (No, not beer, wine, or spirits.) One’s paycheck would be free of deductions and seniors would receive their whole Social Security payment and not have to pay tax on it. (Father, bless the Fair Tax boys.)

For years, politicians and activists have proposed this idea only to be silenced by the IRS’ powerful lobby. Now, we have an actual bill before Congress that would, in one fell swoop, wipe out the Evil Empire. Yes, thousands of IRS employees will lose their jobs. Too bad. They could get jobs in India as customer service reps, become loan sharks, or collect for the mob. I don’t care. The Evil Empire will crumble and my Fair Tax brothers and I will celebrate.
Kudos to Neal Boortz for his books, radio show, and tireless campaigning on this issue.

Rick Raw: MS-13 Mara Salvatrucha Gang Proliferating Worldwide as an Organized Crime Organization

By Rick Grant Commentary rickgrant01@comcast.net www.rickatnight.com

Just as our law enforcement agencies and military are coping with threats from al Qaeda conducting a jihad on America, a highly organized gang called Mara Salvatrucha MS-13 has proliferated from Los Angeles into all American states, Central and South America. This organized crime syndicate has the potential to turn peaceful regions into lawless hell holes.

This ruthless band of El Salvadorian criminals formed the gang in 1980 to defend itself from other LA gangs. In the 1990s the FBI rounded up most of the gang members in Los Angeles and deported them to El Salvador, which was a huge blunder.

From there, the gang spread as an organized crime virus throughout Central and South America. The members who were not deported in America proliferated through the states, engaging in drug smuggling and sales, black market gun sales, human trafficking, auto chop shops, home invasions, assaults on law enforcement officials, and contract killings.

Like al Qaeda, MS-13 is run from autonomous cliques (like cells) that operate with their own leaders. The main leaders of the gang run the entire organization from special prisons in El Salvador. These prisons are not designed to incarcerate MS-13 members but protect them from other criminal organizations. The prisons are actually sanctuaries for the MS-13 leaders who bribe officials and send money to professional launderers who stash the enormous profits in off-shore and Swiss banks.

Not much is known about the hierarchy of Mara Salvatrucha. The rank and file members guard the gang’s secrets with their lives. The name loosely means a gang of Salvadorian rebels. Salvatrucha was slang for the Salvadorian guerrillas, which was the source of the early members who smuggled military arms into Los Angeles.

The members are initiated by a group beat-down and then they get the gang’s tattoos on their bodies, which marks them for life. Once someone is sworn into MS-13, there is no way out except prison or death. Prison is MS-13's university where members hook up with other gang members and plan crimes from jail.

Brenda Paz was the only MS-13 member to become a FBI informant. She told authorities that the gang is highly structured, with multiple leaders, and the goal is to become the richest and most feared gang in the world. Indeed, since 1980, the gang has achieved both those objectives.

In 2003, Brenda Paz was murdered by her close friends for being a snitch. Originally, she was secreted into the witness protection program, but she was unhappy and left the protection of the U.S.Marshalls. Foolishly, she wrote a diary of her MS-13 betrayal and the gang found it. They lured her out on a fishing trip to Virginia and her closest friend stabbed her. She must of known that she was marked for death.

What makes this gang especially dangerous is their roots of poverty in El Salvador and their military experience as Salvadorian rebels. MS-13 members easily recruit poverty stricken youth from Central and South America, give them a home and certain luxuries that they would never have in their old lives. Their women or wives are also pledged to the gang, and are tasked with carrying out crime missions.

Since the upper echelon leaders of MS-13 are protected in their own prisons in El Salvador, the United States law enforcement officials can’t touch them. All they can do is make token arrests of MS-13 soldiers committing crimes in America. These hardened career criminals do not fear jail. A prison sentence is a vacation with their home boys.

There have been rumors of an al Qaeda MS-13 collaboration but it was just a rumor. There is no evidence of al Qaeda having anything in common with MS-13, except maybe MS-13's counterfeit document operation to get members into the United States.

Brenda Paz was a wealth of information for the FBI, but even she didn’t know the gang’s darkest secrets or their chain of command. One of the founders of MS-13, Ernesto "Smokey" Miranda had begun studying law and working to keep children out of gangs. He was murdered at his home in El Salvador because he declined to attend a party for a gang member who had just been released from prison.

Thus, the tens of thousands (and growing) MS-13 members continue to wreak havoc on law abiding citizens of America and other countries. Like the plague, finding a cure may be difficult if not impossible. Every day hundreds more young people are recruited into this deadly criminal army.

Rick Raw: The Case for Legalizing Drugs –Prohibition Revisited

By Rick Grant Commentary rickgrant01@comcast.net www.rickatnight.com

Today, the drug violence in Mexico has reached critical levels with thousands of innocent people killed in the cross-fire. The Mexican and Colombian drug Cartels have more money than their respective governments, enabling them to buy their own armies and corrupt the local police and politicians.

The Cartel agents make an offer the officials can’t refuse: "lead or gold" –a bullet or money.
Consequently, breaking this chain of corruption has been almost impossible. The Mexican government has called in the regular army in large numbers to patrol the towns near the America’s border. Still, the Cartels have pervasive operations in these towns and the killings continues. They have the best weapons and the latest electronic surveillance gear bought in the United States.

More significantly, since most of the drugs are consumed in America, the Cartels and other organized crime operators have spread out across our land like a virus. It has been this way since the 1980s when the crack epidemic hit the streets of America’s big cities which established the drug trade routes through California and the East Coast of Florida.

The Reagan Administration’s so called "War on Drugs" was an abysmal failure. Later when Carlos Escobar was finally gunned down in a small town in Colombia by the Colombian army, he was immediately replaced by others. The lure of easy money from the obscene profits of running cocaine, heroin, and now methamphetamine has a very strong appeal.

Historically, we learned that the government can not control vices such as drinking alcohol. Clearly, Prohibition failed for the same reasons the war on drugs failed. People will get their whiskey, drugs, and prostitutes regardless of the law. The only way to control these human weaknesses is to make all vices legal. Blasphemy you say! No, it’s common sense.

The problem is: America is a puritanical culture that can’t seem to get over the moral aspects of making drugs legal, when, in fact, tons of drugs are flowing into the country and distributed by a sophisticated network of established drug wholesalers with large warehouses, and street dealers. This means millions of people are using drugs.

The police love to "show and tell," displaying the latest tonnage of drugs they just intercepted. But the truth is, it’s only a small sample of the total amount of drugs coming into the country. The Cartels know that a certain percentage of their product will get seized. However, in toto, it barely makes a dent in their massive profits.

Legalizing marijuana is already happening in some states. The ultimate national legalization of pot is a no-brainer. It’s a benign drug that is not lethal or addictive. It helps terminally ill cancer patients restore their appetite and feel better taking chemo-therapy. Then we have to consider the hard drugs like heroin, cocaine, and methamphetamine controlled by a government program.

Obviously, these are dangerous drugs that kill many people annually. Thus, we would have to work out a special distribution program for addicts that weans them off the drugs, but still making it legal to buy them. Is that a contradiction in goals? Yes and no. If addicts bought these drugs, they would have to register and receive counseling and treatment if they so desired. They will get the drugs illegally anyway, so why not monitor their progress toward eventual sobriety. It would be an ongoing intervention.

There are 3 million people incarcerated in America’s prisons. A large percentage of these inmates are serving long sentences for non-violent drug offences. Legalization would be retroactive on a case by case basis and relieve prison overcrowding.

Of course, the major benefit of legalization would be to take the drugs out of the hands of the powerful Cartels and establish legal networks using the shipping lanes of spirits, wine, and beer.
Indeed, this is a radical solution, but as long as drugs are illegal, the drug wars will go on indefinitely. But I doubt most Americans could make this leap of morality to justify such a solution. It would be politically unpopular and the preachers and churches would rise up in protest.

Still, I believe that with intelligent policies in place using regulation, taxation, education, and intervention for addiction, the drug crisis can be solved. Otherwise, we will be fighting an endless war on drugs that can’t be won. It’s time to get over the religious morality of legalization and use common sense to end the violence. Remember, in large volumes, alcohol can be deadly to the consumer. Yet, it’s legal to buy it and consume it.

Rick Raw: 2012 Doomsday Date–Apocalypse Pending?–Or Another Y2K Fizzle?

By Rick Grant Commentary rickgrant01@comcast.net www.rickatnight.com

The prophets of doom are at it again with the new scary date 2012. (Cue end of the world music.) Sparked by nutty Mayan scholars, who claim the date marks the end of a 5,120-year cycle on the Long Count calendar developed by the Maya. They were an ancient civilization known for its advanced understanding of astronomy. These mystical people also built great cities in Mexico and Central America. Then, they mysteriously disappeared. The whole civilization just vanished.

This 2012 hype parallels the Y2K 2000 Armageddon that fizzled. The sun came up on January 1, 2000 and everything was alright. Now, these nut-jobs are speculating that all the ancient visionaries who supposedly saw the future, such as Merlin, Nostradomus, some babbling old hag who lived in a cave, the Bible, and other mythical figures who place special significance on 2012 as the end of time. The 2012 speculators foresee mega-disasters, reaping death and destruction on the planet and the reversal of the Earth’s magnetic poles, which would be bad.

Mainstream Mayan scholars are mocking this balderdash as pure fantasy. But filmmaker Roland Emmerich seized the opportunity to direct a big budget disaster movie titled 2012 starring John Cusack. The film is set to be released this fall.

Of course, all the buzz on 2012 makes great free advance publicity for the film. It’s also fertile ground for the publication of books on the subject to spark interest in the end of the world trendsetters.

The latest book, Apocalypse 2012 is by author Lawrence Joseph who set out to sell many books by scaring the bejesus out of the fools who buy into this gibberish. Besides, I’d never buy a book by an author who has two first names. It’s freaky. And, how many Y2K books were published? Too many.

If the prognosticators of disaster are right, then there is nothing we can do about it. If the magnetic poles suddenly reverse, imagine the hellish disasters that would follow. Or what if the Earth starts rotating in the opposite direction. There would be no time to pray. Total wipe-out.
However, do I think there’s even a remote possibility that the date 2012 is the end of the world--absolutely not! Crazed preachers and cultists have been predicting the end of the world for Centuries.

There were the Earth Enders who sold all their possessions and moved to the Midwest to wait for the apocalypse that never came. The date came and went and suddenly, they were homeless and felt stupid. The preacher just said he was mistaken. He recalculated the date as sometime in the future. And, the group started to prepare for another end date.

The Bible has the colorful Book of Revelations featuring the four horsemen of the apocalypse riding to doom. Some theologians interpret this dramatic end of the world to the date 2012, which is complete nonsense.

Real Mayan scholars say that the 2012 cycle is an alignment of the December solstice sun with the center of the Milky Way, as viewed from earth. "Two thousand years ago the Maya believed that the world would be going through a great transformation when this alignment happens," said Mayan scholar John Major Jenkins.

Since our solar system is in an outward leg of the Milky Way, we see the galaxy from a side view, which changes the alignment theory. In other words, if we could look down on the Milky Way, we’d see our solar system on the right outer bands of the galaxy. Nonetheless, I’m not worried.

It will be just another day on Earth. The 2012 doomsayers are wild speculators of misinformation to feed their paranoia. Dawn will break on December 21, 2012! I would bet heavily on it.