RedBear is my motorcycle bear, who rides to adventure in the physical world. RedBear is also me, who rides on thoughts about motorcycling, sport shooting, sailing, and politics.
The European Space Agency has finally, after 10 years and 5 loops around the Sun, inserted the Rosetta spacecraft into a matching orbit with Comet 67P. And the pictures that are slowly coming back are amazing.
I watched one of those investment magic shows today. You know the type, where they talk and talk but avoid mentioning the name of the companies they are hot on. But it was one of the better ones. Of course there is a big set of videos and report that you can get for "free".
Anyway, the gentleman is Dr. Kent Moors who supposed advises governments around the world about geo-political risks. He had eight ways to capitalize on trends in the world that are scaring us all these days. The main thrust was about the worrisome Kashmiri border between India and Pakistan. He sees a fairly high possibility of war there in the next few years.
Anyway, eventually the video focused on the Indus River that starts in India and ends in Pakistan. India has treaty rights to the water for power and irrigation. If India shuts off the water, Pakistan is in big trouble and this could start a nuclear war.
So what is the money making opportunity? It is in desalination of seawater. And the company to watch is Lockheed Martin, who is developing Graphene as a desalination membrane. This actually could become a major breakthrough in desal systems because graphene membranes are one atom thick and potentially much more efficient than todays membranes.
Knowing that LM is involved makes the whole thing real for me. However, it is obvious from the LM announcement that there is a lot of development work to be done yet. During my Chevron Career I was involved with reverse osmosis desal and gas cleanup plants several times. A new membrane that can reduce the plant size, and more importantly potentially reduce the power requirements would be a breakthrough indeed.
The other six opportunities present in "The Great Game" offer interesting ideas, but I am less enthused about some of them. Good stuff to wonder about though.
I've had dealings with California CARB about registration of foriegn vehicles. I got it resolved and the people I dealt with were simple bureaucratics doing their jobs. But that was 20 years ago.
It seems things are changing. These folks had their Land Rover Defender seized because of a VIN number mix-up. Maybe they got swindled by the previous owner, maybe it was never correct, maybe parts got replaced at some point.
For this huge crime, six vehicles and many agents swooped down on their property and grabbed the car. They were from Homeland Security. Now the folks can't find out where the car is located, or even get people to talk to them. It looks like summary justify the bureaucratic way is about to happen.
This is plain stupid. You don't need gun-toting federal law-enforcement agents to execute a car seizure. This another case of the EPA and it sub-agencies turning into tyrannical law-unto-themselves.
The American People are being disrespected and mistreated too often these days.
He's been doing it for years. Yet the people of Las Vegas keep electing him because the casino union workers think he brings them bacon. In reality, he brings bacon to his rich friends and government cronies. In reality he has been impeding the work of the Senate and is the real reason very little is getting done in Washington.
More evidence of the lies and cover-ups coming from President Obama and Harry Reid. Check out the stats coming from Rep. Lynn Jenkins (R-KS) office… At the weekly press conference with Republican leaders
Congresswoman Lynn Jenkins (KS-02) highlighted the 352 bills – 98% which
passed with bipartisan support in the House – that Senate Majority
Leader Harry Reid refuses to bring up for a vote. The numbers never lie… The numbers never lie. Currently, 352 bills that passed the House are awaiting action on Harry Reid’s desk. Of these bills:
- 98% passed with bipartisan support
- Nearly 70% passed with 2/3rds support or more
- Over 50% passed with no opposition at all
- And 55 were introduced by Democrats
And still, Harry Reid refuses to bring them up for a vote.
Why does the media continue to allow the unpatriotic laziness from
Harry Reid to continue? Perhaps if the media spent a little more time
being a government watchdog and a little less time being cheerleaders
for the Democrat Party… our Congress would be getting more done?
(Specifically, maybe Harry Reid would be getting more done?)
Unions have been used to having their own way for a long time. Finally, in cases across teh country, some balance is being re-instated. In Wisconsin, the right of speech once again trumps the desire of unions to force members to support their political campaigns by providing union dues.
Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin had quite a good day on July 31
when the state supreme court upheld not only Wisconsin’s voter ID law,
but also the 2011 budget legislation that severely curtailed the power
of public unions to control the lives and salaries of state and
municipal government employees.
In Madison Teachers, Inc. v. Walker,
a majority of the court overturned a lower court decision that had
enjoined various parts of the law and upheld it in its entirety. The
2011 law (Act 10)
prohibited public unions from bargaining on issues other than base
wages; prohibited municipalities from deducting union dues from the
paychecks of public employees; imposed annual recertification
requirements for unions; and prohibited any union agreement that would
require employees who are not members of a union from having to pay
union dues.
Various unions, including the AFL-CIO, challenged these provisions,
claiming they violated their associational rights under the First
Amendment and their equal protection rights under the 14th Amendment.
This ruling represents a huge victory for both Wisconsin taxpayers and the recipients of government services.
In tossing out these claims, the Wisconsin Supreme Court pointed out
that, as the U.S. Supreme Court itself has said, public employees have
no “constitutional right to negotiate with their municipal employer on
the lone issue of base wages, let alone on any other subject.”
Collective bargaining is “a creation of legislative grace and not
constitutional obligation.” According to the court, “the plaintiffs’
associational rights are in no way implicated” by the law’s change to the state’s collective bargaining framework.
Union member are not restricted in any way from exercising their
First Amendment right to associate together: they “remain free to
advance any position, on any topic, either
individually or in concert, through any channels that are open to the
public.” But the union has no constitutional right to force the
government to listen to what it has to say – or to require the
government to negotiate only with the union.
Furthermore, unions can’t force the government to subsidize them
through paycheck deductions for union dues from public employees who are
members of the union – “no constitutional right exists for the
deduction of dues from a paycheck to support membership in a voluntary
organization.”
Unions also have no constitutional right to force employees who do
not want to be members of a union to pay union dues. Because none of the
challenged provisions involves constitutional rights and public
employees are not a protected class, the unions’ equal protection
challenge also failed under the court’s rational basis review.
The court also threw out an additional challenge to another Wisconsin
law that prohibited the City of Milwaukee from paying the employee
share of contributions to the city’s retirement plan.
This ruling, which removes the last legal challenge to Act 10,
represents a huge victory for both Wisconsin taxpayers and the
recipients of government services. Before Act 10, the Wisconsin state
and local governments could not manage their workforces without union
consent. Collective bargaining meant government unions had to agree with
any changes to how the government operates. Government unions often use
this power to hijack the government and make it serve their interests
ahead of the public good.
Unions in the private sector cannot ask for too much without their
companies prohibitively raising prices and losing customers to competing
firms. But the government has no competition—it has a monopoly.
Government unions do not have to worry
about holding costs down or operating efficiently because the public
has nowhere else to go. Without Act 10, Walker would have to either
raise taxes or cut programs to balance Wisconsin’s budget.
Unions
can’t force the government to subsidize them through paycheck
deductions for union dues from public employees who are members of the
union.
Government unions could live with either option, of course. What they
did not want was what actually happened – eliminating the deficit by
trimming their members’ benefits. Wisconsin government employees must
now contribute toward their pension benefits and pay a larger portion of
their healthcare premiums. They still make more than
comparable private sector workers, but that gap has narrowed. These
reforms allowed Walker to close a $3.6 billion budget hole and cut taxes by $2 billion.
Eliminating collective bargaining also allows governments to operate more efficiently. Local school districts saved tens of millions
of dollars by shopping for more competitive health plans. The Wisconsin
Education Association used to force districts to buy health benefits
from WEA Trust. This plan charged inflated premiums. School districts
can now spend those savings to better educate children.
Similarly union seniority systems meant Wisconsin schools had to lay
off the newest teachers first—no matter how well they taught. In 2010
Megan Sampson won statewide recognition for excellence as a first-year
English teacher. A week later Milwaukee Public Schools laid her off
because the union contract required her to be let go first. That system
benefited senior union members at the expense of new hires and children
who need the best education possible. Act 10 eliminated this
restriction. Wisconsin school districts can now hire and fire on the
basis of what works best for the children, not the union members. Act 10
means the government can serve the public instead of unions.
