A few things

Sometimes the more you learn about something the scarier it
gets. After reading an FBI press release
there is a lot going on with health care fraud. Some of these
practices could make people take a new look at the industry.
Part of the story revolves around a pharmaceutical company
promoting FDA approved drugs for uses other than the drugs were
approved for and at higher doses than the FDA allows. The
companies even offered kick backs to doctors to prescribe the
drugs for other uses.

Why hasn’t the public heard about the largest U.S. health
care fraud settlement ever? I don’t remember hearing that this
company was fined $2.3 billion to settle criminal and civil
violations, have you?

A little more bad news comes from with the FBI’s morgtage report 2009 which is out. It’s estimated that in 2009 there were
$14 billion in fraudulent loans, and more than 2.8 million
foreclosures up 120% from 2007.

And through the freedom of information privacy act the FBI has made
public more than 2,200 pages concerning the late Senator Edward
“Ted” Kennedy. If you’d like to more about the guy, his
family, or his politics this may be the source. Chappaquiddick is
mentioned, as are Sirhan Sirhan, and threats of violence and extortion
against Kennedy and others.

Isn’t the FDA supposed to regulate the pharmaceutical companies?
Doesn’t our government regulate the mortage industry?
Comments are always welcome.

Tuesday fun

In the spirit of some recent bills under consideration by our
lawmakers we offer some worthless facts and little known laws.
We hope you enjoy them even if you’ve seen them before.

Butterflies taste with their feet.

Starfish don’t have brains

An ostrich’s eye is bigger than its brain.

Turtles can breathe through their butts.

Banging your head against a wall uses 150 calories an hour.

The World’s first rodeo was in Pecos, Texas, July 4, 1883.

And now, some laws that prove the world is nuts-

In Hong Kong , a betrayed wife is legally allowed to kill her
adulterous husband, but may only do so with her bare hands.
The husband’s illicit lover, on the other hand, may be killed
in any manner desired.

Muslims are banned from looking at the genitals of a corpse.
This also applies to undertakers. The sex organs of the deceased
must be covered with a brick or piece of wood at all times.

In Bahrain , a male doctor may legally examine a woman’s genitals,
but is prohibited from looking directly at them during the examination.
He may only see their reflection in a mirror.

In Cali , Colombia , a woman may only have sex with her husband, and the first time this happens, her mother must be in the room to witness the act.

In Maryland , it is illegal to sell condoms from vending machines with
one exception: Prophylactics may be dispensed from a vending machine only in places where alcoholic beverages are sold for consumption on the premises.’

And lastly,
Topless saleswomen are legal in Liverpool , England – but only in
tropical fish stores.

If any of these laws make sense to you, perhaps you have a future in
lawmaking. Somewhere there is a political party looking for you.
Comments are always welcome.

The real deal

With the oil spill, the possible demise of BP, and a president
who doesn’t want the masses using fossil fuels it’s about time
for another post on butanol. For the uninformed, butanol is a
gasoline substitute that can be made entirely of biomass (biobutanol)
or from fossil fuels (petrobutanol). Butanol can also be made
from Algae using only solar energy to produce Solalgal Fuel.

It can be run in older engines designed to run on leaded gasoline
with no modifications and gets better mileage than gasoline. Newer engines can’t run straight butanol yet.
Its btu rating is closer to gasoline than ethanol and it is less
corrosive than ethanol.

Butanol handles water contamination better, doesn’t separate, and
can be run through existing pipelines. It would make engines easier
to start in the winter because it vaporizes easier than ethanol.
Current ethanol plants can be altered to produce butanol easily also.
And the process of making butanol doesn’t pollute as much as the
making of ethanol.

Biobutanol can be made from sugar beets, sugar cane, corn grain,
wheat, cassava, straw, corn stalks, and other sources. Right now it
is in the reasearch and development stage at ButyFuel LLC, Dupont,
and BP here; and Butalco in Europe.

Now if cap and trade goes through do we really want one of only
three companies working on this gas substitute ran out of business,
or so mad at us that they won’t do business with us? ButyFuel, LLC
works for the government so if BP crashed or was forced out of the
country that would leave only Dupont to work on getting this real
solution to us the citizens.

If you think that the technology isn’t here yet read this older article for more information. It’s closer than some think to production.

This is a REAL fossil fuel substitute and if this administration
wasn’t out to destroy capitalism they would back the reasearch to
make this a reality instead of poring billions into entitlements
and pork barrel projects.
Comments are always welcome.

Could it be?

I’ve been trying to figure out just what Obama is trying
to do to our country since he got elected. He surrounds
himself with staff that has little or no experience in the
fields they are chosen for and seems to have no problem
spending money faster than it can be made or borrowed.

An opinion article in today’s Las Vegas Review-Journal by Wayne Allyn Root sheds some possible
light on the subject. Mr Root believes Obama is intentionally
creating a systemic failure to destroy capitalism from within.

I’m not much on conspiracy theories, but nothing else makes
sense for the things this administration is doing. I’m can’t
say I agree with Mr. Root’s opinion, but it is an interesting
read.
Comments are always welcome.

Perfect day

It was a car nuts dream weekend and we only wish we could have
attended or watched every event going on yesterday. There is a
Barrett-Jackson auction in Orange County California that had
some interesting vehicles in the time we had to watch. The Speed
channel was covering the event live.

Kyle Busch won the NASCAR Nationwide race in New Hampshire
setting a record while doing so. Busch overtook Mark Martin’s
record for the most laps led (8,117) at Nationwide races. I’ve
been a fan of Dave Blaney’s for some time now for his ability
to start in the middle of the pack and race to the rear to end up
42nd or 43rd. He’s one of the reasons I tune in to the races.

One that we couldn’t attend is the Nostalgia Fest at Cordova
Dragway. Like most I would have liked to seen Arnie Beswick
pilot his “Tameless Tiger” down the quarter mile. There is a
dispute as to whether he is 80 or 84 years young but either
way he is a legend. If he runs today we hope his gets the car
straightened out.

We didn’t make the Blue Grass show either, so have no idea how
it went but we hope they had a good turnout. We did make it to
the first River Valley Classics Cruise-in of the year at the fair-
grounds. Despite the heat everybody seemed to be having a good
time. There were some spongy areas on the grounds put most people
just parked and walked around them. We might have some pictures
to share later today or tomorrow.

Talking to friends as we were leaving, talk turned to spectators
trying to beat the club out of the $2 fee. We all agreed that it
was well worth the $2 to see over a million dollars worth of rods,
customs, trucks, and bikes. That figure would have been a dollar
higher if I’d have brought the Plymouth.
Comments are always welcome.

Dreamland post

This is a what-if post based on the warped thinking that sometimes
blocks my brain from making useful decisions. To my knowledge, some
of these things are happening and some came to me in a pizza induced
dream. Any spelling errors and mistakes in punctuation were in the dream and I want to be accurate.

It’s too bad Obama scrapped future space missions because in my
dream it came to me that NASA would be the perfect agency to
become the first intergalactic correctional group. Think about it.
A spaceship could be built big enough for all detainees at Gitmo
and sent to the moon. I’d think you wouldn’t even need security
because if a suicide bomber got through, his cell phone wouldn’t
work up there.

Since legislators want to pass the cap and trade bill under the
guise of a climate bill some suggestions came in my dream also.
How about mileage limits for all travel politicians do. The average
citizen puts about 25,000 miles on their car a year with little or
no air miles. I’d be willing to go 50,000 ground miles and the same
for air miles. Seems fair to me, after all we’re picking up the tab.

I feel mileage limits alone would help the environment every bit as
much as giving them free reign to fly all over the world when it
isn’t needed. Since our president loves a crisis, until our economy
gets better that is the only thing travel should be allowed for.
After all, they expect us to settle for a Segway with doors.

A thought that woke me up with cold sweats is how about the government not spending any more money than they take in. I know it’s a radical concept, but I was dreaming. This would put an end to projects like the billion dollar wind farm off Cape Cod and others like it.

We are seeing tough times in our country and there are tough choices
to be made. The question as I see it is simple. How long can survive
as a country at the rate our lawmakers are spending money? We do have to contact our legislators and tell them to stop spending money and passing bills with more pork in them than a hog farm. Then, if they
don’t listen, we have to vote them out.
Comments are always welcome.

Some weekend events

The weather is looking like it’s going to cooperate this weekend, other
than the heat, so that means it’s time for some local car events. Here
are a few in case you find yourself wanting to soak up some mobile art.

Today, June 25th, is the friday night Cruise-in at Advanced Auto Parts, 3813 18th Avenue, Rock Island, Illinois from 6 to 9 pm. Our son has attended a few of these events and claims it’s worth the time to check out the rides.

Saturday is the Blue Grass Fire Department Car Show that will be held
at 606 W Mayne in Blue Grass, Iowa. We don’t have times but are pretty sure it will start early and go all day.

This Saturday will be the first cruise-in for the River Valley Classics
Car Club. The new location will be the Mississippi Valley Fairgrounds.
Show vehicles will enter from Clark Street, and spectator parking will
enter through gate 4. Gate 4 is where the large cow is. The fun is
scheduled to start around 5:00, and will last till 10:00 or so. Donations
of $2.00 per show vehicle and $2.00 per adult spectator will be accepted. As you know, we have had more than our fair share of rain the last few weeks, and there may still be a few “soft spots” by Saturday night, but as of noon today (Thursday) things seemed to be drying out better than I expected. Saturday is forecast to be hot, but there is plenty of shade at the fairgrounds.

Sunday is the Railroad Days ‘Showcase of Cars’ held in Standish park,
Galesburg, Illinois from 8 am to 4 pm. We’ve been to a few of these and it’s a nice show in a great location with plenty of trees for shade and vendors.

There are more events but to list them all would take a book. If you
want to see what else is going on just go to the River Valley Classics website and check the upcoming events. The list just keeps getting longer and some of us like it like that.
Comments are always welcome.

Say it isn’t so

Yesterday I heard that the School Board had bought the old Vincent
Neu property that lies south of Brady Stadium for $1 million. Since
that is the current address of Klemme Klassic Kars I had to wonder. Does the stadium have such a large attendance that another permanent parking lot is needed?

I still haven’t got verification. but an Alderman assured me that
the School Board would probably have the $1 million in their capital improvement fund. This fund comes from a 1 percent sales tax and
a parking lot would be considered a capital improvement.

On occasion the School Board rents the lot for $200 a day
when it is needed for overflow parking. I was told that after the
sale the business could stay in the building for up to a year and
a half until they found a location to move to. One has to wonder
if this the best use for commercial property at that location. or
the best use of capital improvement funds. I would think there
would be more appropriate property in the area if more parking is needed.

While I know the School Board is a government agency, and the fund
the money is in can only be used for improvements, I have to
wonder if we really need a $1 million stadium parking lot when our schools have one of the highest drop-out rates in the state.
Comments are always welcome.

Media bias rant

Recent conversations with a friend brought back memories that
I had almost forgotten about. We were discussing the apparent
bias of certain media sources against us bloggers.

When the Guardian Angels first came to Davenport reporters put
in frequent appearances on our patrols. One made their way up and
down the line doing what reporters do, asking questions.

Talk was genial during my turn until the time I was asked about
my hobbies and interests. It was still friendly when I said old
cars but came to a screeching halt when the blog was mentioned.

I was told that the reporter didn’t like bloggers before they
walked away in a huff. After a little snooping on my part I
found out it was believed we weren’t vetted or trained to report
news. It seems some reporters don’t know our qualifications.

Some blogs aren’t meant to be news sources and most of us state
when a post is our opinion. Nobody I asked knew what agency I
could contact to get vetted so I will admit that didn’t happen.

To this blogger training is a moot point. I know musicians who
make a very good living and can’t read sheet music. I know some
artists who have never been to art school, and some really good
rod builders who never attended MIT.

If one is to include education in the training I also feel that
is not an issue. Some of us have a degree from the School of Hard
Knocks or other such institutions. While the reporters who claim
to hold us in disdain were reporting the news we were living it
and in some cases making it.

I find it amusing that these reporters hold us in contempt while
their employers have web sites featuring blogs. And on the issue of
qualification all one has to remember is that Obama is qualified to
be president.

Are we bloggers a news or an entertainment venue? One might ask the same question about our local newspapers.
Comments are always welcome.

Rainy day thought

Ever since I heard a lecture a while back about how one should
always tell the truth I’ve been trying to give this administration
some slack. After all, according to the lecturer, there are lies
and there are misleading truths. It was stressed in the lecture
that it is always better to tell a misleading truth as opposed to
an outright lie.

The speaker used the example that a friend knocks on your door
wanting to hide from someone who wants to kill them. You let them
in and they disappear into another room. Then said killer knocks
on the door looking for your friend. According to the speaker you
shouldn’t say ‘I haven’t seen him’ or ‘He’s not here’ because that
would lying.

But if you said ‘I don’t know where he is’ you would be telling a
misleading truth and that would be acceptable. You know your friend
is there because you let him, you saw him when you let him in, but
you don’t know exactly where in your house he is.

Ok, thinking along those lines how is this administration doing?
After the oil spill our president said something like ‘we have been
on the ground since day one’. Well isn’t everybody unless they’re
in a plane?

How about ‘this mess was left by George Bush’? I thought that one
was a cop out; but is it an outright lie? Obviously with a change
of leaders and parties there are going to be some things that don’t
suit the successor.

One of my personal favorites is ‘the healthcare reform bill will
ensure that all American’s have health care’, which some among us
took to mean free healthcare.

So before we call the president, or anyone for that matter, a liar
we should make sure it is a lie and not a misleading truth. I’ll
leave you to your conclusions as to whether this might be considered
nit-picking or not. It is just a thought for a rainy day.
Comments are always welcome.