Boy shot vs. Criminal shot

Just a few minutes ago I was browsing Google News to read a bit about the 8 year old boy who recently shot his dad dead. I entered into the news search engine the words "boy shot". Of course the article I was seeking popped up, but so did tons of others: "Boy shot trick or treating", "Boy shot himself with uzi at gun show", "Boy shoots dad over fast food argument"..... The trick of treater died, the gun expo child perished as well. They were such shocking and sad articles, and only the tip of the iceberg--and these had all happened in the past few weeks!!!

So out of curiosity, I wanted to see the other side--as in why the hell do people advocate gun-ownership for safety and are they really used to shoot criminals ??
So with the same search engine I then replaced the word "boy" with the words "criminal" and "robber". Of course what I got were articles about criminals shooting others with their guns, a few about police injuring a criminal, and just one or two about a common citizen shooting a robber .
Nevertheless, the evidence spoke for itself and was overwhelming. I don't believe the "liberal" media only reports negative gun articles, because let's face it: "Joe six-pack shoots criminal" is actually a very compelling story to print. So they would be there if they were the overwhelming majority... Unfortunately they are not.

Box Store Blow Out

The local news headlines are clear--Costco may be coming to Wasilla, Alaska! The box-store-happy mayor has now died and gone to heaven. I do not know what Wasilla's obsession with box-stores is. It's one of those materialistic complexities that elude me.
Wasilla could be a weird game show. On a cloudy day (so you can't see the mountains)a blind-folded person could be dropped there and asked to guess -where in America are you?
And you know what? They wouldn't know. Every suburban town in the USA looks the same now. Home Depot, Wal-Mart, Target.... It's utterly disgusting. Wasilla does not care for local character or small businesses (it is a well documented fact). Just boring conformity, so we can all own the exact same jacket. I don't get it at all.
Wasilla just a few years ago had more stores with character. Outdoors and More was an outdoor store filled with military bunny boots, strange European slipper shoes, and Alaskan odd and ends. Now it has gone out of business to be replaced with the giant Sportmans Warehouse. No originality there. Just stinky cheap sporting goods from China stuffed into a giant square. The Valley already has their own "small business" versions of Alaska Costcos. One of them: Three Bears, is an Alaskan owned business, catering to the Costco crowd. Why is it important to plow them out of business, in favor of what?? Just more of the same.

Sarah and the Media

I remember it was not too long ago, during her speech at the RNC in Minneapolis, that Sarah Palin pointed out her disdain for the media. I don't remember her quote, but it was something akin to - I don't give a flying fig about the media.
At that moment I thought to myself--silly lady, you will need the media on your side. Oh well.
Fast forward 2 months and we are now post election, and I keep reading that Sarah is complaining that the media did not treat her well. True enough, the poor woman has been plowed over by anonymous sources and sensational headlines. But I can't keep from asking-so why did you alienate them at your first major public appearance?
Another learning experience I suppose....

How to Shatter the Glass Ceiling With Good Looks!!

Anyone with half a brain can see that the whole Sarah Palin phenomena underscores one simple fact: good looks will get you far baby!!
The simplicity of this factoid has been reflected in numerous Saturday Night Live skits--how less beautiful accomplished ladies have to fight, work and work some more, while an exceptionally pretty one can sail along on the breeze of good looks. It's no secret that in Alaska, our Sarah was elected by many a man who simply stated they voted for the "hot one".
Thus the secret is out: any articulate and sassy woman can break through the proverbial "glass ceiling" simply by avoiding ugliness.
The irony of this simplicity is that two other pretty ladies were actually instrumental in bringing down Sarah P's popularity--Katie Couric and Tina Fey...No man would have been brave enough.

Let's Blame Wal-Mart for the Economic Woes

Ok, so I put a few common sense factoids together and came to the conclusion, that essentially Wal-Mart can be blamed for the common Americans sense that the economy is faltering.
Before the "economic mortgage-driven" crisis, most Americans already claimed they felt an economic pinch. The press likes to talk about "the economy, worries about the economy" blah, blah--but often don't articulate what that actually means to a middle class American.
Scanning a few recent interviews--you can easily see that most Americans (before the mortgage nonsense) cited their biggest concern was fuel prices. Cost of gasoline, heat and then general goods rising, because of those costs.

After scanning some newspaper articles, one can easily stumble upon the general info that one of the main reasons that our gasoline is so expensive (and now has come down a bit in price) is due to the demand in China. Now why is demand up in China?? Well their economy is growing & manufacturing is up. Who is growing China's economy? Well the average American addicted to cheap Chinese goods from Wal-Mart, that's who. Wal-Mart loves China and as long as nobody is checking their labels or buying American made, why do they even bother worrying about gas prices? Not to mention when companies are forced to move to other nations to remain competitive....What comes around, goes around.

Rinnai 1004F compared to Toyo Laser73

I wanted to throw my opinion out there about this obscure topic (but very important in Alaska) simply because I haven't seen much written about it, even on the vast Internet....
Simply stated, the Toyo stove and Rinnai are similar units--stoves or "mini-furnaces" that produce enough forced air heat to comfortably heat a small home.
The primary difference is that your Toyo is powered by heating oil (diesel) and the Rinnai is a propane or natural gas system. Needless to say, everyone preferred oil up to a few years ago-and that's mostly because of cost.
Now these two units cost about the same brand new and the energy used to run them is equal as well. So the other pros and cons???? Well there are quite a few die hard Toyo enthusiasts up here and I mean big time enthusiasts who would sell their first born before criticizing a Toyo stove. I can somewhat see why as the benefits are: reliable workhorse, pretty efficient, puts out the heat and we loved the programmable options. However, a badly insulated house will still run up your oil bill past $1,000 per season at today's prices. (speaking from experience)
The main cons that I have to say are: the thing produces some exhaust, which always managed to seep back into our home. The other problem is that a 10 year old unit starts gunking up and having a few maintenance issues--like possible leaky valves, seals, etc.. mostly resulting in diesel odor, but a worse case scenario could be a hazard. Needless to say--a new Toyo shouldn't have that.
So we just switched over to a Rinnai 1004F (with propane). Basically in anticipation of it becoming more cost-effective and less stinky (yet the Toyo crowd has scolded us for this move). So with one month of the Rinnai, here are the pros I have seen: no more exhaust smell (!), really fast, forceful heat production and cool to the touch. The cons are there too: it is a bit louder than the Toyo, and sometimes mysteriously whistles. I also believe it has a somewhat drier heat, and thus comes with a vaporizer which constantly needs to be filled (but that's not a big deal). It's too bad our unit doesn't have a computerized thermostat, so each morning we have to switch it back up.
Needless to say, we are very happy with the Rinnai, mostly because our Toyo had become a stinky little guy and we are glad to be oil free. I honestly don't know what the new cost breakdown will be--but we'll see at the end of the winter!

Where Will They Go???

I have to admit, I am extremely pessimistic that everyone in the world can not achieve an American middle class sustainable existence without significant resource depletion. I know there are those nutty optimists out there who think you can just plug everyone's car in, put solar panels on skyscrapers and be done with it.
Be it my negative nature, but I just don't see it working. Western societies are currently labeled "success stories". But they are where they are by being resource hogs. Face it, by global standards, Americans have large houses, use tons of water, drive too much, fill their homes with disposable wooden furniture and then blast the AC. You can't just reverse this type of lifestyle. Nor can you convince the MILLIONS and MILLIONS of citizens of the developing world that this is no good.
Are we going to tell the Chinese they can't heat their homes, drive cars? India can't build lavish subdivisions? That a sound economy isn't based on BUILDING MORE and more and more....."
In Alaska, everyone screams bloody murder if their right to "develop" land is somehow infringed. Majority of folks want to plow down the trees and place a "beautiful" huge house there instead. Needless to say, then the bears wander around the new suburbs, freak everyone out, then get shot.
There just isn't enough room on this earth for the animals, trees and people. Of course, so many people say---so what? I don't need no polar bear, I got Vegas and a Ford Taurus.
I don't even know how to articulate that I need those wild places and animals, not even to see them--just to know they are there...
The most I can hope for is to be proved wrong!