Insanity in America

[altivo]

It's a rampant disease that seems to strike primarily among the far right. Following the example of Timothy McVeigh, another lunatic has attacked a building in Texas. He did it by flying his private plane into the building kamikazi style, apparently because IRS offices were located there. *shakes head* Teabaggers are loonies. Too bad his name wasn't Muhammad or something so the right could blame him as an "Islamic terrorist."

Gasoline prices are once again behaving irrationally in this area. After a couple of months of wild fluctuations and absurd differences of as much as 21 cents/gallon between neighboring towns, today they are all the same. Literally, down to the last tenth of a cent. In order for this to happen, Harvard prices had to come down by 6 cents during the week, while Marengo prices went up by 12. There is no way to explain this by market or futures fluctuation, because those go only one way at a time. I suspect the price was fixed by mandate from the oil companies somehow.

Weather here was so warm today that puddles were forming on top of the old snow. This included puddles in front of Dutch doors on the barn where the horses go in and out. Sure enough, the water was drawn up between the bottom door and the sill where it froze, making it very difficult to open those to let the boys in this evening. I expect the same problem in the morning letting them out.

We are not, however, having the kind of flooding we had two years ago. That was fueled by record snow accumulations that melted all at once. This has been a repeated thaw and freeze that is ruining road surfaces but leaves our land relatively dry.

Found myself doing art memes on DA. Huh. I haven't done that sort of thing since... jeez... high school I think. Hope I'm not regressing already.

Comments

[kingodin.livejournal.com]

Leftists are pretty insane as well, case in point, that psycho DNC chairman Howard Dean.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

They don't generally fly airplanes into buildings or blow them up, though. They just talk a lot.

[keeganfox.livejournal.com]

So now we can expect more general aviation restrictions, and more stupidity. :(

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Seems likely, doesn't it? Though how much can they do beyond making everything a no-fly zone or grounding all private aircraft? That sort of thing really steps on the toes of the effete wealthy, and they are the ones who own both sides of Congress when you come right down to it.

This guy was bitching and moaning about having to pay taxes, yet he had enough money to fly a private airplane? I'm lucky I can buy insurance and gasoline for an automobile, and I don't feel I have a right to complain about federal taxes. It's the local taxing bodies who are wasting incredible amounts of money. And guess what? In my county they are 100% Republican.

[keeganfox.livejournal.com]

You can make all pilots do some sort of (expensive) federal background check, and require all flights to file flight plans 72 hours in advance*, and at least 50 other things to erase the last recreational pilots.
Of course this won't make us safer. A few years ago there was a case of a teenager who after learning on Microsoft's Flight Simulator, stole an airplane for a joyride. I suppose you could immediately machine gun airplanes that engage in unauthorised engine starts or something, but terrorists would just find other targets.

*This alone would decimate large segments of general aviation. Gliders in particular are not only VFR flying, they're also extremely weather dependent, and even the best forecasts aren't accurate enough three days out.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

I noticed the media making a big deal out of the fact that the guy didn't file a flight plan, but I don't see what difference that could have made.

Surely all three of the planes on 9/11 had flight plans too, and I'm sure none of them said "Crash into XYZ building at approximately 10 am" or anything of the sort. Yet the events still happened. Once you're in the air, who knows whether you're following your flight plan?

[keeganfox.livejournal.com]

Traffic controllers, of course. But other than scrambling the military to intercept, there's little they can do. Easily the majority of recreational pilots don't file a flight plan. It's not because they're reckless or careless, it's because it's not required, and in most instances, unnecessary. If you're going to get in your Piper Cub for a couple of hours to enjoy the countryside scenery. Since you're not flying through any controlled airspace, theoretically you don't even need a radio. In practice, you would have a radio tuned to a local "chatter" frequency, and generally you'd make position calls when near airports.
Of course you could eliminate Visual Flight Rules, but we've already covered that miserable option.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that's pretty much what I thought. Thanks for confirmation from someone who knows this stuff.

So this guy must have been in controlled space, though. Surely there's a city airport there and close enough that he should have been seen on radar and/or in contact with someone. So even that didn't keep him from what he did.

I don't see any way to "security" this sort of thing away so it can't happen. Instead we have to fix our broken culture that continues to encourage people who think his way and even idolize them as "mavericks" (like Sarah Palin... ewww.)

[cabcat.livejournal.com]

He had quite a bit of money but the tax office had shut down two of his previous companies apparantly. Sounds like just a dodgy.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

That's my opinion of the thing too. Unfortunately we seem to have a lot of folks like that in this country. They don't think they should have to pay taxes at all, yet they want all the government services they can get. Somehow they don't realize that this can't work.

[dakhun.livejournal.com]

When even things as trivial as a cream pie to the face get labeled as "terrorism", it's strange to see this incident being denied as a terrorist attack. Obviously, it was a very good example of domestic terrorism.

And denying that he was a Teabagger, when he left behind a manifesto right along those lines - well what else can they do but go into denial about that too. :-P

[altivo.livejournal.com]

I read the "suicide note" and it was obviously the ramblings of a deranged mind. However, he was harping again and again on some notion that he was being robbed by having to pay taxes. I was amused that he objected to the health care establishment as it stands, yet he was otherwise opposed to federal intervention, regulation, or taxation. A typical teabagger. Nothing rational about his thinking at all, just short-sighted complaints about being "robbed."

[zenicurean.livejournal.com]

It's difficult to believe the man was a tea-bagger: His incoherent lunatic rant contains numerous jabs against Mr Bush, whereas much of the tea-bagger movement seems to be under the fantastic impression that the deficits, and whatever else it is they're crying about at any given Tuesday, sprang forth fully formed from Mr Obama's forehead in the first part of 2009.

[dakhun.livejournal.com]

numerous jabs against Mr Bush

"Numerous" = one
...but then Bush hasn't been that popular with Republicans for at least a couple of years now. You don't get a 29% approval rating without bipartisan dislike.

Joe Stack did the "founding fathers" bit, and the "no taxation without representation" bit. His problems with the IRS go much farther back than either Bush or Obama, or even Bush Sr., but I'm sure he wouldn't stand out from the rest of the teabaggers if he was with them.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

What dakhun says. The guy was a fruitcake, of course, but the teabaggers aren't showing any particular allegiance to Bush. They've forgotten all about him. They're just opposed to paying taxes. Period, forever.

[animist.livejournal.com]

Leftwing or right wing, neither has a monopoly on lunacy. One reason I left the Unitarian church was activists that did things in the church's name. Some of them belonged to the local anti-police organization, and wore shirts depicting a scary looking police office pulling a club to (presumably to beat someone to death) emerging from a dark alley. They would have violent protests everytime the police used deadly force in self defence. After one guy on crack was shot for managing to twist his arms around in handcuffs and rushing a police office with knife, one of their protests got really ugly, and they started throwing rocks through the windows of city hall. When mounted police tried to use crowd control techniques to move them away from the building, one of the leaders (from the church) punched a horse in the face and was arrested by his rider. I left soon after that. I don't have anything against pacifists as long as they don't smash things and attack animals or people.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

The expressions are usually different though. The right seems to do a lot more of what I'd call "terrorist" behavior here in the US. In spite of extreme anguish over the behavior of the recent Bush administration, no building attacks, hostage situations, or assassination attempts were laid to the left wing. Now that the power has shifted, though, the loonies seem to be crawling out of the sewers.

[animist.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I don't think we've had any left wing terrorism since the "Weather Underground". I think it's because leftists form groups. Rightists tend to be loaners. At least in the USA. A loan loony leftist can always be talked down by his buddies I guess. But thes crazy loaners have no such safety net.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Good point. That might explain it. Goddess knows there was plenty of incentive during Bush's second term to drive some people to crazy acts, yet we didn't see the McVeigh sort of things threatened, even as doctors and nurses were being murdered etc.

[calydor.livejournal.com]

Completely unrelated to your post:

I've got a friend who wants to try figuring out his heritage, since he believes he's got some native American ancestors. Unfortunately, he has no idea where to start, so I promised I'd ask you if you could give a few quick pointers. I remember you were digging for your own roots at some point (and you probably still are).

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Native American genealogy is one of the most difficult fields, right up there with ex-slaves and Africans.

However, doing any genealogy starts out the same. You must go backward starting with your own parents. You can't work in the other direction.

Some starting resources are listed here:

http://www.harvard-diggins.org/drtest/node/3

I would recommend getting a beginner's book such as Genealogy Basics Online or The Online Genealogy Handbook and working right through it. There's a lot to learn and understand.

[calydor.livejournal.com]

Thanks, I'll pass that on.

[animist.livejournal.com]

I'm lucky; I have an aunt who did the work for me long ago! I'm part Cherokee through two separate ancestors who moved to Kentucky to escape the Trail of Tears. I didn't know any of this until after I got in to Native American culture, after I discovered Wolf as a totem animal.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Yes, that can really be helpful. Thanks to the internet, I discovered cousins I didn't know I had, and solved the mystery of one great-grandfather's identity. My father's father had run away from home at a very early age, like 14 or 15, and refused to talk about his family. Thus my dad never could tell me much about that side. In fact, he didn't know his grandfather's first name, only the initial "A". It was fascinating finding people from that side of the family and comparing notes, believe me.

[typographer.livejournal.com]

Actually, there are several forces unrelated to the oil companies that effect prices.

The Clean Air Act and related laws create a patchwork where two gas stations a few miles apart can be required to sell different mixtures of gasoline because of local pollution. It has been pointed out several times that simply forcing every jurisdiction to use what is considered the "cleanest" mix, even though producing that mix is more expensive, would lower prices overall because refineries would be making 20 different mixes, and distributors wouldn't have to keep track of which goes where.

I have absolutely no idea if that factors into the two towns you monitor, but it might.

Another is that different jurisdictions can have different "pollution taxes." That's not what they're usually called (I believe in our state it's called a "Waste Disposal Tax"), but different business activities are charged different rates depending on the hazardousness of substances they store and sell. It's possible that if those towns are in different counties, that one county charges a higher rate, for instance.

Again, I have no idea if that's the case.

Finally, there is the tried-and-true "what the market will bear" and there is plenty of evidence that most consumers don't spent much time or effort going out of their way to find a lower price. Just because you are willing to check the price at a place a few miles away doesn't mean that most folks will break out of their usual driving routine if it takes them by one station and not the other.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Same county, same highway, same regulations and taxing authorities.

Actually, as of this morning, Harvard prices have risen by ten cents from yesterday, so they are once again significantly higher than Marengo.

This is a rural area, with no extra clean air or other pollution rules beyond the statewide ones that apply to everyone.

My guess is that yesterday the Harvard stations finally realized that they were losing business by setting their prices so high, and having heard that Marengo was at $2.44 while they were at $2.63 they gave in and split the difference. At the same time, Marengo stations found that their supply price had risen and they raised their prices. Now this morning Harvard stations also reflect a supply price increase by jumping their own prices back up ten cents.

In essence, after watching this for months, I conclude that Harvard's stations, several of which are owned by one person, are just plain greedy and charging the highest price they can get away with. They are first to increase their price and last to lower it. I suspect too that the independent station in Harvard is subject to threats and arm-twisting if he doesn't keep his price within a few pennies of the others.