Comments

Episode-949- Listener Feedback for 7-31-12 — 53 Comments

  1. I’m all in favor of people coming to the US and investing in it. i don’t even fear that “chinese city in Idaho” that some do.

    What most people forget, or chose to ignore, is that these places will be subject to US laws. Not the laws of their home nations. This means they can have more than one kid, they will pay US income taxes, they will get tickets for driving with out their seat belts on, they have to drive on the right side of the road, etc.

    Let them move a few thousand people here. the kids will be born americans. they will get an american education, eat american food, have crushes on american teen pop idols, watch american tv. One of the major complaints by immigrants to this nation is how fast their kids stop following the old ways. How fast they give up the mother tongue for english.

    In the long run we get people who want to work, cash infusion, and more americans. We win, they win.

    • I agree in spirit, man. I really do. But I must note that “American education” is not education at all…

  2. Another issue with the property tax problem. If I can do nothing and have my property taken away, do I really own it? Even if I live in the sticks and my tax is almost zero, they can still take my property for non-payment. Low property taxes are not zero property taxes and allow them the control of my property.

    Taxes should be based on spending and/or action. They shouldn’t be able to tax you just because you exist.

      • Push to get them removed . . . get involved. Convince others (including politicians) that taxes need to be tied to what they pay for as much as possible. Mind you I say that having done nothing myself yet, but I’m realizing I need to.

        • I would think it would be most at the local level? School districts townships. The question is what would happen if residents of a school district decided they wanted to stop funding their public indocrinated schools and start their own or home school?

      • Can push for allodial title law. We had that option in Nevada until just a few years ago, when the property values went so high, the assclowns saw $$$ and didn’t want to give up their right to milk that stream. How times have changed…

  3. I ran out to Costco as soon as I heard about that deal on Grape solar panels. It turn’s out that my Costco only sells consumer items and shies away from productive inventory like these solar panels.

    Once I the weeping subsided I called Grape Solar – they are only a couple of blocks down the road from my office here in Eugene, OR. Right now we’re trying to work out a deal, but these Costco prices ($179 for 220W) are absolute fire sale prices. If your local store has them, this is a great time to buy. I only wish I could have picked up a few 🙁

    • Okay, this was by far the most stressful show j/k I was all excited about the solar panels ran out to Costco in Portland and then the one in Vancouver, no panels and never had them. Does anyone have the part number so Costco can look them up? Also, which part of the country are people finding these? I’ll call around to a few more tomorrow, but I don’t have much hope.

    • Hippiesteader can you let us know if they cut them out of their warehouse for the same price, I’d drive down.

  4. Does anyone know the item # for the Costco 220w solar panels that are under 200 dollars? I have found solar panels on their website but I cannot find the particular ones mentioned in the podcast.

    • Well by calling another poster a moron you just got your ass banned from my server. Goodbye go out!

    • The cry “we don’t have any more room” has been made since the nation started. The fact is if we moved everyone, all the humans in the world, to Texas, just one state in the US, The whole world population of 6.8 billion, and each person would have 1,089 square feet each.

      but that includes water areas too. Other people have done the math with “usable” land and found a population per square mile of 17,500, less than Hong Kong’s pop per sq mile. (NYC has 27,900 per square mile)

      Sure it would be a big city, but then Texas likes big right?

      We have room, we have lots of room. It is just not being used right. Stop the government from handing out non-life sustaining aid (emergency medical care) and the US will see massive growth as new hard working immigrants come here and create. We have lots of room. Those who are “poor, tired, hungry” tend to be the hardest workers. They should be welcomed.

  5. Jack,

    On “shatterguard” type window products…

    Stopping dirtbags from “getting in” is great…
    But I wonder… How hard is it to get “OUT” of your house from the inside in an emergency through one of these windows?
    (I.E. fire, flood, or even escape “from ” a dirtbag that’s already inside the house…)
    Just a thought.

    • that’s what I’m thinking. What keeps “them out, keeps “you” in. If dirtybags want in, they get in.

    • @TrekFanDan, I have no intention to break a window to get out when I am on the inside and can just open the window. File this under, if you aunt had balls she would be your uncle. In fact it makes me think of Family Guy where Peter locked his keys on the OUTSIDE of his car. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhVmObjs2SU

      • LOL,
        I knew you’d take that approach.
        Obviously, I was only referring to the cases where house windows were not openable , or in business applications.
        A similar example, in south florida many homes have bars anchored in the walls over the windows,
        A fire in the hall would leave a person trapped in the bedroom, and after the firefighters put it out, they’d find a crispy skeleton hanging on the bars in the window. HeHe

      • That cracks me up!! family guy. A mirror of what society has become? sad.

  6. Domestic violence is always tricky. Police don’t always do much to help. I had a friend who left a very abusive spouse a few years back (left for good), left with just the clothes on her back, wasn’t even able get her purse (ssn, driver’s license, meds). She called her local police to help her retrieve her personal items. Her ex was blocking the door. Police said that they could not make him move and advised her that if she pushed her way in, they’d have to arrest her for assaulting him. And he would go to whichever door or window she tried to enter and block it. She had to leave with nothing. You’d think the police could have helped in some way, never mind her bruises etc. from his previous assault. Eventually she got some of her stuff when her sister-in-law picked up some of her things, and later when he trashed the place and left.

    • @txmom that has not been my experience. Based on my comments today you know I have ZERO tolerance for a man hitting a woman. That said I had one friend who had a complete psyco of a wife. She attacked him with a lamp, then got a coat hanger and tried to take his eyes out with it. He never touched her and bailed. He was in shorts, no shirt, no ID, etc. Walked to a pay phone and called the PD simply to get his stuff. They show up and arrest him for domestic abuse. Happens all the time.

      The cops in my story and the cops in yours should both be fired and frankly have their asses kicked.

    • Agreed. So moral of the story is to not call the police to help you get your stuff?

      Thankfully her ex continued to do stupid stuff got himself arrested on drug and running prostitutes charges, no one would post bail.

  7. Hey Jack. Some interesting trivia on how Costco operates. If there is an asterisk (*) on the price sign, then that means once all items are sold, they will not reorder. If no asterisk, then you can count on it being around for your next visit,

    This really helps me decide when I’m debating whether to buy an item or not…

    • We in Lexington are getting a Costco by the end of next year. I can’t wait to see what all the excitement is about. 🙂

  8. As you asked for our thoughts on the woman walking down the road being followed by a car at night.

    ABSOLUTELY I would call 911. For all the reasons and how you stated it. Any thing that is that far out of the norm will have me checking it out and making a phone call.

    For one thing if it is a volatile dispute that is about to happen I don’t want it near my home. You just never know how far it can escalate. You don’t know if …. drugs involved, casing an area, a run away (some teen girls you can’t really tell they are teens).

    The question that always runs through my mind is how easily could I live with myself IF something happened that I could maybe have prevented with a simple phone call vs having some neighbor irritated with me for my big nose. I would really hate to have to answer to family members why didn’t you make a call now she is missing or dead. I just couldn’t live with myself.

    Shoot if it’s just a marathon runner in training chances are when the cops get there they will feel safer an be glad to know someone is watching out for them. If that irritates them well to dam bad.

    To many times people sit back and watch bad things happen turning a blind eye. Because they are afraid of what people will think. It’s such bull. But then again I am the kind that stops on the freeway to help out a stray dog lol

    Besides I thought that is what 911 was for.

    I did offer sanctuary to a woman that was being beaten and called the cops. Had I not gotten involved she or her children could have easily been hospitalized or worse. When the cops got there she didn’t want help from them so she got no more help from me. Sad but you do have to draw the line and step back sometimes. I did my part.

  9. Jack,
    Been looking to buy some TSP gear. A shirt or hat or something. Do you have plans on having any gear for sale? Thanks.

    • They have a page of items for sale. Look for the top box near the middle of the page titled “CONNECT WITH TSP”. At the bottom of that box is a link for “The TSP Zazzle Store”. It has T shirts, cups. etc.

      • Yeah I know about the zazzle store. But I want the shirt that Jack has on in the picture above.

  10. I bought some 1 gallon bottled water jugs a while back. About 2 to 3 years to be exact. It was in sealed PETE containers, not “milk jug” plastic. Moving them around I noticed stuff floating inside several of the containers. I am not saying the water went “bad” but what was this stuff? It was stored outside in the garage in GA summer heat/temp changes. Was the plastic breaking down? It didn’t look right and I water some plants with it and replaced it.
    Any ideas?

    • In EMS we are suppose to check the IV bags before we use them, they are sterile water with salt put in sealed sterilized bags. But after two years you can start seeing “floties” like you describe. Even in the most bacteria free, sterilized set up, there are still little things in it. Given time, heat, light, and they will grow. The water did not go bad, H2O does not. But all the other stuff that ends up in water or leaches through the bottles, does go bad.

      You can run it through your Berkey and it will be fine. Adding that tea spoon of belch extends how long before stuff starts growing. But best of all is to rotate your water.

  11. Jack,
    I just put new windows in my house. I used Home Depot. They have windows that have a laminate layer between two sheets of glass. I uv protection is great. It is also very insulating. The best benefit to me is that the laminate layer is very strong and the glass sticks to it when it’s broken. The laminate doesnt tear. HD gives two life time warranties against breakage. I spent $9000. for 14 windows. I know that’s expensive, but it was well worth it for the peace of mind my daughter and I now have. I think that HD’s website has a video demo of how it works.
    Just thought I would give you another example. Of course, the next level up, which are hurricane rated, are twice as expensive!
    Sarah

  12. RE: Intervening in a domestic dispute out in a public place

    Jack, I have only one story of my own, but it doesn’t mirror what the email had to say, nor your own Panamanian story. Regardless, it might be helpful to consider.

    I was out with friends for the premier of a highly anticipated film. It was an 18-screen cineplex, Friday night, and a totally packed movie theatre lobby. Before the film’s start, I made the obligatory bathroom visit. And of cource the ladies’ room was a massive sprawling 14-stall extravaganza, and it was also quite packed with dozens of women all waiting on a spontaneosuly formed line, each of us with varying degrees of patiemce or impatience at having to wait. One of the things to pay attention to in this story is that people in a large public bathroom don’t generally talk to each other so there is very little noise by way of human voices. Just a lot of water running and doors opening/closing and the sounds of paper towels getting ripped from dispensers. This oddly seems to be even more the case when there are more people than ususal in such a bathroom: more people = less talking. So bathroom chit-chat tends to be rare and very abbreviated in a packed-out situation.

    When I was all done in my own toilet stall, and as I was getting ready to flush my toilet and open my door, I heard a woman talking quite loudly to a little boy –obviously her son. For any of you men out there with little to no experience with going on outings with children, please understand that most women will bring their childdren –inclduing their little boys– right into the ladies’ room and toilet their kids in there. Us other women present almost never mind at all. A 7-year-old little boy is perfectly welcome in a public ladies’ room because most of us women realize that the alternative is that he goes into the mens’ room all by himself, and the mom has to patiently wait outside the mens’ room, hoping her son is okay. As far as we women are concerned, it could very well mean one less Amber Alert this week if she brings her kid into the ladies’ room with her. So we’re pretty cool with it. (Although we might take issue with seeing a 14-year-old young man in the ladies’ room.)

    But here’s what I –and what everyone else in that chatter-free ladies room– heard.

    The mom was obviously still sitting on her own toilet, doing her thing. But the little boy had already finished in his own stall and had already exited. She was calling over the stall wall to him, ordering him to remain by the sinks. But he was saying “No, mommy” and expresing his desire to leave the ladies’ room. She protested and ordered him to stay, and her voice grew frantic. I emerged from my stall and saw the child –he looked to be about 5– heading for the bathroom exit. And no one was stopping him, nor were they communicating to the mother what was happening. The mother continued to call out to him, but he was now gone. And still, even though everyone else could see exactkly what was happening, no one was saying anything to the woman who was still (shall I say) “trapped” in her own stall, calling frantically to her child.

    I was worried about the kid disappearing. I was worried about the kid getting snatched. I was worried about the kid wandering into the parking lot and getting hit by a car. I briefly contemplated going out to the lobby and taking the kid by the hand and saying “You need to obey your mother and go back to her right now” but then I feared the possibility that if I laid a hand on the child, he would start creaming and then maybe I would get accused of trying to kidnap him. I even feared just plain SPEAKING to the child, speculating that maybe he would run away from me in fear and maybe even hide, and thus I would make the situation worse, or else I would stll be accused of trying to kidnap him for doing nothing else than speaking to him. So here’s how I resolved this situation.

    I went into the VERY crowded lobby and I merely followed the child from a distance. I wanted to silently and covertly observe and make sure no one snatched him. If anyone DID snatch him, then I would be able to either stop the abduction or at the very least be able to descreibe the kidnapper to authorities.

    I saw him wander over to the video games, and then I took a strategic positiion where I could keep one eye on the ladies’ room and one eye on the little boy. After about a minute I saw the mother emerge from the ladies room, running, and calling her son’s name. She spotted him and went angrilly to him, taking his hand.

    End of story.

    I didn’t “get involved.” But I kept an eye on the scene.

    • Good for you Oil Lady! You were involved. Not all involvement requires a voice. You took an action where others did / said nothing. Should she have not have noticed him so quickly you could have and very well may have said something along the lines of “he’s over there” “it that him over there?”

      That is one mom that could use a child leash. lol

    • re: Getting Involved.

      Years ago I was at a coffe shop for a business meeting. Just me and and one guy I was meeting (a vendor). We happend to be sitting close to the entrance to the kitchen area. The other guy was speaking while I observed a small child sprinting for the kitchen door. Having small kids of my own I knew nothing good was going to become of this. I stepped off my stool and intercepted the little boy in mid run. He was quite surprised to be intercepted. I let him go immediately and simply blocked his way into the kitchen. I then looked over the coffee shop and in about .01 seconds made I contact with a frantic looking father. I motioned to my feet indicating that his boy was standing there before me. The father came over and thanked me.

      They guy that was talking was mildly annoyed by the whole episode that took about 60 seconds start to finish. Being annoyed at a 60 delay to do the right thing was all I needed to know about this man’s character. I ended the meeting a few minutes after that.

      It seams to me that the “right thing to do” becomes apparent in the moment it happens. I think if any reasonable person that is right with themselves will know when its time to act.

  13. Jack,
    Thanks for addressing my question about community safety and domestic violence and thanks to the community discussion after the show.
    I knew I did the right thing by calling 911, but we live way out and I was not sure how long it would take for officers to arrive. I wanted to follow and make sure things did not get violent, but my wife made a convincing argument as did my one year old son.
    It is difficult. Being involved in community and taking an active role in community, while most times is safe, can be challenging and put one’s own safety into question. I think this incident tells me that I need to get to know more of my neighbors and give them the opportunity to know me.
    Thanks
    Matt

  14. Excellent podcast, Jack. You really got a head of steam going near the end. I may have to listen to Jack’s BS Lesson again tomorrow morning.

    On a side note, I picked up my new Colt M4orgey up today. I’m digging the Magpul edition at $1035.

    Keep up the great work, Jack. I’m looking forward to more of these excellent shows!

  15. Thank you for the Covey quote. I give credit to a Franklin-Covey time management seminar in the late 80s for making my life what it is today. The lesson that I was ripe to hear and changed my life was to know what is important to you and take action everyday in support of your goals. It led me to personal responsibility, simple living, and libertarianism.

  16. Someone should so make a comic strip of Sam and his family, lol. Their adventures would be quite entertaining.

    • Yeah… Thing is Uncle Sam isn’t just “that uncle” that many of us have. Uncle Sam isn’t just a financial dead beat. He is also a liar, a thief, a murderer, a drug dealer, a drug addict, a sadistic moletster and rapist, a false priest, a con artist and I’m sure I’m leaving a more than a few other gems off of the list. I’m not sure that could all go into a comic strip without getting pretty obscene.

  17. Jack,
    Thanks for answering my question about Airbus. It helped me understand much better why Airbus is building in my hometown.
    The rest of the podcast was outstanding too, especially the part about the politicians. I like how well it was all explained, thanks.
    As I started to think about a few industries in Mobile, I noticed something. Most of the major industries in the Mobile are are foreign owned. Such as:

    ThyssenKrupp Steel/Stainless steel processing plant: German owned.

    Austal Shipbuilding : Australian owned.

    “Singapore Technologies /Mobile Aerospace : Singapore owned.

    Automotive manufacturing : Mercedes-Benz, Toyota, Honda, Hyundai
    ( http://www.al.com/opinion/birminghamnews/editorials.ssf?/base/opinion/1223108145288410.xml&coll=2 )

    And now Airbus, French/German.

    I detect a pattern…
    It’s sad in a way, that feeling of pride that one is an American, working for an American company is not there, and it shows.. But at least there is work there. Getting hard to find a US run major industry in my state.

    Keep up the good work, Jack!
    Jessie

  18. Jack, I’ve actually been meaning to mention something about about the Audit the Fed topic, but kept forgeting to.

    If the Fed operates under authority delegated to it by the House of Representatives, why would the House of Representatives need approval of either the senate or the executive to alter the terms of the delegation of said authority? Seems like all they would need is a resoultion.

    • The authority was granted by law and done so with the approval of both the house and the senate and signature of the president. So changing the authority requires the same. Now I don’t really get why it had to have a 66% vote in the house, some “special rules” clause or something like that.

  19. Jack, you keep saying things which remind me of this quote:

    “You can ignore reality, but you can’t ignore the consequences of ignoring reality.” -Ayn Rand

    Take care and keep up the good work.

  20. Jack,

    Great thoughts on Reid (all of them in general, but especially him). He did exactly the same thing – when W was president, Reid was all gung ho to abolish the freedom stealing Patriot Act. Now that Bama is president, note that Reid (and most Dems) passed the renewal of said “despised” act without hesitation.

    As a Nevadan, I’ve gotten to see how Dirty Harry operates up close & personal. Our state has quite a libertarian streak in it, and he has always had to at least play to that theme to some extent. This probably explains why he said what he did about the Fed back in the 90s in addition to your also accurate explanation that he knew it wouldn’t go anywhere.

    Now, unfortunately, since Vegas and it’s mega-unions have grown so huge, that city-state within the state has enormous voting clout. Two years ago, he & his minions managed to paint Sharon Angle as “too far out there” and “kooky” (just as they do to Dr. Paul) and he managed to hold his grip on power. This time, his super-PAC is smearing our junior senator, Dean Heller, as a Wall St tool and friend of the big banks, screwing the middle class, etc. etc. I don’t agree with everything Heller does, but he often votes with Rand Paul and is clearly a better friend to liberty than Reid. At least my fellow voters had the fortitude to not make Reid’s kid our new governor. At any rate, Reid is a political creature of the worst sort, and I hope that my fellow Nevadans will remember when he’s due up again that he prevented Audit the Fed.

    Finally, I’ve got to offer a correction to you Jack cuz I’ve heard it now just one too many times…

    It’s pronounced “Nev-A-da” (like in “Apple”) not “Nev-AHHHHHHHHH-da”! like in “oxygen”. 🙂

    Thanks for the great show!

  21. I am trying and cannot find the 220w PV panels! I see the 100w for $189and but no 220’s…

    Any suggestions? Im in San Diego