Tax Increase Effective April 1st, 2009!

SCHIP Cigarette And Tobacco Tax Rates Product Cigarette and Tobacco Tax Rates on April 1st

Cigarettes                     $1.0066 per pack

Large Cigars                   52.75% of manufacturers price; cap of 40.26 cents per cigar

Little Cigars                  $1.0066 per pack

Pipe Tobacco                $2.8311 per pound

Chewing Tobacco          50.33 cents per pound

Snuff                            $1.51 per pound

RYO                             $24.78 per pound

Cigarette Paper              3.15 cents per 50 papers

Cigarette Tubes              6.30 cents per 50 tubes

Just casually glancing down through this list, one item really stands out. The RYO (Roll Your Own) will cost an additional $24.78 per pound. Considering you can buy a pound of the stuff for around $11.00 – $15.00, this is a huge increase. Prices per pack of factory rolled cigs will be up over a dollar a pack, or $10.00 per carton, which is a little less than a 30% increase in taxes. Once more they are taxing the people that can least afford the higher taxes. The RYO crowd generally consists of people that can’t afford to pay the already overtaxed factory built cigs, so now they get whacked again.

So what was Mr. Obama telling us about lower taxes for da po’ folks?? That really is who this is aimed at. This huge increase for the RYO , tax class J tobacco, no doubt was bought by the big 3 cigarette making conglomerates. Increasing the cost of the RYO tobaccos will probably make the RYO more expensive than the factory built cigs, not to mention put out of business a lot of smaller family owed tobacco farms that have provided the cheaper alternative to the big business way of life. How handy! It’s too bad that the smaller farmers don’t have the lobbying clout the big corps do. Sad really.

There’s no doubt it will cause a lot of people to quit smoking, which is a good thing, but that will represent a loss in tax revenue when they do. Then who are they going to kick around, to continue the childrens health care initiatives? Wouldn’t it make more sense to tax alcohol across the board? They wouldn’t even have to go with the full 2000% increase like they did with the RYO stuff, say maybe just double or triple the present taxes on all booze, beer, wine etc – just think of all the revenue that would generate, and it would be spreading it across a much larger segment of the population, so there would be more people paying it.

As a concession to the big business dudes, they could just tax the hell out of supplies for the home brewers, so as to level that playing field like they are doing for the tobacco industry. And, think of the kids! Kids are growing up in homes where parents drink, become subjected to abuse, the effects of which can last a lifetime. There would be less people involved in carnage on our highways, along with attendant higher insurance costs these drunk drivers are putting on all of us. Let the boozers pay that extra with some good hefty increases on alcohol taxes.

And it shouldn’t stop there either. The excess money they are collecting is supposedly going to pay for children’s heath care services, if the states actually do use it for that, and not all of them are. I read that Ohio funded their mandatory emissions testing for cars with that money. The second hand smoke smokescreen that they have thrown up I believe is just to give people something to blame everything else on, while they aren’t looking at the pollution being discharged from industry in this country, and the rest of the world for that matter. Everyone in the world smoking cigarettes as fast as they could, wouldn’t even start to make a dent in the pollution index. Big business and corporations would just as soon keep it that way, keep people fighting with other people over their health issues, so it takes the focus off of them, the very ones who are putting literally tons of pollutants in the air every minute.

I’m not saying cigarettes are good for you, but in the overall scheme of things, there are much worse offenders out there. Tobacco taxes have been one of the faster growing taxes over the past few years. On the Fiscal Facts page of the Tax Foundation website there’s an interesting little chart, that show while personal income taxes are actually going down, all the others are going up, pretty radically in some cases.

Tobacco Taxes are a Fast-Growing Source of Government Revenue Tax Category (BEA) Percent Change in Collections from 2000 to 2005

Special Assessments 79.5%

Severance Taxes 69.8%

Taxes on Insurance Receipts 55.1%

Taxes on Corporate Income 50.8%

Tobacco Taxes 44.7%

Property Taxes 37.6%

Air Transport Taxes 26.3%

Payroll Taxes 25.3%

General Sales Taxes 22.7%

Customs Duties 19.9%

Motor Vehicle Licenses 17.9%

Alcohol Taxes 13.4%

Gasoline (and Diesel Fuel) Taxes 13.3%

Personal Income Taxes – 3.1%

Source: Tax Foundation calculations based on data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis, Dept. of Commerce

They also mention the fact that taxes on tobacco products increased three times faster than alcohol taxes, the other major “sin tax” from 2000-2005, with the reason being only about 20% of the population smokes, while drinkers vastly outnumber that amount, so special interest groups, while pushing public health issues, have been able to pull along the non smoking majority to support the campaign to tax the smokers. Makes sense to me. “John Stuart Mill would call it a tyranny of the majority: politicians have identified an unpopular minority and forced punitive taxes on them.”

That narrow world view is making them miss the boat however. There’s a whole world of more lucrative taxes they could impose on the masses. The majority of people in the U.S. are overweight, so why not tax obesity? It’s a health care problem that is costing us beeeelions every year, just battling the onslaught of diseases, immobility etc, not to mention how it could improve the worlds food supply. I can envision a monthly weigh in for all taxpayers, of course to be done at your local health clinic or hospital, being as how they are the ones that are going to benefit from all this. Anyone heavier than that weight they always have hanging on the wall in those places would be taxed at a dollar per pound they are over the allowable weight, plus the $25 weigh in fee to cover the clinics involved costs. Then next month, do it all over again. The end result will be a marvelously healthy bunch of broke Americans, and the tax coffers would overflow.

Coupled up with the tobacco taxes, we will all live longer, healthier lives. It will totally screw up the actuarial tables used for Social Security, (if they even still use them) because everyone will be living longer, so on that dole for longer, but, if the economy ever picks up again, all these healthy people could go back to work, and put off retiring until the age of 75 or 80. The gift that keeps on giving.

Or, how about pass a law for genetic testing so that people who are prone to producing “genetically flawed offspring” can start paying their fair share too. And what about people who have babies that can’t afford them… placing a huge burden on society to care for the kids they could not provide for. State sponsored sterilization sounds like a good answer for you too. An oxygen tax for those of us who are still breathing could also be productive. The proceeds could be used to clean up the air so that it’s fit to breathe. Be very, very careful what you wish for, you just might get it.

Mr. Obama, I think, is on the right track with lobbyists, although I don’t think he went far enough. Browsing through the Constitution, I couldn’t find the part that says Representatives shall pass laws, and fund our government solely by bills presented to them by lobbyists. I can see where it probably saves the congress critters hours and hours of work having this stuff drafted up by outside attorneys working for some special interest group, but that’s what we pay the congressmen to do. It’s just another fine example of the consumer/taxpayer footing the bill for big businesses to get laws passed that don’t even start to have the taxpayers best interests at heart. Congress has turned into a branch of big business. It’s really nothing new, but they used to at least try to hold it down to a dull roar, but it’s become pretty blatant the last few decades.

I did find the first amendment to the Constitution:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting
the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the
right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a
redress of grievances.

The part about congress making no law prohibiting the right of the people to peaceably assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. I seriously doubt the founding fathers had in mind for that to mean the bankers could peaceably assemble, conjure up some BS that they were “too big to fail”, spend millions on lobbyists to petition the Government for a redress of grievances, and then gift the banks billions of dollars, and with no strings attached as to how they were to use that money. The congressmen, of all people, should have seen through that one. Most of them are lawyers, or at the very least, well educated in SOME field, or should be.

I wasn’t in favor of the bailouts when they first started talking about them. Then along comes the auto industry with the same song and dance, but they were met with a little more reluctance by Congress, but also being too big to fail, managed to scoop up a portion of the mother-lode. The most incredible part of the bank bailouts (round 1), was the no strings, no accountability part of it. Like I said, I wasn’t in favor of the bailouts from the start, and I was assuming that they had to use the money to kick-start the economy, make loans, re-do mortgages that were putting people out on the streets etc. Never in my wildest dreams did I conjure up a scenario that the money was just being given away, but that’s what it amounted to. CEO’s were still getting obscene salaries, bonuses, and golden parachutes, while the banks were using the money to pay stockholders dividends, to buy up weaker banks, or in some cases, just sitting on it for a rainy day fund. So, the economy just continued into ever tighter little swirls, picking up speed heading for the drain. The government has already calculated that 25% of that first round of money is lost – gone – never to be seen again, at least until the taxpayers pony up one more time to replace it.

There is an obvious cure for all of this, unless the government decides to nationalize the banks, and they probably should at this point, but as far as bank management’s salaries are concerned, and the same could apply to any company getting a part of the bailout money; set up salaries similar to the variable rate mortgages, make the pay commensurate with performance. A base salary would be set up for each job in management, and that would be what they get paid. If the bank surpasses a preset percentage of profits, funds would be set aside in a trust, part of which could be an increase in salaries for the managers, and all bonuses and severance packages. This would all be money from profits. If there are no profits, there are no increases in salaries, bonuses or severance packages. In order to protect themselves and the rest of the world down the road, after 5 years of contributing to the fund, they could be eligible to tap 20% of the increased salary and bonus money, 40% after 10 years, 60% after 15 years, etc. If the business loses money due to their poor management, they would lose that much money from their trust. This would give them enough incentive to follow the rules, keep their stockholders best interests at heart, and to perform the jobs they are hired to do. It makes no sense at all to give an outgoing CEO or other high ranking corporate type a multi-million dollar parting package for losing his employers billions of dollars, but that’s what has been going on. Pay based on performance is one thing, and not a bad thing, but those kinds of packages for failed managers is just ludicrous.

I don’t think for a minute they would ever go along with such a deal, unless it was the only deal in town. Instant gratification is the order of the day for that bunch, even if it means the taxpayers have to pay for their mistakes and poor judgement. If they had previously had some constraints on what they were getting involved in, we wouldn’t be in the mess we are now. Paying those already overpaid so called executives (according to the results they produced) more money, with no strings attached, has to go down in history as the all-time stupidest stunt of the US Congress. “And hurry, it has to be done in 2 weeks, or we are doomed!!!!!” At least they got the “we are doomed” part of it right. If given some time for analysis and due diligence of the problem, I would hope Congress would have come up with a different solution.

As long as there are lobbyists in DC, and until Congress is censured for doing business with them, and for accepting gifts from them, I’m thinking deporting them to the nearest GITMO type camp, along with the bankers that caused this meltdown, for some mandatory retraining and ethics classes. It wouldn’t be the type of boondoggle they are used to, but they might learn a new language, learn how to wrap a towel around their heads, and see how the other half lives in this world. A different sort of entitlement.

This Pig could haul some Pork!

Ok, maybe this should be filed under “rants”, or possibly round-filed, but on the other hand, nobody reads it anyhow, so it doesn’t really matter. It does give me a chance to practice my method of typing, if nothing else.

After our regular Sunday night bowling league, the team met up as usual for coffee & pie, commiserate about our bowling, and our normal general chit-chat session. Of course, being this close to the inauguration, a few words were spoken about politics, as might be expected. It did get me thinking about a few things though, and one of those things was an article I read about “entitlement programs” that needed to be worked over by the next administration. Briefly, the article talked about how past administrations, with the best of intentions, talked about overhauling and updating the Social Security and Medicare programs that are about to break the bank, but somehow they were always put on the back burner, and left for the next administration to handle. It just seems to be a job nobody is really wanting to tackle, as it could lead to political suicide if they upset too many folks.

A few years back, when folks were spun up about the congress-critters voting themselves raises every year, they put a program into place that cured all that. Automatic raises each year that don’t have to be voted on to accept, only voted on if they wanted to turn it down, as a group. Needless to say, that doesn’t happen. The automatic “COLA” (cost of living allowance) this year stealthily slid by most without notice, giving our senators a nice $4,000 a year raise, from ~ $168,000 a year to a nice tidy sum of ~ $174,000 a year. (Considerably more if you are the Speaker of the House, or a in a few other positions). Then the question came  up about who pays the salaries of their staff, which in some cases is considerable. Of course the taxpayers pay it, it doesn’t come out of the congress persons salary. If it did, they would all be in the hole.

So, while digging around on the Internet for answers to these and other questions I found a great website. It’s called LegiStorm. Their site was started to provide some transparency to the processes and goings on at our capitol. In their words:

LegiStorm launched in September 2006. Our web site is dedicated to providing a variety of important information about the US Congress.

Based on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, LegiStorm’s first information product was a database of congressional staff salaries but we have now added other valuable information, such as the most comprehensive database of all privately financed trips taken by members of Congress and congressional staffers.

The information is provided in a strictly factual, non-partisan fashion. We have no political affiliations and no political purpose except to make the workings of Congress as transparent as possible. We expect this resource to be useful to journalists, researchers, lobbyists and current and would-be staffers – as well as regular citizens who simply want to know how their representatives spend public money.

You can be sure that there are more such legislative resources to come from LegiStorm. You may register for updates by subscribing to our newsletter to learn when we launch major new features on the site or when we update our congressional salaries data.

This, my friends, is some fascinating reading. You can pick  your state, pick your rep, and his staff, and see where they are traveling, for what, and who is paying for it. It would almost be amusing, if not so tragic, to think that these are the same people holding the banks and auto industry accountable for how they are spending their company’s money. Some of the boondoggles found on this site would make GM and Ford’s exec’s use of private jets look pretty frugal. If Mr. Obama wants to curtail unnecessary government spending such as he has alluded to, his committee could start looking here. There should be somewhere in all of government somewhere, like the GAO possibly, that has this information boiled down even further, and be able to give us some totals on some of these figures.

It also will give you an idea of the kind of money that Microsoft, Time Warner, MPAA, RIAA, and other private industry is willing to spend to get these folks to see their side of the world, and to explain how poorly they are being treated by those nasty consumers. This is the path big business is taking to get the legislation they write pushed through as law. Sony BMG Music v. Tenenbaum — the case about a guy who allegedly downloaded seven songs over Kazaa years ago when he was 17 and who is now facing a damages claim of $1 million dollars. If he had gone into Walmart and shoplifted a CD with 7 songs on it, would the RIAA or Sony BMG Music be able to sue him for over a million in damages? Hardly, but through some of the legislation they have managed to wine and dine their way through the congress, it could turn out that way. Not to mention the fact that a private company can use those same laws, which are criminal laws, to litigate civil actions against a person. The case mentioned above is now being litigated, and there are some constitutional questions that need to be addressed, but it’s looking like a real cat fight coming up.

Mr. Obama’s line by line, program by program, analysis of what’s to stay, and what will go, should be interesting. It looks to me to be a daunting task, but a few more government agencies will no doubt be created to handle it. Another domain for an empire builder somewhere. Have a good day!

Off to shopping in Kabul

The events of 9-11 were terrible, shocking, and a wake-up call for us all. The world was at our doorstep, eager to help and to do their part in finding and dealing with those responsible. America, and some of the rest of the world, was eager to see justice done, and perhaps suffered a bit from tunnel vision, and bought into the fiasco that became the Iraq war. Colin Powell went to the U.N. and made the case for invading, and did an admirable job. He was duped right along with the rest of us about the non-existent WMD. Mr. Bush was so bent on being a “war president” and gaining the political capital that goes with it, they pushed hard to get backing from the people, congress, and the U.N. We all know the story, I don’t need to repeat it here. We were led into the quagmire by deceit, half-truths, and outright lies. Even when it started to become obvious we were wrong, that there were no WMD’s, and that Iraq had nothing to do with 9-11, instead of saying Oooops, sorry, and preparing to leave, we started building bases all over their country, like we were planning to be there for 50 years or more. (Overseeing “our” oil interests no doubt)

In the process of doing all of this for Iraq, we became the poster child and number one recruiting tool for Al Qaeda. These people have been fighting each other over there for a few thousand years now, and not because they are hell bent down the road to democracy. There are no disputes going on there that they couldn’t resolve without our “help”. They were doing so long before we got there, and will do so long after we leave. Trying to steal their oil won’t change their ideology or help their appreciation of a democratic way of life. They  just want to get on with life. Leaders will come and go, the sun will keep coming up in the east, whether we are there or not.

The same goes for Afghanistan and Pakistan, and the rest of the stans. The Taliban has reached a point where they are having to turn away fighters who want to help them in the “war” against the U.S. The soviets couldn’t conquer these people with twice the manpower we have there, not to mention, there is no longer a point to being there. Osama bin Laden, if he is still alive, is not reason to enough to expend this country’s resources, manpower and money, to accomplish little more than to wear out our welcome in that country, and the rest of the world. If they need help with farming projects, education, technology or whatever, fine, do it through the U.N. That’s what they are there for. A massive buildup of troops is unwarranted for a seven year old failed mission, if they even remember what the original mission was.

Battlefield Action

Warfare is never pleasant. It is seldom fair, and circumstances often allow for thinking the ends justify the means. As inhumane as war can be, there’s a limit to what civilized nations have decided that could, and could not, be done – as set out in the Geneva conventions. It is also pretty well spelled out for our military as to what is, and what is not, acceptable behavior within their Codes of Conduct and the UCMJ. The Constitution, which the Bush administration called “just a damned piece of paper”, lays out a system of checks and balances designed to keep the government in line and functioning during war and peace.

In just eight years, they have managed to trample the constitution, break treaties, ignore the Geneva conventions, institute programs of abuse and torture to illegally held prisoners, who are still being held without charges, implemented illegal wiretapping on US citizens, then passing laws retroactively to cover their misdeeds. Any time he felt like doing something that was illegal, no problem, that’s what signing statements are for. (King George) It puts him above the law of the land. I do not believe for a second that he has the intellect to come up with all these schemes on his own, nor was alone in the planning and execution of them. These things need to be corrected as early as possible, and the people responsible censured. To be able to walk away from totally devastating one country’s infrastructure; killing, maiming and uprooting, by some accounts, upwards of a million people, and illegally imprisoning and detaining thousands more, while bulldozing our own country over the side of a cliff economically is just more than what should have to be tolerated. After all that, he still hasn’t found bin Laden, the country is nearly broke, Cheney and his cohorts have made a fortune doing business with the US, from a foreign country so they don’t have to pay taxes on it here. Is it any wonder other countries hate us?

I know the Obama mantra is Looking Forward, not behind, but how much credibility will we, as a country have, if these guys get away with all of this? When this country has, in the past, done things the right way, taken the high road, fought the fair fight, the rest of the world maybe didn’t love us, but they did respect us. Ask any foreigners now what they feel about the U.S., and respect will be very low on the list, and will stay that way for a lot longer than it took to get us here. Mr. Obama’s own credibility will suffer if it appears he tacitly condones the actions of the past administration, and it will take more than some great oratory from him to get past this. He doesn’t need to make it a personal thing, we have a Justice department, or what’s left of it, that should handle this, if world courts don’t do it first. Making government transparent going forward is a great gesture and fine idea, but we need transparency backwards for a few years also to gain a better understanding of the type of thinking that was going on, so that we don’t ever allow it to go this far again.

Never in my 65 years have I felt the shame I have felt for this country in the last few years. I tried to reconcile my thoughts with what was going on in the world, and things didn’t add up. This is not my country. My country does not torture. My country does not do illegal wiretapping on it’s citizens. My president would not get on national TV and lie. Business and industry in my country has laws that must be abided by, therefore protecting our retirements, savings, our banks, and our industry. My country, in my mind, was better than that. Maybe not perfect in all respects, but generally fair and even handed. Okay fine – I am naive, I have a naive belief in the basic honesty of politicians and people in general, which puts me pretty much in the middle of most people. My shame is not only for what our country has done around the world to others, nor even  what we have done to ourselves. I am totally ashamed that I bought into the story, hook, line and sinker, and felt like there was nothing I could do, until election time anyhow. I didn’t question the mental midget much more than most other Americans. I knew we didn’t have the “big picture”, and “they” know what they are doing. WRONG

Most Americans are too busy trying to earn a living to spend a lot of time following all the laws our hardworking congressmen are passing year after year, ( & here’s hoping they enjoy the nice raise they just gave themselves to help them through these hard times) nor have they figured out that most of the laws are sponsored by, and lobbied for, by big business, who does not have the consumers best interests at heart. This has held true with the banking industry, politicians getting “lobbied” to pass favorable legislation for less regulation, easier access to feed the greed, the stock market, big pharmaceutical companies, one large software company, automobile manufacturers, aircraft manufacturers, insurance companies, the recording and movie industries, numerous defense contractors, and governments themselves, all hire lobbyists to make their case for some of that big government money through legislation. The amount of money spent on lobbyists per year would make a hell of a dent in our national debt. Why do we put up with it? Do not these congressmen understand they are elected to serve the people? It’s “We the People” NOT “We the Corporations” in case you haven’t checked lately.

“As I reflect on 2008, I can say we had a great year:

Blacks are happy; Obama was elected.

Whites are happy, OJ is in jail.

Democrats are happy; George Bush is leaving office.

Republicans are happy: Democrats will finally quit saying George Bush stole the election.

And all of us are so happy; The election is finally over!

I think 2009 will be even better: Immediately after his inauguration, Obama will balance the budget, revive the economy, solve the real estate problem, solve the auto industry problem, solve our gas/alternative energy problem, stop the fires and mudslides in California, ban hurricanes and tornadoes, stop identity theft, reverse global warming, find Osama, solve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, get rid of corruption in government and achieve world peace .

Then on the 7th day, He will rest.

My best wishes for 2009

“The government cannot give to anyone anything that it does not first take from someone else.”

I’m thinking back to when I resumed the pedalling regimen this last time. I’m thinking I had just zipped past my 62nd birthday. I have always enjoyed riding, and thought it would be fun to get back into it. So, it’s off to the local bike shop to check out what was available. If you have read any of my past rants about sticker shock, I won’t bore you with details again, just suffice it to say I left there cross-eyed, confused, and indignant. And bikeless. I really felt like someone was trying to get into my knickers there. I needed some time to think it over and do a little more research on the matter.

As it turns out, the nice folks at the LBS were carving some pretty good discounts off the price, and were steering me onto something they felt I might be happy with, so after much trauma, we forked over the money, bought the beast, and started riding once again. All equipped with my little blinkie lights fore and aft, and my reflective vest, I was commuting to work everyday – a whole mile and a half each way. This is fairly flat ground around town here, with a couple little hills probably not much higher than the average highway overpass. That first week about did me in. The last quarter mile or so on the way home was pretty much uphill. After spending all evening on my feet at the job, the ride home always started off refreshing me, but by the time I got home, going up stairs was bad, but going down stairs was even worse. My muscles had turned to jello somewhere on that little ride.

Thankfully, it didn’t take too long for the legs to start responding to calls for more speed, more power, more fun! Of course they responded with more cramps and jello at first, but then they decided they better shape up or else. I didn’t mark the calender, or really pay a lot of attention to how long the process took for the legs to adjust to the new call to arms ( or was that legs?) but it seems like in no time, they were wanting to go longer and harder. It feels good to feel good.

Besides not marking the calender, I didn’t step on the scales either. That wasn’t something in my normal routine. I was overweight, knew it, and didn’t feel the need for affirmation from a rusty spring that had sat on the bathroom floor for too many years. But after a couple or three months of very casual riding back and forth to work, I noticed my pants were starting to stretch out a little around the waist, shirts were starting to bag a little, so I got a clue I might be losing a little weight. I stepped on those lying scales in the bathroom, and they said right around 220. The last time I had gone to see the doc, they weighed me and said I was 235, but I know they always add a few pounds at the docs office, so I figured I might have lost about 10 pounds.

For some reason, I wasn’t all that excited about the weight loss, knowing my weight goes up and down with the seasons. I think it did make an impression on something in my brain, because I started to watch what I was eating a little more closely, not wanting to hurry up the process of gaining it back. If nothing else, a good day riding the bike tends to work up a good appetite! There are muscles screaming for more nourishment, and they are hard to ignore, and shouldn’t be ignored.

Somewhere along the line, I found some information in a biking magazine, or online, or maybe a great dream, I don’t really remember, but it was about the care and feeding of a cycling body, and parts of what they were saying didn’t make a lot of sense at first, and the parts that did make sense seemed like a lot of hassle and bother for such a casual rider as myself. But in the spirit of “WOW, I’m starting to lose some real weight here”, I was watching what I ate more closely than I had in a lot of years. Without going into all the details of all the nutritional mistakes I was making while riding on some longer rides now, let’s just let it suffice to say the body is your engine on that bike, and it needs to be properly fueled. I’m probably lucky to still be alive after a few of the stunts I pulled, but I survived and learned from it, but there are much better and easier ways to learn about this stuff. There is no end to the material available on-line from sports nutritionists, and other bike riders. Read it and learn – and lose the weight. I have lost more weight accidentally bike riding than I ever did on purpose trying many different diets. But it needs to be done right to maintain your health.

Bike riding is a good alternative to running if you have problems with your knees or other parts that can’t take the pounding that running can give you. If you do make cycling your main activity, you will still need to find ways to keep your core area and upper body in good shape also. Biking doesn’t help these area a lot, and in the interests of keeping the bones stronger in your old age, check out using free weights and other exercises that will keeps your bones in good shape. It’s good for you, and even fun, even for folks that have never thought of themselves as being “athletic” types. If you have questions on how to get started on the road to getting into better shape, ask or hire a coach or other professional – there’s a world of help available out there for you. You don’t have to go it alone.

Just from casually reading the New York Times on-line edition since the election, and cruising around a few other on-line papers as well, the theme has emerged. We are in great need. Of course, we all have our immediate needs, but going beyond that, I am amazed at the amount of articles that have been written concerning all needs that people feel should be addressed as soon as Mr. Obama is sworn in, or before, if Georgie would kindly just step aside and let a more competent person start running the country. He has been a lame duck for quite some time now, bordering on  being a totally crippled duck, but that’s an insult to a duck I suppose, and no doubt politically incorrect. I can’t really argue with the concept of his early departure, but I’ll not be holding my breath waiting for it to happen. As the man said, we only have one president at a time.

I’ve been sitting here wishing I had started cataloguing all these needs when I first started to notice the wave starting to swell. We could have written a comedy series from it. It should be intuitively obvious, to even the most casual of observers, some of Mr. Obama’s first challenges will come from reviving the economy, getting people back to work, and feeding and housing those unable to find work. That’s pretty much a given, and will be a full time task for the president and congress to get that ball rolling asap. Then we have the pesky little problem of what to do with our troops,  do we bring them home, or leave them there and call them advisers. Pretty much the same deal for Afghanistan. Some articles have called for more offshore drilling, others shouting for the reversal of approval on offshore drilling.  The very first thing that needs to be done is a total overhaul of (insert your favorite government agency here), and from the sounds of it, maybe overhaul them all. A new broom sweeps clean, and some of those agencies are getting a little musty. The FAA needs to be totally overhauled or restructured back to some semblance of what it was intended to be, the SEC is a total shambles, allowing banks and stock brokers to get in over their heads like they did, even after people pleaded with them to look into it. Farm aid is always a popular cause. Mr. Obama’s campaign promise of “no more pork” is an idea long overdue – but it might be a real pisser to implement. If it does happen, there will be a lot of unscratched backs running around in Washington D.C. and there’s nothing worse than an itchy politician.

More fuel efficient cars and mass transit are some peoples panacea for what ails the country. Fix that, lessen the dependence on foreign oil, yada, yada, yada. During the period when gas prices went out of sight, people actually did drive less, noticibly less. So much less in fact, government types are scrambling around trying to figure out how to implement a different type of tax, to make up for the shortfall of lost revenues from the gas taxes that weren’t collected while people were driving less. Maybe tax by the mile, yeah, that’s a good one. They finally get people convinced that more fuel efficient cars are actually a good thing, and that we should drive less, but then they want to tax the crap out of drivers anyway, because they are using less gas. So, from the consumers standpoint, what was that gain again? Ah, yes, a cleaner planet. That same clean planet that will be running the coal fired powered plants that produce the electricity to charge up all these cute little electric cars that can go 40 miles on a charge.

More things need to be addressed pronto also. Immigration reform, build the wall or another walmart?  How about those guns? Some are afraid the prez is going to take them away, others are afraid he won’t. Gays & lesbians want to be treated like “other normal” folks are, Muslims feel like they are being “targeted” for traffic stops and airline no fly lists. Others are incensed that the government is able to listen in on all your phone calls, domestic and international, and snoop through your computer files in the TSA line at the airports, FEMA is no more than a bad joke, the Department of Homeland Security possibly worse, global warming is certainly going to be our demise, and all these things need to be fixed, the first week!!! Hispanics want more people in high office now that they are a force to be reckoned with politically. Reporters that travel are aghast at the condition of our airports as compared to those of other countries. The steel industry is mulling over how they might get their fair chunk of the business of selling steel to the government when all the infrastructure rebuilding starts, and it just goes on and on.

Every local government is looking up for a bailout, most state governments are feeling the pinch and needing money to continue the services and to keep building prisons. Some are calling for the exportation of all the Hispanics in prison because they can no longer afford to keep them, while the prison industry wants more stringent laws and sentencing guidelines so their business will pick up. Every one of these special interest groups have lobbyists that are going to bat for them to steer some of that federal money their way. Private companies are betting on the prison industry, building private prisons so they can rent out bedspace to the feds, so they can house all the illegal immigrants they are picking up. Big cities hire lobbyists, state governments hire them, as do federal agencies and just about every other special interest group. It’s beyond me how they can even think of getting rid of the pork until the lobbyists themselves are banished to the outback. Pork is what makes those folks tick. It amazes me that lower governments, such as state and local, don’t seem to consider downsizing their own empires so they can operate on money that they can sustain, without spending enormous amounts on lobbyists to score some federal funds for them. If the federal agencies would start to police their own domains as they were set up to do, we wouldn’t need nearly as many of them, banks and industry would be obeying the laws instead of making it, but that’s another story.

I know the squeaky wheel get the grease, which is why all the lobbying, spinning, and the showing of hands is taking place, hoping someone will grant a fist full of free money, in the name of restructuring. But if it’s business as normal in government with the new administration, not even the magical Mr. Obama will be able to effect much change in the status quo. He is only a human, and has a very big machine to beat back down. Good luck Sir.

The temps are back down into the teens, and the weather service has severe winter weather warnings out once again, calling for snow, just 3 -5 inches, and then freezing rain in the morning just to keep it interesting. As I’m writing this, I’m keeping an eye on the weather radar, and it looks like we have missed the brunt of the leading edge of the system that’s moving in, but the next cells are moving right at us, so I guess it’s just wait and see. Looking out onto the back deck, we have new snow, only about 3/8 of an inch, but it’s coming down pretty good.

Obviously this isn’t going to make for good road bike riding with my skinny tired carbon wonder. Stoking up the wood burning fireplace insert and hot chocolate is looking better by the minute. As much as I would like to be out riding, setting the spare bike up on the trainer and riding along with the Chris Carmichael training dvd’s seems a better alternative.

I know there are die-hard commuters out there who will be out on their bikes making their way to work in this stuff. Hat’s off to them. I don’t have the right equipment – clothes, bike, tires, spare boxes of Kleenex, or a destination I have to report to, that would get me out into this weather. Last winter, I rode nearly everyday, zipping off the bowling lanes, bike shop, 7-11, or whatever, but the only drawback was the cold. Non of the slippery, slidy stuff to contend with, which is where I have drawn my line. I’m getting too old and fat to be falling down on icy roads, just to say I made my commute. I’m not quite as committed as Yehuda Moon.

For those of you not familiar with Rick Smith’s Yehuda Moon & the Kickstand Cyclery, here’s a guy that understands cycling and most of all, people. It’s a great little on-line daily comic strip I feel is ready for world wide exposure, but I am perhaps a little biased towards this whole cycling deal. He has great story line (for a comic strip) and gets to the heart of things near and dear to the cycling community. I believe the whole series is still available for viewing at the above link.

A few more thoughts about the clothing deal. Being a male of the species, attention to the ladies side might have been lacking a little. My better half jabs me occasionally for ignoring that segment of the market. First of all, I’m not here to be plugging any business or other websites as their marketing tool. If I mention them at all, it’s because I have used them and got some great products and service. Some of these outfits just go above and beyond, busting their butts to be the best they can be. If I get some really poor customer service, or find dealers that don’t stand behind the products, rest assured they will also be mentioned, and not favorably.

On the ladies side of things, I have to put in a plug for the better half’s favorite shopping site, Team Estrogen. This is a business run by a lady that is very much into cycling on a personal level, and very active in the promotion of cycling in the Portland, OR area. They have outstanding service, fine products, competitive prices, and a joy to do business with.

My other issue with cycling clothing as presented by the majority of LBS’s. It isn’t just the LBS’s doings here, but it seems they think all cyclists are about 5’7″, and weigh 135 lbs. Being over 6’2″ and right at a couple hundred pounds probably doesn’t fit the description of the average cyclist, but there are some of us out here that do fall in that category. Finding size XL anything hanging on a rack is somewhere between rare and non existant. This minor inconvenience prompts more online shopping when deep down, we’d rather be buying locally, and supporting the LBS’s. I’m starting to think maybe they are ordering what fits them just in case they don’t sell the whole inventory off each season. Maybe it’s a hint for me to diet? Not a bad idea, but we kinda have to go with what we’ve got. This really isn’t a big deal with jerseys, socks and that sort of thing, but when it comes to shorts, bibs, etc. I like to check out the chamois padding and see how they feel. The different brands from different parts of the world all seem to have their own sizing conventions, so going by size is no guarantee you will be able to use it. Most places will exchange it, but that can be a time consuming ordeal. WAH!!

Don’t Ever Use Internet Explorer !

When I was a kid, I spent entire summers riding blissfully around an area that was probably within a 15 mile radius from my home, many hours a day. I don’t remember the pain associated with the seat, and seat contacting parts. There was no chamois in my shorts, no slathering on any type of lubricants or balms, and no fire in the nether regions. So what changed? Maybe time heals and I just forgot? That’s possible, as it was many years ago – or maybe, just maybe, they made better seats back in the day? I don’t suppose weighing 30-40 lbs less would have anything to do with that, but maybe.

The need for all the cycling specific clothing just kinda sneaks up on you. There comes a day that you find a real cycling jersey on sale for a price too cheap to pass up, so you gladly fork over enough to buy a dozen or so good tee shirts, all for just one real cycling jersey. You pack it up, take it home, all the time thinking, “Man, that was dumb. It can’t be that much better.”  All that hype about wicking this, wind-proofing that, lighter than air, gonna make you go like the wind has got to be the marketing genius sitting back having a good chuckle, knowing I would read it, and run right out and pick up one of these amazing jerseys. One more longish ride, and once again, singing like the Monkees: “I’m a believer.”

OK, I’m a little dense, but I’m beginning to see a pattern here. These things are making the cycling experience a lot more tolerable, even enjoyable. So pretty soon I’m looking at more jerseys, more shorts, bib shorts, arm warmers, leg warmers, jackets that convert to vests, and lots of it high visibility colors, which makes me feel safer. No downside to this stuff. With all the specialty clothing available, it really doesn’t make a lot of sense not to use it, as long as you don’t start keeping track of this stuff on a dollars per pound basis. That part might drive fellow scrooges out there bonkers.

I have worn white cotton socks for years, for daily wear, and have drawers full of them. All white has worked out well for someone like me that can’t match up a pair of socks any other way. The laundry gods require a certain amount of sacrifices, and they take it in socks. I was talked into trying a pair of Smartwool merino wool cycling socks, and about freaked when I saw the $14.00 a pair price tag on them. Being Scottish, I tend to suffer from sticker shock more than most people I guess, but I thought that was just a little above and beyond what I would consider within reason. With great reluctance, I bought a couple pairs, and guess what? Yep, sure enough, I’m hooked on them too – and not just for cycling. They really are smart – in the winter they are warm, in the summer they keep the feet cool – how do they know?  We now make a pass thru Joes (formerly G.I. Joes I believe) every once in a while to see if they are on sale. It’s one of the few places we’ve found that discount them any significant amount when they are on sale.

All the cycling specific clothing is cut to fit you while you are riding, so it might feel a bit odd when standing up straight. The backs are cut longer, the fit is more snug than what you are probably used to, the fabrics will be moisture wicking so the skin stays dryer, body temperatures being controlled by the wicking and special venting built into the better lines of cycling clothes. And that brings us back to the title here – winter riding – or not.

It’s been said many ways, many times, there is no bad day for cycling, only poor clothing choices. Cold weather presents a lot of challenges for those who have limited their cycling clothing to beating the summer heat. Cold can be miserable, wet and cold is even worse. A Swedish company, Craft, has this stuff all figured out. They have sports specific clothing for year around, starting with base layers, intermediate layers, and outer layers that will keep you toasty, well ventilated, and smiling all day. This really is special stuff. Competitive Cyclist carries a good selection of Craft clothing and has great reviews and descriptions of it. If you want a really good giggle while  your browsing the Competitive Cyclist website, check out the Assos ultimate cycling jacket  -  only about $630  give or take a little. They do a great job of reviewing products, and carry some great stuff. Check them out. Next year maybe I’ll be a little better equipped than I was this year. Well, this year, I needed a snowplow more than a bike, grrrrrrrr.

The whole cycling scene was a source of continual bouts with sticker shock. Silly me, I thought you could buy a really nice road bike for around $500 but after looking at the bikes at that price point, I knew that wasn’t going to cut it, so about doubled it and got the bare minimum of what I was looking for. As it turned out, I have upgraded a couple times, so it would have been faster and easier on the wallet if I had gotten what I really wanted the first time. Used bikes don’t have a lot of trade in value, much like trading cars. The clothing is the part that sneaked up on me the worst probably. The clothes, much like the bikes, seems to follow the train of thought that less = more. There’s a point where it really makes sense to diet to shed all the weight possible there, first. Then the bike goes faster with less effort, all those spendy clothes fit so much better, and you look and feel good too. So once you wrap your head around the concept that the bike you really want is going to cost you a couple grand or more, that’s just the start. Adding up all those little pieces of lycra, spandex, and poly whatevers, just might double the price of the bike if you want to be prepared for any type of weather, and get the maximum enjoyment from your investment. And isn’t that what it’s really all about?