Island Issues

“Green” Forms Of Energy Leaving Folks Broke & In The Dark

Those hideous, useless, bird-chopping, oil-leaking windmills that froze up in Texas this winter are just one example of the failure of the alternative forms of energy that Democrats tout as they pull the plug on fossil fuels and wonder why they’re freezing in the dark.

Oh, and before I lose the thought, where did the snowflake Austin-Texas liberals plug in their goofy little electric cars when the state’s electric grid froze?

Like windmills, solar panels are another ineffective feel-good element in  the “Green New Energy Deal” that these bird-killing liberal birdbrains are promoting. Not only are they outrageously expensive and destroy a home’s “curb appeal”, they’re also useless, dangerous, and environmentally disastrous.

….and the roof now leaks too.

Despite the obvious fact that they don’t work at night or on cloudy days, they also cause roof and water damage. One guy told me that he had to have his entire roof replaced following the installation of panels.  I’ve read stories of others whose homes suffered severe water damage following the installation of these ugly monstrosities. When they go to demand repairs or their money back, they discover the lights have gone out in the bankrupt companies that sold them this nonsense.

If you’re 30-years-old and expect a payback on solar panels that may happen if you are fortunate enough to live to 100 if it happens at all.

There are other consequences to the Green’s nutty solar programs that they are either unaware of or prefer to ignore. For example, about 90 percent of the world’s solar panels are built in Asia, mostly China, on coal-powered electric grids.

The government in the Netherlands recently conducted a “Green Study” that concluded that their country’s green objectives would consume a major share of the global metals required to  meet its needs. The population of the Netherlands is about 17 million while the population of the US is about 330 million and the world population about 7.5 billion. Do the math.

Biden, Bernie Sanders, and A O-C will blindly beat the drum promoting electric cars despite facts predicting a dismal future. China controls 80% of the world’s Lithium, so they essentially control most of the batteries the cars require. The Biden crime family has financial interests in China. Maybe A O-C and Sanders do too. Either that or they’re as dim as they appear.

So, in the near future, just about any country in the world will be able to build the cars, but only China will be able to make them move out of your garage, an undertaking that could prove tougher than getting your kid with a Gender Studies degree out of your basement.

And then there are the environmental issues ignored by the same green crowd that screams in outrage about plastic straws. Estimates are that by 2050, with current plans, the quantity of worn-out solar panels, much of it non-recyclable, will constitute double the tonnage of all today’s global plastic waste, along with over three million tons per year of unrecyclable plastics from worn-out wind turbine blades.

A local home owner wrote to an Amelia Island neighborhood social media site called “Nextdoor Digest” a few weeks ago asking: “Solar panels, are mine really working?” The lady wrote that she was seeking assistance understanding her home’s solar panel system. “We purchased a home in August 2020 with solar panels that were installed in 2017,” she said. “I understand how the panels work. What I don’t know is how much the panels are helping. I have called and have written an email to the installation company for assistance to no avail. I have spoken with FPU and they have listed us a “solar customer” but are not able to see how much our system is creating. The solar panel box in the garage has green lights which apparently means it is connecting with the Internet, but I know nothing beyond that. If anyone is able to provide some guidance I would greatly appreciate it.”

Two homeowners responded saying they have solar panels and their home electric bills average between $170-210 monthly. That’s about the same as mine. I don’t have solar panels and the square footage of my house is larger than what they said they have in their homes.

It appears that these “enlightened” solar panel consumers have nothing to show for the ugly blisters on their roofs but green blinking lights in their garages.

There is nothing that proves solar panels are anything more than a way for over-dramatic left wingers, who are motivated more by politics than science, to waste money and feel good about their useless acquisition. Solar panel manufacturers will continue to rake in cash for providing a physical example for these twits to smugly point to, much like the meaningless participation trophies handed out to all the kids on a losing sports team.

There are two houses in my neighborhood that have these solar eyesores plastered on their roofs. I’m sure the homeowners will testify how efficient and cost-effective they are. Have you ever had a neighbor buy a new car that spends more time in the shop than in his garage admit he bought a lemon? Of course not.

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Cluttered Broadcasting: While watching local weather reports out of Jacksonville or any other city, forecasters invariably point to the radar scanning their respective areas and mention the presence of “ground clutter.” I have never once heard a meteorologist explain “ground clutter.” Is it discarded cigarette butts, empty McDonalds paper bags, plastic straws, or something more alarming? They never appear to be troubled by it, so it obviously has nothing to do with foul weather. But what is it other than verbal litter?

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A Mountain Of Stupidity: The colossal level of ignorance and abject stupidity demonstrated by Democrat politicians is staggering.

It’s not relegated to just one or two policies, but includes almost all aspects of science, health, human relations, security, energy, the environment and more. Additionally, their policies go beyond ignorant because they frequently defy existing laws of science where concrete proof exits to the contrary.

Surely their voters aren’t this dim too. Are they?

The Keystone Pipeline is a perfect example of colossal ignorance and defiance of science and facts according to studies and reports by Forbes Magazine, U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Global Energy Institute, Energy Policy Research Foundation, and Congressional Service Research.

These are intelligent and reasonable people who also agree that we should be investing and moving away from fossil fuels.

The problem is the far left want to do it right now without regard to the fact that the science and technology has not been refined to the point that it makes sense to abandon one energy source in favor of the other. It’s just another in a long line of examples of politicians stroking the feathers of the intellectually lazy or stupid constituents to stay in power so they can continue lining their pockets and those of their communist Chinese partners.

The Keystone XL Pipeline would result in millions of dollars in economic growth for North America, including more than $3 billion towards U.S. GDP. It would also create significant property tax revenues paid by the project, which will greatly benefit the towns and counties it passes through, not to mention the thousands of jobs.

The Keystone XL Pipeline is nothing new. Beneath the ground of the United States are thousands upon thousands of miles of existing pipelines transporting natural gas and oil. This type of project has been completed numerous times before, safely, and efficiently. I served as vice president of corporate communications and advertising for the former Texas-based Coastal Corporation and saw first-hand the benefits of such energy infrastructure to citizens, communities, shareholders, and employees.

If completed the Keystone Pipeline would carry more than 800,000 barrels or 33.6 million gallons of oil through the pipeline per day with no harmful emissions.

A barrel of oil is 42 gallons, not to be confused with a drum, which is 55 gallons. Because a gallon of oil weighs between 7.5 and 7.8 pounds per gallon, most trucks can only carry up to 130 barrels of oil at a time without violating U.S. Department of Transportation laws of 80,000 pounds on U.S. roadways. That includes combined truck and cargo weight.

It would add an additional 6,154 trucks going from Canada to refineries on the Gulf Coast of the U.S. to haul that same amount of oil every day. And then there would be the return trips.

A railroad car holds approximately 30,000 gallons or 700 barrels. It would take a daily string of trains pulling 1,143 more rail cars per day to handle the amount run through the pipeline.

All these trains and trucks release emissions by burning fuel that would be eliminated by the pipeline. That’s not to mention the possibility of spills caused by truck or train accidents.

Increased energy trade between the United States and Canada is viewed by some pipeline proponents as a major contributor to U.S. energy security. Most notably, TransCanada’s Presidential Permit application argues that the pipeline would have allowed U.S. refiners to substitute supply from Canada—a stable, friendly neighbor—for other foreign crude supply and to obtain direct pipeline access to growing Canadian crude output.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce opposed President Biden’s action to revoke the permit for the Keystone XL pipeline saying: “The pipeline—the most studied infrastructure project in American history—is already under construction and has cleared countless legal and environmental hurdles. This is a politically motivated decision that is not grounded in science. It will harm consumers and put thousands of Americans in the building trades out of work. Halting construction will also impede the safe and efficient transport of oil, and unfairly single out production from one of our closest and most important allies.”

It goes without saying that the Keystone XL Pipeline would provide the American consumer more stable prices at the pump and halting it will only increase prices.

A report by the Petroleum Alliance of Oklahoma said that by scrapping the Keystone XL pipeline project: “The U.S. will see consumer prices rising, gasoline prices rising because there will be less production, less transportation, more regulation that is unnecessary.”

If you’re like me you’re already experiencing the dramatic rise in gasoline prices thanks to Biden’s ill-informed energy policies. I’m sure the Chinese are patting each other on the back and nodding in agreement that the deals they made with Hunter Biden and “The Big Guy” were well worth it.

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History In The Making: Not since D-Day, June 6, 1944 has the world witnessed such a massive invasion as the one currently taking place on the southern U.S. border. It seems odd that President Biden and his Vice president Kamala Harris haven’t once been curious enough to take a peek at what’s going on. Maybe it’s because those invading illegal aliens will do jobs that most Americans won’t, like voting for Democrats.

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Woka Cola: Companies like Coke don’t get it.  Its clueless management, like politicians, live in bubbles so far removed from their customers they don’t have a sense of what their customers are thinking. Taking a stand against a voting bill in the Georgia Legislature it hadn’t read and clearly didn’t understand, is a mistake more inept than the company’s “New Coke” decision in 1985, that is a now a Harvard Business Review study on marketing blunders. Brand creation takes a lifetime to create and a minute to destroy, a decision Coke is relearning. Branding is about identifying with your customers, telling them to buy your product. Coke just told more than half of Americans they’re idiots and racists. Take a look at the full shelves of Coke and empty shelves of Pepsi the next time you go to the store. Although Pepsi should tread lightly, as it’s edging closer to the same management stupidity as Coke. A national pundit recently suggested that Pepsi fire its entire “diversity staff” tomorrow and hire more production workers.

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Wait! What? Have you ever met anyone who doesn’t have an ID? I haven’t.

The nitwits on the left say that the voter laws in Georgia and those being proposed in other states are designed to prevent American minorities and poor people who don’t have IDs from voting.

Who are these people who don’t have ID’s? Do they live in  caves in Borneo?

An ID is require to buy alcohol, get a prescription, go to a hospital or a doctor’s office; board an airplane; drive; buy or rent a car; enter a courthouse or federal building; buy many over-the-counter items such as nail polish; purchase a firearm or ammunition; hook up utilities; obtain a credit card; rent or buy a house or condo; open a bank account; buy cigarettes; apply for food stamps, Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security; apply for a job or unemployment; get married; adopt a pet; rent a hotel room; buy a cell phone; get a hunting or fishing license; enter many private buildings and gated residential communities; hold a rally or protest; donate blood, and more that I’ve probably overlooked.

It’s also humiliating and insulting to claim that American minorities can’t vote because they don’t have ID’s. Isn’t that assuming that they are too dim to obtain one?

Wouldn’t those sad people who don’t have ID’s be better off if the Democrat Party started a movement to help these Americans obtain ID’s rather than demanding that they be allowed to vote without one?

Oh wait, illegal aliens don’t have valid U.S. IDs. Huuuum!

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A Question: Friend and American Spectator writer Larry Thornberry asked recently if anyone could come up with a single thing that Joe Biden has done since he moved into the White House that A O-C or Bernie Sanders would not have done had they been the choice? Can’t think of one? Me either.

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“Danger, Will Robinson!” If you’re boater, hanging out at the beach, or in your yard and get conked on the noggin by an object that fell from the sky, don’t even think of keeping it as a conversation piece for your coffee table. You could be accused of theft because it might be from a Florida-launched spacecraft.

Folks who find parts of launch vehicles or spacecraft could face theft charges if they fail to report and return the equipment according to a recent article in the Orlando Sentinel.

Florida’s Senate Military and Veterans Affairs, Space and Domestic Security Committee has backed a proposal (SB 936) intended to protect aerospace companies that are increasingly reusing launch equipment.

Committee Chairman Tom Wright, a New Smyrna Beach Republican who is sponsoring the bill, said it is aimed at protecting trade secrets of the aerospace industry, noting at times boaters have recovered jettisoned capsule parts and attempted to sell the items on eBay.

“So many of these items that go up into space are in fact proprietary and are protected by trade law,” Wright said. “And when those parts for some reason, maybe from an anomaly, are lost in the water or on land, we need to provide them that protection.”

Wright added the proposal could help Florida be seen as even more “friendly and desirable” by aerospace companies.

“This just helps to allow those companies that are here and others that hopefully will be moving here to feel more comfortable that we’re protecting them,” said Wright.

According to the Sentinel the proposal would require people to report finding crewed or uncrewed capsules, parachutes and other landing aids and other equipment that had been attached to vehicles during launches, orbits, or reentry. Failure to do so would carry a misdemeanor theft charge, with a penalty of up to one year in jail or a $1,000 fine.

Apparently there is nothing that disallows a person from keeping parts from alien spaceships except the little green men piloting those crafts.

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Things I Wish I’d Said: “When people get used to preferential treatment, equal treatment seems like discrimination.” – Thomas Sowell

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“Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word”: Fernandina Beach City Manager Dale “Big Spender” Martin warned two city commissioners at the April 6 Commission meeting not to apologize to residents about their interactions with city staff no matter what.

The local print News Leader featured Martin’s plea in a top-of-page 1-A article April 14 headlined: “Commissioners: Apologies for bad law.”

“So stop with the apologies already! You know what I’m saying?”

Bradley Bean – who is turning out to be as critical of the city’s chaotic management and attuned to citizen concerns as those who voted for him had hoped – was one of those who offered a well-deserved apology to street musician Alex Delfs for being shut down by the cops recently. A tone-deaf Mayor Mike “Stop The Music” Lednovich, who apparently only cries “Stop the music” when he hears a tune he didn’t request, was the other.

Not surprisingly the Big Spender, who continuously and unashamedly condones the city’s Building and Utility Departments’ extortionist tactics, will defend any strong-armed city policy and employee thuggery that perpetuates his criminal enterprise. He doesn’t like it when the Commission apologizes for his minions’ shakedown tactics so Martin is telling the Commissioners to shut up and dance to his tune.

Commissioner Bean didn’t apologize for apologizing. He told Martin he was apologizing for the “government steamrolling its citizens.” Lednovich said essentially the same thing, but it appears he’s totally confused, since just a few weeks ago he personally sent the cops out to local restaurants to “stop the music.”

Did California transplant “Left Coast” have another epiphany like the “stop the spending” one he experienced last year? Or has he – like Bean – started listening to the voters instead of Big Spender’s empire building claptrap?

Speaking of senseless blather, the City Commission by a 3-2 vote has extended its mask mandate to May 7.  Good luck, since Florida’s wildly popular governor Ron DeSantis says there is no mask mandate and said local municipalities can’t dish out penalties. Commissioners Bean and David Sturges sensibly voted not to continue the mandate citing local statistics including the high number of vaccinations and decreasing number of COVID cases.  So how do the city’s mask police intend to enforce this unenforceable extension? With the exception of Bean and Sturges Fernandina’s city officials are putting an entirely new blush on the phrase “dumber than a barrel of hair.”

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Drinking, Dining & Dancing: The Kentucky Derby is coming Saturday, May 1 and I’m sure  a number of local pubs will feature specials with mint juleps, etc. One I know of is the Sandbar and Kitchen at Main Beach because I’ll be upstairs there offering Derby Day pools, with horses being drawn at random. So far the field consists of 27 horses, a huge number that I’m sure will be pared down by race day. Post time is usually about 6:30 pm and you can draw a horse for 10 bucks beginning around 2:30 pm. If you pick a horse on race day that gets scratched consider it a donation to the pool winner.

21 Comments

Betsy Widnes - 19. Apr, 2021 -

We had to have an ID to get Covid-19 vaccines. Every physician’s office and specialist requires ID, as well.

Dave Lott - 19. Apr, 2021 -

There certainly are issues with some of the Green Energy technology. Expected life of a wind turbine is 20 years and then what do you do? As this piece from NPR reveals, disposal has become a major issue. https://www.npr.org/2019/09/10/759376113/unfurling-the-waste-problem-caused-by-wind-energy
As far as solar panels, I’m glad Eric Corbett chimed in with his positive experience. Knowing Eric I am sure the would be happy to go visit your ready who didn’t understand the system she inherited or call FB resident and owner Pete Wilking at A1a Solar. Certainly there are horror stories (as with any product) about poor or improper installation. Anytime you put a screw into a roof you are creating the possibility of a leak or if the roof structure wasn’t built to support a vast array of panels. Of course there is the question of what do you do at the 25 – 30 year end of life. Schedule their removal at the same time you are re-roofing or just leave them there as they grow less and less efficient? Like the wind turbines, recycling is an issue that many states are grappling with due to some of the PV panels containing toxic materials.
One of those “pay me now or pay me later” issues.

Brian Coyne - 17. Apr, 2021 -

Great column Dave. I stand with you on the so called “green” power ripoff. What most people don’t know is that both wind and solar are heavily subsidized by their tax dollars and our congress and senate are all getting rich from those stocks while we pay for them. Wind turbines do not need to be hooked to the grid and they still get our tax money for being installed. One of the biggest polluting power stations in the country was California’s solar farm out near Thousand Palms. It was so inefficient, they had to use the gas turbines around the clock to make up the power. I spent the better part of 30 years working in and out of the power industry. And remember, Biden is just a figure head and makes no independent decisions. Susan Rice and Kamala are running the country. The illegals are all part of the plan for mail in ballots.

Richard Norman Kurpiers - 16. Apr, 2021 -

I’m reminded of two incidents that occurred early in my career in the late 80’s where my management went to HR to get me fired. In both cases it was was my use of this new thing called the Internet to facilitate my job as a software engineer. To hear my managers talk I was exposing the company to security risks as well as misusing corporate assets. Fortunately, right around the same time Martin Marietta acquired GE Aerospace and with it, their forward thinking management who ultimately endorsed my efforts and gave me carte blanche to share my knowledge. This week I celebrated 35 years with the company. Those who tried to fire me were ultimately let go. Knock Green Energy all you want, but the horse and buggy was forced to give way to the automobile despite all the vehement protestations. Embrace new technology or prepare to be relegated to holding court from your rocking chair with an ever dwindling crowd.

Vince Cavallo - 17. Apr, 2021 -

Richard, analogies work both ways. Yeah, powered vehicles made horse carriages obsolete. Similarly, I recall it was theorized by 2000 airplanes and cars would be nuke powered, some tunneling would be done by nukes. Sounded great and the industry even had its own government run lobby for it, the AEC. Eventually the knowledge of the destructive nature of spent fuels and radiation made it not feasible. Public solar projects are destroying birds at a great rate. Will it kill the industry, perhaps. Battery powered cars have their own problems such as the energy has to be generated somehow. The batteries eventually go to the dump. The metals they contain are not harmless. Will that hurt the industry, perhaps. We are now running full speed into EV only production. CEO of Toyota was recently quoted stating the power grids will not support an all electric fleet. Meanwhile, I keep an open mind on the energy generation industries as they each have their downsides.

BTW, Kudos on surviving Jack Welsh.

Steve Hall - 16. Apr, 2021 -

I have this dead-of-night vision of a eruption of a Krakatoa-like volcano that covers the earth in orbiting dust for a few years. It makes solar useless and gums up the wind turbine gears. Of course, we’d all be up the creek without a turbine blade or solar subsidy. You just can’t predict what’s going to come down the pike in the future. I’m hoarding dung.

John Goshco - 18. Apr, 2021 -

You should call Bill Gates. He wants to purposely spread “just enough” dust in the atmosphere to cool the earth to whatever he decides is the ideal average temperature. What could possibly go wrong?

Eric Corbett - 16. Apr, 2021 -

I’ve had solar panels for three years. Most of the year I pay about $40 per month and that is mostly just the fee you pay to be connected to the grid. I sell back to the grid during the day to offset what I use at night. I have no batteries for storage. My bill ranged from $300 to $350 prior to installing the panels. I financed the panels at 2.99% over 15 years. My payment is $175 per month. The panels are expected to last 25 years. So for now I am cash flow positive a little over $100 per month. Once I pay them off I’ll be even more cash flow positive (and who knows what a kWH will cost by then), possibly for ten years if they last as long as promised. I’d say I’m doing ok. And no one yet has complained about my eyesore of a home. Come over and check them out anytime you like, Dave.

Coleman Langshaw - 16. Apr, 2021 -

Anti-mask and other selfish pretzel logics:

Its my Right to choose not to wear a mask anytime I want, anywhere I want.
Its my Right to play music as loud as I want, anytime I want, anywhere I want.
Its my Right to smoke anytime I want, anywhere I want.
Its my Right to physically abuse others, anytime I want, anywhere I want.
Its my Right to harm myself anytime I want, anywhere I want.
Its my Rights that trumps your Rights, anytime I want, anywhere I want.

Reality:

Nothing in the Constitution, nor the realm of decent society, provides shelter to this notion that irresponsible or selfish behavior is a Right of an individual over the well-being of everyone. And nothing in the Constitution prohibits society from imposing rules and laws, to protect people from themselves and others, when common sense and safety are arbitrarily dismissed by individuals.

Ron DeSantis is just plain wrong, and so are any of you who think preventative measures are pointless. I have an idea for you anti-maskers: during the next flu season, don’t wash your hands, share a stranger’s utensils when eating, and ask people to cough in your face a much as possible. Go ahead, I dare you! Be all macho conservative and show how your political will overcomes this. Just keep flaunting your incredible medical and scientific wisdom, that is far superior to people at the CDC or Harvard or Duke Medical schools or such. Geniuses you are not, fools you may be.

Mark Harrison - 16. Apr, 2021 -

I really want to like Coleman Langshaw. I believe he has a good heart and wants the world to be a better place. Does he really believe that most conservatives believe they have the right to physically abuse others anytime, anywhere? I find the physical abuse taking place all over the country as appalling as I’m sure Mr. Langshaw does. But I don’t see it being any more common on the conservative side of the fence than the liberal side. Some of the other points Mr. Langshaw makes also seem to be painting everyone who disagrees with him as completely evil and wrong while he is completely righteous and right. Maybe none of us is truly righteous and right all the time. I’m surely not. I don’t think Dave Scott is either. I’d love the opportunity to sit down with Mr. Langshaw over lunch sometime and discuss some of the issues he raises. I’m guessing we’d agree on what are many of the problems in our society. From where I sit, if we could get our governing officials to agree on the real problems, they could find steps to take toward solutions. The current practice of whoever has the power (and by current, I mean the last thirty years or so – both sides) gets to run a scorched earth plan to change anything they want, seems to be doing more harm than good. Can we agree some things aren’t really big problems, identify a few of the big ones and then start making small steps toward solving them?

Bill Shaffer - 16. Apr, 2021 -

The only thing Green about the Progressive socialists is their envy of the successes of hard-working Americans.

Gary Mckillips - 16. Apr, 2021 -

Incentivizing people not to work is one of the worst results of COVID and liberal thinking. Relief packages are good for the truly needy, but they should not discourage people from working. Some restaurants have had to close, not because of lack of customers, but from lack of employees. With the economy coming back strong, and more relief packages on the way, this problem will only get worse.

Chip Lacey - 16. Apr, 2021 -

Something you neglected to mention about the Keystone Pipeline. The Democrats oppose it, Warren Buffet is a large Democrat donor and supporter, and Berkshire Hathaway (Buffet’s conglomerate) owns the railroad freight line that currently carries most of the Canadian crude that will be carried by the pipeline. Yet another coincidence of course.

Nancy Jordan - 16. Apr, 2021 -

Kudos Dave – What a bang up job you did in yesterdays News Leader explaining to Mr Leimberg the NRA and why they don’t kill people and cost the government nothing; and Planned Parenthood kills 350,000 babies a year and costs $500 million every year in government funding. As for Voter ID – my question is why don’t the democrats want Voter ID for everyone?

Peg Dickinson - 16. Apr, 2021 -

A few years ago my elderly mother decided to stop driving. The insurance company informed her she had to insure her license even though she wouldn’t be driving, so she turned it in. To get her an ID I had to get together all the info needed to get a current license, we had to go to motor vehicle, which meant getting my mother into a wheelchair, and waiting for her turn. She then had to pay $60 for that privilege. Many people who are poor or homeless do not have the info available to get that ID, little less the money that might make a difference whether or not they might eat or buy meds. We who do have the money often forget how for many even $5 can can be the difference between food or meds, little less an ID. They still deserve the right to vote.

Nancy Jordan - 16. Apr, 2021 -

Peg, I understand how difficult that must have been. (My mom was in a wheelchair also, but once her ability to drive was through, there was no additional charge for insuring a license. Maybe our driver’s license department found another way to make money?) Huge suggestion to Republicans and Democrats alike: with the money spent on elections and the huge donations received why doesn’t each county in the country provide that service? Nancy Jordan

Mark Harrison - 16. Apr, 2021 -

I think you make an excellent point about the cost of getting some of the forms of ID required. If the argument for having no voter ID was based on poverty, I could agree that it is valid and not discriminatory on the basis of race, etc. I believe my facts are correct to say that there are several times more poor white people than poor people of color (total number, not percentage of the population). Since voting is total numbers, I think I could make the case that if voter ID laws discourage voting by poor people then more white people are being disenfranchised than people of color. I could get all on board with the voter ID concern if it were being pursued more honestly. But saying more people of color are disenfranchised by voter ID laws than white people doesn’t seen genuine. P.S. I’m not always completely up to date on politically correct terminology. If I’ve used impolite words to describe people based on race, it was completely unintended and I am very sorry.

peter john edgette - 16. Apr, 2021 -

Dave, still laughing about the kid in the basement with the Gender studies degree. Look forward to your blog, and know I will smile while reading it…thanks

Edgar - 16. Apr, 2021 -

Since Republican’s demand voters have an ID, they must help citizens get one–not whine about it and demand Democrats do their work–how lame and lazy is that? Every citizen has a franchise–how dare Republicans say otherwise–very un-American, very unpatriotic.

William Owen - 16. Apr, 2021 -

As Dave pointed out, you need ID to do almost everything in this country, so how hard can it be? And why is is incumbent on Republicans to help? Why do Democrats insist that ID is not necessary? And why is is a party issue, and not something that ALL citizens should be in favor of, unless there’s a nefarious reason for not wanting ID? Or perhaps you are racist, since you seem to imply that minorities are not smart enough to get an ID on their own. I don’t hear Hispanic Americans or Asian Americans whining!

Edgar - 16. Apr, 2021 -

I agree, both parties should assist every citizen in exercising their right to vote. Republicans simply demand and demean, time for them to actually help empower every citizen. Same for Democrats.