Tonight I really wanted a steak so we went to the Texas Roadhouse.  I love Dr. Pepper.  Dr. Pepper was born in Waco, Texas. Practically everyone in Texas and Oklahoma for that matter drinks Dr. Pepper. So what really bugs me is when I go to a restaurant that labels itself as the Texas Roadhouse or Lone Star and they don’t serve Dr. Pepper.  I ask and I get oh, we have Mr. Pibb.  Okay, Mr. Pibb is not the same.  Then tonight the reply was we have root beer. Root beer! Are you serious?  There is nothing like Dr. Pepper.  So, please if you label yourself with Texas then you better act like it and get some Dr. Pepper on the tap! By the way, the steak hit the spot.

By 2014 everyone will have to use compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFL). The Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (the “Energy Bill”), signed by the President on December 18, 2007 requires all light bulbs use 30% less energy than today’s incandescent bulbs by 2012 to 2014. The phase-out will start with 100-watt bulbs in January 2012 and end with40-watt bulbs in January 2014.  Who do we have to thank for this,  no not Obama, but George W. Bush.   According to the Energy Star website,  a CFL will save about $30 over its lifetime and pay for itself in about 6 months. It uses 75 percent less energy and lasts about 10 times longer than an incandescent bulb.  Maybe you already use them. We are. I don’t really care for them as the light they emit is not as bright as an incandescent bulb. When I flip the switch on, the light takes awhile to really light up. Then there is the clean up. I had heard about the clean up if one breaks, but I never gave it  much thought.  Then I started reading about the process and it’s a doozy. CFLs contain mercury.  Now it’s suppose to be very low levels, but still it’s mercury. The same mercury that was in thermometers that no one uses anymore. The following information is taken from the EPA website (www.energystar.gov).  If a CFL burns out, the EPA suggests the consumer takes advantage of local recycling options.  If your local or state environmental regulatory agency allows you to put used or broken CFLs in the garbage, seal the bulb in two plastic bags.  That’s right two plastic bags.  Aren’t we suppose to be using less plastic?  So what happens if a CFL breaks? Break out the Haz Mat gear.  Before clean up, you have to air out the room.  People and pets will not be permitted to reenter for 15 minutes.  If you have central forced air heating/air conditioning it has to be turned off.  Wait it gets better.  All glass and powder has to be scooped up using a stiff paper or cardboard and placed in a glass jar with a metal lid or in a plastic bag.  Use sticky tape such as duct tape to pick up any remaining fragments and powder.  Wipe the area clean and put the used towels in the glass jar. Seal the jar and put in a trash container or protected area.  If your state or local government does not allow disposal in the trash then you must go to the local recycling center which means you will probably have to drive.  How is this really saving the environment?  I understand we need to take care of our planet. I was president of the H.O.P.E ( Helping Our Planet Earth) club in high school.  We started a recycling program in the school and planted trees.  I really do care about the environment, but I think the CFLs are going too far.    So stockpile now.  Before too long you will have to buy regular light bulbs out of the trunk of some guy’s car in an alley. 

Last week thousands of people gathered in cities all across America for “Tea Parties”.  These were not gatherings to protest President Obama, but to protest government in general. Republican or Democrat, it did not matter.  The majority of people attending want our country back and I think are putting Congress on notice.  Next election, you might be gone.  Well I guess regular every day people can’t protest.  The left wing, liberals came out of the woodwork to complain about the tea parties.  It is okay for groups like Code Pink or other left leaning groups to protest, but not regular, pay your taxes Americans.  The mainstream media covered these events with disgust.  We already know that they don’t report fairly, but CNN and MSNBC used a disgusting term to describe the protesters.  It’s no wonder why these two networks are struggling with ratings. Comedian Janeane Garofalo and former co-host for an unsuccessful radio talk show on the failed Air America said on MSNBC, “Which, let’s be honest about what this is about. It’s not about bashing Democrats, it’s not about taxes… This is about hating a black man in the White House. This is racism straight up.” She went on to call the protesters rednecks.  Oh please.  Why do the liberals care so much about these tea parties? They won. The guy they wanted is in the White House.  Can’t they just be happy? No, they will never be happy until everyone thinks like them.   So from tea parties to the Miss USA pageant…  Miss California, Carrie Prejean, was asked in the interview segment what she thought of gay marriage by openly gay Perez Hilton, an entertainment blogger.  She said, “I think it’s great Americans are able to choose one or the other. We live in a land that you can choose same-sex marriage or opposite marriage. And you know what, in my country, in my family, I think that I believe that a marriage should be between a man and a woman. No offense to anybody there, but that’s how I was raised and that’s how I think it should be, between a man and a woman.”  That’s what she feels and she gave an honest answer.  Going into the interview segment, she and another contestant, Miss North Carolina, were neck and neck.  Then Miss California says ‘I think marriage should be between a man and a woman’ and she loses.  Again, what has happened to free speech?  This is the reason we can’t have an open dialogue in this country.  No one can honestly say how they feel because they will be labeled as a racist, a homophobe, etc…  The list goes on.  Until we can remember that everyone has the right to free speech we will never move forward as a country to heal these divides.

I recently posted a story on our family blog about a shopping incident.  I really feel bad that I did not do the right thing and take the opened container to the customer service counter, but like I said in the post I panicked.  Well I have received comments, but one in particular really got me.  It basically said that I had shown my boys that it was okay to hide things when I didn’t want to deal with the situation.  Well this person may be correct, however, they posted as anonymous.  The comment is not really at issue, but the fact the “person” posted so they would not be known.  It makes me wonder is this someone I know? Did they post anonymous so it wouldn’t hurt my feelings? I would much rather know who it is.  Why post an anonymous comment when you have to know that it will most likely be deleted and never shown? I just don’t get it.  I am rather irritated about this and will probably get over it very soon, but since this is my musings and rant blog, I decided to rant.  People who comment anonymously are cowards.  They are usually saying something that would probably never be said to a person’s face, but they think they can get away with it in cyberspace.  If you have something say, say it, but don’t be a coward and do it behind a mask of anonymity.

As I was watching the news last night everyone was in an uproar about the AIG bonuses.  It got me to thinking. What is the difference between AIG giving out bonuses using taxpayer money and Congress giving themselves pay raises using taxpayer money?   Not much.  As more information comes out it looks like Chris Dodd (D – Conn.) had something to do with putting an amendment in the legislation that protected those exact bonuses during the negotiations on the $700 billion stimulus bill.  According to Fox Business, Dodd added an executive-compensation restriction to the bill. The provision, now called “the Dodd Amendment” by the Obama Administration provides an “exception for contractually obligated bonuses agreed on before Feb. 11, 2009” — which exempts the very AIG bonuses Dodd and others are now seeking to tax. Dodd is now trying to cover his tracks and is wanting to tax these bonuses with a 98% tax.   Yes, Congress is just as much to blame as AIG.  I had to laugh when news anchor, Charles Gibson of ABC News, asked business correspondent Betsey Stark who the bonuses were going to and she said they were going to the division that essentially helped run AIG into the ground.  This made me laugh because I think about those pay raises that Congress has given themselves over the years as they run the country into the ground.