Common Sense with Paul Jacob

As fuel prices rise, a few things become obvious:

• We begin to conserve more;
• Many industrious folks look for energy alternatives;
• And many politically-minded folk hector us about using less of some type of fuels, more of another.

How useful is this third category? Well, they are the ones driving laws and subsidies and such. And you’d think those of this type, those in power who praise conservation would also encourage it.

But regulators are often a lot more worried about, you know, regulating things.

An example came to light recently out in California. It seems that instead of or in addition to gasoline, a mechanic out there has been using a fuel made from used restaurant vegetable oil for his vehicles. When the government found out, did they slap him with a medal for his clever conservation? Nah. Slapped him with fines. And taxes. License requirements. Reporting requirements.

So here you have a guy who has reduced his reliance on foreign oil, who has reduced waste by recycling, of all things, grease. And the response of environmentally concerned bureaucrats is to slap him silly. Fling a regulatory net at him. Make his life harder.

So please, people. If you’ve figured out a new way to save money and energy, do it in the dark, okay? And swear others to secrecy when you spread the word.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

We’ve got a mole in the U.S. Congress.

Not a foreign agent trying to undermine the American way of life. We’ve got plenty of homegrown politicians doing that already.

No, it’s a congressman who actually opposes porkbarrel spending. Now, a few others there also combat the regime of pay-for-play earmarks, of course — too few. But this guy sounds like he’s reading a script I dictated myself. It ain’t so. But gosh, I couldn’t agree more with the sentiments.

It’s Congressman John Shadegg of Arizona. His comments were picked up by C-Span and transcribed at their web site. Shadegg points out how darn corrupting the process has become.

The degree of tawdry mutual back-scratching can vary. But what is happening more and more is that congressmen are creating their own corporations. Staffing these corporations with relatives and pals. And then using the secretive earmark process to send funds to this entity. Everybody wins. The congressman and the cronies do, anyway.

Taxpayers lose in at least two ways. They’re losing money. And their purported representative is violating their trust. The Constitution of course is going out the window. There’s nothing in there about how congressmen may randomly lather their associates with taxpayer dough.

All done without any open debate, any clear public disclosure before the money is appropriated. Shadegg thinks it’s contemptible.

Mr. Congressman, when you’re right, you’re right.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

Obesity is a problem. Doctors warn about the ill effects of carrying too much flab. The Washington Post is running a front-page series about overweight children.

Good. Knowledge is power, even when it comes to diet and exercise.

But by the second paragraph of the May 19 story we’re told of an additional problem. It is, and I quote, “inadequate direction and dollars at the federal level.”

My first thought? We’ve finally found it! The one thing the federal government isn’t spending too much money on.

European governments spend more dough than ours hectoring people on health. Britain has restricted food ads aimed at kids. But, frankly, I don’t find European nannyism very appealing. I bet one can lose weight without losing freedom. Or a whole lot of money.

My second thought? Losing weight shouldn’t cost us, well, anything. I know for me, when the pounds start to pile up, no one charges me a nickel to leave the house for an evening jog. Running is absolutely free.

Maybe our federal government should stick to its own outrageous fat problem. Our weight problems pale in comparison to all the bloated, wasteful globs of fatty pork thrown around by politicians.

Why not start the government diet by saving the taxpayers the costly, preachy public education campaign? Besides, what American would even listen to the over-stuffed federal government commanding, “trim down”?

Doctor, trim thyself.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

Gyanendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev no longer reigns as king of Nepal. On May 28, the Nepalese Constituent Assembly abolished the monarchy. The members of the assembly told Gyanendra to clear out of his Katmandu palace before mid-June.

Consider it the world’s most definitive eviction notice.

A small nation on the opposite side of the world — does it matter to America? Maybe not. But it is worth noting the passing of another monarchy.

After all, our country began in revolt against a king. But we had it easy, in a way; the king was distant. All we had to evict were his soldiers.

But don’t get the idea that Nepal got through it without bloodshed.

First, as I speak this, the monarchy’s end has just been declared. The king isn’t out on his now-civilian keester yet. He could still try something.

Second, he himself came to power in such a manner as to suggest royally red hands. (A common color for kingly hands.) The previous ruler and his whole family were slaughtered. A whole heckuva lot of people in Nepal suspect Gyandendra himself as the conspirator behind the murders.

Third is the Maoist factor. In the April elections, Maoists led the polls but failed to gain a majority.

For the good of the Nepalese, let’s hope the ex-king packs up in peace, and the Maoists pack away their dangerous ideology. Or are themselves soon sent packing.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

Subway, America’s leading fast-food sandwich franchise, is sponsoring a contest for kids. It’s an essay contest entitled “Every Sandwich Tells a Story.”

This contest itself is something of a story.

First, the contest explanation and rules contain multiple typos.

Second, homeschooling families are prohibited from entering.

What’s going on here? Subway’s official explanation is that the first prize award of athletic equipment can only go to a school. This is a bit lame, since the equipment could easily go to a local park frequented by the winning homeschooling family . . . or any number of homeschooling associations.

What could the folks at Subway really be thinking? I wouldn’t be surprised if the team in control of the contest have spouses in one of the teachers’ unions . . . teachers’ unions are notoriously opposed to home schooling. Go figure.

There’s been a lot of speculation. Some folk say that Subway just couldn’t bear to see another homeschooler win. My thought is that any contest with that many typos in the promotional material is badly in need of an education.

Many homeschooling families — and their sympathetic friends — have started a boycott. And I have to say, much as I like Subway, I’ll be steering the family car to Quiznos or a local deli the next time my family agrees to go out for sandwiches.

Subway has, perhaps inadvertently, taken on a hot-button political topic, and come out on the wrong side.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

Last summer, ice in the Arctic reached new levels of . . . non-existence. That is, the extent of polar ice receded.

And some of you got alarmed.

But some other folks got excited by a new Northwest Passage.

Quark Expeditions charges many thousands of dollars to tour the Arctic on the icebreaker Kapitan Khlebnikov. Alas, a May tour from the Bering Sea across the north of Canada turned out to be no picnic. The mammoth ship got stalled. In ice.

Lots of ice.

They were stalled for seven days.

A polar bear entertained the passengers early on, but tensions rose as the days of going nowhere piled up. According to the fascinating story in Canada’s Globe and Mail, the hoped-for Northwest Passage is still very “unpredictable.”

It’s barely passage at all, after this last winter, which was brutally cold . . . nearly everywhere. Yes, new records of coldness helped re-establish northern ice.

The winter thumbed its nose at global warming, a sort of global nanny nanny boo-boo.

What can I say? Seasons go in cycles. The same seems to go for the climate in general. Hedge your bets for “unstoppable global warming,” folks. And if you are on Quark’s planned June 28 departure for a north-of-Siberia cruise this summer, hoping to view, up close, the New Siberian Islands and other, uh, hot spots of the Arctic, keep your cool.

Nature might, too.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

The very ground beneath our feet can betray us. When that happens, good people rally together. This happened recently in China.

Amidst the wreckage, death, and misery resulting from the recent earthquake, we now witness  astonishing outpourings of aid.

I do not refer to the usual worldwide relief efforts. I refer to something far more momentous: Charity from the Chinese themselves.

The Chinese people have not been known for such activity in the past. Tragedies happen there with a sort of dull regularity. And the quiet indifference of the masses of Chinese people has been the typical response.

Not this time.

The Chinese have rallied as never before, supplying physical aid in terms of action, transportation, food and medicine, and spiritual aid in countless other ways.

The level of charity may be new for China, but it is not unprecedented.

The precedent?

America.

What is common in our country is not exactly common in the world. Oh, it does happen; Europeans, for instance, give too. But an amazing amount of Europe’s giving is “government giving.” In America, it is our people who give. Out of compassion, and privately, not just from our taxes.

What has happened in China to make the difference? Newfound wealth. Significant tastes of freedom.

It’s not magic. It may be simple economics.

But simplicity aside, it’s inspiring, and gives us renewed hope for China.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

When politicians push hard for something, ramp up your skepticism level. Democrat? Republican? Doesn’t matter much.

The recent farm bill passed and went to the president, who vetoed it. So it went back to Congress, which over-rode the veto of this $300 billion bill, 316-108 in the House, 82-13 in the Senate.

So ask yourself, why do Democrats support these subsidies?

Democrats claim to be “for the little guy,” for equality. Trouble is, the federal government’s farm subsidies basically shovel money up the income ladder, not down it.

On average, farmers are better off than the people who pay the subsidies. Brian Riedl of the Heritage Foundation explains that most subsidies go overwhelmingly “to large commercial farms, which report an average income of $200,000 and a net worth of nearly $2 million.”

We pay $25 billion to these rich farmers. And add another $12 billion in higher food prices, which are the last thing we need now, with Congress’s idiotic ethanol subsidies already pushing prices up.

So why would any Democrat support continuing such absurdity?

Because Democrats like siphoning off our money through government and using it to buy friends and stay in power. That’s all they really believe in. Equality? Hah!

Why would Republicans support it?

Same reason.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

Jared Gray is an 18-year-old high school student who works as a janitor for Southern Utah University. One day he found a bag of cash lying in the parking lot, obviously one of the school’s deposit bags.

The bag was labeled with the amount: $108,000.

Jared didn’t hesitate to return the cash, saying he was raised to be honest. To express their gratitude, SUU officials will give him a scholarship if he attends the university.

Most people would applaud Jared’s honesty. Sadly, though, not everyone. A number of people, posting to the CBS News website, called the young man a “loser” or “stupid” for not keeping the dough.

Apparently, they assume it’s reasonable to steal whenever one is unlikely to get caught. If so, wouldn’t it also be reasonable actively to pursue such opportunities — in short, to become a career criminal?

That makes we who work “suckers.”

If you’re going to live a moral life, it’s common sense to live it on principle. This means you don’t become an entirely different person, a crook, when it’s allegedly “easy” to do so. Easy, that is, for a person of poor character.

Starting life as a crook would have blighted Jared’s whole life. Instead, now he’ll always be able to recall his easy good deed with pride; and, happily, people who know him will be able to trust him . . . stuff that’s more valuable than money itself.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.