thenorphletpaperboy: A World without Regulations

thenorphletpaperboy: A World without Regulations:                               A World without Regulations Gosh, that sounds really good....uh, but does that means everybody...

A World without Regulations

                            

A World without Regulations

Gosh, that sounds really good....uh, but does that means everybody can do anything they want? Well, no, that went out when we came out of caves. Actually, the stated goal is to get rid of all those ‘unnecessary’ government regulations. Of course, that sounds great, but what are the unnecessary regulations? I guess, if you’re only interested in the bottom line, those are the regulations that cost you money. But maybe we do need some regulations, like vaccinating our dogs. Well, yeah, we all agree the regulation to vaccinate our dogs for Rabies is needed, so to find out the really unnecessary ones, we must look at the big picture.

Our Attorney General is suing the EPA to overturn new regulations that would force coal-fired electrical generating plants to reduce emissions, and in addition, a separate suit has been filed to rescind other recently mandated regulations that would reduce contaminated runoff into the state's streams. Of course, the overall goal of the EPA is to clean up the air we breathe and the stream water in our Nation. Sounds okay, but if that is exactly what the new regulations would do, then why is our A G suing the EPA? Yes, you guessed it----money, money, money. It's the age old problem; short term goals to make as much money as possible, and ignore the long term consequences. Americans have been doing that since our country was founded.

When I was a boy growing up in South Arkansas, a common sight were the salt flats. Completely dead areas about fifty yards wide that bordered any stream that flowed through the oilfields. It was cheaper to dump saltwater into the streams than to dispose of it properly. If you were an oil producer you made more money by just killing the nearby creek. The rules our AG is suing the EPA to rescind will cost corporations and others money. It as simple as that. Those rules are part of the EPA’s overall plan to keep our citizens from suffering the horrible consequences of no regulations the Chinese are contending with. Today, the Chinese are wearing masks and factories are being shut down because of filthy, killing smog, and believe it or not, Mongolia is five times as bad! New-born babies are dying because of the dirty air. If that is so, and it is, then why, for God's sake, are the Chinese doing it? The short version is very simple: the lack of regulations equals a short term profit, and they are putting money ahead of a better quality of life.

.Well, how have the lack of regulations in the past affected the average American? Let's look at a simple example: I'd like to go Passenger Pigeon hunting today, but I can't. Yeah, of course I know why---they’re extinct! Why are they extinct? A very simple answer is---no regulations and money. In the 1800s the sky was black with pigeons---an estimated 500,000,000. However, by the 1920 our great, great grandparents had killed all 500,000,000, and they made a profit doing so. In Arkansas, barrel after barrel of pigeon breasts were salted down and shipped down river to New Orleans, and the folks who slaughtered the Passenger Pigeons made money. I can't walk through the former virgin forest that once covered our state either. Yep, we cut 'em all down and made a ton of money doing it.

Well, what's the bottom line to all of this? It's very simple: Regulations are a mark of a more civilized society, and the more civilized we become the better quality of life we have because of regulations, but if we put the goal of making as much money as possible, then we must adopt an overall goal to have little or no regulations.

The AG's efforts to rescind air and water quality regulations are a step back from a more civilized America. It's an effort to continue burning the dirtiest fuel on the planet, coal. But burning coal will not only reduce our air quality where big utilities can make more money, but it will add to the mercury in our fish. That's right; the mercury found in our Arkansas fish is a direct result of coal and lignite burning plants in Arkansas and East Texas. Consequences? Consider how many babies have been born with a reduced I Q or other birth defects because their pregnant mother ate too much contaminated fish? That’s the price we pay to make money by burning coal.

Of course, many of our streams are almost open sewers because of the lack of meaningful  regulations, and the Buffalo National River is in the process of becoming polluted by hog waste that will run off the land adjacent to Big Creek, a tributary the feeds the Buffalo National River. In five years the spineless Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality will have a red face, because the National Park Service will close the River to swimming---but it will be too late. The river will be polluted for a generation.

No, we don't want a world without regulations, unless making money is our only goal in life.

thenorphletpaperboy: Rex Tillerson of Exxon-Mobil will make a great Sec...

thenorphletpaperboy: Rex Tillerson of Exxon-Mobil will make a great Sec...:              ARKANSAS                                      BY                           Richard Mason       Rex Tillerson...

Rex Tillerson of Exxon-Mobil will make a great Secretary of State

             ARKANSAS

                                     BY

                          Richard Mason

      Rex Tillerson CEO of Exxon-Mobil will make a great Secretary of State

What? Can a person who is working to stop the Buffalo National River from being polluted by a Factory Hog Farm say that?

You bet, I can, and here's why: Rex Tillerson is considered one of the top, worldwide business leaders, and in making those business relationships, he has made personal contacts with the leadership of almost every significant country in the world.

In those contacts, he represented Exxon-Mobil shareholders, and his representation has been hugely successful in increasing the net value of those shareholders investments. Naturally, if you are a CEO of a worldwide exploration company, you must have good relations with countries, such as Russia, who have huge oil reserves. It’s a requirement to do business. The idea that a company must represent the political goals of the United States is unrealistic, would cripple our international business relationships, and do a great disservice to their shareholders.  International companies all over the world do business with countries who don’t represent their political preferences. Boeing just agree to sell Iran 16.6 billion dollars’ worth of planes, as a recent example.

However, while his business connections are a very positive attribute to Mr. Tillerson, it’s not the primary reason I believe he’ll be a great Secretary of State. Mr. Tillerson is the CEO of Exxon-Mobil, a company that I believe demands high ethical and environmental standards. I'm convinced his career at Exxon-Mobil, domestically and with Esso overseas, instilled in him the ethical way to conduct business. This is my take on Exxon-Mobil’s ethics: I went to work for Exxon, right out of college, as a geologist, and I was assigned to the Southwest Texas District, which included the King Ranch. I spent the next two years primarily evaluating the numerous wells Exxon drilled on the Ranch. Of course, you would expect drilling and producing wells on the famous King Ranch would be handled with kid gloves, and you’d be right. Every producing well and drilling rig on the ranch maintained the top environmental and industry standards. In the 1930s the ranch of one million acres was leased by Humble Oil and Refining Company, which was merged into Exxon in the 1960s. Over the past 75 years Exxon has drilled hundreds of wells, produced millions of barrels of oil without any significant, even minor damage to the ranch.

The King Ranch is famous for developing the Santa Gertrudis breed of cattle, and a number of years back Bob Kleberg, who then, was the head of the King Ranch Corporation, was asked, by a cattleman: “Your Santa Gertrudis seem to thrive on the Ranch. What do you make of that?"

Bob Kleberg is reported to have grinned and answered, "I think they do best in the shade of all those oil and gas christmas trees." A testament to Exxon's care for the land.

Yes, I know you're thinking, but that’s the famous King Ranch. Of course, you're right, and you might say, "Well, what about their foreign operations? Say, if they were drilling in the middle of the Sahara Desert, would they do it differently?"

Well, let me tell you, from a firsthand experience, how Esso operates overseas. After working on the King Ranch for a couple of years, I took a transfer to Benghazi, Libya, where I spent two years as a geologist evaluating wells drilled in the Libyan Sahara Desert. I watched those wells from (spud) start to finish, and I’m sure the Libyan Government would have ignored spills, trash, and pumping waste water and drilling mud out on the ground. However, Exxon-Mobil-Esso employees have only one way to operate, and that’s the same whether it's on the King Ranch or in the middle of the Libyan Sahara Desert. When we left a Libyan Desert location, it was as clean a one on the King Ranch. Rex Tillerson has those operational ethics ingrained in him by working for one of the great American companies. He will represent our country admirably, and by having one of the top business leaders in the world representing us, America will be well served.

Now, don't think for a minute, I’m giving my endorsement as a blank check to the Trump administrant. There are a couple of his cabinet selections I’m aghast at. I'm just saying he hit a home run with Exxon-Mobil’s Rex Tillerson.

thenorphletpaperboy: Have We Lost Christmas?

thenorphletpaperboy: Have We Lost Christmas?:          Have We Lost Christmas? Well, have we? I guess we’d have to define Christmas before we can answer that. In today’s world the...

Have We Lost Christmas?

         Have We Lost Christmas?

Well, have we? I guess we’d have to define Christmas before we can answer that. In today’s world the Christmas Season, as some call it, starts well before---would you believe---Halloween. Yes, and if the trend continues it’ll soon start by Labor Day. Many of our stores and their shoppers would agree the Christmas Season is starting earlier every year, but the rush to shop and the stores push to sell is not the Christmas Season. No, it’s the Holiday Shopping Season, and it’s become a worldwide excuse to shop and sell. Santa Claus is showing up in Japan, Korea, and China, and Black Friday, Digital Monday, and Small Business Saturday are there to be sure those billions of shoppers don’t miss anything. So, if we consider Christmas as a shopping and gift giving season and nothing more, then we have lost Christmas. Yes, buying and selling is certainly a part of our fall and winter season, but it’s not Christmas. Christmas is spiritual. But being spiritual can fit in along with gifts, Christmas Parties, and Christmas dinners. But it doesn’t just happen unless we focus on what makes a Spiritual Christmas.

Our Church Choir sang a piece of music recently that made me think about a Spiritual Christmas. The song was called “Peace” and in the song the spirit of Christmas comes through loud and clear. “Joy, Love, and Peace” were musically linked together, and those three words represent a real spiritual Christmas.

The Joy of a spiritual Christmas is expressed in many ways, and receiving a special gift is one of them. When I was 13, my family lived in a small, farm house a mile from town, and our resources were meager. That year I remember thinking a Christmas stocking with oranges, apples, and candy along with a new shirt or sweater, was going to be about it for me. That Christmas morning, when I walked into the living room, I spotted the Christmas Stocking and sure enough there was that rectangular box that I was sure was a shirt, but oh, my gosh! There was another present that took my breath---it was a Browning Sweet 16 Shotgun. I could only stand there saying “Oh, oh, oh.” The joy of receiving overwhelmed me, but equally my parents, who had sacrificed to buy me that wonderful present, experienced the joy of giving. 

Years later Vertis and I stretched a bit to buy our 10 year old daughter a rabbit fur jacket. Our daughter was so happy and shocked that Christmas morning, she immediately burst into tears. We had the spiritual joy of giving and our daughter had the joy of receiving.

However, you don’t need all the trapping of Christmas to have a spiritual Christmas. I remember a Christmas, far away from family and friends, where one Christmas Eve, Vertis and I sat in a damp concrete-block house in front of a small fireplace, and tried to tune in the BBC on a short-wave radio to hear Christmas Carols. We were living in Benghazi, Libya and that Christmas without Christmas decorations, family or friends our only joy was to be with each other. Yes, it was a spiritual Christmas because as lonely as we were, we still had the inner love, joy, and peace of Christmas.

When we think of Christmas Love, we must place the Christ Child as the center of our Christmas thoughts. God sent Jesus because he loved us, and naturally as the song “Peace” says…”Now is the time for love…” Yes, if we miss out on the Christmas love that we should be sharing, we truly have lost Christmas. Christmas should be a time when we express that love to not only family members, but others who have been a special part of our lives.

Now let’s consider the elusive peace of Christmas. Of course, the angles sang …”Peace on Earth…” and our Christmas song “Peace” goes, “and now is the time for Peace…” But do we have the peace of Christmas this year? We have just been through the most continuous presidential race in our memory, and we need to come together united in peace, love, and joy to face our Nation’s problems. Yes, it is possible. I remember standing on Fifth Avenue across from Saint Patricks’ Cathedral right after 9/11 watching as firemen carried one of their own from the church. An American flag was flying in the north wind from a ladder truck, and I have never been prouder to be an American. We need to, as a nation, have peace and unity as we did after 9/11, and that Peace starts with our family and friends.  

No, we haven’t lost Christmas. It’s still there for the taking. So this Christmas, as we exchange gifts, spend time with family and friends, and share a peaceful Christmas dinner, think of Joy, Love, and Peace. Those three words are the spirit of Christmas, and if you celebrate Christmas with those words firmly in your heart, you certainly won’t have lost Christmas.