To The Citizens of The United States of America (Part 2):

(This is a research paper I wrote for a class at BVU, just my thoughts, sorry if the citations are written incorrectly, but I'm a music major, not an English major. Enjoy the information for what it represents.)
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Renewable energy sources are not new concepts at all. They have been tried at different times over the years, usually less than successfully. With advances that have been made in technology, renewable energies are making a comeback and showing much promise.

Wind energy dates back thousands of years, beginning with the drying of a loin cloth to a simple sail on a boat. It has been used to power grain mills. It has been used to power pumps for wells, bringing water to the surface. The potential for wind energy is huge!

Did you know that one megawatt of power equals a reduction of 2,600 tons of carbon dioxide? Or that the same megawatt will save 1,293 million gallons of water? What about the fact that, in 2004, each resident of Massachusetts produced 4.5 tons of carbon dioxide through their use of electricity (howstuffworks.com)?

Between 2008 and 2009, wind energy increased 31%; however, it still only produced 1.9% of electricity used in the United States. 38 states currently have wind farms and of those, 14 states produce more than 1,000 MW a year. The top five wind energy states produce enough electricity to power the state of Colorado (howstuffworks.com)!

There is so much potential in wind energy. Wind turbines are actually placed on a mere 1% of the total land designated a wind farm. This means the loss of land for grain farming or pasture land is minimal, giving farmers and ranchers the opportunity to “double-crop” their land. One acre of corn generates $1,000 worth of ethanol in a year, but by putting a wind turbine on that same acre, you have just produced $300,000 worth of electricity, plus your corn crop (World on the Edge)!

According to nationalgeographic.com, “Wind is a clean source of renewable energy that produces no air or water pollution. And since the wind is free, operational costs are nearly zero once a turbine is erected. Mass production and technology advances are making turbines cheaper, and many governments offer tax incentives to spur wind-energy development.”

Another renewable energy is solar power. 173,000 Terawatts of solar energy hit the Earth every day: 10,000 times the world’s use (energy.gov). We will never be able to absorb that much solar energy to convert into electricity, but that shows how much potential there is in solar energy, especially since we are currently only producing less than 1% of the world’s power usage (nationalgeographic.com).

Solar energy works by light reflecting off mirrors to boilers which contain water.  When the water boils, it produces steam that turns a turbine, creating electricity. The largest solar project is being built in the Mohave Desert in California: 350,000 mirrors. When this project is completed, it will provided electricity for 140,000 homes (energy.gov).

If you were to put one 10kw solar panel on your home, it could provide enough electricity equal to reducing 11.7 tons of carbon dioxide in one year (renewablegreenenergypower.com)! They can be easily placed on your home, both on and off the grid. In some states, if you place them on your home “on the grid”, you are able to sell the portion of the unused energy to the power company at a rate determined by the state. Even though this rate is generally less than what you are paying for electricity, if the power isn't used or stored, then that power is simply lost (cleanenergyauthority.com).

Like wind power, the start-up cost for solar energy is higher while the continual operating costs are minimal once the technology is in full swing, unlike fossil fuels, which have a “lower” start-up cost, but the operating costs associated with them are higher.

Geothermal energy is another renewable energy which comes from the earth’s heat. Most of the geothermal activity takes place in the Ring of Fire in the Pacific Ocean, and also along fault lines, near volcanoes, and hot springs. There are many other areas where it can be produced as well if you are willing to dig wells to tap into the hot water supply found a mile or more underground.

Geothermal energy has much greater start-up costs, but can essential heat and cool your home for less than 10c/kw. It burns clean with little greenhouse emissions and is currently supplying less than 10% of the world’s energy (conserve-energy-future.com).

Every year we increase our use of these renewable energies decreases our reliance upon fossil fuels. The subsidies that go along with fossil fuels also hurt us as a nation. While there are some things that are good about subsidies (LIHEAP or Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program), the one thing that I think hurts us the most is that by continuing to offer subsidies to oil and gas companies, we are basically telling them that they do not need to change their ways. They become stagnant and do not try to come up with new ideas for saving our planet.

The United States provides oil and gas companies with approximately $4 billion in subsidies every year (consumerenergyreport.com). While proponents of the subsidies have valid reasons for keeping them ($570 million goes towards LIHEAP), one thing to consider would be, if we were not so dependent on fossil fuels for our heating and cooling, the cost of our electricity could be cut down to better reflect the cost of renewable energy, which would make heating and cooling more affordable for those with low income, thus leaving them less likely to need a program such as LIHEAP.

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References

Brown, L. R. (2011). World on the Edge. New York, New York: WW Norton & Company.

Geothermal Energy Facts. (n.d.). Renewable & Non-Renewable Energy Sources. Retrieved November 10, 2012, from http://www.conserve-energy-future.com/GeothermalEnergyFacts.php

LED Bulbs, Lighting & LED Energy Savings | Home Lighting Facts | The Home Depot. (n.d.). Home Improvement Made Easy with New Lower Prices | Improve & Repair. Retrieved November 12, 2012, from http://ext.homedepot.com/shopping-tools/light-bulbs/allaboutLEDs.html#why_LEDTab

Looper, L. (n.d.). HowStuffWorks "10 Incredible Wind Power Facts". HowStuffWorks "Science". Retrieved November 7, 2012, from http://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/green-science/10-wind-power-facts1.htm

Rapier, R. (n.d.). The Hard Truth: Even Liberals are Big Fans of Oil Subsidies. Consumer Energy Report. Retrieved November 4, 2012, from http://www.consumerenergyreport.com/2012/04/23/the-hard-truth-even-liberals-are-big-fans-of-oil-subsidies/

Selling Residential Solar Power to Your Utility Company. (2012, March 7). Solar Energy Authority. Retrieved November 7, 2012, from ttp://www.cleanenergyauthority.com/solar-energy-resources/

Solar Energy Facts | Renewable Green Energy Power. (n.d.). Renewable Green Energy Power. Retrieved November 13, 2012, from http://www.renewablegreenenergypower.com/solar-energy-facts/

Top 6 Things You Didn't Know About Solar Energy | Department of Energy. (n.d.). Energy.gov | Department of Energy. Retrieved November 7, 2012, from http://energy.gov/articles/top-6-things-you-didnt-know-about-solar-energy

Wind Power Information, Wind Power Facts - National Geographic. (n.d.). Environment Facts, Environment Science, Global Warming, Natural Disasters, Ecosystems, Green Living - National Geographic. Retrieved November 7, 2012, from http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/global-warming/wind-power-profile/

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To The Citizens of the United States of America:

(This is a research paper I wrote for a class at BVU, just my thoughts, sorry if the citations are written incorrectly, but I'm a music major, not an English major. Enjoy the information for what it represents.)
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I want to encourage you to think about how our current tax structure can impact our global climate, how renewable energy sources can move us away from the use of oil, and provide ideas on what we, as a society, can do to help improve the situation we find ourselves in as far as global warming and a loss of our natural resources.

With our current income tax structure, we are essentially being taxed three times on our income: once with our federal taxes that are taken from our paycheck, once from our state if we work in state that has an income tax, and once when we take our leftover income and go to the store to purchase items.

In this situation, a family in Iowa that earns $60,000 a year before taxes is required to pay 28% in federal taxes ($16,800) (cnsnews.com) and 15% in state taxes ($6,480) (taxesplusiowacity.com) leaving them with a net income of $36.720. This money is then used for purchases, most of which are taxed (at 7% in Iowa). If a family lives within their means, this could be up to an additional $2,400. That $60,000 has been brought down nearly 50% to $34,318.

Consider a proposed Fair Tax. Fair Tax is based on consumption or use. Under this system, there is no longer a federal income tax, and in many instances no state income tax due to benefits that will be discussed.

In this situation, the same Iowa family with a $60,000 yearly income will go home with $60,000. If this family lives within their means, they have $60,000 of income to be used for purchases. A federal sales tax would 23% ($13,800) and most states with a sales tax would simply choose to piggyback on their own sales tax, which in Iowa is 7% ($4,200) (fairtax.org), giving this family almost an additional 20% of income to make purchases with.

Under Fair Tax, all purchases of new items will be taxed while used items would not be. This would help with waste in our nation. People who shop at second hand stores such as Goodwill and other places where they sell used items: clothing, movies, books, games, sporting equipment, household items, would not have to pay sales tax on these purchases. These items will be more likely to be “recycled” rather than thrown in our landfills.

Under the current system, taxes are placed on companies in many areas, requiring them to raise prices in order to cover their costs. With Fair Tax, the “final product” is what is taxed, so businesses are able to save money to get to that point, which may offer them the flexibility to lower prices (fairtax.org).

The current system also requires businesses to pay additional taxes for their employees. With Fair Tax, those taxes would be abolished, which may allow employers to raise their wages (fairtax.org). This leads to raising income levels and bringing more families out of poverty and allowing them to save more money.

Consumption tax is not a new idea. The idea for this tax has been around for almost 500 years. In fact, Alexander Hamilton wrote in his Federalist #21 paper “There is no method of steering clear of this inconvenience, but by authorizing the national government to raise its own revenues in its own way. Imposts, excises, and, in general, all duties upon articles of consumption, may be compared to a fluid, which will, in time, find its level with the means of paying them. The amount to be contributed by each citizen will in a degree be at his own option, and can be regulated by an attention to his resources. The rich may be extravagant, the poor can be frugal…” (constitution.org).

With a consumption tax, not only could incomes be raised and prices for goods fall, but there would no longer be a need for filing personal income taxes, saving resources and money. Under our current tax code, which is over 73.6 thousand pages long, loop holes and other means of evading your portion of income taxes cost individual tax payers $2,500 every year (fairtax.org) and compliance measures cost businesses over $600 billion every year (youdebate.com).

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References

Bartlett, B. (n.d.). Consumption Tax Theory. Free Republic. Retrieved November 6, 2012, from www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/840372/posts

Brown, L. R. (2011). World on the Edge. New York, New York: WW Norton & Company.

Fair Tax: FIre Up Our Economic Engine. (n.d.). Fair Tax. Retrieved November 6, 2012, from httphttp://www.fairtax.org

Hamilton, A. (n.d.). The Federalist #21. Index. Retrieved November 6, 2012, from http://www.constitution.org/fed/federa21.htm

National Sales Tax Debate. (n.d.). Political Debates and Polls Forum. Retrieved November 6, 2012, from http://www.youdebate.com/DEBATES/TAX_NATIONAL_SALES.HTM

Raggio, G. (2012, September 26). A National Consumption Tax. We Consume Too Much. Retrieved November 6, 2012, from weconsumetoomuch.com/a-national-consumption-tax/

Street, J. (n.d.). Report: What Tax Bracket Will You Be In For 2013? | CNS News. CNS News. Retrieved November 5, 2012, from http://cnsnews.com/news/article/report-what-tax-bracket-will-you-be-2013

Taxes Plus : Newsletter. (n.d.). Taxes Plus : Home. Retrieved November 5, 2012, from http://www.taxesplusiowacity.com/newsletter.php?nid=16196

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Truly Brave? Not Me, Not Really

Mashups. Love 'em? No. I have not been a fan. Nelly jumping into the country scene jamming with my beloved country singers really put a damper on some of my favorite songs. I'd go to sing along and all of a sudden there would be an extra voice, extra words, extra melody. I hated it.

And then I heard Hoda Kotb's story and how she got Sara Bareilles and Cyndi Lauper together to do a mashup with "True Colors" and "Brave".

Skeptical at first because I love both these songs individually, I gave it a shot. Mainly because cancer has been such a huge part of my life over the last five years when my dad was diagnosed with bladder cancer. Shortly thereafter my cousin was diagnosed with cancer which very quickly took her life.

I also decided to listen because I do love these two songs so much. Cyndi Lauper was one of my favorite artists growing up and Sara Bareilles is now.

Not knowing what I was really getting myself into, I watched the video.

And fell in love.

Yes, the children in the video are all cancer babies. But that wasn't where my heart was.

My heart was with my heart baby and all the other heart babies and angels. Why?

Because that is what I know. Babies with congenital heart defects. Those babies are just as strong and brave as the babies in this video.

My mind goes back nine years ago. To a time when my baby was laying in a hospital bed. Needles and wires attached to him. Watching him cry because he didn't understand why I couldn't hold him and comfort him.

He was so small, so helpless, so confused. And I had no words for him. Just love.

Through it all, he was truly brave, without even knowing it.

Book Review: Divergent by Veronica Roth

I held off on reading the Divergent series.  50 Shades upset me enough with the similarities to Twilight that I didn’t want to read another copycat book.

I was so pleasantly surprised. 

Yes.  This is the ever-after story of the end of the world.  Yes.  There is a strong, female youth set to save them.  But really, that is where the story lines…diverge.

Beatrice is a young lady that is possibly a little small for her age, a little naïve, and unsure of her place in the world.  Her world is recuperating from an end-of-the-world apocalypse and the new government has decided that in order to keep the peace, there will be different factions responsible for different parts of the new world.  Beatrice is a part of the Abnegation faction which is a group of selfless people and the leaders of the new world.

At the age of 16, Beatrice goes through an aptitude test that will determine what faction best suits her.  Most youth are suited for the life they grew up with, however, some are not, in which case they transfer to another faction and are lost to their families forever: Faction before blood.  If someone’s test comes back inconclusive, meaning they are appropriate for more than one faction, they are labeled Divergent which is dangerous because they don’t conform.  They are looked at as rebels, so in Beatrice’s case, her tester tells her to tell no one of her result and that she will have to choose her own faction at the upcoming Choosing Ceremony. 

After the Choosing Ceremony, belonging to the Dauntless faction, she takes the new name of Tris and embarks on a life of risk-taking and learns fighting skills as the Dauntless are the protectors of the new world.  Tris makes new friends, enemies, and even falls in love.  As the book closes, the real threat is recognized in the form of the Erudites who take their intelligence to a level of manipulation, injecting Dauntless with a serum that gives the Erudites control of the Dauntless minds.  Of course Tris saves the day and her boyfriend, but loses her parents who selflessly put themselves in harm’s way to save her.

I enjoyed this book.  There were parts that moved a little slowly, but the friction between the different factions was believable and the story line was easy to follow.  It was suspenseful but not scary.  The tasks that were put before the initiates made it clear that something big was going to come up.  I was surprised that it was as easy as it was to keep her Divergent status a secret though.

Overall, I give the book five stars and can only hope that Insurgent, book two in the series, is as good as the first.

MOVIE REVIEW: 50 Shades of Grey

Have you ever watched an 80s porn?  I watched this goofy one about George and Martha Washington.  No plot and lots of sex.

That just about sums up 50 Shades of Grey.

Not completely though.  50 Shades tries really hard to make us believe there is a plot to this movie.  Whether it be a beautiful love story (I seriously couldn't believe I read that on a comment somewhere) or just how screwed up the world is and how people try their hardest to overcome obstacles, there is an attempt at a plot.

Without dragging out the whole story (especially since most have read the book or at least have a general understanding of what the book is about), a brief synopsis of the movie's version is that Bella...oops.  I mean Ana *note sarcasm* is a young woman who has never found anyone that she liked enough to be more than friends with until she meets Christian.

Christian, in his own "50 shades of F***ed up" can't tell that Ana's innocence really means virgin and brings her into his Dom/Sub lifestyle.

And Ana follows along because she just can't leave him alone.  *insert moth to flame idioms*

And Christian lets her because he just can't leave her alone.

So they have sex.  Lots of it.  Because Christian doesn't do romance.  He F***s.  Hard.

What did I like about the movie?  My favorite part of the book was the emails back and forth.  I liked how they incorporated it into the movie by posting "text" balloons beside the character on the screen.  The only disappointing part was that you didn't get all the fun stuff of the subject lines and signatures changing per email like they did in the book which I thought was clever and fun, an attempt that tried to develop the characters.

I loved the gliding scene.  I can't even describe how happy that made me.

I was truly impressed with the Red Room of Pain.  Wow.  Talk about the equipment he had available to him.  Canes, floggers, ropes, pulleys, handcuffs.  Any true S&M enthusiast would be jealous.

What didn't I like?  Boobies.  There was just too much of Dakota Johnson's full naked body and not enough of Jamie Dornan.  Not that I was necessarily excited about Dornan, but when you consider what we were watching I'd have liked it to be slightly more even, especially since this was supposed to be a woman's skin flick.

Anything else I didn't like?  Well, probably the fact that reading most of what is written in the, albeit poorly written novel, is at least private.  Hearing those same words come out of the actors' mouths on screen with 100 of my not-so-closest friends?  Awkward.

What would I rate it?  About 2 Stars out of 5.  There wasn't a lot of development, although I'm assuming that is because they figure most who go see it have read the book so they don't need to work on the development.  I think they forgot that the characters were poorly developed in the book though.

Will I see the other two if they ever make the big screen?  Yeah.  I mean, what the hell, right?  It can't get any worse.

Can it?

BOOK REVIEW: 50 Shades of Grey by EL James

I realize that this book has been out for a couple years, but I feel I should get my review in before I see the movie that is coming out tomorrow night. 

First off, I started out really excited and enjoying the book.  I’m a huge fan of romance/smut novels and have read blogs on how difficult it is to write a good sex scene, one that is believable.  It didn't take me the entire book to realize that was not what I was going to get.

Don’t get me wrong.  I couldn't put it down.  I've read all three in the series.  More than once.  But I was truly disappointed.

First off, what virgin can give the best blow job ever on her first time, including swallowing?

There were LOTS of sex scenes, and none of them were ever really developed.  There was some form of sex on just about every other page, but because of how quickly Ana would orgasm, they just never seemed to get off the ground.  I’m not saying every sex scene needs to be developed but a good portion of them should be.

Anastasia talks about her body like she’s 12 using terminology like “down there” or (worse yet) calling Christian’s abdominal hair his “happy trail”.  Who talks like that?

My favorite part of the books were the email messages that they would send back and forth.  I love seeing how they flirted with each other, plus is was a good moment to develop foreplay between them, getting you ready for the next time they were together.

The worst part of the book though?  All the similarities between Ana and Christian to Bella and Edward.  I realize that this was the reason behind the book, to give us a “grown up” version of Twilight, but if I want a “grown up” version of something, they had better be in their 30s and have had some life experiences.

On the bright side…it did give me some ideas of things to try. ;) 

Common Sense Rule #79

When you haven't done a full clean for 2 1/2 years, expect to fill the garbage can the day they dump it.

Life has a way of getting away from you.  I've gotten first-hand knowledge of this as I've been going through the house after finishing my final semester at college.  It comes in the form of garbage bags.

Do you realize how many bags of garbage you can fill when you are going through kids' school papers from last year?  I'm not talking before Christmas break.  The 2013-14 school year.

It makes me wonder what I was thinking every time I emptied a folder.  And then set the papers to the side.

Not only that mess, but just a general pile up of papers.  And books.  And all kinds of crap.

I am not generally that kind of person.  I don't like clutter.  I don't consider myself a hoarder (although I do save certain things).  I just had other things to think about and do so lots of things went by the wayside.

The worst part is that, after this many years of no one doing a ton of "extra" things, no one wants to get their hands dirty and do them now either.

Why am I putting this out there?  Potentially embarrassing myself by showing how unorganized this organized person has become?  Accountability.

Now I just need to get it done to prove I can.