Very interesting evening last night at the Chart Room!
Che and Peter engrossed in conversation in the corner with a couple from Las Vegas. Dorothy and Doc in for a drink. Mary bartending.
Me, I met Kevin from North Dakota. What an education I got! Learned so much! I want to share every morsel with you.
Kevin owns a small company that manufactures drill bits. He sells world wide. He is on vacation in Key West with his wife Sheila. First time. They love it!
He and I really got into North Dakota. Recall news over the past couple of years of building an oil pipeline running from Canada to Louisiana. Build or not to build the issue. Environmentalists strongly against it. The pipeline was an issue in the recent campaign.
North Dakota is presently benefiting from an oil boom. It would benefit even more if the pipeline were built. The pipeline would create thousands of good paying jobs up and down its length in the United States..
Here is what Kevin told me.
Young men just out of high school are earning $100,000 a year. Work a 60-70 hour week. Employed as roughnecks.
Wal-Mart is not know for generous wages. Wal-Mart pays its stock clerks $17 an hour.
MacDonald pays $15 an hour with a $300 sign up bonus.
There are presently 3,500 unfilled jobs. People are coming from all over to fill them. Kevin told me he sees many Florida plates.
Kevin lives in Williston. Five years ago it had a population of 15,000. Today, 50,000 and growing.
The United States is in an economic recession. We need jobs. Plain and simple. To build/extend the pipeline to Louisiana would create a ton of jobs. Good paying ones.
It is the eternal clash. I was an environmental attorney. I understand the importance of protecting our lands from damage caused by corporate greed. However on occasion the pendulum must swing when there is a greater need. In this instance, jobs!
The rest of my yesterday was not as exciting as my conversation with Kevin. I did the dentist thing again. Will be doing it for a while yet. Pain still there. However, minimal. Read a small news piece in the Key West Citizen about a Senator Stephen R. Mallory. From Key West. He as a US Senator in the 1850s. Came the Civil War, he went the other way. Joined the Confederacy where he served as Secretary of the Navy. Mallory Square is named after him.
The python hunt ends monday at 5. 1,500 hunters involved. Through last friday, a total of 50 pythons killed. Does not seem to have been worth the effort.
Pope Benedict XVI is retiring at the end of the month. I find his retirement strange. I do not buy the age/health argument. Last Pope to retire was around 415 AD. I think it has more to do with the ongoing Vatican Bank investigation involving money laundering. Time will tell.
The Olympics have decreed wrestling will no longer be one of its sports. Beginning with the 2020 Olympics. What are they going to replace it with? Foosball?
I did my blog talk radio show this morning at 7. Still not enough people calling in. I had one this morning. It was over the Pope’s retirement. I am considering trying a new time. If it does not get enough call ins at a later time, then it is me. I would not have been cut out to be a blog talk radio host.
Enjoy your day!