Hard Hitting Talk Radio!

Now that's what I call hard hitting talk radio! The masters of morning radio disaster Barry Dane and Jim Le-snore-chick over on AM-1400 really know how to hold local leaders feet to the fire!

Yesterday while interviewing County Executive Mark Divecchio they really pressed the hard hitting issues, first raising questions about an Erie County Sheriff''s vehicle still sporting studded snow tires here at the end of May! Just imagine!

They then followed that foray into the controversial by pressing the County Exec on the difficult issue of the staff at the Blasco Library speaking too loudly! Apparently one of their six listeners was upset after a recent stop at the stacks and wanted the dynamic duo to press the issue.

You've got to be kidding me! This is what passes for hard hitting talk radio?! The most pressing issue facing county taxpayers is studded snow tires and loud talking library staffers? I felt like I had entered an alternate universe when Divecchio actually responded to the library question by defending the local public library system!

Is this what passes for serving the community that the radio station is licensed to? If given the choice I'd take another bunch of infomercials about cleaning up mold or some local senior citizens home then this crap!

Memorial Day 2008

May God bless our troop and all of the families who have sacrificed loved ones for the freedoms that we enjoy. Take a moment from your picnics with family and friends to remember them all.

May God continue to bless America.

Oil Reality Check

I saw an amazing interview with Texas oilman, T. Boone Pickens on Glen Beck’s show on CNN Headline News last night. Even if you think that Beck is some nut bag conservative, you should try to find the rebroadcast of this interview either online or when they re-air the shows over the weekend. (Click the title to link to the transcript of the interview.)

If your fed up with the ever-increasing prices at the pump, Pickens, who’s made billions in the oil game, lays out the very cold, very hard facts about why we are paying so much. No it’s not because George W. Bush is evil, or we are being raked over the coals by greedy oil companies or even the speculative commodities market.

The real reason we are paying so much more is the good old-fashioned economics of supply and demand. Pickens laid out the numbers as follows: “85 million barrels of oil produced every day, and the demand in this quarter is 86.4 (per day.)” That means demand outstrips supply by 1.4 million barrels every day. That’s a shortfall of over 500 million barrels of oil per year worldwide.

Pickens also laid out a damning case against our dependency on foreign oil. At $125 per barrel we export roughly $750 BILLION per year out of the U.S. economy. Currently we import 16 million barrels of oil every single day. We use 21 million barrels per day, which equates to domestic production of just 5 million barrels per day. 72% of all of the oil we use comes from foreign sources.

Our consumption equates to using 25% of all of the world’s oil production when we comprise only 4% of the world’s population.

Pickens also points out that every single President since Richard Nixon has run on becoming energy independent, yet we have continued to get worse and worse in our energy policy. As Pickens put it in the interview, “a fool with a plan can beat a genius with no plan. I promise you that’s the case. We have no plan. We have no plan.”

No I’m not going soft or turning liberal, my core principles remain rock solid. It doesn’t matter if you’re conservative or liberal or spineless independent, it’s long passed time that we start to demand that our politicians stop playing games with our energy policy.

Stop blaming oil companies for high prices and playing games with threats to seize “windfall profits.” Stop claiming you have a plan for energy independence. Put in place practical environmental restrictions and stop worrying about the albino cockatoo or snub-nosed butterfly. We can safely drill in ANWR and off shore and tap into our domestic supply.

It’s well passed time that we consolidate the ridiculous number of custom gasoline blends that slow the refining process. Why could we possibly need more than a half dozen varieties? We need to make the building of new refineries easier and less expensive than
the current 15 year, multi-billion dollar process!

We need to get over the non-meltdown of Three Mile Island and start to put more nuclear power plant on line. The same goes for coal gasification, refining from shale oil deposits, the building of wind farms and solar power. It seems like we’ve gone decades and decades with hearing the old B.S. from our elected officials and we haven’t taken any concrete steps towards a real energy policy!

I really don’t care who you support in the race for the White House, because this transcends politics. This is at the core of our success and our future. We are a national built largely on the back of transporting goods and for us to be able to continue to do that and be hugely successful, then we need to take firm action now! We can stand by and do nothing and change nothing about our policies and we will be regulated back to the Stone Age.

I for one do not want to go back to being a cave dweller!

Poll: Gas Price Impact

With prices locally hitting $4.00+ per gallon at the gas pumps just in time for the Memorial Day holiday weekend, the new web poll question is about how those higher prices have impacted your lifestyle.

Are you feeling the pinch? Have you cut back on your driving? Has it forced you to change plans for the summer driving/vacation season? Are you now pondering a hybrid vehicle or maybe a new bicycle?

Vote in the poll and make your comment here on how the higher price has impacted your lifestyle.

Obama Elected…GE Moves?

My news flash blog from yesterday spawned an interesting debate in the comments about what I think could be one of devastating effects of a Barack Obama Presidency. Obama’s comments about taxation, regulation, and the environment lead me to believe that if he is elected President it could have a devastating impact on industry and cities like Erie.

I wanted to move that debate front and center today so I have moved the original news flash and the comments that follow to this entry for your perusal and comment.

The original flash-

While pitching his message to Oregon's environmentally-conscious voters on Sunday, Senator Barack Obama called on the United States to "lead by example" on global warming, and develop new technologies at home which could be exported to developing countries.

"We can't drive our SUVs and eat as much as we want and keep our homes on 72 degrees at all times ... and then just expect that other countries are going to say OK," Obama said. "That's not leadership. That's not going to happen."

What? This is what Obama is passing off as leadership? Leadership to what? Leading us back to the stone ages? Here’s a news flash for Obama: we are the economic engine of the world! We lead the way in innovation, technological advancement, and development, for now. If you have your way and tax the living hell out of us, all of this real leadership will come to a screeching halt.

While Obama is out preaching to the uninformed masses and being lapped up like a plate of chicken and biscuits, for his populist clap trap, the businesses that are the economic engine of this country are keeping a watchful eye on his plans and planning their alternatives to doing business in the United States. And don’t kid yourself that that can’t or won’t happen.

GE can just as easily make their next generation locomotives in Bangalore as they can in Lawrence Park.

The comments that followed and my replies:

Anonymous said...
Yes, GE could build their locomotives overseas, but don't bet on them doing so. It costs about $1 million PER locomotive to ship them overseas, and with the majority of GE's orders being from domestic railroads, mostly for 100-200 locomotives each, that's a HUGE price tag.

Full Frontal Lucidity said...
Last I heard they were building around 700 locomotives per year...so 100-200 is far from the bulk of their orders...the foreign market has continued to grow...they can tack the cost of shipping on the cost of the finished product just like they do now...hardly an impediment to them moving overseas...and with the cost savings on labor...that million bucks suddenly shrinks pretty dramatically.

Anonymous said...
How anyone could possibly consider Barack Obama and his hatred filled wife to lead our country and outlaw the American way of life is mind boggling.

Anonymous said...
Not what I said. I said that each order is generally for 100 to 200 locomotives per order. Last year they produced 970 locomotives.There is a competitor, EMD, based in Canada. Don't bet on GE moving overseas anytime soon; their price per locomotive is cheaper than EMD right now, but if they move, that will no longer be the case and I guarantee you that the railroads will look to EMD, and not GE. Also of note, GE already has plants overseas that can build locomotives, such as one in Kazakhstan but they don't choose to build all of them there because of the expense.

Full Frontal Lucidity said...
Don't think they are able to build the entire package at the Kazakhstan plant...they can build part of the finished product...like John Dineen stated recently, "I'd rather have 50 or 75 percent (of the locomotive) built here, than nothing at all."

Don't bet on GE not looking to overseas if they can't remain competitive on price due to Obama's tax and regulate policies...as I've written here many times, corporations DO NOT PAY TAXES...there customers do.

If it becomes cost prohibitive to pass along those increases, then GE will look for a way to keep costs down and look to a more business friendly climate...lower taxes, cheaper workforce, less regulation...which was my original point.

The impact this possibility would have on this community would be staggering! It's not just the 5500 who work a GE, it's everybody who supplies GE and everybody that all of those folks do business with...the trickle down would make a Tsunami look like a walk in the park...

Is that the CHANGE Obama keeps yapping about? His potential slaughter of small industrial town like Erie? All you Union types may want to think twice before casting a vote for this clown.

I do not think that this is by any means a forgone conclusion, but I think an Obama Presidency would certainly enhance that possibility. What’s your take?

News Flashes for Everybody!

No one could ever accuse the Erie Times News of being the sharpest political analysts on the block, but their piece on the voter registration swing in the 3rd Congressional district is laughable at best.

They believe that the swing in registration, with a large number of new Democrats and a desire for “change” signals an end to the Phil English era. Here’s a news flash: registrations aren’t votes. It has become an every four years tradition for the media to point out the success of voter registration drives and how many young people are signing up to vote and how it signals a real shift in American politics…blah, blah, blah.

A simple look at the historical Presidential election vote points out that young people get energized, get registered, and then do not vote! The 3rd Congressional district is heavily weighted outside the confines of Erie County. Maybe once in a while the Times News should pack some PBJs and a Thermos of coffee and send their crack reporters out to the hinterlands of the district to get a gauge on what’s going on.

English has maintained his seat largely based on the votes coming in down district, not from Erie proper.

To win English’s opponent, Kathy Dahlkemper is going to need to get out to the hinterlands and also raise a TON of cash. I still have my doubts that the Democrat Congressional Campaign Committee is going to support her to the fullest, when their handpicked boy Kyle Foust got trounced. I doubt Foust is capable of convincing them they should shift horses and support Dahlkemper. Although I have doubts about Kyle’s ability to wipe his own butt too!

The reality is the registration swing had more to do with folks wanting to have a say in picking the Democrat presidential candidate, than it did an overwhelming desire for change.

___________

While pitching his message to Oregon's environmentally-conscious voters on Sunday, Senator Barack Obama called on the United States to "lead by example" on global warming, and develop new technologies at home which could be exported to developing countries.

"We can't drive our SUVs and eat as much as we want and keep our homes on 72 degrees at all times ... and then just expect that other countries are going to say OK," Obama said. "That's not leadership. That's not going to happen."

What? This is what Obama is passing off as leadership? Leadership to what? Leading us back to the stone ages? Here’s a news flash for Obama: we are the economic engine of the world! We lead the way in innovation, technological advancement, and development, for now. If you have your way and tax the living hell out of us, all of this real leadership will come to a screeching halt.

While Obama is out preaching to the uninformed masses and being lapped up like a plate of chicken and biscuits, for his populist clap trap, the businesses that are the economic engine of this country are keeping a watchful eye on his plans and planning their alternatives to doing business in the United States. And don’t kid yourself that that can’t or won’t happen.

GE can just as easily make their next generation locomotives in Bangalore as they can in Lawrence Park.
__________

I have to laugh at all of the speculation about Vice Presidential picks and short lists. Here’s a news flash: forget about Hillary Clinton ending up as the VP or Mitt Romney teaming with John McCain. When it comes to Vice Presidential picks, boring is the operative word.

Just take a look at recent history, does it get any more boring than Dick Cheney, Al Gore and Dan Quayle? While all of this speculation is fun and political folks love to toss out names for speculative purposes, the reality is we still vote the top of the ticket not the backup plan.

Since we’re in full speculation mode, here’s a couple of picks to chew on: for the Democrat ticket, Ohio Governor Ted Strickland and for the Republicans, former Ohio Congressman Rob Portman, a fiscal conservative who recently headed up the Office of Management and Budget. Ohio has played a pivotal role in the last couple of Presidential races and that could have both parties looking for an edge in the state next door.

So Much For Property Tax Relief

When is a tax break, not a tax break? When the Erie School District decides that they want to take your long talked about and not yet delivered tax break and spend to repair and replace dilapidated schools!

The subject of more special sessions of the State Legislature than you can shake a stick at, school property tax relief is supposed to come in the form of monies generated by the gaming revenues. Depending on your tax bill and school district, the tax reduction was supposed to average about $150.

Now comes word that Erie Superintendent Dr. Jim Barker would like to fill a proposed budget shortfall and pay for a bond issue to be floated for renovation and repair work to the district’s school buildings.

So far the District school directors appear split on seizing the money to pay for the multi-million dollar shortfall and bond issue. Like so many other government spending plans, it seems only a matter of time before they all get together, throw up their hands and announce how hard they tried to fight it, but they just had to push through the tax increase because their was no other way to get the renovations paid for.

How about a silly little concept like proper maintenance? It’s amazing how many local school districts have utilized local Parochial school building while they do repair or replacement work. Many of those closed down Catholic School buildings are in better shape than the newer public school buildings that are being replaced!

The main difference is the Parochial system understands they have tightly limited resources and need to take care of things, unlike the public system which can just increase your taxes or seize your tax relief! Can’t wait to hear about the plans for some high tech or green friendly facility that Erie taxpayers will be stuck footing the bill for!

Poll: Community College

What are your thoughts on the proposed community college? Plans are in the works to use some of the gaming revenues and state money to start a community college for Northwestern Pennsylvania, the question is what form will that school take?

Will it be a stand alone entity or will it be done in cooperation with local colleges, universities and trade a technical schools? Is there enough money to go around to cover all of the proposals for using the gaming money or will this end up costing taxpayers even more money? Does the need truly exist for this type of school?

Have your say in the weekly web poll question and/or add your comments here.

Collateral, What a Concept!

I have a great idea for a business I’d like to start here in Erie. It’s a really great idea and I can show you a solid plan and even better, some very nice artist renderings. That’s all I’ve got, no real money to invest, just an idea, or at least the kernel of an idea.

If I made that pitch to one of local banks here in town, what do you think their response would be? Now keep in mind, I’m a really good person, everybody thinks so! So now what do you think would I get a loan? Not likely huh?

Now imagine I went to the State or better yet City Council, and gave them the same pitch along with the promise to create jobs and economic development. Now how would I make out? You betcha! I’d have a big ole pile of taxpayer cash!

If you don’t agree, I’ll simply point to history, because it’s on my side. All I have to point to is the non-existent Parade Street grocery store, the laughable juice pressing plant, and the big hole in the ground where Koehler Brewery once stood on State Street. All three of those ill-fated projects enjoyed the largesse of the taxpayers of the city of Erie and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

Which makes it laughable at best that City Council is trying to get back some of the money dumped into the Koehler money pit. It’s laughable that Councilman Jim Thompson is throwing around phrases like “moral obligation” to the Erie Times News when referring to the pay back of taxpayer money.

Time after time the Council has been kicked in the backside for doling out money with little if any regard for the taxpayers all in the hope that something magical might happen and the projects might actually take off. These folks are so desperate for some good news on the economic development front that they’ve become easy pickings for scam artists like the late Herb Fiss and his alleged juice plant.

Now after getting stung so many times they want to take a get-tough stance and act responsible. Here’s a news flash for Thompson and friends, they should have done the due diligence on the front end of these deals not after the bottom falls out! A simple Google search of Fiss would have revealed all they needed to know to send him packing with the empty wallet he came to town with!

I don’t have a problem with economic development monies being spent to expand local operations or o help grow a business, that makes sense, but these so-called developers that don’t have much more than pretty pictures need to put up some realistic collateral to back up the funds they get for taxpayer funded sources.

Think about it, if they aren’t willing to make that kind of commitment, then how committed are they to the project they want to build?

Rumblings...Millcreek School District

I'm hearing big time rumblings about the ever-popular dysfunctional family known as the Millcreek School Board. While they've been in the news lately with the departure of Superintendent, Dr. Dean Maynard and some of the typical in-fighting that makes them newsworthy, the rumors make that seem like small potatoes.

The rumble allegedly involves money and the Attorney General's office investigating. Given his track record of investigating public corruption like a pit bull on a fillet, my money is on Tom Corbett. Word has it, this is front page news in the making, stay tuned!

A Bayfront Convention Center Reality Check

Erie Convention Center Authority executive director Casey Wells called a news conference to announce the big news the Bayfront Convention Center didn’t lose as much money as it was projected to! Oh, it still lost money, just less than expected, or at least that ‘s what Mr. Wells would hope you believe.

Here are the facts that were laid out at the press conference: for 2007 the Convention Center hosted 157 events and drew 62,736 people, with projections calling for just 56 events and 26,800 people.

For 2008 the facility is on track to host 284 events and 198,516 people far exceeding the 131 events and 59,500 visitors projected by C. H Johnson Consulting, the Chicago-based outfit that conducted the feasibility study for the Authority.

As for dollars and cents, the Center had an operational shortfall of $167,097 in 2007, which was substantially lower than the $838,932 shortfall that was budgeted for by the Authority.

Sounds like a very positive start right? Here’s the problem, most of the events the convention center played host to were not new events or out of town guests, they were regularly scheduled events that were cannibalized from other Erie facilities. A good portion of that cannibalized business came from facilities owned and operated by the Authority like the Tulio Arena and the Warner Theater.

What Mr. Wells didn’t include in his run down of all the good news for the Bayfront Convention Center is the impact on the operating budgets of those other Authority facilities. The Tulio Arena in particular has had a history of operational shortfalls that have been foisted off on the taxpayers and the loss of regular business to the Convention Center certainly must have had an impact on that bottom line.

You’ve got to wonder why no one in the local media raised the question to Wells about the overall shortfall at all of their facilities. This is about accountability to the taxpayers who footed the bill for this $113+ million boondoggle.

A good follow up question would have been to see a break down of how much out of town business actually took place. If it was only local meetings and events that would have taken place anyway, then the Center has had ZERO economic impact. The only true measure of economic impact is the attraction of NEW dollars to the community; otherwise it’s only a matter of moving the same dollars around in the same pot.

It’s down right laughable when Wells claims that they forecasting for the Convention Center to “fully stabilize,” after five years. How long have they been saying the Tulio Arena which continues to operate at a loss would stabilize?

Poll: The Forclosure Crisis

The Democrat controlled Congress is considering two different bills aimed at bailing out home buyers who are facing forclosure due to the recent credit crunch. Some think a bailout of families facing the loss of their homes is the "right thing to do" while many taxpayers don't want to foot the bill for others irresponsiblity.

What's your take? Weigh in with your vote in our new Web poll question or comment here.

Stephen King Liberal Twerp

Best selling author Stephen King is desperately trying to spin comments he made at an event at the Library of Congress back in April that has drawn fire from not only bloggers, but also the U. S. military.

At the event King rolled out a classic slice of liberal stupidity when he told a group of kids he was reading to, "I don’t want to sound like an ad, a public service ad on TV, but the fact is if you can read, you can walk into a job later on. If you don’t, then you’ve got the Army, Iraq, I don’t know, something like that. It’s not as bright."

King, like many others blinded by their liberalism believes that only a dim wit with limited choices could possibly end up voluntarily joining the military.

The U.S. Army didn’t take kindly to King’s stupidity, spokesman Paul Boyce replied,
"America's soldiers are proudly serving and fighting for us all. We can be proud of our soldiers' selfless service, their skill and their ingenuity. They certainly are role models for every high-school student in America considering a noble career ... and many book authors." Military recruits test above the national average in reading and vocabulary skills, he added.

Again in the grand liberal tradition, King is trying to spin this as a conservative blogger attacking his patriotism. King placed the following comment on his Web site: “That a right-wing-blog would impugn my patriotism because I said children should learn to read, and could get better jobs by doing so, is beneath contempt. Noel Sheppard says, “Nice sentiment when the nation is at war, Stephen.” I guess he feels ignorance and illiteracy are OK when the country needs cannon-fodder. I guess he also feels that the war in Iraq has nationwide approval. Well, it doesn’t have mine. It is a waste of national resources. . . and that includes the youth and blood of the 4,000 American troops who have lost their lives there and for the tens of thousands who have been wounded. I live in a national guard town, and I support our troops, but I don’t support either the war or educational policies that limit the options of young men and women to any one career—military or otherwise.”

What the hell is King talking about? We have an educational policy in this country to keep kids ignorant? I certainly hope that he can point this policy out…cause I must have missed that one. Not sure how commenting again on how ignorance and illiteracy equates to cannon fodder is a way of supporting the troops as he claims he does.

Of course this all comes from a guy who proved he is the standard barer for twerps everywhere when he was interviewed at a World Series game last year, while reading a book. What kind of a social misfit reads a book at a World Series game?

Do As I Say…Green Hypocrisy

The British newspaper the Daily Mail is out with a story detailing what they call “hippy-crites” or celebrities who preach the green lifestyle, but practice quite another.

I don’t know how they could possibly be surprised by the do as I say, not as I do liberal way. This has been going on for years and is well detailed, including “film-maker” Michael Moore ripping big oil and Enron at the same time having both represented in his investment portfolio!

Among the celebrities that get flogged is John Travolta who is quoted in the piece as saying of the green lifestyle, “Every one can do their bit.” The Daily Mail points out that Travolta, who own five private jets, flew by himself to London to promote his movie Wild Hogs, in his Boeing 707. The paper notes, “In a normal configuration a 707 can carry 150 passengers.” Nothing like doing your bit!

The story also points out that Chris Martin, lead singer for the band Coldplay pays to have mango trees planted in developing countries, to help off set the carbon footprint created by his band’s tours. They also note that Martin flies home to London between shows to be with wife Gwynth Paltrow and their children, logging an extra 100,000 miles a year in his private jet. Mangoes anyone?

My favorite had to be details of ultimate hippy-crite babbling Barbara Streisand. They quote Babs as saying, “Everyone has the power to make a difference, by making simple conscious decisions in their everyday lives.” The Mail details the production requirements for Ms. Streisand’s recent UK tour as including; thirteen 53-foot tractor-trailers, four rental vans, fourteen crew tour buses, and one limo! Way to make a difference Babs! Although I’m still trying to figure out her personal demand for 120 bath-sized towels upon arrival at the venue…man that’s a lot of showers.

Obama-nomics = Clueless

On the Presidential campaign trail Senator Barack Obama has been hailed as an articulate, inspiring, speaker. Given his new proposal to tax the “windfall profits” of oil companies, I’d have to say when it comes to economics, Obama is CLUELESS!

Granted, oil companies are an easy target to vilify with prices at the pump setting records on a daily basis and headlines proclaiming record profits for the giants like Exxon/Mobil, but Obama’s, “looking out for the little guy” brand of populism is nothing but hot air!

Obama’s proposal calls for a tax on oil sold at or above $80 per barrel and that the money generated by the tax would be doled out in the form of a middle class tax rebate of $1000 and $150 billion spent on “clean energy” over ten years.

Most folks are going like the sound an extra $1000 in their pockets, but here’s where the Obama plan slides off the rails, these corporations DO NOT PAY TAXES. No it’s not because of some corporate, Republican, loophole or tax break, they don’t pay taxes because they tack the cost of taxes onto the price of their product.

The state tax of 34 cents per gallon and the Federal tax of 18.4 cents per gallon is on the wholesale price, which the oil companies pass along to consumers at the pump. So what does Senator Obama think that these companies are going do when they get whacked with this ridiculous tax?

What will the price per gallon jump to, to cover these additional billions of dollars of taxes? Now how does that extra thousand bucks sound? The last time this type of tax was tried was during the failed Presidency of Jimmy Carter and it resulted in a 50 to 70 percent tax on the market price of oil. Can you say $10 per gallon!

Just imagine the trickle down impact of this tax on other businesses, which also don’t pay taxes because they pass them on to you. The economy is largely based on transport so this tax will impact the cost of everything! Literally the price of everything you consume will be impacted to cover the cost of this tax.

Could that be the much-ballyhooed Change, Mr. Obama has been yapping about?

New Poll- Tires to Energy Plant

Have your say in the new web poll question regarding Erie Renewable Energy's tires to energy plant, proposed for the former International Paper site.

Proponents favor it or the hundreds of millions of dollars of investment, the family sustaining jobs it will create, and the additional power it will put into the grid.

Vocal opponents say the the proposed technology is unproven and could lead to pollution that could cause health problems for residents near the plant and devastating damage to the Lake Erie ecosystem.

What's your take? Vote in the new web poll question and/or comment here.

Breathe Easy in Erie?

The American Lung Association has released their State of the Air report for 2008 and the big headline is that Pittsburgh has surpassed Los Angeles as the Sootiest City in America.

So how do we rank here in Erie? While the Steel City grades out at an F for the Ozone Rating and Fails the Particle rating, Erie Scores a C for Ozone and gets passing marks for the 24 hour Particle ratings, but fails the Annual Particle rating.

Watch for the environmental whack-a-moles who are trying to road block the tires to energy plant to jump all over these numbers in their efforts to derail the project.

Here’s the problem; this study lacks any historical context, so there’s no way to gauge if the air quality is bad and getting worse, or if the numbers and air quality is actually improving. Keep in mind that with improved technology there have been dramatic changes in testing quality, but also in the standards for measurements.

Given tougher government regulation and the exodus of large manufacturers and their large, belching smokestacks, I’ve got to bet that the air is probably getting better.

Keep in mind that the Association is getting heavy pub out of this and wants to convert that attention to more donations. All it takes a little bit of critical thinking to not read too much into the results of this study.