9/11 – A day that
will hopefully always be remembered by the people of the United
States. Nearly 3,000 of us were murdered and more than 6,000 of us
were injured by 19 terrorists who were here illegally. The 19 came
here legally, on business/tourist/student visas, and illegally stayed
to carry out the attack. Now, 17 years later, the federal government
STILL can’t track those who have overstayed their visas. According
to a Pew Research article we had an estimated 9.4 million illegal
aliens in the US in 2001. In 2016 the number had grown to11.3
million. Why do we continue to elect people to federal office when
they refuse to allow our immigration laws to be enforced? (They also
refuse to change the laws. During 2 years of the Obama presidency the
Democrats controlled the House and had a filibuster proof majority in
the Senate. If Democrats want immigration laws changed why didn’t
they do it?)
Post trip ramblings
We drove 3,024
miles on our trip. We stayed off the Interstates as much as
practical. Roads in Iowa were the worst by far. The road surface
didn’t look that bad but my truck rode like a bucking bronco, mile
after miles after mile. Occasionally we would hit a couple of miles
where the ride was good. I couldn’t see any visible difference in
the condition of the roadway surface. I considered getting out and
kissing the road when we hit Minnesota.
Roads in Missouri,
Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan and Ohio were good, with only
occasional bad areas. Roads in Indiana and Illinois (where we drove
mostly Interstates) were poor, not as bad as Iowa but not nearly as
good as the other 4 states.
It is interesting
that Iowa has the highest fuel taxes (30.5 gas/32.5 diesel) and the
worst roads. We paid an average of $3.04/gal for fuel in Iowa.
Missouri’s road were as good as those in any of the states and it
has the lowest fuel taxes (17.3 gas & diesel). The fuel we bought
in Missouri cost us average of $2.98/gal. We paid the most for fuel
in Michigan, $3.30/gal. It’s fuel taxes are 26.3 cents per gallon
for both gas and diesel.
I wonder how Iowa
can collect 6 cents/gallon more tax and sell fuel for 26 cents/gallon
less than Michigan.
Illinois has the
2nd lowest fuel taxes (20.1 gas/22.6 diesel), which may be
a partial explanation for their poor roads.
In fairness to
Indiana it is worth noting that they raised their fuel tax by 10
cents/gallon on Jan 1, 2017. Hopefully the condition of their roads
will improve dramatically.
Last Sunday was the
5th anniversary of the startup of the FreshwaterJC. I’ve
been worshiping with them for about 15 months now. It started up as
the “vision” of a couple and initially met in their living room.
Average Sunday attendance now totals over 400 at the two morning
services, and we are still growing. We recently increased the size of
the area of a warehouse where we lease space for our services. The
changes to the enlarged kids Sunday School area are mostly complete
and we are starting to build/move some interior walls to increase the
size of the worship area. The anniversary celebration was held at
Calgary Lutheran High School because we don’t have near enough room
for everyone at the Warehouse.
In the middle of the crowd a young adult man is being baptized.
There were 3 different size bounce houses. This one was for the littlest kids.
A good time was had by all. God is good, may He bless you and yours.
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