Also on today’s menu:
E-Bikes To The Rescue
No-Loan Financial Aid
The Biden-Harris Administration has announced that the private sector has invested more than $700 million in electric vehicle charging stations since Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law dedicated $7.5 billion to promote the switch from petroleum-based automobiles. The White House claims that the investment will result in more than 250,000 new EV chargers each year, add at least 2,000 jobs, and make EV charging more affordable, accessible, and equitable.
The ambitious target is for half of the new vehicles sold in 2030 to be electric, and 100 percent of vehicles being zero-emission by 2035.
However, electric charging stations are still in the development stages and there are not a lot of places where vehicles can be recharged, so taking a long journey or visiting family members in a rural or suburban area runs the risk of ending up stuck in one place.
There also is the matter of cost, when even the more affordable brands can be around $30,000 to $40,000, and those with luxury options may cost $80,000 or more. Electric vehicles cost between $10,000 and $50,000 more than gas-powered cars.
The other drawback is that an electric car can take 4-6 hours — and sometimes even a day — to get fully charged.
For all of those reasons, a hybrid vehicle remains the best choice for those looking to wean themselves from fully gasoline-powered vehicles at the moment.
E-Bikes To The Rescue
Colorado State Senate Bill 22-193 is providing $12 million to electric bicycle ownership and rideshare programs. The funding is among several state and local measures that identify e-bikes as an essential tool for getting people to drive less in order to reduce emissions from transportation. California, Connecticut, and Vermont also offer e-bike incentive programs.
According to NPD Group, a market research firm, e-bike sales grew 47 percent in the 12 months ending in October 2021, compared with the previous year, making it a $741 million product. As more people use e-bikes instead of cars, they not only save money and reduce emissions, in some cases, they may be able to replace automobiles completely. A 2020 study in Norway found that car owners who purchase an e-bike will drive less.
Like electric automobiles, e-bikes require the use of lithium-ion batteries, which raise concerns about the environmental damage of lithium mining and the risk of battery fires. E-bikes also do not have the auto’s advantage of offering protection from rain, wind, and snow.
No-Loan Financial Aid
Starting this summer, Dartmouth College is offering a package of financial aid that does not rely on student loans. College President Phil Hanlon announced the change in a reunion address last week, saying that more than $120 million in scholarship donations through the Call to Lead campaign made the change possible.
By eliminating federal and institutional loans, students from middle-income families will be on the hook for an average of $22,000 less over four years. The college previously eliminated student loans in financial aid packages for families earning less than $125,000. The new policy will benefit about 450 Dartmouth students, according to the Call to Lead Campaign.
Brown University, Columbia University, Harvard University, the University of Pennsylvania, and Yale University previously adopted no-loan policies.
Café Chatter
In response to “It Doesn’t End”.
Abortion, one group says my body, my right/my choice and the other group say no, it is immoral and killing an innocent life. Who is right?
The Truth is right and that is the question, where is truth? Is it killing a baby or not? Is it my body or not? Do we believe in an absolute truth anymore or is it what I say is true and you say is true? Can we have two truths for the same issue?
Many people of the world do not like believing they are under a higher authority; may it be government or God. They say I am my own person; no one rules over me. What I say is true. If that is their belief, I could debate whole heartly that abortion is killing an innocent life and never get anywhere. Until the people of the world come to realize they are under a higher authority debating abortion will always have two sides, right/wrong and wrong/right. Thus, we are a nation divided.
I agree it is your body and technically you have the right to do with it as you want. I say technically because doing something harmful to yourself does not make it right. If you were to maimed yourself, you cause others to get involved and now it’s not just you that is being harmed but others as well. There still are people out there that cry and hurt when others harm themselves. Abortion kills a baby which hurts others.
God says (need an absolute truth as a base) in the first part of the verse in Isaiah 44:2 Thus says the LORD who made you, who formed you from the womb. I could provide many more verse like this one but I think you get the picture that life starts from the womb. And if so, then it is killing an innocent life who has no voice and only wants to grow and live.
Regarding the 2nd Amendment, we must remember, the gun is the object without a brain/thought, it is a person who decides to kill another, not the gun. All people have the right to protect themselves from a person or government and that right should not stop at what weapon is permissible by law to own.
What we have going on in the USA is:
Lack of protection for our kids
Our kids have too much availability to violent video games, shows, movies and social media
Not enough emphasis that all life is precious and needs to be protected at all times
If we were able to address these few things and others then we would not need additional mental health.
Lincoln may have said “A house divided cannot stand” but he was quoting from the truth, the Bible. It says in Matthew 12:25, Jesus speaking, “Knowing their thoughts, he said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and no city or house divided against itself will stand.” Even Lincoln stood on and knew the truth. Another verse in Luke, 12:52, Jesus speaking, For from now on in one house there will be five divided, three against two and two against three. This verse sounds like the times we are living in.
It is amazing to me that in the Old Testament the Israelites/Jewish people only had 10 commandments and 613 laws to live by. We have thousands and continue to fail. It’s not up to the courts to settle this once for all, but for the people to respect, honor and cherish life, from beginning to end.
— John Sellers
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The “moral/religious” of Christianity is pushing the limits as to forcing that faith on women. Not all major regions agree. In fact, the Jewish religion says this,
Does Jewish law state that life begins at conception? No, life does not begin at conception under Jewish law. Sources in the Talmud note that the fetus is “mere water” before 40 days of gestation. Following this period, the fetus is considered a physical part of the pregnant individual’s body, not yet having life of its own or independent rights. The fetus is not viewed as separate from the parent’s body until birth begins and the first breath of oxygen into the lungs allows the soul to enter the body.
Does Jewish law assert that it is possible to murder a fetus? No, Jewish law does not consider a fetus to be alive. The Torah, Exodus 21:22-23, recounts a story of two men who are fighting and injure a pregnant woman, resulting in her subsequent miscarriage. The verse explains that if the only harm done is the miscarriage, then the perpetrator must pay a fine. However, if the pregnant person is gravely injured, the penalty shall be a life for a life as in other homicides. The common rabbinical interpretation of this verse is that the men did not commit murder and that the fetus is not a person. The primary concern is the well-being of the person who was injured.
As religion is each person’s own choice. It just makes it more important that we, as a country, do not allow the the line between church and state become blurred.