I tried and tried to leave the comment section of this page open to any and all wanting to place a comment on any article. Unfortunately there are too many users that will and did take advantage of this feature. You see, there are individuals and companies that sell computer robotic services. What are these robotic services you ask? These computer robots, search all over the web for open web pages, to ply their services. They really like unrestricted comment areas on a web page. They are able to fill in bogus names and email addresses, but a real URL address. When the comment is posted the URL is real and the customer who is paying for this service is banking on you the reader to click on this website. In other words, it’s like an advertisement for their web page and they are using a free medium to advertise. It’s SPAM! The same stuff we all deal with every time we open our emails. I hope you don’t have the 200 or so spam emails like I do each and every day!! I’m so tired of this and all I know to do is hit delete all. These companies or should I refer to them as criminals, spend money to obtain our email addresses and then turnaround and sell them to spammers. I know because, I have been approached by these criminals, attempting to purchase my bank of email address. I probably have 2000 to 3000 email addresses and will NEVER sell or give these to anyone.

 But, there is hope for those of us with web pages and blog pages and it is a simple word press plug in. If you spend any time on the internet, you’ll recognize the name of this plug in. It’s called CAPTCHA. The CAPTCHA is a box that uses a background design with letters and numbers that have to be entered by a user to access certain items on a web page. They range in difficulty from simple to very difficult in design. Remember the web-bots? Well, at the moment they are unable to configure these CAPTCHA codes and are not granted access to certain areas of a web page. I’m sure the internet criminals are working on hacking this as soon as they can, but for now we are safe with this CAPTCHA system and it works very well.

 I apologize to all my readers for the inconvenience of the CAPTCHA code. Allow me to give you some idea of what this has done to help me and this blog page. I was receiving 200 to 350 comments everyday and I reviewed each and every one to determine if real and publish worthy. After installing the CAPTCHA code, I receive 10 to 20 comments per day. This one fix has given me at least 3 free hours daily, that I can actually work on new articles.  I’ve had several people ask how I keep the spam from my page. I now let CAPTCHA code do it for me and life has gotten easier! So, HAIL CAPTCHA Code!!!

 Has your vehicle failed its emissions test? Replacing or repairing your car or truck just got easier. The AirCheck Texas emissions test inspects to see if your vehicle is generating higher levels of air pollution than it should. This is done each year when you have your vehicle state inspected. Your vehicle inspection report will detail why it passed or failed.

 You MUST repair the problem that caused your vehicle to fail. After repairs are made, take your vehicle back to the same inspection station within 15 days of your first inspection for a FREE retest. If you qualify, AirCheck Texas Drive a Clean Machine can help you with money towards repair or replacement of your vehicle.

 Replacement assistance is available on the following: 

$3,000 for a car, current model year or up to three model years old – ( 2011, 2010, 2009 )

$3,000 for a truck, current model year or up to two model years old – ( 2011, 2010 )

$3,500 for a hybrid vehicle, current or previous model year – ( 2011, 2010 )

 Repair assistance is available on the following:

Up to $600 for emissions-related repairs performed by emissions repair facilities recognized by the Texas Department of Public Safety ( DPS )

 >To be eligible to receive assistance with repair or replacement your vehicle MUST be registered in one of these participating counties: 

 The Austin Program Area: Travis or Williams counties

 Dallas-Fort Worth Program Area: Collin, Dallas, Denton, Ellis, Johnson, Kaufman, Parker, Rockwall or  Tarrant counties.             

 Houston-Galveston-Brazoria Program Area: Brazoria, Fort Bend, Galveston Harris, or Montgomery counties.

 >You must meet these 2008 net income requirements:  * (Family Size) -   *(Maximum Net Income)

1 – $31,200   2 – $42,000   3 – $52,800  4 – $63,600  5 – $74,400  6 – 85,200  7 – $96,000  8 – 106,800

If you have more family members than this you need to have your own television show!

 Your vehicle MUST meet these conditions:

>Failed an emissions test

>Registered in your program area for at least 12 consecutive months preceding your application

>For REPAIR assistance – Passed the safety portion of the DPS motor-vehicle safety and emissions inspection and driven under its own power to the inspection station.

>For REPLACEMENT assistance – Passed a DPS motor-vehicle safety and emissions inspection within 15 months of your application and driven under its own power to the automobile dealership.

>Is at least 10 years old and gasoline powered

>Driven under its own power to the automobile dealership

>Registered in your program area for at least 12 consecutive months preceding your application, and

>Passed a DPS motor vehicle safety inspection ( if more than 24 years old ) or

>Passed a safety and emissions inspection ( if 24 years old or less ) within 15 months of your application.

 For further assistance you may call toll free 800-913-3321 or visit www.driveacleanmachine.org

 I’m as pro-environmental as the next person, but when I start thinking about these electric cars and do just a little research, I begin to get a little suspicious. To begin with, allow me to give a short history lesson. Here in the U.S, we used to generate our electrical power using an abundant and one of the cleanest burning fossil fuels known to mankind. Our electric generation plants were fueled by natural gas. During the Carter (Jimmy) administration all of that changed. The electrical generation plants were mandated to change from natural gas to COAL fired operation. This use of coal has so many negative impacts that it just boggles the mind. To mine the coal, defaces our EARTH and to burn this coal, destroys our ATMOSPHERE!  No political or environmental group has ever once said, “let’s change back to natural gas for electrical generation and save our planet.” One 12 hour period of coal burning power generation produces more atmospheric pollutants than the operation of every vehicle in the U.S. for 7 days! Do I need to repeat that statement?

 Now the “experts” say we have to go to electrical vehicles to SAVE OUR PLANET! This is an absolute misconception! First, the electric vehicles are more expensive to manufacture and  purchase and that’s just the beginning! At the moment, the batteries being used in today’s electric cars are definitely NOT environmentally friendly. I might be stupid, but I view these batteries to the same degree as nuclear waste. Go ahead laugh! Now, think about it! What is done with these batteries at the end of their life span? How will they be properly disposed of and what will this disposal cost each of us in the long run? What is their pollution factor, now and in the future!?

 Remember our COAL fired generation plants? Let’s take a city the size of Houston, Texas. Let’s say half of the vehicles are electrically powered and need to be recharged each day. When everyone plugs their cars in at the end of a day, the power plants need to at the very least, triple power generation to cover the grid use! In one hour of increased power production with coal, the byproduct has polluted the atmosphere 4 times more than what was saved with one days use of those same electric vehicles!

 Does this make perfect sense to you? Ask yourself! Where does the money go and what does money BUY! We unfortunately have bought into the experts! I hope this article will make you think for just a minute! When the bell goes off, DO something about it. Speak up and be heard!!! The big push for electrical cars is the typical knee jerk reaction of our government and our experts! All it takes is just a few minutes of informed thought to see this is not the environmental fix that we need! Electric vehicles are not the great cure all for our environment! In fact they may cause more harm than good and in more ways than one.