You cannot

You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich.
You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong.
You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift.
You cannot lift the wage earner by bringing the wage payer down.
You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatred.
You cannot build character and courage by taking away people's initiative and independence.
You cannot help people permanently by doing for them, what they could and should do for themselves.

Abraham Lincoln

I recently saw a new guard rail going up in our town. I expressed some concern and my wife informed me it was to keep someone, probably drunk, from driving into the ditch. That epitomized for me the state of our country. Why should my tax dollars pay to keep some drunk out of the ditch. Maybe on the interstate so he doesn't come across the line and kill me but if he drives into the ditch, let him call a wrecker and get out. What is next the Food Police telling me I can't eat salt or the Happy Meal Police telling me I can't feed a Happy Meal to my grandchildren. When did we get to such a Nanny State where personal responsibility has no bearing on activity. Next we will have the Sun Police telling us how much sun we can get at the beach or the Activity Police telling us how much exercise we need to avoid the Happy Meal Police. Liberal used to mean liberal freedom, liberal education, liberal economics and nominal government. Now it means someone else telling me what to do. They are NOT smarter than me. I am tired of them spending MY money to advance their redistributive agenda. I am responsible for me. Leave me alone.

Energy Use

I just read that 93% of our energy comes from coal, oil, natural gas and nuclear. That leaves 7% for everything else including hydro(36% of the 7%), geothermal (5%), solar (1%), biofuel (53%)and wind (5%). My question is this... If we refuse to permit coal mines, oil rigs and nuclear power plants where is the energy going to come from? Can we build enough windmills and solar plants? What happens when the wind doesn't blow or the sun isn't shining? Laws of economics tell us that as materials become less available their prices go up. Why don't we let economics dictate our power supplies. As certain energy becomes more expensive the alternatives look that much better. So we have no alternative than to support the coal miners, oil and gas drillers and the existing nuclear facilities for now and work toward more efficient energy use. There is no alternative.

West Virginia Hills

The hills and the hollers are multiple colors of green. The creeks are clear and fast until it rains and then they are muddy for a day or so. The corn is beginning to show where it is flat enough to plant and the hay is being cut where it is not. West Virginians are working. In the coal mines, in the power plants, at gas compressor stations, drilling rigs and pipelines, fixing heavy equipment, hauling heavy equipment and driving heavy equipment. In chemical plants, steel mills and machine shops. In electric motor shops and locomotive shops. In tank farms, on wind farms and on dairy farms. On railroads, trucks and buses. Considering the economy WV has fared better than most. There are still people unemployed but there are lots of people working. I see "hiring" signs everywhere in my travels. Things are looking up. Continue to be optimistic about the future it will be much better than the past. As you look around and consider how bad your situation might be, you don't have to look very far to see someone worse off. be thankful for what you have and look forward to a better future.

Problem Solving

In the hydraulic and pneumatic torque tool business problem solving is the words of the day. These tools are used when you cant do the job by hand in any traditional "safe" way. There are many ways to do things to get the job done. When a standard wrench will not work there are the "cheaters". A pipe wrench on the nut and a 10' piece of pipe on the wrench and two guys pulling on the pipe. BANG...the pipe slips, the two guys go ass over teakettle and someone gets hurt. Our tools help eliminate the danger inherrant in these types of situations. As maintenance budgets are cut in our tight economy and as the experienced maintenance crews retire (or get hurt) and as new opportunities arise in wind farms and alternative energy producers we need to continually strive to b efficient and safe in these jobs. TorcUP is ready to show the way.

West Virginia Coal

Boy! When the weather gets bad the coal mines get really muddy. Spent some time this week at a coal prep plant here in WV and mud is up to your ankles. They are still loading trains though and that means they are still mining coal. Maybe not as much as they are used to but the power plants still need something to burn. And beside, all that mud keeps the dust down. These guys were using slugging wrenches on their mechanism bolts and had a guy who was holding the wrench get his finger smashed with a 16# hammer. TorcUP tools are cheap.

Haiti

We here at TorcUP of WV are thinking about our friend Dorothy who runs an orphanage in Haiti. While Dorothy and her kids and her house are OK the next few weeks and months are unknown and chaotic at best. No food, the grocery stores are gone, no money, cashed checks at grocery store, no medicines, hospitals are gone, no fuel for generator and no power from Haiti. The orphanage is called Faith Hope Love Infant Rescue in Port au Prince. If you feel you can help you can go to Faith Hope Love Infant Rescue on Facebook Causes and donate. The money goes directly to her through the Christian Light Foundation which supports her. There are alot of needs but I just know this one personally.

As we begin a new year the TorcUP team is looking for bolting problems everywhere. I wonder if Oboma has any bolts in his teleprompter. It appears to be broken since he never comes out immediatly to talk to us. Maybe we need to talk to his maintenance people.
Problems with maintenance affect production and that affects what you sell and that affects how much money you can make. When production people and maintenance people work as a team to maintain reliability then everyone makes more money. Hydraulic bolting tools can increase efficiency and save time in repairs, help eliminate down time and help you MAKE MORE MONEY. Keep the bolts turning.