Saving Gas???

I live in GA, along Hwy 441 and have to drive 22 miles one way to work.  Speed limit is 55mph, while I break the law and go 57 or 60mph, I have people running up and down the road at 70mph+, in big SUV’s and pickups.   They cut people off dont use turn signals, and when you use them its a cue for them to drive crazy.  I guess its alright to complain about the prices and the cost at the pump but not to do anything about it.  My Chevy 350 gets 17mpg, while its not great, I would have to buy a new vehicle that gets better than 35 mpg to show a savings between the high car note and the increased insurance.

Peeing in the toilet

People complian about dirty toilets in public places, while I cant speak for the womens’ bathrooms, why do guys who have something to aim with, miss?  How disrespectful and apathetic can we get?  I’m sure they don’t do this in their own homes.

Bill Clinton

Bill Clinton

            I have actually run into people who think he was / is the best president whatever.  Other than being pushed by his wife as a vehicle so she can become president he is a sorry excuse.  Just to lend kudos’ Jimmy Carter backs him, (he being one of the worst presidents in history) and he called Bush Jr the worst.  Lets just think about this.

            Remember his 1^st campaign?  Reduce the size of the White House, government is too big.  Laid off 1500 FBI agents who were watching Timothy McVey and Osama Bin Laden.  9 months later the Okalahoma bombing occurs.  Hmm, he gets elected and wins support kept his campaign promise and kills people by his actions. The next time he runs he says we got to beef up security, people bought it now he wins again for killing people. Now Osama Bin Laden, does any one know how hard it is to get operatives undercover into an extremist camp?  I would say ‘NO’ but then 911 occurs and again Clinton’s actions caused deaths, but he got lucky it got blamed on Bush.

            Here is a good point, does anyone actually believe that a president can single handedly turn a $3 trillion economy around?  Maybe it was the fact that Alan Greenspan was there during Reagan’s 1^st and 2^nd term, Bush Sr. stated he would not change Reagans economic policy 3 term, and Clinton saw a good thing and did not either 4^th and 5^th terms.  So we have 5 terms times 4 years per term for 20 years of essentially the same economic policy.  Yet Clinton on his way out claims credit.

            I will give Clinton his due.  He did 2 things which I believe helped the economy; 1) he didn’t change the existing policy, 2) got a 10 year ban on taxing the internet.

            The Monica Lewinsky thing, I believe every president has done something and things only come out to take the light off of something that is worse.

            Anyways just writing this to see what it stirs up.

Mormon Racism

Mormon Racism

            Here is another sad story from when I lived in Phoenix AZ.  I came home from work in 1999 and my wife at the, was extremely upset.  An older white man (Mormon) decided he didn’t like my 9yr old Mexican/American son playing in the pool.  My son who has always been respectful of course didn’t really understand this at the time.  He told my son to stop splashing around and getting him wet (while he was actually sitting in the pool, in the hot AZ sun) so my son moved to the other side of the pool to show respect.  Yet this idiot decided to say more.  Well my son went to his mother, she come out and tried talking to him, (and that’s how we found out he was Mormon).  I happened to come home early from work and got bombarded with this, which immediately made me mad.  I went out to the pool and politely asked him what went on.  He related a big story of how my son was cannon balling him and just being a brat.  At this I told him I had already spoken to my son and wife and called him a liar.   My son obviously has better manners than you, what you couldn’t address his mother or me because you can only deal with 9yr olds?  He was getting pretty mad at me and started swearing at me in front of my children and other peoples’ children.  I told him to shut up and appreciate the fact that I served this country 11 yrs so idiots like him can make life difficult for others, and that if he ever talks to my family again or says anything back to me right then and there I would pull him out of the pool and throw him out of the area.  I just stared at him and said go-ahead say something.

            The only reason I brought up the Mormon side is that there are some strains of that religion feel that only white people see the light of God.  So they are racist towards everyone else.  And we had already experienced other similar issues like this.

The Military Civilian

The Military Citizen

            I just wanted to relate this story, as it is one of great disrespect, and one of the reasons I got out of the Navy after 11 years.

            In the mid 90’s I had the rank of E5, (about the middle for enlisted).  I was standing my watch – guard duty, for allowing people to come in and out of the building.  Well in the morning about 1 minute before morning colors (where we stand and salute our flag), I witnessed something in disgust, so I took action.  You see while in uniform we are not supposed to run unless bullets are flying, in the scenario I just set up I saw about 9 senior enlisted and 2 or 3 junior officers run to the door so they Wouldn’t have to salute the Flag.  So I locked the big glass door and denied them access, now remember they are at least double my rank, I knew I was going to be in trouble but it was the right thing to do.  Immediately they started banging on the door and telling me to let them in.  The watch has positional authority, I told them to turn around and salute the Flag, which they did looking back under their salute at me with eyes of anger.  After colors I unlocked the door and started to get the routine, “Who is your division officer?  Where do you work?”  Fortunately for me the Master of Arms came up, (He is in charge of the area I currently had responsibility of) and asked Petty Officer what is going on here?  I replied, “Sir, these gentlemen decided to run across the parking lot so they wouldn’t have to salute the flag that my father has 2 purple hearts for, that my grandfather and great uncle fought in WW2 for, that my uncle fought for, and what I fight for is worth the respect that my family and so many other families have held as a symbol of our country.  If my job in the Navy is to better myself and want to advance in rank, I would hope that these gentlemen here are not the examples I am supposed to follow.”  With that the Master of Arms, said, “Well spoken, all of you come with me.”  I saw their faces turn from anger red to embarrassment red.  Needless to say I paid the price with a lot of harassment from them over the next 3 years.

Citizen on Trash

Citizen on Trash

            While living in Miami about 2002, I stopped in a little strip mall to go to Radio Shack and a video store.  I parked my car, and saw a young man (early 20’s) open his door and place a YooHoo bottle on the ground.  He got up out of the car and walked to the video store.  I said to myself, “no way!!” I picked up the bottle and followed him into the store, dramatically holding it in front of me.  With the clerk noticing me, I walked straight up to the individual and told him, “This is yours.”  Of course he started to deny it.  I told him that I am parked right behind you and saw you do this, I told him to look out the store door, and you walked within 2 ft of a trashcan.  Either you can take this or I will throw it through your car window.  (Of course this is just a little rash – sarcasm implied). 

I asked him do you know why the cost of CD’s have gone up?  It’s because the storeowner now has to pay his employee to go clean up trash from people like you.  The owners’ employee is not adding value to his store while doing this.  Additionally the owner incurs the cost of the trashcan he conveniently placed right outside the door.  On top of that the trash blows around, now guess what, our taxes go up.  Why do the taxes go up; because we now have to pay another city worker to pick up trash?  Of course this whole episode is dramatic but the point was made.  The man started to say something, I cut him off and just said, “You know you are wrong, just do the right thing.”  He shut up, took the trash, put it in the garbage, and left.  The clerk told me thank you.

Oil Conspiracy

OIL CONSPIRACY

 

          Okay, you got to look at this in a X-Files type scenario.  I am patriotic but this stretches the imagination.

 

          First a little back ground;

1)                Depending on which reports used there is only between 10 to 25 yrs oil supply in the Arabian fields.

2)                United States uses (again depending on which reports) 80 to 90% of the worlds oil.

3)                South and Central America have the next largest oil supply, (not counting what we have locked up in shale, or the Alaskan and Florida supplies) however it has a slightly higher sulphur content.

4)                At the same time we have a drug problem supplied by South and Central America.

5)                Large groups of people and interests would like to see Mexico become part of the United States, (on both sides)

 

Okay, time to start stretching…If we (Americans) want to secure our future for dependence on oil, we would continue using the Arabian supply until its gone.  At the same time we continue to ‘support’ different regimes in South and Central America keeping their governments unstable.  In addition to this we don’t use our money to truly stop the drug trade, thus giving the drug lords more power to keep the aforementioned unstable governments, unstable.  You see, with an unstable government it is extremely difficult to develop countries’ industries, trades and economies.  (Hell look at ours right now…).  Now, once that oil is used up, we turn our attention to Central America (Mexico – which is rich in oil, not as much as Columbia or Venezuela but still a lot).  Annex Mexico and as part of the ‘bartering system’ we help them develop in exchange for oil. At the same time using resources to stop the drug trade there, while selectively not using resources to stop it further south.  From there I don’t think we would ‘annex’ anymore, but would still keep 3^rd world governments reeling.  We would then work out some sort of trade agreements into Columbia and Venezuela doing the same thing.  Once that is all gone, then we turn to the billions of barrels of oil locked up in the shale fields of ND, and oil fields of Alaska and Florida.

 

You see, I told you it was a stretch, and I could go more into it, but I think you get the point.  The scariest part is, if you sit and think about it, it seems plausible, especially given U.S. involvement in South and Central America.

 

Anyways, Enjoy…

Native American Beggar

Native American Beggar

 

About 5 or 6 yrs ago I was dating a Haitian girl in Miami, we were walking down town next to the MDCC and we passed a Native American Beggar, sitting and begging for money.  I wasn’t rude or crude I just looked at him and said, “No, thank you”.  To which he replied, “That’s right white man, take our land and everything.”  I stopped right there turned and walked up to him and asked 3 times loudly, “Do I know you?”  This of course scared him, and shocked my girlfriend at the time.  He finally admitted no, that he did not, I then proceeded to ask him 3 times loudly, “Do you know me?” Again, he admitted he did not. 

I then asked him a rhetorical question, (with about 10-15 college students now around us), “Then by what right do you think you can call me a thief?”  He could not answer this of course.  So I continued, I let him know that in my generation if you call someone a thief and mean it, you’d best back it up.  Now there are 5 points to this whole story so just bare with me, and that was point one, a total stranger called me a thief. 

I then asked him, from what tribe he was from, the Seminoles or the other major tribe, (I can’t remember right now, and I know that there were more than 2 different tribes in Florida).  He stated that he didn’t know.  I asked if you don’t know, then you obviously don’t know who took whatever land you think you had a right to.  That is point 2.

Point 3, Since you don’t know me, and I don’t know you, I guess it doesn’t matter that my family came to United States around WW1, well after the atrocities that happened to the Indians.

Point 4, Now early American history, I asked him, “Who took the land in Florida?”  He just looked at me.  I told him, it wasn’t the white man, it was the Spaniards.

Point 5, I told him, if you despise the white man so much, then stop begging for my money, and look across the street, McDonalds is hiring.

Now I was finished I looked up and saw I was surrounded by at least 30 to 40 people, some with blank stars, some with looks of disgust.  I addressed the ones with disgust, “If you people who are looking at me with anger condone anyone not white accusing a white person for any reason or problem, you are part of the problem.  Its blatantly obvious by what just went on here.  And with that I walked away, right through the middle of the crowd.

Let me digress a bit, I do not in anyway condone the treatment of the Native Americans, just as I do not condone slavery.  I do find it disgusting that some many minorities believe it their right to punish me, who had nothing to do with what went on 200 to 500 years ago.  I do not owe any minority anything, I feel it wrong that my taxes (I am not rich by any means) goes to pay for services that I could use myself.

Hillary – For the People?

Hillary Clinton

For the People or Herself?

 

            Clintonites, please keep your mind open and consider the following, (If you want to talk about Bill, you’ll have to wait.)

            Hillary does not want to be a president for the people of the United States, she only wants to be the 1^st woman president, that’s it.  I don’t have all of her biography in my head, most of what I state is what I have heard her say or relaying other articles and then applying logic here.

            Hillary Clinton initially started out working for Nixon, (ummm – Republican I think).  Then a lawyer, now we know that she is the one with drive and her husband has the charisma.  From here on out got to use some logic.  Hillary helped her husband to be governor, convinced him to go for president…x2.  Then switched states, from her governing state Arkansas, (note I did not say Iowa) to New York and became a Senator there.  Why is this significant?  If she truly wanted to represent the people why would she ‘forget’ the ones who got her to the position she is at, at this point?  Meaning the citizens of Arkansas, she switched because New York is more liberal and has more electoral votes.  Every step she has taken has solely been to further her agenda of being the first woman president.

            It’s a real shame, (or sham), she should try being more of a real American and then maybe she wouldn’t have to worry about being the first woman president.  Frankly, (I don’t have hard core proof) But I believe that she and Nancy Pollosi (sp?) were two of the American dignitaries that went over to Iran and made unauthorized promises for our government, but authorized by the democratic party, to a nation that we have a situation with.  If we were actually at war with them at that time she would be tried as a traitor.  A traitor is the one federal crime that still carries the death penalty.

            Congress is the place to voice disagreements with the president, not going behind their back and the American citizens back.  No where do I recall such blatant disrespect and contempt for any president by a congressman in a foreign setting.  Well Al Gore is up there too,  okay let me verve off the track a little bit, I can’t let it go. 

            Al Gore went to India spouting off about pollution and that his country is the most guilty.  However; he did state that the United States put out the most pollution, I can believe this is true, we are the most developed.  But, he did not say that we had the lowest increase in emissions, which is true, nor did he address the delegates present that the countries they represent had the largest increase in emissions.  In fact he even suggested that they fine the U.S. for such things.  If that were to happen I would love the U.S. to say, “okay, remember all that food aid, and loans we made you?  What about the military we sent over at your request to help protect you?  That was all a loan; now pay up with interest.  I guess Gore got mad that he couldn’t even carry his own state when he ran for president.

            Back to Hillary, in one respect I am glad she drug on the war for her nomination, it bloodied the Democratic Party badly, weakening it so that a republican could get in.  Unfortunately, I do not care for the republican candidate either.  I think voting McCain in would overall weaken the Republican Party giving the democrats time to regroup and come back on the next election.  Every mistake he makes the dems will point their finger.

            I’m getting alittle off track here, but I think it’s a good place to stop.  A person can’t keep beating a dead horse, we know where Hillary’s allegiance lies.

Energy

Most of this is rhetorical, but its to get things started…

 

While I am all for reducing the effects on the environment by fossil fuel use, I am not for people going hungry when a person has to decide whether to put fuel in the car to get to work, pay for food or medicine.   While it is true that Europe has paid roughly four times the amount Americans have paid per gallon their society is geared more for public transportation. 

Lets put a more realistic spin on the oil/gas issue.  If you own a big SUV / Hummer and drive in the city, you really don’t have a legitimate complaint for oil / gas prices.  The tax loop should be closed on these luxury items so that the buyers actually pay for the vehicles and the gas used.  Any one of several mini-vans can carry more people than a large SUV with better fuel mileage.  If the SUV is an actual work vehicle, have it documented as such with special plates, like dual axle pickups used for farming, and give them the tax breaks.

BIO-diesel is one of the biggest public farces I have seen in recently history, and on so many levels.  I was a truck driver for three years, driving in the top 10% of the companies 200 drivers for fuel mileage.  All drivers that tried the bio-diesel had / have at least one of the following issues; Documented worse fuel mileage, documented engine damage, documented less power going up hills and mountains, documented increased gelling of the fuel in winter time.  If a driver uses 10% more BIO-fuel doesn’t that mean 10% more has to be brought in?  In addition to that how much more energy and pollution is produced to make BIO-fuel, and does it actually offset the “environmental impact of hydrocarbons” of the current supply of fuel?

Next on the list would be the ‘shortage’ of crops reported from last years harvest.  (Bio-diesel / fuel is made from corn or soy beans.)  For many decades now the government has been paying farmers not to plant crops but trees.  Now one of the reasons for this, was to artificially inflate the price so farmers wouldn’t produce so much flooding the market and driving the price down.  Imagine reclaiming that land and planting corn on it, in fact 2007 we had so much corn it was sitting in the open in WI, IL, IA, IN, MN, NE, and KS.

What about offsite drilling?  Sure we want to protect our environment and coastline, but what difference does it make when right at the boundary of the coastal waters you have Mexico or Russia or Korea tapping into that oil deposit that is literally feet away from the American water border.

Wind generators, I would have one at my house if I had the money to finance it, tax breaks and grants from the government months after the install does not fill the stomach or gas tank now.  Additonally many state, county, and local laws are set against putting up a tower.

 Solar panels, right now there is a solar panel developed in South Africa that literally could supply all the electrical demands of a house by covering that houses’ roof with 100 square feet of this product.  Its not available in United States, yet its cheaper and more efficient than the closest competitor.  (http://www.communicationagents.com/chris/2006/02/21/solar_power_using_an_alloy_film_better_than_silicon.htm)   I recently contacted a solar panel installation company for installation on my house.  The quote for $32,000 would only apply to me if I were a business, which obviously could afford it.  The company stated that they do not yet provide their services for the general residential needs.  Bare in mind this is for the less efficient available product.  Further complicating matters are the Federal, state to state incentives for installing these systems.  Each state is different some have programs, some push off incentives to the power company.  Either way a $2000 incentive with a $2000 tax break does not significantly reduce the installation cost.

The bottom line is that Americans want everything without paying the price.  The energy crisis cannot and will not be resolved without a major change in the American attitude.