A REAL Solution For Rising Fuel Prices?

How do we whack America’s politicians across the head hard enough to get them to pay attention to the toll the rising cost of fuel is taking on our economy? How do we force them off their portentous posteriors long enough to become interested in solving the problem?

The economic emergency staring us in the face has been simmering for months and is on the very verge of boiling over. Just this week, we’ve witnessed the shut down of three major airlines and the loss of over 80,000 jobs in the month of March. The already outrageous cost of fuel is forcing truckers to park their rigs because they are actually losing more money when they drive than when they don’t. Suddenly, the public is shocked into a bigger reality when the cost of goods at the grocery store takes a sudden and major jump; the fuel costs mean higher transportation costs, and the trickle-down reaches the tomato bins.

You think that’s bad? Just wait until the new minimum wage kicks in on July 24^th. The rise in gas prices has put the lower income earners in this country behind the same 8-ball that everyone else faces; they need to make more money to pay for fuel. So, the minimum wage goes up, and there will be another hike in the price of sauerkraut and eggs, (imagine THAT combination!)

With these rising prices, people will cut back on travel, on purchases, and we’ll have more layoffs. The tax-rebate isn’t even going to make a quiver in the overall economy. The fact that prices at the pump have more than doubled in the last 18-24 months while Washington has barely done more than pay lip service to big oil, is now like a flock of chickens coming home to roost.

We’re in trouble. And, it doesn’t seem to me that a President’s proclamation that we’re not in trouble is going to restore 80,000 jobs or bring back three airlines. We have to do something…. more than burying our heads in the sand and pretending the problem doesn’t exist, or that it isn’t serious and growing.

Quit shopping at Exxon and Mobile and send a message to big oil? The only thing that will accomplish is to put thousands of small-time convenience store and service station owners in the poor-house. Exxon and Mobile will either sell out to someone else, or sell their gas to independents, and the amount of oil coming out of the ground won’t change one iota.

Where’s all of the money going that big oil is charging at the pump? According to them, the Arabs and the rest of the cartel are getting it with their + $100 a barrel oil charges. If that were the real answer, it seems to me, our major oil company profits would not be UP by billions per quarter…. The money would be in some other country. So, that claim appears to me to be a big fat and blatant lie.

“Oh,” they cry, “we’re out of refinery capacity, and the environmentalists won’t let us build any more refineries, so the market is driving the prices.” If that is the case, why wouldn’t they expand production capabilities at their current facilities? Cost prohibitive, probably…. Some lame answer like that. Billions of dollars in increasing profits per quarter?

There’s no doubt that the world’s oil supply is growing smaller; at some point in time, we will run out unless we curtail our use or find another energy source. And, at the same time, demand is growing as third world countries start to motivate. So, there is some credence to the claim that the market itself is driving prices up. But, the extent of unchecked big oil profits defies any and all reason.

So, what to do?

Is grumbling about it getting anything done? What effect does our crying and occasional email or letter to our Congressional delegation having on the situation? Well, it appears that all they are doing themselves is to grumble and cry to the oil companies…. where billions of dollars of increased profits can either threaten any one’s reelection or guarantee a hefty contribution to a campaign. Talk about the tail wagging the elephants and donkeys!

Back to the opening question: How do we force them off of their big butts to DO something? First of all, of course, you have to remember that Congress has done absolutely nothing about anything for at least two decades now. So, getting their attention and getting them off of their duffs and in actual productive motion is going to be a bigger project than moving Mt. Everest.

Nevertheless, one thing that is guaranteed to get their attention is to have big money interests come pounding at their Congressional office doors. No one can argue that statement. So, how do we turn the issue from Joe Z. Public vs. Big Oil Pockets to Big Corporate America vs. Congress? How do we whack our wonderful leaders across the chops and get their attention? We need a big, solid whack; a fly swatter simply won’t do.

The idea of not buying gas for a day won’t work either, because we’ll just buy it on another day. But, the intent of that suggestion bears some consideration. The idea is to take a day’s profit out of the big oil pipelines and to get their attention that way. Let’s expound on that thought.

Take a work day, any day, say the 4^th of August, (I like that, because it’s a play on the 4^th of July, being Independence Day). On August 4^th, beginning at 12:00 AM and lasting until Midnight that night, everyone walks off the job. No one goes to work. Everyone goes home and stays there. Have a big hootin’ block barbeque party.

Think about it. There’d be no one to sell airline tickets, no one to fly planes, no one to drive 16-wheelers, no one to dig gravesites. My God, we’d even have to clean our own bellybuttons! Oh, we’d keep essential skeleton crews going in hospitals and emergency services but, outside of that, the national economy will come to a screeching halt. For just for 24 hours, imagine no domestic product being created, no services, and no sales tax revenues. Hell, if you’d take that day without pay, there’d be no income tax revenue, either!

Would that make a statement, or what? The truth be known, I think that statement would reverberate around the country and the world for years, even decades, to come.

Do you think that the big corporations, the Wal-Marts and MacDonald’s of the world, wouldn’t be madder than wet roosters? Do you think that state governors would be crying the blues over the loss of sales tax revenues? Do you envision that big oil would be standing there on the sidewalks with their jaws hanging open?

Wow! I actually think this would create enough pressure in the halls of Congress to actually move Mt. Everest!

And, now that we have their attention, why don’t we force big oil to take some of those billions of dollars in increased quarterly profits and plow them back into research for the creation of alternative sources of energy? Tax their earnings big time and use the revenues to endow universities and other research venues to tackle the problem, but give big oil a tax break if they direct some of their own revenues into internal alternative energy research.

Would I give up a day’s pay to accomplish this? Damned right! I think the dividends to us and our children would be damned well worth it. At the same time, we just might get the reminder message to our elected Gods that they don’t run this country. We do.

How about it? August 4^th? That’s a Monday, you know. Makes a nice three-day weekend……

That’s MY AMERICAN OPINION, respectfully submitted.

Are White Americans In Mortal Danger?

Let's size up the situation we are now facing in these days, in this country:

1. The country has been infiltrated by radical Muslims with hate in their hearts for our lusts and sins.

2. The country has been infiltrated by millions of illegal Mexican aliens with fear in their souls that they will be caught and punished, or caught and sent back to their poverty.

3. The country is being bombarded with hate from the likes of Venezuela's Hugo Chavez, and there are one helluva lot of Venezuelans in this country right now.

4. Black America is beginning to rattle its sabres and get it's backs up; if the super-delegates do anything to derail Obama, there's going to be hell to pay. If Obama doesn't win in November, then watch out. And, they are now starting to point out that they have been spewing hate in their churches for ages, and we'd better get used to it.

Is there any reason to believe that, should any of these four groups start physical violence, at least one of the other groups won't jump straight into the fray?

And, presuming this might happen, who would the likely targets be?

It seems to me that the "melting pot" is very much in danger of boiling over.

That's MY AMERICAN OPINION, respectfully submitted.

UFO'S AND GOD: Hot Topics for Easter Sunday

And, indeed they ARE hot topics. Jeremiah Wright made God a hot topic and the California UFO pictures have made UFO’s a hot topic. So, where am I going with this?

Arrogance.

How do I leap to that word from “God” and “UFO’s?” Follow my line of rationale.

Let’s examine the awesome discoveries about our universe that have been made in our short lifetimes. Think of the new words, “quarks,” “black holes,” “supernovas…” The list is impressively lengthy. In the process of examining the stars, we have finally come to the realization that at least some of those billions of pinpoints of light in the sky have planets rotating around them. Further, some of those planets are at right distances from their respective suns and, at least from preliminary scientific analysis, have the right chemicals to support life. Wow. Please pass the mustard.

Yet, we persist in our self-centered arrogance to shrug our shoulders and say, “So what? I won’t believe it until I see it, and if I can’t see it, it cannot exist.” Just as a side note, that happens to be the same logic used by atheists to deny the existence of God.

Progressing further into my hypothesis, I think that we are bound to accept the probability that some intelligent, humanoid forms of life have been living “out there” for thousands of years longer than we have been around. You can extrapolate that further into the likelihood that some of that populace has the ability to travel from place to place in space. Oh, here we go again. “You can’t travel faster than the speed of light, so the hypothesis is already full of holes.”

Arrogance.

Scientists have already pushed miniscule fragments of matter faster than the speed of light under controlled laboratory conditions, and without increasing their mass to the point that they erupted into a gigantic and uncontrolled explosion, (sorry about that, Dr. Einstein). So, this wall of scientific obstinacy is about to be totally torn down. Besides, we know that, at the instant of death, the body loses a miniscule but measurable amount of weight; there are countless stories of “near death experiences” where people report traveling out of their bodies and through an amazing tunnel of light at unbelievable speeds. If a soul can travel faster than the speed of light, what else can?

The smug ones have an answer for all of this. “Simply put, why would any intelligent life that is that advanced want to travel here, of all places, more than once, anyway?” They would be quick to add, “I suppose that you would suggest that they came here thousands of years ago to plant the seeds of life, and now they’re coming back to check on us and watch over us? Oh, get a grip!”

Before I can respond, the proverbial nail in the coffin of my hypothesis is sure to follow. “If you believe in God, and you believe that God created life, how can you propose that we were created by alien beings?”

Let’s get back to the UFO thing. How’s that for artfully dodging the bullet?

There’s just too much evidence these days that something strange is going on in skies all over the world. With the advent of digital cameras that don’t use film that can be damaged by radioactivity, more and more pictures and videos are being taken and the evidence is piling up that we are being observed, if not by some one, by some thing. Having scanned the night skies myself for most of my life, both as a surveyor and as a pilot, I have to say that I have seen two UFO’s in widely separated spots over a period of 15 years; both were remarkably similar in shape.

I have also seen numerous lights in the sky that appear to me to be some kind of “star wars” technology being tested in the skies well north of Reno, Nevada. And, indeed, the most recent California pictures lead me to believe that they were of earthly manufacture. So, I categorically dismiss 90% of the “unexplained sightings.” But, about 10% of them bear a marked resemblance to what I have seen myself.

Yet, the logical question to me is, “Why would any intelligence with the ability to accomplish these things travel repeatedly to this planet?” They have certainly seen what they need to see, gathered what samples they need to gather, and they should by all reason be well on their way to other solar systems, other galaxies.

Now, let me tackle the second part of this “arrogant” equation. There is simply too much evidence for me to deny the existence of God. Who among us have been in a situation where we needed help, wisdom, money, guidance? Virtually everyone, I am sure, has at one time or another faced that need. Those of us who believe have prayed. There are too many people that I have met or read about who can say that, not only did they pray, but their prayers were answered. There are too many to be explained away by “coincidence or happenstance.”

Even if you take the scientific approach, you have to confront the unexplained mysteries of the universe. Regardless of how much we dig down into the smallest bits of matter, we always end up finding something even tinier. The more we gaze into the vastness of space and confirm theories, the more theories about the universe are proven to be untrue. There is a strange order that we cannot fathom, an order that can only be explained by acceptance of Infinite Supremacy.

Most religions teach that there is a price to pay for wrong doing, usually something along the lines of spending eternity in Hell. Could it not be that “Hell” is being trapped in a physical body, forced to toil daily for food and water, surrounded by those whose wrongs were equal to or greater than yours, for what seems like an eternity on Earth? Can anyone deny that the souls of Hitler, Stalin, Lenin, Mussolini and the likes….. must have been possessed by such evil that being trapped in skin and bones here may have been totally just?

Is it possible that God one day said to His attendants, “Hop into your UFO’s and split on down to Earth and create some life there so that I have a place to send some of these bad souls?” Is it possible that He sent his Son down here to try to convince us that, if we redeem ourselves, there is a way out? Is it possible that these UFO’s are jailers coming to check on their prisoners?

Am I suggesting that life here was not created by God, but by some wacko scientists from the other side of the universe, armed with test tubes full of DNA? I don’t know. To me, it’s a possibility. Does that stand in the way of my belief in God?

Somewhere, some time ago, and somehow…life was created. There simply had to be a beginning. That fact alone, through an argument I don’t have time here to present, leads one to the conclusion that God must exist.

We are the center of the universe. Nothing in the universe can occur unless we either make it occur or allow it to occur. Therefore, UFO’s do not exist and cannot exist until we, ourselves, learn how to make them. We are the most advanced civilization of all time. Any life that exists “out there” must be inferior to us.

That makes us, collectively, Gods.

All of which leads us to, “arrogance.”

Happy Easter.

That's MY AMERICAN OPINION, respectfully submitted.

Dump Spitzer? How HYPOCRITCAL Can You Get?

Here you are, pious Americans, on the very precipice of choosing our next President. You have already, by your "well-considered" votes in your primaries, selected:

(1) The wife of a President who screwed a White House Intern all over the Oval Office carpet, redefined the word "is," lied to a Grand Jury and the American people, and got barred from the practice of law; the woman you selected lied for him, mishandled legal documents at the Rose Law Firm, was deeply involved in the White Water scandal, and has a mouth worse than that of a common street whore.

(2) A man who has yet to define his platform or to address the issues; known to be an associate of Louis Farrakhan, a leader of radical Islam who fosters continuing hatred and unrest in America; who refuses to place his hand over his heart during the Star Spangled Banner or the Pledge of Allegiance, and who is willing to accept the inevitable deaths of tens of thousands of Iraqi and Afghan souls by withdrawing troops from those countries and turning them over to.... radical Islam.

(3) A man who was closely associated with Jack Abramoff, former lobbyist now in jail for illegal payoffs and political bribery; who investigated Abramoff for the Senate but refused to investigate members of Congress who were "on the take;" a man who had a long, warm friendship with Charles Keating who is also in prison for his "Keating Five" savings and loan ripoffs.

You choose those three to be final candidates for holding the highest office in the world. Yet, in the midst of your frenetic rush to November, you have the audacity to stop just long enough to throw Eliot Spitzer under the bus for poking a hooker.

You judgmental, pietistic Americans make me want to puke.

That's MY AMERICAN OPINION, respectfully submitted.

This Is National Security?

Three out of four of the remaining major candidates are sniping at each other about who can do the best job at national security. Unfortunately, the fourth, Huckabee, is the only one who has the right answer.

McCain, Clinton and Obama all are quick to tout their ability to meet any security crisis the country might have, even at 3:00 in the morning. Yet, all three would leave the Mexican border wide open and grant illegal aliens at least some form of amnesty.

Now that I have made that charge, I would suppose their universal answer would be, "That's different. We're talking about acts of war, things of a military nature."

War can be waged in more than one manner. It doesn't require tanks and missiles and brigades to wage war. War can be waged economically. And, I would suggest, we are at war with Mexico and her allies.

By allowing tens of thousands of its citizens to cross our border illegally, the Mexican government is forcing us to pay for benefits, health care, education and social services for those people. The economic drain and impact on our country is so large that Americans are no longer willing, or able, to absorb the adverse impact on our economy. If this continues unabated, this country could lose its economic war while our candidates, one of which will inevitably end up in the White House, wage the different kind of war in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Something has to be done. None of of these three finalists seems to have the balls to do it.

That's MY AMERICAN OPINION, respectfully submitted.

Bloomberg Looking For Non-Partisan Candidate?

Good God, maybe there really is a saint in the woodwork!

If you examine the apparent options, Obama is on the far left. Clinton, is on the middle left claiming to be middle-of-the-road. McCain is on the middle left claiming to be conservative. Huckabee means well, but he's the middle conservative on the way out.

Nowhere in this mess is someone who is just plain standing up and saying, "Damn the political torpedoes ahead, I want to do what's best for the country!"

So, if Bloomberg is willing to put up the money to back someone who isn't owing to political interests or anchored by party agendas.... Will someone please, please stand up? Maybe even Ross Perot will kick in his 401k and Bill Gates will add a few bucks to provide us the "windows" of opportunity!

We need a President who is willing to take the political risks of telling it like it is and challenging Congress to get their act together. We need a leader who is willing to lead and let the chips fall where they may. We need a proactive leader. We need a leader, period and I mean PERIOD!

If it's going to take money to get the job done, I say "Go for it."

The fact is, we pay more for someone to carry a pigskin across the goal line than we pay to carry the burdens of Chief Executive Officer of the United States of America. That, my friends, is probably why we're stuck with four really dumb shits after the job.

And that's MY AMERICAN OPINION, respectfully submitted.

Two-Faced Hypocritcal BS

Saw some jerk from the Senate on the news this morning explaining why they did not pass a provision to allow the Bush administration to continue eavesdropping on international conversations. Evidently, the House version allows that telephone companies who have been doing this for the government shall have amnesty against any legal proceedings not only in the future, but also for past events.

This jerk goes on to say that no one should have amnesty from doing illegal things.

Yet, Congress and the President would have us give amnesty to the illegal aliens.

BULLSHIT! PURE, UNADULTERATED BULLSHIT!

And that is MY AMERICAN OPINION, respectfully submitted.

After 54 Years As A Registered Republican..... I Hereby Cancel My Registration

The "not so Grand Old Party" has shifted so far to the left that I can no longer stomach its ideologies or its dullard candidates. I am beyond disgusted.

That IS MY AMERICAN OPINION, short and final.

We've Already Taken A Gigantic Political Step Back In Time

Prior to 1912, there was the Democratic Republican Party, which split. Now, 96 years later, we have the Democratic Republican Party, pure and simple. Everybody has the same lip syncs, the same BS.... and there are no leaders.

And that's MY AMERICAN OPINION, respectfully submitted

Urgent Message to Current Congress, President & All Wannabees

WE AMERICANS ARE SICK AND TIRED OF THE LIP SERVICE AND THE BULLSHIT!

GIVE US BACK OUR DAMNED COUNTRY!!!

That's MY AMERICAN OPINION, respectfully submitted

UFO's: Are They Real? Do We Have Anything To Fear?

Yes, I have seen a UFO. In fact, I have seen UFO's on two separate occasions spanning two decades. Were they from out of this planet? I do believe so. Based upon my knowledge and experience, I would say so.

Does that mean that all reported UFO sightings are real? No. I think about 95% of them are from people who do not know what they are looking at. They are explainable. It's the other 5% of the sightings that I will address.

There IS activity in our skies that cannot be explained... even if you account for "advanced technology."

So, what makes me an expert? I'm not. I suppose that those two sightings could be explained away.... A little spin might do it. The problem is that the first sighting was a ground sighting and involved two other people. And, it happened in 1964 in southern Idaho. All three of us were in the Air Force at the time. I was a surveyor and relied on knowledge of the stars to fix my positions. I was also a pilot. The other two were surveyors and one of them had been involved in flight operations for years. I think I have a pretty good feel for what is real, and what is not.

My second sighting was in Las Vegas, around 1975. I was standing in a parking lot at night when someone else called my attention to it. It was airborne, about 1,000 feet above ground level, circular from the bottom appearance, had different colored strobe lights around its perimeter, and was eerily silent. I would make its speed fairly slow, about 75 knots.... traveling west to east for about five minutes and then it headed straight up at a very high rate of speed.... and disappeared.

Was I afraid? I was scared to death on the first sighting. I was entranced with the second. Am I afraid now? Hell no. Any society of beings who has the technology to travel stellar distances certainly has the capacity to do whatever harm it wants to do to us. The fact that this has not happened assures me that, although we are not alone, we have nothing to fear.

When I read about the UFO sightings that others have experienced, I myself dismiss most of them. Some of them describe what I could have seen in 1975.... similar descriptions. Those reports interest me.

Now, let's presume that the US Government knows about them and they are covering up that fact. Why? Because they are afraid of mass hysteria? No, I do have enough confidence in our government, as frayed as it is, to think that they would convey to us any threat, no matter where it comes from. So, that further assures me that we have nothing to fear.

Beyond that, I can conjecture nothing. Why are they here? Who knows? Maybe they are responding to our searches for extra-terrestrial intelligence. Maybe they want a good car deal. But, the fact that there has been no overt confrontation, the fact that they seem to try and stay out of our way... These things convince me that they are friends and not enemies. Those stories of abduction and experimentation don't fit with this scenario, so I dismiss them. I'm sure they know how we reproduce and what out pain tolerances are.

And that is my post for this day. What do I think about what has recently been sighted in Texas? Based on what I've seen, the videos of a light dancing around I would say is either the camera was bouncing around or the object had something to do with our national "star wars" research. On the other hand, there was a picture taken in the daylight of an object that bears resemblance to other unexplained sightings and, from the bottom, could match up with what I saw in Vegas that night.

That all having been said, we are not alone, and

That's MY AMERICAN OPINION, respectfully submitted.

28 Years Of Crappy Washington Leadership: The Bitch In The White House

George H.W. Bush was a poor performer. So was Congress. Bill Clinton was a piss poor President; so was Congress. George W. Bush is certainly a lackluster leader and THIS Congress sucks big time. That'll add up to 28 years of crappy Washington leadership when the next Congress and President take their oaths of office.

There's not a Republican who can defeat Obama or Clinton, and the Clinton camp is already targeting Obama big time. The foregone conclusion is that Hillary will be the next President and Bill will be back in charge. If you have any question about that statement, you need to study southern political history.

Unless some proverbial knight on a white steed comes thundering to the rescue on a third party ticket, which I don't see happening, we're going to have eight more years of crappy Washington leadership.

What a sad commentary on 21st Century America.

That is MY AMERICAN OPINION, despairingly submitted.

POLITICS: Why Edwards And Thompson Need To Stay In Their Races

To begin with, let's rule out those who are not players in 2008.... and let's focus on two two-person races: (1) Clinton & Obama, and (2) McCain and Romney.

Narrowing in on the Democratic party, let's examine the probabilities. Obama is riding on the "wave" right now. There is some backlash over Clinton campaign remarks and some other "dirty tricks" being played by the Clintons. At the same time, many powerful figures within the Democratic party have a genuine fear of the Clinton political machine and the potential for Hillary to win their party's nomination. That's why you see so many party leaders coming forward in these last few days to support Obama.

But, do we forget how skillfull Clinton organizers are? Do we forget how many times Bill was in serious, and I do mean serious, political trouble during his Presidency? Yet, he survived, time and time again. So, there was this "race" gaffe. Or, was it a "gaffe?" Could it have been a well-planned and well-rehearsed strategy to call out the issue of race without dirtying the hands of the candidates? (Bill and Hillary are both candidates here, whether you recognize that or not,). The Clintons are well known for their ability to have a "supporter" make a "slip of the tongue" in order to poison the atmosphere in their favor. Attorneys do this all of the time in front of juries..... then manage an apology to the Court while knowing all of the time that their "seed" has been planted in the minds of every juror in the box.

Look for this tactic to continue as the immediate days go on, particularly in the south. The Clintons know fully well that, when a true southerner steps to the poll to cast his vote, the thought of a black as President is going to have a profound impact. And, in the northern states, look for the Clinton supporters to slip with the "Osama rhymes with Obama," "Barack HUSSEIN Obama," and "Black Muslim," cards. Again, when the northerners cast their votes, they will have to be mentalizing the pictures of the World Trade Center coming down in flames and rubble.

So, I propose that Hillary is going to be totally in the driver's seat as their party heads off for the Convention unless..... there is another, palatable alternative. And that, my friends, has to be John Edwards.

So much for the Democrats. Now, let's look at the Republicans.

Romney is going to be toast for being a Mormon just as Obama is going to be toast for being black. This is not to say that I am a bigot; far from that. I'm just laying out the land for how it really is. Besides, Romney has flip-flopped on too many major issues. So, where's Huckabee? Huckabee is going to be toast for a different reason; he does have some appearance of being weak but, beyond that, his name is way too much like "Hickabee." He doesn't stand a chance against the 2008 political machines.

McCain appears to be the Republican hope at this point in time. However, there is an underlying conservatism in the party that is growing. Call it a desire to return to Reaganism if you want. McCain has distanced himself from most things Reagan stood for and he has alienated a lot of people along the way. One of the big reasons he lost his behind in Nevada was that he is openly against legalized sports betting and has made several runs at shutting Nevada bookies down. He points to all of the hundreds of millions of dollars being bet in Nevada and the possibilities of illegal influences on professional and college sporting contests; he fails to mention the BILLIONS of dollars being illegally bet in other states, largely through organized crime, or the fact that closing down Nevada would ultimately just add to the latter figure. McCain is also known for inviting leaders of Native American tribes to Washington to "pow wow," and then having the audacity to refuse to make an appearance himself or to listen to their concerns. These are only two examples of his arrogance.

So, the Republicans need Fred. He's conservative, he appears to be forthright and honest, and he stands a much better chance at being a successful President than anyone else currently in the running for the Republican nomination.

In closing, Americans need to have a choice when they go to the polls in November. Edwards vs. Thompson would certainly give us a choice better than we have had in any election over the last 20 plus years.

And that is MY AMERICAN OPINION, respectfully submitted.

Screw You, ACLU!

The American Civil Liberties Union has finally, really pissed me off.

We have our American young men and women, fighting to protect our country and OUR liberties who face death square in the eye every day. The ACLU now says: "They are federal employees, wearing federally owned uniforms, on 24-hour a day federal time... and they have absolutely no right to pray. When they put on the uniform and go off to serve our country, that's their choice. So, prayer is not allowed. Separation of religion and state."

Well, it's about freedom OF religion and not about freedom FROM religion. I will pray any damned time I want, where I want, when I want, to Whom I want, whether on my time or not. I am a free man and I have the right to exercise prayer, period.

How DARE you infringe upon or try to impede upon this right that I fought for and my parents fought for.

If that offends your facist, dictatorial bad ass, then get it the hell out of America, LAND OF THE FREE, ONE NATION UNDER GOD!

That MY AMERICAN OPINION, respectfully and emphatically submitted.

Hillary's Not Out

Anyone who thinks that Hillary's third place finish in Iowa, or the fact that several polls show her behind 10 points in New Hampshire, has no concept whatsoever about the capabilities of the Clinton poilitical machine.

Way back in 1997 when Bill was in deep pigeon doo, I began to predict that Hillary would run for the Presidency and that she would win. Everyone I made that prediction to poohed the idea. The prediction was made on two foundations: (1) southern governors have been successfully running their wives for decades in order to circumvent term limits, and (2) the Clinton political machine is huge and well-polished.

In the unlikely event that Hillary does not get the Democratic nomination, you still can't count her out; she could run on a Third Party platform and win big time just by detracting votes from the democrats and republicans.

Even if Hillary should happen to be 40 points behind on election eve in November, I would not count her out until the electoral college meets.

Once you have power, it becomes all-consuming.

That's MY AMERICAN OPINION, respectfully submitted.

Here I Sit... Past, Present, Future

Here I sit, plunking on a Bluetooth keyboard in front of a fully computerized entertainment system that can send digitalized sound and video into any room of my house at my mere command. It's Christmas Eve in the foothills of the Southern Cascades, and the bitter chill of the night nips at my sweatered bod, while wafts of warm wood stove heat inch their way down the hallway from living room to study.... And, as my weathered old hands slam their two principle digits upon the keys in front of me, my mind wanders back to my childhood and the cold, metal keys of a black typewriter upon which I wrote my first entry into the oblivion of time.

The mind wanders and remembers... creating my own ukulele at the local community center that was filled with those, old and young, who wanted to assemble their hearts and minds in a joint venture to fill the nights with Arthur Godfrey's music. Saturday nights were bingo nights and, sometimes, I even got to call the numbers. The key ingredient to those days, now that I look back, is that the locals all got together and did something; either it was entertaining or it was productive.

I really want to go on with this dialogue, because I feel that it has a valid point that we all need to sit back and consider. But, as I move on into the "today," I get angry. I find it difficult to express my feelings while displaying my frustrations in that we have allowed our evolution as a species to transcend our values as humans.

And, now I want to preach. About why we are who we are today, and why we are not functioning as a civilized and organized society.

Have you seen the latest iPod?

GOD BLESS AMERICA AT CHRISTMAS TIME. MAY WE RELEARN THE VALUES OF THE PAST AND RENEW OUR LIVES ON A POSITIVE PATH OF CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY STRENGTHS AND BELIEFS.

That's MY AMERICAN OPINION, respectfully submitted.

The United States of America Does Not Exist

There are voices in the country who insist that the concept of God had no basis and no grounds to be included as one of the fundamental principles upon which the country was fraudulently founded. The argument here is that the new country intended to incscript "Freedom From" religion as opposed to "Freedom OF" religion.

Other voices, although some of the same, are now insisting that the "right to bear arms" was intended only to apply to the ability to create militias and to those who would join. Therefore, the argument continues, we need to turn in our guns and surrender to the atheists.

Equal justice for all? The right to declare war? Freedom of speech? Every basic cornerstone upon which the United States was founded has been successfully attacked in our Court system. Although the degrees to which these American rights have been infringed varies, the plain simple fact is that the country that our forefathers envisioned does not agree with the country that exists today.

Therefore, it follows that our Courts have incrementally ruled our Constitution to be invalid. That being the case, this "country" cannot exist. No constitution, no government, no USA.

Unless there is a sufficient number of "citizens" of this country who are ready to set the facts straight, and to stand up for the foundations upon which this country was founded, I submit that we must be governed by the Sovereign Nations of Native America.

That's MY AMERICAN OPINION, respectfully submitted.

National Health Care

When you take a close and analytical look at the government-run programs for the people, you can't help but admit that they have royally screwed up:

Social Security

Medicare

Welfare

Education

Actually..... that's quite a chunk in and of itself but, you and I both know that the list goes on, and on, and on.......

Now, they want National Health Care. They want to tell me what doctor I can see, what hospital I can go to, what drugs I can take.

This latest move just puts us one giant step closer to pure socialism. The next thing you know, our flag will consist of a sickle and a star.

We Americans have a responsibility to our children and grandchildren to put a stop to this mindless mad rush to open the door to more government control of our lives. We need to do it.... now.

That's MY AMERICAN OPINION, respectfully submitted.

Thanksgiving: A National Day of Disgrace

It's traditional. All of us Americans with European ancestry have been celebrating the coming together of our culture and Indian culture for almost four centuries now. A whole lot of turkey on the table, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, wild rice, stuffing, cranberries, corn bread, and mince meat pie for dessert; a highball before dinner, a few glasses of white wine with dinner, and an eggnog or two after dinner; all tempered with stories of Thanksgivings past and our deep, kindred and spiritual relationship with Tonto and Beaver and the rest of the Indians.

In northern Nevada in the mid 1800's, the United States Government placed a $100 bounty on Indian heads and scalps. In northern California during the same time period, Indians were herded off to the San Francisco Bay area under the promise of a better world; most of them were slaughtered. In the Southeast, thousands of Choctaws and other Florida & Mississippi natives were marched into Oklahoma on the Trail of Tears. Please pass the butter and the sour cream.

While the Supreme Court was trying to untangle the web of broken treaties and endless lies, it came to the conclusion that the United States Government had a fundamental obligation to care for Indians. Out of this was born the Bureau of Indian Affairs staffed by our white ancestors, most of which had never seen an Indian and pictured them as being savage Aborigines. The Government was not pleased with its new and unwelcome burden and took its anger out through discriminatory and despairingly shabby treatment of its new charges.

Oh, but this is 2007 and Indians have casinos and they are all filthy rich, those damned Indians. The fact is that most tribes do not have casinos and live in areas where they are economically depressed and physically isolated from the rest of us. And the Federal government, charged with taking care of Indians, spends less per capita on health care than it spends on health care for illegal aliens who reside in our jails. The Federal laws governing basic justice in Indian Country are so archaic that Indians essentially have no law, order, or justice. Educational funding has been declining on a per capita basis for Indians every year, but funding for other ethnic minorities including blacks, legal Hispanics, and illegal aliens has been increasing. Could I have a little bit more of that gravy, please?

On most reservation lands, 50% or more of the residents live at, or below, the poverty level. Drug and alcohol addiction runs rampant and uncountered; unemployment tops 20%. Domestic abuse, incest, violence against women and children.... they are the norm as opposed to the exception. We have stripped them of their culture, their language, their tradition, their sacred places, their pride, their dignity, and their humanity. I'm actually used to having some whipped cream for my pie, thank you very much.

Every single category of humanity in America has it much better off than the American Indian. The fact is that the children and grandchildren of the famous "Code Talkers" who saved our asses in the "Big War" are treated by us, those whose asses were saved, like dogs in comparison to illegal aliens, prisoners of war, and murderers on death row. Those guys get all of the education they want, great health care, free lawyers.... and they have many rights that we deny Native Americans.

Thanksgiving, we tell ourselves, is that day when the Indians welcomed our ancestors onto this land, and we all lived happily ever after. But, if you ask an Indian what he thinks about Thanksgiving, he'll undoubtedly give you the courtesy of not answering.

Well, if you have even the slightest twinge of guilt after reading this, you need to write your Congressman to demand some changes.

Now, please pass the Alka Seltzer, because that's MY AMERICAN OPINION, respectfully submitted.

Washington Needs a Change of Sheets

While our system of government is not broken, those who run it undeniably are.

The list of symptoms is endless. Corruption exists at every level. The word "ethical" exited the scene ages ago. Stories of torrid sex, traded for political favors, abound. Those who stand up against the status quo are crushed like aluminum cans in a scrap yard. And, the attitude of elected and appointed government officials toward the citizens who got them to where they are, is disgustingly cavalier.

The American public is fed up. We want our country back. That message was vividly clear in the last election when dozens of incumbents were turned out of office. Since most of the incumbents were Republicans at that time, the Democrats chose to declare victory for their own selfish interests and they totally missed the message that the public intended them and the rest of Washington to hear.

We're tired of the lies. We're tired of a political machine that takes us to war and prevents our troops from fighting to win. We're tired of a government that allows our borders to be penetrated by illegals on a continuing daily basis, and that expects us to pay for their care while denying those who wish to come here legally an opportunity to do so. We're tired of illegal foreign contributions to political campaigns. We're tired of judges being bought off by well-heeled offenders. We're tired of the endless burden that the middle class is saddled with in inequitable taxation. We're tired of the organized and undefended chipping away of our national ethics, morals, and religious freedom.

Those of us who remember the greatness of America the Beautiful, the "baby boomers," comprise an enormous political influence in this country, and it is time for us to exercise it. Regardless of your political philosophy, be it liberal or conservative, Democrat or Republican or Independent, this is the time to band together and vote the incumbent sickos out of office at the primary level. We don't need experience in Washington..... We need a fresh, inexperienced approach that will provide fresh and new answers to our national ills.

"Business as usual" simply has to go to.

Help us take our country back. Don't change our government; change those who govern. Vote all incumbents out.

That's MY AMERICAN OPINION, respectfully submitted.

Presidential Candidates Lack Pizazz

There's not a single Presidential candidate who has charisma, charm, energy, or pizazz. None of them stands out in a positive way above any of the others, although some stand out in a negative way below all of the others. Just look at them when they are speaking and listen to the inflections in their voices.... blah. Even they are not being passionate about the 2008 elections.

As for the Democrats, they all sound as if their speeches have been made out of the same mold. As for the Republicans, all of their speeches are moldy. No one wants to take a serious stand on anything..... If one makes a statement today and the other candidates in the field all poop on the idea tomorrow, the one with the stand will waffle within 48 hours. Even my great hope, Fred Thompson, is disappointing.

Maybe Monica Lewinsky should run? Certainly, she must have learned SOMETHING under Bill, if you'll pardon the play on words. And, she had charisma. She could charm the wrapper off of any cigar, believe you me.

So far, this Presidential politcking season is about as exciting as watching grass grow.

That's MY AMERICAN OPINION, respectfully submitted.

Liberal Thinking on Double Standards

You've heard the story before.... The punishment is greater for certain drug crimes than it is for manslaughter. Therefore, the argument goes, the punishment for those drug crimes needs to be reduced. And, I say, as many Americans have said before me.... "Horse shit."

I was reading an article in the October 8th US NEWS & WORLD REPORT about double standards, wherein the disparity is between a limit of possession of 50 grams of crack coke vs if he had 56 grams of powder cocaine is that his sentence would be about 1-100th as long for the latter. The article suggests that the penalty for the 56 grams of crack coke possession therefore needs to be reduced.

WHY DOESN'T THE PENALTY FOR POSSESSION OF POWDERED COKE NEED TO BE INCREASED? Am I missing something here? Why do we automatically presume that, if there is a disparity in the penalties of laws, you need to adjust downward? Doesn't anyone understand what damage 56 grams of crack coke can do? Sociologically, economically, ethically, religiously... How can we be so dumb as to suggest that the possession of that much crack coke should result only in a few days of jail time vs years?

Further, if a guy is going to do years in jail for possession of crack coke, what in the Sam Hades makes you think that manslaughter should be days or weeks or months.... Why should it also not be years?

This liberal way of looking at things is totally out of whack with the real world and with true justice.

That's MY AMERICAN OPINION, respectfully submitted.

Americans Are Pigs?

Don't know who wrote this, but it's hard to beat....

No Free lunch There was a Chemistry professor in a large college that had some Exchange students in the class. One day while the class was in the lab the Prof noticed one young man (exchange student) who kept rubbing his back and stretching as if his back hurt. The professor asked the young man what was the matter. The student told him he had a bullet lodged in his back. He had been shot while fighting communists in his native country who were trying to overthrow his country's government and install a new communist government.

In the midst of his story he looked at the professor and asked a strange question. He asked, 'Do you know how to catch wild pigs?'

The professor thought it was a joke and asked for the punch line. The young man said this was no joke.'You catch wild pigs by finding a suitable place in the woods and putting corn on the ground. The pigs find it and begin to come everyday to eat the free corn. When they are used to coming every day, you put a fence down one side of the place where they are used to coming. When they get used to the fence, they begin to eat the corn again and you put up another side of the fence. They get used to that and start to eat again. You continue until you have all four sides of the fence up with a gate in the last side. The pigs, who are used to the free corn, start to come through the gate to eat, you slam the gate on them and catch the whole herd.

Suddenly the wild pigs have lost their freedom. They run around and around inside the fence, but they are caught. Soon they go back to eating the free corn. They are so used to it that they have forgotten how to forage in the woods for themselves, so they accept their captivity.

The young man then told the professor that is exactly what he sees happening to America. The government keeps pushing us toward Communism/socialism and keeps spreading the free corn out in the form of programs such as supplemental income, tax credit for unearned income, tobacco subsidies, dairy subsidies, payments not to plant crops (CRP), welfare, medicine, drugs, etc. While we continually lose our freedoms- just a little at a time.

No Presidential Candidate is Worth Voting For!

On October 13, 2007

That's ...
MY AMERICAN OPINION, respectfully submitted.

Hillary Flunks Basic Clinton Test

After "discovering" that her campaign had received over $850,000 in illegal contributions, Hillary had the money sent back. She declined, however, to name the source(s). Bill would have said, "Hell, some goddammed Chinaman gave it to me at a bhuddist gathering. Al arranged it."

For the record, Bill would not have returned the money, either.

That's MY AMERICAN OPINION, respectfully submitted.

Protectionism is NOT a Social Disease!

There is a price for liberty.... blood. There is an even bigger price for maintaining it....

constant vigil.

Every single day, someone attempts to chip away at some facet of our American fiber. Every single day, it seems, someone succeeds. Being a nation of laws, we enact and enforce laws to protect our society from the dangers that lurk. We ensure that our citizens have access to good jobs, the right to practice free speech and religion, safety from crime, and countless potential infringements upon our liberty and pursuit of happiness.

The year is 2007. If one is arrested for crime, and if he has access to a good attorney, money, or political sway, he is out scott-free within hours and that is the end of it. If someone crosses our border illegally, we put him in a warm home and reward him with social security benefits and medical care. And, most recently, if an American goes to school to get a commercial license to drive a truck in this country for a living, we reward him by letting in people from other countries where strict regulations do not apply, and we allow them to.... drive a truck and to take away the job from the American.

This is the last straw. It's not just about lettuce anymore. It's about letting someone in from another country to take YOUR job, because they will do it for less.

Americans, we have lost our way, and we're on the verge of losing our liberty.

That's MY AMERICAN OPINION, respectfully submitted.

VIGILANCE IS NOT DUMB

Tribal elections were imminent. A group of bullying, threatening dissidents were trying to gain control of the tribal government. A significant portion of the dissident group were alleged to have ties to Mexican gangs. One of the dissidents had recently brandished a loaded pistol and threatened to blow the head off of a member of the opposing incumbents. A recent protest had ended with an assault on a tribal official. Telephone calls were made to the tribal offices threatening a violent takeover.

Against this backdrop, the Tribal Administrator convinced the council that the tribe's offices should be closed until after the elections in the interest of public safety. One of the Council vocally objected, saying the Council shouldn't be intimidated by the bullies. He dismissed the facts that the rear door to the building had been found mysteriously unlocked, that members of the dissident group had been taking pictures of the outside and inside of the building the day before, and that one of the dissidents had been bragging about the fact that she soon was going to be the new person in charge. Law enforcement agencies and the Bureau of Indian Affairs were notified of the threats and the office closure.

Election day came and went without any incidents at the tribal offices. The council member who had voted against closing the office reminded everyone of his displeasure. "I told you it was a dumb idea! Nothing happened!"

That nothing happened probably had more to do with the proactive observations and actions of the Tribal Administrator than the council member realized. Just a few years before, another dissident group had stormed the office and taken financial records, membership lists and other important government documents. The ousted and proper government spent months in trying to regain control, while the Federal government froze vital funding to the tribe and members were left without vital services.

Vigilance is not dumb. The fact that there have been no more World Trade Center disasters since 2001 is more a testimony to proactive steps taken in its aftermath than any other possibility. There have been countless, but rarely mentioned, attempts to bring injury to our country since September 11, 2001. Those attempts were thwarted due to improved detection methods, better intelligence gathering, and intensified training.

Anyone who suggests that we scale back our national security because there have been no further internal attacks IS dumb.

That's MY AMERICAN OPINION, respectfully submitted.

All Those Gas Price Fixit Emails; The REAL Answer to High Gas Prices

You must have seen this one 20 times. Boycott Exxon and Mobile and their profits will plummet and their stock will take a dump and the world will have the message that we are tired of high gas prices. If only it would work, but it won't and innocent people will get hurt in the process.

What about Joe, the independent station owner? When you boycott him, he loses a marginal profit at the pump and all of the profit that he depends on inside his convenience store. But, Exxon and Mobile will just sell more of their gas on the spot market or enter into agreements to sell gas to Shell, ARCO etc whose sales will be up as a result of this boycott.

Don't buy gas for a day? Everyone will just buy it a day earlier or a day later, nothing will change.

Here are two real solutions. I prefer the first one. The oil companies will scream like wounded bananas at both:

(1) Place a national CAP on the gross profit that an oil refining company can make per gallon. This would be a two to five year profit freeze. With stockholders screaming for continued growth in dividends, this not only would force better operating techniques to reduce costs, but would also force a drop in price in order to drive volume of gallons sold.

(2) Organize a two-day national "no driving" event. You don't drive to work.... don't even go to work. Don't go shopping, don't go to the beach.... just park. And, don't fly, don't use public transportation.... either walk, ride a bike, or stay at home. Two days would totally tick off every major business in the country as well as government. The economy would grind to a stand still and everyone would get the message. But, this would take a massive organizational effort. It would also improve air quality for two days.

Either one of these alternatives will work well. I prefer the first because it has a longer effect. The two-day event would likely be forgotten within 90 days and prices would soar back up.

But, we CAN take control of this situation. Let's start by putting the pressure on Congress. I think they'd jump at the chance to turn their attention away from the illegal alien issue.

That's MY AMERICAN OPINION, respectfully submitted.

Is Obama an Anti-Christ?

Pardon me, but just where does this member of the Democratic Party that has done everything imaginable to destroy Christianity in this country, get off by wagging his damned finger at me and telling me that, as a Christian Conservative, I need to work harder to keep this country together?

Who in the hell does this bigoted son-of-a-bitch think he is?

That's MY AMERICAN OPINION, angrily submitted

MEXICANS ARE DYING TO GET IN - A Different Perspective

I may have suspected it in my vast subconscious mind, but I never realized it. When I read it, I was amazed.

Seems that Mexico has lost more population by those heading for the U.S. than by dying on their native Mexican soil every year since 2000. The actual stats: 577,000 head north and 495,000 die in Mexico in an average year.

Here's another interesting tidbit. The higher your income level, the lower your incidence of depression. Illegal Mexicans drawing welfare have a higher percentage of depression than others who draw. The obvious solution to this problem is to raise welfare benefits for illegal Mexicans, while leaving others at the current levels.

That's MY AMERICAN OPINION, respectfully submitted.

Is There Truth to Global Warming?

Mother Nature does seem to be going haywire. Up in northern California, we had no winter in 2006-2007. Streams are down, fire danger is up... Old timers across the country are all in agreement that winters are milder and precipitation is down.

There are those who pooh pah the idea that greenhouse gas emmissions are to blame for melting of the ice caps. Are they the same folks who stuck their noses in the air when the stories about acid rain started coming out?

We really need to get the answers. Is our need for energy contributing to global warming? If that's the case and if temperatures keep going up, we are going to be using more energy to try and cool ourselves down and we could be feeding into a vicious cycle.

As disagreeable as the answer may be, we need to know.

That's MY AMERICAN OPINION, respectfully submitted

There is No Courage Left in America

No one remaining here has the guts to tell it like it is. Everyone simply must be politically correct; to do otherwise is to be scorned and ostracized.

No one remaining here is willing to stand up and fight for what is morally and ethically correct. If you stand firmly on the ground of your principles, you are considered to be a fool. Those who do not so stand, win the game. If no one else lives by the rules, why should I?

It is proper to be hedonistic, to do what ever it is that we want as long as it serves our pleasure. It is wrong to sacrifice even the tiniest bit of self-indulgence in order to preserve law and order. Being able to break the law and to have enough power and money to get away with it is the supreme pleasure.

God and Christianity are profane and must be removed from our vocabulary and our lives.

There is no courage left here to fight the battles that must fought in order to preserve the very foundation upon which this country was built. Everyone and anyone who has that kind of courage is in Iraq, or Afghanistan, or in some other remote and dangeous place, fighting for our rights to be bigots and cowards.

This Memorial Day, let's shit on their plates.

That's MY AMERICAN OPINION, respectfull submitted

Why Reid Can't Go Back to Searchlight

If you lived in Nevada, you'll remember those "down home" ads about Harry Reid and Searchlight, Nevada. That's a small town between Las Vegas and nowhere. And the ads that asked Nevada residents to vote for Harry to be reelected were quick to point out that good old Harry was a true, down home Nevadan.

These days, "Good Old Harry" is not all that welcome in Searchlight. Why? Ask any resident and they'll tell you that they are 100% patriotic and they stand behind their military. The way they see it, Harry is a traitor. And, Harry became a traitor when he turned his back on the United States Armed Forces by saying that "they have lost the war in Iraq."

Basically, "Good Old Harry" has sold out everything that the entire State of Nevada believes in. At least, that's what most Nevadan's will say today.

Why, then, has he not been recalled? Don't ask me. After 36 years in Nevada, I got tired of the guy and I left the state.

Anyone want to hear the story about "Mr. Clean" and the mob and a wiretap when Harry was on the Nevada Gaming Commission?