"We can't drive our SUVs and eat as much as we want and keep our homes on 72 degrees at all times... and then just expect that other countries are going to say OK.... That's not leadership. That's not going to happen."
That's Barack Obama in his own words. The problem isn't supply, or too little refining capacity, or OPEC gouging the free world, it is...you guessed it, US. This is the typical liberal battle cry - Blame America First. So if you like to drive something other than a Prius and live in comfort, you are the problem. And Barack is NOT going to help you. Remember that when you go to the polls.
In fact, remember this; Barack and the rest of the Democratic party WANT US TO SUFFER. They would love it if gas hits $5, $6 or $7 per gallon - as long it does it before November. The worse off we are going into the election, the more they get to blame Bush and everyone who supports him. Mark my words - the Democratic Congress (who get to take all of August off and will only "work" for a maximum of 160 days this year) WILL DO NOTHING until after the election. Even then, what they do will be to make the situation worse.
Obama and everyone in congress make over $160,000 per year. That's just salary. That doesn't take into account just about everything they spend money on is probably a deduction on their taxes so they pay less than the average person. It doesn't take into account book royalties or appearance fees for speeches. Do you think they give a shit about the price of gas? They can afford it. Remember that when you go to the polls.
Remember that in addition to making your energy costs worse, Barack will actively reach into your pockets for more tax money. Not only will everything cost more, you'll have less take home pay to cover those costs. But remember, if you like to live in comfort, drive an SUV, then you get what you deserve. So says Obama.
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Will the Dems Listen to the people?
Public opinion is overwhelmingly in favor of drilling for oil in ANWR and the OCS as well as extracting oil from the oil shale reserves and Canadian oil sands. However, the Democrats in congress have blocked every attempt to increase our domestic supply of oil. Here's a video describing the situation:
http://video.newsmax.com
I think the party that will win in November is the one that will make this the issue. Listen, if you want to pay $4, $5, $6 per gallon for gas, if you want your tax rates to increase by as much as 20% (7% for Social Security, 13% for the top marginal tax rate), if you want to pay double the taxes on capital gains (retiree's, listen up - that will hit you hard!!), if you want to see babies killed as they're being born (partial birth abortion) then maybe you're an Obama man. If you woke up this morning and thought to yourself "You know, I get to keep far too much of the money I work for. I wish there was a way I could give up more of it while never seeing anything in return," then you probably will vote for Obama. However, if any of these things don't sound good, then go with McCain. It's pretty simple, really.
http://video.newsmax.com
I think the party that will win in November is the one that will make this the issue. Listen, if you want to pay $4, $5, $6 per gallon for gas, if you want your tax rates to increase by as much as 20% (7% for Social Security, 13% for the top marginal tax rate), if you want to pay double the taxes on capital gains (retiree's, listen up - that will hit you hard!!), if you want to see babies killed as they're being born (partial birth abortion) then maybe you're an Obama man. If you woke up this morning and thought to yourself "You know, I get to keep far too much of the money I work for. I wish there was a way I could give up more of it while never seeing anything in return," then you probably will vote for Obama. However, if any of these things don't sound good, then go with McCain. It's pretty simple, really.
Friday, June 6, 2008
Remember D-Day!!
I am a fan of history, particularly the first and second world wars. I find it fascinating to see the machinations that moved so many countries to send tens of millions of people to their death. World War Two, in particular, is fascinating because of the incredible acts of evil that were perpetrated by the Nazis. What could drive people - mothers, fathers, brothers, sons, daughters, working class men and women - to ignore the atrocities at the least, or participate in them at the worst? I don't know that a satisfactory answer can be derived from that question.
What I do know is that World War II was the last time the nation was united and committed to a cause. Even a few years later, in Korea, the people at home were deeply divided by the war. It grew worse in Vietnam and war has only served as polarizing issue since then. Attempting to explain the divided mindsets, John Keegan, in the book The First World War (it took me longer to read it than America was actually involved in the war!) postulates that the media has created this wedge. Had the media, with all the access to battlefield, the photographic and video technology of today, existed in 1918 no one in modern society would have ever considered going to war again.
There are differing philosophies espoused about war. Without doing any research, I believe it was Gandhi who said that you cannot simultaneously achieve peace while preparing for war. Another perspective - was it Sun Tzu? - holds that to have peace you must be prepared for war. I believe that war is not just a possibility, it's inevitable. As long as people want what other people have - land, wealth, or most of all, power - there will be conflict. If enough people want the same thing that conflict will become a war. Maybe I am a pessimist on this topic, but if all "civilized" society laid down it's arms, someone else will pick them up. But I digress.
During World War II the Allies had two very dynamic leaders at the helm. Winston Churchill was the prime minister of England. He was pushed out of politics after World War I and labeled a "war monger" by the more appeasement minded party. Many believe that if Churchill had been in power rather than Chamberlain in 1936 the war would have been averted. Churchill's way of plain speaking and rallying his country preserved it during the long Battle Of Britain. He kept the Nazi war machine in check long enough for the isolationist America to get pulled into the fray in 1941.
On the American side, Franklin Delano Roosevelt was beloved by the nation, having led us through the depression. Historians today dispute his true value to the future of our nation, but at the time he was America, being elected to four terms as President. His "Fireside chats" kept the nation calm - or at least informed - during the depression and the war. One of his chats was on June 6th, 1944 - D-Day. The tide of war changed this day, and the defeat of Nazi Germany became more certain from this point going forward. In fact, because of this mission the world would be forever different. On the 6th FDR broadcast a short message of prayer that served to inform the nation of the invasion and rally their support at a crucial time of the conflict. I've pasted the text of the broadcast below. To hear the audio in FDR's voice click here.
“My Fellow Americans:
“Last night, when I spoke with you about the fall of Rome, I knew at that moment that troops of the United States and our Allies were crossing the Channel in another and greater operation. It has come to pass with success thus far.
“And so, in this poignant hour, I ask you to join with me in prayer:
“Almighty God: Our sons, pride of our nation, this day have set upon a mighty endeavor, a struggle to preserve our Republic, our religion, and our civilization, and to set free a suffering humanity.
“Lead them straight and true; give strength to their arms, stoutness to their hearts, steadfastness in their faith.
“They will need Thy blessings. Their road will be long and hard. For the enemy is strong. He may hurl back our forces. Success may not come with rushing speed, but we shall return again and again; and we know that by Thy grace, and by the righteousness of our cause, our sons will triumph.
“They will be sore tried, by night and by day, without rest -- until the victory is won. The darkness will be rent by noise and flame. Men's souls will be shaken with the violences of war.
“For these men are lately drawn from the ways of peace. They fight not for the lust of conquest. They fight to end conquest. They fight to liberate. They fight to let justice arise, and tolerance and goodwill among all Thy people. They yearn but for the end of battle, for their return to the haven of home.
“Some will never return. Embrace these, Father, and receive them, Thy heroic servants, into Thy kingdom.
“And for us at home -- fathers, mothers, children, wives, sisters, and brothers of brave men overseas, whose thoughts and prayers are ever with them -- help us, Almighty God, to rededicate ourselves in renewed faith in Thee in this hour of great sacrifice.
“Many people have urged that I call the nation into a single day of special prayer. But because the road is long and the desire is great, I ask that our people devote themselves in a continuance of prayer. As we rise to each new day, and again when each day is spent, let words of prayer be on our lips, invoking Thy help to our efforts.
“Give us strength, too -- strength in our daily tasks, to redouble the contributions we make in the physical and the material support of our armed forces.
“And let our hearts be stout, to wait out the long travail, to bear sorrows that may come, to impart our courage unto our sons wheresoever they may be.
“And, O Lord, give us faith. Give us faith in Thee; faith in our sons; faith in each other; faith in our united crusade. Let not the keenness of our spirit ever be dulled. Let not the impacts of temporary events, of temporal matters of but fleeting moment -- let not these deter us in our unconquerable purpose.
“With Thy blessing, we shall prevail over the unholy forces of our enemy. Help us to conquer the apostles of greed and racial arrogances. Lead us to the saving of our country, and with our sister nations into a world unity that will spell a sure peace -- a peace invulnerable to the schemings of unworthy men. And a peace that will let all of men live in freedom, reaping the just rewards of their honest toil.
“Thy will be done, Almighty God.
“Amen.”
What I do know is that World War II was the last time the nation was united and committed to a cause. Even a few years later, in Korea, the people at home were deeply divided by the war. It grew worse in Vietnam and war has only served as polarizing issue since then. Attempting to explain the divided mindsets, John Keegan, in the book The First World War (it took me longer to read it than America was actually involved in the war!) postulates that the media has created this wedge. Had the media, with all the access to battlefield, the photographic and video technology of today, existed in 1918 no one in modern society would have ever considered going to war again.
There are differing philosophies espoused about war. Without doing any research, I believe it was Gandhi who said that you cannot simultaneously achieve peace while preparing for war. Another perspective - was it Sun Tzu? - holds that to have peace you must be prepared for war. I believe that war is not just a possibility, it's inevitable. As long as people want what other people have - land, wealth, or most of all, power - there will be conflict. If enough people want the same thing that conflict will become a war. Maybe I am a pessimist on this topic, but if all "civilized" society laid down it's arms, someone else will pick them up. But I digress.
During World War II the Allies had two very dynamic leaders at the helm. Winston Churchill was the prime minister of England. He was pushed out of politics after World War I and labeled a "war monger" by the more appeasement minded party. Many believe that if Churchill had been in power rather than Chamberlain in 1936 the war would have been averted. Churchill's way of plain speaking and rallying his country preserved it during the long Battle Of Britain. He kept the Nazi war machine in check long enough for the isolationist America to get pulled into the fray in 1941.
On the American side, Franklin Delano Roosevelt was beloved by the nation, having led us through the depression. Historians today dispute his true value to the future of our nation, but at the time he was America, being elected to four terms as President. His "Fireside chats" kept the nation calm - or at least informed - during the depression and the war. One of his chats was on June 6th, 1944 - D-Day. The tide of war changed this day, and the defeat of Nazi Germany became more certain from this point going forward. In fact, because of this mission the world would be forever different. On the 6th FDR broadcast a short message of prayer that served to inform the nation of the invasion and rally their support at a crucial time of the conflict. I've pasted the text of the broadcast below. To hear the audio in FDR's voice click here.
“My Fellow Americans:
“Last night, when I spoke with you about the fall of Rome, I knew at that moment that troops of the United States and our Allies were crossing the Channel in another and greater operation. It has come to pass with success thus far.
“And so, in this poignant hour, I ask you to join with me in prayer:
“Almighty God: Our sons, pride of our nation, this day have set upon a mighty endeavor, a struggle to preserve our Republic, our religion, and our civilization, and to set free a suffering humanity.
“Lead them straight and true; give strength to their arms, stoutness to their hearts, steadfastness in their faith.
“They will need Thy blessings. Their road will be long and hard. For the enemy is strong. He may hurl back our forces. Success may not come with rushing speed, but we shall return again and again; and we know that by Thy grace, and by the righteousness of our cause, our sons will triumph.
“They will be sore tried, by night and by day, without rest -- until the victory is won. The darkness will be rent by noise and flame. Men's souls will be shaken with the violences of war.
“For these men are lately drawn from the ways of peace. They fight not for the lust of conquest. They fight to end conquest. They fight to liberate. They fight to let justice arise, and tolerance and goodwill among all Thy people. They yearn but for the end of battle, for their return to the haven of home.
“Some will never return. Embrace these, Father, and receive them, Thy heroic servants, into Thy kingdom.
“And for us at home -- fathers, mothers, children, wives, sisters, and brothers of brave men overseas, whose thoughts and prayers are ever with them -- help us, Almighty God, to rededicate ourselves in renewed faith in Thee in this hour of great sacrifice.
“Many people have urged that I call the nation into a single day of special prayer. But because the road is long and the desire is great, I ask that our people devote themselves in a continuance of prayer. As we rise to each new day, and again when each day is spent, let words of prayer be on our lips, invoking Thy help to our efforts.
“Give us strength, too -- strength in our daily tasks, to redouble the contributions we make in the physical and the material support of our armed forces.
“And let our hearts be stout, to wait out the long travail, to bear sorrows that may come, to impart our courage unto our sons wheresoever they may be.
“And, O Lord, give us faith. Give us faith in Thee; faith in our sons; faith in each other; faith in our united crusade. Let not the keenness of our spirit ever be dulled. Let not the impacts of temporary events, of temporal matters of but fleeting moment -- let not these deter us in our unconquerable purpose.
“With Thy blessing, we shall prevail over the unholy forces of our enemy. Help us to conquer the apostles of greed and racial arrogances. Lead us to the saving of our country, and with our sister nations into a world unity that will spell a sure peace -- a peace invulnerable to the schemings of unworthy men. And a peace that will let all of men live in freedom, reaping the just rewards of their honest toil.
“Thy will be done, Almighty God.
“Amen.”
Friday, December 14, 2007
The Nits Get Picked
This is a nit, but it's a real annoyance to me. It gets under my skin that we have become so politically correct, so adamant that everything should be equal that we can't even fill out an online form without having global equality shoved in our face. Here are two insipid examples:
- My company employs approximately 325,000 people. 125,000 people are in the United States, a clear majority among the countries. But is the United States first on the pick list on our web forms? No. They've set them alphabetically because the company doesn't want to offend anyone else around the world by putting the US first. So the 3 people that work in Algeria get to fill in their forms with two clicks, while it takes me, along with 124,999 other people, several to get the information input. Let's say that takes an additional 2 seconds per day - that's a potential 70 hours of lost productivity in the US each day, or $4900 in average salaries. It that happens just every other day it costs the company almost $700,000 per year. At the same time, I can't spend $20 on a gift card to reward one of my employees without 3 levels of approval.
- I work in a customer service center. A few years ago we started moving a lot of the work to Canada, so to show them we are truly supportive of them, we didn't do any cultural workshops, we didn't do any training to learn what life is like in Toronto...we changed the spelling of Customer Service Center to Customer Service Centre.
Canadian 1: "Those Americans are so arrogant, eh. They think they are so much better than everyone else because their system of capitalism has been dominant for 231 years."
Canadian 2: "Hold off there, hosehead. Look at this. They spell customer service centre just like we do!"
Canadian 1: "It appears I don't know what I'm talking aboot. If they spell it like we do, I'm obviously all turned around on this thing. I love America and her respect of our spelling!"
If only it were that easy.
Wednesday, November 7, 2007
Add this to your lexicon
Recyclobabble - the inane chatter that the greenies spout ad nauseum. There are too many people in the world, we'll run out of (food, oil, air, water, land, etc); don't trash our mother (with a picture of the earth on the side of garbage cans); love your mother (picture of earth on bumper stickers), and on and on. Recyclobabble - you heard it here first.
Sunday, October 14, 2007
Out Of Touch
It never fails to stun me how out of touch with the real issues the liberal left is. At a time when we're at war, when at this very minute people somewhere in the world are plotting to kill Americans (for no other reason than they ARE Americans), people who are in a position to act on our behalf are not concerned with this issue. What are they concerned with?
While in a attendance at the Clinton Global Initiative, Ted Turdner was interviewed by CNN (can you imagine if Ann Coulter had her own network, then was interviewed on it? The libs would have seizures!). The interview ran on September 26th. Turdner was asked by the reporter what he felt the biggest threats facing the world today are. His response was surprising only in that global warming wasn't listed first.
The biggest threat he could identify was that the world's nuclear arsenals are on "hair trigger" alert, where an accidental launch will end the world in an afternoon. He said this like Homer Simpson was sitting in a room drinking beer with a single red button under his thumb that would launch every single nuke 'round the world at once. It's ironic then, that while he's so concerned about nuclear weapons that Iran's efforts to build a nuclear weapons program did not register as a threat.
His second threat was predictably global warming. Yawn.
When asked what he would do differently he said he would stop doing "stupid" things like bombing third world nations. OK, like Iran...which is trying to build...nuclear..weapons. Wasn't that his primary concern for the world? This is one of the larger problems with the libs. They can't even be consistent within their own series of statements.
Where was the rise of Islamo-fascism on his list? Not even mentioned.
Now, Ted Turdner isn't one of our elected officials, but he donates to and supports the causes of the liberal left and owns one of the largest lefty propaganda machines in all of cable news, so his views definitely are a problem for our country.
Now, on a day to day basis I don't know how much the average citizen worries about Islamic terrorism, but that's only because we've not suffered a catastrophic attack on our soil in over six years. If we hadn't foiled the plot to blow up the Sears Tower, or foiled the plot to blow up the pipeline that supplies jet fuel to JFK International Airport, or foiled the attack on Fort Dix - I can cite other examples, but you get the picture - things would be different.
The fact is that fundamental Islamists are a threat to Americans, to our way of life. The libs on the left try to act like that's not the case, but they know that it is, or they wouldn't spend so much time and effort trying to divert attention away from it.
While in a attendance at the Clinton Global Initiative, Ted Turdner was interviewed by CNN (can you imagine if Ann Coulter had her own network, then was interviewed on it? The libs would have seizures!). The interview ran on September 26th. Turdner was asked by the reporter what he felt the biggest threats facing the world today are. His response was surprising only in that global warming wasn't listed first.
The biggest threat he could identify was that the world's nuclear arsenals are on "hair trigger" alert, where an accidental launch will end the world in an afternoon. He said this like Homer Simpson was sitting in a room drinking beer with a single red button under his thumb that would launch every single nuke 'round the world at once. It's ironic then, that while he's so concerned about nuclear weapons that Iran's efforts to build a nuclear weapons program did not register as a threat.
His second threat was predictably global warming. Yawn.
When asked what he would do differently he said he would stop doing "stupid" things like bombing third world nations. OK, like Iran...which is trying to build...nuclear..weapons. Wasn't that his primary concern for the world? This is one of the larger problems with the libs. They can't even be consistent within their own series of statements.
Where was the rise of Islamo-fascism on his list? Not even mentioned.
Now, Ted Turdner isn't one of our elected officials, but he donates to and supports the causes of the liberal left and owns one of the largest lefty propaganda machines in all of cable news, so his views definitely are a problem for our country.
Now, on a day to day basis I don't know how much the average citizen worries about Islamic terrorism, but that's only because we've not suffered a catastrophic attack on our soil in over six years. If we hadn't foiled the plot to blow up the Sears Tower, or foiled the plot to blow up the pipeline that supplies jet fuel to JFK International Airport, or foiled the attack on Fort Dix - I can cite other examples, but you get the picture - things would be different.
The fact is that fundamental Islamists are a threat to Americans, to our way of life. The libs on the left try to act like that's not the case, but they know that it is, or they wouldn't spend so much time and effort trying to divert attention away from it.
Wednesday, October 3, 2007
Stand For Peace
I saw a bumper sticker yesterday while driving home that said "Stand For Peace." It struck me that I don't know what that even means. Does the driver want us all to stand around until there's no more war in the world? That hardly seems practical.
My next question is what is the definition of peace? One definition states that peace is "freedom from war." Liberals would have everyone believe that withdrawing our troops from Iraq will bring peace, but I see a big difference between "freedom from war" and the absence of warfare. To be free from war, all combatants must stop hostilities. Withdrawing from Iraq only stops hostilities from our side, not theirs. As they proved on 9/11, fundamental Islamists are actively planning, plotting and preparing to carry out acts of war at all times, whether we're "at peace" or not. It's not their hobby, it's their way of life. Does anyone really believe that withdrawing from Iraq will change any of that?
The fact is that people around the world are interpreting the Quran as it was written in the early 600's. What was acceptable behavior then is not now, but someone forgot to tell them that. Again, liberals have a simplistic catch phrase that true Islam is "a religion of peace." You would never know it by what's happening around the world. Until Islam makes true moves to reform, there will be no peace. Until peaceful Muslims who want to be part of modern society no longer tolerate aberrant behavior from their comrades, there will be no peace.
The guy in that car wants to stand for peace? I'll leave him a chair. He's going to get tired.
My next question is what is the definition of peace? One definition states that peace is "freedom from war." Liberals would have everyone believe that withdrawing our troops from Iraq will bring peace, but I see a big difference between "freedom from war" and the absence of warfare. To be free from war, all combatants must stop hostilities. Withdrawing from Iraq only stops hostilities from our side, not theirs. As they proved on 9/11, fundamental Islamists are actively planning, plotting and preparing to carry out acts of war at all times, whether we're "at peace" or not. It's not their hobby, it's their way of life. Does anyone really believe that withdrawing from Iraq will change any of that?
The fact is that people around the world are interpreting the Quran as it was written in the early 600's. What was acceptable behavior then is not now, but someone forgot to tell them that. Again, liberals have a simplistic catch phrase that true Islam is "a religion of peace." You would never know it by what's happening around the world. Until Islam makes true moves to reform, there will be no peace. Until peaceful Muslims who want to be part of modern society no longer tolerate aberrant behavior from their comrades, there will be no peace.
The guy in that car wants to stand for peace? I'll leave him a chair. He's going to get tired.
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