WHO, ME? Shell, Chevron, Exxon-Mobile, BP Arco, Conoco-Phillips Pass The Well-Worn & Tattered Buck

No play on words intended. While big oil lays the blame for skyrocketing gas prices at the pump on the oil producing nations and increasing international demands for crude, they continue to bank records of billions of dollars in profits…each. I don’t know if it is coincidence or not, but they are also managing to stick millions of dollars into various U.S. political campaign coffers. You figure it out.

The glib Presidential Candidate Hillary Clinton, best known for her candor, (or total lack thereof), proposes a special levy on oil profits to pay for a gas tax cut. She fails to explain the smoke and mirrors of her “magical solution.” The oil companies will simply add the levy to the cost of gas at the pump, thereby keeping the price per gallon the same and transferring the income from national highway repair funds to the pockets of the oil companies, who will then turn around and pay that income back to the Federal government. The net effect is zero, except for the added millions that accountants and lawyers will make in the process.

Another common plea from big oil is that they are spending millions and millions of dollars on exploration of “promising new fields.” Well, (again, pardon the play on words,) they get a tax break for that. My retort is, “How much are you spending on research and development of alternative forms of energy?” Because, in the final analysis, we’re eventually going to have to be looking at alternative forms of energy in order to survive, anyway.

Then, they argue that the environmentalists have them hamstrung because they can’t drill for new oil in the United States or just offshore. Frankly, that’s the only halfway decent argument they put up, and notice that I said, “halfway.” Sewn up in this general context is the need for more refineries; the environmentalists are stopping them for building more.

Well, (again, pardon that play on words), I agree that the environmentalists are going to have to give some ground here. Otherwise, someone’s going to end up walking in the cold winter and I hope they get first crack at that pleasure. But, why can’t big oil modernize and expand its existing refineries to meet the increased demand at the pump?

And, what about the consequences of allowing Congress to simply shrug its shoulders? All economic history and current indicators point to economic upheaval. It’s already starting, and I know that you can feel it. I can, and I don’t care what President Bush says.

In a posting on another of my blogs, MY AMERICAN OPINION, I suggested a cap on oil profits, penalties for NOT doing research and development and tax breaks for doing such research, as a method for finding some cost-effective ways for switching our energy sources from fossil-fuels and coal to something else that’s user friendly and less expensive. Someone else has suggested a four-day work week to reduce driving, (as if we’ll stay home one day out of a three day weekend?), and there are a few other equally disappointing solutions being circulated.

But, so-called solutions have been given lip service countless times before and nothing gets done about it.

Perhaps, I also suggested on that other blog, we should have a national undeclared protest day, where no one goes to work and the production of goods and services stops completely, (except for emergencies), for 24 hours. No one shops, no one goes to work, no one watches TV, we all just sit around and bond with our kids and families, (assuming we can remember their names), and we let our illustrious Representatives and Senators contemplate their navels for a day.

I was suggesting August 4^th. However, the nation’s truck drivers are now calling for a “drive out” for Monday, May 5^th, as a protest against high fuel prices. I think we should join them.

We have to do something! Right now, Congress and Big Oil are in the driver’s seat and we’re the ones paying for the gas!

Monday, May 5^TH! Stay home. Protest! Don’t go to work. Take a vacation day or sick day. Back the truckers. Get the message out.

THE GREAT SOCIAL SECURITY RIP-OFF: The Federal Government’s Giant White Lie

Lie: The Social Security system is running out of money because there are many more Americans reaching retirement age and fewer paying into it, it was a poorly designed system to start off with and we are going to have to find a way to fix it, or we are going to be out of money to fund it by 2013.

And, we are letting them get away with it.

In 1935, President Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act into place, announcing that it would be “voluntary.” In 1937, just two years later, they enacted a mandatory 2% tax to support the Act. They were quick to add that the annuities paid back out in benefits would not be taxed. In 1983, they started to tax benefits for higher income earners and Al Gore, as Vice-President, cast the deciding vote to make all benefits taxable income. This means that you pay taxes on the amount deducted from your check for FICA, and you also pay taxes on the benefits when you receive them, (subject to some exceptions). That’s double taxation.

The Social Security taxes were to be kept in a separate account, untouchable by the government for other general fund uses. In 1985, the Social Security Fund was moved
“off line,” ostensibly to enable the feds to keep better track of it. In fact, the surplus in the Social Security fund had ballooned so such an amount that the federal government felt obliged to correct the situation by starting to “borrow” from it. How much the feds owe the fund at this stage of the game is anyone’s guess and will probably be accounted for at some point long after the ongoing court case Cobell v. Norton is resolved.

In that case, the feds were obliged to manage monies for Indian tribes and Indians so that they wouldn’t spend it all away. Now the truth is, the Indians want an accounting of all of that money and the Department of Interior and its Bureau of Indian Affairs can’t seem to find the accounting records. They’re probably in the same location as the records are that will show how much money the government has “borrowed” from Social Security.

Now, of course, the lie. We’re running out of money. How much money would be in the system had it not been “borrowed?” Since it was “borrowed,” what is the interest? If all of this money had been left where it was, would we be in this “problem?” And, are those of us who paid taxes on that money twice already going to have to pay up a third, or fourth time? Or, are you kind folks on Capitol Hill just planning on phasing Social Security entirely out?

The final question for this posting is, “When are we Americans going to start getting some straight answers?” When the chickens come home to roost? Or when the Phoenix Lights move to Scottsdale?

AT TIMES, THE DIFFICULTY OF “WEIGHING IN” ON SOME THINGS THAT OCCUR IN TODAY'S WORLD REQUIRES MORE OBJECTIVITY THAN I CAN READILY MUSTER

I have received a flurry of telephone calls in response to my “Special” posting of April 14^th. People are accusing me of being judgmental. Oh, you know the endless words and phrases that are used to deal with those in this world who, like me, think modern-day America is going to hell in a hand basket. Now, we’ve just added “judgmental” to the list of: politically incorrect, stuck on religion, far right, stuck up, ancient dinosaur, albatross, Christian demagogue, etc, etc, etc.

Well, PARDON ME! By your acclamations, ANARCHY REIGNS! We don’t need to go through the motions of propriety, ethics, or morals any longer. If someone does something I don’t like, I’ll just shoot the son-of-a-bitch, right there on the spot. Save the verbiage, just shoot first and don’t bother to ask questions later.

If anybody, gay or not, decrees that gays can give blood that MIGHT be tainted, that the blood given can enter the mainstream blood supply in this country, and that I don’t have the right to yell, scream, jump, cuss and call names, I’ve got news for you. No one has any right to tell me that I don’t have the right to protect my home, my children, and my personal being from danger. And that includes dangers to the blood supply.

That having been said, I’ll keep my mouth shut until next week. I’m busy loading up on bullets. Big ones. Maybe, like Iran, I’ll buy some from GE.

Off of my pulpit and back to my porcelain throne.

Some people just don’t get it. And THEY’RE to blame.

I’m so angry, I’m finding it most challenging to shut the rant off.

SPECIAL POST: GAY COMMUNITY WANTS TO FORCE YOU TO TAKE THEIR BLOOD!

You heard me right. Search with your browser under “gay blood” and you’ll turn up a whole slew of complaints from the gay community about the fact that the FDA bans them from donating blood. It’s discriminatory and it violates their civil rights. To add fuel to the fire, San Jose State University has taken their side by disallowing on-campus blood drives until the ban on gay blood is lifted.

I’m going to respond to this issue as politely as I can manage under the circumstances: Gays, not only do I not want your God damned blood, I will refuse it rather than accept it, even if I am on my death bed. So, take your horseshit agendas and stick ‘em where the sun doesn’t shine.

What in the hell makes you think that you have any right whatsoever to expose my blood to even the slightest of possibilities of being infected with the HIV Aids virus? Who in HELL do you think you are?

Anyone at FDA who allows this to happen should be immediately charged with conspiracy to commit murder and so should the staff and faculty of San Jose State. That’s what they are proposing. This is not about being anti-gay. This is not about discrimination or a violation of civil rights. This is about my life, my children’s lives and their children’s lives.

And frankly, I don’t care whether you like my stand or not. YOU are to blame for this ludicrous demand. Rot in hell.

CACOPHONY IN E FLAT MINOR: Polygamy And Other Hypocrosies

The news oozing out of Eldorado, Texas tugs at our hearts and souls. That young, often pubescent girls are being forced to marry men in their 50’s who already have wives, is a subject which surely must cause even the most desensitized to think twice before swallowing their apple pie ala mode. The first question that comes to mind is: “How can these things happen in this country in 2008?”

The answer should be obvious: “The same way they happened in 2007, 2006 and in every shameful year of countless decades before.” So, don’t let it bother you.

Now, don’t turn to look at me with that look of totally utter astonishment at what I have just said. The premise of my argument is this: If it’s been done before, for years and years, then it must be acceptable. Even if it is legally, morally and ethically wrong, it must be acceptable. Otherwise, we would stop it.

You see, if you are a registered voter and you have voted for McCain, Clinton or Obama, you have voted for unethical behavior, lies, deceit, criminal behavior amounting to a conspiracy, or anti-white racist belief. All of these behaviors, repugnant to me, are justified by such rhetoric as “All politicians are crooked,” “Nixon did it,” and “Clinton got away with it.” The underlying premise there is: If it’s been done before, done repeatedly, then it’s okay to do it again.

Carrying the argument one step further, we all know that the use of illegal drugs such as meth, coke, crack, heroin, is illegal in this country and the law says you do time for such use. Most occupations these days require you to take drug tests to keep your job. Yet, we make jokes about it and we actually say, about our Presidents, it’s excusable. And, we actually idolize people who get away with flaunting the law, taking Hollywood stars as the prime example.

So, why should polygamy not follow into the same category? What makes polygamy different?

If I have at least caused your sense of values to quiver even in the slightest of degrees, I have accomplished what I set out to do: awaken your conscience… if you have one, that is.

Is this national disgrace of polygamy the only fatality of our self-indulgent rationalizations? Or, or there more tales of ugly injustice hiding under the rug?

Did you know that America spends more money per person on medical care for its criminal prisoners than it does for Native Americans? Did you know that illegal aliens receive more in Federal benefits per person than Native Americans? Did you know that the vast majority of Native American communities are infested with meth, crack, and alcoholism? How would you like some figures on rape, incest, domestic violence, and violence against women on Indian reservations? Would it bother you if I told you that the Federal Government turns it back, with deaf ears and blind eyes, shrugs its collective shoulders, and changes the subject whenever it is mentioned? Oh, they do that with such finesse.

But, that’s okay, because it’s been going on for decades. Only the Lord knows what other atrocities are going on in our country under the rug. Sex slave trade, maybe?

Unless you are willing to rethink things, unless you are willing to open your mouth and to firmly object to these events, unless you are willing to get involved in proactive resolution of these issues, I would suggest that you keep your mouth shut, because it surely would be hypocritical for you to open it.

We ARE to blame, and I, for one, most certainly don’t have the stomach for apple pie ala mode. But, you can have yours. Don’t choke on it.

Let's Bring Back The Draft

Over the last 45 years, I have observed the erosion of national unity, the trashing of moral and ethical models, and other disturbing encroachments on “Americanism.” Those of us who were blessed to enter adult society in the ‘60’s and before have an entirely different vision of government, politics and democracy than those who have arrived later. Why?

Well, there was the entry of radically different liberal thinking and teaching into the educational system, beginning with University of California in Berkeley. But, I don’t honestly believe that one institution of higher learning could be solely responsible for the erosions I have witnessed in these years. There must be something more to it.

Rock music? Perhaps the introduction of sex, violence and drugs into the music scene is to blame? Certainly it had an influence. Yet, that factor alone could not have broken down our strong republic foundations upon which this country was established. Maybe the degradation of morals and judgment of our national idols…. Hollywood, Washington, television shows…. Once again, I dismiss that element alone as being unable to cause our ideals to crumble as they have.

When I engage in conversations with my peers, which is rare because most of them are either dead or in jail, I am readily able to draw the line between those who think as I do that we’re in a big crisis, and those who believe that we who feel the way we do are dinosaurs and too damned conservative to be relevant. I don’t consider myself to be conservative, however. Independent, yes. I’ll cross a party line in a heartbeat to vote for the better candidate. There are a lot of “liberal” ideas that I agree with.

If being Patriotic however, means being a conservative, then I am just about as conservative as they come.

So, what’s wrong with being a patriot?

What’s wrong with saying that we have no right to grant citizenship or amnesty to someone who crosses our borders illegally and won’t speak our language or learn our laws and history? What’s wrong with insisting that, if you do drugs and it’s against the law, you’re going to jail whether you’re a movie star or not? In California, about a month after 9/11, they arrested construction workers for displaying an American flag on a freeway overpass. Why? For making a political statement on public property.

By and large, those who subscribe to that philosophy never served in the American military. By the same token, most of us who become outraged at what we see our country doing today did serve in the military. We stood ready to lay down our lives to protect the freedom and the values that our forefathers gave their lives for.

There’s not a country around today, no matter how many arms they have, no matter how much power they wield, that would not think at least twice, or maybe a dozen times, before tackling Israel. Why is that? Because every man, woman and child in Israel serves a tour in the military. Does Israel have a strong sense of patriotism and nationalism? Yes, no question. Will they put up with any bull? Not much.

The American draft ended in 1973. That is, coincidentally, just about the time that patriotism in our country started to exhibit its downhill slide. That’s about the time that every tin-horn country started thumbing their noses at us and our national crime rate started to go precipitously up.

War is ugly. When you are at war, you must be willing to put everything you have at risk in order to win. Otherwise, the war is not worth fighting. When you put a gun in a young man’s hand and tell him to go fight the war, but don’t do this, don’t do that…. “If you get killed, we’ll be very sad, but if you kill one of the enemy we’re going to seriously investigate your ass…” You’re not fighting a war. It’s a charade. Don’t use this bomb or that tank.

War is not a fancy game of polo. People get killed in wars. “Political correctness” and war are diametrically opposed terms. Either you have war, or you have peace. The best advantage to have in a war is trained, patriotic and loyal men and women willing to make the ultimate sacrifice in order to win.

When war is over, those who fought don’t want to go back. So, they are willing to be far more vigilant and protective of their country and its way of life during peacetime. They will not allow the wearing away of their national traditions or the foundations upon which their country was built. And, the enemy is much less likely to want to tangle with them, because their trained, they’re patriotic, and they mean business.

So, there it is. That’s my argument. We need to bring back the draft. When you graduate from high school, you have five choices: (1) Go on to college and maintain a 2.5 GPA, (2) serve a mission for your church, (3) serve a mission with the Peace Corps or similar organization, (4) join the branch of military branch of your choice, or (5) be subjected to the draft into the army. It makes no difference whether you are male or female, rich or poor, black or white.

I think that’s the proactive way to deal with the issue. Let’s stop this tearing away at the fabrics of our society. Let’s make the terrorists think twice about invading our country and pulling off another 9/11. Let’s rebuild our national pride and sense of unity. Let’s quit blaming every one else for our national woes and grab the bull by the horns.

Let’s bring back the draft.