Aug

17

My hat is off to you. Your recent interview and questioning of McCain and Obama was a great forum. The news media should make note about how unbias, fair, and balanced the whole event was. Even your audience demonstrated that they were there to hear the issues.

This was clearly the kickoff of presidential race. After hearing both candidates I have yet to make up my mind.

Aug

3

As for the rest of you some pretty reasonable assumptions…

-Obama is African American

-McCain is caucasian

-Some African Americans will vote for Obama just because he is African American

-Some caucasians will not vote for Obama just because he is African American

Additionally, when we look at the history of presidential politics since the television era each campaign and each side sports negative commercials meant to place doubts in the mind of the viewer. With the recent Brittany commercial it has started. Get off the race and name card on this Obama. The commercial had nothing overtly or covertly to do with this. Frankly your response hurts you more than the commercial.

My mind is still not made up. Many of us have not made up our mind. But gentleman, could we get to the issues. I have yet to hear anything substantial so far. The primaries had substance, thus far the presidential race has had none.

Some advice for the candidates…

Obama - Start to drill down on the specifics for some of your ideas. “Where’s the Beef?”

McCain - Disclose your wifes business holdings and plans to divest if you win the election. It is a huge problem for you and the democrats are going to barbecue you on this. It also presents a conflict of interest should you win.

Media - Start focussing more on the issues and the problems we are facing and less on tabloid news.

 

 

Jul

24

I saw an interview with Sean Hannity and John McCain. Aside from Hannity’s attempts to get McCain to “Obama Bash” (McCain would not bite) I actually got to hear some of McCain’s issues on energy.  It was really nice to hear some of McCain’s positions. Maybe if the conservative media spent 1/2 the time presenting McCain’s positions instead of “Obama Bashing” McCain might have a shot.

Of course aside from the medias (both liberal and conservative) “Jerry Springer” like coverage of this election we will eventually get to the presidential debate where we can hear them both and can make an informed decision. As ‘ol John said, the American people are smart.

Jul

22

The media is NOT fairly covering the presidential election. News these days is more like an epsiode of Access Hollywood than it is news. The New York Times rejection of McCains op-ed piece is simply outrageous. Their defense of their decision is lame and absurd. Air time overtly favors Obama and is unfair to the American people.

An importance component of our democracy is our media.  Maybe they should stop acting like the Soviet Union media of the cold war era!

 

Jul

10

Yes, we need to look to long term solution to reduce our dependency on oil and foreign oil. Duh! But today we can seriously and significantly minimize the problem today.

Go to Stop Oil Speculation website and fill out their form to email to your congressman. Url, http://capwiz.com/sosnow/issues/alert/?alertid=11571321 . Do not let them asking for your phone number deter you. I you don’t want to supply one just make one up. This is too important an issue to sit on the side lines for.

Also, please pass this information to others!

If you want more scoop airline customers received a letter with very solid information on the subject. I have excepted below…

“Twenty years ago, 21 percent of oil contracts were purchased by speculators who trade oil on paper with no intention of ever taking delivery. Today, oil speculators purchase 66 percent of all oil futures contracts, and that reflects just the transactions that are known. Speculators buy up large amounts of oil and then sell it to each other again and again. A barrel of oil may trade 20-plus times before it is delivered and used; the price goes up with each trade and consumers pick up the final tab. Some market experts estimate that current prices reflect as much as $30 to $60 per barrel in unnecessary speculative costs.Over seventy years ago, Congress established regulations to control excessive, largely unchecked market speculation and manipulation. However, over the past two decades, these regulatory limits have been weakened or removed. We believe that restoring and enforcing these limits, along with several other modest measures, will provide more disclosure, transparency and sound market oversight. Together, these reforms will help cool the over-heated oil market and permit the economy to prosper.”

Jun

30

In 2004 the Iraq was was costing us around $134.5 million a day according to many reliable new sources. Today that figure is $275 million. In the face of a slumping economy. In the face of all of the other problems we face have we lost our minds? Vote smart this November.

Jun

25

I am quite fed up with all the right and left wing spin demonizing each presidential candidate. The latest rift started by James Dobson (whom usually is sane) is just a load of crap.

If James pulls out his Bible he might note that the “religious right” of the day tried to trap Jesus into a similar church and state argument. Jesus response was to take a Roman coin and respond by saying “Render unto Ceasar the things which are Ceasar’s, and unto God the things that are God’s”. Jimbo, I suggest you do the same.

But this is not the point… To all you dillweeds out there…

Here is the point…

-The housing market is on the brink of collapse

-Our healthcare system is an out of control nightmare still unavailable to many

-Dependency on oil and current prices are going to put us over the edge and require both long and short term solutions

-Climate change is an issue we need to address NOW! The science exists, is valid, and conservative media Bozo’s need to pull their heads out of their ass and get enagaged in reporting how we solve this problem.

-Oh, and by the way, there are jihad zealots who are willing to sacrifice their lives to kill us and our way of living…

Given the above most of us could give a crap who Barack or John’s pasters are or who is or is not endorsing them this week. We could care less about most of the sniping that is going on between the left and the right and the polarization that occurs as a result. Maybe we all could pull our collective heads out of our rear ends and focus on what we are going to do short term and long term to solve these problems.

As someone that tends to be conservative in my political views I would suggest that the conservatives start listening to folks like Newt Gingrich. The Republican party and the right are so out of touch with reality these days it is hard to even listen to word most of you are saying. Y’all need a huge look in the mirror. You have become inflexible, intolerant and disconnected with reality. This November conservatives will be in for the political shock of your lives. And by the way, the church seats are well populated with Christians like myself that hold similar points of view.

As for you liberal weenies, to quote a Navy term, you will soon have the “Deck and the Con”. Make the most of it and start leading us in digging out of this mess we are in. Some words of wisdom. Listen to some of the ideas of the right and do not dismiss them because they come from the right.

It is time we start working together. I do realize for most of you this is too much to ask.

Jun

4

In baseball no matter the score the game is not over until the 27th out is recorded. Hillary is going to do the right thing. The media at large is not giving her enough credit. And, not one media outlet will give her credit when she does the right thing.

May

31

This ain’t the late seventies.

Remember the seventies? Gas prices hit .90 cents a gallon in 1979. How about the oil embargo in 1973? The average price of gas in 1973 was .65 cents, up from .52 cents in 1972. Of course this change was not a linear .13 cent increase across the board. Rather, it was a few months in the year where there were huge gas lines, stations ran out of gas, and prices approached nearly $1.00 a gallon which was a chunk of change back then (still less than we pay now if adjusted for current times!!!) Add to all of this a flood of cheap foreign imports and American auto manufacturers nearly went into the abyss.

Why?

Foreign imports were cheaper to buy. They got mpg 2 to 2.5 times that of American gas guzzlers.

Detroit started making subcompacts and fuel efficient (for the times) cars. Remember the Citation, Chevette, Monza, Omni, Fiesta? Chevy even made a pickup truck (LUV) that got close to 40mpg (unloaded) city and close to 50mpg on the highway. Oh…how we forget.

So What happened?

Oil prices came back down and Detroit again started making gas guzzlers. Actually Detroit caused the foreign auto manufacturers to make bigger less fuel efficient cars to keep up. Fact is business is driven by consumer demand. With lower gas prices Americans could afford to trade in their cracker jack size Yugo for a roomier ride.

So?

This ain’t the late seventies. No, it is much worse (though we are a pretty clueless people these days). Less than a month ago they were predicting $3.00 a gallon gas prices and we are now over $4.00 in most parts of the country for regular. It is so pathetic that when I was filling up yesterday I began longing for the days of $3.00 a gallon gas. We can probably forget about seeing $3.00 a gallon oil ever again. And that prices did not last for very long (months). To put this in perspective, gas prices for the entire decade of the eighties ranged from a high of $1.03 (1980) to a high of $1.27 (1984).

Why?

First, there is a greater demand oil in the world than their was in the seventies. Second, do you really believe oil companies are going to reduce their prices, especially in the face of this demand?

What now?

But to make these type of cars their has to be sufficient demand for them. Trust me if gas stays at $4.00 a gallon or higher long term there will be suffient demand. The only way to deal with this is to make cars that get double the mpg of current vehicles. This way everything is relative.

What else?

The Chrysler $2.99 a gallon price rebate for three years is a good short term strategy for selling their gas guzzlers and reducing inventory. Others should follow suit. But, buyers had better be sure that they can afford the price of fuel after the three years as they will be unlikely to unload their vehicle and who know what the price of gas will be in three years.

Parting gifts…

We can quit whining too much. Most of Europe is currently paying between $8.00 and $10.00 for a gallon of gas.

As a barrel of oil is now selling for over $125.00 you will be amused to know that in 1959 oil sold for .18 cents a barrel.

May

22

Fair and balanced my ass. From an independent who is conservative in my political views you folks are off the charts. The spin on race, and the moral postering of folks like Sean Hannity only serves to try and take us away from the issues.

Maybe you chowder heads could start addressing the real issues like the daily rise in oil prices, our sinking economy, a war that we recklessly entered that is killing our sons and daughters, healthcare, and global climate change (oh, right, in the face of all the science y’all still think it is a myth). These are the issues that most of most liberal and conservative working stiffs care about.

Spin all you want. Most of us are bright enough to seperate the wheat from the chaff. And even in the face of all your postering we are still willing to give McCain a chance.  The election will be decided by the independents that hear the best solutions to these problems.

And the notion that conservatives get how business and the economy should work best… pleeeeease. Y’all are the idiots that sponsored giving unsecured mortages to people that did not have enough money to buy a latte without a credit card.

 

 

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