OPEN MIC NITE

What's left to say about the Jessie Jackson "OH NOOOOOOOO Mr. Billllll...I'm as irrelevant as Al GoreBore!" whine. It's hilarious and we've all had a good yukkle over it.

An Obama supporter entertained me mightily with his YouTube offering. Enjoy!


If I were Obamby's 'boys', I'd demand my owner 'distance' himself (and us!) from Jessie! The threat is real..... Jessie has spent 35 years castrating black males.

YOU GO, BOY!

Karl Rove has refused to testify before a Congressional subcommittee and ignored their subpoena. I'm thrilled. That man has some gonadular fortitude.

If anyone wonders why he has done so, you need only to watch these kangaroo proceedings of said subcommittee.

Conyers has threatened to hold Rove in contempt of court.

I think that's a bit redundant.

A DISTINCTION WELL NOTED

On the angst of those who deplore the Supreme Court gun rights decision John Stossel points out that:

"...The Bill of Rights did not create rights. It acknowledged them.

...The Framers of the Second Amendment did not say, "The people shall have the right to keep and bear arms." They wrote, "the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed."

Thanks for the lightbulb, John.

LIBS ARE UGLIER THAN EVER

Apparently, we now have a dirty novel being released that is 'loosely' based on our First Lady, Laura Bush, likely one of the classiest ladies ever to grace the White House.

A major book publisher is planning to release a sexually provocative, fictionalized novel loosely based on First Lady Laura Bush's life during the first week of September - a date that conveniently coincides with the Republican National Convention. Radar Magazine said Curtis Sittenfield's latest tome American Wife, to be published by Random House, 'is sure to send the White House into a fury.'

They wish. For eight years, the Left has made attempt after attempt to rouse the President Bush and Mrs. Bush to some sort of horrific outburst. They've not succeeded yet, and I doubt this stunt will either.

All I can say is the release date couldn't have been chosen better to whip up Conservative energy against the Left. Could this actually be part of the secret Right Wing Conspiracy to whip up Conservative angst? Ooooooooh booga booga

SO EXACTLY WHEN IS THE EARTH GOING TO CATCH ON FIRE?

I hope someone breaks it gently to Al BoreGore that his bid for immortality is waning fast. Shame he wasted all that effort setting up a scam company through which he pays himself for 'carbon credits'. Australian researchers, among others, state that:

"...the result is a strong, rapid pulse of global cooling, "On each occasion that the Sun has done this in the past the World’s mean temperature has dropped by ~ 1 - 2 C." A 2 C drop would be twice as large as all the warming the earth has experienced since the start of the industrial era, and would be significant enough to impact global agriculture output."

This supports the theory that sun activity is the main culprit in the waxing and waning of temperature. A natural phenomenon that has been since the sun began to shine.

It is to be hoped that our Congress will suspend any current rush to legislate bullshit designed to address unproven Global Warming issues.

Not that I'm holding my breath....

YOUR DAILY CHUCKLE

So. Kerry says "John McCain doesn't have the judgement to be President."

Check back with Kerry in a while. He'll probably have flip-flopped on that statement by then.

Feh. Another pontificating wanna-be somebody.

HARRY REID INSISTS US INCOME TAX IS VOLUNTARY

What the hell? He's given many opportunities to explain what he means. The closest I can come to that assertion is that the American citizen voluntarily votes in or leaves in members of Congress who then pass tax laws.


So let's NOT leave tax-hikers in Congress. Capiche?

LARRY ELDER ON POLICIES, NOT COLOR

Larry schools the ignorant in answer to this question: "....To endorse John McCain, a person who will not make it easier for the underprivileged, is just too much. How can a fellow black American feel this way?"

"...Do you have any Republican friends, let alone black ones? If so, how many of them want to make it harder "for the underprivileged"?

You also might want to familiarize yourself with the history of the Democratic and Republican parties, and see which party has stood up longer for the rights of people of color. Do you know that Democrats opposed the 13th, 14th and 15th amendments to the Constitution – abolishing slavery, granting citizenship rights to newly freed slaves, and guaranteeing the right to vote (at least on paper) to blacks, respectively?"

Like my mother always said, "All that glitters ain't gold."

THE ARTIC ICE MELT & MORE GLOBAL WARMING STUFF

As reported in my post of June 27, arctic ice cap melting seems to me could be a result of undersea volcanic activity. Reported by the prestigious Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute:

News Release : Geologists Discover Signs of Volcanoes Blowing their Tops in the Deep Ocean
Evidence of Violent Eruptions on Gakkel Ridge in the Arctic Defies Assumptions about Seafloor Pressure and Volcanism

A research team led by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) has uncovered evidence of explosive volcanic eruptions deep beneath the ice-covered surface of the Arctic Ocean. Such violent eruptions of splintered, fragmented rock—known as pyroclastic deposits—were not thought possible at great ocean depths because of the intense weight and pressure of water and because of the composition of seafloor magma and rock.

JunkScience examines fallacious climate models and how they are manipulated to match theories.

JunkScience has increased the prize amount for their Ultimate Global Warming Challenge to $500,000 - awarded to the first person who can scientifically show that human activity is the cause of global warming, assuming global warming is a real phenomenon.

Don't forget to save Al BoreGore!

PALLYWOOD?

We've got Hollywood, Dollywood and Bollywood...... but Pallywood? I never knew this existed but surely do wish I had. You can never tell what researching will unveil. Things like this very interesting video.

See for yourself. It's a yuk a minute.

Oh, that darn MSM!

WELL, WELL, WELL...

I've always thought we were going to let Israel do the dirty work needed to subdue Iran. According to an article in the UK Telegraph newspaper,

"A former head of Mossad has warned that Israel has 12 months in which to destroy Iran's nuclear programme or risk coming under nuclear attack itself. He also hinted that Israel might have to act sooner if Barack Obama wins the US presidential election.

...He warned that while it would be preferable to have American support and participation in a strike on Iran, Israel will not be afraid to go it alone.

"When it comes to decisions that have to do with our national security and our own survival, at best we may update the Americans that we are intending or planning or going to do something. It's not a precondition, [getting] an American agreement," he said.

'WW3 begins at that point' it's been said, and I don't doubt it for a minute.

WHAT KIND OF FUCKERY WAS THIS?

In the inimitable lyrics of Amy Winehouse, I ask you: "What kind of fuckery was this??

Even a severly unstable drug addict knows to ask that question. So I ask it of the members of the Judicary sub-committee who, under the guise of investigation, spent over 2 hours haranguing witnesses who had appeared without subpoena to answer questions.

Poor Prof Yoo. He was so harrassed that he actually whined. Can't stand whining but couldn't begin to blame him at that juncture. Addison was great. His contempt for the questioning parties was so clear (and correct) that he ended up tangling with a Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz who (ironically, bears a resemblance to Amy Winehouse) quoted a Vanity Fair article as her source of recrimination. See her ignorant line of questioning:


And what can be said of Delahunt? That he's a vicious, sneering, jeering, ass who didn't belong at the hearing in the first place; that he didn't even read the "torture memo" under scrutiny in that hearing; that he appeared to insinuate himself into the hearing for the sole purpose of harrassing Addison; that he should be censured??? Yes to all those.


And WHAT THE HELL! Where were the Republicans defending the witnesses from this abusive and specious line of questioning? Busy making sure Gitmo detainees didn't get their feelings hurt?

THIS HEARING = FUCKERY. PURE FUCKERY.

BUT WAIT !!

Al Gore must be writhing in glee. Happily for global warming alarmists, there is scary news today about the North Pole melt. The story is a Page One exclusive in the UK's Independent newspaper, picked up by news outlets worldwide and states:

"It seems unthinkable, but for the first time in human history, ice is on course to disappear entirely from the North Pole this year.

...one of the most dramatic – and worrying – examples of the impact of global warming on the planet."

OH BUT WAIT !! Hang on a tiny second. An article from the Paris AFP describes what researchers call astonishing...

"PARIS (AFP) — Recent massive volcanoes have risen from the ocean floor deep under the Arctic ice cap, spewing plumes of fragmented magma into the sea, scientists who filmed the aftermath reported Wednesday.

The eruptions -- as big as the one that buried Pompei -- took place in 1999 along the Gakkel Ridge, an underwater mountain chain snaking 1,800 kilometres (1,100 miles) from the northern tip of Greenland to Siberia."

Multiple undersea volanoes under the ice cap spewing eruptions as big as Pompeii?? Uh...could this be the answer to the CAUSE of artic ice melt? Even... dare I say it?....global warming (assuming it even exists)? Makes sense, doesn't it, considering even alarmists cite ocean temperature as a key tipping point.

Nature: International Weekly Journal of Scientists

MORAL OF THE STORY: A bandwagon isn't such a great ride.

WARMING BEGETS COOLING?

Apparently, some scientists think so. I found this interesting article on the subject.

"The Earth was emerging from an ice age 8,200 years ago. Seas were warming and life was heating up. Then quite abruptly and for a relatively short period of time -- about 100 years -- the entire globe chilled down again, by almost 10.8 degrees Fahrenheit (6 Centigrade).

One widely held theory for the chill was the sudden release of a substantial amount of fresh water into the northern Atlantic."

Can we, while doing our best to responsibly steward the Earth, let nature take its own course? The article also posits that

"The oceans were able to find their balance relatively quickly in that ancient event, and the effects wore off in about a century, but a century of that kind of change today would create widespread havoc."

I'm not so sure it's a havoc that couldn't be managed. Who knows? It might bring crop friendly weather to famine ravaged Africa.

I believe that if and/or when scientists can be what scientists are supposed to be - objective, intellectually honest, fanatically-dedicated-to-pure-science researchers and experimenters - that's when climate changes and effects will be truly be identified, along with solutions and consequences. Until that happens, you can be sure that I won't be listening to Al "inconvenient energy-sucker" Gore and other members of 'Club Do As I Say, Not As I Do'.

I think I'll maintain a healthy skepticism for alarmism.

MORE EVIDENCE OF RINOism

In John Stossel's recent column he unleashes his typical commonsense approach on the latest bandwagon screed against market speculators and serves John McCain (Republican In Name Only) a dose of much needed reality.

...In fact, the hated speculator is a good guy because his buying and selling reduce volatility and uncertainty in an unpredictable world.

I must say, Mr. Stossel makes many very good points in this column. Chiefly that John McCain is a free-market-economy-challenged moron.

I'd bet that if the McCain came out and admitted his lack of financial acumen, and cited that reason for hiring uber-successful businessman Romney as his VP running-mate - he could win by a Reaganesque landslide.

Most sane Americans are READY for the US to be run as a successful business and not a money-pit.

UNFORTUNATELY PEOPLE WILL SAY...

that the massive environmental damage caused by those sneaking over the US/Mexico border is another reason to quit trying to close the border. Excerpts from Congressional testimoney:

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) estimates that illegal aliens dumped more than 25 million pounds of trash in the Arizona desert between 1999 and 2005—that is almost 2,100 tons of trash each year.

At least 500 illegal roads and thousands of illegal pedestrian trails have been created in US National Parks and Wildlife Refuges.

In 2002 in southern Arizona, illegal aliens were suspected of having caused at least eight major wildfires that burned 68,413 acres.

In May of 2007, illegal aliens set at least five fires in the Coronado National Forest over a 10-day period in an effort to burn out Border Patrol agents conducting a law enforcement operation in the area.

According to the Fish and Wildlife Service, mass illegal immigration ‘is a likely contributing factor in the dramatic 79 percent decline in the U.S. Sonoran pronghorn population between 2000 and 2002.’

Much easier to declare open borders and bedamned the consequences of giving up our very nation than to do the hard work necessary to protect the US from invaders.

IRAN'S NOT A PROB.... YEAH, LIKE IRAQ WASN'T

Not according to Iran! Just take a look-see at Iranian society. Like Iraq, are we not to believe what mad leaders tell us, show us and help others do to us? Feh.

I'm continually aggravated by the perdurable claims that "Bush lied about WMDs". Only self-deceivers can believe such crap.

Given the evidence documented at the Bush-haters' god - the UN; the evidence provided by a multitude of credible intellligence agencies and the threats provided by Saddam himself, how then did Bush LIE?

With the "rush" to war taking nearly two years, Saddam had plenty of time to stash whatever he wanted.

Look back and open your eyes. Bush CLEARLY stated - over and over and over again in public - that he promised to invade Iraq for many reasons...... only ONE being WMDs.

It's too easy to blame Bush for ....... (insert favorite or convenient issue here). And too stupid. And too dangerous.

FACTS VS ASSUMPTIONS

I just watched "Supper Club", hosted by Tom Bergeron on the new Planet Green TV series.

As usual, the talk turned to Global Warming. After some discussion, guest Catherine Oxenburg wondered why, if Global Warming was a 'hysteria' over a manufactured crisis, are the poles melting; polar bears now on the endangered species list?

As I've said, I'm all for not destroying the Earth, but it's obvious Ms. Oxenburg hasn't done any homework or she would know that the polar ice-caps on Mars are also melting and that there are many, many more polar bears in the Artic as in recent history.

The scientific community is at odds over the very existence of global warming and, even assuming we ARE in a warming, the causation and impact thereof. Ms. Oxenburg's questions illustrate the sad willingness of people to jump on and support a movement without serious and intellectually honest debate.

Moral of this story? The jury is still out, no matter what Gore (energy-sucker extraodinaire) says. And destroying the economy of the US is not going to help the Earth in any way, shape or form, regardless of what Earthly problem is at hand.

WHICH POPULARITY CONTEST?

With a Pew Research Center world-wide poll on the matter of "confidence in the US candidate" neglecting to include the Iraqis, Bret Stephens in the WSJ reports on his recent discussion with key Iraqi leaders regarding that very subject.

...."A sense of incredulity hangs over the way Iraqis see the U.S. political debate taking shape.

...The Iraqis are even more incredulous about Mr. Obama's willingness to negotiate with Iran, which they see as a predatory regime. "Do you Americans forget what the Iranians did to your embassy?" asks the governor. "Don't you know that Ahmadinejad was one of [the hostage takers]?"

I have long since opined that it is ludicrous for the US to kowtow to 'popular' opinion among other nations and even worse deadly to base internal national policy on external opinion.

And Obama knows he can't just say "ok, pack it up - I want you home by curfew time." What will happen (if Obama wins and tries to carry out his pledge to leave the Iraqi front, Heaven forbid) is that the issue will be mucked around and around in Congress for at least as long as the war has already gone on. If you think the last seven years caused national and global anxiety, imagine what such dithering and nonsense will do! Will the Jihadist cells here in America feel they've finally got the signal to act? Does anyone believe they won't attack (without Bush's oppressive thumb upon them)? Not me.

There is very nearly nothing that Americans can't provide or do for themselves if we have the will, including keeping in place un-pretty but necessary policies that protect us from enemies within as well as without. Global economy and global this and global nice-nice is okay, so long as it doesn't threaten damage to the US. Will someone name a single nation other than the USA that doesn't put itself first? And we shouldn't put our own national health first because.....?

You see - I, too, view the modern world as a family. The US is the single parent, hardworking, God-fearing and hard-put to raise the children right. Often, tough-love is needed. Some members of the family are old and set in their crotchety ways or even senile. They try to do the lastest dance moves but can't manage it because they keep breaking their hips and can barely see or hear. There are puling babies, whining children who need to be schooled, infuriating and sometimes dangerous teenage delinquents and the ever present nagging aunts and uncles who keep telling you how to raise your children (though their children turned out to be disasters). Some are flying the nest and doing a good job of policing themselves. But the parent is the hub around which the family circles and from which it takes its cues. Arrogant? I don't think so. Try reality.

Global popularity is way, way down the list of neccesary virtues for which America should strive. Implacable global power is first.

DANG - I WANT A HOUSE, TOO!

From Bloomberg.com, Caroline Baum puts the mortgage 'crisis' in a NUTShell.

Just to summarize the storyline to date: During the housing boom of the last five years, people with bad credit histories, many of whom lied about their income and nature of employment, got mortgage loans they weren't qualified for to buy homes they couldn't afford. Now that home prices have stopped rising, and the house can't be refinanced or sold at a profit, Congress wants the taxpayer to subsidize the mortgages so these folks can remain in their unaffordable homes.

There are more of us that can't, or never could, afford to purchase our own home at all (including me) than those who are now in mortgages they can't and probably never really could afford.

I do personally know of 1 case where the buyer unexpectedly lost out due to timing of sale because of a recent surprise work transfer. He ended up upside down on his home loan even though his employer bought the home from him. However, he also had previously used the equity in his home to speculate (with no luck) in the stock market so he had very little equity at the time of sale. The point is, though, he COULD afford the mortgage, had no plans to sell and would have ridden out the current storm.

One place you can visit is the NoBailout.org site if you feel your tax dollars should not be used to bail out the lenders and holders of bad mortgages.

I believe these massive bailouts are bad for market economies. Since when did speculation mean 'win only'?

Shouldn't the market, like water, be left to find its own level?

HAZARDOUS BIOFUELS

Shame on the US for participating in this!

President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has encouraged farmers to cultivate already damaged areas rather than clear more land. About 20 percent of Brazil's share of the Amazon, the world's largest rain forest, already has been razed.

Environmentalists say runoff from sugar mills will pollute the region regardless, and since it's cheaper to raze virgin forest than recover already denuded land, illegal deforestation will be hard to control once Amazon sugar farming wins broad support.

They also worry that financial success for sugarcane crops will prompt farmers to plow deeper into the Amazon.

Nothing physically devastates the Earth like poverty because an individual or community's urge to eat today trumps concern for the future of the environment, even with the knowledge that one's activities are destroying any hope of sustainability and one will shortly return to the previous state of desperation.

I submit that relieving poverty might be the single most effective protection of the Earth.

SCIENTISTS STIFLED

From the US Senate Committe On Environment and Public Works comes a report that shatters current Global Warming alarmist platforms. But the scientists challenging the global warming alarmists' theories of human causation of the alleged phenomenom are having a hard time getting their views out to the public.

Many of the scientists featured in this report consistently stated that numerous colleagues shared their views, but they will not speak out publicly for fear of retribution. Atmospheric scientist Dr. Nathan Paldor, Professor of Dynamical Meteorology and Physical Oceanography at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, author of almost 70 peer-reviewed studies, explains how many of his fellow scientists have been intimidated.

“Many of my colleagues with whom I spoke share these views and report on their inability to publish their skepticism in the scientific or public media,” Paldor wrote.

I'm as concerned as anyone else about the health of Earth's environment. I'm not against humans leaving the 'smallest possible footprint' but I honestly think that since Gore - after having been 'backseated' by Slick Willie's star power, having been humiliated when Bush withdrew the US from the Kyoto Treaty (Gore being an author of said treaty) and his failed bid for the Whitehouse - is really hating being dragged kicking and screaming into obscurity. Honestly, just who can take him seriously with his personal energy-sucking lifestyle? Certainly no one who is the least bit intellectually honest.

At a global warming conference/debate mega-author/novelist Michael Crichton made a few wry observations about the most visible and vocal of the "humans cause global warming" crowd.

"I would like to suggest a few symbolic actions that might really mean something. One of them, which is very simple, 99% of the American population doesn’t care, is ban private jets. Nobody needs to fly in them, ban them now. And, and in addition, let’s have the NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council), the Sierra Club and Greenpeace make it a rule that all of their members cannot fly on private jets. They must get their houses off the [electrical] grid. They must live in the way that they’re telling everyone else to live. And if they won’t do that, why should we? And why should we take them seriously?

I suddenly think about my friends, you know, getting on their private jets. And I think, well, you know, maybe they have the right idea. Maybe all that we have to do is mouth a few platitudes, show a good, expression of concern on our faces, buy a Prius, drive it around for a while and give it to the maid, attend a few fundraisers and you’re done. Because, actually, all anybody really wants to do is talk about it."

"I mean, haven’t we actually raised temperatures so much that we, as stewards of the planet, have to act? These are the questions that friends of mine ask as they are getting on board their private jets to fly to their second and third homes."

Like, don't pee down our back and tell us its raining, man!

GLOBAL WARMING

According to an article in the Financial Times, a diminution of C02 in the atmosphere might just have horrific consequences and plant life is currently enjoying a substantial growth period with the increased levels.

"Why the increase? Their 2004 study, and other more recent ones, point to the warming of the planet and the presence of CO2, a gas indispensable to plant life. CO2 is nature's fertilizer, bathing the biota with its life-giving nutrients. Plants take the carbon from CO2 to bulk themselves up -- carbon is the building block of life -- and release the oxygen, which along with the plants, then sustain animal life. As summarized in a report last month, released along with a petition signed by 32,000 U. S. scientists who vouched for the benefits of CO2: "Higher CO2 enables plants to grow faster and larger and to live in drier climates. Plants provide food for animals, which are thereby also enhanced. The extent and diversity of plant and animal life have both increased substantially during the past half-century."

Looks like global cooling is way more dangerous than warming!

RIDDING AMERICA OF THE IRS

Is this a good idea? We'd lose an entire industry's jobs. Think about all the collateral industries dependent on the existence of the IRS and their job losses. Tax attorneys and their employees; tax services, preparers, printers, advertisers, etc.; corporate tax departments and staff, etc.. Are we able or willing to absorb the number of workers who would join the ranks of the unemployed?

I actually don't think the job loss would be devastating if we abandon our present tax codes.

Say we went to a straight POS (Point Of Sale) tax, dividing a percentage of it between local, state and federal governments and abolishing any and all taxes on any income whatsoever. The tax would apply equally to individuals and commercial enterprises. The only form of income for governments would be a tax on all purchases of new items or services except charity items, food, medical services/medicine/medical insurance and utilities. We'd still need an IRS to monitor sellers' compliance with POS taxes. Any displaced IRS/collateral industry employees will be needed to administer the greatly increased needs of SS/Medicare due to the baby boomers just retiring.

What would be the upside of a POS tax? First off, businesses would be rid of strangulation by the government and better able to grow, producing more jobs. Yes, even SS and other entitlement programs would be financed solely through POS taxes. Citizens and businesses would have control of their own funds and the decision to spend or not to spend would be theirs alone. How about that??

Then - and here's the best part - if our government institutes policy that hurts our economy, individuals and businesses have no choice but to spend less. Thus, the govt gets less income and that's a really great set of brakes for stupid economics, out of control spending and/or pork at all levels of government and a damned good b**ch-slap to officials to keep our nation a safe, solvent and attractive place in which to live and do business.

The trick is to keep it simple with no buts, excepts or others. The tax code should be a one-liner that reads like this:

Consumer(s) shall pay an additional TBD% of and above the purchase price for the purpose of taxation to the seller who shall forward said TBD% to appropriate authorities.

This puts control of the nation's taxes squarely in the pocket of its citizens and forces the government to be wise stewards of our nation.

Is kicking government out of our pockets and the free market ever a bad thing?

BE A VOTER, FOR CRYING OUT LOUD

Do YOU vote? Do you know who represents you?

I don't mean just in big races like presidential primaries, the presidency, senate and representatives seats or gubernatorial candidacies. I'm talking about town councils, school boards, state legislatures etc.. In effect, all elections.

Even a national POTUS election for the leader of practically the whole frickin' world hardly bestirs eligible voters to visit the polling booths.

It might have taken decades - nay, centuries - but we are now living with the results of our laissez faire attitude toward political involvement. In failing to corral the uber-Left over the years we have paralyzed our Congress because instead of taking care of business, moderates or conservatives are forced to spend all their time swatting away extreme agendas.

I realize that our branches of government were specifically set up to move slowly so as not to enable sweeping thoughtless changes, but this is now just ridiculous. Worthy of a Southpark parody, even.

So - back to watching our government with a squinty, cynical eye. Not only do many of us throw up our hands in disgust at the candidates presented to us, we also despair of making a difference with our one little, bitty vote. We think we aren't knowledgeable enough on the issues of the day. We trust our government or we trust someone else to vote in the best person.

Here's my advice. If the best you can do is to just vote along party lines, then do it. If you vote for someone because they look nice, you think they have experience, or you love/hate the way they talk, or France wants you to, then do it. And you can't go far wrong by voting on instinct. At least you're voting.

Just transforming America into a nation of voters rather than observers will make all elected officials and candidates sit up straight in their seats and recall that they work for us.

REVISITING RECYCLING

At the moment, recycling is a hit or miss proposition. Most communities don't provide simple access to the tools needed for recycling and there are reports that show energy consumption used to recycle a product is greater than just re-creating the original product. (This doesn't take into account, of course, the state of our dumps.)

I'd be willing to bet that if the entire nation faithfully and consistently recycled everything it could get its hands on, that cost would diminish to a point where it became energy efficient - maybe even as far as negative zero sum.

We're also talking job creation as well. Jobs that are low-, medium- and high-tech. Needed would be an army of personnel to create, build and maintain a vast infrastructure; another army of personnel to run an industry that permeates every single community. A GREEN industry that takes trash away from the community rather than trashing the community, no less. Who wouldn't want that?

I hate to see the government micromanage America, but would mandatory recycling be a good law?

Do we need a law to jump start a national mission to efficiently recycle?

MAYBE IT JUST WASN'T TIME YET

The rocketing price of oil/gasoline has produced a collective snarl in America that laments "why - oh why! didn't we start becoming energy self-sufficient 20 or 30 years ago"?

What are my own feelings on the subject?

1. SHADDUP, YOU WHINERS WHO WEAR $200 TENNIS SHOES (and stuff like that)!
2. It's shameful that our concern over national security is dependent on a pinched pocketbook.
3. Though we're in a pickle now, we can get out of it fairly quickly if we approach the problem sensibly and mobilize ALL options as a nationwide mission.
4. The environmental extremists do serve a purpose. Without them, advanced technology may not have been developed for energy extraction that wouldn't devastate the environment.

That being said it is now time. We have the technology to mitigate effects of energy exploration and recovery on the environment to an acceptable degree and to maximize the efficient use of the fossil fuels that we collect.

However, without a comprehensive approach to exploiting ALL sources of energy and not just oil, we're bound to spend the next couple of decades in the political "do we/do we not" swamp on Capitol Hill. America needs to adopt the mentality of a nation at war. Like WW2. Because. We. Are. At. War. (Like it or not.)

And we get our energy from all our frenemies.

KEEPING IT AT 10 & 2

McCain thinks one of his greatest strengths is 'reaching across the aisle'. It would be, if the 'aisle' remained in the same place instead of being moved farther and farther to the Left.

Life 'is a circle', right? So think of politics on a circle. With Libertarian at top center and Communism at bottom center, start at top center and trace the circle down the right or left half according to whether you lean to the Right or Left.

You'll find that no matter where you start, or which direction you go, you end up at Communism - passing various hideous stages of Loony Liberalism, Hard Right Conservatism, Theocracy, Socialism or Fascism and other icky types of government along the way.

Liberals have moved a fair good way down their half of the circle and are doing a good job of forcing people over the top and down past the "10" mark just to be able to speak to them. Can't seem to place Conservatives anywhere along the right half, btw.

It's in our best interest, like we were told in Drivers' Ed, to keep it at 10 & 2 on the wheel.