jstol3's Blog

My parents were married on this day in 1945. WWII had just ended and they were free to get on with their lives. What a time! I wish I could have been there to see it! Freedom, life and liberty after the chaos of the war against Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy and the insanity of Japan! I really wish I had been there to see it. I didn't come along until 9 months later though.

After WW II we had the Korean War, Vietnam, other miscellaneous conflicts, Gulf War I, Afghanistan, & Iraq. I went to Vietnam. I spent a year on a hilltop there. I got shot at some and I shot back some. We didn't win and they really didn't win either. Both sides just lost a lot of good people.

Somehow I just don't feel any more free for all of our trouble. We fight and we fight against foreign enemies. We do what our government tells us to do but we keep losing our freedoms here at home. We can't say what we feel because it's not politically correct. We can't seem to get our government to understand that we fought for America and Americans. They keep trying to tell us that we also fought for people who broke into our country. They tell us that we fought for the rights of terrorists in Guantanamo Bay who want to hurt our country and for oil companies and speculators who just want to fleece us as if we are sheep. They tell us that we fought so some people can be free to do nothing and collect our money for doing nothing.

Somehow I don't feel very free on this Independence Day. I feel more like I've been taken advantage of by a government that doesn't care very much about the sacrifices of its citizen soldiers - a government which has its own agenda which is separate from what we thought we were fighting for.

I can't feel very much happiness on this Independence Day.

Some of you may remember that following 9/11 there was a lot of fear that Osama might use Al Quaeda's money to destabilize world markets and casuse the downfall of the West. Could it be that he and his band of terrorists are behind the recent destabilization of the World Oil Markets?

I don't believe that they have enough money to sustain such an effort but I do believe that they have enough to "get the ball rolling" and then sit back and watch as others sustain it when they see just how much money there is to be made in this artificial "bid up" of oil prices.

What do you think?

I have been a blogger on this site for nearly 2 years now. I have enjoyed many a good debate on this site. I have blogged my opinion and I have never been censored by the administrators of this site. I have had my comments on someone else's blog deleted on 2 occasions and I have deleted comments to one of my blogs on 1 occasion ( the commentor had resorted to name calling).

In the past six months a fellow blogger left this site following a particularly acrimoniuos debate with 2 other bloggers (the other 2 bloggers have also left the site). Recently a fellow blogger had his entire blog deleted (presumably by the administrators) presumably because he contrasted the stoic reactions of the Iowa flood victims with the reactions of the people of New Orleans after hurricane Katrina.

I, personally, believe that his blog was deleted because of a concern on the part of the administrators of the F4 site over P.C. (political correctness).

I have news for adherants of P.C. - it doesn't wash. If a concept is wrong it's just wrong. No amount of whitewash will make an incorrect theory become correct. Not now - not ever!

The people of Iowa have made no demands on the government that I am able to discern from the news media. They have made no accusations that the government, in some way, failed them. They have not attempted to shoot at any rescuers and they have not resorted to looting, rape, murder or any other crimes to take advantage of the chaotic situation in which they find themselves.

If we want to be real about New Orleans we should be asking ourselves why the federal government would spend any money on that tragedy beyond locating its inhabitants to higher ground. Home is home - I understand this but what could be more ignorant than resettleing people into an area that is below sea level on a coastal area that is a prime target for hurricanes?

I watched a History Channel show last weekend about how we raise hogs for the marketplace. The hogs are locked up in a building, fed and watered pretty much in place, they eliminate and their waste goes through cracks between the floorboards and is captured for fertilizer. They are not free to roam about or even mate (all offspring are produced by artificial insemination). The boar that donates the sperm is kept busy with a device covered with a piece of carpet which he thinks is a female so he "humps" that device while someone with a latex glove "milks" his sperm from him. The hogs are all temperature controlled by air conditioning so they don't become uncomfortable.

From "cradle to grave" the hogs are fed, watered and made comfortable until they are slaughtered for their meat.

This blog is not about cruelty to animals. Animals have no soul. Animals are here for us to exploit since God gave us dominion over them.

This blog is about people, human beings who have a soul.

The hogs in the program consume - they eat, drink, become artificially inseminated, and are kept comfortable. They have no life. They are consumers which are cared for from birth until the time for their slaughter.

I have decided that I am not a "consumer". I am a customer. I don't want corporations or governments to put me into a cubbyhole and decide for me that I should want or need so much of X, Y, or Z product. I'm going to decide what I want and how much of it. If their product doesn't suit me or I don't like the way it is delivered, financed, produced or presented I'm going to tell them about it and I'm going to refuse to buy it.

I'm no longer a consumer - I'm a customer!

So, the Saudis, out of the goodness of their hearts, want to bless the world with an extra 500,000 - 800,000 barrels of oil per day to help us all meet our needs! On the face of it I suppose this seems like a great gesture. Don't be fooled! More oil from the Saudis is not going to make the price of fuel go down. It will lull us into a false sense of security and it will slow down development of our own oil reserves and of our alternative fuel industry.

Taking our national focus off of our need to become energy independant would be to the advantage of the Saudis and of OPEC because then we would still be their hostages and would continue to funnel our money into their economies.

Do something for America - buy a Flex Fuel Vehicle or have your current ride converted. Alternative fuels may not be the best bargain for the individual consumer in the short term but it will be of huge benefit to us all in the long term. 

Who should we blame for current fuel prices?

Is it the auto manufacturers? The pre WWII standard for fuel economy was 20 mpg. What is it today - 26, 28, 30 mpg? Do we seriously believe that they could improve only this much in 57 years? (1941 - 2008)

Is it OPEC? OPEC member nations triggered the first round of price increases with the Arab oil embargo in 1973 and taught the other OPEC member nations how much clout they had.

Is it the oil companies taking advantage of an already bad situation and who have been posting record profits and who, in many cases, will not allow alternatives like E85 and bio-diesel to be sold at their outlets.

Is it our own government which refuses to take a tough stance on price gouging and price fixing and which has continued to grant tax incentives to the oil companies?

Is it oil speculators who continue to bid up the price of crude oil? (speculators bid on the prices of all commodities - oil, gold, wheat, corn, iron, copper, etc.

Is it the Chinses or Indians who just want to grow their economies and want to have enough fuel to do it with (they have speculators too).

Is it "we the people" who demand fuel but don"t want drilling in ANBAR or off shore and who don't want a refinery in their back yard. Is it "we the people" who want to drive big SUVs and pickups and who get impatient if they can't drive 70 or 80 mph all the time, who always have their foot on the passing gear, who don't have the foggiest idea what their mpg is and no idea how to improve it?

Who is it? Who do we blame?

Is anyone out there interested, really interested in trying to improve their mpg and conserve fuel?

The days of cheap fuel ended in 1973. It will only get worse from here on.

What are you going to do about it?

There has been a partnership for many, many years between the American people and the oil companies (mostly unadmitted). As a nation we have provided a stable platform for the oil companies to operate from, We have provided soldiers, sailors and marines to make the oilfields safe for drilling and pumping. This has been a mostly unacknowlwdged sacrifice on the part of American youth. It is a sacrifice which very few admit to and many like to point fingers at.

Today is the anniversary of D-Day. The day when the US and its allies spent thousands of lives to defend the world against naziism and facism so we could all be free - people and corporations (oil companies included).

On this day the oil companies should celebrate the fact that they are free to pusue profits, free of some tyrant dictating to them how much they can charge for their product.

Instead they do so by raping this country and its people who have always been there  to defend the cause of freedom, corporate and individual.

The oil companies say little, if anything, in defense of their rape (they know they are wrong) and they continue to expect young men and women to die willingly for their profits.

How long will we put up with this?

I do not write this as an anti-war advocate. I write this as a US citizen who is tired of being taken advantage of. I do not write this in  dissent of the war in Iraq.

Where is the response from the oil companies to explain their anti-American behavior?

This comment is for the author of "Blacks more likely to be pulled over in mo.

Perhaps the author believed that blacks shouldn't be pulled over for anything. I wrote a comment to the effect that if you don't disobey the law you probably won't get pulled over regardless of your color.

I thanked the author for his/her service to our country. The author deleted my comment along with at least one other.

Ok, comments can be deleted I accept that.

The attitude of the original post and the deleted comments lead me to believe that the author believes that either because of skin color, military status,officer rank, veteran status or the fact that he/she is with the military police he/she should be exempt from the law.

IF I BREAK THE LAW I OPEN MYSELF UP TO POLICE ACTION AND SO DO YOU! THERE IS NOTHING WHICH EXEMPTS YOU!

I also know that South Carolina has laws which they enforce.

That just about says it all as far as I'm concerned.

If this guy gets elected we can forget the possibility of good times for a very long time to come!

The office of "President of The United States of America" has become an office without the slightest shred of dignity or principal.

The last president to hold both an office of dignity and principal was Ronald Regan.

Following him was George H.W. Bush. You all remember the President who solved his recession by purchasing a pair of socks at J.C. Penney and who barfed in the lap of a Japanese dignitary, right?

You also remember Bill and Monica, right?

How about the current Pres. who told us to "drive less" as fuel prices started to spike and who played the buffoon at a recent graduation ceremony?

Hillary wants to do shots and beers to impress the working people of this country.

Obama is having a hard time distancing himself from his hate filled preachers and church while he tries to convince us that he is for "change" that he won't define.

Who does that leave? We have McCain of the Republican Party who seems to be a "middle of the road" guy who I'm sure is honorable and has certainly given more than his share in defense of our country and you have Bob Barr of the Libertarian Party who is certainly a defender of individual liberties.

Who can guite us through a resolution of beserk fuel prices, out of control ILLEGAL immigration, the War on Terror and all of the other problems facing this country AND restore dignity to the office of President.

Only you the voter can decide.

I will have been a member on this site for 2 years come this November 2nd. I have been blogging about gas prices and fuel economy issues ever since I became a member.

The current round of price hikes began right after Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast. The pice for a gal. of gas has spiked and retreated and then spiked again. It has been following this trend for almost 3 years now. I know that I can't be the only one who has noticed that each time it spikes and then retreats it never retreats back to where it was before the spike and I hope that I am not the only one who has noticed that each time it spikes the new spike is always higher than the last spike was.

Mr. Bush is going to exit his office in just over 7 months. What better present could he have given to the oil companies than our "Economic Stimulus Payments" so we could afford to purchase a few more tanksful of their exhorbitantly priced gasoline?

I'm sorry to say that I voted for the guy in 2004 simply because I couldn't see changing commanders in mid-course of our War on Terror but I did just that!

I still believe that the War on Terror is a worthy cause but I believe that the War on Drugs needs to be replaced with a War on Big Oil ( I want my stimulus check back from them).

We vote. We elect our representatives.

After we vote the lobbiests swoop in. They bring in big bucks provided by corporations. The bucks buy votes on corporate issues. Issues voted on by politicians bought off by corporate bucks decide price increases. Issues voted on by politicians bought off by corporate bucks decide available jobs and wages.

We, the people, are constantly kept scrambling to keep our heads above water and we can't win because wages always follow price increases so we can't get ahead and we don't have enough energy left to fight the system so we just keep scrambling to stay ahead of the bill collector, the landlord, the mortgage holder, and the purveyor of fuel that we all have to have just to get back and forth to work so we can earn that money to pay just to live.

Our system needs to be fixed folks, we need to outlaw corporate lobbiests. We need to follow through with our election day vote and make sure that our politicians represent us and not corporations and carry out the "will of the people".

Let your elected representatives know that you will be watching how they vote and who they cozy up with and let them know that you want a halt to corporate lobbying at the city, county, state and national levels.

I keep hearing that we can't exist without the corporations that provide the jobs. The reverse is also true - those corporations can't exist without workers either. Let your representatives at all levels know that only corporations who hire Americans and who don't ship jobs overseas should receive favorable tax considerations.

I am not a socialist, communist or Marxist but enough is enough we are being raped by corporate America with the blessing of the people we elected to represent us!

To all of those who spew intolerance on this website.

Don't tell me that you are against immigrants. If you want to say that you are against ILLEGAL immigrants I can live with that. They are ILLEGAL because they broke the law to get here.

Don't tell me that you are against gays or lesbians. Tell me that you are against gay marriage. I'll buy that. Gays and lesbians should not expect the same standing as a hetero couple who unite for procreation. I don't care that they can do it in a test tube or through adoption - it is not the same thing.

Don't tell me that you don't like whites, blacks, hispanics or Semites. They are people too. Tell me something that they do or don't do as a group that bothers you - I can live with that.

Don't tell me about Muslims, Christians, Jews or any other religious group - they have a right to practice their religion just as you and I have a right to practice ours.

If you have to be intolerant of something be intolerant of those who would trample on our freedom as Americans and on our way of life.