The Independent Times: Hamas, If we're lucky the Israeli's will rid the world of this particular blight once and for all.

The Independent Times: Hamas, If we're lucky the Israeli's will rid the world of this particular blight once and for all.

Hamas, If we're lucky the Israeli's will rid the world of this particular blight once and for all.

Normally I am all for negotiating peaceful settlements to conflicts and differences of opinion, but in the case of Hamas, their predecessors and almost all other terrorist organizations I say torch em, torch em one and all. Terrorist organizations like Hamas, Fatah(not currently listed as a terrorist organization but just give them a chance and they will be up to their old tricks, remember Arafat only changed when he figured out how to get money from the west and steal most of it), Lashkar-e-Taiba, Al Qaeda/Al Qaida, Hezbollah the PLO and any other Islamic or Islamic inspired groups as well as any non-Islamic terror groups are a blight on the world stage and have no place in the process of progress, they serve no good purpose whatsoever. To attempt negotiation with groups whose primary method of influence is extreme violence directed at civilian populations is totally unacceptable.

The weak 'sisters' who have advocated negotiating with these various groups over the years have all been proven wrong time and time again. Negotiating with these groups, as the likes of Zbigniew Brezezinski would like to believe they can, is nothing more than carrot and stick diplomacy. Sadly, in the real world this type of coercion only works well with farm animals, small children and professional athletes.

The current situation in the middle east was destined to happen, if it were not for the sole purpose of destroying The Nation of Israel, Hamas would not exist to begin with. The same applies to the PLO, Hezbollah, Al Qaeda, Fatah and most other Islamic terrorist entities. The Israeli's had no choice but to mount the current offensive when considering the recent trend of world governments leaning to the left and avoiding justifiable action in favor leaving a legacy of weakness and capitulation, those are luxuries they should neither care for or wish to possess. They have just cause and should go as far as they can in eliminating the leadership structure of Hamas, frankly I'm surprised they haven't done this sooner, other than the fact that the 'nutless' UN and the ever benign Bush administration have held them back.

In case you are wondering why this action is taking place, Hamas stated several weeks ago that they would not renew their ceasefire agreement with Israel since there were not enough new carrots forthcoming, in other words the Israeli's weren't going to cave to any new demands, and therefore proceeded to launch around 200 Qassam rockets and mortars into Israel from Gaza. In the event you have never had a rocket fired at or near you and or have been on the receiving end of a mortar attack, I can tell you from very personal experience that it strikes fear into the hearts of even the most cold blooded of individuals. The people of Israel have shown amazing restraint and flexibility in dealing with these people and it appears they have finally come to their senses and decided to do what should have been done a long time ago.



I apologize for any inconvenience these switch's from blog to blog might cause.



Thanks for reading,



We have war when at least one of the parties to a conflict wants something more than it wants peace.

Jeane J. Kirkpatrick

Down to the frame, now that's what I'm talki'n about.

I finished tearing down my V65 this past weekend. Pulled the motor out of the frame and disassembled the front fork. I am now on my way to getting this rebuild under way in a big way. I started looking at media blasting/stripping services that also powder coat as well as just stripping services since I may send the parts to local powder coater. I have finally decided not to restore to original but to give some minor custom touches, like colors and less chrome. The basic look will still be the same since I want to run it at Bonneville in a stock or minimal modification class. I'm even kind of up in the air on such little things as frame color.

I think I will give a photo to one of the designers at work and ask them to work up c color scheme. I will be starting the transmission work on my spare motor in the next week or so or as soon as I get a heater for my garage so I can work most of the winter. The weather service is predicting a mild winter and that's good for bike rebuilding in the mid west.

Well I'm glad to be back writing this blog and have decided to put time into topics.

Thanks for reading,

Don't forget to check out my other blog www.theindependentpost.com just click on the link and it will take you right there.

A job well done, so far.

I finished mounting the new timing belts on my 99 Valkyrie Interstate on Friday night, this is after sending a question to a Honda mechanic from an ad on my blog sight just to make sure. I choked the bike rolled the throttle several times and fired it up, it started so the job had to be right, the Honda shop manual was was worth every penny I spent on it. The diagrams are very well done, down to which cover bolt goes in which hole on the timing belt cover. Plugs went in fine, radiator went back on way easier than it came off, fog lamps bolted right back up and fairings slipped on very easily.

The tank was the most trouble as usual since the fuel and vent lines are cut almost right to size. But once everything was on and double checked it was time to ride. So what if it's eleven PM and freezing out, put on leathers, good gloves and a full face helmet. First up and down the street to make sure everything was OK, then out to the big highway for the road test. There is a difference with a new clean air filter, new correctly gapped plugs and new intake O-rings. The timing belts were suggested routine maintenance at five years or fifty thousand miles. I won't do any long trips this fall though, at least until I get new tires. I have been riding Dunlop Elite's for the last two years and twenty one thousand miles so they are getting a little tired. I'm going with Dunlop Elite 3's this time since these wore well. They price out at about $595.00 mounted which isn't bad and I don't feel like tearing it apart, I'll get it back in a day if I drop it at Honda, besides what I have saved this fall by doing my own work makes the decision easy. I used to run Avon Venom's which I really liked but I don't think the cost difference is worth it as I am satisfied with wet riding on the Dunlops and high speed highway.

I contacted Dunlop last week to see if they have a tire suitable for running on the salt, by the way they are very pleasant people to contact. I am still planning on taking my V65 to Bonneville and will blog progress from here on out as I work on the bike. Winter will slow things a little as far as hands on rebuild, I'll work on warm days with a heater.

Thanks for reading

I'll be working on other themes, more than likely safety and trips during the winter.

Don't forget to check out my other blog www.theindependentpost.com Just click on the link and it will take you right there.

Elections are tomorrow so go out and cast your vote for John McCain since he is our best hope to keep America a Democracy.

All that work and you still question yourself if what you did was right.

I am finishing the reassembly of my 99 Valkyrie Interstate after replacing plugs, headlights, timing belts, radiator removal and repair, oil and filter change, clean air filter, replace O rings in water pump and replace the alternator cover that the chrome was peeling on. The only part of the maintenance that has me wondering is the timing belts. I have perfect matches on the marks on the right side and the shaft, but the left is just a little off. I wrote to a Honda mechanics line from an ad that Google has posted on this site and paid $15.00up front for an answer, if they can't answer of the information is inaccurate I will blog them hard as well as google for allowing them to advertise. Other than that like all projects of this type, if there are no parts Left over when the job is done then it's usually correct.

I have to wait for the air filter to dry out and then will finish the job, I went over to K & N air filters on my bikes several years ago and have been quite satisfied with the performance, the air box was very clean when I opened it. K & N furnishes a foam pre-filter that catches plant debris and large dirt particles the cloth filter was in excellent shape after a full season of riding. Next oil change I am thinking about Amsoil since I already run synthetic oil and a K & N oil filter.

I'll finish tomorrow night and fire up to check the timing and then replace the timing cover and the last parts of the fairing. I enjoy working on the bikes I ride and strongly suggest buying shop manuals, especially the ones the manufacturer puts out, and then following the instructions as they are printed, it's hard to make a mistake that way and since part of maintaining your own bike is to save a few bucks it's always a good thing to reassemble correctly.

Thanks for reading,

Election's near so this is your last chance to check which guy you think is the best for the job. My other blog has endorsed John McCain. I don't want my right to free speech modified by the no hate speak people and fairness doctrine which is one more way to pussify, and I mean pussify not pacify, America and push us one step further in the direction of Socialism. I love the freedom I have had all of my life and do not care for the prospect of the politically correct gestapo trying to dictate what I can and cannot say.

Don't forget to check out my other blog www.theindependentpost.com Just click on the link and it will take you right there.

So many new parts, so little time to install them.

As I work on my bikes on weekends and occasionally evenings, there is never enough time to get everything done, but that's OK since I enjoy working on bikes in general. This past weekend I actually accomplished quite a lot on my big bike's major maintenance project. I installed new headlights, a large project not covered in the shop manual, that requires detaching the front fairing and removing the speakers, to get good access to the light sockets unless of course you have hands the size of a chipmunk. I had one of the brights out and as every manual in the world will tell you, I replaced both lights. Then remounted the fairing and re-attached the speaker panels. Next was final removal of the radiator, this after removing the tank and the steering covers to access the wiring for the radiator fan. On the Valkyrie you have to work the radiator to the side and it finally slides off. The radiator is on the way to the shop today to be patched, which will probably be by welding, then cleaned and pressure tested, it should be ready tomorrow.

I tackled the timing belts since replacement interval is every five years or fifty thousand miles whichever comes first. The bike is a 99' with forty one thousand miles so I thought it time to do the work. The manual is very concise and very detailed in the instructions with good drawings and photos, from what I can see everything should be fine with my only reservations on the pressure used when setting the tensioners, but I pretty much matched the old set which wasn't loose at all. I had to get a new torque wrench that measured in foot lbs but made the mistake of getting the cheaper one with the dial indicator and should have gotten the clicker instead. I have one that measures inch pounds and may just use that to finish up but then again maybe not and probably not. You know, tools are like chrome on a bike, you can never have to much chrome on your bike and you can never have to many tools for working on a bike.

I still have to pick up a new fuel filter since a once a year change out is good maintenance, flush out the cooling system to include the reservoir, clean and oil the air filter and install the new plugs. One thing that I have found during this down period is loose nuts and bolts as well as one not completely tightened spark plug. I am using thread lock on just about everything as I put the bike back together and will periodically check everything going forward. I hope the weather is good next Sunday since I plan to have everything finished on Saturday. I can get back to the final tear down on my V65 then and get moving.

Thanks for reading,

The election is coming very soon. Make an informed choice and vote for the guy you feel is the best man for the job.

Don't forget to check out my other blog www.theindependentpost.com Just click on the link and it will take you right there.

I took a night off, but will be back at it tomorrow

I took the night off tonight from working on the bike. First of all I was tired after working out on the Nordic Trac and secondly it was my birthday and I invoked the little known "get your birthday off " rule and any way I deserved a night off. Honda called and my parts should all be in tomorrow during the day and I'm excited about that.

Thanks for reading,

Get ready for the election, lets preserve our Democracy, it works better than anything else out there. As they say, if it ain't broke don't fix it. Get rid of the bad guy's and get back on track.

Don't forget to check out my other blog www.theindependentpost.com Just click on the link and it will take you right there.

What looks like a simple job, sometimes turns out to be a little more complicated, Ah so what, I like working on bikes anyway.

I started out to remove my radiator to have the hole I put in it this past weekend and managed to open Pandora's box of motorcycle repair. Not that I am upset I just didn't think the job would be that involved. I have to remove more parts than I I anticipated and when I did get the parts off I decided to perform quite a bit of routine work for a bike going on ten years. Yesterday I bought new timing belts, water pump O rings and new plugs. I took a pass on the plug wires since the ones I have only have 40,000 miles on them and look to be in good shape, also, they cost $36.00 each and I had reached my pain threshold on new bike parts. I have to put new tires on the bike in the next few weeks and that another $500.00 or $496.00 to be exact. But then it's back to riding as often as I can during the Chicago winter and looking forward to spring again. I already have a trip to southern Colorado planned for next August to visit our friends in Ft. Garland Colorado, I think I will ride out and possibly do an Iron Butt ride on the way.

Well, I have to remove the tank tonight, the right steering cover and the radiator hoses which are a pain and my friend Ramon said to spray a little WDE40 on them to help loosen to remove. Then the radiator should be off and on to the shop for welding. I might remove the timing belt cover if I have time tonight and get ready to replace the belts. After all of this is done I'm back on the final tear down of the V65 and I can get parts in for media blasting. I have to start working on a paint scheme.

Thanks for reading,

Don't forget to check out my other blog http://www.theindependentpost.com/ Just click on the link and it will take you right there.

Remember, the election is getting closer every day and whether you know it or not your vote does count. Though I may not be the brightest bulb in the billboard, I do not believe we are now or ever will be ready for Socialist or worse, Marxist rule. Think long and hard before you sell your soul for a bucket full of empty promises that come with a very high price tag.

My mother always used to say, be careful or you might punch a hole in that radiator, I should have listened to my mother more often.

Today I spent the afternoon replacing the carb intake gaskets on my Valkyrie Interstate. It is quite involved since the side mount radiator covers have to be removed as well as the chrome carb covers on both sides. The bolts on the intake stacks and carb boots are loosened to get at the gaskets, all very time consuming but necessary every so many years. For my part I probably saved several hundred dollars and got to do what I like to do, work on my bikes. At what the dealer get per hour this type of maintenance is well worth the price of a good shop manual. For good measure and to save me a lot of aggravation I removed the handle bars from my V65 to keep from getting hung up on them every time I walked by to get another wrench. Anyway after four hours of work I was finally ready to put the parts back on. I had followed the directions and was putting the last three screws in the right side radiator cover and thought the one with the sleeve went into the hole closest to the radiator, wrong, I proceeded to hole the reservoir on the radiator, the old me would have had to go to confession twice for the language and general bad thoughts that would have been part of the ensuing tirade, but the new me looked at the anti freeze on the floor, went and got a bucket, drained the tank, took the bike off the jack stand, cleaned my work area up and called it a day, maturity really blows huh.

Tomorrow I will call a radiator repair shop since the hole is small and it appears the radiator can be easily fixed and I really don't think a new radiator for the tune of about five hundred bucks is in the cards, not with a completely serviceable part to work with. I needed to clean out the cooling system anyway since it's probably never been done to begin with and I guess this is the incentive to do it. I'll probably pick up a new thermostat and gasket at Honda and do the complete job during the week. I also, have to replace one of the headlights that went out last week and it's also, time for tires and will get Dunlap Elites again since they wore very well and have great traction in the rain, not that I'm looking for rain storms to ride in, so it's maintenance down time, not bad for two years of trouble free riding. Having the bike apart is also the best time to look for a really small but annoying oil leak that developed this past summer, I think it may be a pan gasket but whatever it is I'll find it and fix it. I might also get new plugs while the Honda dealer is cleaning out my wallet.

It may not sound like it but there is an upside to all of this, I'll have a 1999 Honda motorcycle with a 1520cc engine with only forty one thousand miles and thats just about broken in for the big Honda six's and best of all it still looks reeel goood, the other up side is that it can hold it's own with any cruiser or tourer on the road, the seat finally broke in this past summer so I am not even thinking about replacing it, even though the 09' Ultra is right up there with the best now.

Thanks for reading

Don't forget to check out my other blog http://www.theindependentpost.com/ Just click on the link and it will take you right there.

Remember the elections are close, closer than you think. If you enjoy the freedoms that are accorded all Americans, then vote to preserve our Democratic way of life and the free market system we all benefit from. Democratic way of life by the way has absolutely has nothing to do with the party of the same name. The problems our nation is currently facing will work out over time and the way to ensure it never happens is a periodic house cleaning in Washington and at the local level, sadly the old guard must go as they have broken their trust with their countrymen.

Tomorrow I write you long time. Big maintenance day and lots of bike stuff.

I have a big maintenance day planned tomorrow and will have much to write about. Maybe even a trip to the dealer for parts and if I can manage it, another test ride, this time maybe even a new bike just for kicks, as my wife would turn me into the resident eunuch if I showed up on a new ride.

Thanks for reading. Don't forget to check out my other blog http://www.theindependentpost.com/ Just click on the link and it will take you right there.

A quick ride on a used ST1100

Over the weekend I came on a Black 1991 Honda ST1100 at my local Honda dealer when I was there buying some parts for my big bike. The 1100 had 13.000 original miles and was absolutely spotless. I have been considering a lighter bike for commuting back and forth to work as the Valkyrie Interstate is a pain to horse around in urban traffic every day. A salesman came out and asked if I was interested in a test drive, that's like asking a vampire if he is interested in biting a nice neck. I signed the appropriate paperwork, looked the bike over and in true biker fashion took off. The 1100 is very light in comparison to what I ride now and handles very well. My only complaint is that I am not used to leaning over the bars, which is a literal pain as I have a touch of "Arthur-itis" in my left hand from an old injury I sustained while battling the Communist hoards when I was twenty years old and immortal.

The bike goes like a shot for a sport tourer, and I particularly like the rev-limiter which I found in second gear trying to see what this old machine would do. The bike was quieter than I had expected and handled very well in slow tight turns when I took it into a small narrow parking lot. The pegs were a little higher than I like them and don't think it would make a real good long distance rider for me , but, I have a Valkyrie Interstate for the long rides. This bike would more than likely be a good bet since Honda reliability is almost something you can bet on. I could turn this bike over to my son as it doesn't have the raw acceleration of my V65 and he could get used to this easily and not be ridiculed for riding an old man bike since the styling is still current and racy enough for a young guy to be seen riding in public. The seat was especially comfortable for a Honda, who I don't think spends nearly enough on seat development. And the rear of the seat has plenty of room and seat area for a passenger.

All in all it was a fun 30 minutes and the price was right. I will have to see how things go, if I bought it I would have to get aftermarket risers and bars to move everything up and back a little, other wise it's a fine ride.

Thanks for reading. Don't forget to check out my other blog www.theindependentpost.com Just click on the link and it will take you right there.

Resting comfortably.

I got home from work today, it was pouring rain. I opened the garage door and looked in on my stable of bikes and decided to give them all a rest. I went inside and did twenty minutes on the Nordic Track machine since I was still tired from my drive to Columbus, Ohio yesterday in the most uncomfortable (Pontiac Bonneville) rental car I have ever driven. I would rather have ridden all the way there on my Honda Elite 80cc Scooter in the rain, naked, maybe.

Ohio is an OK state, I know some people from there, my friends wife Amy is from Akron so I can say truthfully that I know someone nice from Ohio. I also, flew helicopters in the Army with a guy from Galion, Ohio and we have been friends for forty years, he's also a nice person but not as nice as Chuck and Amy. All in all I would rather be in Colorado just the same.

Thanks for reading. Don't forget to check out my other blog http://www.theindependentpost.com/ Just click on the link and it will take you right there.

Finally, back on the teardown trail.

Saturday I took a couple of hours to get going on the tear down of my 1984 V65 Magna. I started two years ago, got sick and between coughing my guts out and feeling generally like s*#t I didn't have the motivation to pull my baby apart. This bike is somewhat special to me since it's the bike I bought to get back into biking after a lengthy period of time where I was pursuing more "mature" interests. OK, my wife and I discussed it when she was pregnant with number one and we both agreed it was the sensible mature thing to do. I was over thirty five at the time, we were starting a new business, her riding days with me were over for a while and within a week after I sold the bike I felt like an idiot and regretted it for the ensuing years.

That's not to say I didn't do other things. I owned a string of light airplanes that I used for business starting with a Cessna 172, then a Cessna 182 which was bigger and faster and then finally a Cessna 210 six place retractable and even quicker. But the point is, for all the flight time I have amassed in my life from military through civilian flying I was never enamored with flying and I always have been, with Motorcycles, don't ask why it's just the way things are, I guess I'm just an inveterate biker at heart.

So one day I wake up and say to my wife, "Honey, I can't take it anymore we gotta get another bike, I can't stand living like this, if there was a cliff in this the flattest of flat states, Illinois, I 'd consider jumping, maybe". To which she says, "does it look like I'm holding you back (from buying a bike that is, not jumping, because I asked)", I was on EBay five minutes later and bought the V65 a couple of months later. I would not necessarily advise someone either starting out or getting back into riding after some years to get a V65 or anything like it, that includes old KZ's, Vmax's or anything in that muscle bike class. Even though they are older bikes they are definitely not starter bikes, not by a long shot. With a six speed, 116hp, about 90lbs of torque to the rear wheel a V65 can still hold it's own on the street and scare the uninitiated, beginner and just coming back rider out of their wits. I got used to it and loved every minute of it until my wife said she wanted to ride with me again. We moved up into a Valkyrie Interstate shortly after that request and I decided to do the V65 over as a project. It had been ridden hard by previous owners and was in need of a redo and about that time I decided it was the perfect bike to juice up a little and take to Bonneville for a 61st birthday present. Then I got sick and here I am today back at it full force, I'm 60 next week and on a mission.

Before I got sick I managed to strip the bike to pretty much a rolling frame with the engine still mounted. Saturday, I rolled the bike into my work area and went to work removing the rear wheel, swing arm, drive shaft, shocks and a trailing link. I will get down to serious business this weekend and remove the engine, forks and start going through all of the parts since everything is going to be stripped. In subsequent blogs, I will go into what exactly I'm planning to do and how I go about doing each step.

Thanks for reading. Don't forget to check out my other blog http://www.theindependentpost.com/ Just click on the link and it will take you there.

Elections are coming soon, make a difference.

Remember, the only way to end the corruption in American Politics and push our great country away from becoming a Socialist State is to vote every incumbent out of office and elect people who are not beholden to any special interest group. Elect people who will serve as public servants and not slaves to special interests. Elect people who will put the interests of America first. Elect people who are not afraid to confront those who would like to see our country fail. Wed have a system that has worked for over two hundred years and will continue to do so if we go back to basics and exercise common sense. This is not the time for weakness and compromise.

The Independent Times: A Sunday Afternoon Motorcycle Trip From Arlington Heights, Illinois to Cambridge, Wisconsin. Everything Was Great Except The Flies On My Hamburger.

The Independent Times: A Sunday Afternoon Motorcycle Trip From Arlington Heights, Illinois to Cambridge, Wisconsin. Everything Was Great Except The Flies On My Hamburger.

A Sunday Afternoon Motorcycle Trip From Arlington Heights, Illinois to Cambridge, Wisconsin. Everything Was Great Except The Flies On My Hamburger.

My wife and I decided to take a short road trip this past Sunday and run up to the former home of my 99 Valkyrie Interstate, the quaint town of Cambridge, Wisconsin. We settled on a route starting on Northwest Highway, coincidentally heading northwest, in Arlington Heights, Illinois to Route 59 in Barrington, Illinois, turning north and get on Route 12 at Wauconda, Illinois then northwest on Rt 12 to the state line and follow Rt 12 to Cambridge, simple enough. We thought we would catch the first changes in the leaves and have a pleasant trip since we planned to take our time, have lunch and do the leisurely cruise back, getting home just before dark.

Saturday, as it turned out, would have been better since the sun was out all day and the temperature was in the high seventies. Sunday was overcast and in the low sixties when we rolled the bike out of the garage. I packed rain pants and waterproof gloves and made sure the clear glasses were in the box, since we have more than enough experience to know that the first time you don't have rain gear along you will probably get wet the hard way. Our cordura jackets are waterproof and armored, and we've ridden in plenty of downpours with the full face Nolan helmets and know they're good in the rain.

I don't run the roads in that direction very often, I usually head west from Chicago and when I do go to Wisconsin it's closer to Lake Michigan, so we thought this change in routing would be good. I will preface this by saying that all of southern Wisconsin has great riding roads and even better scenery. There are more restored small towns with more character than a state has a right to. That being said, we were anxious to get moving. After one last gear check we got under way. Arlington Heights is an older town located about seventeen miles northwest of Chicago along the railroad tracks and is commonly referred to as a bedroom community because of the commuters who work in Chicago and ride the train each day. Arlington Heights is a nice upscale community that, like many in urban areas has seen a renaissance of sorts in recent years with the restoration of old buildings and the construction of many new ones, along with the addition of new restaurants and shops and best of all is relatively bike friendly.

After the first two miles I thought we might have to call it a day as we caught every stop light in that distance, you see getting to Wisconsin requires riding through suburban areas that are littered with traffic lights and clogged with cars, anyway the lights finally started going our way. We flowed with the traffic through Palatine, Illinois, another nice community along the "tracks" (we say that since we have friends that live there and don't want them to get mad at us for not being complimentary of their hometown) on Northwest Highway. Palatine is actually has quite a few fun concerts and public events during the year that Norine and I always pencil in to attend. The stop lights and the traffic started to thin out a little and about fifteen minutes later we were at Rt 59 in Barrington, Illinois and making the turn north. Barrington is also, a bedroom community that was built up along the old Northwestern Railroad tracks in the late 1800's. It has always been known a rather genteel town favored by the landed gentry, definitely not a shot and a beer town. We headed north on Rt 59 for about eight miles to the town of Wauconda, Illinois. Wauconda is OK, not much to see and not a whole lot to make me want to stop and throw out the anchor a hook or roots. It's a little far out for me because of the distance from my office and in reality I'm glad it is, although I can honestly say I have never met anyone from Wauconda that wasn't a nice person and went to high school with several kids from there. We turned northwest off the cloverleaf on to Rt 12 and settled in for the ride to the state line. Route 12 is an old limited access highway that runs northwest from the Chicago suburb of Des Plaines, Illinois. Rt 12 is like the ugly stepchild of roads in Illinois in that it never gets the royal treatment that the toll roads get even though it is a major thoroughfare, the surface is always rough, has multiple surfaces and is always in a state of minor disrepair. The next town we come to on Rt 12 is Volo, Illinois. Volo's claim to fame is their car museum, several boat dealers and a couple of fast food restaurants and bars. And I think there was a whore house there when I was young, but never went in to confirm it's existence, so it kind of lives on as urban legend.

Traffic on Rt 12 was heavier than I expected, but the population has grown so much in recent years in this area, I should have known it would be that way. Up the road from Volo is Fox Lake, Illinois, Fox Lake is an old vacation town on what is called the Chain of Lakes. The "chain" as they are called locally are a series of shallow bottomed lakes that the Fox River runs through and if the dam was ever to break would probably cease to exist. It is a very heavily traveled waterway because of it's close proximity to Chicago and it's convenience to recreational boaters and fishermen. I will try to put this nicely, the entire town is in need of the same renaissance that many other older towns have undergone. I grew up not far from Fox Lake and actually lived there during a disastrous first marriage and don't want to come off as a snob but I can attest to the fact that Fox Lake hasn't changed in thirty years, it's tired, real tired, you can probably guess we didn't stop for coffee. We crossed the bridge that divides Fox Lake from Pistake Lake and continued through Solon Springs and then Richmond, Illinois. Richmond is an old farm town that sits right on Rt 12 and over a period of years has become a local biker and poser destination and an awfully fine tourist trap peppered with restaurants, antique shops and boutiques to help wile away a Saturday or Sunday afternoon, a little to close to home for us to stop though, and besides I wanted to get to a highway with no stop lights or stop signs.

We made our way to the outskirts of Richmond and follow the sign that pointed to Lake Geneva, Wisconsin.. Ah Lake Geneva one of the finer vacation spots in the great state of Wisconsin. Home to many fine resorts, hotels and grand old homes built by industrialists from Milwaukee and Chicago. It's a nice town to visit while touring and it gets my recommendation, although we didn't stop on our trip to Cambridge. Rt 12 in Wisconsin is a nice ride, the road is smooth, not clogged with traffic and the rural scenery is good. The leaves were just starting to change and we settled in for the last leg of our day trip. It took another forty five minutes and a quick fill-up at a BP station in Ft. Atkinson, Wisconsin, which by the way I have never been through before but will visit again, and then into Cambridge.

We scouted out a restaurant along the main street, a newer looking place with several bikes parked outside and figured it was probably OK. I can't remember the name of the place and when I checked my receipt while writing this piece found only "Guest Check" on the receipt and the address of 159 W. Main Street, Cambridge. Anyway, we went in and the place looked good. The bar was full as everyone was watching the Packer game and the dining area was about half full, we found a convenient table so we could see the the last few minutes of the game and decided on Hamburgers as the meal of the day, shortly after our server brought my iced tea and my wife's coffee the flies made their entry, these were big flies and not one single person in the employ of this entomologists dream land seemed to notice there were flies large enough to take a place at the table and have their own hamburger. So, Norine and I spent the next twenty minutes of so waving away the flies that were approaching our burgers like the flight deck of an aircraft carrier. We finished as quickly as we could, paid our bill and decided to head for home. Going home for us, because it was later in the day was basically the reverse of the course we had taken there. My speed control on the back seat didn't give me the slow down signal once on the way home, she must have been glad to be heading back. The most redeeming factors of the day were the scenery and more than anything else, getting out and riding, and really I've been in a lot worse places in my life.

This is my first effort at a travel piece and I have to feel my way through. I usually write Political and topical pieces on my other blog www.theindependentpost.com I hope this was OK and I can guarantee they will get better going forward, describing a trip is quite different from lambasting politicians or just giving an opinion. Thanks for reading.

I'm switching to motorcycles for tonight, I need some happy thoughts and a break from lying politicians, bailout hysteria and campaigns!

I ride to work every day of the year that the temperature is above 35 deg, the streets are dry and there's not frost or snow on the pavement. Now in the mid west that still limits riding in winter but I get out as often as I can. I have a 99 Valkyrie Interstate as a daily rider and use the excuse that my bike gets far better mileage than my cars do so I'm doing my part to conserve gasoline, there really isn't a whole lot of truth to that explanation though as the mileage is about the same as my small car. I just like riding, always have and as far as I can see, always will. Anyway as I am just about to turn 60 in October and the thought occurred to me recently that I have only so many years left to ride, on two wheels that is. Not that I'm planning to get a trike, a sidecar, one of those new three wheeled scooters or other hi-bred machines any time soon, I'm just covering my bases so hopefully I never have to stop until such time as I'm scrapping my pegs making that final steep banked turn onto that big highway in the sky where there are no speed limits, no traffic jams and no matter how long or how many miles you ride that sport bike you'll never get butt burn.

I had the opportunity to see a Scorpion, the new hi-bred three wheeler on I-80 in Nebraska while riding back to Chicago from Denver this summer and that pretty much did it for me, I can't picture myself on one. I've thought about a Ural, the Russian bike with a sidecar and I run hot and cold on that idea, they're a little slow for me, although having reverse would be cool and they look like they are pretty simple to maintain and I do want to move to the mountains in Colorado and the two wheel drive and reverse might really come in handy off road, ah, who knows they're still a little slow. My wife and I talk about a Wing or at least did until Honda decided to move manufacturing out of the US. There is still nothing like one and there are an awful lot of options from side cars to trike conversions if it became too much to handle as a two up rider. Then there's always an Ultra, my wife has been after me for the last three years to test drive one and make the move over to the dark side, I have absolutely no objection to that whatsoever, HD has finally got it right all the way around.

Well, it's all just a fleeting thought since I estimate I have between twenty and thirty years before I have to begin to worry about geriatric motorcycling. For the time being I am just going to keep going down the highway, taking everything in that I possibly can and enjoy the ride.

Ride safe.

Don't forget to check out my other blog site. Just click on the link and it will take you right there. Thanks for reading. http://www.theindependentpost.com/

A candidate fabricated by Mayor Daley's Chicago political machine? Oh come on now you know there's no such thing. Really, Honest, Trust Me.

I have said it over and over again and finally it has made the papers, well the Chicago Sun Times which is kind of a hi-bred version of the Enquirer and a real newspaper. It's actually easy to read and has several decent columnists that I try to follow regularly as they generally have a different point of view than the other paper in town which leans more to the right. Anyway back to business, the gossip columnist, Michael Sneed reported on a story that the Daley Machine, as in the famous Chicago mayor, Mayor Richard M. Daley and the Illinois State Legislature which the machine has been reported to have a degree of control over, was accused of being responsible for the fabrication of Barack Obama as a viable candidate when he has been accused, whether true or false, that he lacks everything to be President. And what's odd is it appears that around half of the country thinks the same about him. Bill Daley, the brother of the famous mayor and a behind the scenes deal maker and former Commerce Secretary, it appears was outraged as there were several inconsistencies in the report, not about the fabrication of Mr. Obama as a candidate but about his being a lobbyist when it is his son who was a lobbyist and then stopped just short of demanding a public apology, which indicates there may be some truth if even a sliver.

I have been saying for a long time that I would not vote for any politician from the Great Sovereign State Of Illinois as anyone elected to office here will be preoccupied with the return of political favors to their benefactors and handlers. That it has been reported in the local papers that the president of the state senate Emil Jones actually is the person behind Mr. Obama's rise to fame and with all that election hoo haa (actually a nice name for bu_l sh_t), fortune, lots of fortune. There was also, an investigation by Fox News that tries to link Mr. Obama with the "Machine" which has some credibility, then to Tony Rezko, you know the crook who has bought more politicians than just about anyone in Illinois history and was recently convicted for same which has so much credibility that I'm sure will rise to the surface several more times, like a Trident missile from an Ohio Class submarine as the election gets closer . Also, they tried to make connections to the not so popular Governor of Illinois Rod Blagojevich which is probably true to a point. Anyway, before I would jump onto the Obama float or even get dragged behind it in the election parade I would look at this guy and all of the people who deny they are part of his behind the scenes people very closely to see if they are the kind of guy's I want in charge.

Don't forget to check out my other blog site. Just click on the link and it will take you right there. Thanks for reading. http://www.theindependentpost.com/

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is coming to speak at the UN again and this time is suggesting the UN' move to a neutral country, I'll help them pack!

One of the lower assistants to the devil, better known as Mahmoud Ahmadinejad the puppet of the Ayatollah's and current President of Iran is going to speak at the UN this week. And the God of all Christians and Jews is the only one who knows what inflammatory rhetorical bu_l sh_t this little weasel is going to come up with this time. I hope the administrators at the various socialist educational institutions in and around New York will stop sipping their lattes long enough to think back to the last time this terrorist was in town. And by the way, for you Obama boy's and girl's you may recall he spoke at the same institution your beloved obtained his college degree from, hmmm, maybe this is where he got his socialist bent.

Anyway, prior to his trip he told the world they, the all powerful Iranian's would break the hand of anyone who attacks them, in order to prevent these nut's from becoming a nuclear power. But the hollow threat of a broken hand is not anywhere near the best comment he's made while preparing for the current circus act he headlines, he wants the UN to move to a neutral country. He's finally played into ours and the rest of the free world's hands. Other than our government, there are not many who see much value in the UN and most would welcome the exit by this most benign of organizations which is basically a cover for foreign spy organizations and a periodic podium for the likes of Mr. Ahmadinejad. Having the UN in New York costs the American taxpayers a fortune each year they continue to occupy space in Manhattan.

Moving out would give a real break to the taxpayers of the United States in this time of financial crisis and economic downturn. The perfect move would be to some little paradise, say, Iran or one of the other garden spots in that part of the world. The ambassadors, their families and staff would be able to take advantage of all of the cultural attractions, spectacular restaurants, top flight entertainment, excellent transportation, first class housing and great educational opportunities available to their children. And the world over knows that because it's in the middle east and especially Iran it has to be better. My best guess is the membership at large, with the possible exception of the the US and our European allies and maybe a couple from South America and a few from Africa, would be so happy with their 21st century newly located UN that they would no longer condemn us at every turn. Probably the single greatest advantage to having the UN in one of the many peaceful middle eastern countries is that Mr. Ahmadinejad would only have a short ride by donkey cart from his digs in Iran to the new UN center and could address them on a more regular basis.

Why, I would even bet that there would be no shortage of Americans who would help pack up the UN and see that it gets a good send off, tomorrow.

Don't forget to check out my other blog site. Just click on the link and it will take you there. Thanks for reading. http://www.theindenendentpost.com/

Some other thoughts to make you feel good about the bailout, Mr. & Mrs. Taxpayer.

When I turned on the news this morning looking for more information to fire at the fodder ( By the way Merriam Webster online defines fodder as; an expendable or exploitable person, group or thing) we know as the American taxpayer I managed to catch the moving headline quoting The Honorable Henry Paulson which said "This must pass quickly to avoid any more stomach wrenching financial news", well, thank you Henry. My best guess is one of Henry's or W's or Dick's friends or maybe Dick himself are on the verge of a major loss if this thing doesn't go through , like, right now. Part of my money is on Henry and his "past life connections", seeing that he is a former Wall Street deal maker, since people who have swam in the waters of that shark pool can never quite shake the fish smell off their three piece suits.

The Democrats are being vilified by the Bush people because they want to limit executive compensation when it's the executives that basically got their, you may notice I don't say we because we are the recipients of the screw job that's coming and not the cause, companies and our entire financial system into this mess. Had they not been consumed personal greed they would not have made the pitifully bad decisions they did. As it was explained in another blog, executive compensation, once set, leaves the option of incredible risk taking up to the CEO who gets paid a fortune whether his highly speculative decision pans out or not because the exit package with tens of millions is irrevocable. And what makes the situation even worse is that the bad decision doesn't leave the goof, who OK'd the disaster to take place, with any liability, financial or legal so as the blogger said, go ahead and throw the Hail Mary pass. I'm not nearly as kind as as the blogger, these guy's are nothing more than greedy pigs that are going to get away with financial murder, and our government is going to clear the pathway for them to get away.

Now for some good old speculation, because I don't think that the mortgage markets are the only place these guy's on Wall Street, have touched the American public. I'm just guessing they have been in bed in some way with the different funds and buy out firms that have dismantled our manufacturing base, parted out one viable corporation after another and sent the jobs to various emerging countries, more often than not for savings that have no effect on the end price of the goods being shipped back to the US and only for personal gain without cause or concern for the lives they have left in ruin. They have literally sacked towns across they country with plant shutdowns and are partly responsible for turning us into a service economy, which by the way sucks. In case you don't know, service jobs never have and never will equal manufacturing jobs in pay and benefits.

Now, I don't put the entire blame on Wall Street for the crisis in our economy, please don't get me wrong, trashing the financial structure of our economy is really bad but I also, blame the large corporations themselves for doing their part to crush consumer confidence, but in reality they all work in unison with one and other, that is Wall Street and the major corporations. My favorite is the Auto Industry, never modernizing their facilities until the burning barn was nothing but a pile of ashes. They have produced product that is so bad it almost rivals the junk coming out of the Chinese factories today and can't understand why they have lost market share at such an alarming rate. And even with the rising price of oil which directly impacts shipping and manufacturing they continue to send jobs out of the country which at some point will cause us to pay excessively for our goods and services.

I would like to see the government wait a while and give a complete assessment of the damages our country and economy has sustained through corrupt and inept management, so we don't have to endure another screwing for bailing out our industrial base right on the heels of being made a man the hard way by the financial markets.

Don't forget to check my other blog site. Just click on the link and it will take you there. Thanks for reading. http://www.theindependentpost.com/

Check out my other site, the current blogs there are Racism in America and The Bailout!

Click on the link to get to my other site. http://www.theindependentpost.com/
Racism was posted today 9/21/08.
Bailout was posted toady 9/21/08

What Kind Of Idiots Are We Electing When A Teleprompter Is Required To Keep Them From Tripping Over Their Tongues And Present Cohesive Thoughts!

I was watching the news this morning, which is part of my daily ritual, when the remark was made on a liberal outlet regarding the use of a teleprompter at a rodeo in Colorado by their candidate of choice. Even these left leaner's had a hard time with the use of a teleprompter because they wondered how difficult it would be to get an idea across to a rodeo crowd. Now, I take exception to that as I like rodeo and I don't think I would have a tough time understanding the Democratic Party's choice unless of course he gave his speech in Ebonics, which is always a possibility I guess. A teleprompter though, this guy is supposed to be a brilliant attorney and senatorial orator, according to his handlers and backers, but it doesn't stop there. They went on to say that Mr. McCain, the Republican Party's choice, well not really their choice, uses one himself and that his choice for veep has never made a speech without using one. Now don't take this out of context, the media stars didn't trash their opposition for using the teleprompters since they would have had to trash their own guy and in fact were somewhat taken aback that their guy had to use one to begin with, genius that he is and all that.

The only, and I mean the only way I can interpret this is that none of the people running can convey their so called message without help. Now I have seen Senator McCain answer questions in an impromptu setting as well as field questions from reporters and he always appears to get his message across without looking like a deer in the headlights. Mr. Obama, when interviewed at The Saddleback Church by the good Pastor Rick Warren appeared to answer without any real problem, and according to the good Pastor, neither candidate had prior knowledge of the questions, although I wouldn't be so sure that both parties didn't have operatives crawl through the garbage in an "Animal House" attempt to get the answers to the "test". I didn't watch the Bill O'Reilly/Obama interview other than a couple of sound bites and Mr. Obama appeared to handle himself well, the same applies to Senator McCain. When Charlie Gibson grilled Sarah Palin she appeared to answer in an intelligent fashion and didn't embarrass herself or her backers. The only one who has really made a gaff was Senator Biden when he asked the wheel chair bound Congressman at a rally to stand up and when informed of the mistake covered for himself quickly as any seasoned politician would.

Soooooo, if these apparently bright people can answer questions in one on one interviews and in media events surrounded by reporters, why is it that they have to use teleprompters and deliver speech's written by their handlers and speech writers? I for one want to hear what the candidate has to say, in his or her own words. Also, I would like to know what these people think, not what their handlers and party big shots think they should be telling the American public to get them elected and give us four more years of the same old stuff, and again I am referring to both parties when I say same old stuff.

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If The US Wanted To Get Rid Of Hugo Chavez It Woud Have Been Done A Long Time Ago, What An Idiot.

I'm amazed and then again not at all when the Venezuelan strong man Hugo Chavez goes on one of his ridiculous rants and blames the US for any woes his country is experiencing. In reality he needs to do this as has Castro in Cuba, to continue to buffalo the walking ignorant of his country who helped him ascend to the office of dictator. Today he is kicking out the US Ambassador and recalling the Venezuelan Ambassador from Washington until such time as we have a new government in place to deal with him, as if most Americans care. It's just my guess he is hoping for Mr. Obama who he thinks is some kind of a kindred spirit, or something like that. He probably feels they have similar philosophies being they are both Socialists and as such will help to remake the world a better albeit far more backward place, where everyone will have access to forty acres and a mule, oh sorry thats something else from another time.

I am of the opinion that we should leave this moron alone as long as the oil continues to flow in our direction. Mr. Chavez, who is very much prone to saber rattling does understand one thing though. We, the USA are his largest customer for crude oil and when he threatens to cut off the supply even a goof like Chavez knows it would decimate his country from the loss of revenues, and since he and some or all of his cronies are more than likely stealing as much as they can get they need the large revenues to shadow their theft. Also, I don't understand the great dislike for President Bush, why I'm sure the Bush family or at the very least some close Bush family friends have some kind of ties to the oil in Mr.Chavez' country and if not now, more than likely after the President leaves office. Here's a little piece of advice for Mr. Chavez at no charge. Be extremely careful when cozying up to the Russians, I don't believe any country that has allied themselves with the Russians in the last seventy years or so has ever benefited from the relationship. The Russians are notorious for basically sucking the guts out of their satellites and in the end leaving a poluted broken mess behind when they leave or are finally thrown out.

Socialist hi-bred governments, which are really communist governments of the 2000's are as pathetic as their predecessor's. They initially pander to the lowest common denominator to secure power and then cast them aside when they have full control and then the stealing begins. It's estimated that Mr. Putin in Russia skimmed around forty billion during his tenure, the Castro's are reportedly billionaires, the leaders in China, another of Mr. Chavez' allies are skimming at the speed of light and I'm sure Mr. Chavez close friends in Bolivia are doing the same thing right now and even though he's dead how can we leave out the Islamo Facist, terrorist and as many in his party claimed, great leader, Yasir Arafat who the Palestinians thought was a freedom fighter and patriot. He was a crook just like the vast majority of dictators and terrorist around the world.

Well, enough of a rant about Mr. Chavez, it's my guess he won't be invited to the Presidential ball this January and will have to make due south of the border. He will probably put on some kind of a Venezuelan banquet or whatever to compete with the inaugural festivities and the best we can hope for is that some CIA agent gets to the food and gives him a monumental case of the sh_ts. Something for him to remember the evening by until he is hung by his heals in the main plaza in Caracas.

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Check Out My Other Blog - Today's - Is The Bloom Off The Rose?

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My Alternate Site

I have a new site that I will be blogging on as well as this one. I was in need of a domain name and I like the ease of a .com address. Sooooo, you can catch up on new blogs there as well as here, I hope it's not to much of a pain in the rear. Click on the link to go to the other site; http://www.theindependentpost.com/
Regards,
Not Opinionated

A Case For Reinstating The Draft.

With the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan we have just seen what a small "high tech" military is able to accomplish on the battlefield, the point was also brought home for the need to have a sizable lower tech military, so to speak, that is capable of carrying out and completing the entire mission without over stressing our forces to the point where they will lose their overall effectiveness and ability to carry on a sustained or multi front conflict. Even though, in the eyes of many the Iraq mess could have been avoided and at the very least fought differently to avoid the losses our forces have incurred a larger military ground force would have lessened future issues that are almost inevitable.

The government and military both admit that our military in it's current form is to small. This is primarily the fault of the government and in particular the administrations starting with Bush I to the present Bush. For the uninformed, Mr. Rumsfeld and Mr. Cheney were the principle architects of the small Hi Tech Military along with several so called civilian visionaries that was supposed to, in their non military minds, replace the large standing armies of the past, they were only half right. They had convinced themselves that a hi-tech military was all that was needed because of the almost instant havoc the hi-tech military would be capable of launching on it's enemies. Well, they were only partly right again, yes there is instant, well directed havoc but they underestimated or completely overlooked the fact that unless you totally vanquish your enemy they will come back you in another form, specifically as an insurgent force. Had they talked to General Petraeus when they were conceiving their hi-tech military he would have informed these geniuses' about insurgent movements as he is the most current on the subject in the U.S. military. They also, could have looked in any history book from WWII through Vietnam and they would have been able to peruse mountains of material on the subject, I guess they were just to smart for that.

There are several other reasons why we are in need of a draft and they are Russia and our "friends" the Chinese. The Russians have shown that their new oil wealth as well as the fact that the old guard has finally taken control back of the entire country, that they are ready to become an imperial power all over again. And please don't even attempt to refute that one as even the most dimwitted liberal thinking pundit agrees they are all of the above. The next in line are the Chinese, they have a ten million man military, their Navy will eclipse ours in the very near future, they have a space "program" which is more than likely a cover for the development of long range very accurate missile systems, ultimately on launch platforms in outer space. Once again, this is a hard one to write off to national defense or internal security, who wants to attack China anyway, they have nothing to offer any of the powers powerful enough to fight them.

Most of the civilized nations around the globe have a draft of some sort, it makes good sense for several reasons. First it ensures a ready, trained, albeit a very basically trained but trained anyway, army. In the event of large scale national disaster this group is available to be called upon, I realize we have a national guard, but they have barely been able to cover in the past. We may also, need this "draft element" if we have any terrorist activity in the future to help secure the borders, which should have been done when the last attack (it was not an event, an event is something that takes place at a race track or a department store, or a strip club) took place. The biggest problem with reinstating the draft is our gutless, nutless politicians. This subject is like the old game where the person who blinks first loses, they are dead wrong. In fact by not having a draft that covers all Americans we continue to put ourselves a grave risk. One of the principle advantages of a draft, where all are eligible with no deferments is that our politicians would think twice before deploying American troops and would be forced to negotiate in advance to avoid conflicts where Americans would be in harms way, especially when one or more of their sons or daughters could be involved.

As a former Army kind of officer, I was a Warrant Officer, and a front line combat helicopter pilot I will state unequivocally that I do not like war, would do just about anything to avoid it, however, if pushed to the point where there is no alternative I believe in total annihilation of ones enemy, that means taking no prisoners. For those of you who missed annihilation in the spelling bee it means "The condition of having been annihilated, utter destruction". This is also, one of the key areas that was missed when the dynamic duo, Mr. Rumsfeld and Mr. Cheney and the rest of their civilian "military" brain trust were working out the details of how war in the 21st century should be fought. Wars are won by vanquishing one's enemies, not letting them go after they have promised not to seek retribution when you can see they have their fingers crossed, the world is not that civilized yet and from what I have seen in the last few years we have a very, very long way to go, my best guess is after the next one or two evolutionary changes mankind takes over the next several thousand years or so.

I know the draft is never a good subject, I have a 21 year old son and a 23 year old daughter, but, it's going to have to happen and sooner than later. Have you ever wondered why Israel hasn't been attacked, they have a draft and in an emergency have a trained military/security force that would be difficult at best to overwhelm. The benefit to us will be an overall deterrent to those who would like to engage us at every turn as they will know we are prepared for once. So call me what you like, but I believe our security as a nation is of the utmost importance and a draft is one of the main components.

What's He Done? He's Done A Lot. Well, What Exactly Has He Done? He's Done A Lot. What Specifically Has He Done? He's Done A Lot. Like What? A Lot.

One of the few memorable highlights of a political convention are the interviews with the various advisers and advisor wannabes that want their faces on camera to help further the cause of the candidate they are backing or in the case of the Democrats, Barack Obama. However, I have yet to listen to one interviewee that can list one single major accomplishment for this guy. They ultimately all drift back to his days as a community organizer in Chicago, forgetting the fact that was an awfully long time ago and even then can't come up with anything extraordinary that he did while in that position. His day's in the Illinois house were basically lackluster and was basically chosen to run for the U.S. Senate by Illinois state Senator Emil Jones, more than likely because he didn't have any baggage that would catch up to him during the election process and if elected would owe his lofty position to the Illinois legislature and as such would shower them with favors, such is politics and especially Illinois politics. Also, he ran against the now infamous, in Illinois, Jack Ryan. A well bred, well educated investment banker turned high school teacher from one of Chicago's "North Shore" suburbs with a closet stuffed full of skeletons, so many that there was no way he could hide them from even the most inept media organization. As you can guess, Mr. Ryan, to keep the family secrets, secret, dropped out of the race and went into obscurity, where he should have been from the beginning and never allowed to enter a public race for office, but that's a whole nother blog for a whole nuther day. Then to fill the void the geniuses' in the Illinois Republican Party decided they needed a person of color to run against this young upstart so they brought in the veteran, but very unelectable, Alan Keys, who wasn't even from Illinois, who had no local appeal, who was viewed as basically a nut and was subsequently crushed in the election.

Mr. Obama then went to the U.S. Senate and in the last two years has done about the same as he did as a community organizer and in the Illinois Senate, nothing of any significance. Which brings me to the interview process and what Mr. Obama and company have accomplished and what his qualifications actually are. Now I know he is well educated, Columbia University, and managed to garner a Harvard law degree along the way and appears to have a nice family, which in this day and age is actually an accomplishment he should be blowing his horn about, although his fringe constituency might not like that. But what is the most distressing is that not one person interviewed can come up with one major accomplishment for this guy while in office. The best being the interview the other night with Sean Hanady interviewing Michael Dukakis, the Democratic candidate for the Presidency in 1988, who by the way was beaten handily by Bush I, which proves he was basically a dufus. And when asked directly by Mr. Hanady,what his guy had accomplished he kept repeating "He's done a lot".

Now I'm not the brightest guy in the world but even I don't buy the term "He's done a lot". Personally, I would like Mr. Dukakis and all of Mr. Obama's advisers, hangers on, friends, family, pastors, wife, kids, admirers, handlers, running mate, Illinois legislators and anyone else who wants to be part of this gravy train to give some specific accomplishments, authored legislation or anything else that shows this guy has done anything other than having been in the right place at the right time. It's starting to look like we have a real life Chance the gardener on our hands (reference the movie Being There, 1979 starring Peter Sellers).

Ah Yes, Another Government Sponsored, I Mean Think Tank Sponsored Dinner, Where Texas Bull S _ _ T Is The Blue Plate Special!

Since I am going to be out of town for a couple of days and I wanted to knock out a couple of blogs in case my time runs short and I can't bring anyone to literary justice. So I was quickly pouring over the Internet news when I came across this little tid-bit. The Progress and Freedom Foundation, you know the think tank that studies the digital revolution and it's implications for public policy, held a closed to the press dinner in Aspen, that's Colorado, where the keynote speaker was the Dallas Federal Reserve Bank President Richard Fisher and his speech was on how the demand for oil in the developing countries of China and India was going to have long term implications to the price of oil. I hope the US Government didn't pay for this dinner or this speaker, but I think that's wishful thinking.

They discussed the oil consumption per capita of developed countries like Japan and the US and then made some assumptions about China and India and then made some ballpark assumptions as to how much oil these countries might use in the future and how it would affect cost to us here in the US and our little friends in Europe. Needless to say they didn't let on as to how much a gallon of gas may be in the near future, but then again they are a think tank and the speaker is a rich guy so they really don't care and were only there for the scenery and the dinner.

Then the good stuff was thrown out to the crowd. The stuff about the motivation of China with regards to the US. Now he didn't come out and say they are our friends like his friend(and I'm sure he is)the current President and fellow Texan, who by the way can dish out a major helping of Texas Bull S _ _T without any trouble, who said about the Russians and in particular Mr. Putin "when I look into his eye's I see a friend", tell that to the Georgians. Then to add insult to injury we were given a verbal bitch slapping by the Russians, who with all of their new found oil money could care less about what we have to say coupled with the fact that our military has been stretched so thin we couldn't mount an offensive or a good defensive anywhere.

So what do you think China has in store for us? They own most of out debt, have most of our factories on their soil, have a ten million man military, are growing their navy and will eclipse us in the near future, have the most sophisticated computer and Internet hacking operation in the world, have one point five billion people, kicked our Navy out of Hong Kong this past spring to flex their muscles and sent the fleet elsewhere for R&R and are cheating in the officiating of the Olympics to beat our butts, yes our butts, the good old USA's in the number of Gold Medals in an attempt to show the world they are good guy's, yea, good guy's like the Russians were at the time of World War II and are becoming again.

Like I said, there's nothing like a Blue Plate Special when it's good old Texas Bull S _ _ t. I hope the government made them at least pay for their own desert.

My Lord, How Similar Phrases Have Such Different Meanings-Hey, Little Oscar, Is That Your Weiner Wagon? Hey, John Edwards, Is That Your Weiner Waggin?

The latest Politician to bite the dust, I am talking about the perfectly coiffed Senator John Edwards, is great news for several reasons. First, the public will not have to endure any more of this guy's sappy socialist rhetoric. He made his millions and had he made it into high office would have tried to make it impossible for anyone else to get to the position he managed to ascend to. Second, he showed what a schmuck he really is, his wife is dying of cancer and he couldn't wait for for her untimely passing (and God I pray that she has a miracle recovery and out lives him by a long, long time) before he went out and got laid. The only class act in his household is his wife, and in reality, she probably had a better chance of getting elected than he ever did. This guy is a lawyer and as such understands what a contract is and how binding they are, but for some strange reason he wasn't capable of keeping a simple marriage contract. Maybe his vows left out the parts about love, honor and cherish, till death do us part, in sickness and in health etc...etc... The pundits claim his political career is over, and I hope they are right for once, although he had a former adviser to Jesse Jackson coming to his aid this past week, but I don't know how they are going to get him off on the Jesse Jackson "This is a black thing and you white people don't understand" excuse, this guy's as white as they get. Then there is the money trail and the woman refusing to get a DNA test and the fact that everyone who sees the kid says it looks just like Mr. Edwards, Hmmmm sumpin fishy's goin on here!

If I was John Edwards I would have gotten Bill Clinton on the phone as soon as I was found out and asked him for his advise. I am sure Mr. Clinton would have told him to come clean as Mr. Clinton will forever be remembered as the President who lied to all of the American public on national television,when he denied getting a Blo_ Jo_ from Monica Lewinsky in the oval office, when in fact he got that and much more. And most of any good he did while President will go unnoticed, and be of little interest to the public as a result of his indiscretions, breach of his marriage vows and subsequent lie that brought everything right into the world spotlight. With all of the lying politicians that have been caught in the recent past I can't understand why Mr. Edwards chose this path, he's a bright guy. Look at Senator Larry Craig, caught with his hand in a men's room stall at the Minneapolis Airport trying to arrange a date for sex with a man taking a sh _t, Congressman Randall "Duke" Cunningham caught with his hand in the national defense contractor's bribery and buy my office, cookie jar, Congressman Wilbur Mills caught with his hand in Fanny Fox's cookie jar in a Washington fountain, Senator Bob Packwood caught trying to get his greasy hands into as many women's cookie jars as possible and finally being forced to resign and the list goes on and on and on. Well, good bye to Mr. Edwards and good riddance, he can now join the ranks of the other political slime balls who have sullied their offices, positions and reputations with their own scandalous behavior and lies, he won't even make a good footnote in history and deservedly so.

Look Before You Leap You Idiot's - Or, Don't Join The Military Services Just To Pay For That New Car!

This little bit of information pops up in the news every once in a while and when it does deserves mention by this blogger. Currently there is a young man holed up in our neighbor to the north, the great sovereign nation of Canada, by the name of Jeremy Hinzman. You see Jeremy is a deserter from the US Army and is fighting, which seems quite odd since that is exactly what he ran away to avoid, to remain in Canada. Jeremy deserted the Army when he received orders to go to Iraq back in 2004 and like many deserters before him took up refuge in the great white north when he was asked to fulfill the commitment he had made to his country to serve and protect his nation (now please don't confuse serve and protect with the behavior of police department's across this great country). Jeremy it seems is one of those young men who thought going into the military was a good idea until someone explained that his primary job is that of a combat soldier. Now mind you, I am not aware of this young man's MOS (military occupational status), maybe it was infantry soldier and then again maybe it was clerk or jerk or cook or some other rear echelon job I really don't know and really don't care. If Jeremy is that stupid that he didn't understand what could happen to him if he joined the Army then he should not have been accepted because he more than likely does not meet the minimum intelligence requirement for placement in the good old US Army.

On the other hand, if he joined to pay for that new car or some other expense and thought of military service as an easy way to make ends meet, than once again we are dealing with a young man of diminished capacity. Service in the military of one's country, to the best of my knowledge, involves a certain amount of risk as the primary purpose of a military is to protect one's nation and it's interest's abroad. Now I know there is much debate to be had over the current mess in Iraq and there will be for decades to come. There are as many reason why we shouldn't be in that part of the world as reasons why we should, but that still does not excuse desertion. By the way Jeremy isn't going to be sent to Iraq or Afghanistan if he comes back, he's going to Federal prison for a few years for breaching his contract with Uncle Sam, get an undesirable or dishonorable discharge and will get on with his life. What's wrong with that, he will only be getting what a douche bag like him deserves, I am not wishing that he gets made a man the hard way in prison, just some time to think about what he has done.

So here's my point, if you know some young person who is contemplating military service, do them a great favor and explain what may or may not be in their future and even go as far as explaining the potential risks, that is, possible maiming and or death. Let them make informed decisions and then if they decide they still want to serve, encourage them to do so as service in the military is of the highest order of honor. I have served in the military and did so as a draftee way back when there was a draft, and in fact ended up enlisting to get a better job. I served because I was called to serve and did so honorably, OK, in between the times I was shaming all of mankind with my bad behavior, but I didn't run away from or shirk my responsibilities I agreed to in the contractual agreement I signed with the US Government. So how bout the liberal media giving up on this goof, let his deportation take place and stop trying to make him poster boy for the militarily abused.

A Story Of An Enduring Friendship,

I have had the good fortune to actually make friends with a relatively small group of people over the years and what makes these friendships so special is that they have all endured the test of time. The idea that I would have even one friend let alone eight or ten is amazing in itself, but it's the truth. My wife and I just finished spending several days with two of these friends while I was recuperating from a small surgery that is related to a small infection I have written about before, that I contracted while traveling on business in an Asian country whose name I won't mention but will give several hints, so here goes, see if you can guess. Holding a large international athletic competition, bad human rights record, their food tastes great but is usually loaded with MSG and makes women retain water and their rings don't fit, paint children's toys with lead paint, produced coats with collars made of dog fur (Lassie, Lassie where are you?) and last but not least, they, well you should have gotten it by now.

The main reason I am writing about these two friends is that we have not seen them for over twenty years and I thought it would be interesting to start at the beginning of something that started over twenty five years ago, this has no bearing on other friends we have as we feel we have applied the same principles to those friendships and are quite confident the results would be the same. Since friendships usually start out with certain personality traits appealing to one and other and relationships developing from there, a rather complex social and biological phenomenon that takes place almost exclusively between humans and sometimes Canadian Geese.

And since I am calling this a story I thought I would give my two friends fictitious names. So, my wife and I met Irwin & Rowena twenty five plus years ago at a meeting of a fraternal organization the has nothing to do with horned mammals or birds of prey and membership is not determined by one's pedigree but usually how badly one behaved and their desire to be and stay, a member in good standing of said organization. OK, I'll give a small hint, the second word in the fraternal organization's name rhymes with Eponymous, I am unaware of the definition, it just rhymes. Anyway things worked like this. We all met at a meeting one night and for some strange reason we all hit it off from the start, not that we had so much in common or that our backgrounds were the same, in fact we were all quite different. Irwin worked in a large factory and appeared at first glance to be as blue collar as they came, a union man through and through and let you know it. Next was Rowena, a legal secretary for a very high powered PI attorney and as in your face as her husband to be. There was my wife , a usually quiet girl, but with definite ideas of how she wanted to navigate the world and at the time my partner in a small business Then there was me, a kind soft spoken, a never insult anyone kind of guy, OK so that's a small lie, I'm essentially a fairly base person in most aspects of my life that has been working on a clean language program for as long as I can remember. Besides that we were all influenced by the different socioeconomic areas we hailed from, as in urban, suburban and country, so enough for the demographics, I'm only trying to setup this story and show that making friends is a randomly occurring event that I am not even remotely qualified to expound on, if you have a good friend who is a brilliant biologist/anthropologist and has studied human behavior as well as other higher mammals for his or her entire work life, have them tell you their theories on the subject. I only know I am the fortunate recipient of whatever this phenomenon is and as far as I'm concerned, that's good enough.

I would talk to Irwin from time to time about the intricacies of how one kept his good standing in the fraternal organization mentioned above. He would respond to those comments and I for my part would would blow my top, you see Irwin is something of a contrarian (Rowena gave that term and it's perfect)and that means he will take the opposite view of any topic just to get the best of whoever he is dealing with, and he does so more often than not. Sometimes this was annoying and others I would just let it roll off my back, maybe, sometimes, not very often. Anyway, we all lived in a large mid western city that has a long shoreline on a lake that begins with the letter "M". We would get together at least once a week for meetings at the said fraternal organization and would go out socially on a regular basis. We became such good friends that we asked Rowena to be our son Rollo's Godmother when he was baptised, she accepted, it was a good deal. There is an old saying that states "all good things must come to an end" and it's mostly true except the friendship part. You see we moved to the suburbs, our business grew and took more of our time as well as the time with our two kid's, Rochelle & Rollo. We were able to keep active in the fraternal organization in the new town we moved to as there were plenty of meeting places since an awful lot of people who had behaved badly and not only qualified for membership but actively sought it out, but sadly it was difficult to get into the big city because of distance, family and business. Then we had some minor business problems and moved to California, me to work as a hatchet man for a company and my wife Gladys to stay at home with our young children, we then basically dropped off the face of the earth. During that time Rowena was in an accident and Irwin's company decided to preempt, by several years, screwing labor and closed the factory Irwin worked for. Irwin took the opportunity to go to college and graduated. To make a long story short, Rowena decided she was going back to school herself and earned a PHD in Medieval Studies (I think that's what it is and if not I can guarantee she will call, email and possibly mail to correct me at which time I will go immediately to the web and edit this blog and attach an apology). During the time Rowena was working on her PHD she and Irwin had the opportunity to travel throughout the United States and Europe, in that time we had only sporadic contact. In the last couple of years we would occasionally talk and Irwin and Rowena would invite Gladys and myself to visit at their new home on a mountaintop in the southern part of a western state that has a baseball team that rhymes with cockies.

So, one opportunity came and went when Gladys and I toured the state on our motorcycle a couple of years ago since we were unable to cancel hotel reservations from an online service and also, time constraints. This time, no reservations we couldn't cancel because we booked direct and no time issues to deal with so after the small surgery was over Gladys and I headed south from the town in the state that is the home of the baseball team that rhymes with cockies. Irwin met us at the gate as we needed to be passed in and would have gotten lost as they live is a vast nature sanctuary. It was over twenty years since we had seen Irwin, but since I had been aging so gracefully over that time I had an idea what he would look like, I was close, he looked like the late great Congressman from the state of Illinois, Henry Hyde, with two small hitches, his sense of timing and ability to take opposing views hadn't dulled with time and unlike Henry Hyde, Irwin is very much alive. When we finally pulled up to the house we hurried in to see the other half of our host's for the weekend. Rowena looked as I thought she would, nature had been kind to her, not that nature had some dislike for Irwin, his wife as does mine seems to be holding up better than we are.

Anyway, to make a long story shorter, since I have been working on this for over a week, this is what happened. I spent time with Irwin, more than I ever have in the years we have known each other and in the end was saddened to leave my old friend and move on. I wished I had had the opportunity to spend this kind of time with him years earlier. As for Rowena, well, she's as wonderful today as she was when we last saw her, we were equally saddened when we left. I guess there is some lesson here somewhere and maybe this is one. Try to make some friends in your life and if you are lucky enough to do so, follow the advice from Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure "Be excellent to your friends" real friends are not easy to come by so value those relationships.

Olympic Promotion?=Propaganda?=The World Has Decided Not To Buy Into Your Bull S _ _t!

The Chinese government is having a bad time of it with the Olympics getting ready to start. They have had one protest after another and one black eye after another. They have been under the misled notion that it's the wrapper that makes the pie, I am unaware of any way to make s _ _t pie taste good! There have been ambitious building projects to showcase China as a country that has entered the 21st century. That they should be welcomed into the world community as a nation that will be one of the great world leaders and great societies only they have missed a few minor, well maybe not so minor points. They have had a series of protests over their consistant violation of human rights that have sullied their already sullied reputation. I guess they thought if they told the world they were good guy's everyone would believe them and dash to their side, wrong again. The Chinese have a reprehensible record when it comes to human rights, Mao, remember him, killed so many of his own countrymen the current government won't even field a wild guess, not even a ball park number. As recently as this past year they put down Muslim riots in Mongolia, now I'm not a fan of Islam at all, but, their method is maximum force, so much for the rule of law. But then again they make their own laws as they go along so, maybe what they did was actually OK. Well, maybe OK for them as is quoted by one Wu Jiaxiang a former government (which means we should believe everything that slides out of his mouth)and blogger who say's "We care less about human rights than other countries and more about sovereignty" nice direct quote which basically means - WE WILL DO WHATEVER WE WANT AND COULD CARE LESS WHAT THE WORLD THINKS, F_ _K O_F.

There is an awful lot of sour grapes coming from Chinese the world over and I really can't understand why. This is an interesting quote from Xu Guoqi, a Chinese born historian at Kalamazoo College in Michigan, "tried (The Chinese) hard to impress the world and to prove the country deserves respect and appreciation" good one Xu. But wait there's more "But the west used the Olympic torch relay and the coming games to shame the country and frequently remind the Chinese they were not good enough", I'm surprised this guy didn't resort to the we're not worthy line from Wayne's World. Give it all a rest Xu, you only get what you have coming when you deal with the free world. And if you don't like it here there's always the great and powerful China to call home again.

Human rights isn't the only problem the Chinese have. They have pollution on a monumental scale, I can attest to that one personally. Remember the lead paint on the toys, that one by itself will get you an awful lot of fans. The Chinese have a gargantuan military and I dare anyone top tell me it is for internal security only. The Chinese government is a principle backer of the Sudanese government, who, if you may have forgotten, is waging genocide in Darfur, but they are good guy's, really, I'm serious. Even Steven Spielberg, one of the most liberal guy's in Hollywood backed out of an advisory deal when the Tibet protests took off.

The best way to close this is with another quote from another Chinese luminary, Luo Qing, a media expert in Beijing specializing in China's national image (Masters degree in propaganda and a good old bull s _ _t artist) "We hoped that the Olympics would help people understand our country's achievements, that this ancient civilization has started a new chapter". " But from the torch relay, we suddenly realized that we were preparing to open the nations front door to welcome people who do not wish us well". Behave like civilized people, respect human rights, be ethical businessmen, stop the phony sincerity. The world isn't buying into this one, not one bit.

55MPH Speed Limit, Again! Tell The Truth Now, Did You Have Your Brains Sucked Out By Martians Or Do You Think The American People That Stupid!

There is a most distressing movement being discussed in the hallowed halls of The Senate and The Congress in our nations capitol. And what makes it so noteworthy is the fact it is being discussed by both Republicans and Democrats and they are starting to cite data that they will ultimately use to bamboozle the American public and railroad this most stupid of ideas through, to the ultimate chagrin and unconscionable inconvenience of all the moron's who voted them into office to begin with. Oh, you can't guess what this plan is? We'll John Q. Public, it's the 55MPH National Speed Limit, you know the one that then President Nixon spearheaded to save oil back in the early 70's during the oil shortage crisis, and which did save some oil, but the savings were eclipsed many times over in lost revenues to industry by slowing down our entire economic machine.

I've written about this before and it appears it has several new champions in the form of first term Democratic Congresswoman from California named Jackie Speier, who want to lower the speed limit nationally to 60MPH citing a$250.00 per year savings to drivers, the good congresswoman from San Francisco must have been licking the lolly pop laced with LSD to come up with this one, as she thinks $250.00 over the course of a year is an awful lot of money to the little people she counts as her constituents, oh, lets not forget the other one hundred fifty million little people who drive and actually work for a living that will have to make unreasonable adjustments to their lives to accommodate this plan. Please don't get me wrong and think I am unjustly singling out and picking on Ms. Speier, there are several others from the past and present who are voicing up. The venerable Cato Institute, the same think tank people who advise the current president and his guy's, and pop up from time to time with data to bolster ideas hatched by such notables as The Honorable Senator from the great state of Virginia, John Warner, you know the guy who was one of Elizabeth Taylor's many, many husbands. That little bit of bad judgement alone should have been cause for the voters in his state to send him back to his Virginia horse farm for good. Mr. Warner by the way, lay's claim to being one of the original dufus' politicians who pushed the first 55MPH national speed limit.

Here's a novel idea, why not ask the American public what they think of this plan, however, when the question is asked the truth must be told , not skewed statistics from some government funded think tank or public relations firm. Frankly, I don't want this or any other, silver spoon up his or her a_s politician deciding what's the best way for me and the rest of America to drive. This was a sham the first time and is equally so this time, THERE IS NO GAS SHORTAGE-CARS ARE INFINITELY SAFER THAN 40 YEARS AGO, and unless they are headed off at the pass we will have the same old mess shoved down our throats again, only this time it may never go away, how's that for cause to get up off that hay bale you call a couch and go out and vote, Jethro.

This is the second time I've seen this bantered about on the Internet news, only this time the news outlet putting out the story with all of the old data from the 70's is attempting to get readers to believe it is a good thing to take a second look at a bad idea. They, the new media, genuinely think they can coerce the American public into thinking that the government has our best interest at heart and that they are doing what is best for us all. Personally, I would like to see the government drop this steaming pile of bulls _ _t on the podium's of the combined houses and go in another direction all together, with a real plan that will benefit the whole world. The government should get behind their development of alternative fuel sources, subsidize that development like their counterparts in other developed countries, which would help toward energy independence. The US government dishes out a paltry 3.6 billion annually for the development of alternative energy, and expects to see results? That's like going to a singles bar after you have just s_ _t your pants, and I'm talking the mother load here, expecting to get an 8, 9 or if you get really lucky a 10, to go home with you expecting to break most of the Blue Law's ever enacted in the United States, when in reality you couldn't get a second look from Duty The Dog. We need our government to partner up with research and industry, for real. Stop taking care of their friends with grants, pork barrel projects (Former Congressman Hastert-and I'll get to you in another blog)and no compete contracts. Spend some money here and watch the returns, basically work on behalf of the people who elected them to high office.

Well, here's the part where the dyed in the wool Conservatives get out of the cab. We need regulation of the industries that are actually putting a stranglehold on the American people. Regulate the utilities like they once were, while I was growing up my rich uncle always touted utilities since they always paid dividends and were considered stable in all economic conditions. The communications industry is in need of a good "look over", it doesn't matter who you use for telephone, cable and Internet, they get more than their due. Regulation would probably help the airlines again, considering their state of affairs and please don't say it's the high price of oil that has several of the majors who emerged from bankruptcy in the last few years contemplating doing it again, when incompetent greedy management is is the real cause of their dilemma. Oy Vay, oil you say? Yes little Leroy, the one and only oil industry. I can guarantee these guy's will make money if regulated and further more may be the catalyst that spurs these giants to come up with other forms of energy. All of the above industries made plenty of money for their shareholders when they were regulated and would do the same again only not at the total expense of the consumer this time. In the meantime all of the members of the Senate and Congress who support stupid ideas like a national speed limit should be voted out of office as they have shown themselves to be incompetent boobs not worthy of running the day to day operations of this great country.

Had the past several presidents, senate and congress been working on the behalf of the American people during their terms in office, the issues we face today would not exist. Instead of playing golf at some exclusive country club in Maryland or out on sex junkets in some Southeast Asian country where they won't be recognized, our elected officials, from the top down, should have been working on the groundwork for long term solutions to what is now impacting the lives of American Citizens and even the hoards of illegals these idiots have let in, across the country and will for years to come. Oil is not the only issue we face, our economy continues to slow and unemployment continues to rise. This is unacceptable.

The Pickens/Gore Plans Or These Two Guy's Will Do Anything For A Headline!

I briefly read over the plans being proposed by the mercurial T.Boone Pickens and the ever, I can't be outdone and need a new cause since I've made an ass out of myself with global warming, Al Gore. Both have interesting proposals for alternative sources of energy that may help to bridge to the next level or run long term as supplements to whatever will be a more permanent source. I am always suspect of Mr. Pickens as he has a long and storied history in the energy business with T. Boone being the principle recipient of profits and rewards. Now don't get me wrong, I am not against rewards and profits, and I realize that Mr. Pickens is a great philanthropist who has donated large amounts of his gain to help others. Mr. Gore on the other hand is basically a headline grabbing former politician who appears to have jumped ship on his global warming, until we have several hurricanes or other natural disasters that he can lay blame on, and now sees himself as the new patron saint of alternative fuel sources. Come on Al, is geothermal and clean coal the best you can come up with, what happened, T. Boone beat you to wind. I would think that someone who has made so much wind himself over climate change would have had this one in the wings. Now T. Boone on the other hand, being the opportunist that he is probably owns all of the land in the windiest part of Texas that the proposed wind-farms will be located on, once again I am not against T. Boone making a buck, I just don't think wind is going to take up the slack in the energy system the promoters are saying it will. I look at wind like ethanol, a short term money maker for a fortunate few but not a long term solution by any means, and at some point the tax payers will pick up the pieces and pay off whatever balances are left. The most viable proposition fielded is natural gas, and since this is a proven fuel source that we have an abundance of would probably help carry us until new sources are available. Conversion of vehicles is also, relatively simple and has proven to be quite safe. My guess is that T. Boone has a lot of natural gas and if he can talk people into using it more power to him, it would definitely help to lower the dependence on foreign oil.

Now back to Mr. Gore, clean coal? Solar? Al, solar in the form you are proposing will be viable after you and I are long gone and the same applies to clean coal, whatever that is. Maybe it's time for you to get you head out of your big butt and repeat after me - Nuclear, now repeat that one more time - Nuclear. That's right, nuclear, the clean, safe power source that the rest of the world is using to handle their electricity requirements. In case you and your wine and cheese tasting rich liberal, green at any cost screw the middle class, friends may have missed this one, check into the technologies that have been developed in the last twenty years and then look at the actual real world applications, it is safe and works better than anything that is on the drawing boards of waiting in the wings to be released. You and Mr. T. Boone Pickens may not have much of a stake in nuclear right now but with your combined intelligence and cunning I'm sure you can both get a good piece of this one. Soooooo, how bout you and Boone Pickens taking a second look at nuclear power and then do something that will actually benefit everyone in the good old United States for a change, you'll both be held in high esteem for a change, maybe forever, who knows you might even be able to run for President and win if you do the job right, and like a modern day fairy tale no one will fault either of you for getting even richer.