The Governator!

I lived in California when Ah-nold was elected. The re-call was not our highest moment in political history, but the Governator won fair and square. He's Republican but at least he had the sense to marry a Democrat.

That said, from where I sit here in Missouri, I think he has done an OK job. He seems to listen, unlike Mr. Bush. Of course, Californias had the sense to NOT pass his inititatives.

However, on the issue of immigration, maybe the Reds should listen. After all, Arnold is a Republican himself and he is living in a state directly impacted by illegal immigration...or all those damned Mexicans. He says building a fence would take us back to the stone age.

It's kind of a stupid idea, really. If fences worked so well, why didn't the Chinese keep that wall?

At the pump...

I hope people can see that the offer of $100 to off-set the cost of gas is total BS. It is an obvious ploy to get Americans to say, hey, give me the money while ignoring the cost for the pitiful payout.

WE get $100, big oil gets billions. Who is stupid enough to buy that? Not to mention taking the money means drilling in Alaska wilderness. I hope people can see the obvious ploy to distract us from real issues with a little bit of money.

On top of all that...people whine about $3 a gallon now. When Californians were paying that people said, "That's there..." We have to get rid of the NIMBY attitude. Now, we all are getting it...and not even really getting the total hit.

In other countries, our prices would be a bargain. Americans need to wake up and realize that our prices for gas, even at $3 a gallon, are quite low.

Driving in KC area

I am beginning to truly believe that most drivers around here (from Kansas and Missouri) are really rude. Try getting on I-435 and watch how many people speed up to keep you from getting in front of them. Conversely, if you slow to let someone in, they are hesitant to take the offer. Probably because they know they would never offer you the same. WEIRD!!!

Illegal Immigration

I have purposely avoided this subject until I came to a clear and decisive opinion. There is a lot of rhetoric floating about about Mexicans (call it what it is, no one complains about other illegals, only the Mexican ones). They come here, take our jobs and are a burden on society and don't pay taxes.

Illegal immigrants pay taxes, they pay sales tax everytime they buy something. What they don't pay is payroll taxes...hmmmm, wonder why? Because employers hire illegals and don't put them on the payroll. You know what that means? Some one out there is cooking their books, probably listing wages for illegals as some sort of loss and basically commiting tax fraud. Who is really breaking the law here?

OK, both are. Who do we blame? Illegal MEXICAN immigrants. I have to say this, if they weren't being hired by people commiting tax fraud, they wouldn't come here. These people aren't getting fake social security numbers to appeal legal to their employers. The employers know they are illegal and pay them in cash. There is no paper trail on these people and we yell and scream about them. The employers are criminals too...bigger ones in my opinion because they are getting richer while pointing a finger of blame at illegals.

What next?

After a long weekend, and I mean very long, I wake this morning and thought I'd gone through some bizzare time warp. What do I hear on my morning news but reports that our fantastic leader is considering bombing Iran. WHAT THE F***???

It's a given that Iran has been naughty but where do we get the right to bomb people for that. Reverse the situation and we should be bombed off the face of the planet. America's hands aren't clean in the world.

The part that really blows me away is the logic, and I use the term loosely, of what the expected results are from this bombing campaign. Supposedly, the Iranians will suddenly fear the big bad America and get rid of the naughty government and replace it with a Democracy. The clouds will part and all will be right with the world, all from one bomb. Hmmmmm...isn't that's what was supposed to happen in Iraq?

*Default Republican answer* "It was a good thing to get rid of Saddam. The world is a safer place without him in power."

Well, not so sure about that statement. Saddam isn't Mother Theresa but is Iran better without him. I think our campaign has killed as many as he did and now they are headed straight into civil war.

These hawkish tactics are just not wise. Since the Bush Administration doesn't seem to get it, I'll spell it out...you should never fight a war on two fronts, let alone three. If they can't figure that out, maybe I should send them a copy of my Age of Empires game. I learned that basic fact of war playing that game.

Palm Sunday

Today is Palm Sunday and many Christians are recognizing this day by going to church.

Religion is a curious thing. I have always thought that. It moves people in many ways and unfortunately has been used to control people.

Today I am pondering how many church leaders are preaching something knowledgeable and worthy to be heard and how many are blathering on and on about him/herself.

Conservative talk

I have been listening to conservative talk radio lately. It's a morbid fascination.

I wouldn't care about these shows at all - Hannity, Limbaugh and so on - if several conservatives didn't take what they say as gospel. I mean, it's clearly biased. Liberals can be biased also but here in the "heartland" all you get is conservative shows.

Basically, my issue is simple, the whole world is talking about Bush leaking critical information that could have led to the death of a person literally on the front lines fighting the war on terror. On conservative talk radio they are fixated on McKinney not apologizing for hitting a security guard. What twits!