Gas Prices and Truth

I would like to know what our Senators, Congressmen and other leaders are doing for the American public with regard to the price of gas at the pump.

I have to tell you that I feel as though the oil companies think we are just stupid as dirt when I hear baloney like “there were refinery problems”. That might explain things a little if it were not for the fact that:

• The oil companies control the refineries too – so it is to their advantage to have a “refinery problem” when fuel prices are falling to a point when Exxon Mobil will not make ridiculous record profits in a given quarter.

Given the ridiculous record profits, the oil companies should be spending SOME money to maintain the refineries – or – God forbid – build a new one someplace – or – drill for oil in the US!

So, I no longer buy the story from the oil companies. Neither do most Americans. Because we are not as stupid as Oil Company CEO’s and some politicians think we are. We simply must buy fuel to get to work and home again each day.

So, let me tell you a few things that are factors for Americans. We are not ignoring the calls to conserve fuel as the idiots in the media seem to think and report, “Americans are not cutting fuel use”. We are driving to work and home again. There are more of us driving to work and home again because the unemployment rates are down, there are new 16 year olds getting licenses every day and Americans are living (and driving) longer than ever before. So, we are not each using more, there are simply more of us.

The American people cannot continue to survive and fund our great economy with more and more of our income going to pay to get us to work and home again. Cuts will have to happen some place. Let me tell you where our family’s cuts are coming from. We were going to take a trip to the Grand Canyon this summer. We were going to drive there and take our horses with us for a family vacation. This would have been the first family vacation we have taken – ever. That is to say in the past 15 years that I have been working, I have never taken a vacation. We as a family were budgeting $2,500 plus another $500 for fuel to go on this trip. We are not taking that trip this summer. We are using that money to pay for the increase in our fuel and electric bills this summer. What does that do to the economy? We will still spend the money – right? Well, it will go to Exxon-Mobil or Chevron rather than tourism and entertainment. Rather than small businesses where we would have eaten, bought gifts, or spent the night, it will go to line the pockets of some of the most corrupt businessmen in the country; businessmen who are already multi-millionaires. Not small business owners who help to grow and fund our country by creating jobs.

How else is the economy hurting? The price of food and clothes is going up. We are spending the same on food, but we are getting less and less. Our budget does not allow for a vast increase in food expenses. So, we are buying cheaper cuts of meat and fish and cutting back on items. We are buying less clothing and shoes too. We will continue to do this until we either go bankrupt or things get better. Since I do not see the big Oil Companies suddenly getting a sense of decency and morality, I guess we will fail as a family and go the way of the rest of the average American….we will simply cease to hope for a vacation, get a second job and wither away and die.

May God help us all.

Ban "Cops & Robbers"? No, bring God back in!

I have been reading the news and am struck by how many people just have it wrong. There are calls for banning "violent children's playing like cops and robbers".

Please, give me a break with the "ooh, don't let them play good guys and bad guys". When we were growing up in the 60's, 70's and 80's kids played cops and robbers and Cowboys & Indians. Both boys and girls played.

Guess what?

There were no school shootings at that time. Why you ask?

Because our parents and role models, leaders and mentors have the grace and good sense to keep morality and God in our lives. There is no harm in children's pretend gun play - if there was, this would have exploded decades ago.

There is harm in locking our spiritual lives out of our communities.

It stuns me that the first thing we do in a National tragedy is to band together and pray. Candlelight vigils, convocations, memorial services - we always pray and ask God's blessing. Yet, when it is all over, we push and kick God out of the community.

We need to wake up and smell the coffee. Without a Spiritual life, we are denying 1/3 of ourselves. That leaves us empty inside and allows evil to fill the space.

There is a good reason our Founding Fathers based this great nation on Judeo-Christian principals. Without morals and values, this country will cease to exist - and I for one do not look longingly to Europe for a "new way of life".

America needs to rediscover her roots and embrace them!

God Bless us all

My heartfelt prayers to all those affected and grieving in Virginia and across this country.

I guess what I find so frustrating in all of this senseless violence is that over 90% of the messages, blogs and speeches made about this crime have said "Our prayers are with you; God Bless your community" or some such blessing. Why would God continue to bless us when we have pushed and kicked Him out of our lives, our schools, our communities?

If we really want to bless our friends and fellow citizens, ask God back into our daily lives and our towns. He will bless and keep us and forgive our lack of faith.

This has NOTHING to do with a criminal intent to get a weapon - the criminals ALWAYS have weapons - and EVERYTHING to do with the decline of morality in our society. Children would not kill if they had more regard for themselves and others.

Gun control is not the answer - and I will NOT give my guns up because of a Godless lunatic. Teach your children values, bring God back into our lives and leave the guns alone.

For God's sake would you like to become like Europe? An aside - to those who tout the UK and their lack of guns - violent crime has RISEN not lessened. Read the statistics. If ONE student or teacher on that campus had been armed, this would not be 33 dead. Some of those blessed people acted heroically - they would have been doubly so with a concealed carry permit.

On the Virginia Tech Tragedy

This has been around before but I believe we all need to be reminded to stand up and be heard before we lose any more rights. GUs do not kill people. School shooters are children who had no discipline at home. We as a Nation need to bring back the "Spare the rod and spoil the child" morality. Did you know that saying comes straight from the Book of Proverbs? If we as a country would spend more time in our Bibles, we could solve a lot of our problems.

Darrell Scott Testimony

Guess our national leaders didn't expect this, hmm? On Thursday, Darrell Scott, the father of Rachel Scott, a victim of the Columbine High School shootings in Littleton , Colorado , was invited to address the House Judiciary Committee's subcommittee. What he said to our national leaders during this special session of Congress was painfully truthful. They were not prepared for what he was to say, nor was it received well.

It needs to be heard by every parent, every teacher, every politician, every sociologist, every psychologist, and every so-called expert! These courageous words spoken by Darrell Scott are powerful, penetrating, and deeply personal. There is no doubt that God sent this man as a voice crying in the wilderness.

The following is a portion of the transcript:

"Since the dawn of creation there has been both good & evil in the hearts of men and women. We all contain the seeds of kindness or the seeds of violence. The death of my wonderful daughter, Rachel Joy Scott, and the deaths of that heroic teacher, and the other eleven children who died must not be in vain. Their blood cries out for answers. "The first recorded act of violence was when Cain slew his brother Abel out in the field. The villain was not the club he used.. Neither was it the NCA, the National Club Association. The true killer was Cain, and the reason for the murder could only be found in Cain's heart.

"In the days that followed the Columbine tragedy, I was amazed at how quickly fingers began to be pointed at groups such as the NRA. I am not a member of the NRA. I am not a hunter. I do not even own a gun. I am not here to represent or defend the NRA - because I don't believe that they are responsible for my daughter's death. Therefore I do not believe that they need to be defended. If I believed they had anything to do with Rachel's murder I would be their strongest opponent.

I am here today to declare that Columbine was not just a tragedy -- it was a spiritual event that should be forcing us to look at where the real blame lies! Much of the blame lies here in this room. Much of the blame lies behind the pointing fingers of the accusers themselves.

I wrote a poem just four nights ago that expresses my feelings best. This was written way before I knew I would be speaking here today:

Your laws ignore our deepest needs,

Your words are empty air.

You've stripped away our heritage,

You've outlawed simple prayer.

Now gunshots fill our classrooms,

And precious children die.

You seek for answers everywhere,

And ask the question "Why?"

You regulate restrictive laws,

Through legislative creed.

And yet you fail to understand,

That God is what we need!

"Men and women are three-part beings. We all consist of body, mind, and spirit. When we refuse to acknowledge a third part of our make-up, we create a void that allows evil, prejudice, and hatred to rush in and wreak havoc. Spiritual presences were present within our educational systems for most of our nation's history. Many of our major colleges began as theological seminaries. This is a historical fact.

What has happened to us as a nation? We have refused to honor God, and in so doing, we open the doors to hatred and violence. And when something as terrible as Columbine's tragedy occurs -- politicians immediately look for a scapegoat such as the NRA. They immediately seek to pass more restrictive laws that contribute to erode away our personal and private liberties. We do not need more restrictive laws. Eric and Dylan would not have been stopped by metal detectors.

No amount of gun laws can stop someone who spends months planning this type of massacre. The real villain lies within our own hearts. "As my son Craig lay under that table in the school library and saw his two friends murdered before his very eyes, he did not hesitate to pray in school. I defy any law or politician to deny him that right! I challenge every young person in America to take their Bible to school and pray with all your hearts for our country and our world!

Tax Health Benefits? Are you nuts!

In looking at President Bush’s proposal regarding taxing health insurance benefits, I must first of all protest. Secondly, I would like to know what crazy person came up with such a stupid idea.

We have a family of four – my husband, me, and our two children. Both my husband and I work full time in the Information Technology fields. We are paid fairly well for our efforts – though I lost 30% of my (industry) income following the dotcom burst and the recession of 2001, and to date, Project Management has not completely recovered – primarily due to two factors – one is the propensity (and advantages) for businesses to use “contract” labor (thus cutting out all benefits, vacations, holiday and sick pay for the employee – and “paying” the company to restrict access to “full-time” benefits) and the second is the outsourcing issue – overseeing is killing our industry as companies try to outsource to “save money” so they can line to pockets of their rich executives.. We have health insurance coverage through my husband’s company since I have no access to benefits – and with project contract turnovers averaging every 6 months, we would be changing health care like some people change draperies.

The White House spokespeople say that this measure will be tax neutral through 2011 – and will encourage people to go seek out lower cost insurance so they can gain a tax cut. I would argue that fact quite hard. We do not have the advantage of “seeking” insurance – we take what is given to us by my husband’s employer. As I do not have health benefits as an option, there is no comparison ability. We can go out on our own and buy our own policies – with dire consequences. Most private plans do not offer maternity care (in the event we want to have another child) without raising the premium exponentially. Also, most private plans have much higher out of pocket costs – for such things as office visits, prescriptions, routine preventative care (mammograms, lab work) hospital visits etc.

I really want all of our leaders to consider what these types of changes will do to working families. We are putting up with $3.00 a gallon gas, $3+ dollar a gallon milk, meat and produce prices that are rising off the charts, and now, on top of all that you want to tax benefits? We haven’t gotten a raise in 5 years. How are you doing? They are breaking the backs of Middle America. We do not own a McMansion on a golf course – our house is a modest $120,000 2000 sq ft 3 bedroom ranch-style house in an older neighborhood with good schools. So, I ask you – where would you like us to cut back so we can afford these tax increases?

Here is a suggestion : get rid of the illegal immigrants who are taking our school tax dollars, hospital services, welfare dollars, and driving insurance rates through the roof. That will save some money. Then, we can hire those jobs out to people in the tech industry that has gone flat. Pretty soon, my husband and I will be working two jobs so we can keep the same life style that was easy back in 2000. You think Americans are getting ahead? Wrong. We slip back every year. Soon, we will be worse off than our grandparents during the Depression.

Please do something to help Americans. Do NOT vote for ANYONE who is currently in office. Get rid of the bums.