Across The Damned Board?

[HARDCORE]

1IDVET -

So true, so true! As a matter of fact, the Teapot Dome (Elk Hills Naval Oil Reserve) near Bakersfield contains a vast sea of crude. Also, the North Slope (Alaska) is loaded with oil, as is (believe it or not) the North Slope of Canada! Of course, the "Canucks" rarely advertise this fact!

Then we have the Gulf, also noted for vast reserves, and other domestic reserves, known (but not related) by our government!

I assume that our intent is to exhaust foreign supplies and keep ours in tact?

So what does it mean that a lot of our oil comes from the Golden State? Also, why when this same oil makes its way into Arizona, does the price drop dramatically - additives you say! Yeah sure!?

In plain English (four little words) - "WE ARE GETTING SCREWED", and with government sanction, I might add!

VERITAS

[1IDVET]

I really wish I could answer that one!
I will be taking part in the cheaper gas prices on the 25th.
Going to pick up my daughter in Arizona and bring her down for a couple weeks.
I will attempt to fill up before I get back into CA. Just a few pennies kept out of Joe Davis' pockets will suit me fine.

[Keith_Hixson]

We want job security so we give it to our elected officials by re-electiing the incompetitent. We tenure the academics which has both an up side and a down side, mostly down I believe. We pay our elected officials to work for us and they work for themselves by providing themselves with high salaries and wonderful retirement programs. The Liberals cater to the rich liberals and the Conservatives cater to the rich Conservatives, which in reality equals catering to the rich and forgetting the masses by both parties.

Andy, Taxing "the vices" has never bothered me. Just maybe it will help someone to stop smoking.

Taxing the necessities is another thing. We need better accountablity and truthful answerrs just why gas prices are going up!

But, when comes right down to it we as middle America have allowed it to happen by our apathy.

Keith

[reconeil]

I guess it all boils down to that old cliche' that: "Things never ever really change".

What got this country started and/or caused a revolution was initially that: "No Taxation Without Representation". And lo and behold, and after over 200 years,...we've still got The Taxation (and BIG TIME), but no REAL Representation anywhere in sight.

Sure, all States have Representatives. But, I'm not talking about those Representatives in name ONLY, whom ONLY represent themselves, friends and clique ONLY. What's sorely needed here are REAL Representatives and/or that honor their oaths to represent We The People, and no one else.

Keith, I know it's unseemly for any supposedly free(?) American to grovel for anything. So, do you think I'm grovelling or asking for too much? I honestly don't believe that expecting Representatives to fulfill or honor their oaths to The People, is asking too much. Do you? Does anyone?

Neil :cd:

[HARDCORE]

If one listens to (and believes) what is being pushed down our throats by the media and the political self-promoters, then "WE NEVER HAD IT SO GOOD!?"

If on the other hand, you can see through the fog and smoke screens, your eyes, ears, nose and minds would burn with the lies and bull shit that is being shoveled by those who make careers out of the same thing that they claim to abhor, it being spin!

Where else but in America's media circus can you suffer a sharp stick in the eye, and be told that what you just experienced was ecstasy? "Worse yet, many believe it!!"

Is this the way that it has to be - HELL NO! But if you (again) listen to and believe all that you hear, you may never get the chance to use your own eyes to see the truth!

MYTH - The war in Iraq is over..

MYTH - The WMD scenario really meant nothing..

MYTH - No one stands a chance at taking out (at the poles) a powerful incumbent..
----------------------------------------
TRUTH - Iraq is still a hot bed, as is Syria, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, North Korea, Libya and Iran among others..

TRUTH - Those WMDs may be still out there waiting for some fool to give the order..

TRUTH - If we do (or did) get Saddam and his Sons, there is one or two more maniacs out there with a similar appetite..

TRUTH - Most of what we are hearing from government, although once attested to as absolute fact, now falls into the realm of manana (tomorrow, maybe)..

TRUTH - The economy is shit, but if we wait around long enough and engage in a few more wars, it just may improve..

TRUTH - 2004 is of far more importance to most politicos than 1776..

TRUTH - No politician with a glib tongue and moral weakness (lies) will ever go without the necessities of life, can you say the same about yourself??

And the biggest truth of all, many will swallow and digest the same lies, over and over again, until we all gag to death upon them!

"What politician then, pray tell, will give you a second thought, let alone send a plastic bouquet to your funeral??"

Again, this is not the way that it has to be, nor should it be, it is just the way that it is. And I am sure that when the Black Death crept out of Constantinople, there were people then too, who decided to just wait a little while to see what kicked loose!

Am I slamming any particular political sect here - "HELL NO, THERE IS PLENTY TO GO AROUND! "But if the shoe fits ?!"

VERITAS

[reconeil]

Your: "TRUTH - 2004 is far more importance to most politicos than 1776",...sez-it-all for me and/or why believing the singlemost enemy to American Working Class Citizens of The Private Sector is called: "POLITICS". ONLY The Public Sector gets represented well and have security, since for them MONEY & SECURITY IS NEVER A PROBLEM (All Americans kick-in "FOR THEM").

Maybe if WE PAYERS FOR EVERYTHING instead hired QUALIFIED lobbyists to represent us all, like The Corporate BIG BOYS do,..."We The (Schnooks)" might then be better SERVED, like most all in The Public Sector and even the much smaller corporations are treated. Seems sensible and logical to me. Aye,...vas thinks du Me Bucko and/or Fellow Privateer?

Neil

[sfc_darrel]

Isn't that why we belong to the organizations that we do?

VFW, American Legion, etc. for veterans issues.
NRA, etc. for gun ownership.
AARP, etc. for issues regarding aging.
If we don't belong to the organizations that speak for what is importance, we lose the strength in numbers game.

Political clout comes from numbers.

If you don't think you have enough impact, become an active member of an organization. Help the organization with the numbers behind it go after the changes that are important to you.

Organizations hire lobbyists. Some organizations hire members for a year to do it. I am a member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. That's what they do.

Joy

[bbeil]

Then of course, there are the "MONEY GUY'S" sometimes old money, sometimes new money, but are the "POWER BROKERS" in this country that put people in place to run for office.
There is a story about one guy here in Texas that used to tell his henchman, lets go to Austin to the Capitol and get the Freshman Legislators and take them out for entertainment and get them drunk and get them layed and then we will tell them how to vote.

[Andy]

Key Keith, I know this is just a little thing but it needs a response. I mentioned the cost of cigarettes and liquor and you more or less said "fine". I don't really pay $56.00 for a carton for cigarettes. They are $33.00 a carton at the PX, even better they cost $24.00 a carton if you buy them from Indians over the internet. The net result, many people spend less time at local stores, pay no state tax at all and continue to "sin".
May have mentioned this before but I'll do her again. If you walk into a local police station and light up a join, first offense, the penalty is $85.00 and off you go. Marijuana is still illegal. If you walk into that same police department and light up a legal cigarette the fine is $250.00.
The simple answer to this insanity is, government can not control the traffic or use of illegal drugs. Thus, in an effort to make themselves look good they increase the penalty and cost of legal drugs to show "the people" that they are doing Something.
If you don't want to smoke or drink that's great. But constantly increasing the price of smokes, booze And gas tax schemes that mainly hit middle and low income citizens is not the answer. Making what was always a legal act more illegal than a purely illegal act is nonsense.
25% of Americans smoke. So the majority rules. But when the majority has fun screwing over the minority it's not always a good thing. You'll understand what I mean when Church's are taxed like corporations.

Stay healthy,
Andy

[reconeil]

Think about this. Churches (if honest) and corporations (if also honest) could care less about taxes.

I so state, since for both churches and corporations The Parishoners, The Consumers, and Shareholders PAY FOR EVERYTHING (as usual). Just like as for governments (Local, State & Federal), The People are the closest thing to A Piggy Bank that churches and corporations also have.

Besides, churches need only have an extra collection (the norm),...and corporations need only raise prices (another norm).
In essence Andy,...the only people WHOM ACTUALLY PAY TAXES are: "We The (Schnooks)".

An example would be that if a corporate CEO were dissatisfied with being taxed 5 million from his needed 10 million dollar bonus, he merely ups a product price so that he can be taxed 10 million from his new and higher 20 million dollar bonus. Everyones happy. Big brother get 5 million more than before, and The CEO ends-up with all of The 10 Million as originally wanted. And, as usual screw The Taxpayer or The Consumer (church goers also).

Neil

P.S. Joy: If The Legion and VFW (the 2 largest veteran fraternities in America) are so great,...how come the VA horror stories keep geeting worse and worse every year? Besides, when I was talking about: "Lobbyists", I meant REAL LOBBYISTS. Not beaurocrats that have as much say-so and clout with other beaurocrats as I have. Also politicos love having as many such different organizations as is possible. A People Divided, and each having there own specific concerns are what such thrive-on. "They" automatically get large gatherings that can be pandered-to for votes,...and then go back to The Beltway and do as they damn-well-please (the norm) for 2, 4, or 6 years.
Whereas a similarly phony Lobbyist could be fired the same day.