OIL THAT IS, BLACK GOLD, TEXAS TEA

Did you miss me? I tried to quit blogging. I really did. I can't do it. So here we go again -

Oil. We need it. A 42-gallon barrel of oil produces just over 19 gallons of gasoline. The rest goes into products we use everyday. For instance, those big fat tires on your car contain about 7 gallons of petroleum each. The grand aspirations of the current administration, Al Gore, and countless organizations to break our “oil addiction” will not work.

AUDACITY

Taxes irritate me. Not that I don't think they are important. In today's day and age we can't support our necessary infrastructure without them. There are a few things I take issue with though.

A MORAL TO THE STORY...

Wow, I've been gone for a while!  I can't believe it's been over two months since I posted, although I'm sure that has come as a relief to most of you.  After my prolonged recess I have returned to post quite possibly my laziest blog to date.  I'm just going to paste two things here that I think convey good messages.  To the best of my knowledge these are NOT based in fact.  Instead they are what some would call web lore, though I consider them more along the lines of apologues.  Just as Aesop's fables were not factual, the lessons they conveyed were valuable.  I think there are important messages here as well...

THE TRILLION DOLLAR QUESTION

I recently posted a scenario on my Facebook group, We Are Americans First.  If you had $1,000,000,000,000 (yeah, with a "T") to spend on the country, what would you do with it? You can refill coffers, "Stimulate", hire, fire, whatever... But you have to spend it on the country... not yourself (sorry, you're not in Congress, yet). Below is my proposed answer.  

TOP ISSUES

I have been pondering for some time; what are the biggest obstacles that face our nation?  I have decided to blog on what are, in my opinion, the three largest hurdles our society must overcome.

WE NEED TO SECURE OUR BORDERS

I have personal ties to this subject, yet I have to stay objective.  That’s what I expect from our politicians (and yes, I go to bed disappointed regularly).

Depending on the source, estimates on the number of immigrants illegally living in the United States range from 10 to 20 million.  For the sake of argument I am going to use the average (15 million).  I know it’s not accurate, but that’s because no one, including our government, knows for certain.   Therein lays the first problem.  We don’t know for certain.  Our borders are so unsecure that people pass freely (in AND out) carrying whatever they want with them including weapons and drugs.  Keep in mind this is NOT a Mexican issue, or a drug issue, or a terrorism issue… this is a security issue.  Our borders are porous and that should concern Americans. 

A GLIMMER OF HOPE

In February the President enacted an Executive Order thereby creating the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform - this is a bipartisan group with one mission, reduce the deficit.  He has given the commission until 01 Dec 2010 to provide their recommendations.  Publicly nothing has been ruled out, in fact the opposite is true, with President Obama stating, "Everything is on the table.  That's how this thing is gonna work."  So they may recommend raising taxes or cutting programs (yes, even Health Care Reform is on the table), or they may recommend a combination.  But according to the President, "I'm going to be standing with them as they come up with the recommendations."  This press conference excited me with it's possibilities, although I am fully aware this could just be lip-service.

PAYING BACK OURSELVES

Just couple videos this time, cause videos are more fun than reading ;)

PLEASE FOLKS, DO YOUR HOMEWORK

In reference to the Facebook page on Being Conservative that reads...

(Click to see full sized)

TAX MASTERS

I guess I'll start by ensuring all of you know of whom I speak.  I refer to Patrick Cox's organization called Tax Masters whose motto is, "We solve your tax problems." Before I go on, you must watch the most recent commercial if you haven't already (this may take a moment to load)...