Mouths Open, Brains On Standby

Two posts ago I said I was going to work on one called "A Tale of Two Idiots."

At the time, I had in mind to talk about Mark Sanford's current real life soap opera - and Obama's crazy health care proposal and socialist tendencies. But there's been some interesting things transpire in the last week and a half or so that a title change to "A Tale of Three Idiots" doesn't really have as good of a literary ring.

In question are the following cast of characters: Mark Sanford, Joe Wilson, and Kayne West.

They're not exactly a group that you would imagine would play cards together late at night over a bottle of scotch and cigars. I can't quite picture them all hanging out at a ball game together either.

They're just not what you would call "birds of a feather."

One thing they do have in common though is that they have each found themselves in the spotlight lately for not being able to control their mouths.

First off, let's talk about Sanford.

This guy has been shooting himself in the foot since (re)setting foot in Argentina in June to meet up with his mistress. It started off with his bizarre press conference when he revealed his affair. From there it went to disclosing more sordid details about his affair. He goes on to talk about his "soul mate." Then as people start to ask for his resignation, he gets defensive.

He must think that we're going to let this slide.

Well guess what Mark? It's time to resign. Your colleagues have tried to explain to you why this is going to severely impact your ability to govern over the final 15 months of your term. Just do it. Just resign. Stop back talking everyone. Stop running your mouth. Stop trying to justify your own stubbornness and why it's best to keep you around. Just let us move forward with Andre.

Should Sanford had disclosed all that he has? We expect our leaders to be honest and forthcoming with us. Which he ultimately was -- to an extreme, mind you. But to continue to serve as a distraction when you should have realized that you're continuing to serve as a distraction is irresponsible.

We look for leaders. Leadership calls for responsibility and honesty. Sanford's sort of a mixed bag on that.

Next up, Joe Wilson.

Joe is one of those guys who speaks his mind. Ordinarily, that hasn't been in such a controversial way as what happened last week when he yelled "You lie!" in the middle of Obama's address to the full Congress. He's a die-hard Conservative who I admire very much. I'm a big Joe Wilson fan.

Bad place to say that though, Joe.

What I think we all can learn from Joe's case, in particular, is that people should be able to and should question their leaders. They should be able to and should question policies and the logic behind them, whether it is a policy that is being proposed or already in effect. But you should realize there is a time and place for doing and sometimes you need to step back and think about that....And you shouldn't just blindly vote, support, or go with what is being handed to you without thinking it through.

Yes, calling the president a liar in such a locale as the the halls of Congress, in a forum such as a public address by the president to the fully assembled bodies of Congress is in bad form. No matter your personal opinion of the president (or any leader you have issues with), you should respect the fact that they are the president.

I respect the fact that Obama is the president. I respect the man. I may not like him, but like and respect are two different things and more people need to learn to differentiate between the two. With the President, in particular, you need to at show respect for the man and the position in which they sit.

Instead this whole Joe Wilson thing is turning into a political circus. Just like what Sanford has done by opening his mouth continually.

But, Joe, to throw yourself in he spotlight ... the negative spotlight, with no warning... have you been reading from Sanford's 101 Points For Personal Destruction?

Were Wilson's actions disrespectful? Yes. Was he wrong for voicing his opinion? Maybe, maybe not. But he did apologize to the President. And that should be case closed on it.

Leave it alone. The man doesn't need to be punished any more. He doesn't need to be censured. All that is is a political ploy by the Democrats to shame a man. I'm sure he feels ashamed enough as it is.

Honestly, I don't see anything wrong with people having an opinion. Everyone has them. Everyone is entitled to them.

But people really need to think before suddenly voicing their opinion in a manner or forum which is inappropriate and will hurt themselves and the cause which they represent.

Which leads us to offender No. 3 - Kanye West.

What Kanye did by taking the stage Sunday night during the Video Music Awards, interrupting Taylor Swift's acceptance speech, and belittling her work in front of the entire world was just complete and utterly disrespectful, shameful, and wrong.

Miss Swift is a young lady who was worked hard to accomplish what she has at a young age. This was her very first VMA -- awarded by an organization that has been so focused on hip hop, trash, and sleeze in recent years, who instead, on an amazingly positive note, decide to award it to a wholesome country artist. That alone says a lot.

This was her moment. And he took it away from her. That shows a complete lack of manners and respect for other artists.

Some in the internet discussion boards since the incident have called it racist. Whether it was racially motivated or not, Kanye should be ashamed of himself.

So what's up with all the bad behavior? Well, I can see how each could potentially think that they have nobody to be accountable to but themselves. And without the accountability I guess they think it's better to ask forgiveness than permission to act out of the ordinary.

In each case, though, there is a line of accountability. Wilson and Sanford to their supporters, the people who put them in office, and the entire constituency of South Carolina; West to the fans that look up to him, for whatever bizarre reason they do, and see him a a role model.

People in these types of positions are supposed to be role models. So what do we do with our role models? Do we discipline them?

We definitely should hold them accountable.

More and more political officers and leaders in South Carolina are calling for Sanford's resignation and trying to hold him accountable. Will he resign? Who's to know...

Should the House censure Joe Wilson? That is an obviously political move by the Democrats to put their finger down on the other side of aisle more and more. Is that really censureship or censorship? He's already apologized to the president. Now they want him to issue a public apology on the floor of the house.....Will he? Who's the know...

Should MTV let Kanye get away with his actions? Personally, I think they could take better steps to control the accessibility of the stage during events like that. Again, he's entitled to his opinion. But to opine in the manner he did, he probably would have been better off to sit in his seat and yell to the presenters "You lie!" Would he? Who's to know...

I admit my ideal outcome in each of these cases isn't consistent. But while the circumstances and back story in all three cases are different, the actions are very similar in nature.

All of these are just examples of why people sometimes just need to keep their mouths shut. Is it worth the trouble to cause trouble though? Really?

I guess it's just a case of people opening their mouths with their brains on standby.

It's Time To Go Back

Image courtesy of FoxNews.com

It was put into motion 48 years ago.

“I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth. No single space project in this period will be more impressive to mankind, or more important for the long-range exploration of space; and none will be so difficult or expensive to accomplish” – President John F. Kennedy, May 25, 1961, address to joint session of Congress

Then, 40 years ago, mankind set foot on a celestial body that we had admired in awe, fascination, wonder, and sometimes even fear, since the day that God put our ancestors on this planet.

We committed ourselves to a goal. And we achieved it.

It must have been a wonderous feeling to watch – as the Saturn V rocket launched forward from its launchpad on plume of 7.6 million pounds of thrust; as our astronauts, Neil, Buzz and Michael, soared through the vastness of space toward the moon; as the Eagle descended and then landed; and as Neil put his boot down on the surface of the moon.

He stumbled a little verbally as he searched for the words he wanted to say.

But he said the phrase that we all know: “That's one small step for a man – one giant leap for mankind.”

Awesome.

We had put a man (actually two men that time - 10 more would follow in their footsteps) on the moon.

And guess what…. There’s an AMERICAN flag on the moon. WE did it. It was our boys who were up there. The United States of America achieved that goal.

Granted, it wasn’t all for the nature of satisfying our curiosity. It wasn’t all just to inspire people. There was a Cold War going on. We were in a space race with the Soviet Union. It was a constant game of one-upsmanship and power plays.

Kennedy himself was known to have only set that goal of the moon and of NASA’s rapid rise in the 60s for the purpose of having the edge in the Cold War.

Even still, it’s amazing to think of. In less than 100 years, mostly since the turn of the 20th century, man had pioneered the telephone, radio, car, airplane, television – and space travel. And we put a man on the moon.

I would say that landing a man on the moon was probably mankind’s greatest technological achievement in modern history, if not all of history. It was definitely the most inspiring achievement to the most amount of people at probably any time in history.

But it’s been 40 years. And we haven’t been back in almost 37.

I can honestly say that I don’t think there have been any achievements of any kind anywhere near that magnitude, let alone that inspiring, in the last 40 years. We need to be inspired. We need to have something that we all collectively want to achieve.

It was a moment in which the WORLD came together in fascination. One which still captures the imagination.

We can all say we want world peace. That isn’t likely to happen soon. That would be the best achievement we could ever reach for. But more realistically, we can all reach for the moon. It’s out there. We've been there before. We know it’s not made of cheese. And we know that no cow can jump over it without a rocket system engineered for that specific purpose, with sound life support and environmental controls and an adequate supply of grass for it to chew on.

Man did it though – and we will do it again. We need something to recapture that fascination and imagination.

But by the time we make it back, given no delays on the proposed timeline, it will be 2020 and it will be 48 years since man last set foot on the moon. That’s too long of a time.

Space exploration is something that we can’t hold back on. It’s in our nature to be wonder – to explore – to see what’s out there past our newest frontier. We’re never going to be satisfied to sit here on this rock we call Earth and not explore the heavens.

God made it all for us. He made a race of explorers. He gave us a curious nature. And he provided us with the tools to satisfy that curiosity and to send ourselves out on new adventures.

I think we owe it to the men and women that built NASA, that built our space program, and pushed this nation and mankind to that new frontier to go back to the moon.

But we’ve been spinning our wheels. We’ve lost 17 fine, brave souls in the process, 14 of those in a program that should have long since paved the way for something even more amazing.

We owe it to them to go back. They would have wanted it. We owe it to them to go even further.

On Sept. 12, 1962, President Kennedy, in an address give at Rice University on the space effort, declared “We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too.”

We chose to go to the moon. And we did. Now let’s get back on track and go back to the moon - go to Mars, go further out, and “boldly go where no man has gone before.”

Stay tuned for Part 2: You Call This Support?

Things I Would Have Asked During My White House Visit

Barack Obama met with President George W. Bush this week during his first visit to the White House as president-elect.

I can only imagine what an overwhelming, yet electric experience that would be for anyone in such a position. Such a historical event, in such a historical place.

No matter who the person, you have to respect the president, whether outgoing or incoming, the authority and trust they represent, and their role as our commander in chief. And to meet with the president, whether you're a common citizen or the president-elect, is an both an honor and a privilege. You have to be in awe of the White House itself too. It represents our 232 year history (Ok, it's a few years shy of that, itself), has countless stories to be told (and many secrets that we will never know about) and is the residence and office for the most powerful person in the world.

I've never met a president before. I met many presidential candidates and even met George W. Bush once during his 2000 campaign. I got him to autograph an issues publication of his.

That being said, if I were Barack Obama (or any president-elect meeting a sitting president in the White House the first time after the election), there are a still a few questions I would have to ask that probably are not on the typcial list of things to ask:

• Do we really have an alien ship stashed at Area 51?
• Will they let you hook a Playstation or a Wii up to the projection system in the White House theater?
• Have you ever wanted to go off script with a knock-knock joke?
• They do carry chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream in the kitchen, right?
• So this button right here, bad.. OK, and this one is for room service?
• Where are all the secret passageways?
• Think they would mind if I played paintball in Rose Garden?
• It's pretty fun to slide down the banister of the main staircase, isn't it?
• Those headphones they give you to listen to at international meetings -- you can plug those up to an Ipod, right?
• Can I issue an Executive Order that all of Congress participate in Dress Up As Your Favorite Star Wars Character Day?
• Have they ever let you go out into the woods with the presidential station wagon in the dead of winter to select and chop down the First Family's Christmas tree?
• Who do I need to to give a 6-month vacation to in order to be able to fly Air Force One for a few minutes?
• What's the best game you've ever bowled in White House bowling alley?
• There's a massager and heating unit built into the big chair in the Oval Office, right?
• Would you really call it an Oval, or more of a Circle or Ellipse?
• Will they let Air Force One buzz the tower at Andrews, or do they always say that the pattern is full?
• Which one of the foreign presidents/national leaders is the most fun to trade humorous email forwards with?
• Think they'll let me take Bill Clinton's picture down and replace it with a big orange Clemson Tiger Paw?

and --- drum roll, please.........................

• Hey, all these flashy screens and buttons in the Situation Room are really cool and make it look like something out of a sci-fi movie - don't you ever want to stroll in dressed as Darth Vader?

Election Day Part 4: So, So, So Disappointed

Damn.

That's pretty much all I have to say.

I wish us all good luck. We're going to need it.

This is not the change I was hoping for.

Don't get me wrong, I think it's wonderful that we've come to the point as a nation of Americans, brothers and sisters, to elect a minority president. I just wish it would have been someone else.

We're in for ... well, we're in for four years of socialist liberal policies that could potentially bankrupt our country, especially if we start spreading the wealth around too much.

We're in for tax increases. We're in for more entitlement programs. We're in for more government involvement in people's lives.

We're in for a signficant weakening of funding and support for the people who need that government involvement the most: our men and women in uniform. Iraq and Afghanistan will be in for a rough ride in turn. We could be in for more terrorist activity on our soil. Let's hope and pray that doesn't happen.

This is a dark, dark day for America.

We needed someone who would put us back on the map as a strong world power with a vibrant economy. That won't happen under Obama's watch, I can guarantee you that.

I guess we just ride out the storm the best we can and hope that someone better will come along in 2012 with the ability to fix the changes that Obama will screw us all up with.

Is She? Could She Be?

I case you haven't noticed it by now on the right hand side of your screen, I would just like to take this opportunity to highlight a blog post by my former Political Science professor Chuck Dunn ---- "Is Sarah Palin the Next Ronald Reagan?"

This is a very interesting post - and Dr. Dunn brings up some very interesting points comparing Reagan and Palin's backgrounds, personalities, and beliefs.

Nothing in this world is certain. Something can happen at the very last minute to throw something out of whack. But if anyone has their pulse on what will or has a high likelihood of happening in the political arena, Dr. Dunn is one of the people whose opinions I respect the most and would look to first.

I had two political science professors at Clemson that really invigorated my political beliefs and thought processes. Dr. Dunn is one of them; Dr. Dave Woodard is the other. I would tend to believe either of their speculations, predictions, what-have-you, over any of the major political analysts we see on the national news. (Granted, both have been called on from time to time on the national arena for their expertise).

So to read Dr. Dunn's post and the tone in which he writes it -- I'm thinking his money is on McCain-Palin taking Obama down in the end.

I like Sarah Palin - alot. I really think her vice-presidency will do a lot to reinvigorate the Republican party. I hope it does anyway. She may very well end up being our first female president.

There are a lot of politicians in America. But the term "statesman" has only applied to a select few people that have served in the halls of Congress or in the White House. It's a very exclusive group and it's not one that you can really buy your way into. You might argue that from the perspective of who has the biggest campaign wallet, one can certainly try to buy their way into that club.

But being a "statesman" is not something tangible. It's just something that someone just naturally exudes.

Ronald Reagan I think was our last true statesman. A man of the country, a man of the people, a man of his word, and a man of principle. Is Sarah Palin or will she become our first true "stateswoman"? Only time will tell.

Even if McCain doesn't win this election, I don't think we'll be counting Sarah Palin out anytime soon. The fire has been lit......

Fighting the Fight

It didn't really hit me until I was on my way into work today.

I knew it was coming up, but in the rush of work and other things, I didn't realize that the seventh anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks was today until someone on the radio station I was listening to mentioned it.

Where were you that morning?

My wife and I were in the car on our way to work, listening to the radio when one of the DJs announced that an commercial airliner had just struck a tower of the World Trade Center. We listened as they were reporting what was coming over their wire.

Nobody knew what was going on - even when I got into work a few minutes later.

You would think at a TV station where people are supposed to be on top of things that someone would know what was going on. But things were happening so fast.

We watched as the second plane struck the second tower; as reports and video came in of a plane hitting the Pentagon; of another plane crashing in a field in Pennsylvania; and then as the Towers collapsed.

All you can think is "My God. All those people."

Throughout the morning false reports of bombs were flooding the national airwaves; phone lines and cell systems in New York and DC were overwhelmed.

When I heard of a suspected bomb at the State Department, my first thought was "Where's Tim?"

A good friend of mine who works (in Argentina right now) for the State Department was working in DC at the time. I hit the phone and started dialing. I kept trying to reach him all day. "Gotta find out if Tim's OK."

I finally talked to his wife around lunchtime and she said he was OK and that they were both at home, safe. Thank God. That was one of the biggest weights ever lifted off my chest when I heard her say that.

In our newsroom, you could see the reactions -- how people felt -- on their faces. But we had a job to do also. We did our job. We reported on how this tragedy was affecting our area of the country, our counties, our towns, our schools, our churches, and families --- how shocked, hurt, and angry we were.

All those emotions compounded on top of each other -- after the tears and holding your loved ones, watching the same footage over and over, you can't help but feel numb.

I felt that way for days afterwards.

They say each generation has one day that will define them. Some have more. For my parents' generation it was the day JFK was assassinated. I would venture to guess that the day we first set foot on the moon was one also.

For years, I thought that Jan. 28, 1986 would be the one that defined my generation - when the Challenger exploded. I know it had a tremendous impact on my life. I still don't like to watch that video.

Sept. 11 was defining moment in history - not only for the the youth of this generation, but for every American and the entire world.

We saw more flags, more patriotism, more support for one another, and probably the largest outpouring of sympathy and community that this country had probably seen since the attack on Pearl Harbor. I wish that all that would have continued on as strong even to now. But alot of the flags have since become faded or torn or put up in a closet; many of the yellow ribbons have been taken down or lost.

A few weeks later my wife and I were at a NASCAR race. Halfway through the race, they just stopped it.

Over the loudspeakers, the announcers say that it is being reported that our military forces have begun a bombing campaign in Afghanistan. You wouldn't believe the volume of cheers, applause, and screaming of "USA, USA" that was going on. Then President Bush came over the monitors and loudspeaker as he addressed the nation. And afterwards, more cheers, applause, and screaming of "USA, USA".

I will never forget Sept. 11, 2001. It still hurts us though. Some people don't want the hurt to remain. Different people remember and honor in different ways.

I noticed a few quotes in an article on FoxNews this morning that kind of struck me.

• "We've kept it alive, and perhaps kept it alive too long," said Charles Wolf, whose wife, Katherine, was killed at the World Trade Center. "How many times do you reopen the wounds?"
• "The remembrances have to continue; for how long, I can't say," said Barbara Minervino of Middletown, N.J., whose husband, Louis, died in the towers.

A former supervisor of mine has a daughter who watched from a nearby office tower as the World Trade Center burned, people jumped from windows 100 stories up, and the buildings collapased. It had such an impact on her that she went into counseling afterwards.

I know people and have friends that have fought in the desert of Iraq. I have never heard them question why we are there or what their mission was. Our mission is clear: Protect our way of life. Protect those who can't protect themselves. Foster Democracy in nations that have never known such freedoms.

I stand behind each and every one of our men and women in uniform. I support them; I love them; and I want them to come home. But at the same time, I know they are there for a purpose.

We can second guess our government all we want. That is our right. We can say that McCain will be a better president for this reason or Obama will be a better president for that reason. That is our right.

They can call George Bush every name in the book for all I care. They can complain about our military and our intelligence community's methods and tactics all they want. People can sit back and bitch about the Patriot Act all they want.

We can say that the War on Terror was justified -- that our actions in Afghanistan and Iraq have been worth it. You won't ever catch me saying they have not been. We can speak out against it. That is our right.

But it is our responsibility to remember the tragedy of Sept. 11, 2001 and the families and victims. It is our responsibility as Americans to make sure that never happens again. It is the cross we have to bear.

We need this country to be secure. We need to keep the future our of country and of our children in mind at all times. We need to continue to fight to preserve our way of life.

A wise Vulcan once said, "The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few."

Your may think, "Well I need a 47-inch wide screen TV, or I need a gas guzzling SUV or a pair of $150 pair of shoes. I need to go out tonight, dress like a skank, and party with my friends. I need to go yell at a referee and act like an obnoxious ass at a little league game." You don't really NEED to do any of that. It's your right as an American to do any of that; and that right is being protected by men and women in dark holes of the Pentagon, on the streets of Baghdad, in the warden's office at Guantanamo Bay, and in the mountains of Afghanistan.

If it keeps my family safe - if it keeps my friends safe - if it prevents my neices and nephews from growing up in a world where they worry about planes falling out of the sky to hurt them, then I don't care the lengths that our government has to go to in order to keep this country safe.

One of my all time favorite quotes was on the very last episode of Jericho: "That is the responsbility we've got here... Because that's how things get better and people stay free."

So let's go forward, remembering those who died on Sept. 11; remembering and honoring those who have died for us in the line of duty since then; remembering and honoring where we were, what we've learned and how we've grown; learning from our mistakes; and continuing to fight the fight that needs to be fought.

No, I Don't Want Corn In My Gas Tank

My wife and I were returning from Charlotte to visit my folks a few nights ago and about 30 miles from home noticed we had dropped down below a quarter of a tank of gas. I don't like to run the cars that low, so I took the next exit.

$3.77. Looks good to me. Pulled in and drove to the pump - but before I got out I noticed the sticker. Contains up to 15% ethanol. So we went on to the station next door. Contains up to 10% ethanol. Next station please. Contains up to 15% ethanol.

I'm not going to the Citgo next door. Citgo is owned by the national oil company of Venezuela. I am not about to put any of my money in Hugo Chavez's hands. He's one of the silent partners in the Axis of Evil.

Went down to the next exit -- and, ironically at a restaurant that I used to frequent while working at a job site during a summer job between my Freshman and Sophomore years of college, found a gas station that was selling non-ethanol blend gas. For the same exact price as the first station I had gone to.

I made the decision awhile ago to not put ethanol in my gas tank - in either car.

This is getting more and more difficult to do as more and more gas stations around here are starting to sell ethanol-blend gas. One of the biggest offenders is Stewart Spinks, also a silent partner in the AoE.

A good friend of ours is a service tech at the local Saturn dealership. He's told me some interesting stories about problems that more and more of their customers are running into after putting ethanol-blend gas in their tanks. We haven't had to have any major vehicle repairs in several years now. And I don't want to start by screwing up my fuel system.

If you look around on the Internet, you can find all kinds of interesting discussions about this.

The ethanol industry doesn't seem to want to acknowledge that there are valid concerns the vehicle owners have and are running into because of their own ignorance about ethanol.

• The Problem With Ethanol - Tampa Bay Online

Some facts about ethanol (you can decide for yourself whether each is a pro or con):

• Ethanol burns cleaner and reduces the amount of toxic emissions.
• Ethanol production is providing an economic boom for corn-farmers in the midwest
  
• Per gallon, ethanol produces 34 percent less energy than a gallon of gasoline and thus reduces your mileage. So you may not necessarily be getting more bang for you buck by purchasing ethanol-blend gas.
• To distill ethanol takes a 3:1 ratio of water to ethanol. It is very water intensive. A lot of states are facing severe drought and need to conserve the water that they currently have.
  
• Ethanol attracts water. When it mixes with water, ethanol separates from the gas and settles to the bottom of the tank with the water.
• Ethanol is corrosive. It eats through fiberglass. This is one reason boaters are having increasing problems with ethanol-blend fuel. There is currently a class-action suit in California against nine major oil companies (Ethanol-Blended Fuel Blamed for Boaters' Problems - ConsumerAffairs.com) because of this.
• Some manufacturers will void your vehicle's warranty if ethanol blends higher than 10 percent are used in its fuel system.
  
• In older model cars, ethanol will eat through rubber components in the fuel system and can loosen fuel tanks.
• More pros and cons..... and more
  

Flex-fuel vehicles are designed to run on up to 85 percent ethanol-15 percent gas and don't have a problem taking the E-10(10 percent mix) or E15(15 percent mix) that the stations I was trying to get gas at on our trip home sell. But flex fuel vehicles are relatively new and not all vehicle models are available as flex-fuel. FFVs really didn't take off until 2003 and after. And neither of our vehicles are FFVs.

• Check here to see if you have a flex fuel vehicle

My two favorite gas stations, Ingles Supermarket (based in Black Mountain, NC) and Murphy Gas (owned by Wal-Mart), do not sell ethanol-blend fuel. This is why unless I am not near one at the time I need to gas my car, I always go to one of the two. And they consistently have the lowest gas prices in this area.

So as long as I have a car with an engine that burns gasoline (whether a fully gasoline engine or a hybrid), I am going to frequent the gas stations without ethanol-based gas. I just wish that they would advertise in big-bold letters on their primary roadside price signs whether their fuel is ethanol-blend so I don't have to waste my time pulling up to the pump to find out.

I'm kind of torn on the The Open Fuel Standard Act proposed this week by Sam Brownback (R-KS), Ken Salazar (D-CO) and Joseph Lieberman (I-CT). It would require that, starting in 2012, 50 percent of all new vehicles be flex fuel and able to burn gasoline, ethanol and methanol, or biodiesel. By 2015, that requirement would go up to 80 percent. Yes, it does help get us away from our dependency on oil, whether foreign or domestic. But that still doesn't address the main issue we're facing by having non-renewable fuel sources still on the market as an option to make our cars move down the road.

Honestly though I think we need to direct our primary efforts toward hydrogen and/or 100 percent elctric vehicles. I think ethanol is basically the go-between from where we are right now to where we could and should be in the near future. And it pisses me off -- not only that I can't go to the pump and find the type of gas that I want every time, but that the companies selling this crap are snowing people with it.

I could go on and on about what's wrong with the energy policies in this country and what we could and should do to make things better for the environment and our own pocketbooks, but that's a post for another time. I could go on and on about blaming this person or that person, or the people who insist on driving gas-sucking SUVs and minivans (are these really necessary? -- is the status quo in the PTA just that important to you? This gets back to analogy of your friends jumping off a bridge...) For the record, I will never purchase an SUV or a minivan.

And I could go on and on about our government's lack of initiative in adequately addressing the issues. It's taken $4 a gallon gas for people to jump up and take notice.

To his credit, and although probably motivated by his own selfishness, oilman George W. Bush lifted the federal moratorium on offshore drilling last week that his dad put in place. Now we just have to wait and see if our liberally-lopsided Congress will allow drilling on the outer continental shelf. Not that that is really going to solve anything at this moment in time, but within the next decade it should provide us some valuable benefits. I don't think any Congress is going to open up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, and I think that's a good thing. But with Bush's last minute drive to actually do something about our dependency on foreign oil, I think that's a step in the right direction. He may not be the sharpest tool in the shed, but I think this may help redeem his image.

McCain and Obama are at least putting in some effort required so that they can advertise that they each have an energy plan. I think McCain's Lexington Project is better and more realistic, but he's still an idiot. And I'm going to vote for the guy because I do not want a democrat in office along with a democratic congress. That would be really, really bad.

My father and I tend to diverge (not drastically, but enough to provide for some interesting discussions) on a lot of political issues. But we're pretty much both on the same page on our opinion of T. Boone Pickens' plan for foreign oil and U.S. energy consumption and policies. So if you're up for a good read, check out FoxNews' article today on Pickens' plan or my dad's series on energy policies over at his blog.

I'll probably follow up with more on this later.

To Vote or Not to Vote

I hadn't planned on voting today in the primary.

There were 14 people running in primaries today for county level positions in Greenville County. Our local U.S. House district had three candidates on the Democratic side and two on the Republican.

There were four positions on my Republican primary ballot -- county sheriff, state senator, U.S. House representative, and U.S. senator. I voted for all four incumbents -- I personally know two of them. Aside from the fact that I honestly know my one puny vote doesn't really mean squat when it comes down to the final numbers and I don't totally agree with everything they've done, I feel both of them have done pretty good jobs and wanted to show them my support, so I voted Bob Inglis for U.S. House and Lindsey Graham for U.S. Senate.

I didn't know hardly anything about the incumbents' challengers -- or any of the people running for our county council (although my county council district did not have anyone on the ballot today anyway).

I know that I myself am to blame to a large degree for my own ignorance of those candidates' platforms. I haven't really taken the time this election cycle to research them - which is something each voter is obligated to do.

Can ignorance really be bliss? When it comes to who we put in public office, I don't think so.

Frankly, I also put a great deal of blame on the candidates themselves, the media, and the party leaders for not getting adequate information out to the public.

The daily newspaper I used to work for several years ago would always make it a point to do side-by-side profiles of all the candidates, whether for city council or U.S. Senate, on the local ballots. I can remember several times putting those together. We did that because we felt it was our responsibility to our readers.

Both the local Democratic party and Republican party in the primary county that newspaper served are very active and make it a point to support all of their candidates and educate the local voters through a variety of methods.

Having moved to Greenville County a little less than three years ago and not really knowing any of the local players, it's a different ball-game now. I really feel out of the loop.

From what I've seen, the Greenville County parties and the major local daily have a lot to learn about educating the public.

I've been a political junkie pretty much since I got into college.

From being in the Clemson University College Republicans; to volunteering on Lindsey Graham's first congressional campaign; to writing a weekly point-counterpoint column against a very tree-hugging, liberal fellow reporter; to actively working on getting a good friend elected to Congress (including long sweaty days of driving through five counties, digging holes and putting up 8' x 4' campaign sides and even carrying campaign materials to rallies that he wasn't able to attend), I've gotten to work with and know some people who are now in some pretty powerful positions.

But that's just me.... then there's the general public.

There are a lot of people that don't know a thing about the people who are deciding trash pickup fees or property zoning issues -and in turn don't feel right about going out to the polls and making an uniformed decision.

Admittedly, that was my pseudo-dilemma today.

Registered voters have at least made the conscious decision at some point that voting is somewhat important to them. If you are registered to vote, there is no excuse for you not to - unless you have an emergency come up that prevents you from getting to the polls.

I had to tell myself that today on my way home. I know I would have been guilt-tripping myself until November unless I voted today in the primary.

Of course there are a lot of people who don't feel it necessary to vote at all (or even register to vote). Voter dissatisfaction or apathy can be very powerful forces. But there are people in those groups who then turn around and bitch about what's going on when their city council, county council, school board, or their state and federal legislators do something they don't like.

If you don't like what your elected officials are doing, then get off your ass, fill out your registration (you can do it online now) and go to the polls.

I really can't wrap my mind around why people wouldn't want to take advantage of their right to vote.

I've voted in every election that in which I have been able to since turning 18. I've cast most of my votes based on my knowledge of the candidates' platforms. There have been a few instances in which I have voted against someone based on interaction with them. And I have voted for a few Democrats: case and point, in 2006 I voted for incumbent Grady Patterson over Thomas Ravenel in the SC Treasurer's race. We saw how well having Ravenel as treasurer turned out.

They're saying that the turnout in some of our county's precincts today was as low as 10 percent. That is truly pathetic.

We as voters may not always put people in office who in the long run are good for our city, county, state, or country. But we do have that right and responsibility to vote. Voting is the cornerstone of a viable democracy. It is the duty of each and every American citizen to register to vote, educate themselves about the candidates and go press that button on election day. We owe it to the people who fought for us to have that liberty.

So I'm making it a point between now and November to become as knowledgeable about each and every candidate that will be on my ballot as possible.

Following the Water

I'm a big space nerd. I always have been. I think the idea of space exploration is fascinating.

Today was a big day for NASA. I can only imagine how tense but exciting it was today at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena.

The Phoenix Mars Lander touched down on the Martian north pole today. It was the first time in 32 years that we've had what is called a successful "soft landing," a descent controlled by thrusters, on Mars. The few probes that have landed on Mars since the Vikings of the 1970s have landed using airbags.

The next probe to be sent to Mars will be the 2,000 pound Mars Science Lab, a third generation rover set to be launched next year, which will also utilize a soft landing system.

But the big deal about this mission is that it will be analyzing soil and ice samples for traces of organic compounds - traces of the life. It may also tell us if Mars was ever warm enough to have flowing water on its surface.

This is a key part to NASA's Mars strategy dubbed "Follow the Water."

We've learned some amazing things from Phoenix's predecessors to Mars.

The rovers Spirt and Opportunity, which have been on planet since 2004, have provided us new information about the Martian terrain. The Mars Pathfinder and its rover Sojourner provided analysis of Martian soil and weather during it operation from 1997 to 1998.

The Mars Odyssey has been in orbit over the planet since 2002, searching for signs of past or present water and volcanic activity on Mars. The Mars Reconaissance Orbiter has been mapping the planet for the last two years, along with the European Space Agency's Mars Express Orbiter which has been there since 2004. The Mars Global Surveyor recently spent nine years in orbit studying Mars and its moon Phobos.

I know this may sound really geeky, but this stuff really excites me.

I wholeheartedly believe that the operation of NASA is very justifiable. Granted there are probably areas within the agency and its programs, as with every governmental agency, that need to be streamlined and/or eliminated and/or monitored more closely.

As time goes on, we'll more than likely see private industry become more and more of a player in space exploration - and someday they will probably take over as the primary platform. But for the time being, NASA has a very critical role in keeping the spirit of exploration alive and development of space technology moving forward.

The agency has accomplished some really exciting stuff in the last 20 years -- even with their faster, cheaper, better attitude. Just consider some of this:

• As of March of this year, the Voyager I probe (launched in 1977) was 9.82 billion miles from Earth and the farthest manmade object from Earth
• The Galileo, launched in 1989, spent 14 years studying Jupiter, conducted man's first asteroid flyby, discovered the first asteroid moon, and launched the first probe into Jupiter's atmosphere
• The Ulysses Probe has been studying the sun for the past 14 years and has flown through the tails of two comets in the process.
• In 2001, the Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous - Shoemaker probe was the first manmade probe to land on an asteroid.
• The Cassini probe was the first probe to orbit Saturn in 2004. The Huygens probe which separated from Cassini in 2005 was the first to land on another moon (in an ocean of liquid methane, nonetheless)
• In 2005, the Deep Impact probe was the first manmade object to impact a comet's nucleus and study its interior
• In 2004, the Genesis probe returned samples of solar wind particles back to Earth. Then in 2006, the Stardust probe returned cosmic dust from a comet back to Earth
• The New Horizons probe launched in 2006 will be providing the first close-up images of Pluto, sometime in 2015.
• The Dawn probe launched last fall will study the two largest members of the asteroid belt - the asteroid Vesta and dwarf planet Ceres
• The Kepler Space Observatory to be launched next year will join the ESA's COROT telescope in looking for Earth-sized planets outside our solar system

From the launch of Sputnik to the landing of Phoenix on Mars, space exploration has provided countless benefits and allowed mankind to solve many mysteries of our solar system that were centuries old. No one can tell me that space exploration is not justified. Anyone who believes so is a moron. But there are a lot more mysteries that we will solve in the future.

There will also come a day when humanity will exhaust all of its existing resources on Earth and will be forced to look elsewhere to sustain our race. The steps we take today are important for that reason.

The steps we take today are providing and will continue to provide new technological breakthroughs to benefit all of mankind -- and advances in countless fields of science, from medicine to agriculture.

Mainly though, we're a race of explorers. We always have been. We can't sit still. We want to learn how to better oursleves. We have to know what's out there. Whether or not we ever come in contact with another race of sentient beings is beside the point --- we're going to learn more about ourselves, our creation, our solar system, and our universe in the process.

During the course of its history, NASA has lost 17 of its own either in flight or in launchpad exercises. Let's make sure that they didn't die in vain -- that their spirit of exploration lives on -- and we keep following the water.