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.

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.

Election Day Part 3: Problems and Solutions

What do you get when you are not told when you walk in the door which line to get into? (And you realize 30 minutes into your wait you should have been in the other line because of the first letter of your last name)

A lot of confusion and long-ass lines.

What do you get when you mix slow people, who have to flip through pages of books with the registration rolls on them, and record voter turnout?

Even longer lines.

What do you get when you mix people who don't know how to use technology along with long-ass lines?

Much longer lines.

How do we solve this?

Well, I have a couple of thoughts about that.

Solution I (please note this involves still going to the polls):
Our drivers licenses in South Carolina have bar codes on them. Supposedly, voter registration is tied into our driver's licenses.

I buy a box of Claritin a month. When I do this, they scan my license bar code. If they can scan my license in order to authorize me to purchase pseudophedrine, then I don't know why the same thing can't be done to verify people's voter registration.

When you go to a concert or sporting event nowadays, they will scan your ticket's bar code before you are let into the event. If this kind of technology exists, let's use it in other ways.

So we implement this how?

A person with a hand-scanner stationed at each door. You can't get into the building until your license is scanned. The scanner is linked wirelessly to a nearby computer which is linked with the central voter registration database. It verifies that you are registered. The person with the scanner verifies that you are the person pictured on the license. And you're good to go.

Then they tell you which of the (and let's not do two lines, let's do three or four) lines to split off to.

Things would go much faster.

Solution II:
I get that the integrity of the process needs to be maintained and that making sure the person voting is who they say they are is part of maintaining that integrity. So really, this solution might not be as practical as of yet given the limitations of technology from multiple standpoints... but, here goes.

When someone registers to vote, they file either a fingerprint or retinal scan (or both). And preferably this be done when they get their driver's license and all of that data linked between the DMV and Voter Services' offices.

When it comes time to vote, you go to your computer. You go to your state's election office's website. It prompts you for some login credentials - including your name, birthday, registration number, and a Personal Indentification Number that you create upon your initial registration to vote.

Then you use the web-cam in your computer for your retinal scan and/or the fingerprint reader for further security and to complete your login.

Then you come to a page or pages that has all your ballot. You cast your vote. You hit submit - and then the system submits your ballot and locks you out from further use until the next election.

And in conclusion...

OK, the realistic application of either method may not yet be practical. But one could only hope.

Here's another thing to consider... but this idea has it's own issues also.

There is no reason why in this day and age that as votes are cast on these electronic machines that the votes cannot be submitted in real-time, electronically, into any database in which they need to be registered so that a running count of the votes is available throughout the day, nationwide.

And here is the issue with that - if people know who is leading, it will end up not being about voting but more of a contest. The fairness of the election and of the voting could be questioned.

Regardless, there's a lot of things that our election officials could do to make the process easier and quicker. But we've got a process, and that's the most important point of all. We all have an equal opportunity to have our say about who sits in the Oval Office or who represents us on city council.

Election Day Part 2: The Return

All day long I had been hearing about long lines at the polling places. My boss didn't make it in until after 9 am this morning because of lines at his polling place. Another coworker of mine did the same thing I did this morning - went to vote, left, and planned to return later in the day.

I asked my boss today if he would mind if I leave by about half an hour early to give me some extra time if needed to stand in line to vote. He said as long as I was going to vote for McCain, no problem.

"Yeah, well, I would rather vote for Fred Thompson, but he didn't stick it out, so yes, McCain," I said, hopped in the car, and left.

As I neared the school where our precinct votes, I expected to see the infamous long lines of voters' cars I had been hearing about all day.

But the parking lot was almost vacant. When I got inside, there was nobody waiting to check in. And each of the dozen or so voting boxes had one person casting their vote.

I joked around with the ladies at the desk a little bit about the lines -- apparently it was non-stop until around 2 o'clock. Then it was steady for a while and slowed to a trickle a little bit before I arrived.

I asked if I could take a picture of the non-existent lines so I could post in on my blog, because I told them that some people may not believe me when I would tell them that at 5 pm there was no line whatsoever.

First off they didn't quite get what a blog is. Secondly, they didn't quite get why I wanted to take a picture to go along with it. And, third, they said no. They said cell phones are not allowed to be used inside a polling place.

I would have argued with them a little bit about the point that technically I wasn't going to use the phone to make a call -- but I didn't quite feel like arguing with a bunch of retirees. I did that at church once recently and it didn't turn out real well.

Anyway... my vote it cast. Not that it will really count much. But I know I voted - I would have felt guilty if I hadn't.

Now when people start bitching about how bad things under Obama will be and then how they have gotten, those that had been brainwashed into voting for him will have no room to talk because they're the fools that will have put him in office. And I will happily say, well, you should have voted for the other guy like I did.

Oh, and to top it all off, they were out of the "I Voted" stickers. Not that I really care, but I did ask about those -- and then told them that I'll just go out and purchase a "Hi, my name is" tag and write on it "I Voted" and wear that around for the rest of the day.

Election Day

I went to go vote this morning. I knew that there would be a high turnout today. But was both pleasantly and annoyingly surprised when I stepped inside the high school that is our polling place and the line was already at the door -- and mind you this is in a hall that's probably 100 or so feet long before you get to where the voting booths are stationed.

Ok... time to make a decision.

Decision made, I stepped into the line. Within 5 minutes, the line was already snaking around the corner of the building outside. Within another 10 minutes, the line in front of me had not moved.

I did some quick calculations. At this rate, I will make it to work at noon.

Sorry Johnny, I'll come vote for you this afternoon. I stepped out of line and headed to the car.

I guess I'll try to leave work a little early and go vote then. I'm sure the lines will be even longer, but then I won't have to worry about never making it to work.

On my way back to the car my thought was "Well, if they're all voting McCain that's a good thing." Then I noticed an Obama bumper sticker on a car pulling up to a spot near mine.

Well, OK - so maybe he'll only get 1 vote out of my precinct. I could only wish that out of all the voters nationwide today that one person would be the only one voting for Obama. Unfortunately, no such luck.

Where Did We Go Wrong?

George Bush is bad - he has screwed everything up. It's all George Bush's fault.

Wah, wah.

I am so tired of hearing that.

What has happened in the last few years? Housing foreclosures have gone up, home values have declined, oil prices have skyrocketed, China's economy has taken off while ours has gone into the toilet, we're set to retire our shuttle fleet and leave our astronauts at the mercy of a nation that is trending back towards communism... the list goes on.

Where did we go wrong?

Who's to blame? You may say Bush, I say Congress. Politics 101 - Congress is who puts legislation in place. The power is really in their hands to fix what we've allowed to get broken. Who has been the majority party in Congress for the last two years? The Democrats.

Who else is to blame? Now let's look at the chief executive.

You may say Bush is to blame. Ok. So he's not real smart and he can't pronounce "nuclear," but he had the largest terrorist attack on the United States to deal with along with political and economic fallout that resulted directly from those attacks. His record of intelligent decisions may not be stellar, and some blame can be put on him, his cabinet, and his advisors. But look what he's had to deal with.

I say a large part of the blame is on Clinton. He should have surgically taken care of Osama bin Laden and the Taliban when he had the chance, but he chose not to. Then we wouldn't (hopefully) have had a major terrorist attack on our country, have to deal with being in a multiple-front war right now, and be spending the billions upon billions of dollars to fight that war.

Then we can look at it from a "trickle-back" standpoint, and lay some blame on the Democratic congress under George H. Bush, go back and put some blame on Reagan, Carter, Ford, Nixon ... and while we're at it, let's put some of the blame on all of us for taking the daring and brave move in creating Isreal following World War II. Most of the middle east has had us in their crosshairs since then.

(Okay, so going back and changing or stopping any of the things that have even in the smallest way contributed to the current state of our economy and our reputation around the world opens up the whole issue of screwing up the space-time continuum and creating innumerable paradoxes)

Fast forward back to 2008 - and we've got McCain blaming Obama and the Democrats. And Obama blaming McCain and the Republicans.

We should just go ahead and portion out the blame so everyone in Congress has some laid on them. And we can continue the blame game all we want. Really, though, it's time for all of these clowns in Washington to stop being politicians and start acting like leaders.

Lead us into a safe and prosperous future. Don't just take a backseat with the nation on autopilot.

After watching the presidential debate the other night, I came to the conclusion that this election for me is really about who is the lesser of two evils and who has less potential to screw this country up even further.

I really don't know. I would like to think McCain. But here he goes off on a $300 billion mortgage buyout. This after a $700 billion bailout, recovery package, whatever you want to call it. Granted, he says, oh yeah most of the money to do the mortgage buyout is already in the recovery package.

You know what, we will all still end up picking up the tab for these predatory lenders, for greedy Wall Street executives, for corporations with no real care in the world for the Average Joe Sixpack (thanks Sarah for the catch-phrase). We are all going to be footing the bill for this for a long time.

And it's time we put an end to coprorate greed, its lobbyists, and the pork they receive. Again, as with everything in the political world, easier said than done.

Both McCain and Obama can say "tax-breaks" all they want, but the sad reality is that with our economy on the track it is and our ability to cover this bailout, get our nation out of debt, and put additional corrective measures into place to fix our economy, it's going to take money out of all of our pockets and I would venture to guess we'll not see any tax breaks, and instead have tax increases under either candidate.

I really have a half-mind to write Fred Thompson in on the ballot because both Obama and McCain grate my last nerves.

I'm sick of this election. And I can believe I'm saying this, but I'm sick of arguing with people over why I am more inclined to vote for McCain over Obama.

Most of it is philosphical and goes back to smart and limited government, and core Republican beliefs of family values and a strong national defense.

Call me a reluctant Republican this go round all you want. I really am.

I'm just ready to get this over with, deal with what we have to deal with for the next four years, hope whomever is elected doesn't screw things up even worse, and hope for better choices in 2012.

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.

This is What We've Been Waiting For

Graphic courtesy/via FoxNews.com

Today is the most exciting day I have ever experienced as a political junkie - and as an American.

Not that John McCain really excites me himself...

But I've been waiting for the day when I've been hit with political chills of excitement. It just happened.

John McCain picked THE BEST candidate for the job of Vice President. He picked THE BEST choice.

Sarah Palin.

We've got this in the bag now. Had he gone with Romney or Pawlenty, I would have moved to Australia.

Sarah Palin.

I am so, so excited about this.

Oh, and to lead in to McCain's introduction today with Van Halen's "Right Now"..... Sweet.

(more to come later....)

And This All Has What in Common? Umm....

I've had a crazy summer. I finally got the magazine done that I've been working on. But I've still got a hundred other things to do this week before our students come back to campus. There's been a lot of stuff keeping me busy at work; and during most of our weekends this summer my wife and I haven't really had a whole lot of spare time to just relax. To top it all off, I've wanted to blog this past week - but haven't really been inspired by any particular topics of interest.

So I'll kind of hit a few random topics:

• The Olympics. Our swimming team is on a tear. Michael Phelps and the crew definitely went in with their game on. Of our 21 athletes so far to receive medals, 17 are on our swimming team. But I'm really not too into the Olympics this year for some reason. I tend to like the Winter Olympics more -- ice hockey, luge, bobsled, snowboarding, snow skiing, and especially ice skating.
• Election 2008. Is anyone else just sick of this election season? It's been going on for nearly 2 years now. And neither one of the candidates are at all exciting. I'm truly at a loss for words with these clowns. Not that I would want Paris Hilton in office, but at least she'd keep things interesting. I'm about at the point where I think I'm going to write Ted Nugent in as who I want to be elected president. Seriously.
• On sort of that note .... John Edwards. Okay, so it is now five days now since he admitted he had an affair. As of right now, he is currently in the 7th headline on MSNBC.com, below the 4 featured articles; he is not even in the headlines on CNN.com. However, he is the 2nd featured article currently on FoxNews.com. So what does this say? If the situation were to be reversed and, say, Mitt Romney or Mike Huckabee admitted that they had an affair, conversely, their placement in the annoying over-liberal general media would be higher most eveywhere, most likely in that No. 2 slot on nearly every news Web site, and you'd find the article buried on the FoxNews Web site (arguably, the best news outlet in the world).
  
  • A. That just goes to show you that there is no such thing as unbiased journalism. I should know. I've been the reporter and I've written the articles.
  • B. Liberal media let their people slide. So what if a democratic Senator had an affair? So what if he had an affair on his wife who was going through an ordeal with cancer? No biggie. WRONG. That is a big deal. For anyone. No matter what your political affiliation. However, I can't help wonder if this had happened with a former Republican candidate for president that the media would crucify them and this would be the story of the day for three weeks.
• Russia Invades Georgia ... I'm not really sure where I am on this. That last thing we need is another civil war going on in this world and another conflict to keep from spewing over into other countries. The Security Council needs to act quickly on this. We don't want another situation like what happened when Yugoslavia broke apart and drove the entire region into war for a decade.
  
• Barbecue ... We watched a show on the food network last night about the "three big barbecue states" in the U.S., those 'supposedly' being North Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas. Not to deny those states' influences on one of the best foods on Earth, but South Carolinians know how to smoke some good pig too. I've been to too many barbecue restaurants and pig pickins around this area to put up with people denying South Carolina its rightful place on the barbecue map. By the way, if anyone is looking for some dang good barbecue, try Just More Barbecue in Pendleton, SC.
  
• Facebook ... I've been on Facebook for about a year now. I like it. It's fun - and provides a good tool for catching up with people you haven't talked to in a while or just as something fun to do with your friends. Facebook is implementing a redesign right now. I don't like it. Most people don't like change. I don't really care for it myself in a lot of cases. But when it totally confuses people and doesn't really make a whole lot of sense, why do it? The new design is very confusing. The old one was pretty straightforward. There are a lot of websites that use a redesign as an excuse to make things overcomplicated. Case in point, a company I used to work for manages I think upwards of 100 television stations' websites now - when they redesigned a few years ago from the initial designs, it was just really ugly. Still is. This all gets back to if it ain't broke, don't fix it.
  
  

So goes my ramblings for the time being. I may expand on any one or more of these posts in the near future. So until then, stay tuned.

Person John Edwards

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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.

A Consumate Journalist

Photo courtesy of the Associated Press via FoxNews.com

Over the course of the weekend since Tim Russert passed away on Friday, I've been reading and watching a lot of news articles about Mr. Russert.

I was a big Tim Russert fan. One of the things about him that I really was impressed with was his impartiality -- he went after Democrats and Republican alike, with the same vigor. He wanted to make sure Americans had all of the facts about the issue(s) at hand.

One person, I can't recall who, said in an interview that Tim ran "Meet the Press" like how a football game should be run. It was meat and potatoes. It was in your face journalism. These are the facts. These are how the facts affect ordinary Americans. Now how are you going to address these facts?

I'm sure some people were shaking their head in puzzled amazement at his whiteboard presentations during the 2000 election coverage, when he kept saying "Everything is going to come down to Florida." You may have been thinking "Wow, this guy really knows his stuff" or "I've never quite seen this approach before." I was thinking a little of both.

I remember talking with Congressman Graham after his first appearance on "Meet the Press" in the late 90s. He told me that he felt that he had to be more on his game when being interviewed by Mr. Russert than with any journalist. I'm sure over time, Lindsey and his fellow politicians who had developed a professional rapport with Tim still felt some anxiety before going on his show.

Despite how aggressively he would press someone on an issue, he always did it with a smile. And he and that person would usually end up laughing over something before the interview was over. He had a visible energy about his work.

Tim was a consumate journalist, from humble beginnings.

If you read or listen to his colleagues that have commented on his life over the last three days, they're saying things like, "He remained true to his beliefs, his family, and his roots his entire life," "He never backed down from a challenge," "He valued hard work," or "He was a family man."

I haven't had a chance to read Tim's books "Big Russ & Me," written about his father, or "Wisdom of Our Fathers." But I've heard both being talked about extensively over the last few days and seen some footage of Tim discussing them. I need to go pick up copies of both.

You could tell he had a great love of family and an amazing repsect for and admiration of his father. In one of the interviews I watched, he says something to the effect of, "I wrote Big Russ to show how we each stand on the shoulders of our fathers. I stand on his. My son stands on mine."

It doesn't get any more truthful than that.

Godspeed Tim Russert. We will all miss you. Rest in peace.

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.

Going Out Into The World

There is a sno-cone stand not too far from our place that my wife and I frequent. I would venture to guess it's one of only a few, if not the only one in our county, as I've never found another one around here. This particular sno-cone stand has been in operation at the same location for 21 years, and opens usually in late April. I think it's family owned.

Right now, it's about six weeks or so into its summer business season and my wife and I have been there at least once a week. The first couple summers we lived in this area, the same girls were there each day, each summer, making the sno cones. This year, there are a couple new girls working there. After about four weeks of us going there this year, finally one day the girl who is there the most says to me, "Same as usual?," before I even get up to the counter.

So we struck up a conversation. I found out her name is Amanda and she'll be going to college this fall at the college that my wife works at. I told her, "Well, my wife and I will be coming by alot this summer so you might as well know our names too," and I told them to her. Friday evening I went by there to get a sno cone and as I made my way up to the window she excitedly says, "I got my diploma yesterday!!" and I congratulated her.

We found out the other day (the idea hadn't really registered with us at any time before now) that the flower girl at our wedding (who was six at the time) is graduating from high school this weekend. She'll be going off to college next year and that is making my wife and I feel really old.

Then there's seven kids at our church that graduated high school this week. We've only been going to our church for about three years, but these kids have been fun to watch mature. Last weekend, we had Senior Sunday and they led both of our services. They're a complete trip -- some are really shy and nervous when speaking, some are comical - and one of them, Patrick, a drummer in our Praise Team who was presented his Eagle Scout award that same Sunday, performed a song that he wrote about what our church means to him. I was really impressed.

Everything with my high school graduation happened so quickly it's really hard to remember all the details of it. Frankly, I wasn't too concerned about anything that day other than getting that diploma in my hands and being totally done with high school. I was ready to move on to college.

I remember my grandparents shouting in excitement as I got my diploma, chuckling under my breath, and really wanting to call my principal something not so nice as I shook his hand. I probably exchanged more words that day with the girl sitting beside me than I had with her our entire time in high school. And one of my best friends was the only one to toss his graduation cap into the air -- all because we had been warned not to by the aforementioned principal.

Having a passing interest in politics at that point, I didn't really give too much thought to the status of the political landscape at that point or my role in the grand scheme of things. Yeah, I could get on a soapbox if I really wanted to ... but I didn't really get into politics really heavy until college.

The world has changed a lot even in the 16 years since I graduated high school. We didn't have cell phones or the Internet; music videos, television shows and movies weren't rampant with sleaze and violence (Ok, we had some); we didn't have presidents having affairs with interns, congressmen having bathroom trysts with members of the same sex, or governors getting it on with call girls (OK, we probably did, but we didn't really know about it); we were playing Zork and had never heard of anything called Grand Theft Auto; we couldn't even imagine someone flying aircraft into skyscrapers and killing thousands of people; Ecstasy? GHB? What's that? - we were just then starting to hear about crack. Kids and families are facing problems and issues now that even in 1992 it would been difficult to imagine, let alone in 1952.

People give the current generation of students alot of crap, saying they're lazy and lack dedication, moral character, and discipline.

It's hard for me to make that type of generalization, or stereotype, if you will, regarding this generation considering my job. I see every day at the college I work at the determination of this generation. There's a few that I just shake my head at sometimes because they're immature idiots, but they're college kids and that's what college kids do.

There are so many factors with every generation that mold each individual and help define their characater, whether good or bad. Yes, there are some bad apples among those individuals, but there's also the shiny apples.

There's a student that just graduated from the college I work at who came from a horrible family situation -- she and many of her 14 siblings were victims of sexual abuse at the hands of their father. The children are now scattered across the state, either in children's homes or foster care. As the oldest, she just became the first of her family to graduate from college. While she was at our college, she was active in more than a dozen activities or groups. And now she's off to another school to complete a Nursing degree.

I do wish all of this year's graduates good luck and success in the future; and I wish for them to develop into strong leaders with a passion for what they do in their careers and their personal lives. They've got a mess on their hands with a broken economy and a country that has lost alot of faith and trust in its leadership at virtually all levels. Hopefully they'll do a better job when they get into those positions than the vast majority of people running this country right now.

I Think I'm Going to Be Sick

Super Tuesday is now over. As expected, no one clear frontrunner has been established for either party. All the politicos, news organizations, and analysts are predicting though a McCain-led Republican ticket and a Hillary-led Democratic ticket. If that's what we're going to have to choose from, I think I'm going to be sick.

Even though I graduated Clemson University with a degree in Political Science, I promised myself when I started this blog that I wouldn't discuss politics on here. I have my reasons for that. But I'm now breaking that promise.

I am so frustrated with the political system in this country. Not many people really undestand, or grasp the concept of primaries, caucuses, delegates, and super-delegates. Not many people really get why the electoral college is in true control of the outcome of presidential elections. (thank God for that in 2000 - or we would have had Al Gore as president when 9/11 happened. I have nightmares about that scenario every night). We need someone in office, regardless of party, that will call for a reevaluation and restructuring of how we put these people in the Oval Offfice. The system is broken - and it needs to be fixed. In my ideal world, we'd eliminate the state primaries, caucuses, and the electoral college and have a national primary for the presidential candidate from each party and follow that up with a national primary for vice-president. I realistically though *sigh* don't think that (if it were to ever happen) would happen in my lifetime.

We're all so tired of the partisan bickering, backroom deals, and politics of legislating - period. My party, the GOP, has totally lost its way. What happened to the Contract With America? Personal agendas and bank accounts got it the way. What happened to keeping the American citizen - our security and our well being - a priority? Again, personal agendas and bank accounts have gotten in the way. No one seems willing to step up to the plate with a true vision of steering this country back on track and in a prosperous direction. These candidates may say they want to fix our economy, provide better health care and education, secure our borders, protect us from international threats, rebuild our industrial base, pursue scientific innovation, and this and that. But what it all comes down to is a power trip for them. Our own government is what has screwed this country up in the first place and our government will continue to be the main reason why every other nation in the world thinks we're a bunch of idiots.

To continue my rant, here's a little something that I posted on FoxNews' discussion board this morning:

Hillary being elected presisdent, with a Democratic congress in power, is the worst of all worlds because in that situation she will have the most ability to push her agenda through. Think about it people (this goes back to what was taught in your high school Government 101 class): the president does not make the laws. The president does not pass the laws. The president proposes legislation. And it is up to Congress to act on those proposals or throw them in the trash. The president is the Cheif Executive of the United States - they execute and enforce the laws; they nominate judges (which is a scary thought on its own with Hillary in office). THE PRESIDENT DOES NOT MAKE THE LAWS - THEY ONlY ENFORCE THEM. CONGRESS MAKES THE LAWS. Democratic president + democratic congress = alot of scary stuff.

That being said, we do not need Hillary in office to even try to get her platform on Congress’ agenda. Universal health care? We’ll go bankrupt. Pulling our troops out of Iraq? Once we leave, the Iranians and the Syrians will invade it and throw the entire region into more chaos than it already is. If there is any hope for democracy and a stable situtation in Iraq, we will need to have a consistent military presence there for years to come. Giving illegal immigrants an opportunity to earn legal status? No way. If they’re here illegally, track them down and deport them. If immigrants want to be in this country, they should be required to do it the legal way. Illegal immigrants are taking jobs away from Americans, driving up our health care costs, and taking precious resources away from our public education system. Do we want someone who supports all this in office? I certainly don’t.

The one person that had the right ideas was Fred Thompson - and he’s out because he wasn’t willing to get the job done and actually RUN for president. Now we’re probably going to be stuck with McCain, who is one of the most liberal Republicans in Congress, and Hillary Clinton to choose from.

Think about this: there are still alot of countries in this world that do not think highly of women in high positions or of any status at all. Do you think they will take us seriously with her in office? I don’t think so. They’re going to try to take advantage of her and our nation any way they can. And what will she do then? - maybe posibly lob some cruise missiles at a pile of dirt in some remote portion of their country just like her husband did when he felt like flexing a little muscle. If we’re going to elect a woman president in this day and age, it needs to be Condi Rice because these countries that we’re having to deal with potentital threats from in the 21st century know that Condi means business and she’ll kick them to the curb.

There are so many things wrong with this country today and everyone thinks they have a better way to fix them. I have my own thoughts; you have yours. Nobody has the ultimate solution for everything. And the people that are on the ticket(s) still are the best that have stepped up to the plate for us to have to choose from? That is truly pathetic. I’m a diehard, conservative, card-carrying member of the GOP. I hate what our party has come to. It is fractured to the point where I don’t think any of the candidates we have can pull it back together and get it on track to defeat Hillary. We need a uniter. Is there really one on either ticket? I don’t think so.

Sorry for the ranting - I just needed to get all that off my chest before I go throw up.

Presidential Paintball

I found this today -- it's pretty cool. It really brings about a lot of enjoyment being able to cap Hillary Clinton and John Edwards repeatedly with a barrage of paintballs. Try it out!

Presidential Paintball Hillary, Obama, Giuliani & more play paintball for the USA Presidency!

Play this free game now!!

Happy Birthday America

She doesn't look too bad at 231 years old. Yeah, she's got some battle scars. She's a little rough edges from time to time. And her family doesn't necessarily treat her right all the time, but the United States of America turned 231 this July 4th.

---

As with every 4th of July, there are people who truly do recognize the symbolism of this holiday -- and show their patriotism. For many people though, it's just a day off of work.

(Granted I did enjoy my day off of work. We grilled out and ate some hot dogs and some hamburgers, and went to see some fireworks)

But I wish more people would recognize the 4th for what it truly is. I wish on this day each year that every American would take time to recognize that the freedoms and liberties we enjoy as Americans are due to the people who 231 years ago signed their names on a document that turned them all into traitors in the eyes of the British crown and essentially laid down bounties on each of their heads (There was a great editorial in the Asheville Citizen Times yesterday about this); because of the more than 1 million American service members since that day who have given their lives in the defense of that freedom; and even because of each and every patriotic American who casts their vote for our legislators.

I wish so many things for this country and it's people. But we're 300 million sisters and brothers who don't see eye to eye and are not perfect. We don't all agree. We can be a factionalized bunch and are always split on issues -- from Iraq, to the environment, to family values. We try to tackle domestic issues and we make mistakes. We try to tackle international issues and we make mistakes. But we do things right also. We don't all get along. And we never will. The fact that we are all so different and we want different things for our country, yet we all have the ability to affect change in it is what sets us apart from every other nation in the world. That is the beauty of America. It's kind of a paradox.

231 years ago 56 men who led ordinary lives did something extraodinary. They put their own lives on the line so that the promise of a new nation, of new freedoms for generations and generations to come, could be born. I just wish I could travel back in time and thank each and every one of them.

Unrelated Topics On the Mind

I feel bad I haven't blogged in a few weeks. I have a few things that I want to just mention really quickly though. I may expand on these in the very near future, but for now I just wanted to get these out of my brain and onto paper (or the web, as the case may be)

1. Thomas Ravenel
For those of you who are unfamiliar with who Thomas Ravenel is, he is the (suspended) South Carolina State Treasurer. Earlier this week he was indicted on drug-related charges. This guy seemed sleezy from the get-go. He's just one of those types of people that looks like you can't trust him from the minute he opens his mouth. I am a die-hard, card carrying member of the GOP but this guy just is like nails on chalkboard. In every election since I was 18 I voted a straight Republican ticket - except in 2006. The one non-party line vote I have ever cast in my life was for Ravenel's Democratic opponent, Grady Patterson, who had been in office for years.

People like Ravenel are the reason why most of the nation thinks South Carolinians are an uneducated bunch of inbred hicks. He is an embarassment to the entire state. I don't understand why in the world ANYONE in a position like his would even think of being involved in anything remotely illegal. Yet politicians do it all the time. Again, this is a case of someone of status thinking they are above the law. And, fortunately for the justice system, the law caught up to him, yet unfortunately for the state of South Carolina, it makes us look like a bunch of drugged up rednecks. Thanks Thomas.

2. 9 Heroes
On a sad and tragic note....
Nine Charleston firefighters died earlier this week when the roof of a mattress store collapsed onto them as they were searching the store, which was engulfed in a massive fire, for anyone remaining inside. It was the highest loss of firefighters in a single instance since September 11, 2001. My thoughts and prayers go out to each and every family member and friend of each of these brave men.

3. Get in the game, Fred
Fred Thompson is polling very well right now, despite the fact he is not officially a candidate for president. A lot of people are saying he will bring a return a Reaganesque era to Washington. Frankly, I would like to see that. I think Thompson is really the only true unifying candidate the GOP is going to have and the only one who will be able to topple Hillary. Edwards and Obama are both a joke. The GOP can take them out of this game with relative ease if either survives the primary.

That's it for now.... more to come on Friday.