by Dr. Larry Moses
Submitted Mar. 19, 2008
No one asked me but… The best thing about being a true independent is one can look at both parties with a degree of objectivity. As per usual the Republican Party’s drive for a candidate has little drama and therefore is not much fun to watch. The Republican’s drive to the convention and the convention itself is like a cocktail party at the country club; whereas, the Democrat’s drive is always more like the frat party in the movie Animal House. There is even a picture circulating of Obama in what appears to be close to a toga.
Let me see if I understand this, Obama has won 13 of the last 15 state contests (and 14 if you count Texas as some do) and now Clinton is willing to allow him to be her Vice President. Whoa! Did I miss something here?
The sad part of this tale is there may be some logic to Clinton’s argument. Obama has yet to win a large state that generally votes Democrat. The blue states have for the most part stayed with Clinton. The states that have supported Obama have traditionally, in the general election, gone to the Republican candidate. Clinton’s logic is that the Democrat Party will not carry those states and, therefore, even if Obama reaches the convention with the most delegates, the Super Delegates should select her as the party’s nominee. However, as the media is busily talking America into a recession, many of these red states may just turn blue. “It’s the Economy Stupid II”, may come into play. Gas prices may be the determining factor in this year’s election and the Republican’s really have little ground to stand on with this issue. You can send our young men off to war but don’t mess with our gas prices.
The Michigan and Florida delegates could be very important and they, by rule, have been eliminated. Of course, Clinton would like to see the rules waived and have the delegates from these two renegade states counted. Following party rules, Obama’s name was withdrawn from the ballot in Michigan and he did not campaign in either state. Clinton on the other hand did not withdraw her name from the ballot in Michigan and actually unofficially campaigned in the state. Needless to say, she carried Michigan in a landslide. She also carried Florida, but again Obama did not campaign there. In every state, but Ohio, where Obama actually campaigned he did better than the pollsters predicted.
While Clinton would like to count Texas as a win the state is in debate as Texas had two methods of selection. The primary which Hillary won by a slim margin and the caucus which Obama carried with a large margin. In fact Obama actually took more delegates in Texas than Clinton. With Clinton claiming victory in Texas, I am beginning to believe I was not the only one who didn’t pass the math proficiency test.
No one asked me but… What are we going to do to control the rising costs at the gas pump? I wish I was smart enough to come up with the answers. Let me throw out a suggestion. The top sources of US crude oil imports for December 07 were Canada (1.784 million barrels per day), Saudi Arabia (1.675 million barrels per day), Venezuela (1.246 million barrels per day), Mexico (1.234 million barrels per day), and Nigeria (1.210 million barrels per day.
What if we cut all imports from Saudi Arabia and asked Mexico to replace the oil we lost. The billions of dollars we are sending to Saudi Arabia, much of which is passed on the Middle Eastern terrorist, would then go into Mexico. With these additional funds pouring into Mexico, maybe the Mexican government could, with the help of private industry, improve its country’s economy to a point where the tide of illegal immigration could be stopped.
We need to right now begin drilling off the gulf coast where billions of gallons of crude have been found. We need to tap Anwar and ignore the oil of the middle-east. We need to begin building at least two new refineries here in the United States. While this would be only a temporary fix it might give America the 10 to 15 years it needs to develop a comprehensive energy plan that would allow America to be free of mid-east oil. I have no doubt that if the American people, through government and private initiative, make clean renewable energy a priority we can develop a program that will meet the needs of America. I do know that continuing to depend on corrupt Middle Eastern regimes for our energy needs can only lead to disaster.
Before you flood the editor with letters, let me qualify the above statements with the fact that I really do not know if Mexico is capable of pumping the oil we would require. I am also aware that it will take a good number of years to begin drilling in the Gulf and Anwar. If we begin a refinery now, it still would be years before it could produce any gas. What I am suggesting is that someone needs to begin to look at alternatives to Middle Eastern oil.
No one asked me but…I just received a notice in my mail that pursuant to NRS 318.197 I have become a paying customer of The Moapa Valley TV Maintenance District. The fee is only two dollars a month, a measly $24 a year. I, as well as many others, pay much more for either cable or satellite TV. So why am I whining? Well, for one thing whining is something I do well; but, also, this is a service I neither sought nor will I use.
People have reminded me that there are those in the valley who would have no access to TV if the maintenance district did not exist. They further reminded me that the service can only be maintained if all the homes in the valley help pay for it. I am not sure when access to TV became a constitutional right of man. I am not sure that if a person never saw the basic programming available on TV today they would be any worse for wear. Other than news and sports (and those are becoming less desirable by the day), I have little use for the programming as it exists today.
It is not so much that I resent the $24; it is more that I resent the government telling me the charity to which I will donate. I am aware of the fact that I am taxed for many things that I don’t approve of, or use, but this one seems to hit a little closer to home. I certainly have no animosity toward the fine gentlemen that make up the MV TV Maintenance Board. I am sure they donate more time than they will ever be compensated for but that does not alleviate the fact that they have decided that I am interested in the continuance of a program to which I have no commitment. Maybe what the Maintenance Board could do is find those families who can’t afford cable or satellite and assign each one to a family of who can. We could then purchase cable or satellite for them and we could at least then deducted our charitable contribution.
Thought for the week…The second amendment is in place in case the politicians ignore the others.
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