Gas Prices...Part Two (Slight Return) let's get down tonight!

BandE wrote: Quote That's because bush and blair are buddies, Bush is showing Blair how to really line his pockets. Maybe instead of a tea party, we should have a diesel/gas party. \\\STRIPES/// replied: Quote Jeez. Awww B&E, that hit Ken right in the family jewels. Bush is his hero. Ken is one of the 29% who "still believe". What Bush needs is a war to improve his image rating. Oops. We already have one. But...still...Iran says they are up for a $900 billion scrim. We should be making FRIENDS with the Iranians. The are probably still pissed at the Iraqis and might takeover as caretakers so we can go invade a country that really would like us to invade them....like maybe....Cuba! (We need a new vacation spot. Americans have ruined all the other ones) Not to mention some of the Iranian women is just plain HOT. My motto is "Don't piss off a country with hot women" (OMG! that rules out invading Cuba too). Oh well, now it seems the President's motto has gone from "leave no child behind" to "leave no child a dime". OMG! the Feds are going to have to raise a tax to pay for all these overseas adventures. I sure hope its not the GAS TAX. If it goes much higher, I may pull up to the pumps and do my Fred Sanford imitation...."Here I come Elizabeth, dis is de big one, my heart gonna give out". Or maybe I could just resort to the tactic that I used to get thru the 70's gas shortages.....but you know, dayum, the taste of gas and garden hose is not a good combination. And farting gasoline fumes can be just dang dangerous. Anyway having a war with us seems to be good for countries. Look at Japan - we pounded them into cinders and now they sell us the only car we can afford to buy gas for. And (WTF!) they are poised to take over NASCAR next....talk about revenge being a dish best served cold! If Toe-yota starts winning NASCAR races, I am purty dang sure the Earth is gonna wobble a bit on it's axis. But I digress. At this point I will take a tree-hugging pacifist president if she will promise to start no new wars until we finish the one on our plate. Is that too much to ask? Please please please don't tell me we are gonna end up with "Dead-Eye" Dick Cheney as our next president. My wallet my as well commit suicide if that happens. It will have no reason to live, because there will be nothing to put in it. Well anyway B&E tread lightly where \\\STRIPES/// and Bush Part Two are concerned. They are Texans and Texans are buddies. I mean, look at them two guys in "Brokeback Mountain", them was Texans weren't they? 'Nuff said. Time to go see if I can find any nice looking Cuban-Iranian women.....

Nope....yer not quite on the mark. I lost faith in Bush when he watched the people in New Orleans die. He was asleep at the wheel. The "Jeez" comes from manufactured conspiracy theories.

Who needs theories or anything manufactured? ....anybody else consider we might should just give the money to the Iraqis to rebuild Iraq? They did it themselves in 2 years after the first gulf war without our $$ to help and with Saddam in the way with his madman army chasing rebels all over...you remember those rebels Bush 1 promised to support if they did a coup... and then left hanging (literally)... and in spite of sanctions & all. They still repaired everything in just over 2 years. Haliburton has had 3 years and many billions and hasn't rebuilt anything but oil pipelines...hmmm...maybe the "average Iraqi" could use a hospital or 2 or a working power plant or some drinking water? Heaven forbid a school or gas for their cars or uh food. That might improve what they think of us over there...we could bring the troops home (so more could go to that dangerous Mexico border) but we can't let that happen, it would be kind-of like doing what we said we were going to do when we started

They haven't? Unless it is more vicious right wing lies, we are building all mentioned. Wonder if France would send us to school on winning terrorist's hearts and minds? Kum bah ya, Lord! Kum bah ya.....

OK, if they are, PLEASE refer me to one photo, one news site, one report, one scrap of any evidence we have constructed -- re-constructed anything. That there is one Iraqi hospital fully stocked with drugs & supplies, that electricity is not on fewer places for less time each day than it was the day we "won the war", that Iraqis do not have to buy gas at inflated prices supplied by Haliburton, one place where homes have been rebuilt (seen what some Iraqi neighborhoods look like?) one place where drinking water plants & the pipes to people are repaired...anything...anywhere there. BUT please, no references to what "they say" we are doing, some actual photos, completed buildings, repaired electric plants or fully functional hospitals, or even a gas station with no lines (that isn't closed or out of gas) or even a line of cars at a gas station with a mixture of even & odd numbered plates (they ration by even-odd on different days). Internet links are fine. Any news station, even the BBC or whatever... I'd love to think my tax money was doing what it was allocated for by Congress ...but then I was raised during Vietnam, carried a draft card, and my hometown had the distinction of being home to the US Army Primary Helicopter Center where all those Vietnam pilots learned to fly...taught by guys who had already been there, so we heard what it was really like while watching what "they say" on TV...it was 2 different stories. Kind of like I was talking to some young people and I hated I didn't have any books or Internet with me because they never would believe that OUR military killed 4 unarmed college kids protesting that war...little place called Kent State in Ohio. I know what our government (both parties) are capable of as opposed to what "they say".

Don, try getting back inside a striping trailer again, close the door and breath deeply for a minute or two. I'll lend you one of mine.

Don wrote on May 16, 2006:Go to #5

because they never would believe that OUR military killed 4 unarmed college kids protesting that war...little place called Kent State in Ohio.

Don, that wasn’t our military, it was Ohio’s military, under the direction of the governor not the president. My brother-in-law is over there and I can tell you that things are being rebuilt.

Don, If the media saw the rebuilding as newsworthy we would see a lot more of that kind of thing being done in the press. I've talked to guys that were there and went back again cause they believe in what we are doing there and I have heard their stories about the hospitals, homes, water treatment plants,etc. getting rebuilt that never makes the news - It dont bleed so it dont lead! The vast majority of the media representatives are liberal (ie: hate Bush) and are not going to reveal anything that disagrees with their view of what a terrible President he is. That said - I am not very happy with the way most of the major items of interest are being handled but I thank God Almighty that we dont have AlGore or another liberal military hater as our leader.

straightline wrote on May 16, 2006:Go to #7

Don wrote on May 16, 2006:Go to #5

because they never would believe that OUR military killed 4 unarmed college kids protesting that war...little place called Kent State in Ohio.

Don, that wasn’t our military, it was Ohio’s military, under the direction of the governor not the president. My brother-in-law is over there and I can tell you that things are being rebuilt.

A) I believe they are called the "National Guard" for a reason. A tragedy any way you look at it and totally wrong. I also believe Washington sets the political tone for the rest of the country...and "Dirty Hippie Protestors" were the enemy in 1970....and that set the stage for the Kent State Massacre . Back then it was "un-American" to protest American foreign policy....but NOTHING justifies Americans opening fire on Americans...unless it's OJ they are shooting at..... B) I sure hope the greatful Iraqi people ship us cheap oil as a thank you. Oops. Even if they do, I bet the only winners will be the oil company shareholders and management. Ken is it all right if I use my own trailer? MEK gives me the trots.

Oops, several responses... still not one link (don't blame the media there are millions of Blogs & web sites) to one report, picture, etc. of anything I mentioned. Thanks BTS for "remembering". A noted author, professor, etc. from "those days" made a great point the other day. He was being questioned by a reporter because he has always (since those days) been a peace activist and yet thinks we should have the draft. Seemed inconsistent. He made a great point. Our "volunteer" military is made up mostly of people who joined because of things like: they couldn't find work where they lived, had no money for college wanted to "see the world" or whatever the recruiters promised them. NOT an impartial cross-section of the general public. His point was we might still be in Vietnam if we had an all volunteer military back then (well maybe not but he was making a point). Today if, like then, everybody was getting drafted... rich kids, college kids, not mainly from "poor and/or rural America" but everybody from every neighborhood across the country, we would be seeing the same protests we did back then. Since it's a volunteer military we can sit back on the sofa and if they are killed or get a leg blown off...say "well, they signed up for it". If their was a draft people would be marching & protesting like "back then" because there really is (if you stop smelling the MEK for a minute) no better reason for us to be in Iraq right now than there was for us to be in Vietnam...and people wouldn't put up with their Stamford or where ever bound kids, friends, or whatever... future doctors, stockbrokers & lawyers to be, getting sent into harm's way. But anyway since Ken (Mr. "Believe Anything, Never Question, Head in the sand") poked me and kick started some of my old 60's-70's "radical hippy" brain cells (I must admit I was a big Hendrix & Who fan and understood "Won't Get Fooled Again"...and Hendrix was a Vietnam Vet, remember?) and we are friends who can argue without malice: Since we have done everything "they said" were our goals... (did I forget to mention radioactive particles from our depleted uranium munitions was detected in routine air tests in England at a nuclear plant 2 months after we started the "war" great for the environment, wonderful for our soldiers over there much less the people that live there, it's a little secret... the ultra-high radiation levels in much of Iraq where we used those shells & cruise missiles, but no worry, the half-life is only measured in the millions of years)...Oops I digress again: We won, why not come home?: Reasons for war: 1. Weapons of mass destruction (there weren't any, but whatever, there sure aren't now) "Mission Accomplished" 2. Terrorists were there (didn't find Al Qaeda but anyway, they're not there now) "Mission Accomplished" 3. Saddam & his boys were really nasty. True enough, now the sons are dead & he's in jail & on trial so... "Mission Accomplished" 4. Iraq should have a freely elected democratic government. They do. "Mission Accomplished" 5. We did mess the place up bad but like I said they can fix it as well as we can so let them, our guys don't die. "Mission Accomplished" "Mission Accomplished" We won! ...and we promised we weren't "occupying" anything, that we would come home as soon as we won, so...?? So why are we there still? Could it be it had something to do with oil all along?... Nah, that's way too much of an "old hippy radical" idea And remember friends I'm the ultra-conservative Republican here...by the way...did anybody make any sense out of the "immigration speech" the other night other than we have a problem, we're going to do something, first we should send 6,000 National Guard to build roads & fences while we hire some more Border Patrol, then Congress needs to pass something I can sign, whatever it is, that fixes the problem, we need to stop illegal aliens but separate the good from the bad ones and let the good ones come with a high tech green card & let the good ones stay and Congress needs to send me a plan for that, (Mexico will help us separate the good from the bad, their government has a great history of doing that really well) thanks and may God Bless America? (All I heard was "please stop marching and creating a ruckus, there are elections coming up, nobody knows how to solve this immigration mess to everyones satisfaction, so please stop marching while we try to dream up & pass some other law that won't solve anything but we will be doing something") PS: Thomas I have 2 friends, actually children of friends at my age, and 4 acquaintances back from there who tell a far different story than the guys you know, guess it depends on where you are & what you're doing)

May 4, 1970 was the day I became politically "aware". As a 15 year old I had not paid much attention to the increasing unhappiness of my generation about the Vietnam War. When Kent State happened, I went from a "Nixon--Now More Than Ever" flag waving Republican to a Republican who daily questions our government's abuse of its powers. The government is supposed to be "of the people, for the people" but I think that deep down, most of the American public would rather not send its sons and daughters off to get killed in a foreign war. But politicians are skilled at manipulating the public's perception of reality and they are skilled at pushing the right buttons. Case in point was the lead up to the latest Iraqi adventure. We were DAILY fed a mix of untruths and outright lies that justified our invasion of Iraq. The two major reasons given were Iraq's support of world terrorism and its weapons of mass destruction. World terrorism is not supported by one country, it is a product of hatred toward American foreign policy and will go on regardless of how many times we "win" the war on terrorism. It is a jihad and until America realizes what that means, we NEVER begin the process of fixing our relationship to the rest of the world. One determined man, burning with hatred for all things American, will always be able to create a 9/11, or a Oklahoma City, or a Berlin Disco bombing. Jack Bauer is not real, Mohammed Atta is. The man with the nuclear device in a suitcase may not be real right now, but he is very possible. America should not be taking steps to find and kill him. America should be taking steps towards making the world a better place, so that man has no reason to hate us. Lord knows if someone wants to smuggle someone bad into this country, it will be done. There are warehouses in America storing Colombian cocaine and Afghani heroin that already made that trip. I love my country but I despise the power hungry politicians who will ruin it. Hopefully one person who reads this will become better educated and start to Question Authority, instead of blindly believe the BS that is Washington's primary product. And weapons of mass destruction. Oh please. What a lame reason. The freaking crazy (expletive) Israelis have a crapload of them, and they definitely would not hesitate to use them. Ahh but you say "Israel is our friend, they wouldn't do anything bad". Sometime when you have a moment, google "Israel attacks USS Liberty". Betcha never heard about that one huh kiddies. The radical Islamics aren't the only psychos in the Middle East. Ok that is enough rant for today, there are parking lots to be striped. But I'm here to tell you: A good American is one that does NOT believe what Washington tells you just cause Washington told you. Just cause Toby Keith* says "The War is OK!" that is no reason to sign off on it. Just cause you have friends in Iraq who believe in what they are doing, does not make our policy right, or nor will it matter a (expletive) to Washington if your friend does not come home**. People in Washington do not let People in Washington's kids go to Iraq. *OK OK OK ! I like Toby Keith, but he is just a songwriter. Ease up ** I too, have a close friend in Iraq. He is a 55 year old demolitions expert who trains people to detect and dismantle bombs AND gets paid more that $50k per month for his expertise. He is also an adrenaline junky who likes the edge. That was his choice. The GI's who are over there because they WANT to be there are far, far, far outnumbered by the ones who want to be home with their families and friends.

As Jack Nicholson said in Mars Attacks......... "Why can't we all just get along...."

Shux we all get along, we all just have opinions and o-ccasionally they get loose...like bees on LSD....

BornToStripe wrote on May 16, 2006:Go to #9

A) I believe they are called the "National Guard" for a reason.

It’s called the “National Guard” for the same reason the “Secret Service” is called the” Secret Service”, the Secret Service is not very secret and the National Guard has very little to do with the nation, a better name would be ‘State Guard” because that is what it is.

Don wrote on May 17, 2006:Go to #10

"Mission Accomplished" We won!

We have to make sure the country is stable or all we will have done is make it easy for another nut to take over. It’s a matter of responsibility, we learned that after WWI when we left Germany in chaos.

Don wrote on May 17, 2006:Go to #10

Oops, several responses...

still not one link No time, I am swamped in contract negotiations and paper work, lots of government paper work.

\\\STRIPES/// wrote on May 17, 2006:Go to #12

As Jack Nicholson said in Mars Attacks......... "Why can't we all just get along...."

Then they blew the crap out of him. Hearts and minds, minds and hearts, hearts and minds, minds and hearts.............

As BTS said it's really a matter of globalization (the USA's foreign policy for years which with the help of NAFTA, the IMF, & World Bank benefits nobody but the big boys at giant corporations). In this process we (our politicos) don't give a hoot about understanding anybody else, it's "might makes right" so we must be right. So winning the "hearts and minds" is impossible. Total culture difference, just can't happen. Same thing happened in Somalia, Vietnam, lots of places... Most recent example: We keep saying "democratic elections are the answer...democratic elections are the answer" like a mantra. Democratic elections in Palestine and Oops...Hamas gets elected! Not the guys we like. So what do we do? We immediately cut off aid to Palestine. That plays real well with those folks "hearts & minds". They may be middle eastern but they are not stupid. They see that we told them for years "have elections". They did, we didn't like how they voted, so we cut off the money. Now yesterday or the day before who "steps up to the plate" and says "hey Palestine, if the USA won't help you we will"? Yep, our good friends in Iran. Oh dear, now this gets more complicated, just when we were trying to set up another pre-emptive strike (war) with Iran over supposed nukes now they are the "good guys" in the Muslim "hearts & minds" helping the Palestinians when we screwed them over for doing what we said to do. No chance for any of our "hearts & minds" doctrine there. By the way for those of you who don't "question" or educate yourself, the reason all the "radicals" say pre-emptive war (like Iraq or Iran) is illegal is because it is by international law. Now before you jump on your "bunch of liberals" horses remember WE the USA wrote that law when we defined what was a legal war as opposed to an illegal war for the Nuremberg trials. (Those two terms get me, I am an old 60's guy, seems like all war should be considered illegal but...) Anyway our folks in DC have no desire to understand the hearts & minds of anybody if it even remotely gets in the way of their buddies at the global corporations (you can pick any political figure who has been around a while and if you start connecting the dots to the corporate contributors, lobbyists etc. it looks like an unbelievable spider web...and that's democrats or republicans alike, in DC corruption or graft is the real equal opportunity employer ) The whole "hearts & minds" mantra is ridiculous if you think about it, why should we try to convert them to our way of thinking? By the nature of "all men created equal" and "endowed by their Creator with unalienable rights" shouldn't they be entitled to their way of life & views? Yep, I have changed my mind on some things in the last few years (after the shock of 9-11 wore off and reality started setting back in) Most Americans look at Iraqis and other people "over there" as inferior or uneducated or stupid" or whatever...anyhow they look down on them; when if you listen they are as smart as anyone and have reasons for thinking what they think (the old walk a mile in my sandals thing). But there will never be any hearts & minds won over because there is nothing to win there. Nobody in DC really gives a hoot what's on their minds or in their hearts now, and if you don't understand or care what someone thinks you can't change their opinion.

\\\STRIPES/// wrote on May 18, 2006:Go to #15

\\\STRIPES/// wrote on May 17, 2006:Go to #12

As Jack Nicholson said in Mars Attacks......... "Why can't we all just get along...."

Then they blew the crap out of him. Hearts and minds, minds and hearts, hearts and minds, minds and hearts.............

Oh now that's just spam for spam's sake! HEY EVERYBODY KEN IS PADDING HIS POST COUNT! Drat. I will never catch up. I'm calling the UN. I want some black helicopters to swing into action. I'm sending Jack Bauer to kick Chuck Norris's asp. This will not stand. I too, will stand on an aircraft carrier in a cool looking suit and say "Mission Accomplished" when I win the Spam War.

Sorry the "hearts and minds" sarcasm wasn't evident. I'll try to slow down on the posts. Don't have enough energy after a long day to do much else.

I just read something today that Haliburton is getting into the wall building business..

\\\STRIPES/// wrote on May 19, 2006:Go to #18

Sorry the "hearts and minds" sarcasm wasn't evident. I'll try to slow down on the posts. Don't have enough energy after a long day to do much else.

Poor MaryBeth.....