Year 2, Day 249 (Are We The Pawns?)

Over the past few months I have noticed something that disturbs me, and I think it will only get worse as we draw closer to the Presidential elections. It is the growing trend of defending the candidates, when instead, we should be defending our country from the infiltration of a socialist agenda, as well as defending the integrity of the office of the President. Over the past 3+ years, I have seen Socialism rear its ugly head, while the bulk of society is busy being distracted by American Idol or Dancing With The Stars, or even keeping tabs on the progress of Snookie's pregnancy. The problems that we should be looking at are the facts that our Government has succeeded in taking over Health Care, the auto and banking industries, and the gradual downsizing of the strength - not to mention the benefits - of our once strong military. For our Government to continue its excessive spending, all the while we are seeing an unemployment rate over 8%, is not only irresponsible, but dangerous for our economic growth. BOTH parties, and their respective candidates, should be held responsible for this.

For one thing, it is NOT the Government's responsibility to take care of our needs and wants, yet we have relinquished that control to them. My family and I have never been on welfare (we applied once, but were turned down, then we never applied again).The last time I drew an unemployment check was in the early to mid-90's - nearly 20 years ago. There were times that we struggled, times where dinner was ramen noodles with cheap sandwich meat mixed in because that was all we could afford. The point is, there were two things that we grew stronger in: our drive to create a better life for our children, and our faith in G-d (the latter being the prime foundation for what we later became blessed with).

When we realize that in the larger scheme of things, we are being played - by both sides - like cheap fiddles... easy to manipulate, and disposed of when the desired goal is reached. Think about it: both Romney and Obama are tapping in to what moves us emotionally. They say what will capture our attention or tickle our ears, and call - in time - for a "consolidation of power". These were the very same things that were common among Hitler, Mussolini, and Roosevelt. The ideology of "spending our way out of the economic slump" were also common among those just mentioned. We are already in very tumultuous times. It's time we begin being loyal to our country, not the political party. They have already orchestrated and manipulated the laws for their OWN advantage, and have no regard for the American people, nor for the damage that will inevitably ensue.

Year 2, Day 183 (My Last Day Out - And A Political Rant)

Last night, John and I shut down in Collins, MO, which is about an hour north of Springfield. This turned out to be a good call. When I spoke to Monica (my Fleet Manager) this morning, she said that coming down to the terminal in North Little Rock (before continuing to West Memphis) would be too far out of route. The tentative plan, as of now, is to swap in West Memphis, AR, deliver in Memphis, then drop John off on Bald Knob, AR (where he will then be shuttled to the NLR terminal), then go home. However, since I have dealt with the customer in Memphis before, dropping John off may not happen until tomorrow. Whichever plan transpires, it won't be until tomorrow.

In recent years I have withdrawn from much of my involvement in political diatribe, as there are too many underhanded and back-door deals going on within the higher echelon structure. For example, the Health Care Law (aptly dubbed as "ObamaCare") and the recent Supreme Court decision upholding its constitutionality. This screenshot - which was posted on Facebook - pretty much sums it up:

Allow me to offer this: Politicians make 6-figure salaries, while the taxpayers foot the bill for their medical care; they get their full pension upon retirement, and are "against" the "wealthy elite" and corporations? Let's break this down: 6-figure incomes - they can afford to pay their own health care, thus taken the burden off the taxpayers' shoulder (notice how the politicians NEVER show, nor admit, their problems with substance/alcohol abuse and/or financial corruption until they are exposed of such); the military - whom actually fight for our freedoms and liberties - only get a salary that's generally 1/10th of what the politicians make, only get a fraction of their salaries for retirement (should they be lucky enough to stay in for 20 years, unlike those who are "forced" out of service by, yep, you guessed it... the politicians) - and let's not forget the REAL civil servants of our country: policemen, firemen, paramedics, etc.; those politicians who are "against" the wealthy elite, are themselves wealthy elitists (not to mention, it would be interesting to find out who the "corporate sponsors" are for their campaign coffers).

You can GUARANTEE that the Health Care Law they have shoved down our throats is nowhere NEAR as good as what they get themselves. Let's make some Federal budget cuts where they will really matter: 1) politicians' salaries, 2) frivolous projects sponsored by those politicians (do we really need a national Tea Cup Museum, or a Woodstock Museum? It has been said, "those who remember the 60's, probably really weren't there." This especially holds true for Woodstock).