http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/28/us/politics/28kennedy.html?_r=1&hp=&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&adxnnlx=1201496624-20NlGNS9XPT0r1iklbl6CA

The American Voice approves this message! Obama inspires an entire country, not just one political party. It appears very obvious to me, many of the candidates, such as Clinton, may not have what it takes to re-unite and bring together this country. Many of the other candidates lack the ability to see beyond their personal or party’s interests. Being President means so much more then that. Obama seems to understand this is much larger then one person. He has spoken several times about this being about the people and for the people. That means us average Americans out there tired of having no voice or identity. This man offers every American no matter what race or religious affiliation a voice. Would you rather let your voice be heard throughout the halls of this great Nation or be overshadowed and muted once again by politicians who speak out loud false promises and act in self-interest? Do we really want change or do we want to continue down the path of division? That is what our vote means and the importance can not be overstated if we expect ’real honest and true change’….. A change where one man sees a nation as a nation of one color, one race, united together, and striving together in an effort to show the world we are still the United States, stronger then ever because were together. 

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Senator Edward M. Kennedy, rejecting entreaties from the
Clintons and their supporters, is set to endorse Senator Barack Obama’s
presidential bid on Monday as part of an effort to lend Kennedy charisma and
connections before the 22-state Feb. 5 showdown for the Democratic nomination.

America is seriously becoming divided. It does not take much of an effort to see there is a growing problem in regards to racism and illegal immigration. Comments all over the country will show you that, comments such as

“I’m ready to fight again, if it takes a revolution to take back our country, from the Mexicans that think they can simply take America as their own. Let’s get it on! America The Free for Americans only.”

I am not of Mexican decent, I don’t have to be to recognize the obvious. I look around and I see a serious problem. People of Latin decent are being profiled. You may disagree or you may agree, but it is occurring everyday. Check out the ICE and Minuteman articles if you don’t believe me. You don’t see a bunch of Canadians being rounded up like cattle to be deported. The mass majority is people of Mexican decent. People think we can simply round up all the Mexicans (Why do I say Mexicans, because illegals are being associated more often then not with people from Mexico, just listen to CNN!) and deport them (problem solved) or create a bill that forces them to create new methods in staying here. Those are not the solutions! It is very naive to think that those options, fences or even an army along the border is going to fix the problem. Those are not the solutions at all. They will just find a way back in next week! All we are doing is creating a serious racial division between people of Latin decent (both legal and illegals) and the rest. Why? Because instead of fixing the very broken system (after all, this didnt just happen over night) we are waging a war on illegal immigrants! A war is not going to stop the problem, unless we really want a revolution. The solution is for the so called politicians to FIX the darn immigratiom system. Most people say well…..they need to come here legally!!! Yaeh, well do you really think if it was that easy, we would have a problem with illegal immigration? No we wouldn’t! The current system does not offer a realistic opportunity for immigrants from Mexico to come here legally. Most are forced to wait extremely long periods of time (sometimes  10+ years) or are simply denied. That is the problem……there is no working system. The system never worked. We have had immigrants coming here illegaly as long as this nation has been a nation. It won’t change unless the system changes. Fix the system, we fix a large part of the problem with illegal immigration (not to say some won’t still come, cause they will). Fixing the system is not simply putting up a fence or deporting them! Fixing the system means creating a policy that lets Mexican immigrants obtain temporary Visas and enter the country in a realistic time frame, not 10+ years……Since the whole point they cross the border illegally (for the majoirty) is the high costs and extremely long waiting periods, not months…….years and years and years. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that allowing them to come here in a realistic time and cost fashion would solve many of our now out of control problems. 1) They woud be documented 2) They would be here legally 3) Taxes 4) Large masses wouldn’t be forced to come here illegally.

People will do anything if it means survival for them or their family. That is why Mexicans are coming here to work. For the survival of their families. That means we can spend millions on rounding them up and deporting them. A week later, they are back here in the US again. Same problem different day. We can build a fence. They will dig under it or cut through it. Same problem different day. We can station more people on the border. They will find a way around them. Same problem different day. We can create bills such as  HB1804 . They will find a way around it, most likely illegally. Same problem different day. Do you see where this is going! The problem will not get fixed unless 2 things happen 1) The Mexican economy improves 2) Our politicians pull their heads from their tails and fix the darn system….The politicians need to get off their high horses, work out their childish differences and get something done ASAP.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19874211/

 Ok……so we all know the immigration system is broken. So do they really think raising fees to come here legally is going to help the already out of control immigration problem? Wake up! Pull your heads out of the gutter! Fix the system the right way!!!!!!!!!!!! That means a realistic solution that allows immigrants to come here legally……………….and not have to wait 10 years and X amount of dollars to do it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Gees! A donkey could do a better job (no pun intended).

House approves stiff gas-gouging penalties

Bill would ban ‘excessive’ prices; White House threatens veto

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18825910/

  Ok…now why would the White House want to veto a bill that would protect Americans from getting ripped off? It just doesn’t make sense!

Poll: Most Americans expect $4 gasoline

Almost 80 percent think they will pay that much at the pump this year, and they think it’s ‘unreasonable’.

http://money.cnn.com/2007/05/07/news/economy/gas_poll/index.htm

 

Unreasonable? Yes……you could say that. However, I prefer the word……Unimaginable!

 

Wake up America! We are being suckered! We all can feel our pocket books slowly and significantly being drained by the outrageously high gas prices. All of this is occurring while big companies like Exxon post their biggest annual profits ever!!!! Record oil prices helped the world’s largest public oil company earn $39.5 billion in 2006 (CNN, 2007 http://money.cnn.com/2007/02/01/news/companies/exxon/index.htm). So, while we are going broke……they are becoming wealthier then ever. So what is being done? Nothing! Nada!

“It is our view that the huge profits that continue to be made by oil companies – and the countries that have huge oil reserves – should be re-invested in finding new sources of energy and energy conserving technologies,” Geoff Sundstrom, a spokesman for the motorist organization AAA, said in a statement. “Not doing so invites a future of economic and environmental distress for people around the globe.” It doesn’t take a genius to figure this one out. However, it is not in the future we will face economic and environmental distress; it is now……Americans are hurting at the pumps. So what do we do? Do we continue to sit around our ‘camp fires’ debating and complaining to people who could care less? Do we wait for big companies such as Exxon to “re-invest profits in finding new sources of energy and energy conserving technologies?” Well, if you wait on these people……I will save you a horse!

We as Americans forget when to truly speak. We gripe, complain and worry all day. We speak our minds often and criticize regularly (and it is our right to do so). However, when do we unite?  If we would just stand together and tell this nation we will not accept these high gas prices any longer…..we could make a difference. It takes one person to make a difference………so they say. But, what if we have a nation of people who want to make a difference? It can start here and now…….with Americans speaking when the time is much needed and required. Or…..we can sit back and get slapped…..because that gas monkey won’t ever get off our backs. So what do we do?

The question of mankind and the importance of leadership?  We need leaders. Leaders stand up and can unite or destroy a nation. Leaders can inspire or depress. Leaders can guide us or lose us. We need leaders who will stand up, unite, inspire and guide us to a nation ran by Americans and not crooks. Because right now, our leaders are standing idly by while the American people are being ripped off. This friends is not leadership, it is self interest. When leaders have self interest in mind, can they really have the interests of the American people in mind? I think not!

So, if the leadership is out there, and I know you are. NOW is the time to stand up and lead your fellow Americans. We need you and our country needs you. It is time to put the interests of this country and her people first. How much effort would it take for the country to take a half day off work and march down the streets saying…..We are sick of being ripped off and we are sick of paying these outrageous gas prices! Make a change.

Something to ponder on: In 1955, you could buy a McDonald’s cheeseburger for about 20 cents. Today you can get a cheap cheeseburger for about a dollar (value meal). It took 52 years for the prices to rise 80 cents. In 1997, you could buy a gallon of gas for about 90 cents. Today, the average gas price is $3.18. In a measly ten years, gas prices have skyrocketed to a national increase of $2.28 per gallon! How far will they rise until we can no longer drive to work and we are all broke?

It is time to make a difference. I am just one voice in the night, we need more! State your case! State you thoughts! State your ideals and suggestions! Make a difference!

“I can’t believe that the Democrats want to set a date to leave Iraq. I’m a registered Democrat and this worries me greatly. It’s as though my party is on the terrorists’ side. Even to hint that we are leaving before the job is done provides help to the enemy.” — Kent (Yuba City, CA)

Yes. It worries me too. Democrats don’t want a date, they want out now. I think they are more worried about earning votes in the future then what reality is and the fact that we fight wars to win, not lose…….

“We should get out of Iraq before any more troops are beheaded. We don’t have to leave the Middle East, just pull back from Iraq. Go to Kuwait or Saudi Arabia. Then, let the warring factions go at it. When they are finished killing one another or reach some sort of peace we can help whoever is left rebuild.” — Tom

So basically you want to sit back and watch thousands of people be murdered so our soldiers don’t get beheaded? Now that is the image America needs!  We’ll wait tell your all dead and then come in and help! Yaeh….ok…………………

Basically, their is two sides of the moral issue. One side wants to leave Iraq, pull our troops out right now, no and if or but. The other side wants to win in Iraq and do what is right and finish the job that we started.

So my question is this: What lessons would we be teaching our children from both stances of the debate?

Would it be morally right to abandon Iraq just to temporarily fix our problems. Is that what we want to teach our children? How to quit and give up, how to throw innocent people into the sharks mouth? How not to finish something that we start? How not to keep our word? How not to finish our commitments and dedication? How to abandon people because we are afraid.

On the other side. We all know many mistakes have occured in this war. Many bad decisions have been made. Would it not be better to stay and fix the mistakes and make better decisions by not giving up and staying the way?

Yes, our death tolls are raising. What happens if we leave Iraq and another 9/11 occurs killing more people in one day then the entire Iraq war? Is it not worth the sacrifice our brave soldiers make in order to establish security if it means saving thousands upon thousands in the future (on US soil)?

Where do we want the battlefront in the future? Do we want to battle the terrorist on our soil or on Iraq soil? That is what it bottoms down to. If we leave Iraq, the terrorist are going to take the war to our homefront. If we stay the way in Iraq, we keep the war on their homefront. What would you prefer because that is what is going to besided when leaving or staying in Iraq.

WASHINGTON — An influential House Democrat who voted for the Iraq war called Thursday for the immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops, another sign of growing unease in Congress about the conflict.

“It is time for a change in direction,” said Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., one of Congress’ most hawkish Democrats. “Our military is suffering, the future of our country is at risk. We cannot continue on the present course. It is evident that continued military action in Iraq is not in the best interests of the United States of America, the Iraqi people or the Persian Gulf region.”

House Republicans assailed Murtha’s position as one of abandonment and surrender, and accused Democrats of playing politics with the war. “They want us to retreat. They want us to wave the white flag of surrender to the terrorists of the world,” Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., said.

Thats what we would be doing, surrendering to terrorist…………….I just can’t imagine the consequences if we withdraw our troops without finishing the job. I don’t see how people like these are the people who are leading our country. Can they not see it would result in disaster?