I have been a critic of the ongoing doling out of Tennessee funds to the so called welfare to work program and finally my words are coming true. WATE TV 6 in Knoxville reports that the Bredesen administration wants to make child-care more expensive for people who work and pay their way. People who are on the public dole receive a child-care stipend, in times past recipients have been required to pay the difference between the stipend and the daycare rates. That will change if the Bredesen spend spend spend administration has their way. WATE reports: The state gives a stipend to day care centers for every child whose family is on assistance. Until now, day cares have been able to charge these families the difference between the cost of the day care and the stipend. But now, the state says day cares must absorb the cost or make up the difference elsewhere. The last sentence tells it all. What do the people in Nashville think? That these daycares will take a loss? Hell No!! They will raise prices on others who actually pay their way. This will cause stress and strain on already struggling families. A time is coming when we no longer need to give handouts and force people to get out and provide for themselves instead of depending on the sweat of others to pay your way. As I was preparing this I noticed Bill Hobbs also opined on this issue as well. He states: It's also bad social policy. Even families on welfare ought to have to pay some small part of the cost, in order that they bear some of the responsibility for this important part of taking care of their children. Totally free day care simply increases the welfare families' dependence on government and decreases their motivation to get off the government dole - which, in turn, feeds the generational cycle of poverty that includes the high likelihood that their children will eventually grow up to have their own children dependent on government. Fewer day care slots, higher prices, increased dependence on government, decreased reliance on self. Brought to you by Tennessee's Democrat administration - who are busy right now on plans to take more of your tax dollars to fund an expansion of the state's new state-funded day care system, also known as universal "Pre-K." But I'm sure the latter has nothing to do with the former.

If you ever want to feel like you are owed the world sign up for food stamps. Now as I say that let me bare my own closet and say when I first became a single parent I had to use the welfare program to start over. I had a 1 and 2 year old to care for and no job as I had to quit to get my kids. However. . . I went to sign up and was made to feel as if the world owed me everything. I only asked for insurance for the kids and food stamps until I could get another job. Well the worker who handled my case began telling me what I was eligible for: $189 in cash each month $120 to go to classes for an hr a day so they could tell me how to fill out an application and get a job. FREE Childcare for a year almost $400 in food stamps free counseling transportation if I did not have a car and the list goes on and on. They even offered me WIC and to help me get a house at about $50 a month with lights and water paid. When I kindly told the lady I was not interested she seemed offended at the fact I only wanted what was needed at the moment. This experience shaped me and my opinions to the welfare system. I have come up, over the years, with a plan to truly have a "Welfare to Work" program. First when someone applies for aid lets make sure they truly need the aid. Second lets give only the needed aid not every service available solely because it is there to use. Third let's assign a monetary value to the services given and the family must perform community service. For example if a family of 3 recieves aid totalling $500 they have to do community service to help the community. Case and point helping in after school programs, trash pick-up on roads, and any number of menial tasks. Would this pay for all services rendered? NO! However, it would begin to thin the rolls a little. If someone doesn't do their community service then they lose benefits the following months and there after until they are in good standing. LAST BUT NOT LEAST YOU PUT A TIME LIMIT ON SERVICES. With the exception of insurance you put a time limit on benefits so it encourages people to get a job and become self reliant and not welfare reliant. This is only part of the solution. I WILL TACKLE THIS ISSUE FURTHER IN THE COMING DAYS.

I don't know what you guys are paying for gasoline.... but here in California we are also paying higher,up to $3.50 per gallon. But my line of work is in petroleum for about 31 years now, so here are some tricks to get more of your money's worth for every gallon..

Here at the Kinder Morgan Pipeline where I work in San Jose , CA we deliver about 4 million gallons in a 24-hour period thru the pipeline. One day is diesel the next day is jet fuel, and gasoline, regular and premium grades. We have 34-storage tanks here with a total capacity of 16,800,000 gallons.

Only buy or fill up your car or truck in the early morning when the ground temperature is still cold. Remember that all service stations have their storage tanks buried below ground. The colder the ground the more dense the gasoline, when it gets warmer gasoline expands, so buying in the afternoon or in the evening....your gallon is not exactly a gallon. In the petroleum business, the specific gravity and the temperature of the gasoline, diesel and jet fuel, ethanol and other petroleum products plays an important role. A 1-degree rise in temperature is a big deal for this business. But the service stations do not have temperature compensation at the pumps.

When you're filling up do not squeeze the trigger of the nozzle to a fast mode. If you look you will see that the trigger has three (3) stages: low, middle, and high.
In slow mode you should be pumping on low speed, thereby minimizing the vapors that are created while you are pumping. All hoses at the pump have a vapor
return.

If you are pumping on the fast rate, some of the liquid thatgoes to your tank becomes vapor. Those vapors are being sucked up and back into the underground storage tank so you're getting less worth for your money.

One of the most important tips is to fill up when your gas tank is HALF FULL.
The reason for this is, the more gas you have in your tank the less air occupying its empty space. Gasoline evaporates faster than you can imagine. Gasoline storage tanks have an internal floating roof. This roof serves as zero clearance between the gas and the atmosphere, so it minimizes the evaporation. Unlike service stations, here where I work, every truck that we load is temperature compensated so that every gallon is actually the exact amount.

Another reminder, DO NOT fill up if there is a gasoline truck pumping into the storage tanks when you stop to buy gas, most likely the gasoline is being stirred up as the gas is being delivered, and you might pick up some of the dirt that normally settles on the bottom.

Hope this will help you get the most value for your money.



(This is written by Pete Santos from CA.)

I am convinced more than ever we as a society are in deep trouble. When 65% of kids ages 17 - 29 receive their news from the daily show on comedy central we have issues. I have watched all news media outlets and have come to the conclusion that most are blatantly wrong and very biased to the liberal left. Fox is a channel that tends to lean to the right but at least does try to give both points of view.

As for blogs we all know we are biased in our opinions however we are straight forward in what we post. If you go to a blog regularly you know what to expect and what you are going to get.

By making talk radio, blogging, letters to the editor, and discussion boards popular the common joe is trying to take back our news sources.

I have spent a lot of time on the campaign trail and have asked many people why they were a democrat or republican and the answers I have received would amaze you. I have been told "My daddy, granddaddy, and great granddaddy was a dem or repub", "I am for the working man", "I am not rich". These are just a few of the absurd reasons I have heard for for being one way or another.

I am astonished at how many people are unable to think for themselves and need to be told what to believe and how to vote. So I have come up with a way to help you figure it out. I was sent an excellent article on why not to be a democrat and I hope this helps.

Before I put in this article let me tell you that campaigns are geared around how to convince weak minded people how to vote. (Keep that in mind next time some politician is telling you how bad your life is and whe he or she will do for you.

Enjoy the article



Fabian



2006
When Being Pro-America
Makes You Anti-Democrat!
Written by JB Williams
©2006-01-03

The process of self-governance has always been a messy business that is never quite finished. Balancing the varied interests of nearly 300 million citizens from all corners of the earth, all ethnic, religious and ideological backgrounds, brought to America and melded into one society is not easy and it is sometimes downright ugly.

But in recent years, our nation has polarized into two very distinct camps and though there are many mild single issue variations within those two camps, the polarizing issues break down to pure pro versus anti American ideals and sentiments.

Today, being pro America - supporting America, its founding principles, its fundamental ideals, its policies and its national interests, most likely means that you are anti-Democrat. No matter how hard the Democratic Party works to drive Bush or Republican approval rating into the toilet, the effort just doesn't seem to take root with the American people. Even when Democrats are successful in undermining public support for their political opponents in the polls, those polls indicate that their own ratings drop even faster and farther in that effort.

Free unfettered self-determination, through personal (including economic) liberty, a free market capitalist economy, freedom OF religion, freedom OF speech, freedom OF thought and expression, the right to fail or succeed at one's own hand, the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, the right to one's own earnings, the right to a safe secure nation, to raise our children as we see fit and the right to self-governance accordingly, these are the fundamental principles America was founded and built upon.

The simple fact is, most Americans are not anti-religion or religious speech, not anti-capitalism or free market society, not anti-military or national security, not federal dependents and not interested in relying upon any commune to raise their young or determine their place or worth in society. Today, this also means that they are not Democrats…

Though Democrats bristle at any suggestion that they are in any way anti-American, the fact is, their agenda is at odds with nearly every American principle today and average people able to see that, just can't get over it, no matter how bad the alternatives might appear.

If you understand and support our mission in Iraq, you are anti-Democrat. If you seek to secure our borders, you are anti-Democrat. If you support hunting and killing terrorists on foreign soil to avoid another 9/11, you are anti-Democrat. If you believe in a free market capitalist economy, you are anti-Democrat. If you believe in limited federal government, you are anti-Democrat. If you believe that a right to life itself is the first personal liberty, you are anti-Democrat. If you have more faith in the US than the UN, you are anti-Democrat. If you believe in national sovereignty and autonomy, you are anti-Democrat. If you believe in free religious expression in the public square, you are anti-Democrat. If you believe in personal property rights, you are anti-Democrat. If you believe our justice system is based upon equal application of existing laws, not an unbridled extension of our legislative branch, you are anti-Democrat.

But if you believe in most or all of these things, you are most importantly pro-America. If you fight to support and defend true American ideals, even just at the polls, you are by definition, a true patriot, one who loves, supports and defends his/her nation and its principles. And you are not a Democrat today…no matter where your voter registration card might be filed.

Your great grandparents, your grandparents and your parents might have been life-long Democrats – mine were. But based on our nation's history, they must not have been anti-America.

Today's Democratic Party platform is based almost exclusively on anti-American ideals and sentiments. What was once the party of the average American has evolved into the party of the average anti-American. Today's Democrats don't only hate George Bush - I could live with that… They hate everything America is, has ever been or was ever intended to be, their policy platform says so and that, I can not live with. Neither can most Americans…

In the central federal government they trust, not the people. In communal socialist principles they believe, not the free right to self-determination. They can't even support the most fundamental personal liberty of all, the right to life, let alone the liberty to pursue one's own happiness without the constant interference of the federal government.

While our soldiers fight and die for freedom abroad, they attack our soldiers, their missions, their commanders and the military leadership as a whole, here at home. They attack the earned assets of investors who create jobs in search of profits. They attack corporations who employ Americans in the production of their products and services. None of these ideas or negative sentiments are American. Yet they are the foundation of today's Democratic Party platform.

Democratic minions in the mass media work to create the false impression that these ideas are mainstream American ideas, supported by a majority of Americans. But DNC voter registrations have continually dropped for decades and true average Americans have been systematically removing liberal Democrats from office since the Carter administration. They have even run old-time liberal media moguls like Dan Rather from their own news desks…

The truth is, today's DNC is supported by only nine of fifty-one states. In order of political contribution, they are Washington DC, California, New York, Illinois, New Jersey, Maryland, Massachusetts, Maine and Rhode Island. The vast majority of DNC funding comes from these nine states, really about ten cities. The rest of the nation is overwhelmingly conservative in their political aspirations today.

It's no accident that these nine states also represent the highest income earners in our nation. It isn't the average little people who support today's DNC, but rather a relative few wealthy limousine liberal elitists from these nine states, most of whom have a vested interest in the process of political power. They outspend the average American campaign donor by a 5–1 margin and when you spend that much money on politics, you have to call it an investment. Washington DC, the power-broker capital of the world, residents outspend average Americans 10-1 in political contributions. Who lives in Washington DC - average Americans?

The point is this… no matter what the polls of the liberal propaganda machines say, being pro-America today equals being anti-Democrat. Even Democrats know it, though they can't afford to admit it. Instead, in their minds, pro-American means mindlessly pro-Bush.

So I look for the trend of removing democrats from office to continue in 2006 and 2008 and until such time that the DNC decides to distance itself from the anti-American policies and sentiments of the secular socialists currently running roughshod over their party.

Fortunately, the average American is not as foolish as the DNC has bet. You don't have to be a rocket scientist to understand that anti-American is as anti-American does. Regardless of their rhetoric, their policies remain anti-America on almost every issue. As long as it does, real Americans will continue to remove them from office with some pleasure. A few liberal Republicans along the way too…

Last evening I had the honor to meet Miss Rachel (a co-worker) who is a die-hard fan of Obama (she is an IL native.) We had the discussion with me about my comments in this post about him refusing to cross his heart during the pledge and anthem. She swears he does so I did a lil' research and found her to be right. . . well sorta right. Barack does in fact cross his heart during the pledge NOW but in fact did not prior to the outrage of his lapel pin issue. I like it when I have a chance to discuss differences and agreements with people who have a brain. Thanks Miss Rachel.

Well not only does Obama refuse to wear a flag lapel pin but he also refuses to pledge allegiance to America. As can be seen in this photo at a democratic sponsored event Obama would not salute during the playing of the national anthem.

As far as I am concerned Barack has no right to be president if he fails to pledge allegiance to the very nation he wants to lead and make decisions for. If socialist Hillary can salute (see above) why can't her fellow socialist Obama?

I will tell you why, these democrats do not care about America and her people only about their own power and creating a government dependant people paving the way for a socialistic overhaul.

UPDATE:
THE UNITED STATES CODE
TITLE 36
CHAPTER 10
The “FLAG CODE”

§171. Conduct during playing The Star-Spangled Banner

During rendition of the national anthem when the flag is displayed, all present except those in uniform should stand at attention facing the flag with the right hand over the heart. Men not in uniform should remove their headdress with their right hand and hold it at the left shoulder, the hand being over the heart. Persons in uniform should render the military salute at the first note of the anthem and retain this position until the last note. When the flag is not displayed, those present should face toward the music and act in the same manner they would if the flag were displayed there.