Goldman Sachs Gets Multi-Billion Dollar Payback for Backing Obama

Obama Buddies Get Richer as Congress Seems Dumbfounded

So what is the best investment in America? Buy a president. Just ask Goldman Sachs who secretly decided long before last year's election that the one candidate who could keep them from bankruptcy, who would allow them to cover up billions of dollars in bad mortgage loans and ignore oil price manipulation was the promising junior senator from Illinois.

As reported over and over the past three years in this paper, Goldman met secretly with Obama long before the election and decided Obama was the one. They helped raise millions of dollars for Obama and guided him throughout the campaign planting former Goldman executives throughout the Obama campaign and new Administration to help assure they got what they wanted.



They helped insure that federal government money would be used to pay them back all the bad loans made to AIG. One of Obama's top financial advisors was able to invest $5 billion in Goldman less than a year ago and has already made over $1 billion profit, Warren Buffett no less. A revolving door was set up to help usher former Goldman executives into the Obama White House and Treasury and throughout the many financial agencies of government.

As Goldman got government money to help them survive they were forcing competitors out of business to take over the world investment banking market. They used federal TARP funds and bailouts of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and AIG to replenish their coffers and eliminate competition.



They are the only financial institution to triple their value since Obama got elected. There has been no meaningful investigation of their role in the sub prime mortgage disaster and oil price manipulation of last year and this year to expose how they have made billions of dollars at the expense of hapless and greedy institutional investors and private investment funds.

They were instrumental in modifying federal rules and regulations to keep the sub prime mortgages and oil futures derivatives outside government regulatory control while the world economy was brought to the brink of disaster. They even bought the very oil futures market that set the world prices while their own energy experts were predicting unjustified oil price cost hikes.

While Goldman was busy dumping billions of dollars in toxic mortgages into the world market they were also forcing AIG to repaying them billions in potential losses, a move that forced the federal government to come in with over $180 billion in federal bailout dollars for AIG under the new AIG CEO, a former Goldman executive, who helped Goldman receive 100% of all debt owed by AIG.



Last week Goldman joined fellow bankers JP Morgan, Credit Suisse Bank and Deutsche Bank in paying back the federal TARP funds, $88 billion between them, thus freeing themselves from federal scrutiny. Then secretly this past weekend they informed employees that the biggest bonuses in 140 years would be paid out this spring, though what they meant was the over $500 million in bonuses would be the most in history. It was also based on just the 1st quarter results, since Obama took office, in 2009. What a slap in the face to the president who complained about executive bonuses. Yet Obama has never uttered a word about the Goldman manipulation of the government, regulations, markets or bonuses.



Since 2006 Congress has stood idly by, perhaps because Goldman pumped millions of dollars into our presidential, house and senate campaigns, and Congress did nothing to investigate the Goldman role in the economic collapse. Obama is silent about Goldman, Congress is acting as if they got caught with their fingers in the cookie jar, and Goldman continues to use the federal economic system as their own private account.

If nothing comes out of this the citizens of America should know once and for all that our government leaders are really bought and paid for and demand impeachment. It is time to throw out all the scoundrels and the opportunity begins in 2010 before there is nothing left of America. Obama ran on a platform against Wall Street while being the patron saint of Wall Street. The media refuses to tell us the truth. The government can't. It is up to the citizens to take back America.

Mohammad - Iranian Student - Do not Abandon Us In Iran

Barack Hussein Obama - Are You Listening to the People

This morning, Monday, a young Iranian was interviewed by CNN and he pleaded that President Obama please do not abandon the hundreds of thousands of Iranians risking their lives to bring about human rights and democratic reforms in Iran. Like the young woman Neda, murdered in the protests, he is one of the silent majority in Iran who have had enough.

As the President of the world leader in promoting Democracy, Obama has shown no more than a casual interest in the plight of the Iranian people whose protests since their fraudulent election has rattled the very foundation of the Islamic leadership that has kept the people in a state of captivity and second class citizenship since the 1979 Iranian revolution.

First Obama said it didn't matter who won the election, a slap in the face of the people risking their lives for democratic reforms and human rights. Then realizing he was wrong, he tried to paper over the earlier stand by saying the Iranian government should not use violence to stop the protesting. The unlawful government of Iran has been using violence and the abuse of human rights for 30 years against their own citizens yet he didn't even condemn it.

Wake up Obama. Are you willing to let thousands of young freedom fighters be slaughtered because you intend to pursue diplomacy with a ruthless regime? Ever since Obama took office Iran and North Korea have flaunted their violations of human rights, increased the suppression of their citizens, and laughed at the international calls for reform. Why do the Iranian freedom fighters have to burn an effigy of the President to get his attention?

While Obama twiddles his thumbs both Iran and North Korea have been on a fast track to complete the development of nuclear arms, rockets, and spawned hatred throughout the Middle East. Obama's goal of accommodation has encouraged threats to world peace throughout the world. He still thinks he can sit down and negotiate with soul less despots who place no value on human rights and dignity. When a cancer permeates a government it is time to replace the government and to back the people fighting the government.

Media reports indicate that even his Vice President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton are opposed to the inertia in the Administration concerning the freedom fighters in Iran. If he doesn't listen to his top advisors who is he listening to?

The lowly student risking his life in Iran has a simple idea to stop the oppressive regime, stop the flow of foreign gasoline that is fueling the Iranian war machine. He is willing to risk more harm to the people by stopping the flow of gasoline because freedom is worth the sacrifice. The gasoline is what keeps the development of the nuclear bombs underway and the military suppression of the people.

Where is the leadership of the free world Obama promised? Why does he continue to ignore the threats against the world and the violence against the people in Iran by a corrupt and suppressive regime? Why can't he hear the call for help from the hundreds of thousands of freedom fighters, mostly the young and future generation of the Middle East, to please not abandon us in our struggle?

Take Me Now God! - Excerpt #1

[Authors note: For those of you following this story I have tried to simplify it. If you just started there is a series of excerpts and if you want to start at the beginning just copy and paste the following links. Note that this release is now Excerpt #1 as it was the preface but left out of the earlier releases. Have fun with the preface which is titled the Postmortem.


Take Me Now God! Review
What a Novel Idea
http://coltonspointtimes.blogspot.com/2009/05/what-novel-idea.html


Take Me Now God! Excerpt #1
Postmortem
http://coltonspointtimes.blogspot.com/2009/06/take-me-now-god-excerpt-1.html


Take Me Now God! Excerpt #2
Epilogue
http://coltonspointtimes.blogspot.com/2009/05/excerpt-1-take-me-now-god.html


Take Me Now God! Excerpt #3
Terminator Comet
http://coltonspointtimes.blogspot.com/2009/06/take-me-now-god-excerpt-2.html


Excerpt #1`


[Title Page]


TAKE ME NOW GOD!
(An Unauthorized Autobiography)

Copyright 2009 jiM PuTnaM


This book, as with everything about the life of said author, is a work of fiction and fantasy. All names, characters, entities, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or even persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. Christians, cults and pagans alike should seriously consider the efficacy of perusing this work without first performing traditional ceremonies of exorcism for purification purposes.


POSTMORTEM

If you are reading this journal then I’m probably dead. She killed me. I can tell you that much. Maybe not by poisoning, or a gun, or anything that easy to determine. No, I was a victim of psychic warfare. Tried to match wits. She chose better weapons.

I asked for it. Take me now God! Sometimes we should think twice before shooting off the mouth. One flippant thought and I’m gone. Poof. Never doubt you’re ability to materialize your illusions. I did. Now only the illusion is left. I’m not.

But you have this journal in your hands. That is my legacy. Someone had to tell the truth. Consider it my exit report on this, my final incarnation number 1,979. One can only hope this is the last. I’m such an old soul.

There’s a chance I have to come back, at least to clean up a few loose ends. My brother says if we miss the ascension this time, we start over again. He thinks I’ll be a rock for a few million years. Plenty of time to rest. He better hope I come back as a rock. Otherwise I’m coming back to tell the truth about him.

I’m kidding. He’s just another victim of genetic manipulation. Our family gene pool was contaminated 450 years ago. Probably came from cross breeding with aliens, or maybe Protestants. Extinction would be good for the world. A necessary step in the Purification. Maybe the family can come back as a rock group.

I do need to stop back and say hi to Fannee. Witnesses don’t believe in reincarnation. Is she going to be surprised when the rock she steps on screams “ouch”. Of course I’ll have to tell her about her Red Daughter and the Gay Lord so she knows it’s me. Don’t want her to think she’s talking to just any old rock. Let the elders try and explain that.

No need to convince my mom. She’s been talking to dead people all her life. Ever wonder what happens if you fall down during the quickening? Do you slip through the dimensional seam into a parallel universe? Probably. We lost her in one of those about a hundred years ago. Have no idea who took her place.

It’s not easy, preparing oneself to be taken by God. Lot of things to deal with. You can find the blueprint in this journal. Stuff to dispose. Thoughts to preserve. Things I know one might find useful. If nothing else, something to confuse future generations who might find this and try to make sense of our present civilization.

Words are my old friends. This is their finest hour. Outliving the author. In the beginning was the Word, and no one listened. Maybe they will now. The messengers have come and the ancient prophecies are being fulfilled. I have entered the enchanted forest at the place where this is no path. Found the end of the circle. A history before history where no beginning is, and no end will be.

In hoc signo vinci
(In this sign I conquer)

My sign is the printed word, the flaming sword of the Archangel Michael. In the end, words will conquer all.

Cheers



ReMeMbEr tHe ChiLDreN

Letterman Cannot Stop Sucking Up To Obama - Trashes Palin

This week acerbic-tongued Letterman once again demonstrated he can be the liberal mouthpiece and hack for Obama by trashing Sarah Palin in his monologue and Top Ten List for reasons that defy explanation. His raw sexual innuendos about Palin and raunchy jokes about how her 14 year old daughter got "knocked up" defy reason and good taste and demonstrate that as a lackey for Obama he is doing him no good.

Maybe he has been told to finish the hatchet job on Palin that he started during the campaign because after all the smear tactics of the liberal left media Palin remains more popular than ever. And with oil prices having more than doubled since Obama was elected and refused to authorize more domestic oil drilling, his popularity has been taking a fast track down.

Letterman was always the tool of the leftists with his tirades against McCain and Palin but this time he went far beyond his worst performances to date. Perhaps it was because this was the first week that Conan O'Brien took over the far more popular Tonight Show making Letterman a two-time loser to Leno and O'Brien as the King of Late Night TV.

Letterman has been known to have an acid tongue and he even apologized to Paris Hilton for raging about her jail time, but then Paris was an Obama supporter and she is a millionaire, two requirements to be friends with good old Dave.

Well Letterman has been a distant second to NBC's Johnny Carson, Jay Leno and now Conan O'Brien so maybe it is time CBS retire the old man before be gets them in lawsuits.

Obama Fiddles, Congress Procrastinates and Rome Burns while Goldman, Morgan & the Rothschilds Reap Profits

It is early summer, one year since the oil price crisis nearly destroyed the world economy. Back then the Commodities Future Trading Commission (CFTC) disclosed a six month investigation of oil price manipulation was underway. A year later and the CFTC disclosed oil speculators controlled over 80% of all the oil derivatives contracts sold.

Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, Citibank and Bank of America control the world derivatives market for major commodities. JP Morgan also controls the world gold futures market, which true insiders long considered a subsidiary of the Rothschilds, both the gold market and Morgan. So once again the boys on Wall Street have decided to drive up the prices.

Who really controls these markets? Take oil futures as an example. Successful manipulation would require control of several elements of the complex financial manipulation. These elements include being the recognized market expert or maker, having the funds to speculate in the market, and having the will to gamble by buying into the market. Goldman Sachs has played all three roles.

The research center of Goldman Sachs, the energy analysts and darlings of the media used a series of predictions last year to drive up the price of oil futures, revising the price predictions continuously until Goldman said oil would reach $200 a barrel. In spite of negative market forces and no justification for oil price increases the price spiraled to $147 a barrel.

Funds managed by Goldman provided the fuel to spark market activity while a wholly owned subsidiary of Goldman, J. Aron & Company, was the vehicle to buy and resell the oil futures contracts. Add to this the fact Goldman, and Morgan are major owners of the very oil futures market in London that sets prices and one wonders what the hell our government is covering up by refusing to attack the financial giants.

We know special interest money can buy a lot of influence in our nation's capitol but Obama and Pelosi are creating a whole new standard for proving the buying of politicians can be a most profitable investment. Look what happened when Goldman was about to lose $30 billion in loans to AIG for derivative purchases made by Goldman for AIG. Congress and the President gave AIG the biggest bailout in history and Goldman recovered 100% of the money owed it from the federal bailout.

Now bondholders and stockholders in Lehman Brothers, Bear Stearns, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, GM, Chrysler and a host of other companies certainly didn't recover 100% of their money and most lost all of their money. Why did Goldman and Morgan recover 100%? Ask our new president who long ago was taken in by Goldman executives at secret meetings in 2006 and 2007, whose employees gave Obama more Wall Street money than any other candidate and whose former employees are strategically placed throughout the new administration.

Goldman Sachs is the only financial company whose stock nearly tripled in value since Obama got elected. Goldman stock reached a low of $53.31 a share last November, by the March crash it climbed to $73.95 a share and today is over $150.00 a share, an astounding 281% increase in value.

Not even JP Morgan of the big four derivative traders achieved the same although Morgan was far ahead of most banking and investment houses. Morgan went from $23.38 when Obama was elected to a low of $15.90 in the March madness to $35.00 today, an increase of 49%.

Bank of America was at $11.47 last November, $3.14 in March and today is $11.98, a 4% increase leaving it slightly above where they started. Citigroup Chase was $3.77 in November, $1.02 in March and $3.41 today, a loss of about 10%.

The Obama Factor (since his election in November):

Goldman Sachs - 281% increase in value
JP Morgan - 49% increase in value
Bank of America - 4% increase in value
Citigroup Chase - 10% loss in value

Dow Jones - 16% increase since election in November
Oil Prices - 138% increase since December low
Home Values - 21% loss of value from a year ago
Gold prices - 33% increase since Obama election

Of course this is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to master manipulating. There is the case of the 25-35 oil super tankers leased by oil producers and financial houses at a cost of about $63,000 a month each. These giant ships can carry up to 20 million barrels of oil per ship. If a ship was filled and parked in March the oil in that ship has already increased $700 million in value.

Then there is the potential for financial houses like Goldman and Morgan to use the information provided to them for due diligence by corporations seeking financing to call loans and options and virtually squeezing the distressed companies into bankruptcy. This gives them the opportunity to acquire the assets at fire sale prices like Morgan did with Bear Stearns and Goldman did with oil pipeline giant Semgroup.

Finally there is the potential conflict of interest I raised nearly three years ago of Goldman and Morgan being founders and major investors in ICE, the international company that now owns the London oil futures market.

One thing none of our illustrious politicians seem to be talking about is the long promised campaign reform to close all the loopholes in financing political campaigns. Nearly $1 million was poured into Obama's campaign by Goldman employees. Special interest money flowed at a record rate into all campaigns although some was disguised as individual contributions.

Obama shattered all records spending about $750 million while political parties and special interest groups spent a couple of hundred more million for his campaign, making him the first billion dollar candidate in our history. Apparently he raised so much money that the source of over $88.6 million cannot even be identified. To date and in spite of his promises, there has been no effort to introduce legislation to limit federal fund raising or to expose such massive unidentified contributions in future races.

Obama's Helter Skelter Agenda - Maybe Harvard Wasn't Ready for the Presidency

It has been since 1962 that a true Harvard grad has been president, a span of 47 years while it has been 49 years since one was elected president. Of course we are referring to John Kennedy and I think it is clear already that Barack Obama sure isn't any John Kennedy.

Oh yes, the fact checkers may say "wasn't George Bush, Jr. a Harvard Business School grad" and the answer is yes but based on what he did with the economy and what Obama has done since taking over it might be something that Harvard may not want to talk about. Besides, Bush was a Yale undergraduate while Obama was a Columbia undergraduate.

Now Obama seems to be a nice enough kid. Maybe he made a few mistakes because of his lack of experience, mistakes getting to the White House and mistakes now that he is there, but in spite of his claims that being a community organizer qualified him to run the economy, fix Wall Street and give us all health care, we now know that is just plain nonsense.

I don't remember anyone in the campaign telling us the Obama Administration would be an on-the-job training program for future liberal leaders rather than the president of all the people all the time. His gang has ignored Republicans and Independents and tried to use the Democratic majority in Congress to jam legislation down our throat.

The Obama handlers seemed to forget that just 53% of Americans voted for Obama while 47% opposed him. His was not an overwhelming public mandate but a referendum on the Bush Administration which seemed to be drifting aimlessly the last few years in office. Even Adlai E. Stevenson of Illinois, the last famous liberal presidential candidate from Illinois and three time loser could have beat Bush last year.




Unfortunately for the Republicans Bush was soooo unpopular Speaker Nancy Pelosi was able to get a Democratic majority in the House and Majority Leader Harry Reid got one in the Senate thus, in their minds, giving the president an ironclad veto proof majority in Congress.

So after promising us a break from old style politics and transparency and no lobbyists and prosecution of crooks and new ideas, etc., etc., etc. Obama was able to use the Pelosi-Reid majorities and slam a massive amount of legislation down our throats to fix all the things the Republicans screwed up the past 8 years. It was a great opportunity and a historic landslide of laws but they were written by the same old politicians and lobbyists who were already owned by the special interests from Wall Street to Union Leaders and the laws were filled with the same pork barrel projects we always expected before.

As for the Emergency stimulus bill which Obama touted as the savior of America at a cost of $787 billion to fund shovel-ready projects that could be implemented immediately, we are entering the 5th month since passage and so far the accelerated efforts of Obama have managed to get $44 billion spent, just 5% of the money. Most was probably for unemployment benefits which has nothing to do with stimulus.

In spite of the failure of the program, the economy continues to recover meaning why did we need the program in the first place? We didn't. But Obama did to fund all the none stimulus social agenda he wanted to advance the liberal cause in the nation. Our secret march toward socialism will leave an amazing legacy if left unchecked by Congress.



In less than six months since Obama took office the USA has borrowed more money than the entire amount borrowed during the previous 30 years. In terms of foreign countries of course China continues to hold the biggest mortgage on the future of America with $767.9 trillion in US debt and a total of $1.4 trillion in US debt and US currency. Since we forced Chrysler and GM into bankruptcy and Fannie May and Freddie Mack were bailed out with federal ownership I guess that means China and the other foreign debt holders will own America's largest auto and mortgage companies as well.

The top 7 foreign debt holders are China ($767.9 b), Japan (686.7 b), Caribbean Bank Centers ($213.6 b), Oil Exporters ($192.0 b), Russia ($138.4 b), UK $128.2 b), Brazil ($126.6 b), and Luxembourg ($106.1 b) with a total of $3.2 trillion in foreign debt ownership.

Now the Administration takes comfort in knowing the Federal Reserve here in the US owns the greatest amount of US debt, $4.8 trillion, but who owns and controls the Federal Reserve? Not the US government. Not the US president. Not the US Congress. No, the twelve regional Federal Reserve banks are owned by the private banks doing business with the Fed.



The Obama record shattering borrowing has pushed the US into a debt never before seen and he has just begun. Waiting in the wings are more bank and other bailout programs, energy efficient spending, more health care spending, and a crippled Social Security and Medicaid programs all in need of billions and billions of dollars.


The failure of the Obama economists to accurately project unemployment trends led to gross errors in the estimated costs or value of new programs like the stimulus and bank bailout, the bank stress tests, and the US budget revenue and deficit projections. Obama and the Democratic Congress decided the unemployment rate would stop at 8% because of all their spending yet the rate shot to 9.4% in spite of the spending or lack of spending. It will most likely rise throughout 2009 as projected in the Coltons Point Times and peak around 10% before the effects of economic recovery, not stimulus spending, begin bringing it back down.

So far Obama and the Democratic Congress have brought us record unemployment, record debt, record foreign deficits, record foreign ownership of US assets, record bailouts of banks, mortgage companies, insurance, auto and other industries, and record oil prices with no demand to support it.

Even the Obama worshipers like the media, liberals, unions, bureaucrats, teachers, disenfranchised citizens and Democrat puppets are beginning to get nervous about the failures of programs to protect them and their special interests. Wait until they begin to feel the effects of spiraling interest rates and skyrocketing inflation rates to pay for all the liberal agenda which will surely be the result.

Oh yes Obama is a likeable guy. His wife is likeable as well. But being likeable and from Harvard, Columbia and Princeton Ivy League schools as they are does not make one mature, street smart nor able to govern any better than a Ronald Reagan also from Illinois who attended tiny Eureka College with a student body today of just 750 students.

The Roots of Country Music - Appalachia to Nashville

Most people probably have little understanding of the roots of country music in America because it has always been taken for granted that country is one of the core genres we have always had around. It is known as the heartbeat and soul of America and been around about as long as the Europeans have been here.

Over the years we may have heard country music we liked, some even crossed over to pop and rock charts, and many stars in other genres either started as country music singers or became famous and then cut a country song or album. But do we really know from whence it came?

When English speaking America was first being colonized in the 1600's the coastal areas were settled first, Virginia, Massachusetts and Maryland, all by 1634 and it did not take long for the European immigrants to make their way to the Appalachian Mountains, the Southern Appalachians that is, which included the Blue Ridge Mountain range and Cumberland Plateau. Western Virginia and Eastern Kentucky and Tennessee territories along with pieces of the Carolinas and Georgia made up the region which served as a barrier to westward expansion.

Immigrants came to the area because the coastal regions were already populated and with them came the Old World musical instruments were brought together in barn dances and celebrations by these hardy people settling the region. This was in the days before electricity, before electric guitars and synthesizers

.

The Irish fiddle, German dulcimer, Italian mandolin, Spanish guitar and African banjo were brought to these celebrations and played together in hillbilly jam sessions far from the operas and symphonies of the cities on the east coast. This came to be known as "Old Time" music.

In the 19th century some immigrant groups moved to the Texas area to settle and further integrated the hillbilly sound with Spanish, Mexican and Native American music and large dancehalls were built where the locals could gather and dance to the sounds. This was the final step in the evolution of the roots of Country Music.

Then came the 20th century with cars and roads and radio which brought down the barriers of communication and people from throughout the nation could hear this unique American creation. The first country recording was in 1921 and throughout the 1920's as radio expanded so did the country music.

Country musicians were great innovators ever since mixing the instruments from five counties up in the Appalachians and electricity, recording and touring gave them more and more opportunities to do this. Hillbilly music grew in popularity driven by the Carter Family and Jimmy Rodgers and in 1925 WSM-AM radio in Nashville started the first country music broadcast, on November 28, 1925, when the WSM Barn Dance was first broadcast. In time it would become the Grand Ole Opry under the guidance of people like Roy Acuff.

By the 1930's and Great Depression people were poor and the radio became the primary source of news and entertainment. Soon a fledgling movie industry introduced the Singing cowboys while radio was expanding the barn dances with legendary country shows being broadcast from Chicago to Texas to California. In the 1940's these shows introduced singers like Roy Acuff, Bill Haley, Eddie Arnold and singing cowboys like Gene Autry and Roy Rogers.

Bob Wills and his legendary Texas Playboys was among the innovators of country music when in 1935 he introduced drums to the band, a first, then became the first group with the electric guitar in 1938. Yet it was not until the early 1960's that the steel guitar and drums were fixtures in country bands.

Hillbilly music spawned Hillbilly Boogie by 1939 and a new country genre called Bluegrass emerged with the sound of Bill Monroe, Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs at the end World War II. By this time country music included Hillbilly, Boogie, Blues, Honky Tonk, Gospel and Rockabilly.

To the rest of the world country music was called Hillbilly until 1944 when the name was changed to Folk and Blues music. By 1949 it was labeled Country or Country Western, the latter referring to the singing cowboys of movies and then television. Honky Tonk saw the rise of Ernest Tubb, Floyd Tillman, the Maddox Brothers and Rose, Lefty Frizell and Hank Williams.

Along came the 1950's and country music changed again as Rockabilly dominated with Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash and Carl Perkins leading the way. From 1955-1960 ABC-TV became the first network with a nationwide country show called the Ozark Jubilee that showcased country stars to the nation. Elvis helped drive the cross-over between Rockabilly and Rock 'n Roll.

Late in the '50's came the Lubbock Sound of Buddy Holly and then there was a country backlash as the industry felt rock 'n roll was to dominate. Ray Price, Marty Robbins and Johnny Horton began to shift the music back to traditional country.

In the early 1960's the Nashville sound became dominant with producers like Chet Atkins, Owen Bradley and Billy Sherrill reviving the genre with legendary singers Patsy Cline, Jim Reeves and Eddy Arnold. Ray Charles introduced Country Soul in 1962 with his release of I Can't Stop Loving You. A new sound in Nashville called Countrypolitan was created featuring the sounds of Tammy Wynette and Charlie Rich. But soon the Nashville sound became stale.

Out west Honky Tonk and Western Swing were merged by Bob Wills and Lefty Frizell to form the Bakersfield Sound. It would encompass the diversity of different styles from Buck Owens, Merle Haggard, Tommy Collins and Wynn Stewart.

In other places like Lubbock, Tulsa and Austin the disappointment with the Nashville Sound and control of the record labels was causing an Outlaw movement. Inspired by the success of The Beatles, Bob Dylan and Rolling Stones in demanding creative control of their music and control of their songs, the Outlaws gravitated to Austin where Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson became the leaders.

Not only did their music change but their image as well. Gone were the clean cut, clean shaven cowboys of old and in were the long haired radical Outlaws of the future. Jessie Colter, wife of Waylon, was one of the female pioneers while Johnny Cash and Merle Haggard soon joined forces.

With The Beatles astounding success blending rock and pop music Nashville was hungry to tap into the crossover sound needed to reach the mainstream markets. Others, seeking a return to the "old values" of rock 'n roll, created a new genre called Country Rock.

The Byrds, Flying Burrito Brothers, Allman Brothers, Marshall Tucker Band, Poco, Buffalo Springfield and Eagles exploded onto the music scene as Southern Rock and Heartland became new subgenre spin offs. Ever since there has been a tug of war between traditional country and country rock or country pop as stars like Dolly Parton, Rosanne Cash, Linda Ronstadt, Juice Newton, Alabama, Hank Williams, Jr., Brooks and Dunn, Garth Brooks, Dwight Yoakum, Shania Twain, Faith Hill, and Keith Urban helped move country towards rock over the years.

By the mid 1970's Olivia Newton John and John Denver captured the Country Pop crossover market and powered their way to CMA and Grammy Awards with multi million selling hits. Soon a whole new group of country performers would take up the mantle.

George Straight, Alan Jackson, Clint Black, Toby Keith, Reba McEntire, Kenny Chesney, Alison Krauss, Vince Gill and Tim McGraw among others perform the Classic Country style today while the pop crossover comes from new artists like Carrie Underwood from American Idol fame and newest sensation Taylor Swift who have breathed new life into the country music industry.

What is next? Who knows. Still, those who understand that country music is an ever-changing genre that morphs into a variety of styles depending on the needs of the people and the innovation of the artists, must feel good as a broad range of artists currently dominate the radio airwaves and rule the concert circuit.

As the major record labels collapse, the radio stations strangle on their own automated programming and the formula music once again becomes stale we know it is the time when country music always rediscovers itself. Nashville will be a lot better as a result, all country artists will benefit, the public will reap the rewards of new and innovative country music and history will once again record that the American country sound once again became relevant in a time of need and a time of truth.

Take Me Now God! Excerpt #3

TERMINATOR COMET

My mom called me again the other night just before midnight. She does a couple of times a week. And that’s another reason I’m getting out of here. No wonder I lived at the far end of the country for the last 35 years. New Jersey no less. How many people flee to New Jersey to get away from their mother?

She lived in Iowa so l first ran to Arizona. Then she moved to Arizona and I moved to Nebraska. She moved to Texas and I went to California. She went to Kentucky and I went to New Jersey. Cause and effect. If she got closer than 500 miles I was out of there. Then I wound up in Kentucky too.

Around midnight she called again to tell me who was on the Art Bell Show on radio that night. I never should have answered the phone. As I understand it, her being an old Democrat and all, there is a certain hierarchy in the universe consisting of John Kennedy, Franklin Roosevelt, God and Art Bell. Whatever is said on the Art Bell show is gospel truth.

Every 20th call from her I turn on the radio in case someone other than a nut case is on. So she calls the other night and says someone Art really trusts is on and I have to listen. Sure mom, I got nothing better to do. Seems Art has some guy on talking about the dreaded Terminator Comet.

Now I follow comet sighting. Hell, I follow all kinds of potential disasters. Hurricanes, floods, monsoons, tornadoes, earthquakes. You name it I track it. Where would I have been without the internet. Been attracted to disasters since I chased fire engines as a kid. Come to think of it, I needed the preparation. My life was a disaster ever since.

There were tornadoes. Three homes where I lived in three different states were hit by them. Could that happen to anyone but a disaster? Even stood in a parking lot watching as a tornado roared over my head and smashed into downtown Nashville. Worked the sandbag lines during flooding on the Mississippi River. Caught in floods and earthquakes in California. Blizzards in Nebraska. Hurricanes in New Jersey. You name it, it found me.

I was an expert, a Disaster Master. And I’d never heard of the Terminator Comet. So I listened to Art that night. Seems his guest was my kind of person. Nuts. The guy said the Terminator Comet was headed right toward Earth and the government didn’t tell us. It was supposed to hit November 7. Today is November 20.

Then he posed the ultimate dilemma. He said it actually did hit Earth nearly two weeks ago. Since no one but the military knew, there was no warning. And when it hit, it was a giant comet remember, everyone was killed instantly. It happened so suddenly the entire human race died simultaneously. Imagine that.

If I believe him. I’m dead already. Ending it now would be redundant. And if we all died instantly, no one had a chance to think about their life after death. So whatever their thoughts were prior to death, and whatever their life was at the time of the comet, that’s where they remained after death. Everyone dies and nothing changes.

What the hell kind of a deal is that? You remember being killed by the Terminator Comet last November 7? Take my word for it, you wouldn’t. So we either solved the mystery of death and now know nothing changes when you die, or the guy is full of shit. I lean toward the latter. Beamish would have told me if I was dead.

Don’t think I’ll be answering the phone at night anymore.

LOOKING GLASSES

Look through someone’s glasses at this world we call our home
Put yourself in their head and then let your mind just roam
You see a view you could not share where you were once before
The window now will take the place of where you saw a door

THE PHONE CALL

Got trapped into answering the phone tonight. Circumstances beyond my control. Had pretty much given up answering the phone. No one calls, at least not for me. Get several calls a day for the Kentucky Thoroughbred Association. Phone company gave their old number to me.

So I get calls all times of the day and night asking about breeding horses. Was fascinated at first. Then it started to get to me. People plotting which mares to breed with which stallion. Bad as an arranged marriage. Guess the horses didn’t care though.

So I quit answering the damn phone. Let the machine take a message. But I got trapped. My brother-in-law, we dubbed him the Rasta Man, was getting ready to leave for a trip to the Bahamas to help rebuild a home after the hurricanes hit. I had made my first trip to the Bahamas earlier this year for my sister’s wedding. Then the islands get hit by the first hurricane in a century after I leave. Karma.

Even though he was just going to help out a friend, foreign countries don’t take kindly to foreigners coming in and taking work away from the locals. But there aren’t any skilled carpenters and master builders like the Rasta Man in the Bahamas. So he gets a call from a friend on the islands warning him the Bahaman Immigration people were not going to allow him back in the country to work.

Now that scared the holy shit out of him. He was there a few weeks earlier and the rebuilding supplies didn’t arrive so he loafed on the beach for 2 weeks. No one saw him working. Yet they report him just when the supplies arrive and he is returning. Guess some local had told the authorities he was coming back to work. Finally his friend convinced him to go, that he wouldn’t be arrested and deported or jailed.

I told him if he was arrested he’d spend the end of the millennium in the Bermuda Triangle. He was scheduled to return one week before New Years. Knowing his luck he’d be locked in jail as an 18 foot tidal surge came boring down on the place. That just happened a few weeks earlier. But I told him he also might just be there for the raising of Atlantis. He ignored me and asked me to answer the phone for the next few days, in case he needed to get out of jail.

That’s how I got trapped into answering the phone, and getting THE PHONE CALL. It was my mother again. Complaining at first how I never answered my phone. Of course not. Then the conversation took a decided sinister mood. She blasted me for not taking her to the store shopping. Hell, I don’t even go shopping.

And then, she told me about the airplane contrails in the sky, crisscross patterns like trails of billowing cotton stretched as far as you could see to the east of town. Next thing I knew she told me about the black stuff that was all over her apartment. She said it was like a shredded, black, plastic, garbage bag. Little pieces were all over everything.

Then a stupid question came out of my mouth. I asked her where it came from. She said they were dropping it from the planes. It was a chemical concealed in the harmless looking puff balls they left across the sky. Seems the government was poisoning us. Art Bell told her.

I asked if it might be normal air pollution. With Indiana and Ohio to the north of Kentucky, there were plenty of sources of industrial waste. But she insisted they were big chunks. Too big for air pollution. So Art Bell said the government was bombarding us with poisonous chemicals from airplanes.

I told her I usually found evidence of pollution on my car, because it was white. She found hers inside the apartment. Imagine that, the government bombarding the inside of my mother’s apartment with shredded, black, plastic, garbage bags covered with deadly chemicals. She didn’t know if it was on her car too, she hadn’t been outside.

Finally I pointed out that the winds were blowing to the east. If she saw the contrails were east of town, the chemicals would have blown the other direction. How did they manage to blow straight into the wind? Why was the poisoning our problem and not West Virginia’s? Stumped her on that one. So she ignored the question.

NOTHING VENTURED NOTHING GAINED

The time it is today
we can’t wait until tomorrow
the things we have to say
may get lost in time we’ve borrowed

So live today like it’s your last
forget tomorrow and the past
don’t hang on to what is not
or think of what you haven’t got

Don’t say it might have been

THE SECOND PHONE CALL

But even THE PHONE CALL paled in comparison to THE SECOND PHONE CALL. From the Ex. First time I’d heard from her since weeks earlier when I was declared Satan. Seems she had e-mailed me and felt it necessary to explain things. That was the second mistake that night, answering the phone again.

First she gave me a thumbnail overview of how I destroyed her life, her family’s life, her ex-husband’s life, a couple of psychics, boyfriends, and on and on and on. I was accused of many, many other things as well. And then I was accused of driving her into the arms of her new boyfriend, which she had just dumped.

I was confused. She was dating him before our last encounter weeks ago. So she gave me a detailed explanation that she was vulnerable, and he moved in to protect her. She really liked someone saying he loved her and wanting to do everything for her. But he wouldn’t leave her alone, for the next couple of weeks. Finally he was literally camped out in her driveway, I guess waiting to get me when I came after her.

He was now getting pushy with her. Demanding she go with him to Atlanta for Christmas to meet his parents, then on to Florida with him for a cozy New Years. That’s not even the best part of it. After she had to drive him out of her driveway, she said she felt real sorry for him because she hurt him. She couldn’t love him back. It was my fault, I had ruined her attitude about men.

Who the hell am I? Dear Abby? I told her I didn’t think it was appropriate for her to discuss her boyfriend problems with me, after all I am Satan. Maybe she should call her psychic hotline for help. They worked wonders with our relationship. Maybe she will.

So then she said her brother-in-law, a cop, told her to get out of town because I was the unabomber. No transition in the conversation. From hurting her boyfriend to the mad bomber. Here I thought the unabomber was in jail. Guess that’s how versatile Satan can be.

And the next morning she was moving back to Illinois. Selling her house and moving. Oh yes, moving back to her old house with her ex-husband and kids. I told her there was a good chance the move might also hurt her new boyfriend, not to mention how odd the entire concept of moving back in with her recently divorced ex-husband might appear. But I was sure she was doing the right thing.

I still had difficulty finding out what I had to do with all this. Then found out I had traumatized her daughter, she couldn’t even go to school, so they had to leave town. It had been weeks since I had seen or talked to her daughter and the last time we were together I had taken them out for a nice dinner. She didn’t seem too threatened then.

So she explained how I did it. It was the psychic that cleared things up. She and her daughter were talking to the psychic about her revelations of how much a part of the dark side I was. At least that was the psychic consensus after several hours of discussion. No one even bothered to talk to me about it. And I couldn’t very well go over and argue my defense. The sniper in the driveway would have picked me off. The one she just threw out.

The psychic got the daughter terrified with her descriptions of the danger they were in, so much that the poor kid couldn’t go to school anymore. Of course, she had already been warned by the school about too many absences, and the new threat did result in unlimited time for e-mail and television. It was great. The kid gets constant TV and the internet with no homework, the Ex gets her horseman parked outside protecting her, and I get trashed and blamed for everything,

There was more, lots more. But it only deteriorated from there. Made me wonder what the purpose of the call was in the first place. Hell, I was no threat. She was never alone long enough for me to get close to her. Guys were even camped out in her driveway to take care of her every need. Not to mention a visit by her ex-husband.

That’s it for answering the damn phone. I’m done. So what if my brother-in-law sits in jail in the Bahamas. Answering the phone only gets me into bigger problems.

DREAMS THAT CANNOT BE

Shadows on the wall are chasing dreams that cannot be
trying to bring them home again so that my eyes might see
happiness has come so close but slipped right through my grasp
when love was handed out it seems I passed

So now I’m taking memories I’ve borrowed from my dreams
some memories that cannot be and ones I’ve never seen
believing that I’ll find myself when after I’ve been there
when it’s too late to capture whatever’s out somewhere

So I will go on searching for those dreams that cannot be
living in my memory of times I did not see
wondering if this journey that I’m on will reach an end
hoping that before I’m gone my broken heart will mend


THE SUICIDE

Yet another chapter in the mother story. My mother is old, like 80 something. Long ago I gave up training her. But she still insists on tormenting me to my or her grave, whichever comes first. A few years back when she was having a rough time she used to threaten suicide. I would send her tips on how to do it right. Even sent her a Dr. Kervokian gift certificate one Christmas. It shut her up for a while.

So yesterday she has a friend call me to tell me they just set fire to mom’s kitchen. Seems a plastic lid was stuck to the bottom of a pizza pan they were cooking and the damn thing went up in flames. Of course they didn’t know the lid was stuck there. They both checked the oven before cooking since my mom stored all kids of shit in there. She put three pans under the pizza. Not one, but three. And the lid was stuck between the bottom two. I discovered what was left of the lid later when I inspected the scene.

They felt the fire was some kind of mystical experience. Perhaps a sign of the end times I guess. Didn’t remember reading anything about mom’s pizza fire in Nostradamus, or Revelations, or even from the Hopi Indians. When they called they said the toxic smell of plastic was a bit overpowering so I told them I would meet them for coffee while the smoke cleared, then go check it out. They wanted to come over to my place but that wasn’t going to happen.

At a coffee shop they told me how it was like being in the twilight zone. (Here I thought their every minute was like living in the Twilight Zone). Mom whispered to me that perhaps some evil force was trying to stop them from getting out the word about Mary. Now that threw me. My sister was named Mary, but it couldn’t be her. So I asked which Mary they were promoting this week.

The friend rather haughtily says, “well Mary Magdalene of course,” as if I should know that. “You mean the hooker from the Bible?” I asked. She didn’t like my attitude. “And what was it”, I asked, “that the Devil would object to in you discussing Biblical hookers with people? If anything I would think the old boy would be pleased.”

Ignoring me, the friend related a vision she had in California when this Mary came to her. I asked what Mary did or told her and she said nothing, just appeared. I asked how that constituted spiritual insight. She didn’t know. But she had seen this particular Mary and it may or may not have changed her life. I said perhaps there was another reason a hooker came to you in your visions. Again she didn’t like the attitude.

After explaining to her that I preferred to focus on the other Biblical Mary, the Virgin one, we changed the subject. So mom tells me, in front of her friend, how her friend is contemplating suicide. I noted that she certainly came to an authority. Hell, mom has been threatening suicide for the past couple of decades.

Her friend was going to use the stove. She was going to lay down with her dog and cat, turn on the gas, and just end it all. I thought that was reasonable, if the animals had agreed to share her plight. Problem was her gas had been turned off. Same with the electric and phone. I gave her a better idea. Just get in her old smoke belching Mercedes in the garage and take the final ride. The way that car spit out fumes it would be over in no time. Didn’t even need a hose. Less mess.

She said life was hopeless. After raising a family she had no idea why she was here, what purpose she was meant to serve. I asked what made her think she had any purpose. Why do people always think everyone has a purpose? Do we really think we are that special? Seems she didn’t like that advice either. No wonder I don’t have a radio show offering personal counseling, Dr. Laurel Hardy.

In the end I told them I didn’t think the Devil was responsible for the plastic lid melting and catching fire in the oven. I mean I would have known. And I could see no good reason for Satan to want to harm that pizza. And I didn’t think a kitchen fire was necessarily a sign of the End Times from God. As to what any of this had to do with that Mary, I hadn’t a clue. Besides, if mom’s friend was going to commit suicide the fire might just have been a welcome home card.

I went back home to my sanctuary. It’s not safe anywhere anymore. I’m returning to my old ways. From now on I’m just sending out Dr. Kervorkian gift certificates. No more crisis intervention.



BRIEFCASE BLUES

Sitting in the airport waiting
while the world is dissipating
endless hopes and endless dreams
times that I have never seen

And reaching back to where I was
can’t hang on got no cause
a mind with nothing left to think
eyes that stare, and never blink

So please let me off this journey leading to no end
when I get to where I want I start it all again
I’ve been down before and I know just where I’ll be
please let me off, all I’m asking’s to be free

Cause nothing’s all that’s left of me
a broken shell of what would be
as I travel to no where
shades of darkness fill the air

and reaching back to where I was
can’t hang on I got no cause
a mind with nothing left to think
eyes that stare, and never blink

So please let me off this journey leading to no end
when I get to where I want I start it all again
I’ve been down before and I know just where I’ll be
please let me off, all I’m asking’s to be free

The Final Leg of The Triple Crown

It is the final leg of the Triple Crown and this year for the first time a jockey, not the horse may be the winner. Calvin Borel won the Kentucky Derby on Mine That Bird (pictured above) and the Preakness on Rachel Alexandra and returns to Mine That Bird for the Belmont, the favorite horse. Borel is trying to be the firrst jockey in history to win the Triple Crown on different horses.


Certain to challenge for the win is Charitable Man who did not run in either of the previous races but has won 3 of 4 races at Bemont Park.

The most current odds are as follows:

Mine That Bird 2/3

Dunkirk 9/2

Charitable Man 7/2

Chocolate Candy 13/1

Flying Private 16/1

Mr. Hot Stuff 20/1

Brave Victory 25/1

Miners Escape 30/1

Summer Bird 25/1

Luv Gov 40/1

The following stories appeared in the credited sources and pretty much sum up the difficulty of winning this race.

By Bobby Smith

New York Racing Examiner

The race known as the Belmont Stakes is one of the biggest jokes in American sports. Like the two-party system, labor unions, Major League Baseball and print newspapers, it outlived its usefulness a while ago, yet still exists out of habit, coming up once again this Saturday, June 6.

The gross national product of a small country was suctioned out of 100,000 pockets when Big Brown was eased in it last year – while shooting for a sweep of the Triple Crown, no less. Why was he eased? No real answer was ever given. The horse that won last year’s Belmont Stakes – Da’ Tara -- hasn’t won since, which isn’t a surprise.

The mile-and-a-half distance grows more uncommon with every passing year that Thoroughbreds are mated, so uncommon horses tend to win the Belmont Stakes. Winners of the Belmont Stakes tend to disappear from the scene within weeks or months of their big moment. The general rule of thumb is, the better the winner, the sooner it will exit from competition. Under those rules, people need better reasons for showing up here (they do, however, exist. Read on.)

The 1984 winner, Swale, died mysteriously behind his shedrow two weeks after winning the race. In 1988, Risen Star never raced again after winning the Belmont Stakes by 15 lengths. Ever hear of Go and Go, the 1990 winner? Or Editor’s Note, the 1996 winner? How about Commendable, from 2000? Point Given and Empire Maker were retired with injuries within months after winning the race in 2001 and 2003. Afleet Alex, the 2005 winner, never raced again. Where is Jazil, the 2006 winner? Retired, and 0-for-3 after winning the race. The filly Rags to Riches ran one more time, finishing second three months later, after winning the 2007 Belmont Stakes.

The sport of Thoroughbred racing has over-promoted the Tiple Crown and “star power horses” in its many futile attempts to cultivate new fans. Fans are not necessary, and the New York Racing Association provides excellent proof of that as they exist despite Belmont Park attendances of only 3,500 during the week, and 7,000 on weekends. More proof that fans are not necessary was given when NYRA raised the price of admission and parking for Belmont Stakes Day by 500% a few years ago.

When there is no pending Triple Crown sweep – like this year – the 50% reduction in Belmont Stakes Day attendance is more than offset by the price the smaller crowd is willing to pay for the right to attend. Exactly what is that crowd getting that they couldn’t get on a regular day at the races? Nothing, really, but the people aren’t necessarily aware of that.The best thing about the Belmont Stakes is that it is one of many fine manifestations of the old Chicago song, “Saturday in the Park.”

The race itself isn’t a must-see as much as being there – regardless of the historical significance of the race itself -- is a tradition for the people on hand who can look past the hype, enjoy the moment with friends and family, and understand that the currency the track pays out for winning a bet on any of the other 10 races on the card is the same as it would be for picking the winning horse, exacta or trifecta in the Belmont Stakes. The Belmont Stakes itself is merely the big distraction. It means more to the many shady participants than it ever will to the viewers. What it’s all about is “People dancing, people laughing. A man selling ice cream. Singing Italian songs …Can you dig it ? (yes, I can). And I’ve been waiting such a long time. For Saturday.”


The following analysis is from the BoDogLife web page and provides further details about this year's Belmont.


Belmont Stakes Betting Tips‏ and Odds: The Belmont Stakes will be run for the 141st time Saturday, June 6th at spacious Belmont Park and the bettors are looking for any and all clues in trying to find the winner of the mile and a half classic. Longshots have dominated this race for the past 10 years, with the average winner's odds Belmont Stakes Odds at 20 to 1.

So, it goes without saying, it pays not to dismiss any one in this last leg of the Triple Crown. A few other trends should be noted when handicapping the Belmont Stakes, such as post position, where the inside posts were golden years ago, they are now a disadvantage since the last 4 winners have started from posts 7 or higher, and only one of the last 8 winners has been inside of the 7 hole, and that was Birdstone, who broke from stall # 4.

As mentioned, in previous years the inside post were considered the best because in a cleanly run race, with relatively small fields, the shortest distance to the wire at the end of a mile and a half, is on the rail. Recently, however, the fields for the Belmont Stakes have had more starters, so the outside is convenient because there is no traffic, and horses turning for home in full flight don't get impeded.

Another clue to picking the Belmont Stakes winner is that horses that have run in both of the Triple Crown races prior to the Belmont Stakes, have not performed too well at all, and conversely, the ones who skipped them , have made it into the winners circle. Only Afleet Alex, who ran in the Derby and Preakness, has done it in the last 7 years.That being said, horses that only ran in one Triple Crown race, have done very well as evidenced by 12 winner in the last 15 years. Of the three Triple Crown races, it seems the Derby and Preakness take jockey experience as a prerequisite for success, while the Belmont Stakes seem to embrace first time jockeys because 3 of the last 4 Belmont Stakes winners were piloted by rookie jocks.

Finally, breeding is one of the most important factors to utilize, especially because the Belmont Stakes distance is such a test of stamina, and in genetics, stamina usually begets stamina. A few examples, four of the last eight Belmont Stakes winners were sired by classic winners, two more were sired by Breeders Cup Classic winners, and just going through the Belmont winners list, there is a preponderance of Belmont winners sired by Belmont winners or out of dams sired by Belmont winners.

Make Way for the New GMC, the Government Motor Company

Any moment now GM is going to file for bankruptcy following in the footsteps of Chrysler and America is going to go from three major auto companies to one, Ford. Maybe it is only fair that the first car company in America is the last one standing but what does that say about America?

GM Headquarters in Detroit

Well, call it what you want we have temporarily nationalized the car companies because all of their money is coming from our government and the Obama boys are calling all the shots from who will manage the companies, what debtors will get the most money back, what cars will be made in the future and about everything else about the business of management.

It is already clear that the unions will be the big winners of the debtor pool as they have received better terms than any other bond and debt holder. The unions could own 24% of General Motors and the government could own 51% and since the unions helped get Obama elected it looks like the unions will be running the GM of the future.

I've got nothing against unions being management but it somehow seems like a conflict of interest for the workers and management to be the same people, especially since it was the legacy costs of union pension and health insurance for retired auto workers that got the companies in trouble in the first place.

Chrysler will be run by Fiat so there is no American Pie left in that company. GM must shed all of its foreign holdings which were the only part of GM that made a profit recently. Rumor has it Obama will give GM $30 billion more to get through bankruptcy.

Forcing GM to change to energy and environmental cars of the future is great for the future but pretty radical in America where it often seems cars were guaranteed in our Constitution just like guns. Here we like powerful and efficient cars but I cannot imagine the little, very little cars designed for European cities where traffic is always jammed, selling in America. Give me a Thunderbird or Corvette before you try and stick me in one of those mini-death traps.

And speaking of the alternative energy cars being required by the Obama gang, and especially the electric cars, if they do not improve the batteries the cars will never really sell. Right now if the battery breaks down, and none have been tested over a period of many years, the battery replacement cost could easily exceed $10,000. Some car efficiency. Why don't we just make more efficient internal combustion cars until we have mastered the new batteries required for massive market penetration by the alternative vehicles?

In spite of the ranting and raving of global warming advocates, it is power plants, not cars, that are contributing the most to the problem. You might want to add our nation's capitol as the second biggest cause because of all the hot air expended in DC. So cars are not the main problem. So we have right now sufficient oil and natural gas reserves to supply our current needs for about 300 years. New technologies and new techniques to improve auto efficiency have constantly improved auto performance, even the autos running on gas.

Oil prices have reached new highs in a stable market as oil reached about $66.00 a barrel this week when demand has collapsed and inventories are at all time highs. All the nonsense and predictions from our government about how bad things have gotten seem to be falling on deaf ears. And did you hear Al Gore or any other global warming advocate answer why we are in a period of advanced global warming yet the average temperature of the Earth has fallen the last couple of years?

I suspect if you checked to see who owns stock in the new energy efficient companies and solar efforts you might find a lot of names of environmentalists, thus putting them in yet another conflict of interest which seems all too common in Washington.

Now before any tree huggers blast away at me I will put my environmental record up against any of them as back when many of them were in diapers I was involved in environmental initiatives from waste recovery to mandatory recycling, active and passive solar systems to hydrogen cars, restricted land use management to wetlands and forest recovery, and I was even involved in the creation of the Federal Energy Administration and US Department of Energy.

Oil and natural gas are critical to our transition to a more energy efficient future. The Obama gang chose to slam the door on what works and bet the future on what hasn't work yet. I say increase oil and gas reserves while we create the new alternative energy economy, a manufacturing base that does not even exist yet. Don't bet our future on speculation.