For a long time I've been kind of secret about my vote for the Presidential race.  I've hinted about voting for Obama.  It has been assumed that I'm voting for McCain by most that know me.  I've even mentioned to some people that I was voting for Bob Barr.

"So he's voting for McCain! I knew it!".  I like John McCain as a person.  Anyone that went through what the guy went through is an American Hero.  Also, he's a bad ass in my book.  But does being a hero and a bad ass qualify you to be president?  Those might be some good features in a president, but they don't make you a good president.  Sarah Palin is pretty cool in my book as well.  She breathes life into the dreary Republican party.  However, let's face it…she is in no way ready to be president if something would happen to McCain who is racking up some age.  This was a great way for her to get her feet wet and hopefully run against Hilary 8 years down the road when she's more accustomed to being around this spotlight.  But in 2008, no vote for McCain/Palin.

The winner of my vote for 2008 is….

Yes for the very first time in my life, I'm writing in my vote.  Ron Paul is getting my vote.  I don't feel I'm wasting my vote either.  I'm just not going to be voting for the 2008 winner.  But hopefully I can be voting for the 2012 candidate.  I think Ron Paul fucked up this year by running on the Republican ticket instead of going independent.  I'm hoping he gets a large number of write in votes and decides to rethink his strategy during the next election.  He has a huge following, so hopefully my vote helps get that 2012 Presidential ball rolling.

I could go on and on about Ron Paul and his stance on individual issues.  The truth is that you're probably not going to read it anyway.  I'm just wanted to publicize my vote and the reasoning behind that vote.

After further review, I couldn't pull the trigger.  No way I could wait 1.5 hrs in line just to have my vote not count.  So I chose McCain/Palin.  Either way: welcome the new boss...same as the old boss.

Yeah, Barack Obama, barring some sort of NY Mets style meltdown, is our new president.  I’m OK with that.  He’s not my first choice, but definitely not my last.  Also, it’s going to be entertaining watching the reactions by the racist West Virginia’s when “That Goddamn Nigger!” is elected into office.  Personally, I don’t see race or even his religion/supposed Muslim practices being an issue.  However, there are some backwoods folks around this area that thinks he’s gonna knock up their daughter, steal their bicycle, and blow up the Sears tower.  I love this state, but damn we are some back ass folks.  And it’s the reason WV lags behind the other 49 states in many categories.  But you can’t beat the scenery and there’s hardly any traffic, so I like it here.

I like Obama as a person.  I admire his intensions (assuming his words are true).  I just don’t like his politics.  It’s that simple.  Obama thinks every person is equal and wants to rob from the rich and give to the poor all while playing on people’s emotions.  He’s truly a master at speaking to a person’s emotions and causing a reaction.  Both good and bad.  He’s a liberal though and I’ll never agree with a liberal’s way of thinking.

Where did McCain go wrong?  As much as I thought of McCain as a bad ass because of his history and his POW story, he just wasn’t a bad ass on the campaign trail.  He didn’t stand out.  He was just the other guy running.  He’s had AMPLE chances to take the gloves off and really make things hard for Obama, but has refused to do it.  So, maybe he was a bad ass in the military, but he’s a puppy when it comes to hardcore politics and maybe just isn’t cut out to be president.  He refused to take any shots to the body and now his campaign has failed.  I get the feeling that he’s just going to ride these remaining 27 days out and spend as little as possible to save some cash.  Look for a landslide.

I don’t expect any real changes in the country with Obama at the helm though.  He’s campaigning on change, but I figure it will take about 6 months to a year before all of that “change” is a distant memory.  He’s actually going to be taking over at a perfect time.  He’s buying low in regards to our country.  He’s going to be President or at least President-elect and beginning his term when the morale of the country is at it’s lowest.  I have no doubts that the US will bounce out of it’s slump and it’s most likely to happen with Obama being early in his 4 year term.  Which will equate to another 4 years unless again, he crashes and burns.

I’m very interested in seeing if Obama’s politics help the country.  I’m not a liberal by any means, but if it works, it works.  Hell, I’m open minded and if I see something working, I have no problems adjusting.  For the sake of the country, I hope he does a good job.  So cheers to Barac k Obama.  You didn’t win my vote, but you did win my respect.  Now go do your job and fix Washington like you promised.

Last week sometime, I read an editorial in the local newspaper that really fired me up.  The article praises my hometown for arresting a couple prostitutes.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for locking up these ladies for a long time.  However, I read the article at my parents house.  From my house to my parents house, I usually take Mercer Street just for the entertainment value.  Mercer Street has become a scary place the past few years.  In some ways, it’s like the big cities you see on television with the prostitutes standing on the corners and more pills getting sold than at the local pharmacy.  It’s a shame really because that area of downtown could be very nice.  Anyway, on my way to my parents house, as I cruised through “the strip”, I noticed more scary individuals than normal.  I also witnessed one whacked out lady laid out on the sidewalk hanging halfway out into the road.  At first, I thought she was dead, then I saw her move.  You can’t help but laugh when you see something like that even if it does make you sad.  Once I got to my parents’ house and read this editorial about how the “Prostitution Crackdown” made a difference, my blood boiled.  I was no longer entertained by the activities of the downtown area.

I got very angry and started writing.  I thought I would write a letter to the Mayor, all the police offices, and anyone else that might listen.  I really slammed the police department and the way they were being managed.  I slammed them for hiring incompetent workers and just down right lazy practices.  After a couple hours of researching and writing my letter, I had 6 well written pages.  And I wasn’t done.  However, as I was re-reading my work, I noticed I was pointing the finger at the wrong people.  The police departments weren’t to blame.  They were just making the best of what they had to work with.  They have to hire incompetent workers, because who else would take $8/hour to get shot at?  When all was said and done, I did something drastic.  I deleted the file that stored the letter I wrote.  All that work and time spent… for nothing.  I stepped back, not out of fear or regret, but just because I was barking up the wrong tree.

I started looking at who is “running” this city.  I’ve always assumed they were the typical fat cats in the small town.  I assumed these folks are part of a “good ol’ boy” network with intentions of keeping  it that way.  The average citizen in Princeton probably has no clue of even the mayor’s name, much less any information on other individuals that help run this town.  So many times I hear people say “I can’t wait to get out of this town”.  It really sickens me to hear that because this town could be great.  I’ve been to all the major cities on the east side of the US and I wouldn’t trade my small town of Princeton for any of them.  This city has grown despite being beat down and bruised by the people that prosper from those kind of activities.

Instead of whining and complaining about how things are being done in this town, I thought I would try to step up and help out this community to the best of my ability.  I mean, you help out your loved ones, right?   I love Princeton.  I really love the thought of what it could be with all the growth we’ve seen the past few years.  It’s not a broken town by any means.  It just needs cleaned up a little bit.  So what I’m asking is for everyone that has ever complained about the way things are being done in the town to take a step back for a minute just as I have done.  Then think of some way of stepping up to bat for this great town.   It’s obviously not enough to just complain and be heard.  We have to make the differences ourselves.

Myself, I used to be completely ignorant on who is pulling the chains behind the scenes in the town.  I’m taking the first step to educate myself.  Then the next step is to see how I can help out as a citizen.  What can I do to make this a better town?  The one thing I’d love to see in Princeton more than anything would be a prosperous downtown area.  Mercer Street has so much character that is going to waste with those rotting buildings.  I had some hopes a few years back when developers fixed up a few of the buildings and put in some decent affordable apartments.  I’d love to see that taken to the next step where there are no vacant stores and all the stores are prosperous.  I’d love to see these buildings remodeled.  I’d also love to see the “trash” taken off those streets.  There are many things I’d love to see happen in Princeton, but renovation of the downtown strip is #1 on my list.  I’m going to PERSONALLY see what I can do to help make that happen.

The video neglected to show the cops forcing the "suspect" to empty his wallet, the contents of his car, and cash out his entire bankroll and hand it over as "evidence".

Fuck government.

Dear Mr. Law Enforcement Agency:

Recently, you felt it necessary to raid a couple of local establishments.  You raided these establishments not for running drugs, prostitutes, or even weapons.  No, you stormed in, guns blazing, to break up a poker game.  We're not talking about a big time, high stakes game either.  No sir!  You broke up a couple of $1/2 games.  Huge stakes!  Now that you have raided these games and padded your pockets with several thousand dollars that does not belong to you, I have a question.  Why?

Why is it that I have to lock up everything I have because the pill poppers a couple houses down will steal anything that isn't bolted down?  Why is it that when I drive through town, I see dealers peddling their wares out in the open.  Sometimes the prostitutes will try to get in your vehicle and you have to push them back.  Yet, my friends face persecution for playing a simple game?  I won't even get into the aspect of the actual law enforcement officers I have personally played with in these games.  Not the guys you sent... NO! The guys on your payroll that play willingly...those are the guys I played with.

Dear Mr. Law Enforcement Agency, why is it that you have the resources to have someone playing undercover in these games for 4 months, yet you don't have the resources to clean up our streets?  You get on my television and complain that you don't have the resources to pay your employees overtime.  You don't have the resources to make sure your officers are properly trained or equipped.  Yet you have the resources to bankroll an officer and pay him to play poker with a bunch of decent people.  Who cares, right?  It's just taxpayer money.

Why is it that you squeeze every cent of tax that you possibly can out of business owners and civilians alike, then blatantly steal the rest?  Why is it that a man that runs a certain establishment bring so much to a single town and you take and take and take what he brings into your town...yet you still feel the need to raid this establishment and take some more?  Why is it that this same establishment has 5 video slot machines hooked up to the Governors office, yet they can't play a simple skilled game on the side?  This establishment brings in tens of thousand, if not hundreds of thousands in tax money to the town and state, not to mention the revenue that is direct deposited into the Governors pocket through the slot machines.  Once a month, he hosts an event that brings people from several states to this establishment.  As a result, the neighboring businesses also flourish...which means the law enforcement agencies and other government agencies flourish with the additional tax revenue.  This establishment does that much for you, yet you still feel the need to raid it and steal even more? 

Mr. Law Enforcement Agency, why is it that you must call everyone's phone number on that cell phone?  Are you trying to intimidate me?  If so, it's not working.  In fact, I would love to hear from you.  I have a lot of questions I'd like answered.  Also, I'd love to blog the transcript of our conversation on my website.

Dear Mr. Law Enforcement Agency .... FUCK YOU!

Barack Obama is a douchebag just like every other candidate running for president.  Him and Hilary are spewing a bunch of buzzwords and regurgitating a bunch of B.S. on how they are going to fix the high gas prices.  I've listened to their suggestions and my conclusion is that they have no clue what they are talking about.  They are just feeding you morons a bunch of crap you want to hear.

Let's start with the oil companies.  For those of you that graduated from public schools, "profit" is a dollar amount that you earned above your costs.  "Profit Margins" are a percentage based on the amount of "profit" you earned divided by the price.  For example, let's say you sell dildos.  A deluxe model dildo costs you $85.  You sell the deluxe dildo for $100.  You have made $15 in "profit" and your profit margin is 15% ($15/100 = 0.15 or 15%).  Now let's take a look at the average retailer.  Most of them are working on 30-50% profit margins.  Some products we sold are earning the sellers upwards of 100-200% in profit margins.  Now, let's look at the oil industry.  They are working at below a 10% profit margin (usually 8-9% from the research I've done).

Obama had a nice little ad on TV the other day that said he was going to take the oil companies' Windfall profits.  What is a windfall profit?  You ask the average American and they are going to look at you with a blank stare.  Basically a windfall profit is when your profits rise based on factors that you don't control.  The oil companies are showing record multi-billion dollar profits these days due to the high cost of oil.  However, their profit margins are the same.  Higher costs will result in higher profits if you keep the margins the same.  So blaming the oil companies is nothing but placing the blame where it doesn't really belong.

Also, Obama spewed a bunch of crap about spending extra on exploring alternative sources of energy.  That's all well and good, but it doesn't fix our immediate problem.  Do you honestly believe that in 4 years, our cars will be running on water, bananas, or even used tampons?  In my opinion, our best case scenario for that kind of discovery is 20-50 years.  What will we be paying for a gallon of gas then?  It doesn't help our immediate problem.

The solution to this entire clusterfuck is a simple fix.  It's basic economics.  As your supply lowers, the demand rises resulting in higher prices.  So we need to raise the supply of oil.  That is easily fixed by drilling in ANWR or aquiring oil from the Iraqis as payment for fixing their shitty ass country.  Even at that, it's not going to completely help gas prices.  If our cars ran on crude oil, then that would be it.  However, the oil needs to be refined.  We have to build more refineries.  This is something that Obama, Clinton, and many other politicians are going to oppose because the oil companies are evil and all powerful and out to crush the little man.

Wake up you dumb fucks.  You let these people say all of this nonsense without any reprocussion.  What they say might make you feel all warm and cozy inside, but it's nowhere near the truth.  The problem with Americans these days is the fact that nobody possesses the capability of coming up with their own ideas.  Too many people see Obama or Clinton telling them this crap on the television and take them for their word.  These people are just salesman for their party...that's all.  Do you honestly think they give a shit about you and me?  It's kind of like the car salesman trying to sell you a shiny new sports car.  You might be apprehensive at first, but he keeps hinting about all the pussy you're gonna get as a result of that car.  So you take the bait, buy the car, and find out you're a fag with a tiny dick and the car doesn't help at all.