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Current mood:  cantankerous Category: Life
Are any of you familiar with Cory the Well Driller? Well I got the following message in an email from a long time, family friend who is, sad to say, a McCain supporter. After reading the following message, I couldnt help but be pissed off and go on my own personal little rant, which you will see after you read the well driller's letter to Obama...be forewarned, with my rant included at the end, this is a pretty long read...
Mr. Obama,
Given the uproar about the simple question asked you by Joe the plumber, and the persecution that has been heaped on him because he dared to question you, I find myself motivated to say a few things to you myself. While Joe aspires to start a business someday, I already have started not one, but 4 businesses. But first, let me introduce myself. You can call me "Cory, the well driller". I am a 54 year old high school graduate. I didn't go to college like you, I was too ready to go "conquer the world" when I finished high school. 25 years ago at age 29, I started my own water well drilling business at a time when the economy here in East Texas was in a tailspin from the crash of the early 80's oil boom. I didn't get any help from the government, nor did I look for any. I borrowed what I could from my sister, my uncle, and even the pawn shop and managed to scrape together a homemade drill rig and a few tools to do my first job. My businesses did not start not a result of privilege. It is the result of my personal drive, personal ambition, self discipline, self reliance, and a determination to treat my customers fairly. From the very start my business provided one other (than myself) East Texan a full time job. I couldn't afford a backhoe the first few years (something every well drilling business had), so I and my helper had to dig the mud pits that are necessary for each and every job with hand shovels. I had to use my 10 year old, 1/2 ton pickup truck for my water tank truck (normally a job for at least a 2 ton truck).
A year and a half after I started the business, I scraped together a 20% down payment to get a modest bank loan and bought a (28 year) old, worn out, slightly bigger drilling rig to allow me to drill the deeper water wells in my area. I spent the next few years drilling wells with the rig while simultaneously rebuilding it between jobs. Through these years I never knew from one month to the next if I would have any work or be able to pay the bills. I got behind on my income taxes one year, and spent the next two years paying that back (with penalty and interest) while keeping up with ongoing taxes. I got behind on my water well supply bill two different years (way behind the second time... $80,000.00), and spent over a year paying it back (each time) while continuing to pay for ongoing supplies C.O.D. Of course, the personal stress endured through these experiences and years is hard to measure. I do have a stent in my heart now to memorialize it all.
I spent the next ten years developing the reputation for being the most competent and most honest water well driller in East Texas. Two years along the way, I hired another full time employee for the drilling business so that we could provide full time water well pump service as well as the well drilling. Also, three years along the path, I bought a water well screen service machine from a friend, starting business 2. Five years later I made a business loan for $100,000.00 to build a new, higher production, computer controlled screen service machine. I had designed the machine myself, and it didn't work out for three years so I had to make the loan payments without the benefit of any added income from the new machine. No government program was there to help me with the payments, or to help me sleep at night as I lay awake wondering how I would solve my machine problems or pay my bills. Finally, after three years, I got the screen machine working properly, and that provided another full time job for an East Texan in the screen service business.
Two years after that, I made another business loan, this time for $250,000.00, to buy another used drilling rig and all the support equipment needed to run another, larger, drill rig. This provided another 2 full time jobs for East Texans. Again, I spent a couple of years not knowing if I had made a smart move, or a move that would bankrupt me. For the third time in 13 years, I had placed everything I owned on the line, risking everything, in order to build a business.
A couple of years into this, I came up with a bright idea for a new kind of mud pump, a fundamentally necessary pump used on water well drill rigs. I spent my entire life savings to date (just $30,000.00), building a prototype of the pump and took it to the national water well convention to show it off. Customers immediately started coming out of the woodworks to buy the pumps, but there was a problem. I had depleted my assets making the prototype, and nobody would make me a business loan to start production of the new pumps. With several deposits for pump orders in hand, and nowhere to go, I finally started applying for as many credit card as I could find and took cash withdrawals on these cards to the tune of over $150,000.00 (including modest loans from my dear sister and brother), to get this 3rd business going.
Yes, once again, I had everything hanging over the line in an effort to start another business. I had never manufactured anything, and I had to design and bring into production a complex hydraulic machine from an untested prototype to a reliable production model (in six months). How many nights I lay awake wondering if I had just made the paramount mistake of my life I cannot tell you, but there were plenty. I managed to get the pumps into production, which immediately created another 2 full time jobs in East Texas. Some of the models in the first year suffered from quality issues due to the poor workmanship of one of my key suppliers, so I and an employee (another East Texan employed) had to drive across the country to repair customers' pumps, practically from coast to coast. I stood behind the product, and made payments to all the credit cards that had financed me (and my brother and sister). I spent the next five years improving and refining the product, building a reputation for the pump and the company, working to get the pump into drill rig manufacturers' product lines, and paying back credit cards. During all this time I continued to manage a growing water well business that was now operating three drill rig crews, and two well service crews. Also, the screen service business continued to grow. No government programs were there to help me, Mr. Obama, but that's ok, I didn't expect any, nor did I want any. I was too busy fighting to make success happen to sit around waiting for the government to help me.
Now, we have been manufacturing the mud pumps for seven years, my combined businesses employ 32 full time employees, and distribute $5,000,000.00 annually through the local economy. Now, just four months ago, I borrowed $1,254,000.00 purchasing computer controlled machining equipment to start my 4th business, a production machine shop. The machine shop will serve the mud pump company so that we can better manufacture our pumps that are being shipped worldwide. Of course, the machine shop will also do work for outside companies as well. This has already produced 2 more full time jobs, and 2 more should develop out of it in the next few months. This should work out, but if it doesn't it will be because you, and the other professional politicians like yourself, will have destroyed our country's (and the world's) economy with your meddling with mortgage loan programs through your liberal manipulation and intimidation of loaning institutions to make sure that unqualified borrowers could get mortgages. You see, at the very time when I couldn't get a business loan to get my mud pumps into production, you were working with Acorn and the Community Reinvestment Act programs to make sure that unqualified borrowers could buy homes with no down payment, and even no credit or worse yet, bad credit. Even the infamous, liberal, NINJA loans (No Income, No Job or Assets). While these unqualified borrowers were enjoying unrealistically low interest rates, I was paying 22% to 24% interest on the credit cards that I had used to provide me the funds for the mud pump business that has created jobs for more East Texans. It's funny, because after 25 years of turning almost every dime of extra money back into my businesses to grow them, it has been only in the last two years that I have finally made enough money to be able to put a little away for retirement, and now the value of that has dropped 40% because of the policies you and your ilk have perpetrated on our country.
You see, Mr. Obama, I'm the guy you intend to raise taxes on. I'm the guy who has spent 25 years toiling and sweating, fretting and fighting, stressing and risking, to build a business and get ahead. I'm the guy who has been on the very edge of bankruptcy more than a dozen times over the last 25 years, and all the while creating more and more jobs for East Texans who didn't want to take a risk, and wouldn't demand from themselves what I have demanded from myself. I'm the guy you characterize as "the Americans who can afford it the most" that you believe should be taxed more to provide income redistribution "to spread the wealth" to those who have never toiled, sweated, fretted, fought, stressed, or risked anything. You want to characterize me as someone who has enjoyed a life of privilege and who needs to pay a higher percentage of my income than those who have bought into your entitlement culture. I resent you, Mr. Obama, as I resent all who want to use class warfare as a tool to advance their political career. What's worse, each year more Americans buy into your liberal entitlement culture, and turn to the government for their hope of a better life instead of themselves. Liberals are succeeding through more than 40 years of collaborative effort between the predominant liberal media, and liberal indoctrination programs in the public school systems across our land.
What is so terribly sad about this is this. America was made great by people who embraced the one-time American culture of self reliance, self motivation, self determination, self discipline, personal betterment, hard work, risk taking. A culture built around the concept that success was in reach on every able bodied American who would strive for it. Each year that less Americans embrace that culture, we all descend together. We descend down the socialist path that has brought country after country ultimately to bitter and unremarkable states. If you and your liberal comrades in the media and school systems would spend half as much effort cultivating a culture o f can-do across America as you do cultivating your entitlement culture, we could see Americans at large embracing the conviction that they can elevate themselves through personal betterment, personal achievement, and self reliance. You see, when people embrace such ideals, they act on them. When people act on such ideals, they succeed. All of America could find herself elevating instead of deteriorating. But that would eliminate the need for liberal politicians, wouldn't it, Mr. Obama? The country would not need you if the country was convinced that problem solving was best left with individuals instead of the government. You and all your liberal comrades have got a vested interested in creating a dependent class in our country. It is the very business of liberals to create an ever expanding dependence on government. What's remarkable is that you, who have never produced a job i n your life, are going to tax me to take more of my money and give it to people who wouldn't need my money if they would get off their entitlement mentality asses and apply themselves at work, demand more from themselves, and quit looking to liberal politicians to raise their station in life.
You see, I know because I've had them work for me before. Hundreds of them over these 25 years. People who simply will not show up to work on time. People who just will not work 5 days in a week, much less, 6 days. People always looking for a way to put less effort out.. People who actually tell me that they would do more if I just would first pay them more. People who take off work to sit in government offices to apply to get free government handouts (gee, I wonder how things would have turned out for them if they had spent that time earning money and pleasing their employer?). You see, all of this comes from your entitlement mentality culture.
Oh, I know you will say I am uncompassionate. Sorry, Mr. Obama, wrong again. You see, I've seen what the average percentage of your income has been given to charities over the years of 2000 to 2004 (ignoring the years you started running for office - can you pronounce "politically motivated?"), you averaged of less than 1% annually. And your running mate, Joe Biden, averaged less than ¼% of his annual income in charitable contributions over the last 10 years. Like so many liberals, the two of you want to give to the needy, just as long as it is someone else's money you are giving to them. I won't say what I have given to charities over the last 25 years, but the percentage is several times more than you or Joe Biden (don't you just hate google?). Tell me again how you feel my pain.
In short, Mr. Obama, your political philosophies represent everything that is wrong with our country. You represent the culture of government dependence instead of self reliance; Entitlement mentality instead of personal achievement; Penalization of the successful to reward the unmotivated; Political correctness instead of open mindedness and open debate. If you are successful, you may preside over the final transformation of America from being the greatest and most self-reliant culture on earth, to just another country of whiners and wimps, who sit around looking to the government to solve their problems. Like all of western Europe. All countries on the decline. All countries that, because of liberal socialistic mentalities, have a little less to offer mankind every year.
God help us...
Cory Miller
Just a ordinary, extraordinary American, the way a lot of Americans used to be.
(there was a ps here with his website addy, but I refuse to support his company with any form of advertisement)
Now on to my rant.....
Although I understand "Cory, the well driller's" argument and I am NOT an Obama supporter, sadly there are many people out there who ARE hard working Americans, but thanks to the labor laws that companies like his have pushed for, these people have been let to slip through the cracks and left by the way side with no other alternatives.
I am one of those people.
I have lost I cant tell you HOW MANY jobs thanks to the fact that I have a child with a disability. Consistent calls from school in the middle of the day to come pick him up and countless doctors & therapy appointments that can only be scheduled during business hours when I am supposed to be working have gained me zero sympathy from my now former employers. And because corporations do not concern themselves with issues like mine and all they care about is turning a profit, someone like me is thoughtlessly canned & replaced by someone else who doesnt come with any "baggage" that impedes upon their profit turning process.
Time and again this has been my situation. No matter how hard I work, even going as far as working through my lunch hours & breaks in an effort to keep up with production & show that I care about my job, I have had to face my employers as they tell me they have to let me go. And thanks to the "Right to Work" laws, they can fabricate any old excuse, usually the one about me not keeping up with production, to dance their way around my job being protected by the FMLA (Family Medical Leave Act). This prevents them from prosecution in court and leaves me, once again, hanging by the way side wondering how I am going to support my children. This used to make me break down in tears but it has happened so much that now I have grown cold to corporate America and dont have the ability to show any reaction of how this scenario tears my heart right out of my chest. All because I am a dedicated & caring mother and my child's health comes before that of anything else. Knowing that turning a profit is more important than raising children to become strong, healthy, productive citizens in this society makes me sick to my stomach. If I could find a job that was more understanding of my situation, that would allow me to work out of my home and make my own hours so that I could effectively be here for my children as they need me, I would be the most productive employee on their payroll because I would work the hours when my children are in school (uninterrupted) and during the hours when they are asleep.
But instead here I am, raising 3 children (one with special needs), currently living off of a very fixed income of Survivor Benefits from Social Security (thanks to a now deceased construction worker husband who got paid under the table more often than not), living in a very rough neighborhood, and fighting on a daily basis to not allow the negative influences of this neighborhood to have an effect on my children. Lets not forget the fact that I cannot even consider taking care of my own health issues should they arise! So not only am I here being penalized by Corporate America for simply trying to raise my children right but also being chastized & stereotyped by the likes of someone like Cory!
Mind you, I make a bit of extra cash here and there, as the work is available, doing freelance graphic design & digital typesetting work to make ends meet. I am also self taught in the upkeep of computers and I barter and trade for my children's needs by way of fixing the computers of those folks who are not so computer savvy. I have started a community recycling program amongst the single moms in my neighborhood in an effort to make sure that clothes our children have outgrown but not lost their usefulness can still be used by someone with a child they may fit. My home has been a temporary hide-away for battered women getting away from their abusers. I also donate my spare time to a non-profit organization that helps Autistic children like my son in an effort to give something back to society thanks to the fact that I have been forced to become a burden upon it.
Now I know that voting for someone like McCain is only going to have more money funneled out of places like Social Security and away from programs like the one that currently provides my family a home to simply be reallocated into more useless wars & conflicts all for the sake of turning a profit in oil or reconstruction of the demolished war zones. I also know that voting for Obama has its down sides as well, hence why my vote will go to neither candidate, but instead to a third party simply because that third party is about truth in government and doing the job as it was originally intended...FOR THE PEOPLE.
Yet, in watching the poles and seeing the direction this election is currently headed in, it looks as if Obama is going to win it. So be it, I guess. At least it will go to the lesser of two evils who is showing some sort of interest in helping out those of us who are simply let to slip through the cracks of society and who is showing a vested interest in wanting to turn society into a more green & self sustainable one that is less dependent upon oil and much kinder to the very environment that is supposed to sustain us.
Hopefully less emphasis will be put on turning a profit and more emphasis will be put ..ing and healing this planet & humanity. Because the way I see it, this world is going to hell in a hand basket all thanks to the greed of a few. So long as this mentality is allowed to dominate our society, there wont be anything left to enjoy and appreciate. So long as turning a profit is more important than the quality of the air we breathe, the condition of the environment we live in, much less the condition of our Brothers & Sisters of humanity, eventually there will be nothing left for ANYone (even for the children of those privileged few) to enjoy because money cant bring back the trees, take the toxins out of the water, clean the air or help a neighbor in need...in the cleaning up of the mess that has been made of this planet by "Corporate America", only true compassion and selflessness from the heart is capable of such a monumental achievement.
Now everything I have said up to this point is for everyone, but before I say this next part, please be advised that it wont be pretty. You have been warned...
So to wrap this rant up, all I have to say to someone like "Cory the Well Driller" is FUCK Corporate America and the sorry, greedy ideals that you and other corporations stand for! Pull your head out of your asses, wake the hell up and smell the fucking roses buddy! Not everyone's situation fits into the stereotyped mold you speak of. Good people with good hearts and strong work ethic have been backed into a corner with no where else to go thanks to the laws you have helped to pass and the sorry ass politicians you have helped to support. Not to mention the mess you guys have made of this planet! ITS THE ONLY ONE WE HAVE FOR CRYIN' OUT LOUD!!!
And quite frankly, I personally cannot wait for this monetary system to completely crumble to the point that your money doesnt mean a damn thing anymore simply because then the playing field will be leveled. Then it will be people like myself who have learned how to get by without money, how to kindly & compassionately barter, trade & share, even with those with less than myself, those who have learned how to work together as a community will be the ones to not only survive, but actually thrive!
How does your Bible say it? Oh yeah, "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth" (MATTHEW 5:5).
The word "meek" means to be gentle, humble, considerate or compassionate. It is the opposite of arrogance, violence or greed. Those who are willing to share and sacrifice on behalf of others are meek. Those who seek for domination & control that will use any means to trample and crush others are the opposite of what your Lord refers to here. And I promise you, when we DO inherit the Earth, we will damn sure do a whole lot better job taking care of it than you have...I promise you that!
Ok, rant over, lol. I dont get ugly like that very often, but this has been building up for some time now and it was time for a release. My apologies if this offends anyone, but the truth is the truth and if the truth hurts, thats not my problem.
11:09 AM
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