BREAKING THE GRIP

It's an ugly truth most people just don't want to admit. We Americans are puppets on a string. We're forced to send our money, our influence and even our children's lives to nations that hate our guts and take turns pulling the strings. Nations like Venezuela, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Syria, Russia and many more. With one meeting between the OPEC nations our economy can go into a panic, with one war in a oil-rich nation our life style becomes precarious. And we do it to ourselves. Like an animal that will eat and eat until it kills itself, we don't seem to know when to stop. Like an addict, we run to the pump for our fix no matter the price and like an addict, it's our addiction that will kill us. This addiction to oil is ruining us, and my friends, it can not go on.

When I was quite a bit younger in 1973, I saw all of this play out in a way that should have been a warning to us of times to come. In response to the Yom Kippur War, the OPEC nations announced they would no longer ship oil to nations that support Israel. The United States, along with several European nations and Japan caught the worst of it. Gas prices jumped through the roof and our economy took a serious hit. Later, during the 1979 Energy Crisis, we again got a glimpse of what was to come. Because of unrest in the Middle East we again found ourselves at the mercy of our puppet-masters. Just as we were gearing up to finally take action to end our dependency, the price fell back down again. Just like the addict that we are, there was no problem as long as we got our drug, and just like the addict that we are, we continued to bow to our drug dealers.

The recent rise in gas prices is just another example of the oil rich nations exercising their strength. With the collusion of Oil companies, speculators, politicians and investors, our dealers have become even more powerful than they could have ever imagined 50 years ago. They now have the power to bring us to our knees and quite possibly destroy our economy and our way of life. I can not stress enough how important this issue is. For me personally, it's the only issue. The amount of oil money that we export has now reached $700 billion dollars a year, the largest exchange of wealth in all of the world's history. If it continues it will ruin this country. Our politicians are all feigning outrage while stuffing their pockets with oil money. They pretend to search for solutions, when all they are doing is shifting the profits from Chevron to Exxon. As a reward for their misdeeds we offer them even more subsidies, more access to our land, less regulation and more power. In an effort to secure our supply, we have prostituted ourselves and our land.

In the past year, Americans have begun to wake up to the reality of our problem. People like T. Boone Pickens have taken it upon themselves to try to force our government to act. Researchers everywhere are searching for new answers and a way to self dependence and a cleaner form of fuel that is safer for our environment and our children's future. Fuel cells, Ethanol and hydrogen are all being explored as alternative energy. Wind and Solar power are getting a second look as are new ways of harnessing geothermal energy and even wave energy. We are standing at a crossroads and our choices are clear; continue being an addict or clean up our act and be self-dependent. Unfortunately, like an addict, as soon as we begin to get sick of our situation, as soon as we decide to change our ways, the dealer makes sure to give us what we need, until the next time they want us on our knees. H.C.

JOHN McCRASH

I've wrecked a car or two in my time. I guess that's kind of bad since I drive for a living. The first one was when I was 17 years old. A guy and his girlfriend were timing a string of lights and caught me going through the yellow. Result; one very smashed Impala. In my next accident, nearly twenty years later, I was on the side of a dirt road cleaning off my windshield when a guy with his entire windshield frosted over drove right into me without ever touching his brakes. Result; one destroyed Chevy Nova. Other than that, I've had a small bump or two, but nothing that made my car any where near undrivable. Considering that I've driven professionally for over 30 years, I don't feel that's too awfully bad and shouldn't keep me from being anything I want to be.

With that in mind, let's compare my experience with John McCain's flying.

John McCain has crashed and burned 5, count 'em, 5 planes.

McCain graduated (fifth from the bottom of his class) from the Naval Academy at Annapolis in 1958. He also graduated from flight school in 1960. One of the planes he crashed, was during flight training where he was learning to land. I assume he flunked at least that lesson. For whatever reason, (maybe his Admiral dad and grandfather) they saw fit to give him a pilot's license anyway.

While deployed in the Mediterranean, McCain lost a second aircraft. McCain was reportedly, "Flying too low over the Iberian Peninsula, he took out some power lines which led to a spate of newspaper stories in which he was predictably identified as the son of an admiral." Oddly enough, shortly thereafter McCain was promoted to, of all things, a flight instructor.

However, John wasn't quite done wrecking planes. He lost a third aircraft while flying a Navy trainer solo to Philadelphia for an Army-Navy football game. He claimed he was experiencing a "Flame out" where his engines cut off. After several failed attempts to get his plane to restart, McCain bailed out leaving his plane to crash into a clump of trees. Thankfully, John wasn't close to any major city.

The fourth plane McCain took out was by far the most damaging. I should point out here that there are several versions of the events of July 29, 1967 on the aircraft carrier U.S.S. Forrestal. The official version is that the plane behind McCain suffered a "electronic malfunction" of one of his missiles which launched on deck and struck McCain's plane. McCain then leaped out of his plane which was leaking fuel and was struck by scrapnel when the missiles on his plane blew up. Some witnesses have a different story. Their version is that McCain, always a joker, allowed fuel to build up in his engines before firing them up. This "wet start", would cause a large fireball to blow out the back of the engines startling the pilot behind you. In their version, this set off the missile which then struck McCain's plane. As McCain fled his injured plane, he inadvertently dropped two of his missiles onto the deck of the carrier causing further damage. In the end, 134 people died that day with even more dying of their injuries later. The U.S. Forrestal almost sank. John McCain was the only person evacuated immediately off the Carrier despite the fact that several other people had more serious injuries. (evidenced by the fact that several of them went on to die later.) Some of McCain's fellow crew mates claimed he was evacuated to keep him from being assaulted for his stupidity.

The fifth plane to be reduced to rubble by McCain is the only one he'll talk about. On Oct. 26, 1967, he was shot down and captured by the Vietnamese. McCain spent 5 1/2 horrific years being tortured before being released in 1973. This event lead to the "Hero" status that McCain enjoys today.

I would like to say that I have utmost respect for John McCain's service. My opinion of McCain from ever thing that I've read, and even things that have come out of his own mouth, is that John is simply not that bright. Five planes is an awful lot of planes to destroy no matter your excuses. These plane cost (in 1960's dollars) close to a million dollars each and that's not even including the enormous damage to the Forrestal. During the "Keating Five" trials, McCain claimed he was "duped" into supporting legislation that he didn't understand. Given his history, his education and his own words we should all take a long look at McCain and decide if this is a man who's intelligent enough to be President. Before he crashes our country. H.C.

IN DEFENSE OF TONY SNOW

I don't much care for President Bush or his Assministration. Let's get that right out of the way. I called for the head of Donald Rumsfeld way back in '04 when George Tenet was fired. I've criticized their handling of the war, the Nation Debt, and damn near everything that they've done since they took office. However, I have to admit an admiration for Tony Snow and here's why.

First, as I've explained before, I think the job of White House Press Secretary is the hardest job in American politics. Your life expectancy is shorter than that of a suicide bomber. Presidents flip through Press Secretaries faster than Bill Clinton goes through women (which is pretty quick.). Bush is now on his fourth, or is it fifth, Press Secretary. It's hard to keep count. Tony's predecessor, Scott McClellan, was shit-canned for his inability to defend Dick Cheney's bad shooting. (He mistakes his friends for quail.) That's how hard it is to keep the job. In the arena of Press Secretaries, Tony Snow did something that was amazing, he was one of the very few that left before he was fired or asked to leave. Which is the same. But it's not his handling of the job that earned my respect, or even his devotion to his ideology. It's because Tony Snow showed dignity in doing the one thing that will be the hardest thing in any of our lives to do...dying.

Prior to his death on July 12, 2008, I got to know Tony mostly through his occasionally replacing Bill O'Reilly on "The Factor" radio show. Since I have aspirations to be a talk show host, I study successful radio personalities like Bill regularly. Their positions concern me less than their ability to draw people in. Tony was a surprisingly likable guy. He never made any concessions to his guest's point of view but still managed to be respectful and fun. That is something I'm striving to emulate. I learned a lot about Mr. Snow on Bill's show. That he once played in rock bands much like me, that he has always been married to the same women just like me, that he had 3 kids, two daughters and one son, just like me. And that he had cancer, just like me.

I don't advocate hating people just for their point of view, I get way too much of that myself. I find that's a common feeling amongst people who get attacked. To be more sympathetic to others who get attacked. I'm not whining, if I wanted to stop the attacks, I could simply stop putting myself out there, but I have learned that people can be vicious. Tony Snow must have learned that too, because I never saw him respond in the vicious way that he was sometimes treated. That shows real restraint, and real class.

I may not have agreed with Mr. Snow's opinions. I never could understand why he would even want to take the job of defending the Bush administration. But in the last days of Tony Snow's life I saw a man who never whined about his bad fortune, who never said, "Why me?" Dying is, without a doubt, the hardest thing that any of us will ever have to do and Tony did it with grace and dignity without asking for pity or pitying himself. For that, he will always have my respect. R.I.P. Tony Snow, a real man and a real gentleman. H.C.

ISRAEL SETS IT'S SIGHTS ON IRAN

The words are being chosen carefully. Threats are being exchanged daily, veiled and otherwise. The drums of war have begun to beat between Iran and Israel. At issue is Iran's on going enrichment of nuclear material believed to be suitable for a nuclear weapon. Iran has repeatedly claimed that it's intentions are strictly for peaceful nuclear power. One thing is for certain, Israel will not stand idly by while Iran develops anything close to a nuclear weapon.

THE HISTORY

Israel's history on this is clear; in 1981 for example, Israel blew up the Osirak nuclear power plant in Iraq because it's intelligence claimed Saddam Hussein was working on a nuclear weapon there. Then, as recently as last October, Israel again attacked one of it's neighbors over nuclear materials. Syria was purported to be receiving nuclear components from North Korea, in response, Israel blew up the military installation where it believed they were. Just the hint of nuclear weapons in the Middle East means a strike by Israel.

THE POLITICS

In Israel, it's important to remember that there is only one main political issue-security. Politicians in Israel are judged by how they manage to keep Israel relatively safe. Israelis do not feel safe with a nuclear armed Iran. Period. Should a nuclear weapon come anywhere near Israel, everyone from Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on down would lose their jobs in disgrace. After the unsuccessful Lebanon incursion in 2006, for example, many politicians lost their jobs.

THE RHETORIC

Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the United Nations' nuclear watchdog agency, said last weekend that an Israeli attack on Iran would turn the Middle East into "a ball of fire." One of Israeli Prime Minister Olmert's deputies, Transport Minister Shaul Mofaz recently said, "If Iran continues with its program for developing nuclear weapons, we will attack it." Finally, on July 5 2008, Gholam Hossein Elham, a spokesman for Iran said "Iran's stand regarding its peaceful nuclear program has not changed." Meaning, it will continue.

THE U.S. POSITION

The U.S. government has made a point of stressing that it's doesn't want a military strike by Israel. It points to it's already stressed military and uneasy operations in Iraq as reasons enough not to be involved. But to do the kind of job necessary to cripple Iraq's possible response (like blocking the Strait of Hormuz) while at the same time destroying their nuclear capacity, Israel needs, at the very least, U.S. air support and secured fly-over in Iraq. The U.S. knows it's involvement will be bad politics so it is already distancing itself in preparation for what might be inevitable.

There is still hope for Iran's leadership to recognize the threat and come to some terms, but I wouldn't hold my breath. Iran believes it is their right to create a nuclear power plant for peaceful purposes, and they are probably right by the world's own past practice. Several other countries could be pointed to that have built nuclear power plants that didn't have them 40 years ago. The problem is that Iran is one of the worst provocateurs toward Israel. I believe that if the U.N. and the world stand idly by while Iran continues to draw closer to having enriched nuclear material, Israel will believe it has no choice. It will attack. We will deny involvement as much as we can, but the further damage to our reputation in the Middle East will be easy to see. OPEC will respond in protest, Iraq will become even more tense, Iran will try to retaliate, Gas will go even higher.

G.W. sees all this as necessary to achieve his one hope of saving his legacy; a stable Iraq. With Iran crippled, the balance of power between Iran and Iraq is re-established. It's true that eventually things will calm down just as it did after the Yom Kippur War or the Six Day War. But once again the U.S. and Israel find themselves in the increasingly difficult job of keeping the Middle East nuclear weapon free. You have to ask yourself at some point, how long can it really be stopped? H.C.