It has been a long time since my last post. Before started this post,I read what I had posted years ago. Not much has changed. I still don,the like Obama, in fact I now loath him. Hillary is still hanging around like rancid meat in a market with no refrigerators.

Here we are going into another election with nothing but bad choices. We still have Hillary who botched her job as Sec. Of State so badly we have no reliable friends left except maybe Japan. We have Bernie Sanders the self proclaimed (socialist) communist. On the Republican side we have three senators who couldn't find their assets with both hands and Lindsey Graham probably the dumbest man I ever met.

The Republicans also have Donald Trump who I agree with on most issues but the way he says things is kind of a turnoff. Ben Carson is unflappable seems like a reasonable man but I just can't see him in a really serious confrontation. Charley Farina is the smartest and probably the most strong willed of all of the candidates but she has no chance. Not much money, small campaign organization and the subject of a smear campaign by Trump. If the election was tomorrow I would go with Trump. Thankeep God, can I say that anymore? We still have a year before the election.

Loss of a loved one

Never in my wildest dreams could I imagine the pain of losing someone with whom you have lived for almost 50.

Over the years I have seen a lot of death - some were close relations like a father or mother. Others were people I saw every day and was friendly too. I had more than my share of death in Vietnam.

None of those experiencies could prepare me for the loss of my Wife. I feel like I have been eviserated.I literally feel like all the organs in my left torso are gone.

I'll get over the intense pain in a week or so.

Chuck

Congressional Elections

I had hoped that McCain's selection of Sarah Palin would put him ahead of Obama once and for all. Her selection was in my opinion one of the great political strategy moves of all time. It caught Obama flat footed, galvanized the conservative base, brought more women into Republican side and laid the groundwork for a new generation of Republican conservatives.

I wanted McCain to get ahead so we could put more emphasis on the congressional elections. Republicans really need to recapture congress now more than ever before. The financial mess that just exploded onto the scene demands a lot of attention and we can't trust Democrats to do what is needed.

What is just as important as the financial meltdown is the energy problem. Democrats have already demonstrated that they will no allow expanded exploration and drilling for oil in American waters or other likely areas onshore. What is just as important as drilling for new sources is to build new refineries in areas outside the hurricane zone. Ike proved that a hurricane in the Gulf has an immediate negative impact on oil prices and availability. We have all our eggs in ine basket and desperately need to start locating refineries in other regions.

Probably the biggest thing we need to do and what the Democrats will block if they stay in power is to capitalize on our abundant natural gas reserves. We not only need to drill for more natural gas, we need to build more pipelines to make natural gas available to over 90% of homes and to natural gas fueling stations for cars.

In my opinion, we desperately need to oust the democrats from their majorities in congress. If we don't, we are going to have energy shortages on a massive scale and we will be even more dependent on oil from the middle east. Democrats simply will not address those issues and they will put this country on a path to ruin.

Chuck

Second Childhood

Sometimes I wonder what made me do something like I did today. I bought a Triumph motorcycle.

I have had the itch to do a restoration on an old Triumph for a good while and finally I bit the bullet and bought a 1972 Bonneville. I would have preferred to do a 1968 but all of them that I found were either choppers or priced a lot higher than I was willing to pay. The 1972 is the same style so it really doesn't matter all that much.

I really enjoy bringing an old car or motorcycle back to a like new condition. I have 2 Chevelles, 1966 and 1967 that I restored and the experience was very satisfying.

The good part of this Triumph is that it has a clear title, the bike hasn't been butchered by making it a chopper or bobber. It has all the elements to be better than new when I finish it.

I guess us old retired old men have to do something to keep us out of trouble.

Chuck

Why I Dislike Obama

I finally figured out why I dislike Obama so much. It isn't that he is an inexperienced, liberal democrat who will promise anything and deliver nothing. It isn't that he has abandoned everyone close to him that became an inconvenience. It isn't even his defeatist stance on the war in Iraq. None of those things bother me all that much. What really bothers me is his SMUGNESS.

When he speaks, Obama affects poses he thinks portrays him as a great thinker, and uses voice inflections reminiscent of MLK. Watching Obama is almost like looking at a hologram, all visual and no substance.

I can just imagine how Putin would react to Obama putting on one of his holier than thou acts at a conference table. He would peel the hide off him and walk out of the room. Conference over, Obama lost everything.

I hope people get over this infatuation with Obama before the election. We are facing some of the most dangerous times we have ever faced and Obama hasn't a clue.

Chuck

Obama the Weenie

I have never been one to make excuses or to blame someone or something for my failings. God only knows I have had enough of them but I always owned up to them.

This business I've been seeing about McCain cheating in the Evangelical Forum Saturday night just cements my opinion that Obama is a cry baby and that he would fall apart like a cheap suit in any confrontational situation. I can just imagine him sitting across the table from Putin trying to reach an agreement on anything. Putin would walk away with all the marbles and Obama would be sitting there with his face hanging out.

We don't need a milquetoast for president. We need someone with principles and convictions who will go to the mats defending them. Obama has neither and he wouldn't go to the mats to protect his own family.

Chuck

Fight Fair- My Wrinkeled Old Ass

When I was in 4th or 5th grade, there were 5 cousins from my neighborhood who decided it would be fun to hassel me while we were waiting for school to open for the day. We were all within a year or 2 in age so we were always in fairly close proximity.

They started the hasseling by hiding my books so I would be late to class so I started keeping my books with me. Then they started pushing me around. They would get in a circle around me and push me back and forth between them. So I started staying in a group where it wasn't easy to single me out. Then they started hasseling me at recess. They would throw the softball at me rather than to the baseman or they would slide into a base and deliberately kick me or whatever.

My Mother was a member of the PTA and came to the school one morning while they were hasseling me. She had always told me not to get into fights at school and to be "nice". When she told my Dad about the Nease boys pushing me around we were at the dinner table. My Dad didn't say anything during dinner but afterward he took me out to the porch and gave me some of the best advice of my life.

My Dad told me to never be a bully and try to look tough and to never start a fight. He went on to say that if the Nease boys continued to hassel me I should defend myself and that if I couldn't avoid a fight then I should win. He made it very clear that the only way to stop a bully is to whip his ass and that that was what he expected me to do- win.

My situation was that I was being bullied by 5 boys who were about my age and size. My Dad made it clear that there is no such thing as a fair fight. If I had to defend myself the aggressor deserved what he got and that that I should pound him so bad that he would never even consider messing with me again.

I took my Dad's advice to heart. I was in the bathroom when one of the Nease boys came in alone and called me chicken shit. I didn't say a word to him I just kicked him in the nuts as hard as I could. Needless to say he wasn't able to put up much of a fight after that and I shoved his face into the urinal.

After school that day the word had gotten around about what I had done and the Nease boys were going to get even. I was scared but for some reason I looked forward to the confrontation. I walked out onto the playground and sure enough here came all 5 of the Nease boys. When they got close to me the other kids on the playground gathered around to watch me get pounded. What no one knew was that I had slipped out of the building earlier and put a broken off broom handle where I could easily get to it.

As the Nease boys got closer, I pulled the broom handle from it's hiding place and started wailing away on them . I beat the living shit out of them while they were yelling "fight fair" and while I was beating hell out of them the other kids started cheering me on. I was elated that I had support and when I finished cleaning the Nease boy's clocks I told them that I would fight all of them in a "fair fight" one at a time.

While the other kids kept the other Nease boys from jumping in I fought Ronnie. He was the ringleader and I have to say it felt good to whip his ass with my bare hands. I never had a problem with the Nease boys after that but the advice my Dad gave me has stuck with me all of my life.

I can honestly say I have never started a fight in my life but on those occassions when I couldn't avoid one "fighting fair" never occured to me. I have bitten, kicked, gouged, scratched, pulled and pushed my way through a lot of fights in my life and I don't believe I ever lost one.

The point of all this personal history is that we are seeing Russia becoming a bully again. We need to make sure that Russia knows that we won't "fight fair" if they try to bully us. If we don't stand up to Russia and kick them in the nuts they will just keep on bullying and then we will have to pull out the broom handle. Now is the time to stop the Russian bully before he thinks he can just push his neighbors around without paying the consequences.

Chuck