Congress has been stalling this issue for far too long. You have Nancy Pelosi (the most worthless person to ever be Speaker) and her cohorts blocking all legislation to advance our country. Right now we are importing over 70% of our energy from outside the United States where we were only importing 30% ten years ago. This is a disgrace to our country. We should be able to produce all of our own energy and then sell what we don't use to other countries. The liberals all say that drilling offshore will cause harm to the environment. They are putting the fate of a fish or a stupid, worthless plant ahead of the economic and security interests of our nation. From statistics on Fox News this morning, mother nature is responsible for 63% of the oil spilled in to the oceans, while drilling is only responsible for 1%. So all of the tree hugging liberals need to cool it on the whole "oil is going to seep in to the ocean" thing.

It begs the question on whether some of these people are making money off of the fact that we cannot be energy independent. As we all know, the diamond industry is closely ran by the DeBeers Corporation who basically monopolizes the marketplace and forces everyone else to buy their product. Well it seems to me that is the way that our oil is being run right now. OPEC is producing the substantial portion of the United States oil supply and we have no control over our own market at this time. We basically just take whatever they throw at us. I think that there needs to be an investigation by the public (because Lord knows Congress would mess it up) to see if any of these people are lining their pockets with oil profits from OPEC.

The President has taken a step in the right direction and now it is Congress’s turn to DO SOMETHING. The budget of the American family is being slaughtered with these gas prices. Why are we settling for high prices? Congress needs to get up off their lazy butts and work on something that will actually help the American people. Maybe if they worked 5 days a week they could get something done. In 2007, Congress only worked 2- 5 day work weeks for the entire year. Find me a working American that only had to work 2 full workweeks last year? This is pathetic. OUR CONGRESS IS NOT WORKING FOR US, THE PEOPLE WHO PUT THEM THERE. It is about time that we remind them why they have the job they do, because the people voted for them.

So I urge all of you to write, call, protest, or do whatever you need to and get your Congressmen on board to explore for energy.

Today another article came out on foxnews.com that details the government’s use of soldiers in a drug study. We need to stop using our military as lab rats.

This time the study was of the drug Chantix that is to help people quit smoking. What the government failed to do was tell these soldiers and veterans that it could cause hallucinations or suicidal attempts, tendencies, or completions. One soldier ended up being shot with a taser and thrown in jail after a hallucination caused by an experimental drug. That soldier was not informed of the potential complications and therefore ended up in a really bad situation.

As a veteran myself, I know that I was subject to the experimental testing of the Anthrax shots and the Malaria pills when I was deployed to Iraq. After they had already injected all of the soldiers with the Anthrax series, they found it to not be able to prevent effects from all forms of Anthrax and therefore deemed that it wasn’t mandatory. Then they made soldiers stop taking the Malaria pills after they determined that they don’t do anything to prevent Malaria, but in fact it is the same medication that they use to treat Malaria.

As Veterans of the Vietnam War will tell you, exposure can cause life threatening consequences. We shouldn’t be using our fighting men and women as lab rats. There is a time and a place for drug experiments and we shouldn’t be doing them on those people who signed up to protect and defend this country in foreign lands. We especially shouldn’t be testing these drugs on soldiers who are deployed without having full understanding of potential side effects. We need to implore our Congressmen to tell the DoD and the VA to move the experiments back in to the labs and quit performing them on our soldiers.

The problem is the fact that America cannot drill offshore due to you and your party blocking a vote by the full floor. I will let you in on a little secret, AMERICANS WANT US TO DRILL FOR OIL IN OUR COUNTRY. Americans are tired of being hit at the pump and are tired of Democrats and environmentalists blocking our prosperity as a nation.

You have said yourself that it is pathetic that George Bush has to beg OPEC to increase oil production. Well Ms. Pelosi, if your party would allow us to drill in our own country, we wouldn't have to beg other countries for oil.

In my opinion (and I am sure that others share it) you need to put aside your partisanship and remember why you were elected. You were elected to serve the people and not to serve your own self interests. So it is time that you listen to the American people and encourage your party to do something. Maybe then you can raise the disapproval rating of Congress. As the Speaker of the House, you really need to step up here and show some leadership that you are lacking.

For a Conservative to root for a Democratic candidate is mostly viewed as being outright wrong, but there is a time and a place for everything. I think now is the time where we should root for Hillary.

Don't get me wrong, I will be voting for McCain in the fall, but Hillary deserves to get some support today. If you would have asked me about Hillary a month ago, I would tell you that I hated her and that I would never vote for her under any circumstances. My opinion of her has become slightly more positive since all of the revelations surrounding Obama.

Obama is fatally flawed. He is his own worst enemy. His associations with people such as Reverend Wright and William Ayers leave me to ask why people would ever vote for him. Americans are not stupid. We know that if you are friendly or know somebody for twenty years, you know their thought process. You don't just ask a bum off the street to be the Pastor at your wedding and baptize your children. You choose someone who believes as you do and shares your faith. So for him to think that the American people don't think that he knew what Wright was saying is just preposterous. Each day something new comes out about Obama that makes me trust him less and less. From "bittergate" to his bowling skills, he is just not someone who is fit to be President.

So now I come to Hillary. Although I don't agree with ninety-nine percent of what Hillary says, I would still prefer her to be in the White House over Obama. Again I mention to not misunderstand me; John McCain will be our next President if I have anything to say about it, but if by some miraculous circumstance where a Democrat is elected, I would prefer to have Hillary than Obama.

So all you Democrats that still have to vote in a primary, vote for Hillary and keep this train rolling!

I am voting for McCain. Read my last blog. I really don’t believe that Hillary or Obama would do anything for this country. They both are on record as saying that they would cut the powers of our military, deplete our arsenal of nuclear weapons, and reduce the amount of money that is given to the military in support of new weapons development. That would leave our country at a greater risk because we wouldn’t be able to keep up with our enemies and make the appropriate weapons to defend against those that they create. They want to just up and leave Iraq also (read my blog on my opinion on that). Too many people get caught up in the hype of a quick and rapid troop withdrawal from Iraq, but they aren’t willing to evaluate the consequences of that. But I talk about all of this in my last blog, so you can read my opinion there.

Also they are both trying to eliminate the personal responsibility of Americans. They both are for Free and Universal Heath Care for everyone. That is taking away the responsibility of people to get a job. Almost all full-time jobs provide health insurance benefits and if people want insurance, they should get a job and not wait for a government hand out. McCain believes that there should be health insurance for all children, which is currently under the C.H.I.P program in Congress, but that the government shouldn’t dictate to the people regarding their health. It isn’t the government’s place to come in to the doctor’s office. If a person wants good health care, then go out and educate yourself and get a good job. I actually have dual health insurance right now, so you can’t tell me that there is no way for you to get health insurance.

They are both also trying to bail out all homeowners that were caught up in the mortgage problem. They believe that the government should step in and rescue all of these people. I believe in McCain’s stance on the issue where he says that if you bought a home that you knew you couldn’t afford, it is your responsibility and not the government’s responsibility. He believes in assisting those homeowners that have good credit and have made all of their payments on time to find the necessary resources to re-finance their mortgage, but he doesn’t want to give handouts to people that don’t pay their bills, live outside of their means, or those that wanted to flip houses for profit and made bad investment decisions.

Also, they are very weak on immigration. There is a legal way to enter this country and millions of people aren’t doing it. Hillary and Obama want to give amnesty to all of these people and make it so that local authorities can’t enforce the federal immigration regulations. That is completely bogus. It is a federal law that you can’t just sneak in to the country and for them to say that we shouldn’t enforce it is absurd. McCain wants to secure our borders and then deal with those who are left in this country. Although he previously supported McCain/Kennedy (that would allow amnesty) he has since retracted from that belief and said that those who are here illegally need to be dealt with after the border state Governor’s have assured that their borders are secure. We shouldn’t allow criminals to roam free in this country. No other country in the world has as loose of an immigration policy as the US currently does, and McCain is taking the appropriate actions to fix it.

Also McCain is against all of the pork-barrel spending. It is ridiculous that the government spent $5 million on studying the DNA of bears in Montana. That money could go to much better of a use. McCain has fought against these earmarks in spending bills and will continue to fight against them. He doesn’t believe that the government should be wastefully spending on pet projects and I whole-heartedly agree with that.

McCain is also for lowering taxes where Hillary and Obama are for making the largest tax increase in American history. The country is already in an economic downturn (you can use the word recession if you please) and to raise taxes would put more of a burden on American tax payers. Neither of the democratic candidates wants to extend the Bush tax cuts. If the tax cuts are not made permanent, the average tax payer will be paying more than $1,000 extra each month in taxes on top of the increase that Hillary and Obama are proposing. I am fairly sure that all Americans wouldn’t appreciate that. Hillary and Obama are all about socializing programs without accurately evaluating where the money will come from. We need to give the freedoms of choice to the people and not require the government to take care of it for us.

I also don’t believe that Obama has the judgment necessary to be President. He has linking with some very controversial figures. I don’t question his patriotism, but I question his judgment. Why would you associate with someone like William Aires who has admittedly bombed the Pentagon, bombed the NYPD headquarters, and as recently as 9/11/01 said that he hasn’t done enough and wished he could do more? To me a President shouldn’t refer to such a person as a "good friend" (and that is a quote from his campaign staff).

Also I believe that he is not being honest with the American people regarding his relationship and knowledge of the Reverend Wright controversy. I don’t think that Obama necessarily subscribes to the statements made by Wright, but it would take a "willing suspension of disbelief" (to quote Clinton) to believe that in 20 years he never knew that his pastor made those statements. He dis-invited Wright from giving the invocation at his campaign announcement and was recorded as saying to Wright "because your sermons can get a little rough". That to me proves that he knew about Jeremiah Wright’s sermons. He also keeps changing his mind on when he first became aware of the statements. When the story broke and he spoke with Major Garret on Fox News, Obama said that the first time that he had heard of the statements is when the news was reporting it. Then, in the same interview, he said that he had heard of a couple of the statements. Well which is it? Had he never heard them or had he heard a couple of them? I believe that he isn’t being honest regarding the situation and is trying to tap-dance the subject.

He is also not being forthcoming regarding his relationship with Tony Rezko. He needs to be straight up and tell the people what sort of financial involvement he had with this man. And to this point, he just keeps dodging the questions. I believe that all of these issues point to poor judgment on his behalf and I don’t want a man that can’t answer hard questions to be leading the country I live in.

There are many other reasons why I am voting for McCain, but these are just a few. This is the first election where I have paid attention and truly evaluated my vote from all directions in order to uncover what positions I stand for. While I don’t agree with everything McCain says and I might agree with some things that Hillary or Obama say, I think that John McCain has the experience and platform to be able to lead our nation.

I am getting tired of politicians in Washington questioning the decisions of commanders in the military regarding a course of action in Iraq. These commanders, such as General Petraeus, have years of experience in the military which has afforded them the knowledge and background necessary to make the decisions on strategy and troop levels in Iraq. Here is an example of what I mean, Senator Biden said this today during the hearing:
"We need to redeploy our troops from Iraq and I am disappointed that you are calling for a halt in troop reductions, General Petraeus, because the presence of about 140,000 troops in Iraq will exacerbate the conflict, not stabilize it, and it will certainly not contribute to our overall national security. Some have suggested that we should stay in Iraq until reconciliation occurs. They have it backwards -- our departure is likely to force factions to the negotiating table in an attempt to finally create a viable power-sharing agreement."

I can’t believe what my eyes are reading. Sen. Biden thinks that if we pull our troops out of Iraq, it will force the Iraqi people to get together and work things out. He is sorely mistaken. If our troops are gone, it will cause such an up rise in violence and instability in the region that the Iraqis will not be able to get anything done. There will be turmoil in the streets rather than a "kumbuya" moment where everyone gets together and holds hands.

And he also thinks that our troops are exacerbating the conflict in the region. This man, in my opinion, is oblivious to the realities of what is going on in Iraq. The soldiers are actually keeping the peace in Iraq. They are there to provide the security necessary to allow that country to function. Sen. Biden knows that the Iraqi forces aren’t capable of securing their country and realizes that is what our soldiers are doing. So to say that they are exacerbating the conflict is just ridiculous.

I think that halting the troop withdrawal is necessary after the surge troops are re-deployed. This halt will allow the commanders in Iraq to evaluate the hot spots and the areas that need the most support. Then we can realign our units so that we have the adequate coverage in those areas. Then once we have our troops settled in, we can evaluate those decisions made and adjust troop levels based on the security related issues on the ground. That is precisely what Gen. Petreaus was trying to explain to Congress, but some members wouldn’t even give him a chance to speak.

I don’t by any means condone a military presence in Iraq forever. I think that the Iraqis do need to step up and take responsibility for their country. I believe that Iraqis should be held more accountable for security missions in their country and they should be held more accountable for the financial aspects of rebuilding their nation. I think that we should start withdrawing our financial support to Iraq before we start withdrawing our troops.

I don’t agree with Prime Minister Malikai’s decision to deploy the Basra mission when Gen. Petraeus told him not to, I believe that the P.M. should have taken the General’s advice and not gone through with the mission without better planning. But they are a free and sovereign nation and are free to make decisions for their country no matter how ill-conceived they are.

By imposing a time-table for withdrawal, I believe that it will just make the insurgents wait in hiding until we are gone. Once we leave, they will have an uprising and wreak havoc in that country. I believe that making on-the-go assessments of security levels and then making the appropriate decisions on troop levels is the correct course of action. This will allow a gradual, but constant withdrawal of our troops and not give a date for the insurgents to arise.

I don’t know if any of you agree with me or if you disagree with me, but these are my thoughts as written. I believe that this is a sensible approach to the end of the military involvement in Iraq and will avoid many of the chaotic effects of an "up-and-go" approach.