No More Oil?

Barack Obama recently made a campaign statement saying that as president he would help America become oil-independent in ‘our lifetime.’ Sounds like a wonderful goal, doesn’t it? But is it realistic? Let’s explore what life would be like if we rid ourselves of using oil (petroleum). Prepare to be shocked by the time you finish reading this!

Very few of us really understand how pervasive oil by-products are in our lives. Just about everything we use daily, is derived from petroleum (oil). But it’s very important to understand that the big user of oil is not your family car, truck or SUV. One 42-gallon barrel of oil creates 19.4 gallons of gasoline. The rest of that barrel goes into making more than 6000 items using oil in the manufacturing of these products.

A good place to start on the list of these products is with you. You’re probably reading this on your home or office computer, right? Look at your computer and you’ll see that it’s made of mostly plastic (monitor case, keyboard, mouse, maybe even the screen if it’s a laptop). Guess what? Plastic is made from oil! Could we make computer components out of metal? Some, yes, but not the circuit boards or any wires that require insulating coverings made of plastic. So computers would have to go in an oil-free society.

At this point you might be tempted to call a friend to tell them about this article, but in an oil-free society there would be no home or cell phones – they’re made from plastic! Metal phones as an alternative? Nope, cell phones need view screens made of plastic and all phones still would need circuit boards, which are made from oil. And most of us enjoy being entertained by listening to music and watching movies on CDs or DVDs, but those are also made from plastic. Almost forgot a big item made from plastic – credit cards! What would we do without those?

Now look at yourself and what clothes you’re wearing. Anything with polyester in it? If so it’s made from oil! What about the carpeting you’re walking on – unless it’s wool it’s most likely made from oil. How about your other home furnishings? Anything made of plastic like the inside of refrigerators, dish washers, microwaves, then TV sets, audio equipment, toys, curtains and drapes, window shades, all plastic control knobs on everything, all PVC plumbing pipes and fixtures and of course the electrical wiring would not have the protective insulating covering that is made from plastic (oil) so that’s a big problem. Open your medicine cabinet and you’ll find medicines, vitamins and other personal products made from oil (petroleum). Say goodbye to KY!

There are many more items inside your home made from oil, but let’s step outside and see what else would be affected by an oiless environment. The power lines bringing electricity into your home would have to disappear because they require a plastic insulating covering. I guess power could eventually come from solar panels transmitting electricity via fiber optic cable, but then there’s that pesky problem of what to insulate those cables with that’s not made from oil. Take a look at your roof – got shingles on it? Hmmm, made from asphalt, which comes from oil! Do you live on a paved street? Again, if it’s asphalt it comes from oil. Same with highways and interstates across the country – made from oil by-products. Think about that for a minute!

Getting into your car, let’s look at all the things made from oil. Probably the entire interior is some form of plastic right down to the seat coverings. Oh, the seats may feel like they’re made of soft cloth, but most likely its polyester – oil! No point in thinking all of this could be made from metal and cloth (wool or cotton) because that isn’t practical or safe and would cost a fortune to manufacture. Besides, all the wiring in a car is covered with plastic insulation.

Of course all is not lost on divorcing ourselves from oil usage. If we’re truly serious about it, we could develop ways to eliminate most if not all petroleum-based manufactured products. Electronic equipment could be made from crystals enclosed in cases made from vegetable oil and TVs would have hologram images. Vehicles could be powered by and ride on projected magnetic roadways and highways could be made from cheap, synthetic concrete. Dwellings and commercial buildings could be powered by solar energy beamed down from satellites to crystal rooftop transmitters. Clothing could be made from special, genetically engineered plants. And for anything else that would still need to be made from or run on oil, present-day technology is about to produce engineered enzymes that convert waste plant material into oil.

I’ll wrap up this article with this question: How many things could you go without in order to stop using products made from oil?

Think gasoline is the primary use of a barrel of oil?

Well, think again...it's not!

One 42-gallon barrel of oil creates 19.4 gallons of gasoline. The rest (over half) is used to make the products listed here. If we stopped producing oil in favor of other energy sources, how would we replace these items?

Solvents
Diesel
Motor Oil
Bearing Grease
Ink
Floor Wax
Ballpoint Pens
Football Cleats
Upholstery
Sweaters
Boats
Insecticides
Bicycle Tires
Sports Car Bodies
Nail Polish
Fishing lures
Dresses
Tires
Golf Bags
Perfumes
Cassettes
Dishwasher
Tool Boxes
Shoe Polish
Motorcycle Helmet
Caulking
Petroleum Jelly
Transparent Tape
CD Player
Faucet Washers
Antiseptics
Clothesline
Curtains
Food Preservatives
Basketballs
Soap
Vitamin Capsules
Antihistamines
Purses
Shoes
Dashboards
Cortisone
Deodorant
Footballs
Putty
Dyes
Panty Hose
Refrigerant
Percolators
Life Jackets
Rubbing Alcohol
Linings
Skis
TV Cabinets
Shag Rugs
Electrician's Tape
Tool Racks
Car Battery Cases
Epoxy
Paint
Mops
Slacks
Insect Repellent
Oil Filters
Umbrellas
Yarn
Fertilizers
Hair Coloring
Roofing
Toilet Seats
Fishing Rods
Lipstick
Denture Adhesive
Linoleum
Ice Cube Trays
Synthetic Rubber
Speakers
Plastic Wood
Electric Blankets
Glycerin
Tennis Rackets
Rubber Cement
Fishing Boots
Dice
Nylon Rope
Candles
Trash Bags
House Paint
Water Pipes
Hand Lotion
Roller Skates
Surf Boards
Shampoo
Wheels
Paint Rollers
Shower Curtains
Guitar Strings
Luggage
Aspirin
Safety Glasses
Antifreeze
Football Helmets
Awnings
Eyeglasses
Clothes
Toothbrushes
Ice Chests
Footballs
Combs
CD's
Paint Brushes
Detergents
Vaporizers
Balloons
Sun Glasses
Tents
Heart Valves
Crayons
Parachutes
Telephones
Enamel
Pillows
Dishes
Cameras
Anesthetics
Artificial Turf
Artificial limbs
Bandages
Dentures
Model Cars
Folding Doors
Hair Curlers
Cold cream
Movie film
Soft Contact lenses
Drinking Cups
Fan Belts
Car Enamel
Shaving Cream
Ammonia
Refrigerators
Golf Balls
Toothpaste
Gasoline

Beyond Obama's Beauty

This article was recently published in The New York Sun, written by KENNETH BLACKWELL

It's an amazing time to be alive in America. We're in a year of firsts in this presidential election: the first viable woman candidate; the first viable African-American candidate; and, a candidate who is the first frontrunning freedom fighter over 70. The next president of America will be a first.

We won't truly be in an election of firsts, however, until we judge every candidate by where they stand. We won't arrive where we should be until we no longer talk about skin color or gender.
Now that Barack Obama steps to the front of the Democratic field, we need to stop talking about his race, and start talking about his policies and his politics.

The reality is this: Though the Democrats will not have a nominee until August, unless Hillary Clinton drops out, Mr. Obama is now the frontrunner, and its time America takes a closer and deeper look at him.

Some pundits are calling him the next John F. Kennedy. He's not. He's the next George McGovern. And it's time people learned the facts.

Because the truth is that Mr. Obama is the single most liberal senator in the entire U.S. Senate. He is more liberal than Ted Kennedy, Bernie Sanders, or Mrs. Clinton.

Never in my life have I seen a presidential frontrunner whose rhetoric is so far removed from his record. Walter Mondale promised to raise our taxes, and he lost. George McGovern promised military weakness, and he lost. Michael Dukakis promised a liberal domestic agenda, and he lost.
Yet Mr. Obama is promising all those things, and he's not behind in the polls. Why? Because the press has dealt with him as if he were in a beauty pageant.

Mr. Obama talks about getting past party, getting past red and blue, to lead the United States of America. But let's look at the more defined strokes of who he is underneath this superficial "beauty."

Start with national security, since the president's most important duties are as commander-in-chief. Over the summer, Mr. Obama talked about invading Pakistan, a nation armed with nuclear weapons; meeting without preconditions with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who vows to destroy Israel and create another Holocaust; and Kim Jong Il, who is murdering and starving his people, but emphasized that the nuclear option was off the table against terrorists — something no president has ever taken off the table since we created nuclear weapons in the 1940s. Even Democrats who have worked in national security condemned all of those remarks. Mr. Obama is a foreign-policy novice who would put our national security at risk.

Next, consider economic policy. For all its faults, our health care system is the strongest in the world. And free trade agreements, created by Bill Clinton as well as President Bush, have made more goods more affordable so that even people of modest means can live a life that no one imagined a generation ago. Yet Mr. Obama promises to raise taxes on "the rich."

How to fix Social Security? Raise taxes. How to fix Medicare? Raise taxes. Prescription drugs? Raise taxes. Free college? Raise taxes. Socialize medicine? Raise taxes. His solution to everything is to have government take it over. Big Brother on steroids, funded by your paycheck.

Finally, look at the social issues. Mr. Obama had the audacity to open a stadium rally by saying, "All praise and glory to God!" but says that Christian leaders speaking for life and marriage have "hijacked" — hijacked — Christianity. He is pro-partial birth abortion, and promises to appoint Supreme Court justices who will rule any restriction on it unconstitutional. He espouses the abortion views of Margaret Sanger, one of the early advocates of racial cleansing. His spiritual leaders endorse homosexual marriage, and he is moving in that direction. In Illinois, he refused to vote against a statewide ban — ban — on all handguns in the state. These are radical left, Hollywood, and San Francisco values, not Middle America values.

The real Mr. Obama is an easy target for the general election. Mrs. Clinton is a far tougher opponent. But Mr. Obama could win if people don't start looking behind his veneer and flowery speeches. His vision of "bringing America together" means saying that those who disagree with his agenda for America are hijackers or warmongers. Uniting the country means adopting his liberal agenda and abandoning any conflicting beliefs.

But right now everyone is talking about how eloquent of a speaker he is and — yes — they're talking about his race. Those should never be the factors on which we base our choice for president. Mr. Obama's radical agenda sets him far outside the American mainstream, to the left of Mrs. Clinton.

It's time to talk about the real Barack Obama. In an election of firsts, let's first make sure we elect the person who is qualified to be our president in a nuclear age during a global civilizational war.

Mr. Blackwell, a fellow at the American Civil Rights Union and the Family Research Council, is a columnist for The New York Sun, and a contributing editor for Townhall.com.

My take:

This is kind of scary. According to The Book of Revelations...

The anti-christ will be a man, in his 40s, of MUSLIM descent, who will deceive the nations with persuasive language, and have a MASSIVE Christ-like appeal....the prophecy says that people will flock to him and he will promise false hope and world peace, and when he is in power, will destroy everything. Is it OBAMA??

The Choice for President Gets Even Tougher.

Come November and it's time to make a choice to vote in the 2008 Presidential election, I don't know what the heck I'll do. In my opinion, none of the candidates are qualified. Here's the latest damaging message for one candidate; Obama:

http://www.exposeobama.com/obamanationhe.html

Why Barack Obama Doesn't Salute Our Flag Hoax

The following came from a recent email and is based on a satrical view of the news rather than a factual response by Barack Obama:

Hot on the heels of his explanation for why he no longer wears a flag pin, presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama was forced to explain why he doesn't follow protocol when the National Anthem is played.

According to the United States Code, Title 36, Chapter 10, Sec. 171, During rendition of the national anthem when the flag is displayed, all present except those in uniform are expected to stand at attention facing the flag with the right hand over the heart.

'As I've said about the flag pin, I don't want to be perceived as taking sides,' Obama said. 'There are a lot of people in the world to whom the American flag is a symbol of oppression. And the anthem itself conveys a war-like message. You know, the bombs bursting in air and all. It should be swapped for something less parochial and less bellicose. I like the song 'I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing.' If that were our anthem, then I might salute it.'

WHAAAAAAAT!!!!!!!!!!

Unfortunately, many who received this have taken it as fact and passed it on.

The author of the above is JOHN SEMMENS: Semi-News -- A Satirical Look at Recent News

The Global Warming Knowledge Test

Believe all the hype about global warming? Or are you a doubter like I am? Either way, you need to take this test and be amazed at the results.

http://www.globalwarmingheartland.org/GWQuiz/Testindex.html

The 2008 Presidential Campaign Dilemma.

I’ve been voting now for almost 50 years and never before have I come to such an impasse over whom to vote for. I don’t feel any of the candidates are qualified to be president and shouldn’t be president!

Barack:

Barack has a problem with his radical pastor Reverend Wright...and he will continue to have a problem if he becomes the Democrat candidate. There is no way Barack could be a regular church member for 20 years and not know what kind of hate-filled sermons were being preached in his church. He was and still is unwilling to stand up to his bigoted minister who for 20 years denounced from the pulpit whites, Jews and the State of Israel. And not only did Rev Wright preach like this from the pulpit, the church newsletter, "Trumpet Newsmagazine, of which Wright is the chief executive officer, published an article written by Wright in which he described the crucifixion of Jesus as 'public lynching Italian style.'" He also wrote, according to CNSNews.com, "The Italians for the most part looked down their garlic noses at the Galileans." Finally, CNN reported on March 28th that, "They [church bulletins] also quote a historian who said that 'what the Zionist Jews did to the Palestinians is worse than what the Nazis did to the Jews.'" Now, Barack says that IF he had known about his pastor’s radical views he would not have stayed with that church. So I have a problem with Barack’s lack of perception of the world around him and it makes me very uncomfortable to think of him in a presidential position.

Hillary:

As Hillary Clinton came under increasing scrutiny for her story about being under sniper fire in Bosnia, one question that arose was whether she has engaged in a pattern of lying.The now-retired general counsel and chief of staff of the House Judiciary Committee, who supervised Hillary when she worked on the Watergate investigation, says Hillary’s history of lies and unethical behavior goes back farther – and goes much deeper – than anyone realizes.Jerry Zeifman, a lifelong Democrat, supervised the work of 27-year-old Hillary Rodham on the committee. Hillary got a job working on the investigation at the behest of her former law professor, Burke Marshall, who was also Sen. Ted Kennedy’s chief counsel in the Chappaquiddick affair. When the investigation was over, Zeifman fired Hillary from the committee staff and refused to give her a letter of recommendation – one of only three people who earned that dubious distinction in Zeifman’s 17-year career.
I’ve also watch Hillary change her viewpoints and values from one venue to another many times to match whatever she feels the crowd wants to hear. This really disturbs me the most. Very successful con artists master this technique.

Click here for more. (link: www.northstarwriters.com/dancalabrese.htm)

The McCain Mutiny:

Every time I see John McCain he reminds me of Captain Queeg in the classic Cain Mutiny movie. He has a violent temper as witnessed by many in congress over the years. And he isn’t giving me any good reason to vote for him. I also feel he’s too old to begin running our country and even more disturbing is his admission that he doesn’t understand much about economics – yikes! No, I wouldn’t want to see him as president.

So here I am with nobody to vote for, but I don’t want to not vote at all. What a predicament!

Work From Home Business: Ad Agency

Establishing and Operating a Home-Based Advertising Agency:

Here’s a business that many people don’t think about because it sounds too complicated, but operating a home-based ad agency is possible. Here are some facts on how to do that based on my own experience.

Basic print advertising-oriented agency business. In this simple agency business, you’ll provide businesses a resource to create ads and submit them to local newspaper and magazines. You may also design and print brochures, catalogs and similar printed materials. Here’s what you’ll need to know:

Some basic advertising knowledge is necessary. By this I mean, you should have a general understanding of how advertising is used by businesses to sell their products or services.If you don’t have a creative background so that you can design ads for your customers, search the Yellow Pages in your local phonebook for Commercial Artists or Freelance Artists or search the Internet. Aligning yourself with these resources is mandatory in order to produce ads for your clients.

You’ll also need copywriting sources that you can find the same way you find artists. Of course if you have the ability to write your own copy and design your own ads…that’s a big advantage.
How you make money:

In this simple ad agency business your profit comes from two sources:When you create ads, brochures, catalogs or any printed materials you will get paid for your creativity and the production of the materials. Most agencies quote flat project prices to clients based on their estimate of the number of creative/production hours needed. Depending on your skills and local rates for creative services, you can expect to be paid between $35 - $200 per hour.

When you place ads in newspapers and magazines for clients, you will earn the standard 15% ad agency commission on each ad each time it runs. Publications have two ad rates: Retail and Ad Agency. If your client placed their own ads they would pay the Retail Ad Rate, while recognized agencies pay the Ad Agency rate that is 15% off the Retail rate.If you graduate to a larger ad agency and can offer clients TV and Radio commercials as well as Internet advertising services, then your production profits and commissions grow considerably.

The one thing to understand about running an ad agency is that those commissions you earn from placing advertising for clients are residual. If you create an ad that runs in every issue of a publication, you’ll earn a commission each time the ad runs – while you’re working on other projects and business development.

Are there any downsides to ad agency ownership? Just like any business, you have to protect yourself from loss. The biggest risk in running an ad agency is non-payment by clients for ads running in publications. Typically, an ad agency will obligate itself for a client by purchasing ad space on the client’s behalf and when each ad has been published the agency will invoice the client to be paid. It’s important to understand that as an ad agency owner when you place ads for clients, the publication is contracting with you…not your client, so you are responsible to pay the media bills. If a client doesn’t pay you, for whatever reason, the publication will still expect you to pay the media bill. I made sure my agency would not be in that financial position by requiring advance payment on ads to be published. I lost a few clients with that policy, but that later turned out to be a smart move because they went out of business and left another agency to pay their media bills.

The only other downside to this business is long workweeks. Sometimes in order to meet ad deadlines it will be necessary to put in late-night hours and even work weekends and holidays. However, hard work is where the profit lies and you’ll eventually have the ability to take leisure time off while others are putting in their 9-5 hours at a job they don’t like.

There are many other facets to this business that I’ll cover in the future. In the meantime, feel free to post your questions or comments here.

Pet Peeve #2 - People Versus Cars in Parking Lots

I’m wondering if this phenomenon is akin only to the south; Florida specifically.

You’re in a WalMart parking lot and you’re carefully backing out of your parking space between two SUVs. As you edge out and hope to not get nailed by another car, you have to jam the brakes to avoid hitting a woman and kids who walk right behind your moving car!

This happens so often now that it’s becoming routine and expected. No matter how far out your car is people will continue to walk right behind your car. It’s almost as though the protected walkways, where you can step into these zones and cars must yield to pedestrians, has carried over to walking anywhere in a parking lot. Either that or these people figure you can see them and you’ll stop rather than hit them.

What is it with these idiots anyway? So is this a WalMart customer mentality everywhere, or is it peculiar only to Floridians?

I really want to install some huge truck air horns at the back of my car and blast the pants off these stupid people when they deliberately walk behind my car daring me to hit them. Maybe 190 decibels and a sudden rush of air will wake them up!

FREE eBooks

Just a quick note to mention that I am gradually adding good quality FREE eBooks to one of my sites. Click the link in my Fav Links to go there.

Although I have a fair number of ebooks already in my library, I are constantly adding more. Check my site frequently for the latest additions.

All ebooks are completely free and you can even give them away to your family and friends.

Keep in mind that although some ebooks may not be very well written, you will usually still find very useful information contained in them.

Pet Peeve #1 - Unwanted Phone Calls

Stop Prank Calls Now

Prank calls are one of the most annoying things in the entire world. If you have received one or two, you probably shook your head and wished that the caller would get a life and stop aggravating people. However, if you have received many, you probably started to get nervous. You may have wondered if this was really a prank caller or if it was someone that meant you harm. If the prank caller threatened you in some way, you probably definitely wondered if the caller meant you harm. It is not a light situation if you are afraid for your family or your children and your safety. This happens to many different people that have had to deal with this.

The trouble is that the police can't do much of anything unless there is a real threatening event that happens outside of the phone calls. This is enough to make you angry on top of feeling threatened. It's frustrating to know the phone number of the person but not the name. However, you can take action yourself and make the calls stop happening. Whether it's an unlisted home phone number or a cell phone number, it is possible to find out the identity of the caller without having the police trace the telephone calls.

Simply visit a website like http://www.phoneregistry.com/ and enter the phone number of the person that called you. You can get the number from your phone bill or the caller ID. After you enter the phone number, simply wait a few seconds and you will be provided with the name and address of the person who is associated with the phone number. You can even assure yourself that they are not dangerous, or get enough information for the police to act by searching their criminal or arrest records which are also provided. Yes, you can find out if they have ever been charged with a crime, locally or nationally. You can see if it was a misdemeanor or a felony as well.

You do not have to deal with phone calls like this and be helpless. When you search their number at a site like http://www.phoneregistry.com/, you can get the truth about who is calling you. Then, either the police can take over, or you can answer the phone with their name and inform them that you have their address and more. Feel free to say it back to them. If you do this, chances are they will not call you back. If they are dangerous or do have a criminal arrest record, you should not answer the calls. Simply inform the police and allow them to do their job. They will consider the calls a priority and a threat if the person has a criminal record. If this is happening to you, don't take it any longer. Do something about it and show that prank caller that they have stumbled upon the wrong person's phone number.

Take The Internet Back!!!

I'm always skeptical of free offers, but after going through this one several times I see that it is actually free. Don't take my word for it...check it out for yourself - this one is different.

"Have you ever dreamed about owning a piece of a big company? Too expensive? Not now!! How about ownership without paying a penny...ever? Too good to be true? No! Amazing and unique? Yes! Totally legal and fully disclosed? Yes! Join us and own a piece of the next big Internet company - completely free forever! You will even get a $10.00 sign up bonus, free downloads, and a contract assuring you of ownership . Totally free - now and forever!"

Play a Harmonica for Better Health

Medical researchers have shown that playing the harmonica on a regular basis can help improve breathing problems in patients. The repeated pattern of pushing air from the lungs into the instrument, and then sucking air back into the lungs helps patients learn to control and boost their breathing.

Pulmonologists call it bodybuilding for the lungs. The trick to harmonica playing is pushing air from the lungs into the instrument and then sucking air back into the lungs. This repeated pattern helps patients learn to control and boost their breathing...and, of course, to enjoy the music they have now learned to play.

Energy Independence...NOW?

This information could get you boiling mad!

Have you heard about the process of converting coal to oil – then to synthetic gasoline, diesel fuel, heating oil and so on? Fuels made this way are far cleaner than normally processed gasoline and diesel fuel. The process has been known for decades to the Federal Government and the oil companies.

Why hasn’t this home-grown fuel source been utilized to make us energy-independent? Well, three answers: One, the magic number to make this process worthwhile is $35 per barrel of domestic or imported oil (the coal-to-oil process costs about $35 a barrel to produce and distribute). So as long as oil stayed below $35/barrel, there was no reason for anybody to invest in the coal-to-oil production. But now that oil is far above $35 a barrel, it makes perfect sense to tap this American fuel reserve. Two, oil companies are enjoying huge profits from the low supply and high demand for their oil products, so they’re reluctant to change that. After all, with the coal-to-oil process, gasoline would go back down to $1.39 a gallon or less and their actual net profit would go down, correspondingly. Three, environmentalists have blocked new coal mining operations, and will continue to block the development of this fuel resource, just as they have fought against new oil exploration.

This coal-to-oil idea is not new; the Germans used it during WWII to fuel their war machines. We acquired the knowledge when the German scientists came to the USA to work on the space program, after the war. Today, the state of Montana is in the process of building their first coal-to-oil plant to be operational in two years. Using Montana as a model, other plants could be built by governments in coal-rich states.

Questions: Once oil jumped above the magic $35 a barrel cost, why didn’t the Fed come down hard on the oil industry to move to this process, in addition to domestic oil drilling and production? Or why didn’t the Fed start helping coal-rich states build processing plants they it new could produce cheaper fuels, immediately? This alternative to imported oil, or more drilling for oil, is right here right now in our own country! Why is nothing being done…except in Montana? Where is the mainstream media on this – shouldn’t this be front page news all over the media? Shouldn’t the media be in the face of oil company executives, the US Department of Energy, the Pentagon? Are the tree-huggers so powerful that we can't shut them up in order to become energy-independent in the next 5 years?

Oh yeah, one more factoid to explode your brain: U.S. coal reserves are equivalent to four times the oil of Saudi Arabia, 1.3 times the oil of OPEC and equal to all the world's proved oil reserves.

Ode To America

(This has been around for a while, but it bears revisiting from time to time).

We rarely get a chance to see another country's editorial about the USA. I think this is very much worth reading and passing on. It says a lot.

As you read this editorial, realize it was written on September 24, 2002 , before Farenheit 9/11 and before the America-hating leftists and Hollywood started bashing America again.
The article was written by Mr. Cornel Nistorescu and published under the title "C"ntarea Americii, meaning "Ode To America" in the Romanian newspaper Evenimentulzilei ("The Daily Event" or "News of the Day"):

An Ode to America-Why are Americans so united? They would not resemble one another even if you painted them all one color! They speak all the languages of the world and form an astonishing mixture of civilizations and religious beliefs.

Still, the American tragedy turned three hundred million people into a hand put on the heart. Nobody rushed to accuse the White House, the army, and the secret services that they are only a bunch of losers. Nobody rushed to empty their bank accounts. Nobody rushed out onto the streets nearby to gape about. The Americans volunteered to donate blood and to give a helping hand.

After the first moments of panic, they raised their flag over the smoking ruins, putting on T-shirts, caps and ties in the colors of the national flag.

They placed flags on buildings and cars as if in every place and on every car a government official or the president was passing.

On every occasion, they started singing their traditional song: "God Bless America!" I watched the live broadcast and rerun after rerun for hours listening to the story of the guy who went down one hundred floors with a woman in a wheelchair without knowing who she was, or of the Californian hockey player, who gave his life fighting with the terrorists and prevented the plane from hitting a target that could have killed other hundreds or thousands of people. How on earth were they able to respond united as one human being?

Imperceptibly, with every word and musical note, the memory of some turned into a modern myth of tragic heroes And with every phone call, millions and millions of dollars were put in a collection aimed at rewarding not a man or a family, but a spirit, which no money can buy. What on earth can unite the Americans in such a way? Their land? Their galloping history? Their economic Power? Money? I tried for hours to findan answer, humming songs and murmuring phrases with the risk of sounding commonplace.

I thought things over, but I reached only one conclusion...Only freedom and faith in God can work such miracles.

It's amazing to me how soon people forget the tragedy of 9/11. Lets remind them. Please feel free to copy this article and pass it on.

Funniest Pet Stories - Squirrel Goes Cammando!

This incident happened about a year ago, but I was reminded of it while watching the squirrels teasing Fluffy the neighborhood tomcat (yes, the big tom is named Fluffy, which is probably why all the other animals torment him).

My wife and I were going to visit her folks who live in a small mobile home park in Titusville Florida. As we entered the lane leading to their trailer, a squirrel ran out in front of our car. I stopped quickly to avoid flattening the little fellow. We sat there and watched him as he ran down the lane a ways. Then he stopped, actually he froze would be a better way of describing his action.

Just off the lane a cat was sitting on the step of another trailer looking out on the lane. The squirrel sees the cat and freezes, but the cat doesn’t appear to see the squirrel. Now here’s the squirrel out in the pen, no trees nearby, and there’s a cat within 20 feet or so. The seconds tick by and the whole scene is motionless. We both remarked to each, “I wonder what’s going to happen?”

Then the most amazing thing happens. The squirrel flattens out his body and begins a slow crawl down the lane like a commando crawling under barbed wire. Drat, and we didn’t have a camera with us! Inch by inch the little fellow crawled on his belly past the trailer with the cat. Once about half way past the trailer the cat turned his head and looked right at the squirrel. He froze again! We didn’t notice if he left any droppings at that point, but you be sure he was terrified.

Gradually the squirrel crawled past the trailer and out of sight of the cat, at which point he took off like a shot and up the nearest tree. No doubt he had a tale to tell (pun intended) to his pals.

Funny thing is, what the squirrel didn’t know was that the cat was tied to the trailer porch and was no threat at any time! That made us wonder what must have been going on in the cat’s mind…”Look at that, squirrel on a stick and I can’t move!”