The run for President; are we having fun yet?

Time to take off the gloves, there is less than a week to go until Super Tuesday, when the lion’s share of delegates to the Presidential nominating conventions will be decided. The contest for the Democratic Party’s nomination is down to just 2, Senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are making nice over former Senator John Edwards pulling out of the race. The same is true for Republicans Mitt Romney and John McCain, who are being mighty nice to former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani after his campaign fizzled in Florida Tuesday. It might be time for Huckabee and Paul to pull out of the GOP contest too, so Romney and McCain can really duke it out, they really don’t like each other. There is no love lost between Clinton and Obama either, so get ready for a slug fest. If you like fights, this one is shaping up to be a doozie.

Can you see any of these people getting together, as the competition shakes out, and running on the ticket together as President and Vice President? Boy! I can’t. So, now comes the fun game of speculating on who will be the Veeps on the tickets. Edwards is out of the mix for the Democrats, been there done that. New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, who dropped out of the Presidential contest, is getting a lot of play in Democratic power circles as a possible running mate for either Clinton or Obama. He is Hispanic, very smart and a genuine nice guy. Could be a good choice regardless of which Senator gets the nomination.

As for the Republicans, McCain is still not a favorite of conservatives. His votes against the Bush tax cuts hang around his neck like a hundred pound weight, and his track record on illegal immigration is a real sore point for many. If he is the GOP nominee, and many Republican power brokers now say he will be, it’s going to take a lot of convincing to get some conservatives to the polls for him in November. GOP insiders say Secretary of State Dr. Condoleezza Rice may be the ticket, literally. She is very smart, very well liked, is an African American and a woman, and with McCain’s age, she is more than just window dressing as a Vice President.

This final sprint in the Presidential contest is going to be interesting; it is going to be historic! Most of all, it is going to be fun, American style.

Time to refinance? Here’s another economic booster idea.

The FED did it again today, cutting the federal funds interest rates by another half point to make the key rate 3 per cent. Just last week the Federal Reserve cut the rate by 3/4 of a point, the biggest interest rate cut in 2 decades. All of this is designed to give the economy a boost. The theory goes when we pay less interest we will spend that money on goods and services.

The sobering fact is most of us mortals borrow money at the prime rate, which is usually 3 percent higher than the federal funds rate. But still, when the Fed funds rate goes down, so does the interest on credit cards, auto loans and mortgages. So, this may be the time to take a close look at your mortgage for a possible refinance. You may be able to buy or lease a car for less as well.

About that economic stimulus plan to rebate $300 to each tax payer, with all due respect Mr. President, I don’t honestly think that is going to do a whole lot to fire up spending. But, how about this idea; the U.S. Congress could pass a new rule allowing Americans to fully deduct our credit card and auto loan interest from our income tax. That would provide real, immediate and long lasting stimulus to the economy by freeing up billions of dollars to buy things instead of paying interest.

Whoooosh!

What a bad hair day! I drove out to Weatherford for a meeting about mid morning, after dropping my girls at school. Just as I approached the west loop 820 on I-30 the gusts of wind got down right dangerous. Big rigs were weaving all over the freeway, and the wind was pushing my much smaller car side to side like a giant playing with a toy.

Coming back into Fort Worth just before noon there was another situation to deal with, smoke and lots of it. Wild fires broke out west of the loop filling the sky with sun blocking clouds of dingy smelly smoke. Traffic slowed down to a crawl on the west freeway until we got inside the 820 loop.

I thought to myself, this is just a taste of what the folks in southern California face during their wild fire episodes. About a dozen buildings burned, others got roofs damaged by the high winds, power poles got knocked down but nobody got hurt. A bad hair day for sure, but all in all we came out pretty lucky compared to what could have happened.

A cheap thrill and dose of reality.

I hope I am not getting too old or easy, but when I saw a sign for premium unleaded gasoline for under $3.00 this morning I almost had to stop and do a happy dance. I am still perplexed at the wild gyrations of price for what appears to be no rational reason. There is the watch word, “rational,” there is nothing rational about the way our gasoline prices fluctuate. Can our government please find the common sense to make the way for drilling crews, using known environmentally sound technology, to get out in the fields of Anwr, Alaska and to our known off shore reserves so we can end our dependence on oil from the middle east and South America.

Renewable energy sources mentioned by the President in his State of the Union tonight are a great idea, for the future. Those new sources in plentiful amounts are a long way down the road. We need energy and price stability right now. Drill now and give incentives to spend those profits on development of future renewable sources of energy. That is a win win; we get the gasoline at stable prices we need now and money to develop new non-polluting sources for the future.

Leave the man alone!

What is going on here? How can Tony Romo be accused of “cheating” on Jessica Simpson? Did I miss some announcement? Is she wearing an engagement ring? Didn’t Tony tell her last week “I just want to be friends?” Come on people, give Tony a rest. As far as all of us know there is no “understanding” between Tony and Jessica. Yea, they dated, yes they went to Mexico together, with a bunch of friends. The guy is single and unbetrothed, so what if he wants to chase after an old flame, even marry her? Great for him! I know all this makes great copy and good gossip talk on the air and at the gym, but gee whiz! Give Tony a little breathing room, he might just turn out to be one of the good guys.

Stephenville UFO’s. Roswell all over again.

I was about ready to quit thinking about the Stephenville UFO sightings until the Air Force offered up its “explanation” last night. Now, my nose is twitching, it usually does that when I smell something funny going on. My involvement in things military gives me good reason to suspect we are not getting the full story here. Most suspect is the Air Force Reserve changing its story, first denying it had “any” planes flying in the Stephenville area January 8th, 2008, and now admitting 18 days after the UFO sighting saying “it had 10 F-16’s” training in the area between 6 and 8pm.

Friends, it is mighty unusual to see 10 F-16’s in the air in close proximity to each other at the same time. Under current Pentagon fuel restrictions and reduced training mission profiles, it is rare to see more than 3 F-16 Falcon’s in a flight together. Go sit along the runway at the JRB in west Fort Worth and email me the next time you see 10 F-16’s flying at the same time together. The U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds only fly 6 F-16’s in shows, a 7th chase plane on rare occasions. And if the Air Force Reserve was flying in that large number of 10 around the Brownwood Military Operating Area near Stephenville that night, I can assure you the Air Force knew full well they were there and what they were doing. To couch this reversal of story 18 days later in the cloak of “an internal communications error” is hooey.

The Air Force “explanation” is more than a little late and suspect, and only quantifies what some pretty normal and reliable folks say they saw the night of January 8th, which was both fighter jets and some unidentifiable and very large object with flashing lights, both hovering and a flying at break neck speeds without making a sound.

I have no idea what these folks saw near Stephenville, but the way this official “explanation” is now coming out smells a lot like July 4th, 1947, when ranchers and other normal folks near the little town of Roswell, New Mexico saw some mysterious object break up in the skies and scatter derbies all over their land just north of town. The military tried to explain away the incident as the crash of a weather balloon. You know how well that turned out.

Life is too short! Say thank you now.

I went to a funeral for the father of a good friend today. He lived a full 86 good years, I never got to know him, but I learned today he served on the aircraft carrier USS Intrepid, one of the most important ships in the Pacific during World War II. We are rapidly losing our heroes of The Greatest Generation, we are also rapidly forgetting the sacrifices they made for us to enjoy the way we live today.

Hearing the preacher tell the life story of Marvin Frank “Papa” Hay today shook me a bit, made me think about my own mortality, to realize how fragile humans really are. But then it made me think about those who so brave they are willing to put their fragile lives in harms way to protect us and our way of life. I hope we never ever forget those, like Mr. Hay and my nephew Lance Corporal Stewart Dzenowski, who is serving in Iraq and very much in harms way. Life is too short not to thank those who protect us and fight for the notion of spreading freedom. Thank you Mr. Hay, thank you Stewart and thank all of you in the military. Your sacrifice will not be forgotten on this watch.

$4 dollars a gallon! Good grief Charlie Brown!

I thought the Cowboys disappointing loss would consume my vitriol today, but then I paid $3.29 a gallon for my gasoline (my car insists on that high octane stuff). That’s a heck of a diversion from my crushed hopes for the Boys playing in the Super Bowl. But then came the AAA report this evening, forecasting $4.00 per gallon unleaded regular by summer. For crying out loud!

When are we going to get it? We can’t depend on foreign oil to feed our hungry appetite for gasoline any longer, there is too much competition for the stuff from China, India and the rest of the world. We also can’t wait a decade or more for some a hydrogen or efficient electric car, nor can we process enough corn, or other agricultural based ethanol, fast enough to replace the thirst of our street beasts for petroleum.

Why can’t we drill off the Gulf and Pacific coasts, or drill the Northern Coastal Plain of Anwr. The Alaskan tundra is estimated to contain 10.4 billion barrels of recoverable oil, the nations’ largest onshore oil reserve, that’s more oil reserves than Texas and Louisiana combined. We have the new technology to drill off shore and in the snowbound regions to protect the environment and wild life. Just think, we would create thousands of new jobs and almost immediately reduce our dependence on foreign oil.

Many folks I know are already feeling the pinch from high gasoline prices, some are already having trouble making ends meet. I think we need to recognize the need to solve our own energy needs with petroleum in our own back yard, before our economy goes in the tank, literally.

Girl Scout Cookie time? I just lost 12 pounds, now this!

The Girl Scouts are selling cookies again. I love Girl Scout cookies! My favorite is the “Trefoil,” it is what us long time Girl Scout cookie lovers knew as the “Scot tea,” an old fashioned shortbread cookie. This is a very straight up “nothin’ fancy” wonderful little cookie. However, it is not a diet thing; 5 cookies are worth about 150 calories and 11 per cent of that is fat (no trans fat). If I put one in my mouth, I can’t seem to control myself before half a stack is gone from the box. So, I will be donating my Girl Scout cookie purchase to the “Troop to Troop” campaign, sending my cookies to our military serving overseas.

There is a reason I am depriving myself of those beloved Girl Scout cookies.

I hope you are seeing less of me on television, body size wise I mean. Last month I finally got the cure for my snoring and sleep apnea, but the CPAP machine solution came with specific orders from my sleep specialist. The good doctor ordered me to lose 64 pounds! That takes more than just sleeping well, as I do now with his CPAP machine. Losing that kind of weight takes consistent exercise, alteration of what and how much you eat and alteration of the way you think about and eat food.

I am spending one hour a day on the treadmill at the fitness club, I am eating 5 “little meals” a day and I am not rewarding myself with food. That does not satisfy my craving for Girl Scout cookies, but losing 12 pounds in just 4 weeks is pretty satisfying. I want that trend to continue, so the troops will be getting the cookies from my favorite Girl Scout troop this year.

Flash! Dewey Defeats Truman! Enjoying the New Hampshire thumping of the pundits.

I am almost ashamed to admit this, but I am enjoying all the blubbering by the pundits and pollsters the day after the New Hampshire primaries. The political know-it-alls blew it, big time, and they really can’t explain why. Let me give it a try; people often lie to those taking polls, except when they pull the lever in the actual voting booth. Many people don’t like talking to pollsters, before or after an election, and we know now they mislead those asking the questions, maybe for fun and folly. That is why the the only real and reliable poll of the electorate is the one officially taken in the voting booth. All the conjecture that goes on before election day is just that, guessing.

I have a bone to pick with polls anyway. Many pollsters ask questions with an agenda to push or theory to prove. The goal of some polls is not to objectively test opinion but to shape it. But, the polls still make news, because humans like a horse race, and they like to take sides. So, the polls feed that monster.

Yes there is all kind of valid research being done by valid political scientists who discover valid information about trends. But, trends don’t always translate into fact. They sure didn’t in New Hampshire, and the big league media and political “experts” did not learn their lesson Tuesday, because they are at it full bore again going into the Michigan and South Carolina primaries.

I love politics, the process is fun to watch and fun to report. But, me thinks we should maybe throttle back a bit on all that conjecture poll stuff and pay a little more attention to something like a score card on where each candidate stands on taxes, government spending, immigration and the war. Don’t you want to know what a candidate would do to solve our collective problems if elected? How refreshing would that be? But then, a pollster would do a survey declaring that kind of stuff is boring.