Random Shots - Gas Prices, Kids Lunches, and More!

First Shot!

Price of Gas Shooting Up!

I know that most of you who read this blog have the wisdom to understand that America needs to look out for America first and above all else.

But for you folks out there who are still against drilling here in America, who still don't want to get oil from North Dakota or ANWR, and who are against the Keystone XL Pipeline, I have to ask.

If you're happy these days with what its costing Americans at the pumps these days? I mean, if you're happy with the way things are going than it shouldn't matter to you that Gas prices are the highest ever for this time of year.

The national average is at $3.53 a gallon. Prices have already gone up 25 cents since January 1st, and yes, Experts say that Gas Prices could reach a record $4.25 a gallon by late April across the nation.

The Obama economy grew at a sluggish 2.8 percent in the fourth quarter.

When President George W. Bush was saddled with the similar problem, he lifted the moratorium on drilling. Within 7 months, gas prices went from above $4 a gallon nationally to $1.85 a gallon nationally.

He knew that America could not sustain such a burden and took action even though the Liberal News Media would attack him. He knew that working families needed help and he opened up more Federal land to oil and gas drilling as a way to get American on the road to U.S. Energy Independence.

Friends, American Energy Independence starts with lower pump prices!

High oil and gas prices now set the stage for even sharper increases at the pump because gas typically rises in March and April.

Every spring, refiners shut down for repairs and maintenance operations, and of course to change from types of gasoline.  Winter gas supplies are sold off before March, when refineries need to start making a new formula of gasoline that's required in the summer.

That can mean less supply for service stations, resulting in higher gas prices. And summertime gasoline is more expensive to make.

Why is it more expensive to make? Government Regulations!

The Federal government mandates that it contain less butane and other cheap organic compounds because they contribute to the formation of ground-level ozone, a primary constituent in smog. That means more oil, a costlier component, is needed to produce each gallon.

The Oil Price Information Service predicts that gasoline could peak at $4.25 a gallon by the end of April - although it could top $5 a gallon in many parts of the country. The record of $4.11 a gallon was in July 2008 when President George W Bush was still in Office - and didn't wait for political advice, instead he took action.

The national average for gasoline began the year at $3.28 a gallon. The average price for February so far is $3.49 a gallon. That's up from $3.17 a gallon last February, a record at the time. Back in 2007, before the recession hit, the average for February was $2.25 a gallon.

Here in California, we are already paying more than $4 a gallon!

According to the latest reports, prices are already higher on the East and West Coasts where prices are always higher - but never this high!

And yes, watch the economy because as higher gas prices put a strain on people's budgets less money will be available for things like new cars, appliances and even everyday items.

"Americans spent about 8.4 percent of their household income on gasoline last year when gas averaged an all-time high of $3.51 a gallon. That's double the percentage of a decade ago. They could pay even more this year, even though demand is the lowest in 11 years as people drive fewer miles in more efficient cars," says Tom Kloza, chief oil analyst at OPIS.

And let's be real honest about a few things here!

People in the city don't feel the pinch like other Americans do. People in the suburbs, and out away from the urban sprawl and into rural American have to buy gas. We have to drive for everything.

City people can afford to take this lightly only so far. Yes, you have buses and trains and taxis and subways, and what have you, so you can shirk the concern about driving and the price of gas. But friends, don't make the mistake of thinking that this doesn't concern you big time!

If you're some lettuce munching vegetarian? Guess what, your lettuce is going up in price. If you're some style conscious dude who likes to wear this year's fashionable trendy clothing? Well dude, your clothes will get more expensive.

And how about you, you know who you are! You're that College student who hates America, but yet loves it's wines, it's music, its books, and its electronic gadgets! Get ready, you Turkey, because you are going to be paying more for your pretentious bullshit Socialist lifestyle!

Second Shot!

Republican Senator Caught Cheating!

During the last Presidential Election, we the American people got a great look at corruption at Voting Booths across the nation.

If you remember correctly, ACORN was an organization that Barack Obama once worked for. ACORN took it upon itself to register all sorts of votes for the Democratic Party to vote for Barack Obama.

They did all sorts of under-handed things. They registered dead people, they registered people who signed up with all sorts of fictitious names including Micky Mouse. They also bused Democrat voters into areas that they did not live in. They registered 43 people to a two bedroom home in one city.

I know what you're thinking, isn't there laws against that sort of thing? Well, I guess not. And yes, because of that, I expect Democrats to do it whenever and wherever they want to.

Watch this year, it will be no different. The Democratic Party will most likely truck people to vote the way they are told. And no, I don't know if they will most likely be Union Workers who owe their livelihood to their Unions and not to our country.

And no, I don't know if those being bused in would mostly be Welfare Recipients or more College Students like those in other Occupy Protesters who have shown a genuine hatred for America.

So my friends, since we know that no one should be voting in an area where they do not live, should we allow someone to Represent us in Congress if they are not from our area and do not live among us?

Well, that's what has been happening since 1977!  Republican Senator

That's right! Dick Lugar has not had an address in the area he has represents in more than 30 years!

Indiana Republican Sen. Richard Lugar does not actually live at the address he uses to claim residency.

To me, this is truly unbelievable! I cannot understand how he has gotten away with this for so many years!

The senior Indiana Senator has been using the address of a home that he actually sold all the way back in 1977.

Even the address on his Driver's License belongs to the house that Dick Lugar sold in 1977 after he was first elected to the U.S. Senate. Lugar told reporters that he sold the house because "it was too expensive, at least for us at that time in our lives, to maintain two houses."

He said after being elected that he moved his family to the Washington, D.C., area.

The Indiana state Election Commission plans to take up the controversy at a hearing this Friday, though Lugar maintains that two attorneys general have found he is a legal Indiana resident. But how can that be?

How can anyone say that he is a legal resident of some place that he doesn't live in? In that case, he can say that he's resident of anywhere.

Lugar's re-election campaign reports that between February 2011 and February 2012, the Senator spent 89 days in Indiana - and that Lugar still owns a farm in the state. 

But wait, Lugar told Fox 59 that he doesn't use the farm as his official address because "I do not live there."

Dick Lugar is taking heat from both sides, so much so that even all of his good Liberal friends are leaving him. And yes, even though he is supposed to be a Republican, Dick Luger is a Republican In Name Only.

Yes, he has been a RINO for years.  Yes, while Republicans remained steadfast in their opposition to many of Obama's proposals and nominations, Dick Lugar has been a steadfast ally of Barack Obama.

But this time, Harry Reid and even Barack Obama can't help him. As his primary challenger and the Indiana state Democrats rag on him over the residency issue, conservative groups are now lining up against him over his voting record.

His Voting Record is impressive if he were a Liberal Democrat. He voted for the DREAM Act. He voted to confirm Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan, supporting both of Obama’s Judicial Nominations to the Supreme Court even though they are both Pro-Abortion.

Lugar voted to raise the debt ceiling, and is the only Senate Republican to publicly endorse the New START pact that Obama has negotiated with Russia.

He has voted consistently to increase his own salary. He voted for TARP. He backs Cap & Trade, and he is against American Oil and American Oil Independence. Dick Lugar has even voted for tougher Federal Gun Control laws.

Dick Lugar is as against the Tea Party as a politician can get. He has gone on record saying that he blames the Tea Party for Republican Party problems. He went so far as to say that the Tea Party destroyed the chances for Republican majority in the Senate at the last elections.

He claimed that the Tea Party didn't want a Republican majority because the Tea Party did not want Republicans like him. And no, he doesn't understand that the Tea Party doesn't march to the tune of the Republican Party - the Tea Party feels it doesn't have to sell its soul like so many Republicans do.

That's right - Republicans like Lugar just doesn't get it!

And folks, after November, I hope Lugar finds another job. Although I'm sure he won't have to worry too much about work, after all, he can always go to work for the Democratic Party and come out of the closet once and for all.

Next Shot! 

Man Goes To Jail For Failure To Get His Dog A License

No kidding! In Denver, Colorado, a couple is fighting fines after the husband was jailed for failure to get a license for his daughter's service dog.

And that's not all! Local authorities say that another 50 people in Jefferson County could face the same fate.

Matthew Townsend says he spent seven hours in jail after the dog got out and he was issued a $50 ticket. Townsend ignored the ticket and was arrested. His wife was fined $100.

Last year, the county issued nearly 500 citations for violations.

OK, so KCNC-TV ran down exactly what was going on when it reported that the dipsticks in Jefferson County need the money to pay for a new $10 million Foothills Animal Shelter.

Friends, raising $10 Million for an Animal Shelter is crazy as it is, but for them to arrest and jail people for not licensing their Service Dogs is just about one of the most ignorant things I've ever heard of.

First off, with the problem with not having enough room in most jails, you folks in Jefferson County are using needed space for these hardened criminal types! Give me a break! Where is your common sense?

For you folks in Foreign countries reading this, allow me to explain that a service dog is a companion dog that has been specially trained  to help people who have disabilities - including visual or hearing impairment, and also to help people with mental disabilities including severe depression.

Some dogs are even trained to help with medical conditions such as recurrent seizures or diabetes. So yes, we Americans now have a County Government in Colorado that is penalizing people with service dogs for not having the money to get their companion dogs licenses.

Like true caring individuals that they are, they throw these people in jail! And yes, God only knows what they do with repeat Dog License offenders?

For you folks in Jefferson County, Colorado, I have only one question.

Have you folks been completely taken over by liberals from California that you now find it OK to do things like this? What sort of California refugee told you folks that building an Animal Shelter that you obviously can't afford is OK to build - as long as you get the needed funds from those who need their money more than you do?

Oh well, I guess folks with Service Dogs should just stay out of Jefferson Country, Colorado!

Last Shot!

Pre-School Government Agents!

This is about as bad as what's going on in Jefferson County, Colorado, but it's different!

On Valentine's Day, a Pre-schooler's homemade lunch replaced with cafeteria chicken nuggets.

In Hoke County, North Carolina, a 4 year old pre-schooler was fed chicken nuggets for lunch because a State Worker felt that her homemade lunch did not meet the State and Federal mandate.

The West Hoke Elementary School student was in her classroom when a State Agent who was inspecting lunch boxes decided that her packed lunch - which consisted of a turkey and cheese sandwich, a banana, apple juice and potato chips - "did not meet U.S. Department of Agriculture guidelines."

This is for real folks! I scan the news looking for bullshit like this, because honestly the whole idea of there be a "State Agent" that has the job of "inspecting" lunches made by Mom just irks me to no end!

According to the report filed by the Carolina Journal, the decision was made under consideration of a regulation put in place by the the Division of Child Development and Early Education at the Department of Health and Human Services, which requires all lunches served in pre-kindergarten programs to meet USDA guidelines.

In other words, the Feds think they know how to feed your children better than you do Mom!

The student’s mother told the Journal that she received a note from the school about the "incident" and was charged $1.25 for the cafeteria tray, from which her daughter only ate three chicken nuggets.

The note explained how students who did not bring “healthy lunches” would be offered the missing portions and that parents could be charged for the cost of the cafeteria food, the Carolina Journal reports.

The little girl's mother expressed concern about School Officials telling her daughter that she wasn’t "packing her lunch box properly."

The mother wrote a complaint to her State Representaive Republican G.L. Pridgen of Robeson County. In her letter she states, "I don't feel that I should pay for a cafeteria lunch when I provide lunch for her from home."

According to the Carolina Jounal, the girl’s grandmother, who sometimes helps pack her lunch that she is a petite, picky 4-year-old who eats white whole wheat bread and is not big on vegetables.

"What got me so mad is, number one, don’t tell my kid I’m not packing her lunch box properly," the girl’s mother said. "I pack her lunchbox according to what she eats. It always consists of a fruit. It never consists of a vegetable. She eats vegetables at home because I have to watch her because she doesn’t really care for vegetables."

The Carolina Jounal reported that when the girl came home with her lunch untouched, her mother wanted to know what she ate instead. "Three chicken nuggets," the girl answered. Everything else on her cafeteria tray went to waste.

"She came home with her whole sandwich I had packed, because she chose to eat the nuggets on the lunch tray, because they put it in front of her," her mother said. "You’re telling a 4-year-old., 'Oh. your lunch isn’t right,’ and she’s thinking there’s something wrong with her food."

While the mother and grandmother thought the potato chips and lack of vegetable were what "disqualified" the lunch, a spokeswoman for the Division of Child Development said that should not have been a problem.

"With a turkey sandwich, that covers your protein, your grain, and if it had cheese on it, that’s the dairy," said Jani Kozlowski, the fiscal and statutory policy manager for the division. "It sounds like the lunch itself would’ve met all of the standard."

The lunch has to include a fruit or vegetable, but not both, she said. There are no clear restrictions about what additional items — like potato chips — can be included in preschoolers’ lunch boxes.

What should bother everyone reading this - folks, this is not uncommon these days. Schools in America want the State to be the parent. This is not that strange a concept. It's happening more an more across the country.

In some States, schools are handing out Condoms against the wishes of parents. In other States, some classes like those teaching children about sex and accepting homosexuality is being forced on kids.

There are schools out there right now that are teaching classes on the Occupy protest - sort of a "How To" class to encourage distain for America.

The concept of having the State become the Parent is not uncommon in large scale applications. In the 1930s, Adolph Hitler used this idea to start the Hitler Youth groups and engineer the so-called "Master Race" which was to be obedient only to Germany.

Communist and Muslims both have this in common as well. Both believe that their greatest impact on a person's thought process, belief system, the way to get people obey them - whether they are a totalitarian State like say the former Soviet Union was, or if they are a hate filled religion only interested in killing "non-believers" - conditioning during the child's forming years is the key.

I don't like the whole idea that we have "State Agents" in amongst our children, especially when the State's agenda and a parent's might be polar opposites.

It's a shame that people are surrendering so much of their freedom to the Federal Government. And please understand where I'm coming from on this.

It is one thing to have "guideline" and "recommended" practices from the Federal and State governments. It is one thing to have to work to establish codes and standards. It is one thing to have laws that safeguard.

But the idea of any government agency trying to usurp itself with some sort of self-imposed authority and take the place of the parent, especially when there is a caring nuturing parent available, then the Federal and State governments are out of line.

The government is not supposed to be involved in our daily life, they have no business being a part of things.



Story by Tom Correa