First of all, welcome back. Columbia! Did you fly or maybe cruise the Panama Canal? Something I'd like to do one day. Thought about driving down there, but the logistics of a trike in the Central American jungles didn't quite make sense :P

If I may... a few respectful retorts:

1 - I am VERY aware of the 99.44% who do not live as well as I. The fact ANY of them live in THIS country despite our overwhelming power and capacity strikes me as being wrong.

2 - I do not drink $200 Scotch. I smoke $500 pot.(smirk)
Despite my comments about Nationalizing the Oil industry, in my vision, the mechanics do not include taking your business away from you. I'd be pissed off too if the government wanted to take my business away from me or worse yet, destroy my business entirely... oh. wait. they did that to me in the 80's. It was in all the papers too. (you'll have to pm me privately for the details)

3 - My research tells me that it is actually the refineries where the real profit gouging occurs. How would you respond to this? Please be nice, I'm looking for dialog, not an argument

4 - re: payroll supporting, tax paying, small business does more good over the long haul  ---- I absolutely agree with you.

5 - the old adage... I use it frequently myself;
I do not give hand outs. I try to give people a hand up. I will always try to teach the man to fish if possible. But what if that man lost his limbs protecting me, and he is unable to fish and feed himself? Do I abandon this man to the whims of nature? Do I allow him to degrade himself by crawling like an animal to the shores edge?

What about the other vulnerables in our society? Orphaned or abandoned children too young and inexperienced to fend for themselves. The extremely aged no longer able to care for themselves. Where I think you misunderstand my intentions; I don't want to take your money and support some buffoon sitting on a couch eating welfare checks and smoking crack.

Instead of redistributing your wealth, how about we become a more effective and efficient society? Stop focusing on red herrings like "family values" and other dogma driven agendas. Stop paying farmers not to farm, and let them grow food to feed the hungry. Stop paying welfare to all the parasites of society. Use that money to create commercial centers instead. Instead of earmarks for a bridge to nowhere or a study on the effects of hurricane Katrina on the Gulf coast shrimping industry, how about setting up scholarships for children whos lives were uprooted by this catastrophe.

I am but one man frustrated by what I perceive as great wrong within our society. I believe there is a middle ground where balance can be achieved. All I can do, is do what I can, and hope my efforts are good enough.

I acknowledge there are elements of my life some would deem hypocritical, and I grant you that may well be true. But is it not the same for all of us?

Ga, we each have our own agenda, our own measurements for success. The accumulation of wealth; knowledge; glory; power; all are measurements of success. Mine are best summed up by the great Ralph Waldo Emerson:

To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children...to leave the world a better place...to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded."

Thank you for your time.

-- Modified on 9/11/2007 9:01:06 AM