The Way I See ItBy cj pollick#1 Beach In The U.S. – Caladesi Island was named the top beach in the U.S. this year. We are certainly very privileged to live in such a wonderful area for recreation. End Of An Era – Pinellas County’s oldest school, South Ward Elementary School at 601 St. Fort Harrison Avenue, closed its doors permanently on the last day of school. South Ward Elementary School opened its doors in 1906, was the original Clearwater High School, and is on the National Register of Historic Places. Pinellas County’s oldest school has closed. Firefighters Unhappy With City of Clearwater – According to the Firefighters Association they are planning to alert citizens to the large amount of money spent reinstating firefighters “illegally” terminated per union contracts. This has been an ongoing issue between the city and the firefighters’ union. Barack Obama Beats Hillary Clinton – It’s finally over for the Democrats, Sen. Obama beat Sen. Clinton. Now it is McCain vs. Obama for the presidency. Who would you like to see appointing federal judges, Obama or McCain? The race is on. Medal Of Honor Awarded - Army PFC Ross McGinnis of Knox, Pennsylvania, a small town northeast of Pittsburgh, was awarded the U.S. military's highest honor -- the Medal of Honor. This 19-year-old soldier jumped on top of a hand grenade tossed into the Humvee that he and four other soldiers were riding to save the lives of the other soldiers. "He was a hero," said one of the other soldiers. Another soldier riding in the same military vehicle said that his "daughter prays every night thanking Ross "for saving her Dad. "He was a natural soldier," stated his sergeant. PFC Ross McGinnis' parents will be presented the U.S. military's highest honor that could be bestowed upon an American soldier. We pay our respects to the McGinnis family and salute this American soldier for his heroic act to save his fellow soldiers. Why Is Gas Cheaper In Mexico And Iran? - When people read about worldwide gas prices, they might wonder if some of the foreign governments with lower prices of gas are subsidizing the costs of gas at the pump. Of course, the answer is, yes. In places such as Nigeria, where the price of gas is 0.38/gallon, or in Iran, where the price of gas is 0.42/gallon, the government helps to subsidize the price of fuel. In Saudi Arabia the price of gas is 0.45/gallon and in Mexico the price of gas is $2.34, with help from government. However, in Indonesia, where the price of gas is $2.46/gallon, the government recently stated it will soon change its policy of government subsidies due to the high cost of gas subsidies. In fact, gas production is expected to be cut in Russia and other oil producing nations due to lower oil production. Yet, there are places in China and India where the demand for oil and gas increases every month. Supply and demand. With growing demand for oil and recent cuts on the oil supply side, it makes people wonder how high the price of a barrel of oil might climb. Yet, investment gurus have prognosticated that the values of large oil stocks will fall, possibly as soon as November. "Not a good time to enter into that investment sector," stated one financial analyst on Wall Street. Cheaper gas? Time will tell, but Americans are using less gas than a year ago. "This Thug-let Needs The Crap Beat Out Of Her" - If you have continued to follow the horrific beating a young teenage girl received by six other "cheerleader" girls in Lakeland a few weeks ago, then you know the trial judge offered some leniency to the girls (and two young teenage boys) by allowing them to have house "arrest" while waiting for the trial. Now it seems that one of the girls has had her attorney file papers to the court requesting the ability to travel the world and apologize. In other words, she wants the freedom to travel and make money on the television circuit . . . and perhaps meet with book publishers. How have people responded to this legal request? One person said, "They are lucky to be out on house arrest. Now they want to have special privileges." Another person wanted to know, "if it was illegal to make money from a crime," and another person said "She wants to get paid (for the crime.)" If you had the opportunity to see the manner in which these six Lakeland area girls, acting as a gang, beat the unsuspecting young girl they did not like, then you are probably amazed at the lawyer's request to allow the girls to travel the world and make money while under house arrest. It will be interesting to follow this case until the final verdict. Surely other bullies in our schools need to receive a message that this type of activity is unacceptable and will result in harsh punishment. Parents . . . take the time to talk to your teenage children about bullying at school and elsewhere. The case in Lakeland is not an isolated case, bullying can, and does, occur in our schools. St. Louis To Lose Budweiser? - With some large corporate losses the past couple of years in St. Louis, the expected loss of Anheuser-Busch might just knock St. Louis off the corporate map. Citizens of St. Louis are worried about their jobs and their local economy if Anheuser-Busch is sold to the large Belgium brewer InBev. With the declining U.S. dollar and increasing value of the Euro dollar, foreign investors are looking into acquisitions of large U.S. companies, such as Anheuser-Busch and GE. If the "King of Beers” is actually sold to a foreign corporation, employment and other financial cuts are expected in St. Louis. Of course, and if the next president supports increasing taxes, to businesses and individuals, more foreign purchases of U.S. corporations should be expected. The result? Loss of U.S. jobs, loss of U.S. profits, loss of U.S. investment funds, loss of ancillary business income -- loss of the U.S. tax base. Therefore, increasing taxes is not the solution to our nation's economic plight. The next president must help to stimulate gross domestic production of goods and services that helps to generate more government revenues to payoff our national debt. America must become debt free. And yes, America needs to find more oil and gas supplies in America. Any president that claims he/she could solve our nation's problems by increasing taxes and not searching for more oil and gas in America is distorting the truth. If candidate Barack Obama says that he will increase taxes on the wealthy and cut taxes for the middle class taxpayers, he, therefore, expects us to believe that wealthy people would invest money the same way they would under lower tax rates. Not true. Top wealthy people like Ross Perot, and his financial portfolio of tax-free bonds, would move financial investments into tax-preferred instruments instead of taxable equities. It is projected by expert economists that the U.S. might collect less taxes under a 50 percent tax bracket scenario than under the current 35 percent tax bracket. Why would a Belgium brewer buy one the largest brewers in America whose stock has been flat-line the past few years? Value of foreign money and value of U.S. to lower corporate overhead. This reminds some people of when the steel and coal industry left Pittsburgh and many hard-working people lost jobs. How was that good for America? |